What does it mean that God came from Teman (Habakkuk 3:3)?

First as to the expression that puzzles you, “God came from Teman.” This has nothing to do with His eternal existence. Compare the expression in Deuteronomy 33:2, “The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran,” evidently expressing the same action of majesty on His part. Or again, Psalm 68:7, “O God, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness.” So Judges 5:4, referring to the same triumphant progress of the Lord at the head of His people Israel, as they emerged from the wilderness to threaten the nations that tried to hinder them taking possession of the Land of Promise. This as to the past. Habakkuk 3 looks on to the future, when, after the Lord resumes His ways with Israel (when the Church period is over, by His coming for us) there will be a confederacy of the nations to dispute His once more putting the true remnant of Israel into possession of the whole extent of the land promised to Abraham, which Psalm 83 speaks of, and many other scriptures. The last of the series of judgments executed upon them will be in Edom, the land of Esau (Teman being his eldest son, Genesis 36:15), for their undying hatred of Israel. Isaiah 63:1-6, celebrates the same judgment executed by the Lord in Person, at the head of His people. But in wrath He remembers mercy (v. 2). 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 sceptre.

It has been said, "The poet describes a great storm, advancing from the south, the region of Paran and Sinai. In the dark storm clouds he conceives Jehovah to be concealed; the lightning flashes which illumine heaven and earth disclose glimpses of the dazzling brightness immediately about him; the earth quakes, the hills sink, and the neighboring desert tribes look on in dismay" (Canon Driver). Thus higher criticism, reduces one of the sublimest inspired prophecies, concerning the future appearing of the Lord, to the level of poetry.

The great description of His coming must be linked with similar prophecies (Deut. 33:2; Psa. 18:8-19, 33, 34; Psa. 68:8, 34; Psa. 77:17-20). The great ode, cast in the form of a Psalm, begins with the statement that God cometh from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Moses in his prophetic blessing also begins with a similar declaration. "The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shined from Mount Paran, and He came with the thousands of His saints (angels); from His right hand went a fiery law for them." Just as He was manifested when He had redeemed them out of Egypt, and constituted them His Kingdom people at Sinai (Exodus 19), so will He appear again to deliver the remnant of His people from the dominion of the world-power, and judge them as He judged Egypt. He comes from the direction of Edom, for Teman is the southern district of Idumea, while Paran is more southward. Isaiah also beheld him advancing from the same direction. "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" (Isa. 63:1-6). It is unfortunate that the Authorized Version has "God came from Teman," when it is "God cometh," not a past but a future event. After this opening statement the first Selah is put. This means to pause and to lift up. We are to pause and meditate, and then to lift up our hearts and voices in praise and thanksgiving. It is found seventy-one times in the Psalms and three times in this chapter of Habakkuk.

His glory covers the heavens, while the earth is filled with His praise. Heaven and earth reflect the glory of the Coming One. How all this corresponds with the divine statements concerning His coming in the New Testament does not need to be pointed out. He comes in power and great glory, in the clouds of heaven, as Daniel beheld Him in the night vision, and as our Lord testified Himself. Brightness fills the sky as He appears in person, while out of His hand glory rays emanate, the hiding of His power. The picture is evidently taken from the rising sun, which shoots forth great rays, heralding its ascending. As Delitzsch remarks, "His hand" means in a general sense, as signifying the hand generally, and not a single hand only. May we not have here a hint of His hands pierced once, but now emanating glory? Before Him goes the pestilence, indicating the trouble which precedes His coming, when the four apocalyptic riders bring war, famine, pestilence, and death in judgment for this earth.

With the sixth verse He draws nearer. Up to this point in the theophany He is described as coming forth, like the sun out of His chamber, heaven and earth reflecting His glory, but now He stands and measures the earth; He looks and the nations tremble, while all creation is affected, and earthquakes shake down the mountains.

The first section of the second part is covered in verses 3-6. “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise. And His brightness was as the light; rays came forth from His hand; and there was the hiding of His power. Before Him went the pestilence, and a burning flame went forth at His feet” (vv. 3-5). Here the Exodus from Egypt is described. These verses show us the Lord coming from the east, from Teman and the mountains of Paran which dominate the wilderness known by that name, in short, from Edom's territory. He comes to the aid of His people, to deliver it out of the bondage of Egypt by the destruction of the nations who oppressed it and resisted Israel.

Deuteronomy 33:2 says that the Lord came from Sinai, out of Seir and from Paran to deliver His people and to give them the law. 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 particularly the enemies of the last days. Psalm 68 identifies the deliverance out of Egypt with that of the people in the last days. Psalm 77 draws out of the deliverance from Egypt the confidence that the Lord will deliver His people in the time of the Great Tribulation. And so, all these portions, just as Habakkuk's prayer, sing of God's past intervention to save His people as an earnest of the deliverance in the last days.

(Vv. 3-6). 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. He refers to Teman and Paran where there had been the most striking manifestations of divine power and glory, as we know from Deuteronomy 33:2. "Before Him" the enemies of His people were driven asunder and scattered, and every opposing power brought low.

Son of Eliphaz, a son of Esau, and a duke of Edom; also his descendants and the district inhabited by them. It is four times connected with Edom, and twice with Dedan: this associates it with the south. Its wisdom is spoken of, and God's judgements are pronounced upon it. One of Job's friends was Eliphaz the Temanite. Gen. 36:11, 15, 34, 42; 1 Chr. 1:36, 45, 53; Job 2:11; Jer. 49:7, 20; Ezek. 25:13; Amos 1:12; Obadiah 9; Hab. 3:3, in the margin 'south.' Not identified.

The, answer he had just received seems at once to put him in spirit, back to the earliest days of his nation, or the time of the salvation of God, when He was beginning to make Israel His people. The Chaldean reminded him of the Egyptian and of the Amorite. And he designs that the Lord would do for Israel now in the face of the Chaldean, what in those primitive days He had done for them in the face of the Egyptian and the Amorite. He seeks that there may be "a revival" — that now in the midst of the years God would do the works which so wondrously marked the beginning of the years. And with affecting beauty, and in the broken style of one who was following the currents of a heart alive to its subject, he rehearses, as in the divine presence, those early works of Jehovah in behalf of Israel, whether accomplished in Egypt, or in the wilderness, or in Canaan, that (if I may so speak), the Lord might look at those mighty doings of His, and do the like in these present Chaldean times. It is as if Habakkuk were lifting up the bow under the eye of God in the day of the cloud; so that, looking at it, He might remember His covenant, His grace, and His power for His saints, His promises and His mercies, and save His people from this threatened overwhelming.

This answer brings home to the heart of the prophet the solemn presence of God, and leads him to look for a revival of God's working in the midst of the people in grace, and turns him back to God's first favour, and recalls to the prophet all the glory of Jehovah, when He appeared for His people at the beginning, when He came out of His place and overturned every obstacle in order to establish His people in blessing.

Habakkuk, however, breaks forth in prayer. It is now a question of the righteous, and not of the judgment of the Chaldean. The last chapter accordingly is a most beautiful and sublime outpouring of the prophet. "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shigionoth. O Jehovah, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid. O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." And so He does. "God came from Teman and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise." Although it be a prayer, it assumes the form of a psalm. "And his brightness was as the sunlight; he had rays streaming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and made the earth tremble: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting" (Habakkuk 3:1-6).

Nevertheless God occupies Himself with that which men may despise. He takes notice of the little; and this just because He is infinitely great. Those who merely aspire after a greatness which they do not possess are afraid of demeaning themselves by noticing that which is small. Not so where there is real greatness. Israel were His object, not the rivers or the sea. He sought and would save His people. "I saw the tents of Chushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was Jehovah displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thy horses and thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the nations in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people." There we see what was near the prophet's heart: was it not also near Jehovah's heart? "Even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation to the neck. Selah" (verses 7-13).

Hab. 3 is a prayer of the prophet. 'Upon Shigionoth,' reads in the margin "according to variable songs or tunes," which signification seems confirmed by the subscription, "To the chief singer on stringed instruments." The prophet realises the presence of God while he reviews His past dealings against Israel's enemies, and sees in them the pledge of the future salvation. At the close, while faith has to wait for the blessing he rejoices in God, saying, "I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."

A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to Shigionoth. 2. O Jehovah! I have heard the report of Thee. I am afraid! O Jehovah! revise Thy work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy. 3. God cometh from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran.--Selah. His glory covereth the heavens, And the earth is full of His glory. 4. His brightness is like the sun; Rays are streaming from His hand; And there is the hiding of His power. 5. Before Him goeth the pestilence; And fiery bolts follow His feet. 6. He standeth and measureth the earth; He looketh and maketh nations tremble; The everlasting mountains are broken to pieces; The eternal hills sink down: His goings are as of old. 7. I saw the tents of Cushan in trouble; The tent-curtains of Midian are trembling. 8. Was it against the rivers Thou wert displeased, O Jehovah? Was Thine anger against the rivers? Was Thy fury against the sea? That Thou didst ride upon Thy horses, In Thy chariots of victory? 9. Thy bow is made completely bare; Rods (of chastisement are sworn by Thy Word, Thou cleavest the earth with rivers. 10. The mountains saw Thee, and trembled; The flood of waters passeth over; The deep uttereth its voice, And lifteth up its hands on high. 11. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; At the light of Thine arrows, which flew, At the slinging of Thy glittering spear. 12. In wrath Thou marchest through the earth; In fury Thou treadest down the nations. 13. Thou goest forth for the salvation of Thy people, For the salvation of Thine anointed; Thou dashest in pieces the head out of the house of the wicked, Laying bare the foundation even to the neck--Selah. 14. Thou piercest with his own staves the chief of his warriors. That rush on like a whirlwind to scatter me; Their rejoicing is to devour the poor secretly. 15. Thou treadest upon the sea with Thine horses, The swelling of mighty waters. 16. I heard, and my bowels trembled; My lips quivered at the sound; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in my place, That I might rest in the day of trouble When he that approaches the nation presseth upon it. 17. For though the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The fruit of the olive tree fails And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no cattle in the stalls. 18. Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19. Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength, And makes my feet like the hinds', And will make me to walk upon mine high places. (For the Chief Musician, on my stringed instruments.)