The
solemn presence of God: remembrance of His power
This answer brings home to
the heart of the prophet the solemn presence of God, and
leads him to look for a revival of God's working in the
midst of the people in grace, and turns him back to God's
first favour, and recalls to the prophet all the glory of
Jehovah, when He appeared for His people at the
beginning, when He came out of His place and overturned
every obstacle in order to establish His people in
blessing.
At this remembrance of His
power, the prophet trembles, but in the consciousness
that it is the source of a perfect and assured rest in
the day of trouble, when the destroyer should come up and
invade the people.
The blessed result
of God's lessons
He concludes his prophecy
with the blessed result of all these precious lessons,
namely, the expression of perfect confidence in Jehovah.
He would rejoice and be glad in Him, if all the blessing
should fail. Jehovah Himself was his strength, his trust,
and his support, and He would set him on the high places
of His blessing, giving him, as it were, hinds' feet to
ascend there by His favour.
There is nothing finer
than this development of the thoughts of the Spirit of
God, the sorrows and anxieties produced by Him, the
answer of God to give understanding and strengthen faith,
in order that the heart may be in full communion with
Himself.
It will be remarked here,
that it is the idolatrous oppressor who especially
appears, although the first invasion is described, for
that was the immediate cause of the prophet's anguish.
The Chaldeans, therefore, are distinctly named. It is
that people, as we know, who reduced the people of God to
captivity.
Summary of the
prophecy
In sum, in this prophet we
have (for the comfort of the faithful heart, which loves
God's people because they are His, and hence is
distressed by the wickedness found among them, and still
more by the judgment which falls upon them) the answer of
God, explaining His ways to faith, and His sure
faithfulness to His promises. He knows the oppressor, but
the just must live by faith.
Habakkuk 3 Bible Commentary
John Darby’s Synopsis
This answer brings home to the heart of the prophet the solemn presence of God, and leads him to look for a revival of God's working in the midst of the people in grace, and turns him back to God's first favour, and recalls to the prophet all the glory of Jehovah, when He appeared for His people at the beginning, when He came out of His place and overturned every obstacle in order to establish His people in blessing.
At this remembrance of His power, the prophet trembles, but in the consciousness that it is the source of a perfect and assured rest in the day of trouble, when the destroyer should come up and invade the people.
The blessed result of God's lessons
He concludes his prophecy with the blessed result of all these precious lessons, namely, the expression of perfect confidence in Jehovah. He would rejoice and be glad in Him, if all the blessing should fail. Jehovah Himself was his strength, his trust, and his support, and He would set him on the high places of His blessing, giving him, as it were, hinds' feet to ascend there by His favour.
There is nothing finer than this development of the thoughts of the Spirit of God, the sorrows and anxieties produced by Him, the answer of God to give understanding and strengthen faith, in order that the heart may be in full communion with Himself.
It will be remarked here, that it is the idolatrous oppressor who especially appears, although the first invasion is described, for that was the immediate cause of the prophet's anguish. The Chaldeans, therefore, are distinctly named. It is that people, as we know, who reduced the people of God to captivity.
Summary of the prophecy
In sum, in this prophet we have (for the comfort of the faithful heart, which loves God's people because they are His, and hence is distressed by the wickedness found among them, and still more by the judgment which falls upon them) the answer of God, explaining His ways to faith, and His sure faithfulness to His promises. He knows the oppressor, but the just must live by faith.