Habakkuk 3:12

12 When you were angry, you marched across the earth. Because of your anger you destroyed the nations.

Habakkuk 3:12 Meaning and Commentary

Habakkuk 3:12

Thou didst march through the land with indignation
Not the land of Canaan, fighting against the inhabitants of it, dispossessing them to make room for the Israelites, whatever allusion may be to it; but the antichristian land, the whole Romish jurisdiction, and all the states of it, through which the Lord will march in wrath and fury, when he pours out the vials of it upon them; or this is desired, and prayed for; for it may be rendered, "do thou march through the land" F18; foreseeing and believing that he would: thou didst thresh the heathen in anger;
or, "do thou thresh" F19, &c.; these are the Papists, called heathens and Gentiles in Scripture, because of the heathenish customs and practices they have introduced into the Christian religion, ( Psalms 10:16 ) ( Revelation 11:2 ) these are the nations that will be gathered together like sheaves of grain on a floor to be threshed; and when Zion the church of Christ, and Christian princes, will be called upon to arise, and thresh them; and the Lord by them will do it, namely, separate his own people from them, which are like wheat, and utterly destroy them, as chaff and stubble, ( Micah 4:12 Micah 4:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (deut) "progredlaris", Van Till.
F19 (vwdt) "tritures", Van Till.

Habakkuk 3:12 In-Context

10 The mountains saw you and shook. Floods of water swept by. The sea roared. It lifted its waves high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky. They stopped because your flying arrows flashed by. Your gleaming spear shone like lightning.
12 When you were angry, you marched across the earth. Because of your anger you destroyed the nations.
13 You came out to set your people free. You saved your chosen ones. You crushed Pharaoh, the leader of that evil land of Egypt. You stripped him from head to foot. "Selah"
14 His soldiers rushed out to scatter us. They were laughing at us. They thought they would easily destroy us. They saw us as weak people who were trying to hide. So you wounded Pharaoh's head with his own spear.
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