Habakkuk 3:1-15

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Habakkuk 3:1-2

This chapter is entitled a prayer of Habakkuk. It is a meditation with himself, an intercession for the church. Prophets were praying men; this prophet was so (He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, Gen. 20:7); and sometimes they prayed for even those whom they prophesied against. Those that were intimately acquainted with the mind of God concerning future events knew better than others how to order their prayers, and what to pray for, and, in the foresight of troublous times, could lay... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Habakkuk 3:3-15

It has been the usual practice of God's people, when they have been in distress and ready to fall into despair, to help themselves by recollecting their experiences, and reviving them, considering the days of old, and the years of ancient times (Ps. 77:5), and pleading with God in prayer, as he is pleased sometimes to plead them with himself. Isa. 63:11; Then he remembered the days of old. This is that which the prophet does here, and he looks as far back as the first forming of them into a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 3:1

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. Of the name, character, and office of the prophet; see Gill on Habakkuk 1:1 . This chapter is entitled a "prayer" of his, a supplicatory one, put up in an humble and earnest manner, and in the exercise of faith, and under the influence of a spirit of prophecy. He before had a vision of the coming of Christ, and of what enemies would rise up, and obstruct his kingdom and interest in the world; and here lie prays that these obstructions might... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 3:2

O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid ,.... Or, "thy hearing" F16 שמעך "tuam auditionem", V. L. Burkius; "tuum auditum", Pagninus, Montanus; "rumorem", Tarnovius. ; which the Lord had caused to be heard from and of himself; the report that had been made to him, and other prophets before him, particularly Isaiah, who says, "who hath believed our report?" Isaiah 53:1 where the same phrase is used as here: though it seems here not so much to regard the evangelical part of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 3:3

God came from Teman ,.... Or, "may God come from Teman" F20 יבוא "veniet", so some in Calvin, Van Till. ; since it is part of the prayer of Habakkuk: or, as "from Teman" F21 מתימן "sicuti olim ex Theman", Van Till. ; as he of old came from thence, a city in the land of Edom, Jeremiah 49:7 it was five miles from Petra, in Idumea, where was Mount Seir, from whence the Lord arose, and shone forth from Mount Paran, at the giving of the law, Deuteronomy 33:2 to which the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 3:4

And his brightness was as the light ,.... Of fire, of devouring fire on the top of the mount, to which the sight of his glory was like, Exodus 24:16 to which Kimchi refers it. Aben Ezra thinks the pillar of fire is intended, in which the Lord went before his people in the wilderness, Exodus 13:21 or as the light and splendour of Bereshith, as the Targum, of that primogenital light which was produced on the first day of the creation; or as the light of the seven days of the creation, as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 3:5

Before him went the pestilence ,.... Either in the land of Egypt, when he marched through that, and slew all their firstborn, Psalm 78:50 or rather which he sent before him, and Israel his people among the nations of the land of Canaan, with other diseases and judgments, and destroyed them to make way for his people, which may be here alluded to, Exodus 23:27 and may point at the judgments of God, and those pestilential diseases which seized upon the persecutors of the Christians, both... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 3:6

He stood and measured the earth ,.... This alludes to the ark of the Lord, the symbol of his presence, standing and abiding at Gilgal for the space of fourteen years, while the land of Canaan was subdued by Joshua; and then measured out by him, and divided by lot, as an inheritance to the children of Israel, according to the direction and appointment of the Lord, Joshua 13:1 &c.;: here it may have respect to the mission of the apostles into the various parts of the world, and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 3:7

I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction ,.... The same with Cush or Ethiopia; hence the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, "the tents of the Ethiopians"; and these are the same with "the curtains of Midian" in the next clause, tents being made of curtains, and the Ethiopians and Midianites the same people; so the daughter of the priest of Midian, whom Moses married, is called an Ethiopian woman, Exodus 2:21 . This seems to have respect to that panic which seized the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Habakkuk 3:8

Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers ?.... Referring, as is commonly thought, either to the rivers in Egypt turned into blood, which was one of the plagues of that land, Exodus 7:20 when the resentment of the Lord was not so much against them as against the Egyptians; and as a punishment of them for drowning the infants of the Israelites in them, and in order to obtain the dismissal of his people from that land: or else to the river Jordan,... read more

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