First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

CHABAKUK (HABAKKUK)

The g-dliest king that ruled the kingdom of Judah during this

time was killed in battle in 609 B.C.E. His name was Josiah and

it was under him that a spiritual revival occurred when part of

the Torah was rediscovered in the Beis Hamikdash and studied.

King Josiah tried to stop Pharoah Neco of Egypt from assisting

Assyria in its futile last stand against Babylon. Josiah was

killed in that battle fought with Neco at Megiddo (near modern

Haifa) just 4 years before the Babylonians defeated Neco at

Carchemish (605 B.C.E.), which tipped the balance of power toward

Nebuchadnezzar who was now free to subjugate Judah, starting in

605 B.C.E.

See 1:6. At around this time (in the decade 608-598 B.C.E.) in

the history of Judah, Habakkuk (probably a contemporary of

Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Nahum, Daniel and Ezekiel, roughly

speaking) was given the prophetic vision to see and inquire why

G-d was allowing the g-dless, ruthless Babylonians to pose a

greater and greater threat to the more righteous kingdom of Judah

(the northern kingdom having long ago gone into Assyrian

deportation --722 B.C.E.).

The worthless king of Judah (whom Jeremiah predicted would have

the burial of a donkey--Jeremiah 22:18) with the audacity to cut

up and throw into the fire the Word of G-d (Jeremiah 36:23) was

the murderous, idolatrous, oppressive Jehoickim (who was a vassal

of Egypt and took the Egyptian name Eliakim before he became a

rebellious vassal of Babylon end was put to death on the way to

captivity in 598 at the age of 36). Habakkuk seems to be asking

in 1:2-4 why G-d, who is a G-d of justice and a protector of the

righteous, is not acting to punish the evil establishment of this

villanous king's Judaean society?

The answer comes back in 1:5-11. G-d has a breath-taking answer

so astounding that few will even believe it when they are told

(see 1:5 and also Acts 13:41 to see how Shliach Sha'ul applied

this verse to the Besuras Hageulah). G-d is raising up the

Chaldeans (the Babylonians), who are an even more powerful and

more villanous army of cut-throats, and are more then adequate to

punish the righteous-persecuting rogues of Habakkuk's day. But

this answer from G-d gives rise to another question stated in

1:12-2:1. Habakkuk's "complaint" (2:1) is this: how can G-d

justify allowing a people (the Babylonians) more wicked than

another people (the Jews) to be His punitive agents and,

moreover, allow these g-dless "fishers of men" seemingly to have

"open season" (1:14-15) on the people of G-d? How can G-d be

silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?

(1:13) This is the main question the book raises.

Surely it can be agreed that the Babylonians are unrighteous.

Their own might is their g-d (1:11) and the only "justice" they

acknowledge is what proceeds from themselves (1:7)

Habakkuk trusts the L-rd and patiently, confidently, waits for

the answer. The answer comes in 2:2-3:19. The dog-eat-dog manner

in which wicked nations weary themselves against each other will

not profit them (2:13), for "the earth will be filled with the

knowledge of the glory of the L-rd, as the waters cover the sea"

(2:14). In the midst of all this villainy, wicked men trust

themselves alone and die. Shliach Sha'ul says in Romans 1:24

that part of the penalty of sin is in the sin itself, for when

G-d gives a man over to his own ugly sin, he becomes an ugly

sinner. If a man or woman practices perversion, he or she

becomes a pervert. If one gives himself over to vanity, one

becomes a narcissistic bore; to gluttony, an obese glutton; to

liquor, a drunk; to violence, a heartless butcher. "The arrogant

do not endure" (2:5), they have forfeited their life (2:10). And

the enemies they are creating will eventually arise to settle the

score, and destroyers like the Babylonians will themselves be

destroyed (2:7-8). However, the righteous will live by personal

faithfulness to G-d (2:4), even by their personal trust and faith

in G-d, who is worthy (despite what Satan says in that other

theodicy, Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5) of exalted praise even if barbarous

invasion comes and everything in this brief life is taken away

and all hope outside of G-d Himself fails (3:16-19). The idols

of the barbarous invaders are not real, but the L-rd is in his

holy Beis Hamikdash; "let all the earth keep silence before Him"

(2:20).

Habakkuk's prayer is that, "In wrath may You remember mercy"

(3:2). Hab. 3:3-15 depicts the Lord's glorious coming from Sinai,

marching toward Edom as at the Exodus (Dt. 33:2), recalling the

history of Israel and His victorious march in the conquest of the

land for the salvation of his people. But G-d also came forth

triumphantly (3:13) to rescue his Mashiyach (Moshiach,

"Anointed").

Shliach Sha'ul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 in Romans 1:17 and Galatians

3:11. This verse sums up the key doctrine of the Bible, that

regeneration and its attendant peace with G-d that passes all

understanding (Phil. 4:7) does not come from ourselves or our

religious and ethical strivings but is a gracious gift from G-d,

the gift of saving faith in the infallible Word of G-d (Ephesians

2:8; Romans 10:13-14; II Tim. 3:16; Yochanan 10:35) who

inscripturated Himself in the Bible and incarnated Himself as the

Moshiach and now lives in those who are called by G-d to abundant

new life in the Ruach Hakodesh.

Habakkuk was both a theologian and an artist. The musical

notations in chapter 3 tell us that he may have been a Beis

Hamikdash prophet (a member of the Beis Hamikdash staff who

declared the Word of G-d especially in relation to various

assemblies and feast celebrations) who composed his oracle from

G-d in an artistic musical setting for use in the Beis Hamikdash

in Jerusalem.

HABAKKUK 2:4

Behold, as for the one that is lifted up, his soul is not right

within him: but the righteous shall live by his faith.