Habakkuk 3

CHAPTER 3

Habakkuk’s Prayer (3:1–19)

1–2 This beautiful prayer is Habakkuk’s response to the Lord’s answer in the previous chapter; it is Habakkuk’s confession of faith that the Lord is indeed in His holy temple and that He will in the end deliver His faithful people. This prayer was evidently used as a psalm; the meaning of shigionoth (verse 1) is unknown; it was probably a musical term.

In verse 2, Habakkuk looks back at the Lord’s past deeds and asks that they be renewed in his day. Habakkuk bases his prayer on God’s unfailing commitment to His covenant people. Habakkuk knows that God’s wrath will fall on disobedient Judah, but he also asks God to remember mercy. Wrath and mercy are two sides of God’s character: wrath toward the unrepentant and mercy toward the repentant (see Exodus 34:4–7 and comment).

3–7 In figurative language Habakkuk recalls how God delivered ISRAEL from EGYPT. He came from Teman and Mount Paran (verse 3), areas to the south of Judah (Deuteronomy 33:2); when God “came” to deliver the ISRAELITES and to meet them at Mount Sinai, He was pictured as coming “from the south.” God was accompanied by “plague” and “pestilence” (verse 5), personified agents of judgment by which God punished the Egyptians (Exodus Chapters 7–11). When God came to Mount Sinai, He shook the earth (see Exodus 19:16–19); and as He led His people out across the desert, He made the nations tremble⁷ (verses 6–7).

8–10 Habakkuk pictures God as riding on chariots and using bow and arrows ⁸ (verses 8–9). God also controls the waters of theearth, including the deep(verse10)—the seas and the oceans (see Mark 4:35–41).

11–15 Habakkuk says the sun and moon stood still in the heavens (verse 11); he may be referring to two instances in Israel’s history when God did alter the motion of heavenly bodies (Joshua 10:12–14; 2 Kings 20:9–11).

God threshed the nations (verse 12); threshing is a metaphor for God’s judgment. Habakkuk recalls how God overcame the ungodly nations, starting with Egypt. He did this in order to deliver His people and to save His anointed one—Israel⁹ (verse 13).

In the course of saving Israel, God crushed the leader of the land of wickedness (verse 13); God pierced his head (verse 14). Here Habakkuk is referring primarily to the crushing of Egypt (see Exodus 14:21–31), but his PROPHECY also looks ahead to future “lands of wickedness”— Babylon, Rome—which God will crush just as He crushed Egypt.

16–19 These last verses contain one of the greatest statements of faith in the Old Testament. Habakkuk speaks here of his own experience: his heart pounded and his legs trembled (verse 16) when he heard that Babylon was going to attack Judah (Habakkuk 1:5–11). Yet he says: I will wait patiently for the day of calamity—the day of judgment—that is going to come on the nation invading us, namely, Babylon (Habakkuk 2:2–20).

In verse 17, Habakkuk envisions what Judah will be like after the Babylonian invasion:the source of Judah’s prosperity—its agriculture and livestock—will be devastated. What a picture of hard times, of difficult circumstances! Even if such hardship persists year after year, Habakkuk will not despair, he will not lose faith. Instead, he will rejoice in the LORD (verse 18).

Habakkuk was not an unthinking optimist or an unrealistic dreamer; he had a reason for his hope—the word of God. God had warned the Israelites that they would be punished if they disobeyed His covenant commands (see Leviticus 26:1439); He had also promised that if they repented they would be restored (see Leviticus 26:40–45; Deuteronomy 30:1–10). God had been faithful to His word up to Habakkuk’s time, and Habakkuk did not doubt that God would keep on being faithful. Habakkuk trusted God; he had a personal relationship with God. Because of this, Habakkuk was able to live by ... faith (Habakkuk 2:4).

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).