Hab 3:3-15 | KingComments | STEP | Actually only is a prayer. What follows from is a repetition of the deeds of God in the past regarding the earlier redemption of His people. Sometimes we ask God to do things for us, while it is more rewarding to think about what He has done to and in us in and through the Lord Jesus in the redemption He has worked. describe the appearance of God, also called theophany. God appears to judge the enemies of His people and to deliver His people. He makes His glory visible. He does so in judgment on His enemies and in salvation for His people. He is the Creator and Ruler of the world, the One for Whom everyone should show respect and the One Who controls all things. He “comes”, indicates an activity. It shows God in His actions. It reminds of God’s appearance to His people on Mount Sinai ( ). Here we are talking about other places. “Teman” is a place closely related to Edom ( ). “Paran” is located west of Edom. Both places are located south of Judah. He appears as “the Holy One” (cf. ). In that capacity He judges. Habakkuk is engaged in setting aside hostile powers. In the appearance of God he sees the future salvation. He bases this appearance on what has become visible in the past of God. Just as He appeared on Mount Sinai after the redemption from Egypt, so Habakkuk sees it happening here in faith in the future. Everywhere in the heavens that cover the earth, His majesty, that is His exaltation and dignity as Ruler, is observed. The effect of this on the earth under heaven is that it is full of praise for Him. Habakkuk indicates that restoration always comes by returning to the beginning (cf. ). He sees God’s glory, just as on Mount Sinai, revealing itself again and taking the same route. God comes to defeat the enemies and to redeem His people. This gets its fulfillment at the return of the Lord Jesus. When God acts on behalf of His people to bless it, He also has blessing in mind for heaven and earth. It sometimes seems that He works in a limited sphere, but He wants the whole creation to share in the blessing. ‘Selah’ indicates a rest or break. This word occurs about seventy times in Psalms and three times in this chapter.

‏ Habakkuk 3:3-15

The Appearance of God

Actually only Hab 3:2 is a prayer. What follows from Hab 3:3 is a repetition of the deeds of God in the past regarding the earlier redemption of His people. Sometimes we ask God to do things for us, while it is more rewarding to think about what He has done to and in us in and through the Lord Jesus in the redemption He has worked.

Hab 3:3-15 describe the appearance of God, also called theophany. God appears to judge the enemies of His people and to deliver His people. He makes His glory visible. He does so in judgment on His enemies and in salvation for His people. He is the Creator and Ruler of the world, the One for Whom everyone should show respect and the One Who controls all things.

He “comes”, indicates an activity. It shows God in His actions. It reminds of God’s appearance to His people on Mount Sinai (Exo 19:16-19). Here we are talking about other places. “Teman” is a place closely related to Edom (Jer 49:7). “Paran” is located west of Edom. Both places are located south of Judah.

He appears as “the Holy One” (cf. Hab 1:12). In that capacity He judges. Habakkuk is engaged in setting aside hostile powers. In the appearance of God he sees the future salvation. He bases this appearance on what has become visible in the past of God. Just as He appeared on Mount Sinai after the redemption from Egypt, so Habakkuk sees it happening here in faith in the future. Everywhere in the heavens that cover the earth, His majesty, that is His exaltation and dignity as Ruler, is observed. The effect of this on the earth under heaven is that it is full of praise for Him.

Habakkuk indicates that restoration always comes by returning to the beginning (cf. Deu 33:2). He sees God’s glory, just as on Mount Sinai, revealing itself again and taking the same route. God comes to defeat the enemies and to redeem His people. This gets its fulfillment at the return of the Lord Jesus.

When God acts on behalf of His people to bless it, He also has blessing in mind for heaven and earth. It sometimes seems that He works in a limited sphere, but He wants the whole creation to share in the blessing.

‘Selah’ indicates a rest or break. This word occurs about seventy times in Psalms and three times in this chapter.

He Comes in Consuming Glow

The reflection of His appearance is perceptible everywhere. The Lord Jesus comes like lightning (Mt 24:27). The sunlight in His illuminating radiance is the most appropriate earthly element to represent the immaculate purity of the Holy One, He Who is light and in Whom “there is no darkness at all” (1Jn 1:5) and “with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (Jam 1:17b).

Yet those impressive revelations of radiance and splendor are merely outward manifestations of God that people can perceive (Psa 104:2a). In reality, they are a covering or concealment of His true attributes. These revelations act as a veil covering His power. If He would show His might uncovered, everything would be consumed. He is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1Tim 6:16).

The concealment of His might and His light became visible when the Lord Jesus came to earth as the light, to redeem. His might was concealed and was hidden in His Manhood. That He has become Man is, as it were, the ‘casing of His might. It was hidden from the wise and intelligent, but not from the children (Mt 11:25) nor from the woman who touched Him in faith and experienced the power that emanated from Him (Lk 8:43-48).

Instruments of Judgment

God’s might is revealed here in the exercise of His judgment through the plague of “pestilence”. He consumes through pestilence what is before Him and leaves the “plague” of a charred ground behind. The holy God is accompanied by the performers of His judgment, pestilence and plague.

Pestilence and plague are presented as persons. One person goes before Him as a shield bearer (cf. 1Sam 17:7), the other person comes directly after Him as a servant (cf. 1Sam 25:42). It points out that His coming to the deliverance of His people will be accompanied by plagues that will hit the earth.

God’s Ways Are Everlasting

In these two verses we see what impression the coming of God makes on creation and on mankind. God has come from afar and has positioned Himself here as it were as a war hero to judge the enemies.

1. “He stood” is not a pose, a static posture, but the overwhelming presence of His Person, for Whom nothing can remain motionless. Where He is, everything “trembles” (as the word for “surveyed” also can be translated.

2. “He looked” has the same effect. When He looks, it is a penetrating looking, a complete fathoming. The nations react to that with “startling”.

His standing and his looking have a radiance, they do something. They are impressive activities.

All that has been created, however long it may exist, such as “the perpetual mountains” and “the ancient hills”, will disappear. It seems as if the long existence cannot be affected, so many centuries they have already defied, so that there is no thought of change. For mankind they exist eternally. But when He comes, even the greatest symbols of stability and immutability do not endure and turn out to be temporary and transient.

All this is in opposition to His “everlasting” ways, which truly remain everlasting because they are “His ways”. The stability and permanence of God’s ways in Christ, as seen in His holy temple, are the trust and joy of faith.

Then Habakkuk shows the reaction of two nomadic peoples (Hab 3:7). If the earth trembles and the nations startle if He shatters perpetual mountains and collapses ancient hills, what then is the reaction of small nations? In their tents there is under distress. When God, in His majesty, passes by them in His march, they are so impressed that they tremble.

“Cushan” is the extended form of Cush. Its population lives on the African coast of the Red Sea. The population of Midian lives on the Arab coast of the Red Sea.

The Anger of the LORD

So far the prophet has described how the LORD appears. Now he goes from descriptive to addressing. He speaks to the LORD (Hab 3:8). God has taken position as the Judge of the world, as a war hero equipped for battle, and now the prophet asks about whom His anger is coming. Not that he expects an answer. It is more to emphasize the greatness of the Divine anger.

He speaks of rivers and the sea in general terms, although here one can also think of the rivers Nile, Jordan, and the Red Sea as the target of God’s power (Exo 7:14-25; Exo 14:16-22; Jos 3:13-17). He judged the Nile and made a way through the other two waters. His concern was the “salvation” of His people. Therefore He rode (symbolically) on His horses and used (symbolically) His chariots.

In Hab 3:9 the picture of the fighting God with His horses and chariots is continued. He carried out His intention to intervene. All preparations were made. The bow as a weapon was made visible and ready for use. We see it in front of us: the Warrior in the chariot Who with the spanned bow approaches or rushes to or after the enemy to kill him. He thereby fulfills the oath He had sworn to the patriarchs, which led Him to deliver the tribes of Israel (Deu 32:40-42).

With an enormous, propelled water mass the LORD cleaves the earth (cf. Mic 1:4). Possibly this refers to “the fountains of the great deep” that burst open the earth (cf. Gen 7:11). It shows God’s omnipotence in His judgment. He can drain rivers for His people and thereby make the earth impassable for the enemies of His people.

God’s Might Over the Flood of Water

The powers on earth look up trembling at God’s majesty and give Him glory. The mountains and the flood of water are presented as persons. They tremble, let their voices be heard and raise their hands to express their awe for Him. What a cautionary example this is for the pruning man, who believes that ‘his strength is his god’ (Hab 1:11).

To express his feelings in the situation in which he finds himself, Habakkuk uses Psalm 77 (Psa 77:16-20) in his description. The poet of the psalm has the same feelings as he does. This is because they are led by the same Spirit.

God’s Power Over the Sun and Moon

Sun and moon are the constant and inviolable symbols of the created order in creation. But they cease their function at the sight of God’s majesty and cease their centuries-long course. Their light retreats, they withdraw their shine at the sight of God’s majesty’s that surpasses all shine. Their light is superfluous at the light of God’s arrows and the radiance of His gleaning spear (cf. Isa 60:19).

It is not obvious to refer here to the miracle at Gibeon at the conquest of the land, where Joshua commands the sun and the moon to stand still (Jos 10:12). There they have continued to shine, while here it is a question of withdrawing their luster out of reverence for God’s majestic appearance which far surpasses their luster.

God’s arrows and spear are shooting- and throwing weapons that He uses against the enemy as a means to express His anger. Perhaps we can think of lightning rays emanating from God’s throne that terrify people. People have no control over that. Fear overwhelms them when they are surrounded by lightning.

Judgment and Salvation

The LORD marches through the earth in indignation and judges the nations (Hab 3:12; Isa 63:1-6). He tramples or threshes as with a thirsty sled the nations, which means that He beats them. It entails an extremely painful and deeply humiliating defeat of the nations who have always hurt and humiliated His people so much.

This is the result of the going forth of the LORD. But He not only went forth to judge His enemies. In Hab 3:13 we hear the reason for His interference with the earth. So that no one remains in any doubt as to why this revelation of the majesty of God, Habakkuk says that God went forth to deliver and save His people, who are His “anointed” (cf. Psa 105:15).

“The house of the evil” refers to the house of Pharaoh in the past and that of the king of Babylon (Hab 2:9) who is coming soon. The evil is the enemy who is coming, presented in all his governmental power. In the end times this refers to the Antichrist. The “head of the house” is possibly the king himself. He is at the top. In faith, Habakkuk sees that the LORD strikes the house of the evil, from top to bottom, to “the foundation” [‘thigh’ is literally ‘foundation’], which is to the ground (cf. Amos 2:9b). All that remains is dust.

The Enemy Exterminated – God’s People Saved

Habakkuk identifies himself with God’s people and describes the treatment that the invaders of the land will receive from God. He describes that the LORD causes the enemies to suffer defeat through their own hands (Jdg 7:22; 1Sam 14:20; 2Chr 20:23-24). For Habakkuk this is a great encouragement because he has experienced how the enemies stormed in. He knows how they rejoiced in making life in the land impossible for him. They rejoiced in their atrocities as the believer rejoices in God.

They wanted to “devour” him, which relates to the violent occupation of his life and everything he has. Here he represents as “the oppressed” the faithful remnant of Israel that will be in great distress in the end times because of the approaching enemy.

God led the hostile armies and led them to their doom (Hab 3:15). We see this with Pharaoh, who first hardened his heart himself, after which his heart was hardened by God. In his hardening, he began the pursuit of God’s people and perished in the Red Sea. Before Pharaoh arrived there with his horses, God’s horses entered the great, raging waters and paved the way for his people (Hab 3:8). What seemed an impediment to deliverance became in God’s hand the means of extermination of the enemy. Thus, in the future, He will exterminate the nations that are storming in to His people in great numbers and in great hubris.