Habakkuk 3

Every Christian should be able to say with Habakkuk: “Though everything is going wrong, yet I will rejoice in the Lord” (see Philippians 4:4–7; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18). “I am in His hands; He will never leave me nor forsake me” (see Joshua 1:5; Matthew 28:20). “The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet steady and sure as I walk on the difficult roads of life with Him” (verse 19).

And yet we have all experienced times when it is difficult to maintain such faith; we cry out to God but He doesn’t seem to answer. That is when we need to wait on God (verse 16), to keep listening for His answer. Some people say that God doesn’t speak to people today like He did in earlier times; the truth is that people don’t listen today as they did earlier. If we will wait and listen, God will always answer. Though the answer linger, wait for it; it will certainly come (Habakkuk 2:3). God will certainly give us strength in this world and—more wonderful than that—eternal SALVATION in the next.

¹ In verses 2–3, the violence Habakkuk refers to is the extreme violation of God’s law, which results in many kinds of oppression, including physical. Habakkuk calls out to God to save (deliver) the righteous from oppression.

² God permits wickedness to go on for a time, but He never approves of it. He judges the wicked guilty (verse 11), and will in due course punish them.

³ The grave—or death (verse 5)—never seems satisfied; it always has room for more.

⁴ The Apostle Paul twice quoted verse 4 and applied it to eternal or spiritual salvation (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11). He used Habakkuk’s words to show that people are saved through faith and not through works (see Ephesians 2:8–9). Just as God provides earthly deliverance on the basis of people’s faith, so also He provides spiritual deliverance on the basis of faith.

⁵ Babylon will be plundered by the peoples who are left (verse 8)—that is, by the survivors of the nations that had been plundered by Babylon. Babylon was finally plundered by the Medes and the Persians, both of whom had been plundered by Babylon earlier.

⁶ For further discussion of idolatry in general, see Exodus 20:3–6; 34:15–16; Deuteronomy 4:28 and comments.

⁷ In verse 7, Cushan and Midian, located east of the Jordan, represent the “trembling” nations.

⁸ The attributing of human characteristics to God is known as anthropomorphism. For further discussion, see footnotes to comments on Genesis 8:21–22; Exodus 3:7–9.

⁹ The Hebrew word for anointed one is “Messiah”; the Greek word is “Christ.” In the context of verse 13, the “anointed one” Habakkuk is referring to is the nation of Israel. However, in prophecy there are often multiple layers of meaning in a single expression; even though Habakkuk may not have realized it, he was prophesying about Christ:when God saved Israel from Egypt, He also, in effect, “saved” Christ (1 Peter 1:10–12).