Cap. 3:1 This is the prayer of the prophet Habakkuk for the innocent.
1 David in the seventh Psalm, v. 1, also uses such a title, since he presents his innocence to God. But in Hebrew it reads as much as ignorantia et ignorantiae, ignorance, ignorance, ignorance, ignorance.
The word inconscientia is, if one could speak in Latin, inconscience, when one is not aware of something, or has no conscience, as David does in the aforementioned Psalm. Since Shimei blamed him [2 Sam. 16, 7. ff.], he would have taken the kingdom from Saul by force.
he indicates that [it] is not in his conscience, and calls it ignorantia, which we must German "Unschuld" ("innocence") for lack of a better word. But it is too strong. For this is much more humble and Christian, that one should not boast of innocence before God, but of conscience. For a person may feel no evil in his conscience, but still not be innocent, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:4: "I am conscious of nothing, but in this I am not righteous; but the Lord will judge me." Just as Abimelech was without conscience when he took Sarah, and yet the work was wrong before God, Gen. 20, 3. ff.
2 So Habakkuk also wants to pray for the pious who were led to Babylon together with the wicked, when there were undoubtedly many pious people among them, like Daniel with his companions. These were innocent, that is, they had no conscience and were not aware of any evil deed, but nevertheless had to go with them, because God judged them, as St. Paul says. For God Himself confesses Jer. 25, 29.Z) that they did not deserve such a cup to drink. Now call it innocence, or ignorance, or free conscience, or however anyone wants; if the sense is there, one may have patience with the word. So I think we Germans speak best: "A prayer for the innocent."
V. 2. 2) Lord, I have heard your rumor, and I am afraid.
(3) He begins the prayer with praise and thanksgiving, as a good prayer should do. For he counts therefore many great wonders, which God proved to the fathers, and says: "I have heard many things about you, for our fathers told us, and left them behind in writings, as the 44th Psalm, v. 2, also does, and says: "God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us" etc. Such your rumor and preaching of yourself makes that
1) Here the Jena edition, which is certainly wrong: Jer. 20. This has Walch reprinted and from Walch the Erlangen edition instead of Jer. 25, which is found in the original, the Wittenberg and the Latin edition.
2) In the original, "the title" is not counted as a verse, therefore only here the heading: "The first verse" is found and so on with each following verse. But we have kept the counting of our Bible just like Walch.
I am afraid, that is, I think highly of thee, and fear thee, and despise thee not, as the wicked do, who hear not of thee, nor know, or hear with unbelief, and let it pass.
For thou makest thy work alive in the midst of the years, and makest it known in the midst of the years. When there is tribulation, you remember mercy.
This is "the rumor" that makes people fear you and think much of you. For it is said of you, as the histories also testify, that you are such a wonderful God who helps in the midst of adversity. You let fall and pick up; you let break when you want to build and kill when you give life [1 Sam. 2, 6. ff.], you do not do like the world, which quickly resists the accident in the beginning, or even gets stuck in it; but you let us drive into the middle of it, and still you pull us out. Thou wilt give us the kingdom of Christ, and wilt drive us into the midst of Babylon, into the hole of service; yet wilt thou not leave us in. Thus doest thou in all thy works; it is thy way; thus singest, and hearest, and sayest of thee, that thou art indeed a God to be feared and honored with high praise in such works.
5 The text here is obscure, that is, very Hebrew, therefore many have stumbled in it. To bring the work to life" is nothing else, "than to help in trouble. For he who is in trouble is almost as though he were dead, and when he is helped, it is as though he were alive and born again.
(6) "In the midst of the years" is just as much as in due time, that God does not come soon when the need arises, as if there were any time to come. Nor does the help remain forever outside, as if all time were over to help, but in the midst of time, that is, he knows well how to take care that he does not help too soon nor too long. For if he were to help too soon, we would not learn to despair of ourselves, and would remain presumptuous; if he were to help too slowly, we would not learn to believe, and would despair of him. But now that he meets the remedy, he also keeps us in the remedy. And in Hebrew it is not said in the midst of the years, as if something were the beginning, and
something the end, but intra vel inter annos, id est, suo tempore, that is, under the years or under the time he meets the hour when he should help. Just as I say, The sun is among the stars; not immediately in the middle of the stars, but mingled with other stars also; so also the hour of help is in the middle of the years, that is, among the years or under the time, so that he does not let all the years come to an end and leave forever, until there are no more years.
007 But he saith, Among the years; not among the days. This means that he speaks from the heart of those who are in distress; for them a day is a year long, indeed, all time is long for them. For this reason also, because the year is the longest measure of time, because in one year the world always becomes new and old again through summer and winter, and again and again to another year, 2) that by the years one should understand the length of time. So, "Lord, you help among the years," that is, in the length; if it seems to us a very long time, then you come among the same length. And that he speaks of many years, he does so because he speaks of many miracles and works of God, each of which was done in his time and in his year, so that the years are as many as the works, and he always keeps his work so that he comes under the year's trouble, that is, in the length of the trouble.
8) "To make alive" and "to make known" is almost one thing, without making alive is doing the miracle and the help; "to make known" is that one also feels it and has joy from it. And "when there is tribulation," that is in Hebrew: in turbatione, that is, even in the midst of trouble, when the rope holds hardest, that the trembling and shaking is greatest, then, saith he, remember thou mercy, that thou mayest help. Whoever wants to be saved must learn to know you in this way. To the faithful it is comforting, but to the wicked it is unmistakable.
V. 3. God came from the midday, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Sela.
(9) Here he begins to paint the ancient wonders one after another, as if on a tablet.
1) This is how the 'Latin translator gave it: psrxstnnHus anni rovolutions.
or cloth, from piece to piece. The first is: When he led the people out of Egypt through the wilderness ius land Canaan. "Paran" is the mountain range, which from the south meets 2) the land of Canaan. When God entered with the people of Israel, He came straight from the south to the Canaanites and struck them. Now this was as great a miracle that Israel should go out of Egypt through so many nations and deserts, and drive out so many people, as that they should be delivered out of Babylon; nevertheless it happened when the hour came. That God is called "the Holy One" in the Scriptures, one should be used to it. For where he is, there he sanctifies by his spirit. What is also called "Selah" is sufficiently said elsewhere, especially in the 68th Psalm. 3)
4) The heavens were full of His praise, and the earth was full of His glory.
(10) That is, with such work he made it to be said of him in all places, in the lands under heaven. And here again is a Hebrew eclipse, which reads thus: His praise covers the heavens: not above, but below. For the Psalter also calls it covering the heavens when clouds are on it. Now Habakkuk says: "God's praise resounded so thickly under the heavens in all places that if there had been clouds or fog, they would have covered the heavens. Which we call the sky to be full underneath, and is just that Moses says to Pharaoh 2 Mos. 9, 16: "I have raised you up, that I might prove my power in you, that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." So also the Hebrew way of speaking of heaven is to make many heavens. For to every country, as far as it sees its part of heaven, it is called heaven of the same country; therefore we say in the Lord's Prayer: You are in the heavens, that is, in all the heavens, as far as the world is. So God's praise was in the heavens, which were above the same lands; and in which heaven was his praise, in the same land was also his glory.
2) In the old editions: "vom Mittage werds".
3) Walch, St. Louis ed. vol.V, 694, 8112; vol.IV, 309, 8 19; 1180, 8 20; 1436, 8 31.
4) Here in the old editions the heading is: "The third verse. Then the counting of the following verses up to v. 8 agrees with our Bible.
V. 4. Shem's splendor was like light, shining from his hands. There was secretly his power.
011 Hence it came to pass, that the heavens and the earth were full of his praise. For his power, that is, his kingdom, was secret among the people of Israel, for no one saw him; but since he was so marvelous, such works were like light, indicating his presence, and proceeded from him like the shining of the sun in the clouds, and like rays from his hands, that is, from his strength, which he demonstrated. For though the sun is hidden under the clouds, yet by the light it is known where it is; so these shines did not go out from the face of the Lord, he was hidden there, but from his hands, that is, by the works it was known that he was there. Then it was said that heaven and earth were filled with his praise. Such glories the Hebrew tongue calls "horns". 2 Mos. 34, 2'9. ff. Moses had horns, that is. Shine in his face.
V. 5 Pestilence went before him, and plague went out at his feet.
012 This is the shining of one of his hands, when he smote the land of Egypt, that in one night all the firstborn were dead. That was Passover Domini, his walk, such footsteps he made where he stepped, pestilence went out at his feet [Ex. 12:27 ff].
V. 6: He stood and measured the land, and looked, and brake in pieces the nations, so that the mountains of the world were broken in pieces, 1) and the hills of the plain were bowed down, as he walked in the world.
013 Another glory: When he was by the sea of red in the world, he stood between Israel and Egypt, and measured the land, so that the Egyptians could not go further than he had measured for them [Exodus 14:20]. In the morning he looked at them and cut them in two, so that their order was not only cut in two, but also the great princes, who are like mountains in the world, were drowned and crushed in the sea at a single sight, and had to stoop down and fall to the ground.
1) In the old editions: worden. In Latin: äissixarsutur.
The proud hills, the great Hansa, the hills of the world will be humbled before him, because he took such a wild walk among them on earth.
V. 7 I saw the tents of the Moors in trouble, and the tents of the Midianites in distress.
(14) This was a piece of his praise under heaven, that such great countries round about feared and were terrified at such a shining. Some do not want to have the huts of the Moors here, but because Chusan stands here, it should be the king of Mesopotamia, Chusan Risathaim, Richt. 3, 8. I leave them aside, it does not rhyme with the order. So one knows well that in Hebrew Chus and Chusan may be one thing, is to do one X. So also Moses sings in his hymn 2 Mos. 15, 14. 15. that all surrounding countries were afraid when they heard such work. That is, he says, "I saw (that is, one of them saw) how the Moors on the Red Sea, Egypt's neighbors, were afraid, in trouble, in pain and in fear; their other neighbors on the other side of the sea, the Midianites, were also like them; they were all afraid of the God of Israel, who thus dealt with Pharaoh.
V. 8.2) Wouldest thou not be wroth, O Lord, in the flood, and thy wrath in the waters, and thy anger in the sea? When thou rodeest upon thy horses, and thy chariots were salvation.
This verse may be understood in a yes way and in a no way. But I like the no way best, to speak according to the Hebrew tongue, that the opinion is this: The prophet, after he has told some miracles, makes a joyful noise to God and makes love to him, saying: "I mean that I was merciful and not angry when you rode on your horses in the flood of the sea and its waters and rode on your chariots, that is, on the horses and chariots of Israel. For thou wast there, and ledst them through, that there was salvation and victory. There was no anger or wrath that you could have felt. But whoever likes the words as they are interpreted there, must
2) Here, in the old editions, the superscription is: "The eighth and ninth verse." The verse number of the following verses is then higher by one as in our Bible.
pointing the anger and wrath at the Egyptians, whom he smote, that he might save his people. But let no one doubt that the children of Israel had horses and chariots. For they went forth armed, saith Moses, Exodus 13:18, as an army that goeth forth to war.
V. 9. You raised your bow, as you had sworn to the tribes. Sela.
16. by the bow he means the whole battle gear, like Ps. 78, 9. the children of Ephraim, who were to lead the bow. Now God had spoken Gen 49:24 through the archfather Jacob that the bow of Ephraim should be firm etc. Here Habakkuk swore to the tribes of Israel. And this verse indicates one of the glories that God had in mind, and may be the battle that Joshua did against the Amalekites, Ex. 17, 13, or against King Harad, or against the Midianites and Moabites, Ex. 31, 3. ff, or against King Sihon and Og [Cap. 21, 23. ff], or against all of them. For he wants to say how God awakened and strengthened their bow, so that they were blessed in the conflict.
And divide the streams into the land.
17. this is also a splendor, when he gave water from the rocks, that they flow in the desert divided, that both people and cattle could drink [4 Mos. 20, 2. ff].
V. 10: The mountains saw you, and they were afraid; the waters went down, the deep was heard, the high places lifted up their hands.
018 Then he gathered together in one heap the works of glass, when the children of Israel were passed over Jordan. For then "the mountains were afraid," that is, the great lords of the land of Canaan, or the land that is all mountainous, with the people in it. As Moses also says in Exodus 15:15: "Then the princes of Edom were afraid, and the mighty men of Moab were afraid, and all the inhabitants of Canaan were troubled." At the same time, the Jordan River was also dried up, Jos. 3, 16. Item, "the deep was heard, and the high lifted up their hands," that is, everything that was deep and high was moved and moved away because of fear, neither the deep waters nor the high mountains could help anyone, everything had to give way and give space.
V. 11. The sun and the moon stood in their dwelling place.
19 That is, they stood still against their nature and custom, and served Joshua in battle, Josh. 10:13.
Your arrows went with gleams, and your spears with glances of lightning.
20] This is the story of God striking the nations with a great storm and hail at Azekah, Jos. 10:11; for the Scriptures call the hail and lightning of God arrows and spears, as Ps. 18:15: "He shot his arrows, and terrified them at Mount Sinai." Also one would probably like to call arrows and spears here, as it reads, and understand the battle that Joshua led against the cities of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir, Jos. 10, 28. ff. For they were so easily won over one by one that it must have been said that the arrows and spears of the Israelites were God's, and that he shot and stabbed so mightily with them. But he saith, they gleam and shine. For so do weapons in battle, that they look and shine, which they do not in the sheath. And this is the interpretation I like best.
V. 12. You trample the land in anger, and crush the nations in wrath.
21 This happened when Joshua struck the rest of the kings by the waters of Merom, Jos. 11:7.
V. 13 You went out to help the people, to help your anointed ones.
(22) This happened in the days of Samuel, Saul, and David, when they went to battle, God helped them all the way, as the first and other books of Kings testify.
V. 13 Thou hast broken the head of the house of the wicked, and stripped the foundation even to the neck. Sela.
023 These heads and foundations are the kings of the countries round about, as Edom, Ammon, Syria, Philistim, which David overcame, and cast them under him. For this is called "the head broken", that is, the kingdom taken, that they had no head nor
They no longer had their own kings, but were David's subjects. It is the same thing that he stripped the foundation, that is, the kings and princes, down to the neck, so that the stocking and the body remained, and became David's subject. For a king is the head and foundation of a kingdom; the people and the land are the stockings and the body. So far away he has painted with thanksgiving and told the splendor of divine hands, of which heaven and earth were filled with his praise, to comfort the people. Now he begins to plead against the king of Babylon.
V. 14. You would curse his scepter with the head of his spots, which come like a weather to scatter me, and rejoice as they devour the wretch in hiding.
024 That is, to the kingdom of Babylon thou wouldest not be favorable, but unkind, "with the head of its spots," that is, to the city of Babylon, which is the head of all its cities. Other kings and nations have also afflicted us, but they have left us in the land, but the Babylonians come like a storm and scatter us out of the land, and they are not satisfied with us, but they mock us and rejoice in our misfortune, "as if they were eating the wretch secretly," that is, as if there were no judge, and he should remain unsmeared. For this is what he means by "eating secretly," when they think that God does not see it, or does not consider it wrong, so that no cry nor justice will go over it.
V. 15. Your horses walk in the sea, in the mud of great waters.
(25) That is, our traveling band and our army, which before had had a goodly salvation and victory, went everywhere with violence, as if it flew in the air, when thou didst help us; but now thou trustest us, "it walketh in the mire and deep waters," that is, in misery and distress, and canst no more.
V. 16: Because I hear these things, my belly is troubled, my lips tremble with the cry.
26That is, I eat not now, neither drink, that my belly may be merry, but fast, and mourn; neither sing I, as it were.
gives at the merry time, when one eats, drinks and sings, but my lips tremble, for laughter and singing, that I hear such wailing.
Pus goes into my bones.
027 That is, my marrow and legs faint. For these are all Hebrew ways of saying that a merry heart makes the legs fat, a sorrowful or envious heart makes the legs fester, and so much is said: Merry courage is half the body, sorrowful courage also makes the legs weak; as all this experience gives, as follows:
For I am grieved with myself.
That is how I said, my sorrow makes such in my belly, lips and legs.
O that I might rest in the time of trouble, when we go up to the people who dispute with us.
29, That is, I would I were dead, and rested in the grave, because that I should hear the affliction, that we must go out of the land into the land of our enemies, which lead us away with strife. For it will be evil in the land, as follows:
V. 17 For the fig tree shall not flourish, neither shall there be any increase in the vine; the work of the olive tree shall be wanting, and the fields shall yield no food, and sheep shall be plucked out of the folds, and there shall be no oxen in the stalls.
(30) That is, because the people are carried away, the land is desolate, and there is no right cultivation nor cattle breeding, and everything is miserable; as Isaiah chap. 5:5 ff. also says, the land should become cheap, because so few people should remain in it. As Moses also writes in the third book [Cap. 26, 34], that the land should have its Sabbath, when they would be driven out of it. 1)
V. 18. But I will rejoice in the Lord, and be glad in God my salvation.
(31) This is my comfort in all such distress and anguish, that God will yet help us again. For the visions of the prophets are not yet ended, Christ will still come; let us then be glad again.
1.) Thus Walch. In the other editions: been.
1506 Erl. 42, 107 f. Interpretations of the prophets. W. VI, 3214 f. 1507
V. 19 For the Lord is my strength, and will make my feet like hinds' feet, and will lead me on high, singing on my strings.
The verse is taken from the Psalter, because David also says Ps. 18:34: "The Lord makes my feet like hinds' feet, and leads me on high. All this is said: The Lord is still my God, and all my strength. We shall rejoice in this, that we shall lope and leap like hinds. So light shall our feet become, and shall no more wade and crawl in the mud, but shall wholly rejoice in soaring and flying on high, doing nothing but
to sing joyfully, to play and to do all kinds of joyful work. This is to happen when the Babylonian scepter is cursed and disturbed, but we are redeemed, and Christ will come with his kingdom, amen.
This is Habakuk's prayer and song, made for the comfort of the Jews, but with very broken words, which are unusual for us Germans. But we must get used to the Hebrew poems. For if they should hear our songs, it should sound as strange to them as their songs sound to us. But I hope that the prophet's opinion is correct; praise and thanks be to God forever. Amen.