Habakkuk 3 - Introduction

3 is a brilliant description of a Theophany or manifestation of Jehovah for the redemption of His people. The dark background of Israel's redemption is formed by the destruction of its enemies. The poem is based on earlier models, such as Deuteronomy 33; Judges 5, and it is not easy to say whether the poet be describing a future Theophany and deliverance in colours drawn from the great historical redemption of the Exodus, or be actually describing the first deliverance as the type of that which is future and for which he prays (Habakkuk 3:2). The words of A.V. I have heard thy speech(Habakkuk 3:2) ought to be, I have heard the report of thee; and according to the usage of the language report of theerefers to God's "work," His great deeds done in the past, or to what these past deeds reveal Him to be (Numbers 14:15). Then the poet prays "renew thy work," that is, renew or repeat in our days the great deeds of old, or, manifest thyself again as in the ancient days. So far as the interpretation of Habakkuk 3:3 is concerned it will be little affected whether these verses be considered to describe the past "work" or to refer to the future one. In the one case the poet would pray: "renew thy work," and then go on to describe in Habakkuk 3:3 that ancient work which he desired to see renewed; in the other he would pray: "renew thy work," and then proceed to describe the renewed work, which was but a repetition of the ancient one. Habakkuk 3:13-15 are most naturally to be taken as historical, particularly Habakkuk 3:15 "thou hast gone through the sea with thy horses," which appears to refer to the passage of the Red Sea, the last act in the great work of delivering His people and destroying their adversaries. On the other hand the last part of Habakkuk 3:16 appears to express a foreboding of something to come. The clause is very obscure in sense and the text may not be quite assured. But the whole passage is a prayer. The poet prays for the renewal of God's past "work" in the future, though he cannot think of that "work" without alarm. Upon the whole it is easiest to read Habakkuk 3:3 as a delineation of the historical "work" of God at the Exodus. And besides being easiest, this way of reading the passage is most in harmony with other passages, e.g. Deuteronomy 33; Psalms 68:7; Psalms 77:15 ff, Judges 5. may be doubtful, but in the age of Habakkuk and later Jehovah would hardly be represented as shining forth anew from Sinai, but rather from Jerusalem (Amos 1:2; Isaiah 66:6; Psalms 80:1), or from heaven (Zechariah 2:13).