Habakkuk 3:1

CHAPTER III

The prophet, being apprised of the calamities which were to be

brought on his country by the ministry of the Chaldeans, and

the punishments which awaited the Chaldeans themselves, partly

struck with terror, and partly revived with hope and confidence

in the Divine mercy, beseeches God to hasten the redemption of

his people, 1, 2.

Such a petition would naturally lead his thoughts to the

astonishing deliverance which God vouchsafed to the same people

of old; and the inference from it was obvious, that he could

with the same ease deliver their posterity now. But, hurried

on by the fire and impetuosity of his spirit, he disdains to

wait the process of connecting these ideas, and bounds at once

into the midst of his subject: "God came from Teman," c., 3.

He goes on to describe the majesty and might which God

displayed in conducting his people to the land of promise,

selecting the most remarkable circumstances, and clothing them

in the most lofty language. As he goes along, his fancy becomes

more glowing, till at length he is transported to the scene of

action, and becomes an eyewitness of the wonders he describes.

"I beheld the tents of Cushan in affliction," 4-6.

After having touched on the principal circumstances of that

deliverance which he celebrates, he returns to what passed

before them in Egypt his enthusiasm having led him to begin

in the midst of his subject, 7-15.

And at last he ends the hymn as he began it, with expressing

his awe of the Divine judgments, and his firm trust in the

mercy and goodness of God while under them; and that in terms

of such singular beauty, elegance, and sublimity, as to form a

to proper conclusion to this admirable piece of Divinely

inspired composition, 16-19.

It would seem from the title, and the note appended at the

end, that it was set to music, and sung in the service of the

temple.

NOTES ON CHAP. III

Verse Habakkuk 3:1. A prayer of Habakkuk - upon Shigionoth.] See the note on the title of Psalms 7:1, where the meaning of Shiggaion is given. The Vulgate has, pro ignorantiis, for ignorances, or sins committed in ignorance; and so it is understood by the Chaldee. The Syriac has nothing but merely, A prayer of Habakkuk. And the Septuagint, instead of Shigionoth, have μεταωδης, with a hymn, which is copied by the Arabic.

I suspect that the title here given is of a posterior date to the prophecy. It appears to interrupt the connection between this and the termination of the preceding verse. See them together: -

Habakkuk 2:20: "But the Lord is in his holy temple: Be silent before him, all the earth.

Habakkuk 3:2: O Lord, I have heard thy speech: I have feared, O Lord, thy work.

As the years approach thou hast shown; As the years approach thou makest known.

In wrath thou rememberest mercy."

The prophet may here refer to the speech which God had communicated to him, Habakkuk 1:1; Habakkuk 2:4, and the terror with which he was struck, because of the judgments denounced against Jerusalem. I have followed the version of Apb. Newcome in this first verse. The critical reader may consult his notes, and the various readings of Kennicott and De Rossi.