CRITICAL NOTES.]
Habakkuk 3:8.] Now judgment is executed. The description rests upon two facts: dividing of Red Sea and of Jordan (Exodus 15:18; Psalms 104:3; Psalms 104:5); and sets forth God the Judge who can smite in wrath the sea of the world and the rivers of the earth. Salvation] The object of riding; a warlike figure (Psalms 18:11; Psalms 68:17).
Habakkuk 3:9.] Picture of a warrior continued. Naked] Ready to shoot. Oaths] Promises to their forefathers (Deuteronomy 32:40-42). Cleave] Split into rivers by judicial interposition.
Habakkuk 3:10.] The form of earth’s surface is changed. Mountains] writhe; the abyss roars and raises its hands (waves); most powerful agitations accompany the theophany.
Habakkuk 3:11. Arrows] Executing justice, turn light into darkness, or devouring fire (Isaiah 10:17).
THE CHARIOTS OF SALVATION.—Habakkuk 3:8-11
“The ode, taking a new turn, now passes from the description of the coming of God, to an address to God himself. To the mental eye of the prophet, God presents himself as judge of the world, in the threatening attitude of a warlike hero equipped for conflict, so that he asks him what is the object of his wrath” [Keil].
I. The design of the chariots. God was not angry with the rivers and seas. They were troubled on account of his appearance to deliver. He comes not to destroy, but to save. The chariots of Pharaoh and of antichrist are chariots of destruction. From these God will ever preserve his people. When he comes anything will bring them salvation. God has many chariots. Clouds and darkness are his pavilion, winds and waves are chariots of victory. “The war-chariots of Elohim are myriads, a thousand thousands” (Psalms 68:17).
II. The Driver of the chariots. “Was the Lord displeased?” “Thou didst cleave the earth,” &c. God himself is set forth in majesty and grace, clad like a warrior, and terrible as a Judges 1. The Driver is angry. “Anger” existed, though not against the rivers. God was “displeased” with the wicked, and his works revealed his mind. Insensible creatures reprove the impenitence of men, and tremble at the power of God. “What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?”
2. The Driver is mighty. “Thy bow was made quite naked.” The sheath was laid aside and cast away. The arms were stretched, and judgments were about to be shot swift as an arrow (Isaiah 22:6; Psalms 64:7). Quite naked was the bow, and not drawn back. Power was really displayed, and the enemy destroyed. God is a man of war, shoots arrows with certainty, and never misses the mark (Job 16:12). “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.”
3. The Driver is resolved in purpose. “According to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word.” The promise was given to his servants, and confirmed with oaths. Judgments upon the wicked, and salvation for his people, are sworn matters; oaths, and interpositions for all ages (cf. Deuteronomy 32:40-42; Psalms 77:8). “The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant us, that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear.”
III. The effects of the chariots. The world of nature suffers under the judicial hand of God.
1. The earth was convulsed by his power. Mountains trembled at his presence, and “skipped like rams.” Rivers broke out of the deep, and rolled their floods into the splits of solid earth. The sea roared, the abyss lifted its waves, and uttered its voice to its Maker. What happened to the sea happened to the river. God repeats his miracles. When great dangers are passed little ones should not terrify us. “Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers” (Psalms 74:15; Psalms 78:15-16).
2. The heavens were eclipsed with his splendour. “The sun and moon stood still (retired) in their habitation” at the prayer of Joshua, and in the tempest of “great stones from heaven” (Joshua 10:11-13). At the light, the directions of God’s arrows, and the shining of his spear, Israel went forward. The darts of God smote their enemies. Their brilliant splendour brought salvation to one and destruction to the other. “The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.” But all these displays were eclipsed by the Divine perfections on the cross—when Christ suffered for sin amid the darkness and shaking of creation. How glorious the displays when the earth quaked and angels attended the resurrection—when the Holy Ghost came down on Pentecost to enlighten his people, erect his kingdom, and to avenge himself of his adversaries.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Habakkuk 3:9. Thy bow. The Divine archer. “The bow represents the threat of the vengeance of Almighty God, from which it is at length discharged, if not turned aside; the longer the string is drawn, the sharper issueth the arrow. So then the more the coming of the day of judgment is delayed, the stricter is the severity of the judgment then issuing” [Pusey].
Cleave the earth.
1. Divine power.
2. Divine goodness, in its design and abundance, rivers to quench thirst, &c. “He smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed” (Psalms 78:20; Psalms 114:8).
Habakkuk 3:10-11. He who fixed the world’s pillars can make them rock in their sockets, and upheave the cornerstones of creation. The huge mountains are torn up by the roots when the Lord bestirs himself in anger to smite the enemies of his people. How shall puny man be able to face it out with God when the mountains quake with fear? Let not the boaster dream that his present false confidence will support him in the dread day of wrath [Spurgeon].
Habakkuk 3:11. The judgments of God are a light to his people, while they are the destruction of his enemies; in them they learn righteousness [Pusey]. All the powers of earth and heaven, sun and storms, earthquakes and floods, subservient to God’s purpose, and typical of his judgments. Notice—The ease with which they are collected, the order in which they are linked, and the destruction they create. This, a hope to the righteous, and a warning to the wicked.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Habakkuk 3:10-15. The whole passage depicts God’s descent to help his people, attended by earthquake, splendour, and power. So tremendous was the shock of God’s assault in arms that the order of nature was changed, and the bottoms of rivers and seas were laid bare. What will not Jehovah’s rebuke do? Vain are the attempts of men to conceal anything from him whose word unbars the deep, and lifts the doors of earth from their hinges! Vain are all hopes of resistance, for a whisper of his voice makes the whole earth quail in abject terror [Spurgeon].
The volcanic phenomena of Palestine open a question of which the data are, in a scientific point of view, too imperfect to be discussed; but there is enough in the history and literature of the people to show that there was an agency of this kind at work. Their traces on the permanent feeling of the nation must be noticed. The writings of the psalmists and prophets abound with indications which escape the eye of a superficial reader. Like the soil of their country, they actually heave and labour with the fiery convulsions which glow beneath their surface [A. P. Stanley].