person · P0045
Chavakuk חבקוק
The prophet who argued with God — demanding to know why the wicked prosper, and receiving the answer the Gemara treats as a distillation of all the mitzvot: "the righteous one lives by his faith." Seder Olam places him in the days of Menashe; his book watches the Chaldeans rising. Per the Rambam he received the Oral Torah from Nachum and transmitted it to Tzefaniah.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- חבקוק
- Also known as
- Habakkuk
- Era
- bible
- Received the mesorah from
- Nachum
- Transmitted the mesorah to
- Tzefaniah
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3240–3300 AM (placed by Seder Olam in the days of Menashe)
- Academic
- fl. c. 610–600 BCE (rise of the Chaldeans)
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈60 years
- Precision
- approximate
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Received the Oral Torah from Nachum and his court, and transmitted it to Tzefaniah — the eighteenth link in Rambam's forty-generation chain.
Confidence is for the chain as stated by the Rambam. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Received the answer to his challenge: "the righteous one shall live by his faith" (v'tzaddik b'emunato yichyeh).
Confidence is for what the biblical text states. |
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| The Zohar identifies Chavakuk with the unnamed son of the Shunammite woman revived by Elisha, connecting his name to the promise "you shall embrace (chovakt) a son."
A late mystical identification based partly on wordplay between Chavakuk and the verb "embrace"; it is not stated in Melachim or Chavakuk. The research input cited "Zohar, Introduction 12:80"; the passage is actually in the opening of Beshalach and the ref was corrected at ingest.
|
tradition | ★☆☆☆☆ | |
| A monumental tomb tower approximately one kilometer south of Tuyserkan in western Iran is locally identified as Chavakuk's tomb.
The structure is physically extant and the local tradition is documented, but Iranica states that there is no historical evidence proving Chavakuk's burial there. The iranicaonline.org URL blocks automated access; the link points to an overview page covering the shrine.
|
tradition archaeology | ★★☆☆☆ | |
| Seder Olam places Chavakuk in the days of Menashe; academic dating sets the book around the rise of Babylon, c. 610–600 BCE. The two systems are stated separately.
Schematic traditional dating. |
tradition reconstruction | ★★☆☆☆ |