Habakkuk 3:1

Hab 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

Ver. 1. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet] Habakkuk signifieth a wrestler, that by closing striveth to get the better, as hath been before noted on Hab 1:1. To close with the adversary is the best way to supplant him, or to avoid the blow: so is running into God the way to escape him. The prophet had heard God’s speech and was afraid, Hab 3:2. He saw his wrath ready to break forth, and therefore gets in with him by this prayer. He knew that,

“ Flectitur iratus voce rogante Deus ”( Ovid).

God suffereth himself often to be overcome by the prayers of his people; and yieldeth much unto them when most bitterly bent, Mat 24:20; he therefore sets shoulders and sides to work, and wrestles lustily in this chapter. He knew it was a prophet’s work to pray as well as preach; and between these two to divide his time. "God forbid" (saith Samuel, who is reckoned the first of prophets, Act 3:24), "that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: I will also teach you the good and right way," 1Sa 12:23. So doth this prophet; he both preferreth a prayer (the word תפלה say some, signifieth such a prayer as is made by a mediator before a judge; we have an advocate with the Father, 1Jn 2:1), and dedicated the same to the people, to be used by them in the time of the captivity: which yet they shamefully neglected to do, as Daniel acknowledgeth, Dan 9:13; or if they did anything towards it, they merely sought themselves in it, and so lost their labour, Zec 7:5; whereas had they prayed as here is prescribed, confessing their sins, and beseeching God not to deal with them after their deserts, but according to his ancient lovingkindnesses, that never fail, they might have found mercy, Lam 3:22. The altar of incense stood against the mercy seat; and, Rev 9:13, the prayers of the saints from the four corners of the earth sound and do great things in the world, make it ring. It was the speech of a learned man; If there be but one sigh come from a gracious heart it fills the ears of God, so that God hears nothing else.

Upon Shigionoth] Vocabulum musicum est, cuius ratio Hebraeis ignota, saith Buxtorf; it is a musical term, the reason whereof is unknown to the Hebrew doctors to this day. Yet Rabbi Salomon (and with him most interpreters) rendereth it pro ignorantiis, for ignorances, or as touching his own and his people’s errors; which the prophet here (convinced by God’s former answer to his expostulation) confesseth with confusion of face. Ignorance surely is a blushful sin; especially if affected and delighted in (as the Hebrew word seemeth to imply, confer Pro 5:1; Pro 20:1). Private ignorance, though it do somewhat excuse a man (sc. a tanto from so much not a tote, from everything, Luk 12:47), yet is it a sin to be confessed and bewailed; for Christ died for the not knowing of the people, Heb 9:7, αγνοηματα, and destruction is threatened, pro nonscientia, or lack of knowledge, Hos 4:6. But Calvin well observeth here, that the prophet by begging pardon for ignorances, doth not omit his own and the people’s more grievous sins; but showeth that men must also be sensible of their lesser lapses, and cry out with David (after whose example this whole song is framed), "Who can understand his errors" (or ignorances, unwitting and inconsiderate sins)? "O cleanse thou me from secret faults," Psa 19:12.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hab_3:1-2

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

God devoutly addressed

This chapter presents to us God in three aspects, as devoutly addressed, as poetically portrayed, and as triumphantly enjoyed.

I. It was composed for general use. It is not an extemporaneous address; it is a settled form of devotion. Pre-arranged forms of devotion are both scriptural and expedient. There is a set form given to the priests for blessing the people in Num_6:2-3. Psa_92:1-15. is called a psalm for the Sabbath, and 102. a prayer for the afflicted. Hezekiah commanded the Levites to praise the Lord in the words of David and of Asaph the seer, which is Psa_106:1-48. And Christ Himself gave His disciples a form of prayer. Whilst it is scriptural it is also expedient. To get a whole congregation into the channel of devotion, a pro-arranged form seems desirable.

II. It was in prospect of a terrible calamity. O Lord, I have heard Thy speech, and was afraid. Terrible was the calamity now looming on the vision of the prophet. The Chaldean army was approaching; the ruthless troops would soon be in his country, sack Jerusalem its metropolis, and bear his countrymen away into captivity. In view of this the prayer is addressed. Call upon Me in the day of trouble, etc. Surely, if men fully realised the predicted judgments that will fall on this world, prayer would be the habitude of their souls.

III. It was for a revival of divine work. Revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. Kiel thus renders the passage--Jehovah, Thy work in the midst of Thy years call to life, in the midst of the years make it known. This may mean, Perfect the work of delivering Thy people; let not Thy promise lie as it were dead, give it new life by performing it. Do it now, in the midst of the years, when our calamities are at their height, when Thy wrath seems to be at high tide and terrible. Now revive Thy work. Three thoughts are suggested--

1. The work of human deliverance is the work of God.

2. This work of God may appear to decline.

3. This decline of Gods work can only be overcome by His intervention. Revive Thy work. (Homilist.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hab 3:1. A prayer of Habakkuk, &c. — The word prayer is here taken in a general sense for an act or exercise of devotion, including adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. The word shigionoth signifies wanderings, and may denote “cantio erratica, vel mixta,” a desultory, various, or mixed hymn; or, as Bishop Newcome thinks, “a musical instrument of great compass, with which the Jews accompanied this piece of poetry.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE THEOPHANY

CHAPTER 3

[Title and Introduction (Hab_3:1-2). The Prophet represents Jehovah as appearing in glorious Majesty on Sinai (Hab_3:3-4). He describes the Ravages of the Plague in the Desert (Hab_3:5). The Consternation of the Nations (Hab_3:6-10). Reference to the Miracle at Gibeon (Hab_3:11). Results of the Interposition of God on Behalf of his People (Hab_3:12-15). Subject of the Introduction resumed (Hab_3:16). The Prophet asserts his Confidence in God in the midst of anticipated Calamity. Parallels to this Ode: Deu_33:2-5; Jdg_5:4-5; Psa_68:7-8; Psa_77:13-20; Psalms 114 : Isa_63:11-14.—C. E.]

1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet: with triumphal music.1

2 O Jehovah! I have heard the report of thee, I am afraid;

O Jehovah ! revive thy work in the midst of the years;

In the midst of the years make it known:

In wrath remember mercy.

3 God2 comes from Teman,3

And the Holy One from mount Paran.4 Selah.

His splendor covers the heavens,

And the earth is full of his glory.

4 And the brightness is like the sun;

Rays5 stream from his hand;

And there is the hiding6 of his power.

5 Before him goes the plague;

And burning pestilence follows his feet.

6 He stands and measures7 the earth:

He looks, and makes nations tremble:

The everlasting mountains are broken in pieces

The eternal hills sink down:

His ways8 are everlasting.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan9 in trouble:

The tent-curtains of the land of Midian tremble.

8 Was it against the rivers it burned, O Jehovah?

Was thine anger against the rivers?

Was thy fury against the sea?

That thou didst ride upon thy horses,

In thy chariots of victory.

9 Thy bow is made entirely bare:

Rods10 [of chastisement] are sworn by the word. Selah.

Thou cleavest the earth into rivers.

10 The mountains saw thee, they writhe;

A flood of water passes over:

The abyss utters its voice;

It lifts up its hands on high.

11 Sun, moon, stood back in their habitation,11

At the light of thine arrows, which flew,

At the shining of the lightning of thy spear.

12 In anger thou marchest through the earth;

In wrath thou treadest down the nations.

13 Thou goest forth for the salvation of thy people;

For the salvation of thine anointed:

Thou dashest in pieces the head from the house of the wicked,

Laying bare the foundation even to the neck. Selah.

14 Thou piercest with his own spears the chief of his captains,

That rush on like a tempest to scatter me;

Their rejoicing is to devour, as it were, the poor in secret.

15 Thou treadest upon the sea with thy horses,

Upon the foaming of many waters.

16 I heard, and my bowels trembled;

At the sound my lips quivered;

Rottenness entered my bones;

I tremble in my lower12 parts,

That I am to wait13 quietly for the day of distress,

When he that approaches the nation shall press upon it.

17 For14 the fig tree will not blossom;

And there is no produce on the vines;

The fruit of the olive tree fails,

And the fields bear no food:

The flock is cut off from the fold;

And there are no cattle in the stalls.

18 But I will exult in Jehovah,

And rejoice in the God of my salvation.

19 Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength,

And makes my feet like the hinds,

And causes me to walk upon my high places.

To the precentor,15 with my stringed instruments.

EXEGETICAL

The prophecy of the judgment of the world, under the form of a theophany, and already prepared by Hab_2:14, immediately follows, like Zep_1:7 (comp. Zec_2:13), the emphatic favete linguis: let all the world be silent before the Lord. That its contents are evidently just as much prophetic as the previous is evident from their entirely original character and from their having reference throughout to the future; and it has been furnished by the prophet himself (comp. Introd.) with the liturgical heading, subscription, and intermediate sign (Selah, Hab_3:3; Hab_3:9; Hab_3:13), for the reason that it is, in fact, by its rhythm, diction, and formal finish, conformed to the hymns and psalms adapted to performance [in the public service]. It is solely the application of a subjective notion of a palm on the part of Delitzsch and Keil, when they make the entire song a mere lyrical effusion of subjective emotions, an echo of chaps, 1 and 2 in the soul of the poet inspired with poetic feeling. Compare on Hab_3:2. It can be said at the most, that theclosing lyrical verses, 16–19, sustain a relation to the prophecy proper similar to that of Nah_2:12 ff. to Nah_2:1-11; but they do not cease thereby to belong to the prophecy. That the poetic form is selected has its reason in the fact, that as all prophecy involuntarily utters itself poetically in consequence of the elevation of the soul freed from the earth, so also the highest degree of the prophetical inspiration includes, at the same time, the highest degree of the poetical. We have examples of this in the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah, which, in their greatest height, strike up the key of the Psalms. It entirely contradicts the thoroughly original and grand character of the hymn, when Delitzsch does not even allow it to pass as original, but brings it down to an imitation of Psalms 77 The reasons for this opinion, which Delitzsch brings together with great pains, and the most plausible of which he repeats in the Commentary on the Psalms, are only of a subjective demonstrative power; a more exact examination is not in place here, since the question for the understanding [of the hymn] is an equivalent one. Hupfeld gives the positive counter proof. Psalms 3 p. 345, Observ. 69.)

According to the contents the hymn is composed of the following constituent parts:—

I. The prophecy of the theophany itself; Hab_3:2-15.

II. The application of this prophecy; Hab_3:16-19.

The prophecy itself (Hab_3:2-15) is divided into—

(a) The introitus, Hab_3:2, five lines.

(b) First chief part: the approach of God, Hab_3:3-7, sixteen lines.

(c) Transitus, Hab_3:8, five lines.

(d) Secon chief part: the operations of the judgment, Hab_3:9-13, sixteen lines.

(e) The concluding strophe, Hab_3:14-15, seven lines.

The application is divided into two strophes of six lines each, and a concluding strophe [Abgesang, Collect] of five lines. [The rhythmical structure is determined somewhat differently, to wit, by the recurring Selah, which, in the second place, where it might be expected on account of the symmetry, is substituted in the text by a very old intermediate space; the theme of the hymn is divided into the following symmetrical groups: (1) seven lines (Hab_3:2-3 b); (2) fourteen lines (Hab_3:3-7); (3) seven lines (Hab_3:8-9 b); (4) fourteen lines (Hab_3:9-13); (5) seven lines (Hab_3:14-15). The symmetry of the structure extends even (as is frequently the case in the Proverbs of Solomon) to the separate members, which generally (only with the exception of Hab_3:7-8 c, Hab_3:13 c–Hab_3:14, Hab_3:16 d) consist of three words. [This of course refers to the Hebrew text.—C. E.] The knowledge of this is not unimportant for the interpretation. Comp. on Hab_3:15.]

The form of the theophany, i.e. of an appearance of God for judgment accompanied with the agitation of all the powers of nature and elements, is quite peculiar to the hymnology of the Old Testament and entirely born of its [O. T.] spirit. It is, namely, the correlate of the first appearance of the kind at the giving of the law upon Mt. Sinai (Exo_19:16 ff.), which in its turn refers back to the first appearances of God manifesting himself to the patriarchs: compare particularly, Genesis 15. From that appearance the hymns, which refer to a historical theophany, take their start, Deuteronomy 33; Judges 5 (comp. Psa_68:8 ff; Psa_77:10 ff.); Psalms 18, which sums up the battles of God for his anointed, in the form of the theophany (comp. 2Ki_6:17), is included with these. But the use [of the O. T. hymns] is not restricted to this [a historical theophany]. For as God gave his law with such a proof of his glory, so also will the fulfillment and execution of the law, the judgment, be accompanied by such an appearance of God, coming either as then from the south out of the wilderness, or down from heaven. Of this the prophetic Psa_50:7 treat; furthermore Isa_30:27 ff; Isa_64:1 ff. (with Isa_63:19 b) [19 b begins Isa_64:1 in the A. V.; but in the Hebrew Original, LXX., Vulgate, and Luther’s Version, it closes chap. 63—C. E.]; and most fully this prophecy. It lies in the nature of the subject, that in prophecies of this kind prophetic vision, poetic intuition, symbolism, and reality, are interwoven in a manner that cannot be fully explained by the finite understanding.

Heading. A Prayer, a general name of a song that can be sung in worship, hence also a collective name of the Psalms (Psa_72:20), of Habakkuk,—this passage shows plainly that the ל in the headings of the Psalms also is intended to indicate the author—the prophet (comp. chap. 1 Hab_3:1) after the manner of the dithyramb. This liturgical definition is, like almost all preserved in the O. T., obscure; and its signification, since tradition is entirely unreliable in these things, can only be conjectured. Probably it is to be traced, like שִׁגָּיוֹן, Psa_7:1 (comp. Clauss on the passage), to the root שׁגה, to err, reel, and accordingly signifies, as a plur. abstr., the mode of the reeling song, the cantio erratica, the Dithyramb. [The Dithyramb (Epich., p. 72, Herod., 1:23, and Pindar) was a kind of poetry chiefly cultivated in Athens, of a lofty but usually inflated style, originally in honor of Bacchus, afterwards also of the other gods. It was always set in the Phrygian mode, and was at first antistrophic, but later usually mono-strophic. It was the germ of the choral element in the Attic tragedy. It was sung to the flute, whilst the rest of the chorus danced in a circle round the altar of the god. From this circumstance the dithyrambic choruses were called Cyclian.—C. E.] It has no connection with the contents of the prophecy.

[Keil: As shâgâh, to err, then to reel to and fro, is applied to the giddiness both of intoxication and of love (Isa_28:7; Pro_20:1; Pro_5:20), shiggâyõn signifies reeling, and in the termination of poetry a reeling song, i. e., a song delivered in the greatest excitement, or with a rapid change of emotion, dithyrambus.—C. E.]

Introitus. Hab_3:2. Jehovah, I have heard thy report [rather the report of thee: the genitive is that of the object—C. E.]; not that mentioned Hab_1:5 ff.; Hab_2:2 ff.; for he had not only heard that, but also written it down, and published it; but the report which he is just about to announce (comp. the retrospective reference, Hab_3:16; Oba_1:1; Jer_49:14; Jonah 1); the report of the grand appearance of Jehovah, in the impending judgment, which is drawing near, for the purpose of visiting with punishment the Holy Land, and that with a twofold power of execution (comp. Amo_1:2); so that in the Holy Land laid waste and purified by the judgment, God by means of the judgment overthrows the spoilers. The separate acts meet in a picture, as in Psalms 18, before the vision of the seer. Before the power of this theophany rising upon his vision, and because the first moment16 enters into his consciousness as a fellow sufferer with others (Mic_1:8) the prophet recoils: Therefore I tremble, I am afraid. This is the result of the manifestation of the mighty deeds of God (Exo_15:14; Psa_18:45). Jehovah revive thy work in the midst of the years. What work is meant? Hab_1:5 spoke of a work which was to be accomplished in a wonderful manner, and under that was understood the desolation of the earth by the Chaldæan. That work cannot be meant here; for although the prophet, without human weakness, has to communicate the severe chastisements of God, yet he cannot directly pray for them. That work, moreover, was not called פעל יי, but it was a work by itself, whose distinguishing feature was the fact, that, although ordained of God, it nevertheless wrought out itself, it had its power and energy in itself (Hab_1:7). A work of grace must be intended, by which Jehovah proves Himself, in his peculiar, well-known way, the Holy One of Israel (Hab_1:12), a work by means of which the impending calamities are endurable (comp. בְּקֶ־ֶב צָרָח תְּחיֵּנִי, Psa_138:7). And certainly the meaning is here; quicken it in the midst of the years; חִיִּה has the meaning of revivifying, of quickening anew (Psa_80:19; Psa_85:7 [6]), a work of grace, which had occurred once already in the beginning of the years, and whose recurrence Israel now needs, in order to be joyful again. And this consists with no other act of God than the deliverance from Egypt, which is described, Psa_44:2, in entirely similar words, and so this passage understands Psa_77:13. It stands in fact at the beginning of the years, namely, at the beginning of the national existence (Hos_11:1). Then do thy work anew in the midst of the years; in the midst of the years make known; the imperative continued by the imperfect as in Psa_31:2 ff.; to make known is the same as to accomplish before all eyes (Psa_103:7). The explanation of the work, which has been given, agrees well not only with the circumstance that in fact in the following context (comp. namely, the “old paths,” Hab_3:6) a return of the wonderful works, that were performed at the time of that deliverance, is predicted, but also with the concluding clause: in wrath (comp. Isa_28:21) remember mercy, which, according to what has been said, evidently means, if thou intendest to humble us again, do thou also again deliver us.

The announcement follows the exclamation of feeling: Hab_3:3-7.

The approach of Jehovah from the South. Eloah (poetic archaism instead of אלהים, comp. Deu_32:15) comes from Teman, and the Holy One (comp. on Hab_1:12) from the mountains of Paran. The southern country, as in Judges 5 and Psalms 68 (יְשִׁימוֹן), the point from which God sets out, because He approaches from Sinai (Psa_68:9 [8]), is introduced (compare Deuteronomy 33) by the enumeration of two divisions, namely, Teman, which is the same as Edom, and forms the East division (comp. Oba_1:9 with Jer_49:22); and the mountainous region of Paran, between Edom and Egypt (1Ki_11:18), forming the West division. Compare the peri-phrase, Gilead and Manasseh, Ephraim and Judah (Psa_60:9), for Canaan. In regard to the Selah, compare Sommer, Bib. Essays, Hab_1:1 ff., Delitzsch, Psalter (1867), p. 70 ff. While God approaches, his splendor covers the heavens (comp. Psa_8:1), the clear brightness of his glory making its appearance (Psa_104:1 f.; Luk_1:78), which like the purple light of the morning (Hos_6:3) covers the heavens, and like a sea of fire sinks on the earth: and the earth is filled with his glory (comp. Hab_2:14; Isa_6:3 f.). תהלה, properly praise, here by metonymy the object of praise, is synonymous with כּבור, as in Psa_66:2. The flaming glory of Jehovah filling everything, is a vision of such excessive sublimity, that one scarcely dares to follow the prophet in spirit to meditate upon it.

Hab_3:4. Out of this glory—the veil of God—bursting upon the view, shoot forth lightnings like rays (comp. Psa_18:13; Mat_24:27), like the rays of the rising sun through the morning sky: a brightness bursts forth like sunlight (Isa_5:30), and horns, i.e. rays (Exo_34:29 f.) are at his side [hand]. The Arabic poetry and popular language also call the first rays of the rising sun horns, antlers, and conformably with this they call the sun himself a gazelle (comp. Psa_22:1). Hence also the dual, מִיּדָוֹ is used in a general sense: at the side, equivalent to “on both sides”; compare the expression, “before and behind ” [at his presence, at his feet—C. E.], in the following verse (Delitzsch). [מִיּדָוֹ signifies literally “from his hand,” but since the hand is by the side, it is equivalent to “at his side.” “As the disc of the sun is surrounded by a splendid radiance, so the coming of God is inclosed by rays on both sides.” The suffix in לוֹ refers to God.—C. E.] And there, in this radiant splendor, is the veil, properly the hiding of his omnipotence (comp. Eze_1:27). He is so resplendent himself, that even the light is only his garment (Psa_104:2). The garment of his omnipotence, by virtue of which He is judge of the world, and at the service of which are the satellites of the judgment.

Hab_3:5. Before Him goes the plague, and burning pestilence follows his feet. So had Hos_13:14 predicted it: I will be thy plague, O death (the plague, which provides for thee the victim), I will be thy pestilence, O grave. With these angels of death he had, approaching from the south, destroyed also the army of Sennacherib (2Ki_19:35).

Hab_3:6. Then He stands (He alone is calm amidst all the violent commotion, comp. Mic_5:3) and measures the earth. The measuring, מדד is a function of God as the judge of the world; also in Psa_60:8 (Kal is employed to signify parcelling out tracts of land, comp. Mic_2:4), and Isa_65:7 (requiting with the right measure), comp. 2Sa_8:2. He measures the earth, i.e., He measures the countries and their practices, in order to execute a right judgment. [Delitzsch and others more conformably to the parallelism, following the Targum: He sets [the earth] reeling; however, the signification (מוּד =מוּט) cannot be verified.] He looks, examines with a scrutinizing look (Psa_10:14), and makes the heathen tremble. [יַתֵּר is the Hiphil of נָתַר, and means to cause to shake or tremble.—C. E.] God is a spirit, and his spiritual acts are of complete energy and efficiency; his hearing is granting; his seeing, helping or judging; his rebuking, annihilation. Then the primeval mountains, the unchangeable [mountains] (Mic_6:2; comp. Deu_33:15) burst asunder; the hills of the early world sink down. His are the paths of olden time, i.e., He follows them: the paths in which He then conducted his people from Egypt into the land [of Canaan] (68:25 [24]).

Hence also now, as then (comp. Exo_15:14 ff.) the nations on both sides of the way fall into fear and confusion. It is quite plain that Hab_3:7, in which the borderers on the Red Sea, on the east and west, are mentioned as the trembling nations, refers to that event [the deliverance from Egypt] of the ancient time. I, the prophet, see, in vision, the tents of Cushan, i.e., Cush, Ethiopia, west, on the sea, in affliction (comp. Jer_4:15). (So Luther, Gesenius, Maurer, Delitzsch, Keil, Hitzig, and others. According to the Targum, Talmud, Cushan of Mesopotamia is meant (Jdg_3:8 ff.) [which I let pass, it does not agree with the arrangement, Lath.]; Ewald considers it the same as Jokshan). [Smith, Dict. of the Bible, art. “Chushan,” thinks that Cushan is possibly the same as Cushan-rishathaim (A. V. Chushan-) King of Mesopotamia (Jdg_3:8; Jdg_3:10). See article, “Cushan.”—C. E.] The curtains of the land of Midian, on the east of the Red Sea, tremble.

Hab_3:8. A lyrical intermediate strophe, which, at the same time, serves as a connecting link with what follows: the poet stops in the description, in order to take a new start (compare similar pauses, Gen_49:14; Jdg_5:12; Psa_68:20 ff; Psa_18:21 ff.). He inquires after the purpose of the approaching God. The question is evidently not put for an answer; but it is a poetical form. Was it against the rivers, O Jehovah, against the rivers that thy wrath was kindled? Jehovah is in the vocative, because it would [otherwise] be connected with חרה by ל. [The Hebrew idiom is ל חרה to burn to one (scil., anger), to feel angry, be wroth. See Nordheimer’s Heb. Gram., vol. 2 p. 227.—C. E.] Or was thy fury against the sea? The sea and rivers also retire before the approaching glory of God (Psa_114:3; Psa_114:5). אִם connects cumulative questions, even when they have nothing disjunctive in them (Gen_37:8). That thou didst ride upon thy horses, the cherub wings of the wind (Psa_18:11) upon thy chariot of salvation? The elements, clouds and winds, here as everywhere, servants, messengers, media of the manifestation of God (Psa_104:4), are symbolized as horses and chariots, because the judgment is a warlike act of the Lord of Hosts, and chariots and horses are the instruments of war (Mic_5:9 [10]). [When complex terms receive a suffix, they can stand, according to Hebrew idiom, in the stat. constr., Ewald, sec. 291 b.] [This construction is poetical.—C. E.] The signification of victory for ישׁועה, denied by some, is evidently implied in that of “salvation,” both here and in Isa_59:17, and in the passages, where the noun occurs in the plural (Ps. 18:51, and other places). [Keil: “By describing. the chariots of God as chariots of salvation, the prophet points at the outset to the fact, that the riding of God has for its object the salvation or deliverance of his people.—C. E.] With this warlike turn the transition is immediately made to—

The second principal part, Hab_3:9-13, which describes how the judgment is put in execution. Hab_3:9 a, b, continues the picture of God as the warrior, begun in Hab_3:8. Thy bow is made quite bare. [It is unnecessary to invent, with the interpreters, for תֵּעוֹר, the stem עוֹר nudare, which has no exi tence, of which the form [in question] would be the 3 fem. imp. Niph.; it is the 3 imp Kal from ערר (Isa_32:11), comp. יֵרֹעַ from רעע (Pro_11:15). עֶריָה is an anomalous feminine form of the infin. absolute from the cognate stem ערה (comp. Ewald, sec. 240 d.; 312 b, 2); and so the words are closely connected: it would have been prosaic and according to rule to have said ערוֹר תָּעוֹר.] [Gesenius, Fürst, and Keil take תֵּעוֹר from עוּר, and עֶריָה noun.—C. E.] God’s judgment is represented as an arrow upon the string also in Psa_21:13 [12] comp. Lam_3:12). But the bow, and in general God’s weapons of war, are not to be taken in the strictest literal sense, but they are, as the prophet adds in explanatory apposition, the scourges sworn by the word. מטה has nowhere the signification of arrow, which would suit excellently the bow, and which is held by some interpreters (e.g., Meier, Stud. u. Krit., 1842, 1031 f.); even in Hab_3:4 it can at the most, as in 2Sa_14:17, signify spears. Were it to be actually taken in this sense, then, since it introduces a new figure, it must be joined to קשׁת by ו. But certainly the אֹמר indicates that here the figure passes over into the thing [reality]; hence we understand, as we have said, the clause rather as an explanatory adjunct, and accordingly מטות as scourges, calamities; compare this usage of the language for the chastisements threatened by the prophets: Mic_6:9 (hear the rod !); Eze_7:11; Isa_10:5; Isa_9:3; Isa_14:5. They are sworn to by the word, i. e. the Word of God; comp. Mic_6:9; Deu_32:40 f.; and as to the absolute use of אמר for the omnipotent Word of God, which opens a way for his great deeds in the world, compare Psa_68:34 [33]; 11 [12]. אמר is in the acc. instr. like חַרְבְּךָ, Psa_17:13. The participle שׁבועות (comp. Eze_21:23 [28] is separated from this instrumentalis belonging to it, because it should stand emphatically at the beginning, and for the same reason it is also placed before its substantive; consequently it is to be considered as the stat. constr., שבועות מטות, like נסיכי ארכ, Mic_5:4 (5). Delitzsch gives a synopsis of more than a hundred explanations of this difficult passage). After the Selah the prophet turns again, Hab_3:9 c–12, to the description of the powerful catastrophe of Nature which, according to the parallelism pervading the Holy Scriptures between the mikrokosmos and makrokosmos, man and visible nature, accompanies the judgment. With streams thou dividest the earth. [Delitzsch, Bäumlein, Keil: into rivers thou dividest the earth; without sense; Hitzig: Thou dividest rivers to earth; Ewald: Thou dividest streams to land, etc.]. Our translation [נהרות, acc. instr. like אֹמֵר] is justified by Mic_1:4, where the surface of the earth is cleft into gulleys by the masses of water rushing from the mountains.

Hab_3:10. Whence the torrents? The mountains saw thee and trembled, the water-flood rushes on. Thunder-storm and violent rains, as a representation of the most powerful agitation of the elements, accompany the theophany, comp. on Micah, at the place cited. From the mountains the prophet turns to the extreme opposite, the depths of the sea: the abyss raises its voice—the deep water, that surrounds the main-land (Jon_2:6) and lies spread out under the main-land (Gen_49:25) is here, like the mountains, poetically personified. The voice of the abyss is the roaring of the waters shut up underneath (Job_28:14). It raises its hands on high. רוֹם is not the subject-nominative, which would yield no sense, since the height cannot stretch out its hands over itself; but it is the accusative of direction (2Ki_19:22). The archaic form יָדָיו is selected for pictorial effect, instead of the current form יָרָיו. By the hands of the abyss one will properly understand the waves of water thrown visibly on high, which, as at the Deluge, break through the flood-gates of the earth (Nah_2:7), and unite with the gushing rains from heaven (comp. Gen_7:11).

Hab_3:11. The sun, the moon, either, enter into their dwelling, i. e., withdraw so that one sees them no more, and darkness comes on (Delitzsch, Hitzig, Keil); or, stand still, continue standing terrified in their place, just where they were standing at the beginning of the judgment. The latter, on account of עמד and the reference to Joshua 10 is the more probable, זבול is a place of abode (comp. Ps. 49:26 with Psa_103:16); the precise idea of dwelling arises only from the addition of בית (1Ki_6:13; 2Ch_6:2).

At the light of thine arrows, which flew, at the shining of thy spear. The holy majesty of God manifesting itself is turned to the majesty of a judge executing justice; the holy light into the devouring fire (Isa_10:17).

The discourse, Hab_3:12-13, turns directly to the acts of judgment connected with the salvation of Israel: In anger thou marchest (poetical expression, as in Jdg_5:4; Psa_68:8) the land, first of all the Holy Land, since He comes from Sinai (comp. Mic_1:2). In indignation thou thrashest the heathen, as of old (Psa_68:22 [21]).

Hab_3:13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people—ישׁע, as a nom. verb. is construed with the Acc. (Ewald, sec. 239 a)—for the salvation of thy anointed, by whom, according to the parallelism, is to be understood not so much the unworthy Jehoiakim as the nation itself (Psa_84:10 [Psa_84:9]; Psa_105:15). (LXX, Rosenmuller, Ewald, Hitzig.)

Thou crushest the head (Psa_110:6) of the house of the wicked, laying bare the foundation even to the neck. The house of the wicked is the Chaldæan nation viewed as a family; compare the house of Israel, Psa_115:12, and above. Whilst it is compared to a human body (compare the inverted comparison, Job_22:16; Ecc_12:3 f.) its entire destruction (πανολεθρια, Jo. Schmid) is represented by the enumeration of the separate parts, head, lower extremities, and neck. The infin. abs. ערוֹת, to lay bare, i. e., from the foundation, to raze to the ground (Psa_137:7) stands as the abl. gerundii, Ges., sec. 131, 2.

The concluding portion [of the description of the theophany—C. E.], Hab_3:14-15, carries out this thought still further. It differs from what precedes by beginning with shorter rhythms. Thou piercest through with his spear (comp. on Hab_3:9), with the weapons of the wicked one (comp. Psa_7:17 (16), the head of his princes, comp. פרזון, Jdg_5:7-11; LXX. on the same passage, and Ges., s. v. in Thes. The signification of hordes (Delitzsch, Keil) cannot be evolved from the circumstance that פְּרָזִי designates an inhabitant of the פְּרָוֹת, the plain: the passage treats of warriors, who have entered by force, not of peaceful settlers. His princes, they rush in (comp. Hab_1:11) to disperse me, properly to scatter me: the prophet speaks in the name of the people; and they rejoice as if they were allowed to devour the poor in secret; literally, whose rejoicing is, as it were, in devouring, etc. (comp. Psa_10:5 ff.). The ל concomitantiæ as in Hab_3:11.

Hab_3:15. Thou treadest upon the sea, Thy horses upon the billows of great waters. Usually, Thou walkest on the sea (Umbreit, Hitzig) or Thou walkest through the sea (Delitzsch, Keil) with thy horses. The exposition has its origin in the Masoretic interpunction, which, in following the rhythmical structure of the hymn, unites the first three words. But already in the preceding verse the rhythmical unity does not consist of three, but of two words; and even if in Hab_3:15 we take the number three as a foundation [of rhythmical unity] the rhythmical arrangement indicated by the Masorites would still not involve the logical (comp. Psa_30:8). Our exposition is much simpler, by which the last four words, with the verb רָּרַךְ, which is naturally to be supplied, form a sentence. In this way the dragging occasioned by the following ace. instr. סוסיך as well as the still more pompous conception of the second member disappears, and the clause [156] stands in apposition. דרך has then both constructions, with ב as in Deu_11:24, and with the Acc. as in Job_20:15. Following Psa_77:20 (19) Delitzsch finds in the passage a reminiscence of the Red Sea; Hitzig understands by the sea the host of the enemy. The latter on account of the connection with what immediately precedes, is the more probable (comp. Isa_17:12 ff.). And it appears to me nearest the truth according to the joint connection of the combined thoughts: As thou didst once lead thy people through the Red Sea, and marching before didst cast down the waters, so wilt thou now march through, renewing thy work (Hab_3:2) and treading down the surging mass of the enemy’s host.

The Subjective Application of the Prophecy follows, with trembling, but confident faith, in the third principal part, Hab_3:16-19. After the vast picture has rolled past his eyes, the prophet looks back to the beginning. I have heard this,—this divine judgment just described, which depends upon the sad condition of the land’s being overrun by the Chaldæans;—my belly trembled (comp. Isa_16:11). At the cry, crying aloud, my lips quivered. Gew.: At the sound my lips quivered (Delitzsch, chattered). צלל cannot mean to chatter, for the lips do not chatter, but the teeth. We translate it according to the analogy of לַשָּׁוִא and לְמִרְמָה, Exo_20:7; Psa_24:4; comp. Isa_15:5. Rottenness, the feeling of complete weakness (Pro_12:4) comes into my bones, and under me, down to my feet (Ewald, sec. 217 k), I tremble: that I (אשׁרֹ, quod, as in 1Sa_2:23; Psa_89:52) am to wait quietly (נוּחַ, of silent submission, as in Lam_3:26) for the day of distress (comp. on Hab_3:2 and on Oba_1:12), for the approach of him against the people, who is about to oppress them. לְ, sensu infenso, as in Job_20:27. After the grand consolatory picture, the prophet once more indulges, for himself and his hearers, in this gloomy view, which he draws of the nearest future.

Hab_3:17. For the fig tree will not blossom, and no yield will be on the vine—the fruit of the olive tree fails: it shrivels up. [Kleinert translates מַֽעֲשֵׂה־זַיִת, das Ansetzen, die Frucht-ansätze des Oelbaums; it is literally fruit of the olive tree. Compare the phrase עָשָׂח פְרי to bear fruit.—C. E.] Figs, wine, olive tree are mentioned as the noblest products of the land (Mic_4:4; Mic_6:15). And the corn-field yields no food. שׁדמות, fields, is plurale tantum, with a singular signification, equivalent to שָׂדֶה hence construed with the singular (Ges., sec. 146, 2). The flock is away, literally cut off from the fold, and there are no cattle in the stalls. As in Joel 1 f. the desolation caused by the enemy (e. f.) seems to be summed up with the natural calamities that befall the land (a–d).

But out of the distress the prophet, and with him the people, raises his eye to the object of faith, gathering words of hope and confidence from the Psalms, as in Mic_6:7. Hab_3:18. But I—used emphatically to express the antithesis: notwithstanding all that, just as in Mic_7:7—will rejoice upon Jehovah. בּ, not in God, but as in the verbs expressing delight generally, indicating the ground of the joy, comp. ἐπί, Luk_1:47. I will exult in the God of my salvation, who procures my salvation, and upon whom my salvation rests (Hab_3:13; Mic_7:7). For—

Hab_3:19. Jehovah, the Lord, the God of Israel, whom other nations do not have, nor know (Mic_4:5; comp. Gen_9:25 (26)), is my strength (Psa_27:1), and He makes my feet like hinds; a concise comparison, equivalent to the feet of hinds, borrowed from Psa_18:34 (33). This is not merely a figure for warlike activity in pursuing, but more commonly for the irresistible strength, which springs from confidence in God (comp. Isa_40:29 ff.), (Delitzsch). He makes me to walk on my high places (from Psa_18:34 (33); comp. Deu_33:29),—upon the heights of salvation, which stand at the end of the way of tribulation, and which only the righteous man climbs by the confidence of faith (Hab_2:4). With this prospect of faith resulting from Hab_3:4-15, the hymn closes naturally and beautifully.

The Liturgical Subscription,—to the chief singer on my stringed instruments,—corresponds to the heading, Hab_3:1 (compare the Introduction, 3). בּ cannot, as Hitzig thinks, represent the stat. abs.; but it is, as in these musical expressions generally, the בּ of accompaniment (Psa_33:2-3). Habakkuk accordingly dispatched his hymn to the director of the temple-music (comp. the Comm. on Psa_4:1), and stipulated for the accompaniment of the performance. To accompany the hymn for the praise of God with stringed instruments was customary among those skilled in music (Psa_77:7 (6)), Not merely the Levites, but also other prominent members of the congregation and moved by the Spirit, as, e. g., the king, had the right and were accustomed to do this in the temple (Isa_38:20).

[Keil: “The last words, לַמְצֵּחַ בִּנְגִֽינוֹתַי, do not form part of the contents of the supplicatory ode, but are a subscription answering to the heading in Hab_3:1, and refer to the use of the ode in the worship of God, and simply differ from the headings בִּנְגִינוֹת לַמְנַצֵּחַ in Ps. 4, 6.,54, 55, 67, and 76. through the use of the suffix in בִּנְגינוֹתַי. Through the words, “to the president (of the temple-music, or the conductor) in accompaniment of my stringed playing,” the prophet appoints his psalm for use in the public worship of God accompanied by his stringed playing. Hitzig’s rendering is grammatically false, “to the conductor of my pieces of music;” for בְ cannot be used as a periphrasis for the genitive, but when connected with a musical expression, only means with or in the accompaniment of (ב instrumenti or concomitantiæ). Moreover, נְגִינוֹת does not mean pieces of music, but simply a song, and the playing upon stringed instruments, or the stringed instrument itself (see at Psalms 4). The first of these renderings gives no suitable sense here, so that there only remains the second, viz.: “playing upon stringed instruments.” But if the prophet, by using this formula, stipulates that the ode is to be used in the temple, accompanied by stringed instruments, the expression bingînôthai, with my stringed playing, affirms that he himself will accompany it with his own playing, from which it has been justly inferred that he was qualified, according to the arrangements of the Israelitish worship, to take part in the public performance of such pieces of music as were suited for public worship, and therefore belonged to the Levites, who were entrusted with the conduct of the musical performance of the temple.

Alexander on Isa_38:20 : “The singular form, my songs, refers to Hezekiah as the author of this composition; the plurals, we will sing and our lives, to the multitude who might be expected to join in his public thanksgiving, not only at first, but in after ages.”

Kleinert has adduced no proof, except the single case of Hezekiah, which does not seem to be conclusive, that others besides Levites were accustomed to take part in the performance of the Temple-music. David divided four thousand Levites into twenty-four classes, who sang psalms and accompanied them with music. Each of these classes was superintended by a leader, מְנַצֵּחַ placed over it; and they performed the duties, which devolved upon them, each class a week at a time in succession, 1Ch_16:5; 1Ch_23:4-5; 1Ch_25:1-31; comp. 2Ch_5:12-13. This arrangement was continued with occasional interruptions. 2Ch_5:12-14; 2Ch_29:27; 2Ch_35:15; Ezr_3:10; Neh_12:45-47; 1Ma_4:54; 1Ma_13:51.—C. E.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

Concerning the nature of the theophany see the Exegetical Exposition.

The works of God are all profoundly connected with one another. The soul of this connection is the revelation-principle, the light. With the shining of the light the physical creation begins, and each day is a copy of it [the physical creation] (Psalms 104 :, comp. Herder, WW. zur Rel. u. Theol., 1:56 ff.; 5:70 ff.); from a fresh shining in [upon us] of the light the prophets expect the removal of the disturbance in the moral world (Hos_6:3; Isaiah 9 and this hymn); and every governing act from the spirit of God is a prefiguration of this future [renovation] (2Sa_23:4). A shining of the light into the darkness, is the fulfillment of these expectations (Joh_1:5). The connection between the economy of the Old Testament and that of the New is this, that the spiritual meaning is evolved, with increasing clearness, from the physical groundwork. But this is in the midst of the years. At the end of the years the entire physical nature will be restored to the sphere of the spiritual light.

For between these two spheres there exists also an indissoluble connection. As the destruction of the original moral unity between God and mankind reflected itself on nature (Genesis 3), (and hence the prophets expect the removal of terrors and discord from the time of the salvation [the last time, or time of the Messiah], Isaiah 11), so the last consequence of sin, the judgment, is accompanied by the fearful commotion of the elements; before the avenging God march the most terrible judgments: the sighing of nature (Romans 8) becomes groaning and shrieking; but these again are only the travail-throes of the pure and glorious new birth. After the darkness and terror at the death of Jesus follows the resurrection of the dead.

On the other hand the coming of God to the judgment is organically connected with the issue of the document, according to which the judgment is to take place. It is a coming from Sinai. And as a coming to the relief and deliverance of captive Israel, it is associated with the prototype of their deliverances,—their emancipation from Egypt. It is indeed always something new, which Jehovah does, and yet always only a revival of the old; He is a steadfast and unchangeable God, and perfectly uniform in his manifestations, and always acknowledges the beginnings of his actions. However strange his works and revelations appear, considered a priori, so strange that the view of them is unsupportable; yet when He goes forth, He goes forth for the salvation of his people. He is a faithful and concealed God.

Every renewal of the wrath and pity of God is one of the gradual fulfillments of the protevangelium (Genesis 3), that the serpent is indeed permitted to bruise the holy seed on the heel, on account of sin, but that again and again its head is crushed (Hab_3:14); and it is a gradual revival of the proto-prophecy (1 Kings 19), according to which, the still small voice, in which God is, comes, after the wild agitations of the terrible judgment which goes before Him.

In this all-embracing unity of the work of God lies the key to the understanding of intuitive prophecy. Standing upon its watch-tower (Hab_2:1) it sees, over the scene of confusion, the work of God in its unity and entireness, as if its parts were placed side by side, and it leaves to the succession of time to carry into effect successively the parts of that [work], which it sees as one. Thus the individual fulfillments are like coverings, which drawn over the picture and transparent, fall off one after the other, until the substance, which lies in the nature of God Himself, the Cabodh [glory] of Jehovah, shall arrive at its perfect manifestation. In the mean time it finds in the combined view ground enough to rejoice on [über, see on Hab_3:18—C. E.] God, for the certainty of salvation is the true central feature of the picture. God is neither in the storm, and tempest, and earthquake, which go before Him, neither is He in the fiery chariots and horsemen; but behind all these in the still small voice. When those events going before have purified the high places, God sets his people likewise purified upon them. Then Mount Zion is higher than all mountains (Micah 5).

Crusius: The things, which the prophets announce, are exhibited (complexe) in a comprehensive picture, so that they are taken into the eye all at once in their whole extent, or κατὰ τὸ ἀποτελέσμα, i. e., according to the form, which the thing will have at the time of its full accomplishment.

Schmieder (on Hab_3:13): The picture might be still more comprehensive, if, in accordance with Dan_2:31 ff., we conceive the entire succession of hostile empires as the image of one man or house, whose colossal size falls under the judgments of God, after its head is broken off.

Beck: The promise enters upon a new active development, when corruption of morals and distress reached with rapid steps their culminating point in the Exile. As on the one side the character of guilt and penal liability impressed itself always more generally and more perceptibly upon the life, soon the other side, particularly among the better sort, a despair of the means of delivery lying within their own reach, and a longing for reconciliation and redemption, directed to help from another source, must always have increased the more, but without being able to find thoroughly its true development and satisfaction otherwise than in the ground of Divine grace. For from it proceeds the consolation of deliverance and reconciliation, in such a manner, however, that the future salvation is never to be expected in a human way, but only from the Word and Arm and Spirit of Jehovah.

HOMILETICAL

The consolation of prophecy in the last tribulations of the people of God.

1. These tribulations must and will come (Hab_3:2 a, 16, 17).

2. But the same God, who decrees them, will also turn them away and put down all his enemies (Isa_54:10) (Hab_3:2 b–15).

3. And the final salvation is certain, therefore the Church can already, in the midst of troubles, maintain a joyful heart (Hab_3:18-19).

Hab_3:2. It is enjoined in the kingdom of God to rejoice with trembling. That easy indifference, which relies upon the forbearance and promises of God, without considering, with profound earnestness, his powerful wrath and the severity of his judgments, is a disposition of heart not well pleasing to Him. Rather from the knowledge that no one can stand before Him, if he will only consider (Hab_3:6) what sin and wrong are done, ought the prayer for mercy to come from every lip. If some are saved, yet no one has any claim to it; for it is alone his work.

Hab_3:3. The eye of the prophet standing upon his watch-tower turns to the south. In that direction lay Bethlehem, whence, according to Micah, the Messiah was to come.

Hab_3:4-5. The hand of God is also in that, which appears to us the most hostile and the least consistent with his nature full of life and light. If men do not prepare a way for Him, then He must prepare it for Himself.

Hab_3:6. The judgment proceeds according to strict justice, not in precipitate, but in holy, rigorously distributive wrath; without respect of persons, but with strict regard to the facts. The highest things in the world, which appear to the eye of man altogether unassailable and indestructible, sink before the glance of God’s eye into dust and nothing. The Word is everywhere God’s weapon and instrument. By the Word of his mouth all things were created; before the Word they perish; the Word is a hammer, which breaks the rocks. Wind and sea are obedient to Him; what will men oppose? They raise their weapons (Hab_3:14) in order to destroy themselves mutually; they do not hurt Him. If He cuts off the head of wickedness, then the remainder of it, though it flow like a sea, will not be able to continue, but it will be crushed.

Hab_3:10 f. It is a great matter, that we have the power to be tranquil in the time of tribulation, but it is not easy (Mat_26:37 ff.). And it is the less easy since the affliction is not caused merely by the wickedness and provocation of the enemy, but by the presence of God’s hand besides. In this lies the smarting sting of the chastisement.

Hab_3:18. But yet this sorrow is not worthy to be compared with the glory, which is to be revealed in us? If we are of good cheer when cast down, then we are the more certain that He will place us upon the high places. It is this alone that can banish from us what is not God’s power, and what is unworthy of his salvation; what troubles us. Hard as it is for us to bring ourselves to this, we will then nevertheless be tranquil and free. The lighter the burden the swifter the course to salvation (Hab_2:3).

Luther: Hab_3:2. The prophet says: History says this of thee, that thou art such a wonderful God as to afford help in the midst of trouble; thou castest down and raisest up; thou destroyest when thou intendest to build, and killest him to whom thou givest life (1Sa_2:6 ff.); thou doest not as the world does, which at the very beginning attempts to prevent misfortune and continues involved in it, but thou bringest us into the midst of it, and drawest us out again. In the midst of the years means just at the right time: He knows well how to find the means to render help neither too soon, nor too late. For in case He brought help too soon we would not learn to despair of ourselves and would continue presumptuous; in case He brought it too late, we would not learn to believe. To revive and to make known are nearly the same thing, only that to revive is to perform the miracle and bring relief; but to make known means that we should be sensible of and delight in it. He who desires to be saved must learn so to know God. It is consolatory to believers, but intolerable to the ungodly.

Hab_3:6. At the Red Sea He stood between Israel and the Egyptians, and measured off the land so that the Egyptians could not proceed farther than He had allotted to them.

Hab_3:16. A joyful heart is half the man, a sorrowful heart makes even the bones weak.

Hab_3:19. The Lord is still my God. Of this we will be so glad, that we will run and spring like hinds, so nimble are our feet to become; and we will no longer wade and creep in mire, but for perfect delight we will soar and fly in the high places and do nothing but sing joyfully and pursue all kinds of delightful employment. This is to take place when the Babylonian sceptre is cursed and destroyed, and we are redeemed and the kingdom comes.

Starke: Hab_3:1. Preachers must pray earnestly for the welfare of their hearers and of the whole church.

Hab_3:2. The remembrance of God is not an inactive, but an active and busy remembrance, since He actually increases faith, and causes the faithful to taste his sweetness, presence, and assistance. Even if He scourges his children, He does not cease to be their father, and to remember his mercy (Lam_3:33).

Hab_3:3. The reason that God causes the great deeds which He has done of old to be written down, is that such deeds may be made known to all men upon earth, and that men may thence learn his majesty and glory.

Hab_3:7. We should ascribe to God the brave deeds of great heroes, by which they have assisted the Church of the Lord.

Hab_3:9. “God bends, as it were, his bow, when He would warn impenitent people of coming calamity.

Hab_3:12. When God intends to execute penal judgments, He proceeds by degrees.

Hab_3:15. The ungodly man is like a tempest, which passes by and vanishes; but the righteous man continues forever.

Hab_3:16. The pious, as well as the godless, are terrified at the divine threatenings, but with a great difference.

Hab_3:18. In tribulation we ought not to look only upon the blows which we suffer, but also upon the gracious deliverance which ensues.

Hab_3:19. Servants of God do not despise music, but only give directions how it should be properly used in the praise of God.

Pfaff: Hab_3:2. Behold how merciful and kind God is. In the midst of tribulation He remembers mercy, yes, in the midst of tribulation He causes his children to feel the strongest consolations.

Hab_3:3. How great is the majesty of our God, proof of which He has given in the giving of his law and in the destruction of his enemies.

Hab_3:8 ff. As God formerly led his Israel gloriously into the land of Canaan and protected them against his enemies, so will He also gloriously protect the spiritual Israel of the New Covenant against all enemies.

Rieger: Hab_3:1. So can contemplation and prayer even at this day alternate in the treatment of the prophetic Word.

Hab_3:2. The prophet shows in the very beginning what was in the bottom of his heart, namely, a calm, holy fear of God occasioned by the past, and a good confidence acquired for the future. God’s work in Christ Jesus, and the making of it known to the whole world, fell in the middle of the world’s age, as it was fitting for the light of the world. If at the same time confusion may seem to exist on the earth, and judgments, of whatever kind they may be, may press upon a people, yet on account of this grace, which is through Christ Jesus, mercy is conspicuous far above judgment.

Hab_3:3-15. The prophet recalls in his memory how God had judged from the beginning of the world, and how all former proofs in the midst of Israel give a ground of hope and confidence for the future; because all the works and ways of God in their great diversity have nevertheless a coherent relation, and always meet in this, that in tribulation God yet remembers mercy, and that from the most terrible commotions still something gracious comes forth.

Hab_3:16 ff. But indeed if one discovers a view of the kingdom of God, be it ever so beautiful, behind the judgments, yet it fills him with dread that room is to be made for the good only thus, and we are reminded of what will still thereby be stripped from us and ours. Nevertheless the mind gains relief: leave me only, when all is gone, thyself, and Jesus and thy Word; then the mind remains contented and humble, and one is preserved from all vexation at the ways of God.

Schmieder: On Hab_3:3. The prophet is here a poet, who soars by separate images easily under stood to the mental vision of the inexpressible majesty of the holy God in his active character of judge also hereafter, when the new enemies oppress the and deliverer. All his powerful operations in nature, the power of the sun, storm, earthquake, and flood, all the recollections of former divine judgments, he employs as insufficient images in order to indicate how everything lofty in nature, all the power of the nations, must vanish before the power of God. The impending judgment upon the empire of the Chaldæans and the deliverance of Israel from Babylon serve him only as a suggestion, in order to announce in the midst of the years of the world’s course the great deeds of God, which lead in the very last time to the full revelation of God on all sides we find a lasting and firm consolation and of his kingdom.

Schlier: Hab_3:10 ff. The head of the enemy was broken. Pharaoh and his entire host were drowned in the depths of the sea. So will it be also hereafter, when the new enemies oppress the Lord’s people; their head, a second Pharaoh, shall perish with all his people; as certainly as the hand of the Lord then smote the enemy upon the head, so certainly will it happen to them on every day of affliction.

Tarnov: Hab_3:16 ff. The pious are terrified at God’s threatenings; the wicked, on the contrary, despise them at first in proud security; but afterward, when calamity afflicts them, they entirely lose their courage and perish.

L. Osiander: Hab_3:19. When we are assailed on all sides we find a lasting and firm consolation within, that our God, the God of our salvation, is our Saviour and Redeemer. For after reconciliation and forgiveness of sins, what harm can external attacks do to us? Comp. Isa_33:24.

Footnotes:

[1] [Hab_3:1.—עַל שִׁגְיֹנוֹת, upon shigyonoth. Keil derives it from שָׁגָה, to err, then to reel to and fro, a reeling song, i. e., a song delivered in the greatest excitement, dithyrambus; after dithyrambs, or after the manner of a martial and triumphal ode. Kleinert: nach Dithyrambenweise.

Gesenius derives it from שָׁגָה, perhaps i. q. שָׂגָה,שָׂגָא, to be great, the letters שׁ and שׂ being interchanged.

[2][Hab_3:3. אֶל וֹהַּ, not used by any of the minor prophets except Habakkuk, in this verse and in Hab_1:11. It is most frequently used in the book of Job.

[3] [Hab_3:3.—תֵּימָז, at, or on the right hand, hence the south, the quarter on the right hand, when the face is toward the east.

Teman was a country probably named after the grandson of Esau (Gen_36:11); perhaps a southern portion of the land of Edom, or, in a wider sense, that of the sons of the East, Beni-Kedem. Eusebius and Jerome mention Teman as a town in their day distant fifteen miles (according to Eusebius) from Petra, and a Roman post. Smith’s Dict. Bib.

[4][Hab_3:3.—הר־פָּארָן, Deu_33:2. See Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, art. “Paran,” and Robinson’s Bib. Res. in Pal., etc., vol. 1, pp. 186 and 552.

[5][Hab_3:4.—קַרְנַיִם, in the dual, poetical for rays of light. Arabic poets compare the first rays of the rising sun to horns, and hence give to the sun the poetical name of gazelle. Compare אַיֶּלֶת. Gesen., Lex. Kleinert: Strahlen sind ihm zur Seite.

[6][Hab_3:4, etc.וְשָׁם חֶבְיוֹן, and there—in the sun-like splendor, with the rays emanating from it—is the hiding of his omnipotence, i.e, the place where his omnipotence hides itself. The splendor forms the covering of the Almighty God. Keil.

[7][Hab_3:6.—וַיְמֹדֶד, derived by some from מָרַר, to measure, and by others from מוּר, to be moved, to be agitated. The LXX. read: Καὶ ἐσαλεὑθη ἡ γῆ; the Vulgate has: mensus est terram. Luther renders it: und mass das Land; Keil: sets the earth reeling; Kleinert: und misst die Erde.

[8][Hab_3:6.—הֲלִיכוֹת עוֹלָם לוֹ. Henderson considers these words as epexegetical of the preceding, and translates them: His ancient ways. Keil understands it as a substantive clause, and to be taken by itself: everlasting courses, or goings are to him, i. e. He now goes along as he went along in the olden time. Kleinert: Die Pfade der Vorzeit schlagt er ein.

[9][Hab_3:7.—כוּשָׁן, a lengthened form for כוּשׁ. Whether it is intended to designate the African or the Arabian Cush is disputed. Gesenius, Maurer, Delitzsch, and others contend for the former; but the connection of the name with that of מִדְיָן, is decidedly in favor of the latter. Henderson.

[10][Hab_3:9.—שְׁבֻעוֹת מַטּוֹת ֹאמֶר is a very obscure clause, and has not been satisfactorily explained. Henderson renders it: “Sevens of spears was the word.” LXX,:̓Εντείνων ʼεντενεῖς τὸ τόξον σου ἐπὶ τὰ σκῆπτρα, λέγει κύριος; the Vulgate: juramenta tribubus quœ, locutus es: Luther: wie du geschworen hattest den Stammen; Kleinert: die durch’s Wort beschworenen Zuchtruthen.

[11][Hab_3:11.—זְבֻלָה, the ה in this word indicates direction. The sun and moon withdrew to their habitation.

[12][Hab_3:16.—תַּחַת, the lower part, what is underneath. תַחְתַּי, what is underneath me, i. e., my lower parts.

[13][Hab_3:16.—This clause explains the great fear that fell upon him. Vulgate: ut requiescam in die tribulationis. The LXX. do not translate אַשׁור—ἀναπαύσομαι ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψσεώς μου. Luther: O dass ich ruhen möchte zur Zeit der Trübsal. Kleinert: dass ich ruhig entgegenharren soll dem. Tage der Angst.

[14][Hab_3:17.—כּי may be rendered although, as in the A. V., or though, as by Henderson: or it may be translated, what time, when; but it can also be rendered like the Greek γαρ, or the Latin enim. The LXX. render it in this verse by διότι; the Vulgate translates it enim; Luther, denn; and Kleinert, denn da. The sense is substantially the same in either case.

[15][Hab_3:19.—לַמְנַצֵּחַ, from the Piel of כָצַח, signifying, to be over anything, to be chief, to superintend—Dem Gesangmeister.—C. E.]

[16][Moment, among other meanings, has that of essential element, part of a whole. The two momenta, that make up the prophetic vision here, are destruction and purufication. It is the first which cause the prophet to recoil.—C. E.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 3

The Vision of the Coming of the Lord

1. The prophet’s prayer (Hab 3:1-2)

2. The coming of the Lord for judgment and redemption (Hab 3:3-15)

3. The effect upon the prophet (Hab 3:16-19)

Hab 3:1-2. Once more we hear the voice of the man of God in prayer. Shigionoth is the plural of Shiggaion, and is found in the superscription of Psa 7:1-17. Its meaning is “loud crying.” The connection with the seventh Psalm is interesting. In that Psalm God appeared to David as the God of judgment, the righteous God who must save His righteous people and condemn the wicked. (See Annotations on Psa 7:1-17.) The prophet had listened to the message and penned it as we have it in the preceding chapter. It struck terror to his heart and he trembled. Therefore he pleads for a revival of the Lord’s work in the midst of the years. He must have taken a hasty glance over the past history of his people, how God had worked in their behalf in Egypt, redeemed them, led them forth, and the many evidences of the display of His power in behalf of the elect nation. And now, in the midst of years, he asks a revival of this work, the interposition of Jehovah, that He may be known in His power. The text is often quoted in pleading a revival among the dead conditions of Christendom. But it is a revival of the work of the Lord in a very different sense of the word, as we have indicated.

He knows that wrath is on the way. Not only wrath for the Chaldeans, but for his people, that the unbelieving, the apostates, would also have to face the judgment. Therefore he pleads, “In wrath remember mercy.” Such is the way of God always. Judgment is His strange work, and mercy is mingled with His judgments. It will be so in connection with the winding up of this present age, when judgment wrath sweeps over the earth, and especially Israel’s land; He then will have mercy upon His people. The time of wrath will be His time of mercy, the covenant mercies promised to Israel. “Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion, for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come.” And when will that be? When the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory Psa 102:13-28.

The great inspired ode which follows is one of the greatest sections of prophecy. It is a wonderful theophany the Spirit of God describes. Wrath and mercy are manifested, so that it is an answer to the prophet’s plea. “In wrath remember mercy.”

It has been said, “The poet describes a great storm, advancing from the south, the region of Paran and Sinai. In the dark storm clouds he conceives Jehovah to be concealed; the lightning flashes which illumine heaven and earth disclose glimpses of the dazzling brightness immediately about him; the earth quakes, the hills sink, and the neighboring desert tribes look on in dismay” (Canon Driver). Thus higher criticism, reduces one of the sublimest inspired prophecies, concerning the future appearing of the Lord, to the level of poetry.

The great description of His coming must be linked with similar prophecies Deu 33:22; Psa 18:8-50; Psa 18:33-50; Psa 68:8; Psa 68:34; Psa 77:17-20. The great ode, cast in the form of a Psalm, begins with the statement that God cometh from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Moses in his prophetic blessing also begins with a similar declaration. “The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shined from Mount Paran, and He came with the thousands of His saints (angels); from His right hand went a fiery law for them.” Just as He was manifested when He had redeemed them out of Egypt, and constituted them His Kingdom people at Sinai Exo 19:1-25, so will He appear again to deliver the remnant of His people from the dominion of the world-power, and judge them as He judged Egypt. He comes from the direction of Edom, for Teman is the southern district of Idumea, while Paran is more southward. Isaiah also beheld him advancing from the same direction. “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?” Isa 63:1-19. It is unfortunate that the Authorized Version has “God came from Teman,” when it is “God cometh,” not a past but a future event. After this opening statement the first Selah is put. This means to pause and to lift up. We are to pause and meditate, and then to lift up our hearts and voices in praise and thanksgiving. It is found seventy-one times in the Psalms and three times in this chapter of Habakkuk.

His glory covers the heavens, while the earth is filled with His praise. Heaven and earth reflect the glory of the Coming One. How all this corresponds with the divine statements concerning His coming in the New Testament does not need to be pointed out. He comes in power and great glory, in the clouds of heaven, as Daniel beheld Him in the night vision, and as our Lord testified Himself. Brightness fills the sky as He appears in person, while out of His hand glory rays emanate, the hiding of His power. The picture is evidently taken from the rising sun, which shoots forth great rays, heralding its ascending. As Delitzsch remarks, “His hand” means in a general sense, as signifying the hand generally, and not a single hand only. May we not have here a hint of His hands pierced once, but now emanating glory? Before Him goes the pestilence, indicating the trouble which precedes His coming, when the four apocalyptic riders bring war, famine, pestilence, and death in judgment for this earth.

With the sixth verse He draws nearer. Up to this point in the theophany He is described as coming forth, like the sun out of His chamber, heaven and earth reflecting His glory, but now He stands and measures the earth; He looks and the nations tremble, while all creation is affected, and earthquakes shake down the mountains.

Then the prophet sees the tents of Cushan in affliction and the curtains of Midian tremble. Cushan means the Ethiopians, and the Midianites inhabited the Arabian coast along the Red Sea. The past is seen as a prophecy of the future. As He once came at Sinai, when the mountains shook and the hills trembled, and as once the tidings of the Red Sea disaster inspired terror among the neighboring nations, so will it be, only on a larger scale, when He comes in great power and glory.

The verses which follow (Hab 3:8-15) are in the form of an address to God. The rivers and the seas, and the mountains feel His wrath; they represent symbolically the nations and the world-powers. He is seen marching in anger through the earth and in His fury treading down the nations. It is a majestic picture the Spirit of God gives of that coming day of wrath and judgment.

But while He comes thus, executing wrath and judgment upon the ungodly, He comes in mercy. He goes forth for the salvation of His people, for the salvation of Thine anointed, that is, the elect nation and the God-fearing, waiting remnant of the last days Psa 105:15. And there will be on the earth in that day the head of the house of the wicked, the ungodly head, the man of sin, the heading up of all apostasy and opposition to God. His doom is predicted in Hab 3:13, followed by another Selah, like Hab 3:3 and Hab 3:9.

Hab 3:16-19. The prophet now speaks of his own feeling, which reflects the feeling of the godly among the Jews when this great theophany becomes history. There is fear and trembling in view of the coming tribulation. When he heard it he trembled; he is completely prostrated. He desires rest in the day of trouble, the day when the final enemy of God’s people marches through the land. Then faith is triumphant, and in one of the most magnificent outbursts the prophet declares his confidence in his God (Hab 3:17). Such will be the faith of the godly who pass through the time of great trouble. Finally he rejoices in the God of his salvation and declares his hope that his feet will be like hinds’ feet to escape to the high places. Even so the remnant of Israel will be delivered. We leave the application to the Church-saints with the reader.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:1-19 Habakkuk’s prophecy concludes with a psalm-like prayer.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Prophet instructeth his people to pray unto God, not only for their great sins but also for such as they had committed of ignorance.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

This chapter is entitled a prayer of Habakkuk. It is a meditation with himself, an intercession for the church. Prophets were praying men; this prophet was so (He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, Gen 20:7); and sometimes they prayed for even those whom they prophesied against. Those that were intimately acquainted with the mind of God concerning future events knew better than others how to order their prayers, and what to pray for, and, in the foresight of troublous times, could lay up a stock of prayers that might then receive a gracious answer, and so be serving the church by their prayers when their prophesying was over. This prophet had found God ready to answer his requests and complaints before, and therefore now repeats his applications to him. Because God has inclined his ear to us, we must resolve that therefore we will call upon him as long as we live. 1. The prophet owns the receipt of God's answer to his former representation, and the impression it made upon him (v. 2): "O Lord! I have heard thy speech, thy hearing" (so some read it), "that which thou wouldst have us hear, the decree that has gone forth for the afflicting of thy people. I received thine, and it is before me." Note, Those that would rightly order their speech to God must carefully observe, and lay before them, his speech to them. He had said (Hab 2:1), I will watch to see what he will say; and now he owns, Lord, I have heard thy speech; for, if we turn a deaf ear to God's word, we can expect no other than that he should turn a deaf ear to our prayers, Pro 28:9. I heard it, and was afraid. Messages immediately from heaven commonly struck even the best and boldest men into a consternation; Moses, Isaiah, and Daniel, did exceedingly fear and quake. But, besides that, the matter of this message made the prophet afraid, when he heard how low the people of God should be brought, under the oppressing power of the Chaldeans, and how long they should continue under it; he was afraid lest their spirits should quite fail, and lest the church should be utterly rooted out and run down, and, being kept low so long, should be lost at length. 2. He earnestly prays that for the elect's sake these days of trouble might be shortened, or the trouble of these days mitigated and moderated, or the people of God supported and comforted under it. He thinks it very long to wait till the end of the years; perhaps he refers to the seventy years fixed for the continuance of the captivity, and therefore, "Lord," says he, "do something on our behalf in the midst of the years, those years of our distress; though we be not delivered, and our oppressors destroyed, yet let us not be abandoned and cast off." (1.) "Do something for thy own cause: Revive thy work, thy church" (that is the work of God's own hand, formed by him, formed for him); "revive that, even when it walks in the midst of trouble, Psa 138:7, Psa 138:8. Grant thy people a little reviving in their bondage, Ezr 9:8; Psa 85:6. Preserve alive thy work" (so some read it); "though thy church be chastened, let it not be killed; though it have not its liberty, yet continue its life, save a remnant alive, to be a seed of another generation. Revive the work of thy grace in us, by sanctifying the trouble to us and supporting us under it, though the time be not yet come, even the set time, for our deliverance out of it. Whatever becomes of us, though we be as dead and dry bones, Lord, let thy work be revived, let not that sink, and go back, and come to nothing." (2.) "Do something for thy own honour: In the midst of the years make known, make thyself known, for now verily thou art a God that hidest thyself (Isa 45:15), make known thy power, thy pity, thy promise, thy providence, in the government of the world, for the safety and welfare of thy church. Though we be buried in obscurity, yet, Lord, make thyself known; whatever becomes of Israel, let not the God of Israel be forgotten in the world, but discover himself even in the midst of the dark years, before thou art expected to appear." When in the midst of the years of the captivity God miraculously owned the three children in the fiery furnace, and humbled Nebuchadnezzar, this prayer was answered, In the midst of the years make known. (3.) "Do something for thy people's comfort: In wrath remember mercy, and make that known. Show us thy mercy, O Lord!" Psa 85:7. They see God's displeasure against them in their troubles, and that makes them grievous indeed. There is wrath in the bitter cup; that therefore they deprecate, and are earnest in begging that he is a merciful God and they are vessels of his mercy. Note, Even those that are under the tokens of God's wrath must not despair of his mercy; and mercy, mere mercy, is that which we must flee to for refuge, and rely upon as our only plea. He does not say, Remember our merit, but, Lord, remember thy own mercy.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER III

The prophet, being apprised of the calamities which were to be

brought on his country by the ministry of the Chaldeans, and

the punishments which awaited the Chaldeans themselves, partly

struck with terror, and partly revived with hope and confidence

in the Divine mercy, beseeches God to hasten the redemption of

his people, 1, 2.

Such a petition would naturally lead his thoughts to the

astonishing deliverance which God vouchsafed to the same people

of old; and the inference from it was obvious, that he could

with the same ease deliver their posterity now. But, hurried

on by the fire and impetuosity of his spirit, he disdains to

wait the process of connecting these ideas, and bounds at once

into the midst of his subject: "God came from Teman," c., 3.

He goes on to describe the majesty and might which God

displayed in conducting his people to the land of promise,

selecting the most remarkable circumstances, and clothing them

in the most lofty language. As he goes along, his fancy becomes

more glowing, till at length he is transported to the scene of

action, and becomes an eyewitness of the wonders he describes.

"I beheld the tents of Cushan in affliction," 4-6.

After having touched on the principal circumstances of that

deliverance which he celebrates, he returns to what passed

before them in Egypt his enthusiasm having led him to begin

in the midst of his subject, 7-15.

And at last he ends the hymn as he began it, with expressing

his awe of the Divine judgments, and his firm trust in the

mercy and goodness of God while under them; and that in terms

of such singular beauty, elegance, and sublimity, as to form a

to proper conclusion to this admirable piece of Divinely

inspired composition, 16-19.

It would seem from the title, and the note appended at the

end, that it was set to music, and sung in the service of the

temple.

NOTES ON CHAP. III

Verse 1. A prayer of Habakkuk - upon Shigionoth.] See the note on the title of Ps 7:1, where the meaning of Shiggaion is given. The Vulgate has, pro ignorantiis, for ignorances, or sins committed in ignorance; and so it is understood by the Chaldee. The Syriac has nothing but merely, A prayer of Habakkuk. And the Septuagint, instead of Shigionoth, have μεταωδης, with a hymn, which is copied by the Arabic.

I suspect that the title here given is of a posterior date to the prophecy. It appears to interrupt the connection between this and the termination of the preceding verse. See them together: -

Hab 2:20: "But the Lord is in his holy temple: Be silent before him, all the earth.

Hab 3:2: O Lord, I have heard thy speech: I have feared, O Lord, thy work.

As the years approach thou hast shown; As the years approach thou makest known.

In wrath thou rememberest mercy."

The prophet may here refer to the speech which God had communicated to him, Hab 1:1-11; Hab 2:4-20, and the terror with which he was struck, because of the judgments denounced against Jerusalem. I have followed the version of Apb. Newcome in this first verse. The critical reader may consult his notes, and the various readings of Kennicott and De Rossi.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

There is no doubt but that the Prophet dictated this form of prayer for his people, before they were led into exile, that they might always exercise themselves in the study of religion. We indeed know that God cannot be rightly and from the heart worshipped but in faith. Hence, in order to confine the dispersed Israelites within due limits, so that they might not fall away from true religion, the Prophet here sets before them the materials of faith, and stimulates them to prayer: and we know, that our faith cannot be supported in a better way than by the exercise of prayer.

Let us then bear in mind, that the way of fostering true religion, prescribed here to the miserable Israelites while dispersed in their exile, was to look up to God daily, that they might strengthen their faith; for they could not have otherwise continued in their obedience to God. They would, indeed, have wholly fallen away into the superstitions of the Gentiles, had not the memory of the covenant, which the Lord had made with them, remained firm in their hearts: and we shall presently see that the Prophet lays much stress upon this circumstance.

He calls it his own prayer, not because he used it himself privately, or composed it for himself, but that the prayer might have some authority among the people; for they knew that a form of prayer dictated for them by the mouth of a Prophet, was the same as though the Spirit itself was to show them how they were to pray to God. The name, then, of Habakkuk is added to it, not because he used it himself, but that the people might be more encouraged to pray, when they knew that the Holy Spirit, through the Prophet, had become their guide and teacher.

There is some difficulty connected with the word שגינות, sheginut. The verb שגג, shegag, or שגה, shege, means, to act inconsiderately; and from שגה, shege, is derived שגיון, shegiun. Many render it, ignorance; some, delight. Some think it to be the beginning of a song; others suppose it to be a common melody; and others, a musical instrument. Thus interpreters differ. In the seventh Psalm David, no doubt, calls either a song or some musical instrument by the word שגיון, shegiun. Yet some think that David bears testimony there to his own innocency; and that, as he was not conscious of having done wrong, his own innocency is alone signified by the title: but this is a strained view. The word is taken in this place, almost by common consent, for ignorances: and we know that the Hebrews denominate by ignorances all errors or falls which are not grievous, and such things as happen through inadvertence; and by this word they do not extenuate their faults, but acknowledge themselves to be inconsiderate when they offend. Then שגיון, shegiun, is no excusable ignorance, which men lay hold on as a pretext; but an error of folly and presumptions, when men are not sufficiently attentive to the word of God. But perhaps the word שגינות, sheginut, being here in the plural number, ought to be taken for musical instruments. Yet as I would not willingly depart from a received opinion, and as there is no necessity in this case to constrain us to depart from it, let us follow what had been already said,—that the Prophet dictates here for his people a form of prayer for ignorances, that is, that they could not otherwise hope for God’s forgiveness than by seeking his favor. And how can we be reconciled to God, except by his not imputing to us our sins?

But the Prophet, by asking for the pardons of ignorances, does not omit more grievous sins; but intimates that though their conscience does not reprove men, they are yet not on that account innocent and without guilt; for they often inconsiderately fall, and their faults are not to be excused for inadvertence. It is, then, the same thing as though the Prophet reminded his own people, that there was no remedy for them in adversity but by fleeing to God, and fleeing as suppliants, in order to solicit his forgiveness; and that they were not only to acknowledge their more grievous sins, but also to confess that they were in many respects guilty; for they might have fallen through error a thousand times, as we are inconsiderate almost through the whole course of our life. We now, then, perceive what this word means, and why the Prophet spoke rather of ignorances than of other sins. But I shall not proceed farther now, as there is some other business.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(1) Upon Shigionoth.—This term points, not to the contents of the composition, but either to its metrical structure or its musical setting. See on the Inscription of Psalms 7. Inasmuch as this ode is throughout an account of the deliverance anticipated by prayerful faith, it is called not a Psalm, mizmôr, but a Prayer, t’philtâh.

III.

(1-15) A hymn describing a future self-manifestation of Jehovah on Israel’s behalf, accompanied by the signs and wonders of the early history. It is impossible to give the English reader an idea of the rhythmical structure of this beautiful composition. We will only observe that it is independent of the arrangement in verses, and that the poem (except in Hab_3:7-8; Hab_3:13, fin.) consists of lines each containing exactly three words.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1–2. Introduction

1. A prayer of Habakkuk] The only part of the passage which is strictly prayer is Hab_3:2. But the whole poem is nothing but an amplification of the words “renew thy work.” The earnest direction of the poet’s mind towards God, and its absorption and loss of itself in the thought of Him and His operations is a prayer. For this wider idea of prayer cf. 1Sa_2:1; Psa_72:20. Comp. the title to Psalms 90.

upon Shigionoth] The word is plur. of Shiggaion in the title of Psalms 7 and may mean a wild, tumultuous and ecstatic poem. The word “upon” in such superscriptions appears to mean “after the mode of,” “to the music of” Shigionoth.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. Of the name, character, and office of the prophet; see Gill on Hab 1:1. This chapter is entitled a "prayer" of his, a supplicatory one, put up in an humble and earnest manner, and in the exercise of faith, and under the influence of a spirit of prophecy. He before had a vision of the coming of Christ, and of what enemies would rise up, and obstruct his kingdom and interest in the world; and here lie prays that these obstructions might be removed, and that the kingdom of Christ, in its full extent and glory, might take place in the world; and is a prayer of faith, as he prayed it might be, he believed it would be; and left this prayer behind him, for the use and instruction of the church in all ages, until the whole should be accomplished. It seems to be composed after the manner of the psalms of David, to make it the more pleasant and agreeable; and that it might be the more regarded, and be more fitted for the public use and service of the sanctuary: this appears from the style of it, which is poetical, lofty, and sublime; from the frequent use of the word "Selah", peculiar to the psalms of David, Hab 3:3 and from the direction of it to the chief singer on the stringed instruments, Hab 3:19 and from the phrase "upon", or "according to Shigionoth" here, which the Septuagint version renders "with a song"; and so the Arabic version, "after the manner of a song"; for this word seems to be the plural of Shiggaion, the title of the seventh psalm Psa 7:1; which was either the name, title, or first word of some song or songs, according to which this was to be sung; or the name of the tune with which it was to be sung; or of the instrument on which was to be sung: it very probably designs, and may called, an "erratic" or "wandering" song, because of the variableness of its metre, and of its tune. The Vulgate Latin version wrongly interprets it, "for ignorances"; as if this was a prayer of the prophet's for the pardon sins of error and ignorance committed by himself, or by others, or both; which sense is favoured by the Targum,

"a prayer which Habakkuk the prophet prayed, when it was revealed unto him concerning the length (of time) which (God) gave to the wicked; that, if they would return to the law with a perfect heart, they should be forgiven all the sins which they had committed before him as ignorance:''

but there does not appear throughout the whole prayer one single petition for the pardon of any sin at all.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A prayer of Habakkuk - o. The “prayer” of the prophet, in the strictest sense of the word, is contained in the words of Hab 3:2. The rest is, in its form, praise and thanksgiving, chiefly for God’s past mercies in the deliverance from Egypt and the entering into the promised land. But thanksgiving is an essential part of prayer, and Hannah is said to have “prayed,” whereas the hymn which followed is throughout one thanksgiving . In that also these former deliverances were images of things to come, of every deliverance afterward, and, especially, of that complete divine deliverance which our Lord Jesus Christ performed for us from the power of Satan 1Co 10:11, the whole is one prayer: “Do, O Lord, as Thou hast done of old; forsake not Thine own works. Such were Thy deeds once; fulfill them now, all which they shadowed forth.” It is then a prayer for the manifestation of God’s power, and therewith the destruction of His enemies, thenceforth to the Day of Judgment. Cyril: “Having completed the discourse about Babylon, and having fore-announced most clearly, that those who destroyed the holy city and carried Israel captive shall be severely punished, he passes suitably to the mystery of Christ, and from the redemption which took place partially in one nation, he carries on the discourse to that universal redemption, whereby the remnant of Israel, and no less the whole world has been saved.”

Upon Shigionoth - The title, “Shiggaion,” occurs only once besides Ps. 7. Upon, in the titles of the Psalms, is used with the instrument , the melody , or the first words of the hymn, whose melody has been adopted The two first are mentioned by a Jewish Commentator (Tanchum) with others, “in his delight,” or “his errors,” in the sense, that God will forgive them. This, which the versions and Jewish commentators mostly adopt, would be a good sense, but is hardly consistent with the Hebrew usage. “Shiggaion of David,” as a title of a Psalm, must necessarily describe the Psalm itself, as “Mismor of David,” “Michtam of David,” “Tephillah of David,” “Maschil of David.” But “Shiggaion,” as a “great error,” is not a title: nor does it suit the character of the Psalm, which relates to calumny not to error.

It probably, then, means a psalm with music expressive of strong emotion, “erratic” or “dithyrambic.” Habakkuk’s title, on Shigionoth (plural) then would mean upon, or (as we should say,) “set to” music of psalms of this sort The number “three” remarkably predominates in this psalm (Hab 3:6 has 15 words, in five combinations of three words; Hab 3:3, Hab 3:10 have 12 words, in four 3’s: Hab 3:4, Hab 3:9, Hab 3:19 have 9 words in three 3’s: Hab 3:5, Hab 3:12, Hab 3:15, Hab 3:18 have 6 words in two 3’s: Hab 3:17 is divided into 4-3-3-4-3-3; Hab 3:8 is 3-3-3-3-2; Hab 3:11 is 4-3-3; Hab 3:16 is 3-3-3-2-2-2-3. This forces itself on every reader. Delitzsch quotes the Meor. Enaim, i. 60, “The prayer of Habakkuk goeth on three’s”) yet so that long measures are succeeded by very short.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For ignorances. That is, for the sins of his people. In the Hebrew it is shignoth: which some take to signify a musical instrument, or tune, with which this sublime prayer and canticle was to be sung. (Challoner) --- The term is omitted in several Latin manuscripts. The precise import cannot be ascertained; yet it seems to imply a song of comfort. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "with a canticle." (Haydock) --- St. Jerome follows Aquila and Symmachus, and the 5th edition. Theodot.[Theodotion?] has, "for voluntary" transgressions. (Calmet) --- All sins proceed in some degree from ignorance, (Worthington) and are all the effects of free-will. (Haydock) --- The prophet prays to be freed from sin, and foretells the corning of Christ, &c. (Worthington) --- The :Fathers apply this canticle to Him, as the Church herself does in her office. We cannot go astray, following such guides. Yet some think that an allusion is made to the return from captivity, and from Egypt, which were noble figures of the world’s redemption. The prophet concludes with adoring the ways of God, (Calmet) which at first he had not comprehended. (Haydock) --- He is astonished at God’s mercy, in becoming incarnate for man’s sake. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A prayer: the prophet required the earth Should be silent before God, and now gives them example; he waits on and prays to God in his holy temple: some say it is a prayer of intercession, and that the word carrieth it so. Habakkuk the prophet: see Hab 1:1.

Shigionoth; a musical note, say some, and such note as the Jews have no certain knowledge of. Others say Shigionoth is ignorances, which the prophet doth confess, and sueth for the pardon of; both he and the people had erred, were offended at the darkness of Divine providences, and needed pardon as well as instruction: or it may be a prayer on occasion of the many and great changes Providence wrought in the affairs of the world and the church.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jehovah comes To Judgment

This is one of the most brilliant poems in the OT. It was written by a man of imagination as well as of faith. It is not quite certain whether Hab_3:8-15 are intended to refer to a past or future manifestation of Jehovah: in any case, there is the hope, or rather prayer, that history may repeat itself (Hab_3:2). The poem rests upon older theophanies: cp. Judges 5; Deuteronomy 33. Long ago at the exodus Jehovah had shown His power to interpose in history against all hope. He had come in the terrors of judgment and taken vengeance on the enemies of Israel: and what he did then, the Psalmist prays that He will do again. The power which He revealed on Israel's behalf at the dawn of her history, He can make known again in the midst of the years.

1. Upon Shigionoth] RV 'Set to Shigionoth.' This very obscure phrase (cp. Psalms 7) has been supposed to mean 'in a wandering, ecstatic manner,' implying that the poem that follows is a sort of dithyramb. Probably, as the LXX suggests, the original word simply meant, 'to the accompaniment of stringed instruments.'

3. The storm which accompanies Jehovah's coming begins in Sinai, His ancient home, and sweeps northward. Teman] a district in the NW. of Edom. Paran] the mountain range between Sinai and Seir.

4. Horns coming out of his hand] RV 'Bays coming forth from his hand.' This clause some take with the next one, so that the meaning would be 'the rays at His side He makes the veil of His power,' that is, the brightness is so blinding that His real and essential majesty cannot be seen.

5-8, Accompanied by His dread attendants, He takes His stand upon the earth, which reels and rocks beneath Him, and the nomad tribes are in terror.

5. Burning coals] RV 'fiery bolts.'

7. Gushan] Some identify this with Cush, i.e. Ethiopia. The parallelism suggests, however, that it may indicate some district in the neighbourhood of Sinai.

8-11. Wherefore such wrath? Why did Jehovah so confound the sea—perhaps the Red Sea—by means of His storm? 9a b; probably ought to read, 'Thou didst bare Thy bow, and fill Thy quiver with shafts' -an allusion to the thunder and the lightning. Fear kept sun and moon from shining (Hab_3:11).

12-15. It is to save His people that He comes.

13b. Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering (RV 'laying bare') the foundation unto the neck. There seems to be here a confusion of metaphor—'foundation' suggesting a building and 'neck' a man. The situation may be partially saved by reading 'rock' instead of 'neck'; but even so, it is not quite clear whether head in the first clause refers to a building, as the second clause suggests, or to a man, as the same word is used unambiguously of a man in the very next v. (14a). In any case, the reference appears to be to the over throw of Pharaoh.

14a. Probably we should read, 'Thou didst pierce with Thy staves the head of his warriors.' In the next line the word me shows that the description is passing into the present: they come storming on to scatter me.

16-19. The triumph of faith. It is difficult, if not impossible, to translate Hab_3:16 provisionally we may accept the following, 'I will wait for the day of distress which cometh over the people that distresses us.' But the v. seems to indicate the terror with which the Psalmist (or prophet) listens to the dying notes of the storm. He had prayed for God to reveal Himself: and He had come in His terrible majesty—come, however, to save: and though the poet trembles, his faith is radiant and glad.

17. The connexion between this v. and the previous part of the poem is no doubt such as has just been suggested; but it may be doubted whether it is an integral part of the original poem. With its flocks and fields and trees, it seems to presuppose a different situation from Hab_3:2-16 but, however that may be, the v., together with Hab_3:18-19, expresses the same kind of faith as that of the poem, and indeed of the book at large, a faith which is independent of material evidences and supports (Hab_2:3-4). It teaches that God is better than His gifts, and that the possession of Him, even without them, makes the heart strong and glad. In its independence of things material, the OT. never uttered a grander or more emancipating word than these concluding vv. of Habakkuk.

It is not certain that this poem was composed by the prophet. The title and musical directions seem to indicate that it was taken from a collection of Psalms: there are no references in it to the special circumstances of the age in which Habakkuk lived: while in Hab_3:14, Hab_3:18-19 the community rather than an individual is the speaker. The conclusion suggested by these features is that this poem belongs to a later date: it may be a Psalm composed for the post-exilic church in a time of distress. But, on the other hand, the ascription of it to Habakkuk is confirmed by the fact that it is wholly in conformity with his spirit in the other chapters of this book: and it is appropriately placed in its present position, as it shares with the prophecy a pure faith in God and in the certainty of His coming.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. Habakkuk — On the authorship of the poem see Introduction, pp. 472ff.

Upon Shigionoth — R.V., “set to Shigionoth.” The singular of the noun occurs in Psa_7:1, “Shiggaion of David.” The exact meaning of this and other technical musical terms in the psalm titles is not known. It seems to be related to a verb “to reel,” which is used of the giddiness of intoxication and of love. The primary meaning of the noun would seem to be “reeling”; as a musical term it probably denotes a particular style of poetry or music, or both; a song sung with great excitement, or with a rapid change of emotion. Such a poem is Psalms 7. The prayer of Habakkuk is said to be set to Shigionoth, that is, it is arranged and is to be sung after the manner of these “reeling songs.” Schmieder paraphrases it, “after the manner of a stormy, martial, and triumphant ode.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 1-19. Part II PSALM OR PRAYER OF HABAKKUK. Ver. 1. 1. The title. A prayer. There is only one formal prayer in the ode, that in ver. 2; but the term is used of any devotional composition; and, indeed, the whole poem may be regarded as the development of the precatory sentences in the proemium (see the inscriptions in Ps 17 Ps 86 Ps 90 Ps 102 Ps 142; and the last verse of Psalm 72., the subscription of Book II). (For other hymns in the prophetical books, see Isa 24, and Isa 35; Eze 19; Jon 2; Mic_6:6, etc.; and as parallel to this ode, comp. Deu_33:2, etc.; Jud_1:5:4, etc.; Psa_68:7, etc.; Psa_77:13-20; Ps 114; Isa_63:11-14) Of Habakkuk the prophet. The name and title of the author are prefixed to show that this is no mere private effusion, but an outpouring of prophecy under Divine inspiration. Upon Shigionoth (comp. title of Ps 7); Septuagint, meta wjdhv, "with song;" Vulgate, pro ignorantiis. For this latter rendering Jerome had etymological ground, but did not sufficiently consider the use of shiggayon in Ps 7, where it indicates the style of poetry, nor, as Keil shows, the fact that all the headings of Psalms introduced, as the present, with al, refer either to the melody, or accompaniment, or style in which they were to be sung. The Revised Version gives, "set to Shigionoth;" and the expression is best explained to mean, in an impassioned or triumphal strain, with rapid change of emotion, a dithy rambic song a description which admirably suits this ode.

HOMILIES BY S.D. HILLMAN

Prayer and praise.

This chapter records the remarkable "prayer" or "Code" of Habakkuk. The superscription contained in the first verse and a cursory glance at the chapter as thus described may be found suggestive of important teachings respecting the sacred exercises of prayer and praise. Note

I THE TEACHINGS CONCERNING PRAYER.

1. We do well to solicit present blessings. "In the midst of the years makeknown" (ver. 2); i.e. he sought the Divine manifestation in mercy to be granted to his people in his own day.

2. We should recount God"s goodness in the past. The prayer abounds inreminiscences of God"s favour as bestowed upon his chosen in the days of yore.

1. The comprehensive nature of prayer. This prayer of Habakkuk contains

1. petition;

2. adoration;

3. devout contemplation of God in his character and works;

4. review of his providential doings; and,

5. pervading the whole, the spirit of confiding and joyous trust.

II THE TEACHINGS CONCERNING PRAISE.

1. The desirability of employing in this exercise the devout compositions ofGod"s servants in past ages, which have been preserved, in his Word.

2. The appropriateness of the language of prayer as the medium ofexpressing praise to God. "The prayers of David the son of Jesse" are contained and expressed in his Psalms. "The prayer of Habakkuk" is also "an ode" set to music, and used at his suggestion in the liturgical services of the temple.

3. The importance of cultivating correct musical expression in thepresentation of the sacrifice of praise to God. The tones should be in harmony with the character of the thoughts and sentiments of the words being sung. This is probably the meaning of the expression, "upon Shigionoth" (ver. 1), al shigyonoth meaning "in wandering measures," the tones to be varied according to the character of the thoughts and words. The term "Selah," used by him (vers. 3, 9, 13), and the direction, "To the chief singer on my stringed instruments," with which he closes his book, also indicate the carefulness in execution the prophet would have exercised. All true worship to God must proceed from humble and trusting hearts, and be presented "in spirit and in truth," and this is perfectly compatible with regard for all that is cultured and artistic in method. Our motto should be, "The best for the Lord. S.D.H.

HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1, 2God devoutly addressed.

prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." This chapter is considered to be one of the most magnificent compositions of the inspired volume. It was intended undoubtedly to impart consolation in view of the tremendous calamities which were approaching from the Babylonian invasion. "It exhibits," says Dr. Henderson, "a regular ode, beginning with a brief but simple exordium, after which follows the main subject, which is treated in a manner perfectly free and unrestrained, as the different topics arose one after the other in the excited mind of the prophet) and finishes with an epigrammatic resumption of the point first adverted to in the introduction." The whole chapter presents to us God in three aspects as devoutly addressed, as poetically portrayed, and as triumphantly enjoyed. These two verses present him to us in the first aspect as devoutly addressed. "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth." Henderson renders the word "shigionoth," "with triumphant music," which indicates that the ode was in all probability intended for the liturgical service in the templet but to be set to the freest and boldest music. Perhaps the prophet himself was an accomplished musician, as well as a bard of the first order. Three things are to be observed in relation to this devout address.

I IT WAS COMPOSED FOR GENERAL USE. It is not an extemporaneous address; it is a settled form of devotion. Prearranged forms of devotion are both scriptural and expedient. There is a set form given to the priests for blessing the people in Num_6:23-26. Ps 92 is called "a psalm for the sabbath," Psalm 102. "a prayer for the afflicted." Hezekiah commanded the Levites to "praise the Lord in the words of David, and of Asaph the seer," which is Psalm 106. And Christ himself gave his disciples a form of prayer. Whilst it is scriptural, it is also expedient. It is absurd to suppose that a minister can properly lead the devotions of a congregation by impromptu utterances. The well known apathy of congregations under the influence of extemporaneous prayers shows it cannot be done. For the individual himself, the extemporaneous prayer is all that is needed, for it is the "soul"s sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed" But to get a whole congregation into the channel of devotion, a prearranged form seems desirable.

II IT WAS IN PROSPECT OF A TERRIBLE CALAMITY, "O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid." Terrible was the calamity now looming on the vision of the prophet. The Chaldean army was approaching; the ruthless troops would soon be in his country, sack Jerusalem its metropolis, and bear his countrymen away into captivity. In view of this calamity the prayer is addressed. The threatened judgments of hell may well drive men into the presence of God to sue for mercy. "Call upon me in the day of trouble," etc. Surely, if men fully realized the predicted judgments that will fall on this world, prayer would be the habitude of their souls.

III IT WAS FOR A REVIVAL OF DIVINE WORK. "Revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." Keil thus renders the passage: "Jehovah, thy work in the midst of thy years call to life, in the midst of the years make it known." This may mean Perfect the work of delivering thy people; let not thy promise lie as it were dead, give it new life by performing it. Do it now, in the midst of the years, when our calamities are at their height, when thy wrath seems to be at high tide and terrible. Now, "revive thy work." Three thoughts are suggested:

1. The work of human deliverance is the work of God. This is true of all deliverances personal, domestic, national, temporal, and spiritual. He alone can effectually deliver man.

2. This work of God may appear to decline. The perils may thicken, the disease grow more desperate, and all things seem as if God had given up his work. This is often the case with religion in the

3. This decline of Gods work can only be overcome by his intervention. "Revive thy work. D.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Habakkuk begs of God to succor his people, ver. 1, 2. He calls to mind God's former appearances for his people, ver. 3-15. He encourages himself to trust in God, ver, 16-19.

Upon Sigionoth - A musical instrument.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The song has a special heading, after the fashion of the psalms, in which the contents, the author, and the poetical character of the ode are indicated. The contents are called tephillâh, a prayer, like Psa 17:1-15; 86; 90; 102, and Psa 142:1-7, not merely with reference to the fact that it commences with a prayer to God, but because that prayer announces the contents of the ode after the manner of a theme, and the whole of the ode is simply the lyrical unfolding of that prayer. In order, however, to point at the same time to the prophetic character of the prayer, that it may not be regarded as a lyrical effusion of the subjective emotions, wishes, and hopes of a member of the congregation, but may be recognised as a production of the prophets, enlightened by the Spirit of Jehovah, the name of the author is given with the predicate "the prophet;" and to this there is added על שׁגינות, to indicate the poetico-subjective character, through which it is distinguished from prophecy in the narrower sense. The expression "upon Shigionoth" cannot refer to the contents or the object of the ode; for although shiggâyōn, according to its etymon shâgâh = shâgag, to transgress by mistake, to sin, might have the meaning transgression in a moral sense, and consequently might be referred to the sins of transgressors, either of the Judaeans or the Chaldaeans, such an assumption is opposed both to the use of shiggâyōn in the heading to Psalm 7, and also to the analogy between ‛al shigyōnōth, and such headings to the psalms as ‛al haggittı̄th, ‛al negı̄nōth, and other words introduced with ‛al. Whilst shiggâyōn in Psa 7:1 indicates the style of poetry in which the psalm is composed, all the notices in the headings to the psalms that are introduced with ‛al refer either to the melody or style in which the psalms are to be sung, or to the musical accompaniment with which they are to be introduced into the worship of God. This musico-liturgical signification is to be retained here also, since it is evident from the subscription in Hab 3:19, and the repetition of Selah three times (Hab 3:3, Hab 3:9, Hab 3:13), that our hymn was to be used with musical accompaniment. Now, as shâgâh, to err, then to reel to and fro, is applied to the giddiness both of intoxication and of love (Isa 28:7; Pro 20:1; Pro 5:20), shiggâyōn signifies reeling, and in the terminology of poetry a reeling song, i.e., a song delivered in the greatest excitement, or with a rapid change of emotion, dithyrambus (see Clauss on Psa 7:1; Ewald, Delitzsch, and others); hence על שׁגינות, after dithyrambs, or "after the manner of a stormy, martial, and triumphal ode" (Schmieder).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Prayer

Prayer in the O.T. is in contrast with prayer in the N.T. in two respects:

(1) In the former the basis of prayer is a covenant of God, or an appeal to his revealed character as merciful, gracious, etc. In the latter the basis is relationship: "When ye pray, say, Our Father" Mat 6:9.

(2) A comparison, e.g. of the prayers of Moses and Paul, will show that one was praying for an earthly people whose dangers and blessings were earthly; the other for a heavenly people whose dangers and blessings were spiritual.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jehovah’s Majestic Coming to Judgment

v. 1. A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, in the form of the Davidic psalms, upon Shigionoth, after the manner of a dithyramb, in reeling, exciting time, with triumphal music.

v. 2. O Lord, I have heard Thy speech, the announcement of the judgment of punishment through the Chaldeans, and was afraid. O Lord, revive Thy work, call into existence once more the former way of dealing with Thy people, as well as the double judgment of which the prophecy had spoken till now, in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, so that the delay in bringing eventual redemption to His people may not be too great; in wrath, namely, while He expressed His indignation through the punishment carried out by the Chaldeans, remember mercy, so that the severity of the punishment might be tempered at least to some extent. The prophet having thus announced the theme of his psalm, he immediately launches forth in his prayer.

v. 3. God came from Teman, Cf Deu 33:2, the eastern division of Edom, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, the mountainous country between Idumea and Egypt. Selah. The description shows the Lord approaching from this region with all the glory of His majesty. His glory covered the heavens, extending as far as the eye could see, and the earth was full of His praise, so that His splendor covered its whole expanse. "The flaming glory of Jehovah filling everything is a vision of such excessive sublimity that one scarcely dares to follow the prophet in spirit to meditate upon it. " (Lange. )

v. 4. And His brightness was as the light, bursting forth as the sunlight when the ball of the sun rises above the horizon; He had horns, the rays of the sun as it first appears, coming out of His hand, on either side, the appearance of God being attended with brilliant light; and there was the hiding of His power, His almighty power, as it were, being veiled by the splendor of His appearance.

v. 5. Before Him went the pestilence, or, the plague goes before Him, and burning coals went forth at His feet, the excessive heat of the fever of various pestilences, these angels of death being His attendants on His triumphal march.

v. 6. He stood and measured the earth, calmly standing, amidst the general commotion, as the Judge of the world, measuring the countries and their doings, or causing them to shake in terror, in order to execute judgment; He beheld and drove asunder the nations, making the heathen tremble; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, or, "the primeval mountains burst asunder," dissolving in dust, the perpetual hills did bow, the hills of the early world sink down. His ways are everlasting, or, "the paths of olden time, He follows them. " As He once came in earthquakes and terrible manifestations of His majesty in order to make Israel His covenant nation, so He may once more be expected to come to Judgment.

v. 7. I saw the tents of Cushan, of the Ethiopian armies. in affliction, in the distress of terror; and the curtains, the tent-cloths, of the land of Midian did tremble, that is, all the inhabitants of the heathen countries round about were filled with terror.

v. 8. Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was Thine anger against the rivers? literally, "Was it against the rivers that was kindled, Jehovah, was it against the rivers that Thy wrath was kindled?". Was Thy wrath against the sea that Thou didst ride upon Thine horses and Thy chariots of salvation? the winds and clouds being considered the vehicles bearing the Lord as He goes forth to redeem His people. The cause of His dividing the Red Sea and the Jordan was not His displeasure against these waters, but His intention of interposing for His people’s salvation.

v. 9. Thy bow was made quite naked, drawn forth from the quiver and made ready to send forth its arrow, according to the oaths of the tribes, even Thy word, literally, "sworn are the scourges by the word, rods of chastisement are sworn by the word," that is, the chastisements of Jehovah are definitely decided upon and even supported by oaths. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers, as when masses of water rush from the mountains, or when tidal waves cut deep gullies into the earth.

v. 10. The mountains saw Thee, and they trembled, shaken by storms and earthquakes; the overflowing of the water passed by, a torrent of water, from subterranean sources or as the result of a cloudburst, rushes along; the deep, the abyss of the ocean, uttered His voice and lifted up His hands on high, in a mighty noise accompanying their breaking forth.

v. 11. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation, or have entered their dwelling, so that a terrifying darkness ensues; at the light of Thine arrows they went and at the shining of Thy glittering spear, as God manifested Himself as the judge of the world, executing justice and righteousness upon all men.

v. 12. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, through all the countries of the earth; Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger, stamping them under foot.

v. 13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, Israel, as representative of all true children of God, even for salvation with Thine Anointed, all the leaders of the people being types of the Messiah, by whom the Lord’s kingdom would be permanently established. Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, crushing the Chaldean nation with its ruler, typical of the anti-Christian forces, by discovering the foundation unto the neck, laying bare the foundations being the same as razing the entire building to the ground. Selah.

v. 14. Thou didst strike through with his staves, piercing with the spear or weapons of the wicked one, the head of his villages, the ruler of his hordes, or the chief of his princes, so that the soldiers of the hostile armies would turn one against the other; they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me, rushing in to disperse the people of Israel; their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly, that is, the enemies are like assassins, who delight in pouncing upon the unsuspecting wayfarer and in taking his life.

v. 15. Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine horses, as when Jehovah destroyed the army of Pharaoh and delivered His people, through the heap of great waters, upon the billows of great waters, the expression serving to bring out the almighty power of Jehovah in the deliverance of His people. Thus the majesty of the Lord in overcoming all His enemies is set forth in a word-painting of singular beauty and power, with the Messianic background clearly in evidence.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hab 3:2

I. The first part of the prayer is, that God would revive His work. (1) God’s working is the great subject of man’s study, that on which man depends, and that which conditions all man’s work. (2) God waits on man’s working. He initiates, and yet He waits on account of the sin and sloth and heedlessness of man, God’s work seems to decline, and God seems to withdraw. It is here that the place for revival is found. (3) What a force there is in the expression when we get down to its simple meaning: Make thy work to live; put power into thy work. How often has the work seemed to have everything but life. Life comes and all is changed. Men feel that God is working. There is a sense of God’s glory. There is a restlessness, and yet a deep peace, and a strong and invincible hope that truth and God shall win the day. (4) The prayer is also that God would make known,—that He would not only work but reveal, not only impart energy but give those wide and clear views of truth which are the food of energy and its guide.

II. Let us inquire what weight, direction, and colouring are given to the prayer by the phrase attached to both petitions—"in the midst of the years." It is evident that there is an argument or plea in the words. (1) Is there an argument in the thought that many years are gone beyond recall, and that so many years fewer are to come? (2) The midst of the years seems suggestive of the confusion and darkness of time. (3) The words speak of calamity and loss characterizing the years outwardly, but more than counterbalanced by the prosperity of God’s work. (4) The fleetingness and evanescence of the years rise before us in contrast to the immutable and eternal permanence of the Divine life. (5) The monotony amid all the changefulness of life is suggested by the phrase. To break through this and escape into real change and freshness is the ever needful effort. A revival of God’s work accomplishes this for us.

J. Leckie, Sermons Preached at Ibrox, p. 258.

References: Hab 3:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii., No. 725; vol. xxv., No. 1474; J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 129; J. F. Haynes, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 294; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 304.

Hab 3:4

I. In the realm of nature there are hidings of God’s power. Though we might become acquainted with the whole created universe of God, we have not exhausted Him. We get lost in our thought of God, and discover afresh that the finite cannot know all the Infinite, and that we have, and must have, only glimpses of His ways and works. See all you can, and after every manifestation you will have to declare there was revelation, but there was the hiding of His power.

II. In revelations of spiritual truth there are hidings of God’s power. Revelation, like all other things, has been progressive. There has been growth, education, steady and gradual unfolding of the nature and will of God to men. But while much was given, how much was withheld! Are there not flesh revelations to come, through the power of the promised Teacher of the Church in every age? Have we exhausted the treasury so that the scribes of the kingdom can henceforth bring nothing out of it. The prayer, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth," will suit every life.

III. In His providence there are hidings of God’s power. He does not reveal all He has in store for us, or all that He intends us to be at any one moment, or even in successive periods of our history. "His mercies are new every morning, and fresh every evening," and so their beauty is not lessened, but awakens morning and evening our joy and thankfulness. We do not know for what we are now being prepared. God is educating and disciplining us by various processes. We can see His hand in our life today, but what He intends to bring out of it to-morrow, who can declare? In all human lives there is a hiding of His power, and we have to wait the clear unfolding of His wise and glorious purpose.

W. Braden, Sermons, p. 43.

References: Hab 3:4.—J. A. Smith, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 235; J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 221. Hab 3:6.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 347.

Hab 3:16

We know things which do tremble that they may rest. "I tremble that I may rest" say the magnet, the planet, the bird. So says the heart in its language, the soul in its sorrowings. I tremble that I may rest. "The text is not a melancholy and prophetic foreboding. It is a wise repression of a too vehement self-consciousness,—the assurance that our labour is not guaranteed by our present exuberance, but by a wise and thoughtful fear.

I. The principle of fear is excited by the sense of God. Job said: "When I consider I am afraid of Him." When we think wisely and thoughtfully of God we may well tremble. It is the dictate of natural religion. When we look within, so as to know ourselves and what we are, when we meditate and revolve our own imperfectness and impurity, and the holy character of God—well may we say with Job: "When I consider I am afraid of Him."

II. Thus, then, there is a use in this trembling, which the Holy Spirit recognizes. We are often shaken by undefined terrors. There seems nothing to make us afraid; but the spirit is overwhelmed—all within us sinks. We are away from home; we are returning from a journey; we feel a weight upon the soul; surely it is the shadow of the invisible God passing by the spirit.

III. Rest is the issue of trembling. And is it not a great thing to rest in the day of trouble? He who can look death in the face will start at no shadows. Although flesh and heart may faint, the soul rests; and thus, again, we have to say that holy fear is the guardian of the soul, the sentinel of the soul; and that, like an Erl-king, it bears us into real life, into a soothed life, a living and a living faith,—unhurt and unlost through the forest of life and its falling trees, and its perils and storms. A kingdom of peace is set up in the soul. Rest has followed on trembling. (1) Rest from the threatenings of the law; (2) rest from fear of punishment; (3) rest from the assaults of malignant spirits; (4) rest in the day of affliction and death. And perfect will the rest be when it is said: "The trembling is for ever over; thou hast trembled: now rest." While the dead planets may drift upon their way, and the melancholy and hectic ages roll, we shall be as God is, at rest only, sheltered for ever in the life of the resting Lamb.

E. Paxton Hood, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 45.

The maxim contained in the words of the text may be thus briefly and simply expressed: "Fear, excited by the threatenings of God, issues in ’rest’ followed by the mercies of God."

I. If we regard this maxim simply as a moral proverb, it will be susceptible of much powerful and practical illustration. We need only notice the tremendous distance which, in the estimate even of natural religion, separates us from God; we need only consider the greatness of the Creator’s power, the fearful might of His uplifted arm, the sweeping torrent of His indignation, and all these the more overwhelming when set in contrast with the weakness and imperfection of man; and then we might ask whether, on the simplest principles of reason, we could venture to think there could be safety in scorning God’s threatenings. It is the part even of the commonest prudence to bow meekly before the Lord, and to receive with trembling the messages of His will: and thus the maxim of our text demands to be classed with those sage and sententious proverbs into which is gathered the accumulated wisdom of centuries.

II. The maxim of our text presents itself in accordance with the whole Gospel of Christ. Notice (1) the use which the Holy Spirit makes of the threatenings of the word—the sinner is brought to tremble in himself. In writing to the Corinthian Church, St. Paul makes use of the following expression: "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." Though there be much in the Bible at which the heart may well shrink and be stricken with dread, it was never designed that the threatenings should seize on a man with a paralyzing grasp. They were rather intended to serve the purpose of solemn, salutary warning, and to lead men to Christ, while the Saviour still waits to receive. He who trembles beneath the Spirit’s teaching, trembles in himself. You may discern nothing on the surface; there may be the same aspect, the same evenness, the same composure; and yet all the while there is passing within the man a vigorous process of renovation, the whole fabric of intellect being shaken. He is trembling in himself; he is actually transformed into a new creature. "Old things have passed away, and all things have become new." (2) Consider to what this internal trembling leads. Resting follows on trembling. He within whose soul a new creation has arisen on the ruins which have been left by the tremblings of the old: is not he at rest from the threatenings of the law?—for is not Christ the end of the law, for righteousness to every one that believeth? He is at rest from the fear of punishment, at rest from the assaults of malignant spirits, at rest from the terrors of death and the grave.

H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2,038.

Hab 3:17-18

The prophet herein declares two things which are of supreme importance in the highest life of man.

I. He declares the possibility of having joy independently of all external things. Here is a man who has a secret—a man who rises amid the pomp of nature, the productiveness of summer, and says: "Though every light be put out, and every root be withered, I have a joy that cannot be impaired." Men of that kind stimulate us; they excite inquiry—they turn our hearts into a new direction of thought, expectation, and purpose.

II. The prophet declares that all his concern is about salvation. Not about secular prosperity. There is a law which says the greater includes the less. Habakkuk has followed the meaning of that law, and made an application of it to his own life and experience. "I will joy in the God of my salvation." Not in the God of providence only. Salvation includes providence. He who is careful about his soul gathers up his whole life, and is master of the whole situation of his being, prospects, and destiny.

Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 273.

References: Hab 3:17, Hab 3:18.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 85. Hab 3:17-19.—J. P. Gledstone, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 51. Hab 3:19.—A. Raleigh, Old Testament Outlines, p. 277. 3—Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., pp. 33, 144.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

HABAKKUK 3

The third chapter, an Ode or Rhapsody, is ascribed to Habakkuk by its title. This, however, does not prove its authenticity: the title is too like those assigned to the Psalms in the period of the Second Temple. On the contrary, the title itself, the occurrence of the musical sign Selah in the contents, and the colophon suggest for the chapter a liturgical origin after the Exile. That this is more probable than the alternative opinion, that, being a genuine work of Habakkuk, the chapter was afterwards arranged as a Psalm for public worship, is confirmed by the fact that no other work of the prophets has been treated in the same way. Nor do the contents support the authorship by Habakkuk. They reflect no definite historical situation like the preceding chapters. The style and temper are different. While in them the prophet speaks for himself, here it is the nation or congregation of Israel that addresses God. The language is not, as some have maintained, late; but the designation of the people as "Thine anointed," a term which before the Exile was applied to the king, undoubtedly points to a post-exilic date. The figures, the theophany itself, are not necessarily archaic, but are more probably molded on archaic models. There are many affinities with Psalms of a late date.

At the same time a number of critics maintain the genuineness of the chapter, and they have some grounds for this. Habakkuk was, as we can see from chapters 1 and 2, a real poet. There was no need why a man of his temper should be bound down to reflecting only his own day. If so practical a prophet as Hosea, and one who has so closely identified himself with his times, was wont to escape from them to a retrospect of the dealings of God with Israel from of old, why should not the same be natural for a prophet who was much less practical and more literary and artistic? There are also many phrases in the Psalm which may be interpreted as reflecting the same situation as chapters 1, 2. All this, however, only proves possibility.

The Psalm has been adapted in Psa_77:17-20.

"IN THE MIDST OF THE YEARS"

Habakkuk 3

WE have seen the impossibility of deciding the age of the ode which is attributed to Habakkuk in the third chapter of his book. But this is only one of the many problems raised by that brilliant poem. Much of its text is corrupt, and the meaning of many single words is uncertain. As in most Hebrew poems of description, the tenses of the verbs puzzle us, we cannot always determine whether the poet is singing of that which is past or present or future, and this difficulty is increased by his subject, a revelation of God in nature for the deliverance of Israel. Is this the deliverance from Egypt, with the terrible tempests which accompanied it? Or have the features of the Exodus been borrowed to describe some other deliverance, or to sum up the constant manifestation of Jehovah for His peoples help?

The introduction, in Hab_3:2, is clear. The singer has heard what is to be heard of Jehovah, and His great deeds in the past. He prays for a revival of these "in the midst of the years." The times are full of trouble and turmoil. Would that God, in the present confusion of baffled hopes and broken issues, made Himself manifest by power and brilliance, as of old! "In turmoil remember mercy!" To render "turmoil" by "wrath," as if it were Gods anger against which the singers heart appealed, is not true to the original word itself, affords no parallel to "the midst of the years," and misses the situation. Israel cries from a state of life in which the obscure years are huddled together and full of turmoil. We need not wish to fix the date more precisely than the writer himself does, but may leave it with him "in the midst of the years."

There follows the description of the Great Theophany, of which, in his own poor times, the singer has heard. It is probable that he has in his memory the events of the Exodus and Sinai. On this point his few geographical allusions agree with his descriptions of nature. He draws all the latter from the desert, or Arabian, side of Israels history. He introduces none of the sea-monsters, or imputations of arrogance and rebellion to the sea itself, which the influence of Babylonian mythology so thickly scattered through the later sea-poetry of the Hebrews. The Theophany takes place in a violent tempest of thunder and rain, the only process of nature upon which the desert poets of Arabia dwell with any detail. In harmony with this, God appears from the southern desert, from Teman and Paran, as in the theophanies in Deuteronomy 33, and in the Song of Deborah; a few lines recall the Song of the Exodus, {Exodus 15} and there are many resemblances to the phraseology of the Sixty-eighth Psalm. The poet sees under trouble the tents of Kushan and of Midian, tribes of Sinai. And though the Theophany is with floods of rain and lightning, and foaming of great waters, it is not with hills, rivers, or sea that God is angry, but with the nations the oppressors of His poor people, and in order that He may deliver the latter. All this, taken with the fact that no mention is made of Egypt, proves that, while the singer draws chiefly upon the marvelous events of the Exodus and Sinai for his description, he celebrates not them alone but all the ancient triumphs of God over the heathen oppressors of Israel. Compare the obscure line-these be "His goings of old."

The report of it all fills the prophet with trembling (Hab_3:16 returns upon Hab_2:6), and although his language is too obscure to permit us to follow with certainty the course of his feeling, he appears to await in confidence the issue of Israels present troubles. His argument seems to be, that such a God may be trusted still, in face of approaching invasion (Hab_3:16). The next verse, however, does not express the experience of trouble from human foes; but figuring the extreme affliction of drought, barrenness, and poverty, the poet speaking in the name of Israel declares that, in spite of them, he will still rejoice in the God of their salvation (Hab_3:17). So sudden is this change from human foes to natural plagues that some scholars have here felt a passage to another poem describing a different situation. But the last lines with their confidence in the "God of salvation," a term always used of deliverance from enemies, and the boast, borrowed from the Eighteenth Psalm. "He maketh my feet like to hinds feet, and gives me to march on my heights," reflect the same circumstances as the bulk of the Psalm, and offer no grounds to doubt the unity of the whole.

PSALM OF HABAKKUK THE PROPHET

"Lord, I have beard the report of Thee; I stand in awe! Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make Thee known In turmoil remember mercy! God comes from Teman, The Holy from Mount Paran. He covers the heavens with His glory."

"And filled with His praise is the earth. The flash is like lightning; He has rays from each hand of Him, Therein is the ambush of His might. Pestilence travels before Him, The plague-fire breaks forth at His feet. He stands and earth shakes, He looks and drives nations asunder; And the ancient mountains are cloven, The hills everlasting sink down. These be His ways from of old."

"Under trouble I see the tents of Kushan The curtains of Midians land are quivering Is it with hils Jehovah is wroth? Is Thine anger with rivers? Or against the sea is Thy wrath, That Thou ridest it with horses, Thy chariots of victory? Thy bow is stripped bare; Thou gluttest(?) Thy shafts. Into rivers Thou clearest the earth; Mountains see Thee and writhe; The rainstorm sweeps on: The Deep utters his voice, He lifts up his roar upon high. Sun and moon stand still in their dwelling, At the flash of Thy shafts as they speed, At the sheen of the lightning, Thy lance In wrath Thou stridest the earth, In anger Thou threshest the nations Thou art forth to the help of Thy people, To save Thine anointed. Thou hast shattered the head from the house of the wicked, Laying bare from to the neck. Thou hast pierced with Thy spears the head of his princes. They stormed forth to crush me; Their triumph was as to devour the poor in secret. Thou hast marched on the sea with Thy horses; Foamed the great waters."

"I have heard, and my heart shakes; At the sound my lips tremble, Rottenness enters my bones, My steps shake under me. I will for the day of trouble That pours in on the people. Though the fig-tree do not blossom, And no fruit be on the vines, Fail the produce of the olive, And the fields yield no meat, Cut off by the flock from the fold, And no cattle in the stalls, Yet in the Lord will I exult, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Jehovah, the Lord, is my might; He hath made my feet like the hinds, And on my heights He gives me to march."

This Psalm, whose musical signs prove it to have been employed in the liturgy of the Jewish Temple, has also largely entered into the use of the Christian Church. The vivid style, the sweep of vision, the exultation in the extreme of adversity with which it closes, have made it a frequent theme of preachers and of poets. St. Augustines exposition of the Septuagint version spiritualizes almost every clause into a description of the first and second advents of Christ: Calvins more sober and accurate learning interpreted it of Gods guidance of Israel from the time of the Egyptian plagues to the days of Joshua and Gideon, and made it enforce the lesson that He who so wonderfully delivered His people in their youth will not forsake them in the midway of their career. The closing verses have been torn from the rest to form the essence of a large number of hymns in many languages.

For ourselves, it is perhaps most useful to fasten upon the poets description of his own position in the midst of the years, and like him to take heart, amid our very similar circumstances, from the glorious story of Gods ancient revelation, in the faith that He is still the same in might and in purpose of grace to His people. We, too, live among the nameless years. We feel them about us, undistinguished by the manifest workings of God, slow and petty, or, at the most, full of inarticulate turmoil. At this very moment we suffer from the frustration of a great cause, on which believing men had set their hearts as Gods cause; Christendom has received from the infidel no greater reverse since the days of the Crusades. Or, lifting our eyes to a larger horizon, we are tempted to see about us a wide, flat waste of years. It is nearly nineteen centuries since the great revelation of God in Christ, the redemption of mankind, and all the wonders of the Early Church. We are far, far away from that, and unstirred by the expectation of any crisis in the near future. We stand "in the midst of the years," equally distant from beginning and from end. It is the situation which Jesus Himself likened to the long double watch in the middle of the night-"if he come in the second watch or in the third watch"-against whose dullness He warned His disciples. How much need is there at such a time to recall, like this poet, what God has done-how often He has shaken the world and overturned the nations, for the sake of His people and the Divine causes they represent. "His ways are everlasting." As He then worked, so He will work now for the same ends of redemption. Our prayer for "a revival of His work" will be answered before it is spoken.

It is probable that much of our sense of the staleness of the years comes from their prosperity. The dull feeling that time is mere routine is fastened upon our hearts by nothing more firmly than by the constant round of fruitful seasons-that fortification of comfort, that regularity of material supplies, which modern life assures to so many. Adversity would brace us to a new expectation of the near and strong action of our God. This is perhaps the meaning of the sudden mention of natural plagues in the seventeenth verse of our Psalm. Not in spite of the extremes of misfortune, but just because of them, should we exult in "the God of our salvation"; and realize that it is by discipline He makes His Church to feel that she is not marching over the dreary levels of nameless years, but "on our high places He makes us to march."

"Grant, Almighty God, as the dullness and hardness of our flesh is so great that it is needful for us to be in various ways afflicted-oh, grant that we patiently bear Thy chastisement and under a deep feeling of sorrow flee to Thy mercy displayed to us in Christ, so that we depend not on the earthly blessings of this perishable life, but relying on Thy word go forward in the course of our calling, until at length we be gathered to that blessed rest which is laid up for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. Amen."

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet:

These words introduce the third chapter of this book. This can be stated as a complete sentence. AT: "This is the prayer that Habakkuk the prophet prayed to Yahweh." (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

I have heard your report

Possible meanings are 1) "I have heard people talk about what you have done in the past" or 2) "I have heard what you just said."

revive your work

Habakkuk speaks of Yahweh doing again the things that he has done in the past as if Yahweh were to cause his work to live again. AT: "bring your work back to life" or "what you did before, do again" (See: Metaphor)

in the midst of these times

This idiom refers to the time at which Habakkuk prayed this prayer, as opposed to times when Yahweh had acted in the past to rescue his people. AT: "in our own times" (See: Idiom)

make it known

"make your work known" or "cause people to know your work"

translationWords

pray

prophet

Yahweh

report

compassion

wrath

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

concerning the errors This may be interpreted according to the Targum. However, according to the apparent meaning, Habakkuk is begging for mercy for himself because he spoke rebelliously: (1: 4) “Therefore Torah is slackened,” and (verse 14) “You have made man like the fish of the sea.” He criticized the Divine standard of justice.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.