Habakkukchapter 3
19 verses · Habakkuk · 609 to 605 BC · The Twelve
Key verse
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
It stands in Though the fig tree does not blossom, yet I will rejoice, verses 16 to 19.
The chapter
Chapter summary
A prayer set to music, with Selah and a note for the chief musician, the prophet's questions resolved into worship. 'O Jehovah, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid… in wrath remember mercy.' Then a theophany out of Sinai and the conquest: God came from Teman, his glory covering the heavens, rays coming forth from his hand, 'and there was the hiding of his power'; mountains scattered, the deep lifting up its hands, God marching forth for the salvation of his people and of his anointed. And the ending holds without a single circumstance improving: though fig-tree, vine, olive, field, flock, and herd all fail, 'yet I will rejoice in Jehovah' (3:18).
Context
Prophecy · Habakkuk · Habakkuk overview
The world behind this chapter
Habakkuk 3The history
Chapter 3 is formally a psalm. It carries a musical heading ("upon Shigionoth"), the word Selah three times in the body, and a closing note "to the chief singer on my stringed instruments", the same kind of directions found on psalms in the Psalter. This was written to be sung in public worship.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The middle of it is a theophany, a description of God arriving, and it is stitched together from Israel's founding memories. God comes from Teman and Mount Paran, in the south, which is Sinai country. There is pestilence and burning coals, the mountains scatter, the sun and moon stand still, the sea is divided, and the earth is threshed in anger.
The point of reaching back is that the God who is about to let Babylon in is the same God who came out of the desert with Israel in the first place. Habakkuk's prayer is: revive thy work in the midst of the years; in wrath remember mercy.
Then the tone drops from cosmic to physical. Habakkuk says his belly trembled, his lips quivered, rottenness entered his bones, and he trembled in himself, that he would rest in the day of trouble. He is not calm. He is decided.
The last lines are an agricultural inventory of total ruin: no figs, no grapes, the olive crop failed, no herd in the stall. Those were the staples of the whole economy. Losing all of them at once is losing everything.
What it meant to them
This is where a book of complaints lands, and it is not on an explanation. Habakkuk never gets one. He gets God.
"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation" was sung by people whose fig trees really were about to fail. It taught a generation how to worship in advance of a loss they could already see coming, and how to walk on high places while the fields were bare.
Sources cited
- Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David (public domain)
- John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets
Where the chapter sits
Habakkuk 3 falls in The prayer-psalm (chapters 3). Habakkuk's prayer ‘upon Shigionoth’, the theophany, and the closing vow: ‘yet I will rejoice in the LORD.’
Though the fig tree…. ‘Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.’
Before it: Two complaints, two answers, chapters 1–2.
The whole shape of Habakkuk→The structure of this chapter
People1
Places1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. God came from Teman and his glory covered the heavens
1. (vv. 1-2)
Habakkuk 3:1
“The prophet Habakkuk gives this title to his canticle: "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet for ignorance." For he had spoken in a bold manner to the Lord and had said, "How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and you will not hear? Shall I cry to you 'suffering violence,' and you will not save? Why have you shown me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? Judgment is done against me and opposition is more powerful.”
Jerome· written before 420· Against the Pelagians 1.39patristic
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Habakkuk 3:1
“A prayer of Habakkuk - o. The “prayer” of the prophet, in the strictest sense of the word, is contained in the words of Hab 3:2. The rest is, in its form, praise and thanksgiving, chiefly for God’s past mercies in the deliverance from Egypt and the entering into the promised land. But thanksgiving is an essential part of prayer, and Hannah is said to have “prayed,” whereas the hymn which followed is throughout one thanksgiving .”
Habakkuk 3:1
“He calls it his own prayer, not because he used it himself privately, or composed it for himself, but that the prayer might have some authority among the people; for they knew that a form of prayer dictated for them by the mouth of a Prophet, was the same as though the Spirit itself was to show them how they were to pray to God.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Habakkuk 3:1
“More simply, from a Hebrew root to "err," "on account of sins of ignorance." Habakkuk thus teaches his countrymen to confess not only their more grievous sins, but also their errors and negligences, into which they were especially likely to fall when in exile away from the Holy Land [CALVIN].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Habakkuk 3:2
“In the midst of the years - בקרב שנים bekereb shanim, “As the years approach.” The nearer the time, the clearer and fuller is the prediction; and the signs of the times show that the complete fulfillment is at hand. But as the judgments will be heavy, (and they are not greater than we deserve), yet, Lord, in the midst of wrath - infliction of punishment - remember mercy, and spare the souls that return unto thee with humiliation and prayer.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:2
O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid,.... Or, "thy hearing" (p); 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?"
Habakkuk 3:2
“Thy speech - In answer to the inquiry made chap. i, 13, 14. Was afraid - Trembled at what thou speakest. In the midst of the years - Even before the seventy years are expired.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Habakkuk 3:2
“This is Habakkuk's reply to God's communication [GROTIUS]. MAURER translates, "the report of Thy coming," literally, "Thy report." and was afraid--reverential fear of God's judgments (Hab 3:16). revive thy work--Perfect the work of delivering Thy people, and do not let Thy promise lie as if it were dead, but give it new life by performing it [MENOCHIUS].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
upon Shigionoth: A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth turns the book from dialogue to worship, a musical term the bench reads as a wild, irregular ode fitting the terror and joy both about to follow. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid answers chapter 2's vision with reverence rather than argument, and the prayer's center follows at once, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in wrath remember mercy, judgment accepted and mercy still asked for in the same breath. Calvin and Henry read the plea as the whole book's turn, complaint become petition, the prophet no longer demanding an answer but asking God to act mercifully within the answer already given.
2. (vv. 3-4)
Habakkuk 3:3
“God came from Teman,.... Or, "may God come from Teman" (t); since it is part of the prayer of Habakkuk: or, as "from Teman" (u); as he of old came from thence, a city in the land of Edom, Jer 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, Deu 33:2 to which the allusion is here. So the Targum, "at the giving of the law to his people, God was revealed from the south;'' for so Teman signifies.”
2 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:3
“God--singular in the Hebrew, "Eloah," instead of "Elohim," plural, usually employed. The singular is not found in any other of the minor prophets, or Jeremiah, or Ezekiel; but it is in Isaiah, Daniel, Job, and Deuteronomy. from Teman--the country south of Judea and near Edom, in which latter country Mount Paran was situated [HENDERSON].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Habakkuk 3:3
“And there are also some of them who say, "The Lord hath spoken in Zion, and uttered His voice from Jerusalem;" and, "In Judah is God known;" -these indicated His advent which took place in Judea. Those, again, who declare that "God comes from the south, and from a mountain thick with foliage," announced His advent at Bethlehem, as I have pointed out in the preceding book. From that place, also, He who rules, and who feeds the people of His Father, has come.”
Irenaeus· written before 202· AGAINST HERESIES 4:33.11patristic
Habakkuk 3:4
“He had horns coming out of his hand - קרנים karnayim, rays. His hand - his power - was manifested in a particular place, by the sudden issuing out of pencils of rays, which diverged in coruscations of light, so as to illuminate the whole hemisphere. Yet “there was the hiding of his power.” His Majesty could not be seen, nor any kind of image, because of the insufferable splendor. This may either refer to the lightnings on Mount Sinai or to the brightness which occasionally proceeded from the shechinah or glory of God between the cherubim, over the mercy-seat.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:4
“His hand - The face of Moses shined; the face, yea, hands of our God, shine with glorious light. There - In that light wherewith he appeared. The hiding - Which discovered much of it, but hid much more; it was light inaccessible.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Habakkuk 3:4
“The rays are His lightnings (Ps 18:8), [MAURER]. there--in that "brightness." In it, notwithstanding its brilliancy, there was but the veil "(the hiding) of His power." Even "light," God's "garment," covers, instead of revealing fully, His surpassing glory (Ps 104:2) [HENDERSON]. Or, on Mount Sinai [DRUSIUS].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
God came from Teman: , and the Holy One from mount Paran pictures the Lord advancing from the same southern wilderness of the exodus and Sinai, the first of the chapter's three Selahs marking a pause for the picture to sink in. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise sets creation itself as the theater and the choir, and his brightness was as the light describes a splendor the prophet can only compare to light itself, with horns coming out of his hand keeping the hiding of his power veiled even in its display. Keil and Pusey read the Teman theophany as deliberately recalling Sinai, the God who once came down in fire and cloud coming again to act in Habakkuk's own generation.
3. (vv. 5-7)
Habakkuk 3:5
“As Jehovah's advent is glorious to His people, so it is terrible to His foes. burning coals-- Ps 18:8 favors English Version. But the parallelism requires, as the Margin translates, "burning disease" (compare De 32:24; Ps 91:6). went . . . at his feet--that is, after Him, as His attendants (Jud 4:10).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Habakkuk 3:6
“He stood, and measured the earth - ארץ erets, the land; he divided the promised land among the twelve tribes. This is the allusion; and this the prophet had in his eye. God not only made a general assignment of the land to the Hebrews; but he even divided it into such portions as the different families required. Here were both power and condescension. When a conqueror had subdued a country, he divided it among his soldiers.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:6
“He stood - Gave his presence with Joshua, as one that stood by while the work was done. The land - The promised land. He beheld - Looked with a frowning countenance.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Habakkuk 3:6
“To this he adds, His ways are everlasting, that is, all the motions of his providence are according to his eternal counsels; and he is the same for ever, that which he was yesterday and to-day. His covenant is unchangeable, and his mercy endures for ever.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Habakkuk 3:7
“I saw - in prophetic vision 1Ki 22:17. The tents of Cushan in (under) affliction - Upon the coming of the Lord there follows the visitation of those alien from Him. . Cushan-Rishathaim was the first, whose ambition God overruled to chasten His people Jdg 3:8-10.. It has been remarked that as “king of Aram-Naharaim” or North Mesopotamia, he was probably sovereign of the Aram, from which Balak king of Moab, allied with Midian, sent for Balaam to curse Israel.”
1 more voice on this verse
Habakkuk 3:7
“So Lotan is found in the Hebrew of Genesis for Lot. BOCHART therefore considers it equivalent to Midian, or a part of Arabia. So in Nu 12:1, Moses' Midianite wife is called an Ethiopian (Hebrew, Cushite).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the pestilence, and burning coals: Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet, pictures the Lord's advance as an army with its own vanguard, plague and fire clearing the ground ahead of him. He stood, and measured the earth, drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, a power large enough to make ancient landmarks tremble, mountains the ancient world called perpetual bowing at his passing. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble, bringing the vision down to particular, recognizable peoples that Pusey and Keil read as the same regions the exodus generation once crossed, shown here shaking at the memory of the God who led Israel through them long before.
B. You marched through the sea with your horses
1. (vv. 8-9)
Habakkuk 3:8
“Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? - Floods; here is a reference to the passage of the Red Sea. The Lord is represented as heading his troops, riding in his chariot, and commanding the sea to divide, that a free passage might be left for his army to pass over.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Habakkuk 3:8
“For a soul that is at peace quickly turns and corrects itself, even if it has sinned before, and Christ ascends to it more fully and deigns to rule it, to which it is said: "Mount your horses, your chariot of health." And elsewhere: "I have sent forth your horses to Tharsis." Behold the horses of Christ. Thus, Christ ascends his horses, the Word of God ascends to holy souls.”
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· On Isaac and the Soul 8.66patristic
Habakkuk 3:9
“Thy bow was made quite naked,.... It was took out of its case, and arrows out of their quiver, and these made use of against the enemies of his people: this is put for all weapons of war; the sword was unsheathed, and all military weapons employed, and the power of the Lord was exerted; or, as the Targum, "the Lord was revealed in his power;'' fighting the battles of his people, as in the times of Joshua: according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah.”
2 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:9
“Thy bow was made quite naked - The word is repeated for emphasis. Literally, (In) “nakedness, it was laid naked;” the sheath being laid aside and cast away, as Isaiah says, Isa 22:6. “Kir laid bare the shield.” Gregory, Mor. xix. 9. n. 54, Compare Augustine in Ps. 59, n. 6.: 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.”
Habakkuk 3:9
“The mention of the tribes, rather than Abraham or Moses, is in order that they may not doubt that to them belongs this grace of which Abraham was the depository [CALVIN and JEROME]. MAURER translates, "The spears were glutted with blood, the triumphal song!" that is, no sooner did Jehovah begin the battle by baring His bow, than the spears were glutted with blood and the triumphal song sung.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Was the Lord displeased against the rivers?: was thine anger against the rivers, recalls the exodus and Jordan crossings directly, the prophet asking whether the ancient wonders were really about the waters themselves rather than the salvation they served, riding upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation naming the true target of every plague and parted sea. The second Selah falls after thy word, marking the oath that follows, thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, the covenant promises to the patriarchs read as a drawn weapon ready in God's own hand, and thou didst cleave the earth with rivers closes the unit on the same historical ground. Keil and Barnes read the whole passage as poetic recollection of the exodus deployed here as present hope, the ancient rivers standing for every deliverance still to come.
2. (vv. 10-12)
Habakkuk 3:10
“The mountains saw thee - This is the continued answer to the questions in Hab 3:8. These are figures highly poetic, to show with what ease God accomplished the most arduous tasks in behalf of his people. As soon as the mountains saw him, they trembled, they were in pangs. When he appeared, the sea fled to right and left, to give him a passage. “It uttered its voice.” The separation of the waters occasioned a terrible noise. “And it lifted up its hands on high.” Its waters, being separated, stood in heaps on the right hand and left.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:10
“Overflowing - The inundation which at that season was wont to be very great in and round Jordan, passed away at the word of God; the waters below flowed, and ran from those above, which stood on a heap to make a path for Israel.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Habakkuk 3:10
“LXX: They shall see you and be sorrowful, whether the peoples are in labor; for it signifies both. Consequently, when the earth is broken and the rivers flow, the peoples who have drunk from the rivers of God shall see God and be in labor. For from the very fact that they see God, they immediately conceive and say with God's word: We have conceived and given birth in the womb from your fear, O Lord, and have brought forth and given birth; we shall make the spirit of your salvation upon the earth.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Habakkukpatristic
Habakkuk 3:11
“Sun and moon stood still (as one act retiring into) in their habitation - They withdrew, as it were, in the midst of the great tempest, wherein Jos 10:11-13. “God cast down great stones from heaven upon” His enemies and they died; and “the sun stood still, and the moon stayed.” The sun too withdrew itself in the great darkness at the crucifixion, as not bearing to look upon the death of its Maker, when the majesty of the Sun of Righteousness was darkened o’er; and signs in the sun and in the moon there shall be to the end.”
1 more voice on this verse
Habakkuk 3:11
“LXX: In light, your javelins shall go forth, in the splendor of the flashing of your armor. The javelins of God, that is, the arrows going and advancing, are not sent for the purpose of killing, but for the purpose of illuminating. In distinction to these arrows and javelins, Christ is called the chosen javelin by Isaiah proclaiming: He has made me as a chosen javelin and has hidden me in his quiver, and he said to me: This is great for you, to be called my servant (Isaiah 49:2-3).”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Habakkukpatristic
Habakkuk 3:12
“Thou didst march through the land - This refers to the conquest of Canaan. God is represented as going at the head of his people as general-in-chief; and leading them on from conquest to conquest - which was the fact. Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger - Thou didst tread them down, as the oxen do the sheaves on the threshing-floor.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Habakkuk 3:12
“LXX: In the threat, you will approach the earth, and in anger, you will drag away the nations. This can be understood as occurring at the end of the world, when, through frequent wars, a great multitude is killed, and few people are found, and those who did not want to be part of God's people, but remained as nations and foreigners, are led to Tartarus by the anger of the Lord.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Habakkukpatristic
the deep uttered his voice: The mountains saw thee, and they trembled extends the theophany's reach from ancient rivers to the created order at large, the deep itself lifting up his hands on high like a creature startled awake. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation openly recalls Joshua's long day, the same God who halted the sky over Gibeon again commanding light itself at the light of thine arrows and the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger keeps the theophany pointed at a purpose. Henry and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown read the whole cosmic display as instrumental to a specific act of judgment and deliverance rather than spectacle for its own sake.
3. (vv. 13-15)
Habakkuk 3:13
“It is for salvation with thy anointed, with Joshua, who led the armies of Israel and was a figure of him whose name he bore, even Jesus our Joshua. What God did for his Israel of old was done with an eye to his anointed, for the sake of the Mediator, who was both the founder and foundation of the covenant made with them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:13
“LXX: You have lifted up the chains until the neck, to the end. The Lord has lifted up the chains of love, so that with the previous burden set aside, and the heavy yoke by which we were oppressed thrown off, we may take up the light yoke of Christ; and, placed in his chariot, we may carry the excellent charioteer. Theodotius also, taking this in a good sense, says: You have adorned the foundation until the neck. Fifth edition: You have stripped, or emptied, the foundation until the neck, selah, that is, always.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Habakkukpatristic
Habakkuk 3:13
“Thou wentest forth - Even a Jew says of this place, Kimchi: “The past is here used for the future; and this is frequent in the language of prophecy; for prophecy, although it be future, yet since it is, as it were, firmly fixed, they use the past concerning it.” The prophet speaks again in the past, perhaps to fix the mind on that signal going-forth, when God destroyed Pharaoh, the first enemy who essayed to destroy the chosen line.”
Habakkuk 3:13
“God from the beginning delivered His people in person, or by the hand of a Mediator (Isa 63:11). Thus Habakkuk confirms believers in the hope of their deliverance, as well because God is always the same, as also because the same anointed Mediator is ready now to fulfil God's will and interpose for Israel, as of old [CALVIN].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Habakkuk 3:14
“Thou didst strike through - The Hebrew will bear this sense: “Thou hast pierced amidst their tribes the head of their troops,” referring to Pharaoh and his generals, who came like a whirlwind to fall upon the poor Israelites, when they appeared to be hemmed in by sea, and no place for their escape.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Habakkuk 3:15
“Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine horses - God Himself is pictured as leading them on the way, Himself at the head of their multitude, having, as Asaph said of old “His path in the sea.” So Isaiah Isa 63:13. “who leddest them in the depths;” and Zechariah Zec 10:11. “And he shall pass through the sea.” God was literally there; for Act 17:28. “in Him we live and move and have our being.” He who “is wholly everywhere but the whole of Him nowhere” manifested His Presence there.”
for the salvation of thy people: Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed states the theophany's purpose plainly after eleven verses of storm and mountain, every image in the chapter serving Israel's rescue and the anointed one's cause. Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck pictures a decisive, total defeat, and the third Selah falls immediately after, marking the pause before the closing violence, they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me, their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters returns the vision to the exodus crossing one final time. Keil and Pusey read the repetition across the chapter as deliberate, the Red Sea remembered as the pattern every future deliverance follows.
C. Though the fig tree does not blossom, yet I will rejoice
1. (v. 16)
Habakkuk 3:16
“The faithful tremble at the voice alone of God before He inflicts punishment. Habakkuk speaks in the person of all the faithful in Israel. trembled in myself--that is, I trembled all over [GROTIUS]. that I might rest in the day of trouble--The true and only path to rest is through such fear.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:16
“LXX: I kept watch, and my belly was afraid at the voice of my mouth's prayer: and trembling entered into my bones, and under me my strength was troubled. Or as it is found written elsewhere ἡ ἕξις μου, which we can say means my condition: for indeed various readings are found.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Habakkukpatristic
Habakkuk 3:16
“When I heard, my belly trembled - The prophet, having finished his account of the wonders done by Jehovah, in bringing their fathers from Egypt into the promised land, now returns to the desolate state of his countrymen, who are shortly to be led into captivity, and suffer the most grievous afflictions; and although he had a sure word of prophecy that they should be ultimately delivered, yet the thoughts of the evils they must previously endure filled his soul with terror and dismay; so that he wishes to be removed from earth before this tribulation should come, that his eyes might not behold the desolations of his country.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
my belly trembled: The vision's effect on the prophet himself closes the theophany before the prayer turns to resolve, when I heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones, physical terror answering a display too large for a human frame to absorb calmly. That I might rest in the day of trouble marks the turn, the prophet choosing to wait quietly for an invasion he now knows is coming, when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops naming the Chaldean advance from chapter 1 as the trouble he now waits to rest through. Henry and Calvin read the trembling honestly, faith here is not the absence of fear but the decision to wait through it rather than flee it.
2. (vv. 17-19)
Habakkuk 3:17
“Although - literally, For The fig tree shall not blossom - The prophet repeats his confidence in God, premising his knowledge that all human hopes should fail. I know, he says, all stay and support shall fail; he numbers from the least to the greatest, the fruits of trees, the fig, vine and olive, for sweetness, gladness, cheerfulness Psa 104:15. whereof the well-being of the vine and fig tree furnishes the proverbial picture of peace and rest.”
2 more voices on this verse
Habakkuk 3:17
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom,.... Or rather, as the Septuagint version, "shall not bring forth fruit"; since the fig tree does not bear blossoms and flowers, but puts forth green figs at once.”
Habakkuk 3:17
“Thus Habakkuk, beginning his prayer with trembling, ends it with a song of triumph (Job 13:15; 43:3, 5). labour of the olive--that is, the fruit expected from the olive. fail--literally, "lie," that is, disappoint the hope (Isa 58:11, Margin). fields--from a Hebrew root meaning "to be yellow"; as they look at harvest-time. meat--food, grain. cut off--that is, cease.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Habakkuk 3:18
“This is the principal ground of our joy in God, that he is the God of our salvation, our eternal salvation, the salvation of the soul; and, if he be so, we may rejoice in him as such in our greatest distresses, since by them our salvation cannot be hindered, but may be furthered.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Habakkuk 3:19
“The Lord God is my strength - The prophet does not inwardly only exult and triumph in God, but he confesses also in words of praise, that in Him he hath all things, that He is All things in him.”
1 more voice on this verse
Habakkuk 3:19
“Thus the prophet, who began his prayer with fear and trembling, concludes it with joy and triumph, for prayer is heart's ease to a gracious soul. When Hannah had prayed she went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the fig tree shall not blossom: The chapter's summit strips away every prop faith might lean on: although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail, and the flock shall be cut off from the fold, the total collapse of an agrarian economy's every resource named in one sentence. Against total loss stands the answer, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation, joy chosen rather than caused by circumstance, which Pusey and Henry read as the summit of Old Testament trust and the book's own answer to the complaint it opened with in chapter 1. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places closes the book on agility rather than collapse, the note to the chief singer on stringed instruments handing the whole prayer to Israel's worship.
This page carries no textual note on Habakkuk 3. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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