Tyndale Open Study NotesHabakkuk 3

Habakkuk’s prophecy concludes with a prayer that has the style and language of a psalm (a song of prayer).

• Habakkuk stands in awe before the LORD, who sits enthroned in his holy temple (Habakkuk 2:20).

• Because Judah will soon face punishment, Habakkuk prays to God. He asks the Lord, who acted powerfully to save Israel in the past, to act again. Habakkuk asks God to make his work of salvation known once more (see also Psalm 77).

The prophet praises God's power to save. These two praise sections (Habakkuk 3:3–7 and 3:8–15) poetically reflect on Israel's exodus. Although Habakkuk focuses on God's redemption of his people, his imagery sometimes includes ideas from ancient Near Eastern stories about the gods. For example:

• pestilence and plague (Habakkuk 3:5)

• river and sea (Habakkuk 3:8)

• sun and moon (Habakkuk 3:11)

This imagery reminds Habakkuk's original audience that the Lord alone is the one true God who rules over all these things.

• Teman: This was one of Edom’s main cities (see also Job 2:11; Jeremiah 49:7). The term could refer to the whole region of Edom where the city was located (compare Obadiah 1:9). Habakkuk’s use of the term with Mount Paran suggests he meant the larger region.

• Holy One is an important title for God. It emphasizes that God is completely set apart and unlike anything or anyone else (Habakkuk 1:12; see also Exodus 15:11; 2 Kings 19:22; Psalm 77:13; Isaiah 6:3).

• Mount Paran: The region of Paran included the mountain range west and south of Edom and northeast of Mount Sinai, as well as a large desert area in the Sinai Peninsula.

like the sunlight: The Lord, who appeared on Mount Sinai and filled the southern land with glory, now fills the heavens with splendor.

God is the divine warrior who helps his people (see Habakkuk 3:8–15; see also Isaiah 63:1–6).

Habakkuk speaks of pestilence and plague as if they were people. He describes them as soldiers in God’s army, carrying out God’s purposes (see Deuteronomy 32:24; Exodus 7–12; Amos 4:10).

Midian was in the southern area east of the Jordan River (see Genesis 36:35). The nation was terrified by God's powerful presence (Habakkuk 3:6).

The Lord acts as a divine warrior for his people, using his power to save them. This picture of God as a divine warrior appears in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

In the Old Testament, it is seen in Israel’s escape from Egypt and their journey to Mount Sinai (Exodus 15:1–18). It also appears as Israel approached the promised land from the south and during their early victories in the land (for example, Judges 5:4–5; Psalms 18:8–16; 77:16–20).

A key New Testament example of this theme appears in Revelation, where Christ comes as a warrior to defeat evil and bring final justice (Revelation 19:11–21).

• angry at the rivers … wrath against the streams: See Exodus 7:19–20; 14:15–31.

• chariots of salvation: This is an ironic reference to the Egyptian chariots that chased the Israelites when God helped them escape through the Red Sea (Exodus 14:9).

Only God controls the forces of the natural world.

water: See study note on Habakkuk 3:8 and also Exodus 15:1–18.

Sun and moon: See Joshua 10:12–13.

Sea … waters: The section ends the same way it started (Habakkuk 3:8).

Even though realizing God's great power made Habakkuk tremble and lose strength, he would wait quietly for God's judgment (see Habakkuk 2:3).

• After recounting God’s powerful acts of redemption (Habakkuk 3:2–15) and pausing to reflect on them (3:16), Habakkuk reaffirms his trust in God as he ends his prayer.

• Though … yet I will exult: Even if God never gives material blessings to his people again, he is still worthy of all their trust and praise. No matter what happens, the prophet could rejoice, knowing that the Lord is not only Israel’s Redeemer but also the source of his own salvation.

Habakkuk gained his strength from God, his Savior (Habakkuk 3:18). He compared his spiritual journey to a deer quickly climbing mountaintops and moving gracefully over them (see Psalm 18:32–33).