Habakkuk 3 · The Lantern

Habakkuk’s Prayer

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth.

LORD, I have heard your report; I am afraid. LORD, your work — in the midst of the years revive it, in the midst of the years make it known; in trembling remember compassion.

With Him is nothing incomplete or out of due season, just as with the Father there is nothing incongruous. For all these things were foreknown by the Father; but the Son works them out at the proper time in perfect order and sequence.

When the sacred lesson was read just now, we heard that at the time when the twelve spies were sent to view the land of promise, two of them brought back on a lever to the children of Israel a bunch of grapes of wonderful size.

And so Christ is the center of the two animating spirits, as is the heart. Hence Habakkuk: "In the midst of the two animals Thou shalt make it known." And according to a different translation, "in the midst of the years," as is the Sun: for the sum total of time runs on according to the ten steps in the dial of Achaz.

God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His majesty covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.

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.

(Verse 3) God will come from the South, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. LXX: God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from the dark and thickly wooded mountain. Diapsalma.

His majesty covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. The dispensation of the Lord's incarnation having been described, he immediately added the mystery of the ascension by which the same humanity was to be glorified, according to the saying of the Psalmist: His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit reaches to the end thereof (Ps. 18:7).

And the brightness is like the light; rays are from his hand, and there is the hiding of his strength.

(Verse 4.) He covered the heavens with his glory, and the earth is full of his praise. His splendor is like light: horns are in his hands. There his strength is hidden. LXX: His power covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise, and his splendor shall be like light: horns are in his hands, and he set strong love of his strength.

His brightness will be like the light. The brightness of the virtues and the doctrine of the Lord and Savior will enlighten the believers; from which he is called the Sun of Righteousness in the Scriptures; but because the same brightness could not shine perfectly in the world unless he, having tasted death for a time, destroyed the kingdom of death, and rising from the dead gr…

This fortitude is from God redeeming through the incarnation of the divine Word. By what is the soul redeemed? It is said in Habakkuk: "His splendor shall be as the light; horns are in his hands; there his fortitude is hidden." For "the weakness of God is stronger than men." The Son of God was made weak for our sake.

Before him goes pestilence, and plague goes out at his feet.

He stood and measured the earth; he looked and startled nations. And the mountains of old were shattered; the hills of eternity bowed down. The goings of eternity are his.

(Verse 6.) He stood and measured the earth: he beheld, and scattered the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.

In all of what he said he conveyed to us the ineffable power of God: action follows his will, and by merely wishing it (the sense of "he took his position and looked down") he moves the earth, undoes human nature, splits open the mountains and melts the hills like wax. In fact, he has not ceased doing such things for people's benefit (by "passing" referring to his doings).

The everlasting hills flowed down. By the name of hills, as with mountains, proud men are expressed, but perhaps inflated with a lesser arrogance of elation, yet not free from the guilt of swelling pride, and therefore healthily inclined, so that they may deserve to be elevated by the Lord.

Under iniquity I saw the tents of Cushan; the curtains of the land of Midian tremble.

Was the LORD angry against the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your fury against the sea, that you rode on your horses, your chariots of salvation?

"The horse and the rider he has cast into the sea; he has become for me a helper and protector unto salvation." The men who pursue us are horses, and, so to speak, all who are born in the flesh are figuratively horses. But these have their riders.

"Chariots and steeds lay stilled." Let us examine this verse in its tropological significance. At last Pharaoh mounted his steeds, sank into sleep and perished. The Egyptians too had steeds, but they perished. That is the reason for the prescription found in the law that no Hebrew should possess a horse.

For you will ascend riding on your horses, and your cavalry is salvation. That is, you will ascend into the hearts of your chosen ones through the illumination of grace, through which, under your guidance, they will tread the path of virtues, and by preaching you across the whole world, carrying the life of eternal salvation, they will proclaim it to the world.

Your bow is laid utterly bare; the oaths of the tribes are the word. Selah. With rivers you split the earth.

The mountains saw you and writhed; a downpour of water passed over. The deep gave its voice; it lifted its hands on high.

Sun and moon stood in their lofty dwelling; at the light of your arrows they went, at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.

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.

Concerning this glory of His Ascension, Habakkuk also says, "The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in its order." For who is designated by the name of sun except the Lord, and who by the name of moon except the Church?

The fourth anagogy is a reference to the Church Triumphant which is also signified by the sun, in a passage from Habacuc: "The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation," that is, when the soul and the body are glorified. "They go about in the brilliance of many arrows," because of the swiftness of what they do by the lightning-fast power of God.

In indignation you march the earth; in anger you thresh nations.

You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You shattered the head from the house of the wicked, laying bare the foundation to the neck. Selah.

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.

And yet, someone may say, we shall find the name Christ applied not to Emmanuel alone, but also applied to others. For God said somewhere about those chosen and sanctified by the Spirit, "Do not touch my anointed ones, and to my prophets do no harm." The divinely inspired David calls Saul, who had been anointed as king by God through the hand of Samuel: the "Lord's anointed." A…

You went out for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones. The Mediator between God and men went forth from the Father and came into the world, not to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

You pierced with his own staffs the head of his villagers; they storm out to scatter me, their exulting as if to devour the afflicted in a hiding place.

You trod the sea with your horses, the heap of many waters.

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.

70: And you led your horses into the sea, disturbing the many waters. After God sent death upon the heads of the unjust, and the heads of the mighty were brought down in astonishment, and you broke them in the sea (for it is written in the Psalms: You have broken the heads of the dragons (Psalm 73:4)), with the princes slain, or broken, and the strong one overcome, they came to…

You sent your horses into the sea, stirring up many waters. For the sea, indeed, means the world; the horses of God, the holy preachers; the many waters, the peoples of the nations.

I heard, and my belly trembled; at the sound my lips quivered. Rottenness comes into my bones, and beneath me I tremble — that I may rest for the day of distress, for the coming up against the people who raid us.

LXX: I will rest in the day of my trouble, that I may ascend to the people of my pilgrimage. For with all watchfulness I have kept my heart, and my belly trembled at the voice of my prayer. And trembling came upon me, and darkness covered me: and my bones were affrighted. And under me death began to beget: and I was reproved by the multitude. And what do I long for?

And trembling entered into my bones. Just as Scripture sometimes designates our carnal actions by the name of flesh; so by the name of bones it usually designates strong and spiritual deeds.

The third origin of the fear of the Lord is from the consideration of the severity of divine vengeance. Whence in Habakkuk: "Lord, I have heard your report and was afraid. I heard, and my belly was troubled; at the voice my lips trembled.

Habakkuk Rejoices

Though the fig tree does not blossom, and there is no yield on the vines; the work of the olive fails, and the terraces produce no food; the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls —

yet I will exult in the LORD; I will be glad in the God of my salvation.

GOD, the Lord, is my strength, and he makes my feet like the deer’s, and on my high places he makes me tread. To the choirmaster, with my stringed instruments.

Habakkuk3

Habakkuk’s Prayer

Habakkuk Rejoices