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.

I that appear in this glory am the author of that work." Then his glory covered the heavens, which shone with the reflection of that glorious appearance of his; the earth also was full of his praise, or of his splendour, as some read it. People at a distance saw the cloud and fire on the top of Mount Sinai, and praised the God of Israel.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

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, Exo 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, Exo 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 Jarchi; see Isa 30:26 or rather as the light of the sun shining in its full strength, Christ being the light of the world, and the sun of righteousness; and so may describe him as the brightness of his Father's glory; or his glory, as the only begotten of the Father, seen by his own disciples in the days of his flesh, shining through his works and miracles; or as exhibited in the light of his glorious Gospel, which is the great light that shined on men; and in and by which they that sat in darkness saw light, and who were darkness itself were made light in the Lord: what a glory, lustre, brightness, and light, did the Gospel spread in the world at the first publication of it! he had horns coming out of his hand; which the Jewish interpreters understand of Moses having horns or beams of light and glory from the hand and power of God, when he conversed with him on the mount, and the skin of his face shone, where the same word is used as here, Exo 34:29 though some of them interpret it of the two tables of the law, which came from the hand of the Lord, edged with glory and brightness, and looked like fire; hence called a "fiery law", Deu 33:2. […]

He affects himself with a holy concern for the present troubles of the church, but encourages himself and others to hope that the issue will be comfortable and glorious at last, though all visible means fail,

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.

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].

and His brightness - that wherein God dwelleth Eze 10:4, “the brightness of the Lord’s glory,” before which darkness fleeth Psa 18:12, “was as the light,” or as the sun. Out of the midst of the darkness, wherewith God, as it were Exo 19:9, Exo 19:16; Exo 20:21, hid Himself, the brightness of the “inapproachable Light” wherein “He dwelleth,” gleams forth Exo 24:10, bright as the brightest “light” gathered into one, which man knows of and whereon he cannot gaze. So amid the darkness of the humiliation of His presence in the flesh, Joh 1:14: “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father;” and, Isa 9:2, “the people that walked in darkness see a great light,” not dim. Theoph.: “nor weak, nor shadowed, like that of Moses, but pure unimaginable light of the knowledge of God.” The brightness too of His flesh was like the light of the Godhead on Mount Tabor; for the Godhead flashed through. Rup.: “As often as He did His marvelous works, He put forth His “brightness” (tempered for His creatures, since they could not approach the depth of His light, yet) as “light” to enlighten people to know Him. Yet the brightness issues from the Light, co-existing with it, and in it, while issuing from it. And so the words aptly express, how He who is the, Heb 1:3, “brightness of the Father’s Glory and the express Image of His Person.” Wisdom Heb 7:25, “brightness of the eternal light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of His goodness,” is as the Light from whom He is. Nicene Creed: “Light of Light,” Equal to the Father by whom He was begotten. […]