The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 55

but mnny of tho Fathors, who were conversant There is no ground for the contention thut with the Greek Boriptures, so.w herein a ih employmon t belongs to the latest sta"e reforenoe to the inmrnntion of onr blessed of Hebrew. Teman; i.e. Edom; Vulgate, ~7, Lord, o.s lying in the stable at Bethlehem Au•tro (see notes on Amos i. 12 and Obad. 9). between the ox and the ass, which was the In Moses' song the Lord is said to come from mystico.l explanatiou of Isa. i. 3, "The ox Sinai. Habakknk omits Sinai, save Pusey. knoweth his owner, and the ass bis master's which was the emblem of the Law, and crib." Others interpreted the two animals poi1:1ts to another Lawgiver, like unto Moses, of the two thieves between whom Christ telling how he who epake the Law, God, was crucified ; or of angels and men; or shonld come in the likeness of man. The Jews anrl Gentiles; or the two Testaments; Holy One. A name of God (eh, i. 12), im- or Moses and Elias. Others again accented plying that he will not let iniquity pass the word (wwv so as to understand " two unpunished, and that he will preserve the lives," the present and the future, in the holy seed. Mount Pa.ran. The mountainous midst of which the Judge shall appear; or district on the north-east of the desert of the life of Christ before bis death and after Et-Tih. The glory of the Lord is repre- his resurrection. There is a great truth sented as flashing on the two hilly regions UD.derlying most of these interpretations, separated by the Arabah. They both lay namely, that this magnificent hymn is con- sonth of Canaan ; and there is propriety in cerned with the victories of Obrist and his representing the redeemer and deliverer Church. In wrath remember meroy. When appearing in the sonth, as the Cha.ldea.n thine anger is displayed by sending the Chnl- invader comes from the north. The LXX. deans against us, remember thy mercy, and adds two translations of the word "Phara.n," make a speedy end of our misery, and viz. "shady," "rough;" according to its ety- mitigate our enemies' oruelty (comp. oh. i. mology it might also mean" lovely." Sela.h; 13; and vers. 9, 13, 18, 19 of this chapter). Septuagint, li,&,j,a>..µa.. This term occurs also The LXX. gives a double version, "In the in vers. 9, 13, and frequently in the Psalms, troubling of my soul, in wrath, thou wilt but nowhere else, and indicates some change remembel' mercy." in the music when the ode was sUD.g in the temple service. What is the exact change Vars. 3-15.-§ 3. The prophet or the is a matter of great uncertainty. Some congregation depicts in a majestic theophany take it to indicate "a pause;" others, con- the coming of God to judge the world, and necting it with salah, "to lift up," render it its effect symbolically on material nature, and "elevation,'' and suppose it means tho properly on e'!lil men. raising of the voice, or the strengthening of the accompaniment, as by the blast of Ver. 3.-In this episode Habakkuk ta.Ires trumpets. The meaning must be left un- his imagery from the accounts of God's determined, though it must be added that it dealings with his people in old time, in is always found at the end of a verse 01· Egypt, at the Red Sea, at Sine.i, at the hemiatich, where there is a pause or break Jordan, in Canaan; he echoes the songs of in the thought, or, as some say, some strongly Moses and Deborah and the psalmist; and accented words occur. His glory covered tha he looks on all these mighty deeds as antici- heavens. His majestio brightness spread pative of God's great work, the overthrow over the heavens, dimming the gleam of sun of all that opposes and the establishment and stars ; or it may mean his boundless of the kingdom of Messiah. God (Eloah) majesty fills the highest heavens and en- came from Teman. The words are con- compasses its inhabitants. His praise. nected with Moses' description of the This is usually explained to signify that Lord's appearance at Sinai (Deut. xxxiii. the earth and nil that dwell therein, at this 2; comp. J udg. v. 4). As he then came in glorious manifestion, utter their praise. glory to make a covenant with his people, Hut there is no allusion as yet to tbo so will he o.ppear a.go.in in majesty to deliver manner in which the appearance is received, them from the power of evil and to execute and in ver. 6 it produces fea.r 11nd trem- judgment. The verbs throughout are best bling; so it is best to take "praise" in the rendered in the present. The prophet takes sense of ,; matter of praise,'' that glory his stand in time preceding the action of "whioh was calculated to call forth uni- the verb, o.nd hence uses the future tense, versal adoration" (Henderson). thus also showing tho.t he is prophesying of Ver. 4.-His brightness was e.s the light; a great event to come, symbolized by these brightness appeareth like light. The sun- earlier manifestations. Ho.bakkuk hertl and ligbt is meaut, 11s Job xx.xi. 26; xx.xvii. :ll; in oh. i. 11 unes the word Elonh, which is Isa.. xviii. 4. He had horns coming out of not found in Jeremio,h, Ezekiel, or J;be other his hand; i.e. rays of light on either siJe. minor prophets ; it ocoms once in Is1\iah, The compal'ison of the first rays of li~h t to t\\ico in Deuteronomy, and frequently in Job. the horns of the gnzellP, according to Keil, 52 THE BOOK OF HADAKKUK. [cH. rn.1-19.