Habakkuk 3:13

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

Thou wentest ... even for salvation with thine anointed - with Messiah; of whom Moses, Joshua, and David, God's anointed leaders of Israel, were the types (Psalms 89:19; Psalms 89:38, "Thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One ... I have found David, my servant: with my holy oil have I anointed him"). God from the beginning delivered His people in person, or by the hand of a Mediator (Isaiah 63:11). Thus Habakkuk confirms believers in the hope of their deliverance, as well because God is always the same, as also because the same anointed Mediator is ready now to fulfill God's will, and interpose for Israel, as of old (Calvin). Maurer translates, to suit, the parallelism, 'for salvation to thine anointed'-namely, Israel's king in the abstract, answering to the "people" in the former clause (cf. Psalms 28:8, "The Lord is the saving strength of His anointed;" Lamentations 4:20). Or Israel is meant, the anointed - i:e., consecrated people of Yahweh (Psalms 105:15, "Touch not mine anointed"). So the Septuagint and Syriac take it, 'for saving thine anointed.' I prefer the English version, as the Hebrew [ 'et (H854)] often means "with." So Aquila and the Vulgate; and the reference to Messiah, the angel of the covenant, as the Person through whom, in the Old Testament, God performed deliverances for His people, is common. Thus, in Isaiah 63:11 when it is said God brought up His, people "with (Moses) the shepherd of his flock," the ulterior and antitypical reference is to Messiah. Messiah, the Head of His, people (Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 4:15; Ephesians 5:23), in contrast to "the head out of the house of the wicked," which follows.

Woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked - probably an allusion to Psalms 68:21, "God shall wound the head of his enemies;" and also Psalms 110:6 "He shall wound the heads over many countries." Each head person sprung from and belonging to the house of Israel's wicked foes; such as Jabin, whose city Hazor was "the head of all the kingdoms:" of Canaan (Joshua 11:10: cf. Judges 4:2, "The children cried unto the Lord; for he (Jabin) had nine hundred chariots of iron: and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel;" Judges 4:13).

By discovering the foundation - thou destroyedst high and low. As "the head of the house" means the prince, so the "foundation" means the general host of the enemy.

Unto the neck. Image from a flood reaching to the neck (Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 30:28). So God, by His wrath overflowing on the foe, caused their princes' necks to be trodden under foot by Israel's leaders (Joshua 10:24; Joshua 11:8; Joshua 11:12).