The Pulpit Commentary — Habakkuk — Section 56

is C',>mmon in Arel,ic poetry (oomp. Exod. siden1, too, all the domgs of the ohiklren of :-.,cxiL 29, :10). In the origine.l pe.ese.ge, men, and requites them accordingly. Vul- Deut.. xxxiii. 2, we r0ad, "At bis right he.nd gate, Sttitit, et mensus est terrnm. So the wt1.s R lien· Lnw unto them "-e. reforenoe to Syriao. Ou the other band, the LXX. tl1e two t~bles of stone, perhaps resplendent gives, "E.,.,-17 tta.1 itra.Aou617 -1) ;,ij, "The eartb with light. The "hand" in our toxt is stood and quaked." Thus the 0!111\dce, A gPnernl expression, and is not to be taken 11nd many modern ooromentators, "rocketh with e.ny special reFerence to lightning the earth." This rendering seems to e.ntioi- lnunolied by the he.nd (which is not e. pate whe.t follows, and is not so suitable as scriptural expression), nor to works effected the other, though it is quite e.dmissible. b_. God's agency, but simply as signifying Drove a.sunder. Dispersed nnd scattered. tbRt. the light of his presence streamed Septuagint, 11,.,.&1<17 l6v17, "nntions rue) ted forth from both sides, i.e. evc,rywhere. a.way." Others translate,•• me.de to tromble" There was the hiding of his power. There, (Exod. xv. 15, etc.). The everlasting moun- in that ineffable light, we.s the hiding-place tains. Mounte.ins the.t have lasted os lonit of his majesty. He clothes himself with as creation, e.nd a.re emblems of ste.bility and light ns with e. go.rment (Ps. civ. 2), and permanence (Deut. :xxxiii. 15). Were soat- the splendour is the me.ntle of the.t presence tered; or, were shattei·ed ( comp. Micah i. 4; which eye of man cannot behold (Exod. Nab. i. 5). His ways are everlasting. Thie x.xi..-. 17; I Tim. ,i. 16). Farrar quotes Ps. is best te.ken alone, not e.s connected gram- xviii. II, •· He made darkness his secret matically with the preceding olause, and ple.oe;" e.nd Milton- epexegetica.l of the "bills and mountains," " De.rk with excess of light his skirts which are called God's "ways,'' i.e. his e.ppee.r." chief creative acts, as Job xl. 19; Prov. viii. 22: but it means that, e.s God acted of Septue.gint, "EBFTo d-yd.,,...,,aw 1<pa.Ta1b.v ltrxrios old, so he acts now: "'.rhe ancient ways c.vTov, which rendering has a.risen from of acting a.re his" (Prov. x:xxi. 27). "He te.king the e.dvtrb sham e.s a verb (sam), and reneweth his progresses of old time " (De- mist.a.king the meaning of the following word. litzsch). The eternal, uliohe.ngeable pur- Ver. 5.-After describing the splendour pose and operation of God a.re oontre.sted of the theopbany, the prophet now turns with the disruption of " the everlasting to the purpose and effects of God's appear- hills." The Greek and Latin Versions con- ing. He comes to aveuge and judge, there- nect the words with what precedes. Septne.- fore before him went the pestilenoe. Before gint, 'E,-&1<1711a.11 {3ouvol a.iC:.v,01 1rope/r,.s a.iowlas, him stalks plague, to punish his enemies " The everlasting hills melted at his ever- e.nd the disobedient, e.a in Egypt, in lasting goings:" Vulgate, Incurvati sunt Canaan (Exod. :xxiii. 27; I Se.m. v. 9, 11) ; colles mundi ab iUneribUB zternitatiB ejus, and e.moug his own people (Numb. xi. 33 ; xiv. where the idea seems to be that the high 37, etc.; Lev. xxvi. 25). For" pestilence" places of the earth are God's pe.ths when he the LXX. ree.ds " word." Burning coals visiui the world. went forth e.t his feet. " Fiery bolts" fol- Ver. 7.-As God moves in his majest.y lowed bis advance, "hailstones and coals the various nations a.re struck with fear, as of fire" (Ps. xviii. 12, 13); e.s in Pa. xcvii. of old were the peoples that heard of the 3, "A fire goeth before him, e.nd burneth up Exodus (see Exod. xv. H-16). I saw. In his enemies on every side." But, regarding prophetic vision (1 Kings xx.ii. 17). The the pe.rallelisms of the hemiatiches, it is tents of Cushe.n j LXX.. <T1<17vC:.µaTa Alelo- better to take resheph in the sense of" fe\'er .,,.,.,.,, "the tents of tho_ Ethiopians:" Vul- heat,'' e.a in Deut. :x:x:xii. 24; scorching ge.t.e, untoria .lEthiopilB. " Cnshan" ie not fevtr follows in his train. Jerome trans- Chushe.n-Rishe.thaim, the Mesopotamie.n le.tes tlie word, diaboluB, looking on the king mentioned in Judg. iii., but is " evil spirit as the agent of the Di vine ven- lengthened form of Oush (as Lotan for Lot, geance. The Jews, be says, had a tradition Gen. xxxvi. 20), the biblice.l name for Ethi- that Satan was called Reseph, from the opia. Here the African cou11try is meant, speed of his movemeuts. The LXX. has, lying along the west coast of the Red See., "It (the word) shall go forth into the In afBiotion. Panic-stricken. '!'Le prophet pie.ins," which Jerome interprets, "shall particularizes whet he had said above gene- make the crooked straight and the rough rally of the nations hostile to the people of ways smooth." God. The curtains ; the tent curtains ; Ver. 6.-Re stood, and measured the Vulgate, peUes. Both "tents" and "cur- earth. God takes his stand, and surveys tains" are used by metonymy for their in- tht earth which he is visiting in judgment, hal>itants. Midian. 'rhe country on the As his glory filled the heavens, so now he Gulf of Akaba, the eaRtern arm of the Red witb iii,, presence paces the earth, measur- Sea. Ethiopia and J11i<lian are named, as ing- il, as it weJ"e, with hie foot. He con- God is supposed to o.dve.nce from the south,  THE BOOK OF IrABAKKTJK.