Chavakuk (Habakkuk) was one of the Twelve Prophets, living in the Kingdom of Judah around the time of the Babylonian rise to power, before the destruction of the First Temple.
His short book opens with a bold question to God: why do the wicked prosper? God’s answer includes the verse “The righteous shall live by his faith” (2:4), which the Talmud (Makkot 24a) calls the single principle on which all 613 commandments rest. The book ends with a prayer-song of trust, “Though the fig tree does not blossom… yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”
According to the Zohar, Chavakuk was the son of the Shunammite woman, the child born and later revived through the prophet Elisha. Tradition places his tomb at Hukok in the Galilee.
