Deeper Commentary
Habakkuk Chapter 3
Habakkuk 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music- We could infer from this that Habakkuk was a Levite involved in the temple worship songs. The preceding verse has spoken of Yahweh being in His temple and the earth being silent before Him (Hab. 2:20). But Habakkuk now breaks that silence; maybe another reflection of his being out of step with God.
Habakkuk 3:2 Yahweh, I have heard of Your fame. I stand in awe of Your
deeds, Yahweh- This could be Habakkuk responding to God's statements
in chapter 2 of what He would do in judging Babylon. In faith, he speaks
as if these future actions have already been done, and he praises God for
them. But it could be that Habakkuk is still not totally persuaded by the
answers given in chapter 2. He concludes in :17,18 that although the
blessings he looked for immediately hadn't come, yet he still rejoiced in
God by faith. But he reflects here that although he cannot understand
God's current and prophesied future actions (as he explains in chapter 1),
and he is not totally persuaded by God's responses in chapter 2; yet he
takes comfort from the hand of God in history. He realizes that God has
worked justly in the past and saved His people from Gentile oppression at
the Red Sea, and so He would surely do so again. The Messianic Psalms 22
and 69 represent the Lord Jesus on the cross being in some crisis as to
why God was not immediately saving Him, but taking comfort in His
historical actions. Habakkuk is doing likewise, as should we.
Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known- GNB: "Now do again in our times the great deeds you used to do". But the idea of renewing or reviving "in the midst of the years" may mean that Habakkuk didn't want to have to wait until the "end" appointed to see the destruction of Babylon (Hab. 2:3). Knowing that God is open to dialogue, he asks if God can revive His work in the midst of the appointed years, i.e. at his own time. The element of renewal or revival would be in God openly acting as He had done historically, at the Red Sea and the conquest of Canaan- which is the content of the next verses. See on :6.
The LXX renders: "Thou shalt be known between the two living creatures, thou shalt be acknowledged when the years draw nigh; thou shalt be manifested when the time is come". This would be broadly saying the same as just suggested- that God's glory would again be visible between the Cherubim, once "the time" of the end of Hab. 2:3 has come, and God is "acknowledged" by repentant Judah and the nations around her.
In wrath, You remember mercy- God's wrath differs from human wrath in that God is outside of time as we know it. He sees what shall be, and in no way does He lash out due to provocation. His wrath, as expressed in His judgments, always have mercy factored in. Habakkuk recognizes now that Judah have indeed sinned and deserve God's wrath, but he asks that God "remember mercy" and perhaps ameliorate the planned Babylonian judgments, or limit their extent, intervening to save Judah "in the midst of the [appointed number of] years".
Habakkuk 3:3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.
Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth-
The idea is that despite Habakkuk's reservations about God's judgments, as
expressed in chapter 1, he takes comfort in God's historical activity to
save His sinful people. And he believes that therefore God can do the same
for them, despite the threatened Babylonian judgments. GNB "God is coming
again from Edom" suggests that there will be a revival of what God had
historically done; as stated in :2. As His glory was revealed and the
earth was filled with His praise, so it was the Divine intention that the
judgment of Babylon would involve the repentance of Judah, God's glory
being revealed and the eretz, the peoples of the land promised to
Abraham, coming to praise Yahweh. But Judah didn't repent, and the
judgment of Babylon didn't involve these things. But the prophetic
scenario will in essence be fulfilled at the time of the destruction of
latter day Babylon. Israel at the time of the exodus and wilderness
journeys were weak, and still took with them the idols of Egypt. God's
praise didn't fill the earth at that time, although it was intended to.
But this was the future which Habakkuk now envisaged and prayed for; a
delivery from Babylon after the pattern of the deliverance from Egypt, but
this time with God's people repentant and the surrounding nations praising
Him.
Habakkuk 3:4 His splendour is like the sunrise. Rays shine from His hand, where His power is hidden- This fits in with the picture of Christ's return in Mal. 4:2. This will be the time for the fulfilment of the prophecy of Babylon's fall in fullness. This is the language of the lightning flashings of the cherubim alluded to in the LXX of :2 (see note there). Habakkuk is envisaging or praying for the open manifestation of God as it was previously. This was however not granted at his time; but he takes comfort that it has been in the past, and that although things with God haven't turned out immediately as he expected, yet he would trust in Him (:18,19), confident that His saving pattern in history would ultimately continue. In this we see the value of reading Biblical history. Whatever our short term struggles with God about His present and future actions, His past history points forward to "the sunrise" of a new age ultimately. His power in this sense is "hidden" and yet still there.
Habakkuk 3:5 Plague went before Him, and pestilence followed His feet-
As Egypt had been judged by plagues and this had been the path to Israel's
release from them, so Habakkuk foresees that the fall of Babylon will
involve plagues upon her which will lead to Judah's release from them.
Jer. 50:13; Rev. 18:8 likewise see Babylon suffering "plagues". But the
fall of Babylon and her "plagues" at the hands of the Medes didn't lead to
the captives returning- because they didn't repent, preferred to stay
there and didn't flee Babylon. But this will come true in the overthrow of
the latter day Babylon (Rev. 18:8). Historical Babylon wasn't smitten by
"plagues" as Egypt was.
Habakkuk 3:6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the
nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled. The age-old hills
collapsed- Habakkuk was aware that Babylon would have the eretz
promised to Abraham under their control. But God had stood up and shaken
the entire area when Israel left Egypt, and he saw this happening when
they were released from Babylon. Hills and mountains represent peoples and
kingdoms. But again as often noted, this didn't happen quite on the scale
planned; because actually Judah didn't want to leave Babylon nor repent as
required. But it will happen in the fall of the latter day Babylon. The
original for "Tremble" is also translated 'to be released / unloosed' (Ps.
105:20; 146:7; Is. 58:6). All the nations subject to the Babylonian
empire, including Judah, were to be liberated and used that liberty to
turn to Yahweh. But they didn't. They preferred bondage to the Medes and
Persians.
His ways are eternal- The idea may be that there is a style and hallmark to God's actions which is eternal. As He had acted at the time of the exodus, so He would to redeem Judah from Babylon (see on :2).
Habakkuk 3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of
the land of Midian trembled- Cush, the same word translated
"Ethiopia", was the border of the Babylonian empire, later taken over by
the Persians (Is. 11:11; Esther 3:9). And it was Cush which was one of the
areas, along with Egypt, that the Jews were to seek help from against
Babylon, rather than trusting in Yahweh (Is. 20:5). Habakkuk sees Cush as
falling along with Babylon. And at that time, the exiles in Cush were to
return to Zion (Zeph. 3:10; Is. 11:11). But again, this didn't quite
happen as had been potentially possible. The great regathering of a
repentant remnant will happen at the fall of latter day Babylon. And this
will lead to the people of Cush and Midian also turning to Yahweh (Is.
60:6), as had been His intention at the fall of historical Babylon. In
this sense we could read 'trembling' as 'trembling in respect'.
Habakkuk 3:8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was Your anger
against the rivers, or Your wrath against the sea, that You rode on Your
horses, on Your chariots of salvation?- Perhaps we are to draw a
distinction between mountains / hills, representing nations collectively;
and rivers / waters, symbolizing individual people. Habakkuk began
praying, but ends up having a vision within that prayer. And he finds
himself saying things in that prayer under inspiration which are God's
perspective on his questions of Hab. 1 about the fairness of God and the
problem of suffering. In this verse we learn that God was not angry
against the individual Egyptians; but there was suffering amongst them as
God as it were rode forth in His Angelic, cherubic horses and
chariots to redeem His people from Pharaoh's horses and chariots. This
response is reframing the question of God's fairness and the problem of
suffering- in saying that all these things must be seen within the context
of His purpose of redeeming His chosen people.
Habakkuk 3:9 You removed the sheath from Your bow, You called for many
arrows. Selah- The ISV seems to best capture the nuances of the
original: "Your bow was exposed, and your arrows targeted by command". The
NET says the arrows were 'commissioned'. In the context of answering
Habakkuk's complaints about the problem of suffering and evil, the idea
may be that God's arrows are not sent out at random. They are commissioned
to hit specific targets. Hence "Selah", a pause for reflection. If
apparently random people perish, we can perhaps assume that God knows that
had they lived further, they would have refused His message. See on :14.
You split the earth with rivers- A quotation from Ps. 74:15. The drying up of the Red Sea seems to have involved huge earthquakes and topographical changes throughout the eretz promised to Abraham- perhaps a way of softening up the tribes of Canaan for conquest. But Israel didn't make use of that potential.
Habakkuk 3:10 The mountains saw You, and were afraid. The storm of
waters passed by, the deep sea roared and lifted up its hands on high-
For "Waters", see on Rev. 16:5. Mountains may represent nations
and empires, and the seas the individual peoples. Before God and His
people at the exodus, they were fearful and lifted up their hands- perhaps
in surrender, or to God in prayer and submission. This happened no matter
how loudly they roared or appeared powerful. And so the historical actions
of God at the exodus were to assure Habakkuk that the visions he had seen
of the Chaldeans judging Israel would also have their resolution, this
storm of water would also 'pass by'.
Habakkuk 3:11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky at the light of Your arrows as they went, at the shining of Your glittering spear- This may not necessarily be a reference to the incident at Gibeon in Joshua's time. The context is definitely about the exodus from Egypt rather than the conquest, developing the idea that the fall of Egypt was the release of Israel, just as the fall of Babylon was intended to enable the release of the exiles. The idea may be that God took especial notice of the flight of His arrows; sun and moon stood still as they flew. This again is in answer to the opening dialogue between God and Habakkuk, where Habakkuk expresses his concern with the problem of suffering and evil. God here reveals Himself as carefully targeting every arrow (see on :9), and as it were stopping the sun and moon for the arrows to pass; this was and is the extent of His passionate awareness of the result of His judgments. It's not as if He indiscriminately drops a nuclear bomb upon a nation, and is indifferent to the fall out of suffering and the collateral damage to people and animals. As explained on Hab. 2:17, He was intimately aware of every animal that suffered and bolted for fear because of the actions of the Babylonian military; and how much more was and is He aware of the effects of His judgments upon people, especially His chosen people.
Habakkuk 3:12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the
nations in anger- The past tenses could be prophetic perfects, i.e.
speaking of that which is yet future in the past tense, so certain is it
of fulfilment. As just explained on :11, God is not indiscriminately
judging people and making them suffer for no reason. The imagery of
threshing speaks of judgment; Armageddon is the threshing place. Those who
are judged will be responsible to that judgment; God's anger and wrath
will have been provoked by how those people had treated His people. He is
angry with abusers of His people. Judgment will come, as it has done from
God historically.
Habakkuk 3:13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people- As
explained on :12, this part of the prayer merges into prophecy, so certain
of fulfilment that it is expressed in the 'prophetic perfect', as if it
has already happened. Again we have the problem of suffering addressed;
the threshing of nations in :12 was part of God's going forth to save His
people. The fall of Babylon, like the fall of Pharaoh's Egypt, was in
order for God's people to exit to salvation. Tragically, they for the most
part chose not to do this when Babylon fell historically, and so the
prophecies have been rescheduled and reapplied.
For the salvation of Your anointed- The idea could be that all God's people are anointed, in that they were chosen for special rulership (2 Cor. 1:21). This would have been great comfort to the exiles reading or hearing these prophecies in Babylon; they were chosen for something special, to rule the nations, when Israel were the head and not the tail. But the ideas behind "salvation" and "anointed" suggest in Greek 'Jesus Christ'. When historical Babylon fell to the Medes, the prophetic scenarios didn't come very accurately true; because Judah didn't repent and didn't really want to quit Babylon. And so these prophecies were reapplied to salvation from a wider Babylon, in and through Jesus Christ.
You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah- Crushing the rosh of the wicked could refer to the latter day conquest of a similar rosh by the Lord Jesus at His return, as spoken of in Ez. 38:2-4. The reference would be to a standoff between the Lord Jesus as the seed of the woman, and the antiChrist personal leader of "the land of wickedness", latter day Babylon. Crushing the head recalls the struggle of Gen. 3:15, in which the seed of the woman emerges finally triumphant in the last day.
The 'stripping from head to foot' may simple mean 'crushed both from the head down and from the foot upwards'. Or if read as it stands, it would refer to the sign of conquest- stripping the slain.
Habakkuk 3:14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own
spears- "Spears" is literally 'rods'. The word is used in Is. 10:24
of how Judah were to be beaten with the rod of Assyria which was the rod
of Egypt. And that would continue the many allusions here to the exodus.
The rod would be grabbed from the hands of the abusers and used to slay
their leaders. "Spears" or rods is the same word translated "arrows" in
:9, where we are assured that God's arrows go to the right target and do
not cause indiscriminate damage. Now we learn that the arrows or rods used
by God are actually the arrows or rods used by the abusers of Israel, with
which they abused them just like the Egyptians beating them with rods.
Those arrows or rods used to abuse Israel are grabbed from their hands and
used against those who have been using them. This is far from the
indiscriminate fear of the 'problem of evil' with which this prophecy
opens, and which is constantly addressed throughout it.
They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret- Those slain in the judgments had come as whirlwind to scatter God and His people, thinking they could abuse "the poor" (AV) without facing any justice for doing so ("in secret"). Coming as a whirlwind to scatter is the language of Divine judgment; these people had played God, assuming they had some Divine right to act as they wanted against the very vulnerable, and not face judgment for it because they were somehow playing God. This speaks of many abuse scenarios, but particularly of the abuse of the weak by jihadist Islamists of the last days. This is how they will treat God's people, and they will be judged for it. Habakkuk's opening fears that abusers would somehow get away with it are here resoundingly answered.
Habakkuk 3:15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty
waters- The waters represent individual peoples. God's riding forth
to save His people inevitably churned the waters; Gentiles were affected.
Israel's salvation out of Egypt required the fall of Egypt, their
potential salvation from Babylon required the fall of Babylon; Lot's
salvation from Sodom required the fall of Sodom (2 Pet. 2:6-9), just as
Noah's required the destruction of the world around him (2 Pet. 2:5,9; 1
Pet. 3:20,21). The picture is clear- out of the judgment of the Gentiles
there emerges God's redeemed, saved people who would otherwise have been
overcome by those Gentiles. In Judah's context, they would only go to
Babylon for their sins; but God would destroy Babylon so that spiritually
and physically they might emerge free, to restore God's kingdom. It's a
tragedy that they didn't do this; but the potential will finally be
realized in the fall of latter day Babylon.
Habakkuk 3:16 I heard, and my body trembled- What began as a
prayer ended up in a Divine revelation. Whilst we don't receive prophetic
revelations in the way Habakkuk did, it's true for us that intense
personal prayer often leads to spiritual realizations and God opening our
eyes to truths. Habakkuk believed what he had understood so deeply that
his body trembled. Such trembling was to be the effect upon Judah when
God's judgments came (Is. 5:25; 13:13; 14:16; 32:11). Habakkuk identified
so strongly with his sinful people that he took all this deeply into
himself, and felt as they would, although he had the personal hope of
resurrection to blessing (:17). In this he looks ahead to the Lord Jesus,
representative of sinful man, internalizing the judgment for our sins so
deeply that He carried them for us, to rise again in triumphant
resurrection.
My lips quivered at the sound- "The sound" may be that of God's word pronouncing judgment; or the sound of the invaders which he had heard. His lips quivered rather than his ears because he had to speak this forth to others. What a challenge to us, to speak forth God's word of judgment and salvation with lips quivering at the reality of it all.
Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble- This is an intimation that he must die and wait quietly in the grave [another evidence against heaven going] until the day of Jacob's final trouble which would herald the Lord's return, the resurrection and establishment of God's Kingdom in Israel (Dan. 12:1-4).
For the coming up of the people who invade us- This coming up could be the general arising of the Babylonians which was yet future to Habakkuk's time (Hab. 1:5,6), or their coming up upon Judah. Although Habakkuk would not personally experience it, he had to "wait quietly" in the grave, he still felt that he would be amongst those invaded ["invade us"] and suffer with them. This contrasts with Hezekiah who was delighted that judgment wouldn't come in his day, and got on and enjoyed himself.
Habakkuk 3:17 For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be
in the vines; the labour of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the
flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls-
The promised covenant blessings aren’t going to
be experienced by Habakkuk in this life, and yet he accepts that finally
he personally will be saved (:18) and rejoices in this. See on 1:2
Will You not save?
Habakkuk 3:19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet
like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places-
Despite being still intellectually dissatisfied
over the answers to the problem of evil with which he began in chapter 1,
Habakkuk concludes full of joy at the prospect of being like a deer, able
to climb any mountain in God's strength. This is not spiritual
selfishness, focusing upon ourselves and disregarding the wider suffering
of others. As noted on "invade us" in :16, this was not how he was. But
although the wider questions remain, these should not diminish our
personal faith in salvation. That is the crescendo of this prayer which
was turned into a temple song.
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