Habakkuk 3:13-19
Habakkuk 3:13
(KJB)
Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even
for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of
the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
Habakkuk uses a metaphor as God being a great general who
went forth as leading the conquering army for the purpose of freeing his people
from bondage which he did in Egypt and in the land of Canaan.
The anointed one who would come from the tribe of Judah would be the Lord
Jesus Christ who would bring salvation to all the Elect in the world.
The heads of the houses would be the princes and kings of the individual
heathen nations which God displaced in Canaan.
Genesis 49:8 (KJV) Judah, thou art
he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine
enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
The word “discovering” means to make naked and that means to be fully
exposed. One day the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to judge the entire world and will discover or expose the
foundation of the hatred the heathen had for God and that was because the
heathen did not walk in truth and hated the truth and therefore hated God
because he is truth. That will come
to pass on judgment day and they will be totally destroyed in hell which is
considered being in the neck of the heathen.
Habakkuk 3:14
(KJB)
Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his
villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to
devour the poor secretly.
A stave was a walking stick or a rod.
These could be honed into fighting staves by making a sharp end on the
tip. These were used as weapons
almost like a spear but made without a metal tip.
These were used by the heathens to try and repel the invading Israelites
but God had turned the tables in that they were killed with their own weapons.
They had come out as a whirlwind, that is, like an army moving at
hurricane force to try and repel the invaders but it was to no benefit of theirs
since it was decreed that Israel would possess the land.
They had begun to rejoice thinking that Israel would be easy prey for
them but they did not take into consideration that God was fighting on their
side.
1 Kings 20:11 (KJV) And the king of
Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness
boast himself as he that putteth it off.
The principle in 1 Kings 20:11 is that we should never anticipate an
outcome which may turn out to be different than what we expected.
The heathen nations expected Israel to be a very easy prey but they found
out the hard way. As Yogi Berra
once said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Habakkuk 3:15
(KJB)
Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses,
through the heap of great waters.
Isaiah 63:13 (KJV)
That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should
not stumble? It is a metaphor
where God led the nation of Israel through the land of Sinai but before they
entered Sinai, he led them across the Red Sea as a general who leads an army in
battle. He led them through the dry
land of the Red Sea and the Jordan River as the waters heaped on both sides of
the sea and Israel was able to go through without any incident.
The word “stumble” in Isaiah 63:13 carries with it the meaning of
“wavering or faltering” which they could have done when they saw the high walls
of water and became frightened but with God leading them, they had no fear to
cross.
Habakkuk 3:16
(KJB)
When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the
voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might
rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade
them with his troops.
The prophet now begins to sum up his vision and he
basically ends up with the same way that he started out and that was being in
fear. He describes some of the
physical responses his body is making to fear.
His belly had trembled which carries with it the meaning of “rage, quake,
or shake.” This would mean that all his internal organs were reacting negatively
to fear. His lips quivered as one
who is crying and the lips shook.
Rottenness had entered into his bones.
Rottenness carries with the meaning of “decay or rot.”
Just as a poet would describe these feelings, Habakkuk describes his
fearful feeling as one who is decaying away.
This resulted in him trembling within himself as a person who has a
severe anxiety or nervous condition would.
He hopes that instead of being like this when the day of trouble comes he
will be able to rest when the day of calamity comes.
The day of invasion by Babylon will soon be here when he brings his
troops to the borders and then attacks but Habakkuk also has the promise of God
that Babylon will also be destroyed in due time by the Medes and Persians.
Habakkuk 3:17
(KJB)
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:
Here Habakkuk now describes a very bleak picture of what
is going to happen to Judah while they are in captivity.
He basically focuses on the land which will be left to lie fallow while
Judah goes into captivity for her sins which includes idolatry.
The fig tree will not blossom meaning the figs will not come on the
trees. With the fig tree the fruit
comes first then the blossoms. The
vines which yielded much grapes for wine and food will also lie fallow and the
olive trees may bring forth olives but there will be no one to gather them for
usage. The fields will not yield
any meat because the flocks will be taken to Babylon and the fields will grow
wild with weeds and maybe many lions will not come into the land.
There will also be no herd in the stalls which means no milk for the
young ones. All in all the land of
Judah is going to suffer right along with its inhabitants.
Habakkuk 3:18
(KJB)
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of
my salvation.
Yet in the middle of all that dismal prophecy as to what
will happen to Judah, Habakkuk will be able to rejoice in the Lord because he
knows there will be an end to the captivity and that God will not allow an end
to the people of Israel since the Messiah will be coming through the line of the
tribe of Judah so they will have to back in the land so the prophecy of Micah
can be fulfilled that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
Habakkuk also rejoices because he knows that God is the God of his
salvation and his salvation does not depend upon what circumstances he finds
himself in, but the fact that God has saved him and he can never be lost.
Habakkuk 3:19
(KJB)
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. To the
chief singer on my stringed instruments.