A Protest and an Answer (ii): In a sense there was nothing surprising in Yahweh’s response to Habakkuk; it is entirely in keeping with Isaiah’s understanding of the role of Assyria and with Jeremiah’s understanding of Babylon. But Yahweh has given hostages to fortune in noting that the Babylonians are inclined to violence, that they seize homes that do not belong to them, that they make up their own rules for the conduct of relationships, that they worship themselves, their power, and their glory. How can they be Yahweh’s agents? Habakkuk’s response thus verbalizes his disquiet at Yahweh’s response to his earlier protest. It is a question that Christians often raise about the prophets’ assumption that Yahweh uses other nations in this way. Even this unease is one already answered in the wa…