Habakkuk moved from petition to praise in his prayer. He recalled God's great power and pardon in bringing the Israelites from Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land. Since God had done this, Habakkuk was confident that He could and would deliver the Israelites from the Babylonians and reestablish them in the land.
3:3 The prophet pictured Yahweh as arising over His people like the rising sun, appearing over Teman, a large town in Edom, and Mt. Paran, the mountain opposite Teman (cf. Deut. 33:2-4). These locations were to the east of the Israelites as they exited Egypt.
The name for God used here, "Elohim,"is in the singular, "Eloah,"perhaps stressing the essential unity of God who is the Holy One. "Selah"is another musical notation meaning "to lift up"(cf. vv. 9, 13). It probably indicates a place where the singers of this song were to pause. This pause may have been to modulate the key upward, to increase the volume, to reflect on what was just said, to exalt the Lord in some other way, or to raise an instrumental fanfare.30
The Strong One's splendor covered the heavens like the sun after sunrise. The self-manifestation of His glory filled the earth with His fame. "Glory"(Heb. hod) describes primarily kingly authority (e.g., Num. 27:20; 1 Chron. 29:25; et al.), and here it has particular reference to Yahweh's sovereignty over creation and history. This is evidently a description of the Lord's appearance on Mt. Sinai to the Israelites' forefathers. Moses used similar terms to describe His coming then (cf. Deut. 33:2).
3:4 The radiance of the Holy One's glory was like the sunlight. Power seemed to flash from His fingertips as rays (lit. horns) of light stretch from the rising sun (cf. Exod. 34:29-30, 35). In spite of this, most of His power remained concealed.
3:5 As God moves through the earth, like the sun, He burns up what is in front of Him and chars what He leaves behind. Pestilence (lit. burning heat) and plague (i.e., devastation) are the results and evidences of His searing holiness.
3:6 Standing like the sun at its zenith, God surveyed the whole earth. His downward look, like sunrays, caused the nations to tremble. His glance was enough to cause the permanent mountains to shatter and the ancient hills to collapse. He always causes these reactions since His ways are eternal. What a contrast He is to lifeless idols (cf. 2:18-19)!
3:7 Habakkuk saw the semi-nomadic Ethiopians and Midianites, who lived on both sides of Mt. Sinai, trembling with fear because they witnessed something of Yahweh's power.31Perhaps this is a reference to Yahweh parting the Red Sea. It is small wonder that these tribes trembled since His glance can cause mountains to melt (v. 6).
Habakkuk now changed from describing the manifestation of God and the inanimate and animate reactions to it to a description of His acts on the earth.
3:8 With rhetorical questions Habakkuk affirmed that Yahweh was not angry with the (Nile and Jordan) rivers and the (Red) sea when He transformed them. He was demonstrating His power for the salvation of His people, as a divine warrior riding His chariot.
3:9 He pulled His powerful bow out and prepared to use it. He called for many arrows to shoot at His enemies (cf. Deut. 32).32
"God had enlisted weapons and pledged them on oath for the destruction of his enemies."33
Selah. Think of that.
The prophet envisioned the rivers as God's instruments in dividing portions of the earth.
3:10 Habakkuk personified the mountains and described them as shaking when they saw the Lord. Torrential rainstorms that resulted in flooding swept by Him (cf. Gen. 7:11, 19-20). The sea lifted up its waves like hands in response to His command (cf. Ps. 77:15-17, 20).
3:11 The sun and moon stood still at His word (cf. Josh. 10:12-13), and they paled when He sent forth flashes of lightning like arrows and shining spears (cf. Deut. 32:23, 42).
3:12 The Lord had marched through the earth like a cosmic giant subduing Israel's enemies. He had trampled hostile nations as an ox does when it treads grain.
3:13 He had gone forth as a warrior to save His people and to deliver His anointed one. This may refer to Moses in his battles with Israel's enemies, or it may refer to a coming anointed one: Cyrus (cf. Isa. 45:1) or Messiah (cf. Ps. 2:2; Dan. 9:26), or more than one of these. The Lord had also smitten the leaders of many evil nations that opposed the Israelites, beginning with Pharaoh. He had disabled their nations as thoroughly as when someone slits a body open from bottom to top or tears a building off its foundation. Selah.
3:14 The Lord used the weapons of His enemies to slay their leaders in retribution. Israel's enemies had stormed into the Promised Land with great enthusiasm to scatter God's people, like those who kill oppressed people in secret.
3:15 Yahweh had trodden down the Red Sea as though He rode through it on cosmic horses causing it to surge away and leave a dry road for His people to tread out of Egypt (cf. v. 8).
