Habakkuk 3:1–19

Having stood on his watchtower and heard the answer of the LORD to his appeal, the prophet now takes to his knees in prayer. In the middle of all his inner struggles and trials, he uses the unfailing resource we have in the LORD, who is in His holy temple. He draws near to the throne of grace to find help in the time of need.

Having listened to this from his watchtower, the prophet, so to speak, comes down to speak with the Lord. God had graciously visited and answered him on the tower. Now he will enter the sanctuary, with the voice of prayer and praise. He comes in the power of that faith which had accepted God's answer, rejoiced in it, and counted on still further blessing.

Habakkuk, however, breaks out in prayer. It is now a question of the righteous, and not of the judgment of the Chaldean. So the last chapter is a most beautiful and lofty outpouring of the prophet... Although it is a prayer, it takes the form of a psalm.

The prophet had heard all of this from the mouth of the Lord. He summed up the conclusion of it in one prayer. That prayer was at the same time a plea, a thanksgiving, and a psalm of praise. It came out of a faith that was fully assured that the Lord would be faithful to His promises.

"Upon Shigionoth" reads in the margin "according to variable songs or tunes," and that meaning seems confirmed by the closing line of the chapter, "To the chief singer on stringed instruments." The prophet realises the presence of God as he reviews His past dealings against Israel's enemies. In them he sees the pledge of the future salvation.

Shigionoth is the plural of Shiggaion, and is found in the heading of Psalm 7. 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.

Habakkuk begins his closing prayer on Shigionoth. That means a selection of variable tunes on the wind instrument, often involving much effort with little music. How often our prayers are like that! But if they lead us to the result he reached, our joy will indeed be full. No one could imagine less favourable conditions than those Habakkuk pictures. Yet he would rejoice in the Lord, and as a result he was made to walk on high places. That corresponds to music on the stringed instruments.

This was all the more reason to call on God's mercy. Just when He pours out His judgments over the world, we ought to trust His grace. That is as true today as it was in the past. God will answer this prophetic prayer of Habakkuk when Israel is revived. He will answer it especially toward the faithful remnant, which the prophet pictured.

Yet when he heard these judgments announced, he said, "And I feared." God's judgments are terrible. They must fill the heart with a wholesome fear! Still one thing he wanted to ask: Revive Your work of grace toward Your people! "In the midst of the years," before the end time of which You spoke. Act in mercy toward us!

So the prophet could say: "I heard"; not: "You have heard," for his question had come out of his weak faith. Now, however, he had knowledge of God's thoughts. The Lord had given this to him, and he did not have to wait for His governmental ways before he could understand them. Through faith he had come to know them already.

He seeks that there may be "a revival" — that now in the midst of the years God would do the works which so wonderfully marked the beginning of the years. He rehearses those early works of Jehovah for Israel, as in God's presence, with moving beauty and in the broken style of a man whose heart was alive to his subject. He recalls what God did in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in Canaan. He does this so that the Lord might look at those mighty doings of His, and do the same in these present Chaldean times.

The deliverance out of Egypt was "the beginning of years," in which the Lord had shown His work of grace on behalf of His people. The prophet wanted God to take it up again. He wanted this before the deliverance at the end of years, which would bring in the Millennium. He knew that he lived in the time of wrath.

And now, in the midst of the years, he asks for a revival of this work — for the LORD to step in, so that He may be known in His power. The text is often quoted when pleading for 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 does not pray for a great public revival among the people of God, one that might bring them into prominence. He longs instead to see the LORD working in the midst of their trials. He wants to see the LORD acting in mercy towards those who by their failure have brought the LORD's chastening on themselves.

He knows that wrath is on the way. The wrath is not only for the Chaldeans but for his own people. The unbelieving, those who had turned away, would also have to face the judgment. So 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. The same will be true when this present age winds up: when judgment sweeps over the earth, He will have mercy on His people.

The great inspired ode which follows is one of the greatest sections of prophecy. It is a wonderful appearance of God that the Spirit of God describes. Wrath and mercy are both shown, so that it is an answer to the prophet's plea. "In wrath remember mercy."

This close fellowship of the soul with God results in joy and revival... This very personal encouragement in fellowship with God will strengthen the desire in our hearts that the whole people of God may be revived. So we pray, always keeping our own weakness and failure in view, "O LORD, revive Your work."

Son of Eliphaz, a son of Esau, and a duke of Edom; also his descendants and the district in which they lived. It is connected four times with Edom and twice with Dedan, which places it in the south. Scripture speaks of its wisdom, and God pronounces judgements on it. In Habakkuk 3:3 the margin reads "south."

The great ode, cast in the form of a Psalm, begins with the statement that God comes from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Moses in his prophetic blessing begins with a similar declaration. Just as He was revealed when He had redeemed them out of Egypt and made them His kingdom people at Sinai, so He will appear again to deliver the remnant of His people from the rule of the world-power. He comes from the direction of Edom, for Teman is the southern district of Idumea, while Paran lies further south.

First, as to the expression that puzzles you, "God came from Teman." This has nothing to do with His eternal existence. Compare Deuteronomy 33:2: "The LORD came from Sinai ... he shone forth from Mount Paran." This expresses the same act of majesty on His part. Judges 5:4 refers to the same triumphant progress of the Lord at the head of His people Israel. They came out of the wilderness to threaten the nations that tried to stop them taking possession of the Land of Promise.

These verses show us the Lord coming from the east, from Teman and the mountains of Paran. Those mountains tower over the wilderness of the same name. In short, He comes from Edom's territory. He comes to help His people, to deliver them out of slavery in Egypt by destroying the nations that oppressed and resisted Israel.

He asks that there may be "a revival". He asks that now, in the middle of the years, God would do the works that so wonderfully marked the beginning of the years. He rehearses, as in the divine presence, those early works of the Lord for Israel — done in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in Canaan. He does it so that the Lord might look at those mighty deeds of His and do the like in these present Chaldean times.

His glory covers the heavens, while the earth is filled with His praise. Heaven and earth reflect the glory of the Coming One. He comes in power and great glory, in the clouds of heaven, as Daniel saw Him in the night vision, and as our Lord testified Himself.

Habakkuk 3 looks on to the future. The last of the series of judgments on the nations will be in Edom, the land of Esau — Teman was his eldest son — for their undying hatred of Israel. But in wrath He remembers mercy. The judgments will result in the thousand years of the kingdom of Christ, and the earthly blessing of Israel and the nations under His universal rule.

Brightness fills the sky as He appears in person, while glory rays stream out from His hand — the hiding of His power. The picture evidently comes from the rising sun, which shoots out great rays, announcing its rising. As Delitzsch remarks, "His hand" is meant in a general sense, the hand as such, not one hand only. May we not have here a hint of His hands, once pierced, but now streaming with glory?

Then in sublime language he recalls the different ways God had acted in the past, for His own glory and for the blessing of His people. He refers to Teman and Paran, where there had been the most striking displays of divine power and glory, as we know from Deuteronomy 33:2. "Before Him" the enemies of His people were driven apart and scattered, and every opposing power was brought low.

All these passages, like Habakkuk's prayer, sing of God's past intervention to save His people as a pledge of the deliverance in the last days.

Consider the indescribable grace of the Lord's person. The hand that was nailed to the cross in pain and shame was the hiding place of almighty power (Hab. 3:4). Yet He suffered in weakness. He cried out in deep distress, and that cry told of a heart broken under the sense of God's abandonment (Matt. 27:46). This is what the Holy Spirit sets before the believer, to produce in him a Christian frame and temper in the true sense of the word.

But in divine things, the hidden and inward is always deeper and more precious than the outward. What is going to be displayed is more precious than the display itself. ("There was the hiding of His power" — Hab. 3:4.) The white stone comes from the hand of the glorified Jesus. It tells of secret blessings dearer even than the glory that will be revealed to us, and that we are to share.

"He stood, and measured the earth; He looked, and routed the nations; and the eternal mountains were scattered, the everlasting hills gave way: His ways are everlasting" (v. 6). The nations who tried to resist Israel were scattered, the power of ancient Egypt broken. The eternal hills picture the authorities God Himself set up. Their rule should therefore have lasted without limit. Yet they gave way before Him who came from His holy mountain to deliver His people.

These verses describe the Exodus from Egypt. They show us the Lord coming from the east, from Teman and the mountains of Paran. Those mountains dominate the wilderness that carries their name. In short, He comes from Edom's territory. He comes to the aid of His people, to deliver them out of slavery in Egypt by destroying the nations who oppressed them and resisted Israel.

It is unfortunate that the King James Version has "God came from Teman," when it is "God comes" — not a past but a future event. Just as He appeared when He had redeemed them out of Egypt, and made them His kingdom people at Sinai, so He will appear again. He will deliver the remnant of His people from the rule of the world-power, and judge that power as He judged Egypt.

Before Him goes the pestilence. It points to the trouble that comes before His coming. That is when the four apocalyptic riders bring war, famine, pestilence, and death in judgment for this earth.

This has nothing to do with His eternal existence. Compare Deuteronomy 33:2: "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran." Judges 5:4 refers to the same triumphant progress of the Lord at the head of His people Israel... This as to the past. Habakkuk 3 looks on to the future. After the Lord takes up His ways with Israel again, the nations will band together to dispute His putting the true remnant of Israel back into possession of the whole land promised to Abraham. The last of these judgments will fall in Edom, the land of Esau — Teman was his eldest son (Genesis 36:15) — for their undying hatred of Israel. The judgments will result in the thousand years of the kingdom of Christ, and the earthly blessing of Israel and the nations under His worldwide rule.

The past is seen as a prophecy of the future.

Mineral coal is now known to exist in the Lebanon range, but was unknown in Bible times... The coal usually meant in the Old Testament was charcoal. Other words there point to the hot or glowing stones people baked cakes on. 1 Kings 19:6; Song of Solomon 8:6; Isaiah 6:6; Habakkuk 3:5.

Then in sublime language he recalls the different ways in which God had acted, in the past, for His own glory and the blessing of His people... "Before Him" the enemies of His people were driven apart and scattered, and every opposing power brought low.

What assurance this thought gives to faith! What God has done in the past, He will also do in the future; with Him "there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17).

This was all the more a reason to call upon God's mercy. Just when He pours out His judgments over the world, we ought to trust His grace — today as much as in the past.

In lofty language he recalls the different ways God had acted in the past, for His own glory and for the blessing of His people. He points to Teman and Paran, where God had shown His power and glory most strikingly, as we know from Deuteronomy 33:2. "Before Him" the enemies of His people were driven apart and scattered, and every opposing power was brought low.

According to Judges 5:4 Deborah sang about the Lord's intervention, coming from Seir, to destroy the enemies of His people. We find the same in Psalm 18:8-20, but there it concerns more specifically the enemies of the last days. Psalm 68 identifies the deliverance out of Egypt with the deliverance of the people in the last days. Psalm 77 draws from the deliverance out of Egypt the confidence that the Lord will deliver His people in the time of the Great Tribulation. So all these passages, like Habakkuk's prayer, sing of God's past intervention to save His people as a pledge of the deliverance in the last days.

He is standing, not fighting. This reminds us of Habakkuk 3:6, "He stood and measured the earth." The Lord does not judge in haste. He calmly takes account of every matter before judgment.

This work of measurement is prophetically significant. See Zech. 2 and Rev. 11; Hab. 3:6. It suggests God's care and interest. Everything that relates to His purposes and promises matters to Him. It may well mean, too, that God has risen up to take possession — it is the assertion of His title. Every false claim will be set aside, everything wrongly held will be taken back, and all will be established by the measure of truth and righteousness.

He recognizes that God takes the measure of the earth itself, and therefore of everything in it. He will humble the nations painfully. He will scatter the mountains (higher authorities), though men think them eternal, and the hills (lesser authorities) will bow before Him. Since this is true, then however deep the poverty and ruin Israel is brought to, the prophet can truly say, "Yet will I rejoice in the Lord" (ch. 3:18).

The nations who sought to resist Israel were scattered, the power of ancient Egypt broken. The eternal hills picture the authorities God Himself set up, whose rule should therefore have lasted without end. Yet they gave way before Him who came from His holy mountain to deliver His people.

What assurance this thought gives to faith! What God has done in the past, He will also do in the future; with Him "is no variation nor shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

The Rock that followed them long ago goes after them again, in the moral wilderness their sin had created. "His ways are everlasting," and He Himself is "the Same." When the flock are all astray, the Owner goes after the lost ones.

Perhaps it means Ethiopia, as the margin note at Habakkuk 3:7 says. Or it may refer to Chushan-rishathaim, the first oppressor on record in the time of the judges (Judges 3:8-10).

With awe the prophet thought of events that still had to happen, but which he saw in his vision as already having happened. The territories of Cush to the West and to the North, and Arabia to the East and the South, will tremble before the Lord.

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. He once came at Sinai, and the mountains shook and the hills trembled. News of the disaster at the Red Sea once struck terror into the neighbouring nations. So it will be again, only on a larger scale, when He comes in great power and glory.

The homes of the nations were in distress, and their lands trembled when, at the word of the LORD, "the rods of discipline" fell upon them (verse 9, N. Tr.). None of the powers of nature could hold back the LORD's work of judgment — not the rivers, not the mountains, not the sun and moon. He marched through the land in indignation, to thresh the nations in anger.

Still, God occupies Himself with what men may despise. He takes notice of small things, and He does it just because He is great beyond measure. People who only reach after a greatness they do not have are afraid of lowering themselves by noticing what is small. It is not so where the greatness is real. Israel was His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought His people, and He would save them.

God occupies Himself with what men may despise. He takes notice of the little, and this precisely because He is infinitely great. Those who merely reach after a greatness they do not have are afraid of lowering themselves by noticing what is small. It is not so where there is real greatness. Israel were His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought and would save His people.

It is the prayer of faith that moves the hand of Him who rules creation. In this way the natural serves the spiritual and the material serves the moral. The very things that hide our Creator from our gaze become the means by which He shows Himself. God opened a path through the sea in answer to His people's need and the cry of Moses. God, having no controversy with material things, makes them serve His end for moral reasons... If He turns a river into blood, or stops another in full flood so that it flows backward, it is an intervention on behalf of His people.

The verses which follow (verses 8-15) are in the form of an address to God. The rivers and the seas, and the mountains feel His wrath; they stand for the nations and the world-powers. He is seen marching in anger through the earth and in His fury treading down the nations.

God will do away with the boundaries of the nations; He Himself will strike them down in their confusion. But when He acts in this way, His purpose is not judgment only, for His chariots are "chariots of salvation."

In these verses we find a comparison between the future deliverance and that out of Egypt, which was only a weak picture of the former.

He seeks that there may be "a revival" — that now in the middle of the years God would do the works that so wonderfully marked the beginning of the years. And with moving beauty he recounts those early works of the Lord for Israel in God's presence. He speaks in the broken style of a man carried along by a heart alive to its subject. He recalls Egypt, the wilderness and Canaan. He wants the Lord to look at those mighty acts of His and do the same in these present Chaldean times.

His hand was as strong for them now as when He rode with His chariots of salvation through the sea and covered the Egyptian sky with sackcloth. But there was no one (Isaiah 50:1-2). Israel did not know, the people did not consider, that the tenants refused and rejected the Heir of the vineyard.

The homes of the nations were in distress. Their lands trembled when "the rods of discipline" fell on them at the word of the LORD (verse 9, New Translation). No power of nature could stop the LORD's work of judgment. The rivers, the mountains, the sun and the moon were of no help when He marched through the land in indignation, to thresh the nations in anger.

Your bow is made completely bare; rods of chastisement are sworn by Your Word, You cleave the earth with rivers.

It is as if Habakkuk were lifting up the bow under the eye of God in the day of the cloud. He does it so that God, looking at it, might remember His covenant, His grace, and His power for His saints. He might remember His promises and His mercies, and save His people from this threatened flood.

God occupies Himself with what people may despise. He takes notice of the little, and this is exactly because He is infinitely great. Some people only reach for a greatness they do not have. They are afraid that noticing what is small will lower them. Not so where there is real greatness. Israel were His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought and would save His people.

When He acts in this way, His purpose is not only judgment. His chariots are "chariots of salvation." The judgments will still have to run their course to the end. The stripes foretold by God's Word come down on the nations, and He wipes out their boundaries (v. 9).

In verses 7-15 we find a comparison between the future deliverance and the one out of Egypt. The rescue from Egypt was only a weak picture of the future one.

The prophet is aware of God's presence as he reviews His past dealings against Israel's enemies. In them he sees the pledge of the future salvation.

This means to pause and to lift up. We are to pause and meditate, and then lift up our hearts and voices in praise and thanksgiving. It appears seventy-one times in the Psalms and three times in this chapter of Habakkuk.

With the sixth verse He draws nearer. Up to this point in this appearing of God, He comes forth like the sun coming out from where it rests, while heaven and earth reflect His glory. But now He stands and measures the earth. He looks, and the nations tremble. All creation feels it, and earthquakes shake down the mountains.

The verses that follow (verses 8-15) are spoken directly to God. The rivers, the seas and the mountains feel His wrath. They stand for the nations and the world-powers. He marches in anger through the earth and in His fury treads down the nations. It is a majestic picture the Spirit of God gives of that coming day of wrath and judgment.

When God acts in this way, His purpose is not only judgment, for His chariots are "chariots of salvation." The rulers will be terrified. The whole world will cry out in fear. The people will lift up their hands in vain while a flood of judgments pours over them (v. 10). Nothing will be able to stop the Lord's battle against the godless until they are fully consumed.

The homes of the pagan nations were in distress, and their lands trembled when, at the word of the LORD, "the rods of discipline" fell on the nations (verse 9). All the powers of nature — the rivers, the mountains, the sun and moon — could do nothing to stop the LORD's work of judgment. He marched through the land in anger, to thresh the nations in His fury.

God gives His attention to what people may despise. He takes notice of the little, and He does so just because He is infinitely great. People who only reach after a greatness they do not have are afraid of lowering themselves by noticing what is small. It is not so where greatness is real. Israel was His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought and would save His people.

Psalm 77 takes the rescue from Egypt and draws from it the confidence that the Lord will rescue His people in the time of the Great Tribulation. So all these passages, like Habakkuk's prayer, sing of God stepping in to save His people in the past as a pledge of the rescue in the last days.

How wonderfully the chapter closes with what is true for the believer at all times (v. 17). Even when nothing seems to prosper, and all that the flesh would lean on is gone — "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation." And so it turns "prayer" (v. 1) into praise.

Nothing will be able to stop the Lord's battle against the godless until they are completely consumed. It will be as it was in the days of Joshua (Joshua 10:13).

It was the most remarkable battle in Israel's history. There was no day like it, nor any since, because the Lord listened to the voice of Joshua. The Lord fought for Israel. The sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the people had taken revenge on their enemies. This is a prophetic type of the coming day of the Lord.

There will be visible signs of His presence with His people, as there were when He led them through the wilderness. He will fight for them, as He did long ago when He threw down great hailstones on their enemies (Joshua 10:11). Only here the lightning is His weapon. As Habakkuk says, "at the light of Your arrows as they sped, at the flash of Your glittering spear." (Hab. 3:11)

All the powers of nature — the rivers, the mountains, the sun and moon — were of no use to stop the work of the LORD in judgment. He marched through the land in indignation, to thresh the nations in anger.

The verses which follow (verses 8-15) are in the form of an address to God. The rivers and the seas, and the mountains feel His wrath; they stand as symbols of the nations and the world-powers. He is seen marching in anger through the earth and in His fury treading down the nations.

Had sea and mountain, sun and moon been made to serve God's ways with Israel in the past? It will be the same in the future, when plague and fire and other ways God steps in announce the arrival of the Lord's day.

Still, God occupies Himself with what men may despise. He takes notice of the little; and this just because He is infinitely great. People who only reach for a greatness they do not have are afraid of lowering themselves by noticing what is small. It is not so where there is real greatness. Israel was His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought and would save His people.

Habakkuk 3 looks on to the future. The Lord will take up His ways with Israel again. Then the nations will band together to dispute His putting the true remnant of Israel back into possession of the whole extent of the land promised to Abraham. The last of the judgments carried out on them will fall in Edom, the land of Esau. Teman was his eldest son (Genesis 36:15). The reason is their undying hatred of Israel.

He once came at Sinai, when the mountains shook and the hills trembled. The news of the Red Sea disaster once struck terror into the neighbouring nations. So it will be again, only on a larger scale, when He comes in great power and glory.

The homes of the pagan peoples were in distress, and their lands shook, when at the word of the LORD "the rods of discipline" fell on the nations. All the powers of nature could do nothing to stop the LORD's work of judgment — not the rivers, not the mountains, not the sun and moon. He marched through the land in indignation, to thresh the nations in anger.

The rivers, the seas and the mountains feel His wrath. They are symbols of the nations and the world-powers. He is seen marching in anger through the earth, treading down the nations in His fury. It is a majestic picture the Spirit of God gives of that coming day of wrath and judgment.

Moreover, God's wrath will not spare the land, Israel's territory. The unbelieving and apostate part of the people will, like the nations, receive the stripes of the Lord's indignation.

But when He acts in this way, His purpose is not just judgment, for His chariots are "chariots of salvation."

Still, God occupies Himself with what people may despise. He takes notice of the little, and He does so just because He is infinitely great. Those who only reach after a greatness they do not have are afraid that noticing small things will lower them. Not so where there is real greatness. Israel were His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought and would save His people.

But while He comes in this way, carrying out wrath and judgment upon the ungodly, He comes in mercy. He goes forth for the salvation of His people, for the salvation of Your anointed. That means the elect nation and the God-fearing, waiting remnant of the last days.

God occupies Himself with what men may despise. He takes notice of the little, and this just because He is infinitely great. People who only reach for a greatness they do not have are afraid of lowering themselves by noticing what is small. Not so where there is real greatness. Israel was His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought and would save His people... There we see what was near the prophet's heart: was it not also near Jehovah's heart?

Isn't this a wonderful thing? That small nation will be the object of the loving care of the almighty God. And even then it is represented by only a small, insignificant remnant. His care goes so far that He will throw the whole world into turmoil to save that nation.

He goes out for the salvation of His people, for the salvation of Your anointed. That is, the chosen nation and the God-fearing, waiting remnant of the last days (Ps. 105:15).

It is because Israel is His anointed. He has put the seal of His Spirit on it. He wants to have it near Him, sharing His glory at the centre of a reign where His eternal righteousness will rule. The true Israel may be small in the eyes of men; in the day when He exercises His authority it will be His "precious jewel."

These words doubtless refer to the Chaldean, who had founded his house on unrighteousness. They also point us to the "godless one" of the last days. His house too will be destroyed from the rooftop to the foundation.

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. Verse 13 predicts his doom, followed by another Selah, like verses 3 and 9.

We find the thought of verse 13 again in that beautiful passage of Isaiah. There we see the Lord coming out of Edom, from Bozrah, with His great power. He has trodden the winepress alone, treading the nations in His fury. Then He says: "For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption had come" (Isa. 63:1-6).

When salvation comes to the Jews it will be by the putting down of the enemies that press around and against them. That is, power comes down to earth and deals with the world. It leaves the Jews for blessing by destroying their enemies under the hand of God. We, on the other hand, have the right to enjoy the salvation of God in Christ through His cross, while the evil of mankind still goes unjudged.

A related word [to the one in Judges 5:7, 11] appears in Habakkuk 3:14, and nowhere else. There the authorised version brings in the idea of "villages." But ruler, or chief, will suit the context. The Septuagint has translated it by dynaston. The Syriac and Targum versions, and the commentator Jarchi, mostly agree with the idea of ruler. The Vulgate translates it bellator [warrior].

All nations will rush in to scatter this poor, tested, powerless remnant and to devour it in a secret place. We have pointed this out more than once in our studies of the prophets. The nations of the last days will not announce their plans. In secret they will decide to snatch their prey from their allies of one day. But when Christ appears, the horses of this mighty Warrior will only need to show themselves. That will be enough to break through and destroy the huge power Satan has stirred up against Him and His people.

Besides its everyday use, this word also stands as a picture for "consume, destroy": they "eat up my people as they eat bread." Psalm 14:4; compare Proverbs 30:14; Habakkuk 3:14.

That small nation is the object of the loving care of almighty God — and even then it is only represented by a small, insignificant remnant. His care goes so far that He will bring the whole world into turmoil to save that nation. It is because Israel is His anointed: He has put the seal of His Spirit on it. He wants it near Him, sharing His glory at the centre of a kingdom where His eternal righteousness will rule. The true Israel may be little in the eyes of men; in the day in which He exercises His authority it will be His "precious jewel."

In acting this way the LORD was not only dealing with the wickedness of nations, but working for the salvation of His people — His anointed. To this end God's mighty power overthrew the leaders in wickedness, who came as a whirlwind to scatter and devour the afflicted.

God will answer Habakkuk's prophetic prayer when Israel is revived — above all toward the faithful remnant, which the prophet pictured in himself.

In these verses we find a comparison between the future deliverance and the deliverance out of Egypt. The deliverance out of Egypt was only a weak picture of the one to come.

He wants the Lord to do for Israel now, against the Chaldean, what He had done for them long ago against the Egyptian and the Amorite. He asks for "a revival". He wants God to do now, in the middle of the years, the works that so wonderfully marked the beginning of the years. In God's presence he goes back over those early works of the Lord for Israel, whether done in Egypt, in the wilderness, or in Canaan. His hope, if I may put it this way, is that the Lord might look at those mighty deeds of His and do the same in these present Chaldean times. As yet the Lord had only promised judgment on the Chaldean. He had not spoken of the final restoration and glory of Israel. But Habakkuk must have this promised and secured too, and so he prays for "a revival" of His work for Israel.

The verses which follow (verses 8–15) are in the form of an address to God. The rivers, the seas and the mountains feel His wrath. They are symbols of the nations and the world-powers. He marches in anger through the earth, and in His fury He treads down the nations. It is a majestic picture the Spirit of God gives of that coming day of wrath and judgment.

In acting like this the LORD was not only dealing with the wickedness of nations. He was also working for the salvation of His people — His anointed. To that end the mighty power of God overthrew the leaders in wickedness, who came like a whirlwind to scatter and devour the afflicted.

All nations will rush in to scatter this poor, tested, powerless remnant and to devour it in a secret place. The nations of the last days will not publicise their plans. In secret they will decide to snatch their prey from allies of a single day. But when Christ appears, the horses of this mighty Warrior need only show themselves. That will be enough to break through and destroy the tremendous might stirred up by Satan against Him and His people. Revelation 19:11–16 gives more details of this battle scene.

When salvation comes to the Jews, it will come by putting down the enemies that strive around them and against them. That is, it is power that comes down to earth and deals with the world. The hand of God destroys their enemies and leaves the Jews for blessing. We, on the contrary, are entitled to enjoy the salvation of God in Christ by His cross while the evil of mankind remains unjudged. We have been delivered, and we know it in the power of the Spirit. So we are called out to be separate to the Lord in grace.

This verse concludes and sums up what the previous verses have said... The entire scene of the last days had then passed before his eyes... Then his prophetic vision rested on the judgments of the last days. He understood that these had only one aim, the salvation of God's people, just as in earlier days. This all he had seen and accepted as reality. Yet, that did not stop him from trembling to his bones, even more than he had done at the beginning of his song. It was with him as it had been with Daniel who said, when he saw this great vision: "My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength."

The prophet then expresses even his awe at such a solemn interference for Israel: what should those feel who must be objects of divine vengeance?

As he remembers His power, the prophet trembles. Yet he knows that this power is the source of a perfect and certain rest in the day of trouble, when the destroyer comes up and invades the people.

Habakkuk trembled. It was as if the whole judgment fell on him, yet he rested while he waited for the day of distress. The same work of conscience must happen in us: the sense that we can do nothing at all, and the conviction that our nature is corrupt. Without that, we cannot find rest — whether we look at the history of men in the past, the present, or the future.

In the past God dealt with the nations in judgment. That solemn dealing may indeed make the prophet realise how weak and poor God's people are, so that he trembles when God shows Himself. Still, it would lead the prophet to "rest in the day of trouble when their invader shall come up against the people."

The prophet was sure of the eventual deliverance and the lasting rest. But the Word here presents a rest we can enjoy ahead of time. It is rest of soul in the middle of the most sorrowful tribulations. Only one person gets that peace: the one who has learned to judge himself fully, and who has come to know God's love and mercy.

The prophet now speaks of his own feeling, which reflects the feeling of the godly among the Jews when this great appearing of God becomes history. There is fear and trembling in view of the coming tribulation. When he heard it he trembled; he collapses. 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.

We are not in fear now as others are. Before us is the very thing that makes our flesh tremble and rottenness enter our bones — "on the earth distress of nations in perplexity", "people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world". Yet we can rest in the day of trouble. We can lift up our heads, because our redemption is drawing near.

Three trees are named here. The fig tree gave food. The vine gave grapes for wine to gladden the hearts of men. The olive tree gave the oil for anointing the head. These three trees stand out in Scripture. They sometimes picture the relationships the Lord their God had brought Israel into. Habakkuk was no doubt saying that even if all human resources failed, he would still find his resource and joy in the Lord Himself.

It was a time of great scarcity that mirrored the spiritual condition of the Jewish people in our days. The fig tree, the vine, and the olive tree are without fruit — all symbols of that nation. Nothing is produced for God. Wheat, sheep, cattle, everything is lacking; there is even no longer a sacrifice to establish communion between Israel and God.

Although there is such a magnificent description of the sure judgment of the enemy in all its extent (not merely the Chaldeans now, but all their enemies), and although there is the assured salvation of the people of God, even the Jews, the prophet meanwhile answers to the faith of which he had himself been the preacher, by one of the finest expressions of that faith which the Old Testament contains.

I want you to notice these words, "The righteous shall live by his faith," and if you want to know what it was for a Jew in those days to live by faith, read Habakkuk 3:17-19. That is a fine example of it.

"Yet…" adds the prophet. He lived by his faith and had accepted the promised deliverance as if it were already his. He did not, however, rejoice in the rest that he had not yet reached, nor even in the salvation. He had a much higher joy: he had the Lord Himself, the God of his salvation. He rejoiced in Him, and would always rejoice in Him. This is the God who hid nothing from him. He acted toward him as a friend and made His most secret thoughts known to him. He could count on His mercy, even when all would fail, because He is the God whose blessings endure forever.

The Lord's word about the coming of the Chaldean had frightened him. He was as one astonished, or as a dead man. But now, as a man of faith, he knows he has only to wait, through a season of discipline and patience, sure that all will end in the salvation of God. And in the joyful assurance of this he sings to the chief singer on his stringed instrument. Jehoshaphat entered the battle with the song of victory on his lips. In the same way Habakkuk now enters the season of the vision, the season of faith and patience, in the joy of the Lord, and with a song prepared as for a day of glory.

This was enough for Habakkuk. His soul had dropped its anchor in the calm harbour of God's unchangeable purpose, and he could rejoice in the Lord. Everything around might seem to grow worse and worse… Outward prosperity might all be a thing of the past. Evil might have the upper hand, and those who fear the Lord might be a small and weak remnant. But the prophet's eye was not on things of this sort. From all the failure and discouragement he looked away to the day of God's triumph, and his heart beat with gladness.

He had learned the ways of God in government, seen in chastening His people and in judging their enemies. He had seen a vision. It told him that all God's works in chastening and judgment would lead to the everlasting salvation of His people. Above all, they would lead to the earth being filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD. He may have to wait for the vision to be fulfilled. But he lives by faith in this glorious future, and in the One who will bring it to pass. So he is prepared to face all the trials on the way. Still, the LORD is in His holy temple, and in the LORD he will rejoice, and joy in the God of his salvation.

"Yet …" adds the prophet. He lived by his faith and had accepted the promised deliverance as if it were already his. But he did not rejoice in the rest he had not yet reached, nor even in the salvation. He had a much higher joy: he had the Lord Himself, the God of his salvation. The One in whom he rejoiced, and would always rejoice, was the God who hid nothing from him. He acted toward him as a friend. He made his most secret thoughts known to him. He could count on His mercy, even when everything else failed. He is the God whose blessings last forever.

The answer is immediate: "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound" (v. 7). When material blessings increase, people are usually very happy. But a sense of the nearness of the Lord gives a gladness far deeper than any increase of material riches can ever produce. This holds true even when a person suffers a great lack of material things, as the prophet Habakkuk declares with no uncertainty.

This was enough for Habakkuk. His soul had dropped its anchor in the calm harbour of God's unchanging purpose. So he could rejoice in the Lord. Everything around him might seem to grow worse and worse. Outward prosperity might all be a thing of the past. The power of evil might be gaining ground, and those who fear the Lord might be a small and weak remnant. But the prophet's eye was not on things of this sort. He looked away from all the failure and discouragement to the day of God's triumph. His heart beat with gladness. He could joy in the God of his salvation.

How encouraging to trace the way this God-fearing man is led. He lay on his face in anguish of soul before God because of the failure of God's people. Then he took his stand on the watchtower to hear the words of the LORD. Then, having learned the mind of the LORD, we see him on his knees in prayer. In the end he walks on high places with joy in his heart and praise on his lips.

To live happily in the love of God, through Jesus, is the glory He seeks from us — sinners, self-ruined as we are. And to do this like Habakkuk, when circumstances say the opposite, makes this service and worship still more excellent. It is surely the fruit of His grace and of His power working in us.

The Lord was not only his joy, He was also the prophet's strength (v. 19) when he was powerless. "Blessed are those whose strength is in You" (Ps. 84:5). Thanks to Him, our feet become like a deer's feet at a time of utmost weakness, when not one promise for the future has yet come true.

His feet were like a deer's, springing forward to the age of glory and joy. Yet the crops and flocks had failed completely, along with everything the heart naturally rests on. The prophecy ends on the top note of praise, addressed to the chief singer on his stringed instruments (Neginoth). By contrast, the prayer at the start of the chapter was set to Shigionoth, a wind instrument of shifting tunes — a good deal of blowing with little music.

He closes his prophecy with the blessed result of all these precious lessons: he expresses perfect confidence in Jehovah. He would rejoice and be glad in Him even if all the blessing should fail. Jehovah Himself was his strength, his trust, and his support. He would set him on the high places of His blessing. He would give him, as it were, a deer's feet to climb there by His favour.

We may rise up to our high places and walk through them with light, joyful, quick, free steps. For believers today, the heavenly places are the ground where we find ourselves in Christ. What does scarcity matter to people who enjoy all spiritual blessings there?

How encouraging to trace the way this God-fearing man is led! He lies on his face in anguish of soul before God, because God's people have failed. Then he takes his stand on the watchtower to hear the words of the Lord. Then, having learned the mind of the Lord, we see him on his knees in prayer. The result is that he walks at last on high places, with joy in his heart and praise on his lips.

No wonder that in those disastrous times Habakkuk rediscovered worship, as in the days of David and Solomon. He handed his song over to the Chief Musician, to sing it with harp and lyre... Knowing for certain that the things of earth are nothing drives us to the Lord. Then we rejoice in the boundless, unfathomable riches, and one thought overpowers our whole being: to cast ourselves at His feet and worship Him!

When the foundations of pure testimony seem destroyed, it is hard to stand against the crowd of people deserting the faith. Even then we can sing, like Habakkuk, "GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's; He makes me tread on my high places" (Hab. 3:19). The prophet's steps held steady, though the Chaldeans overran Judah and Jerusalem.