TEXT [Commentary]

  B.   The Prophet’s Praise of the Redeemer’s Person (3:3-15)

1.   The Redeemer’s coming (3:3-7)

3 I see God moving across the deserts from Edom,[*]

the Holy One coming from Mount Paran.[*]

His brilliant splendor fills the heavens,

and the earth is filled with his praise.

4 His coming is as brilliant as the sunrise.

Rays of light flash from his hands,

where his awesome power is hidden.

5 Pestilence marches before him;

plague follows close behind.

6 When he stops, the earth shakes.

When he looks, the nations tremble.

He shatters the everlasting mountains

and levels the eternal hills.

He is the Eternal One![*]

7 I see the people of Cushan in distress,

and the nation of Midian trembling in terror.

NOTES

3:3 Edom. Lit., “Teman” (see the note on Obad 1:9).

Mount Paran. Paran designates not only a mountain range west and south of Edom and northeast of Mount Sinai but also a broad desert area in the Sinai Peninsula. For the juxtaposition of Seir and Paran, see Gen 14:6. All three terms are used as parallel names for the southern area that stretched as far as the Sinai Peninsula (cf. Deut 33:1-2a; Judg 5:4-5). The text adds selah [TH5542, ZH6138], probably a musical term indicating an instrumental interlude (cf. the helpful excursus in Craigie 1983:76-77).

3:4 Rays. Hiebert (1986:17-19) prefers to retain the usual meaning for the noun qarnayim [TH7161, ZH7967] (horns) here, pointing out a possible association with the word “strength” at the end of the verse. Such literalness does not seem necessary in figurative poetry describing a theophany. Furthermore, it makes for too rough a transition from the previous expressions. The same applies to Albright’s suggestion: “(Yahweh) attacked like a bull(?) provided with tossing horns” (1950:11-12). Moreover, the ancient versions all translate with a noun meaning “brightness.” Roberts (1991:153) remarks, “The form Habakkuk sees has two prongs (qarnayim) extending from his hand. This is an apt description of the standard representation of the Syro-Palestinian storm god. He is usually portrayed standing, one hand grasping a lightning bolt as a weapon, and the end of the stylized lightning bolt that extends above the hand forks into two or more prongs that closely resemble horns. Here, of course, the description is of the Lord in all his radiant glory.”

where his awesome power is hidden. Lit., “there is the hiding of his strength.” The line may point to the unfathomable inner recesses of the divine power.

3:5 Pestilence . . . plague. The parallelism of the two terms involved here has often been noted, most viewing deber [TH1698, ZH1822] (pestilence) as an epithet or alternative name for Resheph (plague), the Canaanite god of pestilence and sterility (cf. Albright 1969:184; Day 1979:353-355). For the proposed Eblaite evidence, see the comments of M. Dahood in Pettinato 1981:296.

before him . . . close behind. The two phrases are set in chiastic arrangement in the Hebrew text.

3:6 shakes. The reading of the MT (wayemoded [TH4128, ZH4571]) has customarily been translated either “measured” (KJV, NKJV; cf. NASB, “surveyed”) or “shook” (NIV, NRSV; cf. LXX, esaleuthē [TG4531, ZG4888]). The latter is more intelligible.

tremble. The MT’s wayyatter [TH5425A, ZH6001] has occasioned several translations: dietakē (“melt,” LXX), “drove asunder” (KJV), “startled” (NASB, NKJV), and “made to tremble” (NIV, NRSV). If the previous line is to be rendered “shakes,” the NLT is most appropriate.

He is the Eternal One! Roberts (1991:136-137) suggests, “His are the primeval roots.” The syntax of the line is reminiscent of Num 23:22b.

3:7 Cushan . . . Midian. The first line of 3:7 is extremely uncertain and is omitted by the NLT. For details concerning this crux, see Patterson (1991:237); see also Roberts (1991:137) and Robertson (1990:221). The land of the Midianites is identified primarily with the southern part of Transjordan (e.g., Gen 25:6; 36:35; Num 10:29), and evidence now exists that Cushan was also located there. An interesting parallel to the biblical account here, including the seismic activity, is in a fragmentary inscription found at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud. As pointed out by Hiebert (1986:95; cf. McCarter’s translation in COS 2.173), “The context is the battle of the divine warrior. His appearance is accompanied by light (cf. 3:4a) and the response to it is reflected in the convulsion of the cosmos: the mountains are melted and their peaks crushed.” Such an inscription from the very area where the biblical account is set is particularly significant.

COMMENTARY [Text]

This first section of Habakkuk’s psalm, like the entirety of Habakkuk, is replete with theological truth. In 3:3-4, God is shown to be not only Yahweh, Israel’s covenant God, but also ’eloah [TH433, ZH468], the Creator (Deut 32:15) and Lord of the earth (Pss 18:31[32]; 114:7). God is also declared to be the Holy One (Isa 6:3), the one who convicts of sin and judges the world (Lev 19:2; 20:7; Jer 50:29; 51:5), but who is Israel’s Redeemer (Isa 41:14; 43:1-3). The one whom Habakkuk had addressed in his second perplexity (1:12–2:1) is the sovereign, holy God who had come long ago in all his glory.

The word for “glory” is often especially applicable to kingly authority (e.g., Num 27:20; 1 Chr 29:25; Ps 45:3[4]; Zech 6:13) and is associated with God’s sovereignty over both the created world and the flow of earth’s history (1 Chr 29:11-12; Job 40:10). God is thus seen here, in all his majesty, as the one whose splendor (cf. Job 37:22-23) permeates and transcends the heavens (Pss 8:1; 145:4).

Two of the common agents of judgment are spelled out: pestilence and plague (3:5; cf. Exod 9:15; Deut 28:21; 32:24; Amos 4:10). These form part of a standard listing of four kinds of judgment often instituted by God (cf. Jer 15:3; Ezek 14:21; Rev 6:8). God’s omnipotent control over the forces of nature is also emphasized. Here, as repeatedly emphasized in the Scriptures, nature itself is under the control of an omnipotent and sovereign God (cf. Pss 18:7-15; 29:3-10; 77:16-19).

The first poem thus closes with a consideration of God’s initial strike against his enemy. It is a triumphant campaign. The tents (and tent curtains) of Cushan and Midian are described as “trembling in terror.” The metonymy here suggests that a widespread area of the Jordan valley was thrown into upheaval. The Scriptures give evidence that seismic activity accompanied the Israelites at various stages of the Exodus, especially at the time of the conquest (Judg 5:4-5; Pss 18:7; 114:3-6). Under such conditions, it is little wonder that the inhabitants of the area were struck with terror (cf. Exod 15:14-16).

God is here portrayed as the Divine Warrior who intercedes on behalf of his own. This motif will reach its climax in 3:8-15 (see commentary). With such a defender available, the believing heart may rest secure (Ps 27:1). God’s past victory is a harbinger of a yet future day when the Lord shall intervene once again on behalf of his own in awesome power (Rev 19:11-21). Robertson (1990:224) appropriately remarks, “These past manifestations on a limited scale may be regarded as anticipations of the great final epiphany of the glory of God, when the Son of Man shall come in the clouds, accompanied by lightning shining from the East to the West (Matt 24:27). Then every eye shall see him, and the vision of Habakkuk shall receive its finalized fulfillment.”