The Prayer of Habakkuk
Chapter 3
The contents of this chapter are considered a prayer, or confession, in the form of a psalm or hymn to be accompanied by stringed instruments. The first verse reads "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, upon Shigionoth": the latter is a transliteration of the Hebrew "shiggâyôn shiggâyônâh", a word related to music, telling the conductor the way in which the music should be played on a stringed musical instrument (verse 19). This word is also found in the book of Psalms, i.e. in the title of Psalm 7 where it appears in the singular and is incorrectly translated as "meditation" in the NKJV.
In previous chapters we find the entire contents of the prophecy itself, and there Habakkuk finished his complaints against God and against the events in his time. Now he no longer believed that God was oblivious to the violence and evil that permeated the kingdom of Judah. He had received a reply to his complaint that God would use the wicked and cruel Babylonians as an instrument of His punishment upon Israel, for the series of five woes pronounced by God upon the king of Babylon confirmed His absolute holiness. He ended with the declaration that the Lord is in His holy temple, and that the knowledge of His glory will triumph throughout the world. Before him all the earth should remain silent.
When God declares His purposes and shows His sovereign power in His achievements, all human complaints and grumblings come to an end. It was Job's experience at the end of his suffering and anguish, for a dialogue with God can only result in silencing our complaints ... and lead to our worship and praise for His wonderful attributes! So now we can understand the joyous hymn of Habakkuk in the last chapter of his book, even without the privilege of having it in the form of poetry in our language or the appropriate instrumental accompaniment which was intended to be used.
The second verse is a summary of the contents of the hymn that follows. In it Habakkuk reminds us of what God is in the essence of His nature, and of His fame throughout the world for all He has done. Then pleads to God for revival in his days of His work, making it known to everyone and that, in His wrath, He remembers to be merciful.
Thus, in what comes next up to verse 15, Habakkuk reminds his readers of the glory of God and achievements in the past of the people of Israel. It is good to remember the glories of the past, when God showed us His grace and His power to grant us special favours and to help us on occasion. It is a good way to encourage us, knowing as He did before, God will continue with us in the present and future. The memory of the experience of the past contributes greatly to increase our faith.
Earlier he had emphasized God's wrath in his fair judgement, with only a little relief taken from the glorious promise that "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (2:14). But here Habakkuk, amid the just punishment of the wicked because of the wrath of God, remembers His mercy and going forth "for the rescue of His people, for the salvation of His Anointed " (v.13).
It is remarkable how relevant this is today, when we wish so much that His work of salvation is made known throughout the world; we feel that His people, Christ's church, are threatened by the penetration of the world into their midst, and by the enemy that attacks with questions, anti-creationist theories, atheism and paganism.
Like Habakkuk, we must ask God for revival of His churches which are discouraged and little active, especially in the countries of Europe and North America, which once stood out for their piety and evangelism around the world, but today appear to be losing ground to their enemies on all fronts.
Today churches have other means for evangelization beyond personal contact and oral preaching of the Gospel, from the distribution of literature and publication in newspapers and magazines, even to the most sophisticated means of communication such as radio, television and internet. We should constantly review the part we are taking in this battle that we fight on God's side to face our great spiritual enemy and to gain ground in his territory.
In the first chapter, the Babylonians are presented as irresistible in their destructive march, conquering one nation after another. But in this passage we see God Himself in a victorious march covering the world with absolute power. Armed with pestilence and fever, earthquakes, rivers and floods, and marching with indignation and wrath He comes to the rescue of His people, and the salvation of His Anointed. "Everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting" (v.6). The ways of God are eternal, in the past, present and future, reminding us of Habakkuk’s exclamation (1:12): "Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die, O Lord...!"
In our times, in most of the civilized world, we may have difficulty in seeing the power of a holy God in dynamic action. Some may react against the idea of an angry God destroying His creation, and wounding men as in the battles of yesteryear. But verse 13 gives us a legitimate context, for God's purpose is “for the rescue of His people, for the salvation of His Anointed" (literal translation). The Hebrew word for "anointed one" used in the original is "mâshiyach", “anointed” meaning a consecrated person (as a king or priest) and specifically the Messiah, or Christ which is the Greek equivalent.
God acted not only to defend his own holiness and justice, but to pave the way for the salvation of His people through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we know that his people are "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father"(1 Peter 1:2) "before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4), i.e. all who are saved by His grace through faith in His Son. This purpose of God was so strong that it took Him to these extremes. Moreover, He sent His only begotten Son into the world to give His life and thus fulfil His justice and save his people. It was the terrible price God paid.
Thus we see an interesting continuity: Israel as God's people through whom Jesus came, the Messiah and perfect descendant of Abraham, and through him His church composed universally by Jews and Gentiles. The church is currently the people anointed by God to the ministry of proclaiming the salvation of Jesus Christ to the needy world. We have here one of the many prophecies about Christ's Gospel.
When concluding his hymn, the prophet declares his joy at the manner in which God had delivered His people in the past, the serene confidence he now has in the coming "day of trouble" over the enemies who attack his people, and his exultation in the Lord and joy in the God of his salvation that will allow him to address the hardships through which his people will pass. The "day of trouble" can also be translated as "day of tribulation", and so the period of tribulation when God will bring his wrath upon the wicked and rebellious humanity, foreseen by the Lord and detailed in the book of Revelation, is already looked forward to in this little prophecy.
It ends with praise to the LORD God, which gives strength, lightness and exaltation.
R David Jones
Hab 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth.
Hab 3:2 O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
Hab 3:3 God came from Teman, The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of His praise.
Hab 3:4 His brightness was like the light; He had rays flashing from His hand, And there His power was hidden.
Hab 3:5 Before Him went pestilence, And fever followed at His feet.
Hab 3:6 He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations. And the everlasting mountains were scattered, The perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting.
Hab 3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.
Hab 3:8 O LORD, were You displeased with the rivers, Was Your anger against the rivers, Was Your wrath against the sea, That You rode on Your horses, Your chariots of salvation?
Hab 3:9 Your bow was made quite ready; Oaths were sworn over Your arrows. Selah. You divided the earth with rivers.
Hab 3:10 The mountains saw You and trembled; The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered its voice, And lifted its hands on high.
Hab 3:11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; At the light of Your arrows they went, At the shining of Your glittering spear.
Hab 3:12 You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled the nations in anger.
Hab 3:13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people, For salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, By laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah
Hab 3:14 You thrust through with his own arrows The head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me; Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret.
Hab 3:15 You walked through the sea with Your horses, Through the heap of great waters.
Hab 3:16 When I heard, my body trembled; My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops.
Hab 3:17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—
Hab 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Hab 3:19 The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.
Habakkuk 3