Over the years, I’ve made various “echoes of Cain” posts:

• Echoes of Cain in Psalm 56
• Echoes of Cain in the Story of Jonah
• Echoes of Cain in the Prophecy of Isaiah
  

I want to add one more here from Habakkuk. This one is simple and explicit. Hearing the echo of Cain in Habakkuk increases Yahweh’s voice of assurance. All that we hope for is definitely coming. It won’t be late.

Cain in Habakkuk

The key line from Cain’s story is in Genesis 4:10. Yahweh tells Cain that the voice of Abel’s spilled blood (דמים) cries out (צעק) to him from the ground.

In Habakkuk 2:9–12, Habakkuk pronounces a woe against Babylon because they build their house with violence and bloodshed. The blood they spill will cry out, too:

For a stone from the wall will cry out (זעק),

And a beam of wood will respond.

Woe to the one who builds a city with spilled blood (דמים),

The one who establishes a town with injustice! (Habakkuk 2:9–12)

How This Impacts Your Reading

Hearing the echo of Cain in Habakkuk brings an added layer of depth to the hope that Yahweh offers the prophet. Just like Cain’s violence wasn’t hidden, even though no one was around, Babylon’s bloodshed isn’t hidden either. In Cain’s situation, the ground voiced a cry for justice, and for Habakkuk timber and stone will cry out to Yahweh against Babylon.

Babylon thinks they are protecting themselves, making their “nest” free from harm (Hab 2:9), but in reality they plot to their own shame (Hab 2:10). Cain’s foolishness was exposed within two verses (Gen 4:8–10). The judgment of Babylon won’t come that quickly, but Yahweh encourages the prophet to wait and trust. The vision won’t disappoint, and it won’t be late. It’s for the appointed time (Hab 2:3–4). There will be a reckoning for Babylon just as sure as there was for Cain.

Hearing Hope for Today

As the previous post on Habakkuk argued, Habakkuk adds his voice to the whole Bible chorus of hope focused on the coming son of Eve, Abraham, and David. Habakkuk cried out in his time about the oppression of Babylon, but his hope was rooted in God’s mission to renew all creation and defeat both human rebellion and the deception of the snake.

Once you see how the prophet rooted his hope in that grand narrative, you can see that Habakkuk’s hope is our hope. Babylon’s day of reckoning came and so did the long awaited seed of Eve, Abraham, and David did, too — namely, Jesus (Matt 1:1). But the mystery of the faith is that Christ died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

There will be a reckoning for all that ails us, too. All enemies will be placed under his feet, and Scripture knows who are deepest most feared enemy is. “Death is the last enemy to pass away” (1 Cor 15:23).

Write the vision and make it plain on tablets

So that one who reads it may run.

The vision is yet for an appointed time.

It moves towards the end.

It will not disappoint.

If it seems to take too long,

Wait for it

Because it’s definitely coming.

It won’t be late. (Habakkuk 2:2–3)