Verse 1
This chapter is a concluding prayer by Habakkuk, although a great deal of it is more like what would be called a devotional. "All devotional addresses to God are called prayers (Psalms 72:20)."[1] Stephens-Hodge defended the unity of the whole prophecy and believed that, "This third chapter could hardly be more suitable to what preceded; and it was deliberately designed by Habakkuk as the crown of his whole composition."[2] Many students of the Bible have praised this chapter in the manner of McFadyen who declared that, "This writer has entered into the innermost secret of spiritual religion and has bequeathed to us one of the most precious words in the O.T."[3] Eiselen took note of frantic efforts critics at one time exercised in their vain attempts to deny this chapter as a genuine part of Habakkuk, concluding that their postulations are "impossible to prove."[4]
The thrust of this great prayer is in Habakkuk 3:2, where the prophet called upon God to repeat the former marvelous deliverances which had marked his shepherding of the chosen people, and to do it again, because of the extreme seriousness of the present crisis. There then followed a review of God's activity, touching events of the earliest periods of Hebrew history. The final verses of the chapter reveal the prophet in an attitude of submission and trust. Whatever might be the final issue of the terrible dangers threatening Israel, he concluded, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk had persistently hoped for the best; but when God finally revealed to him the true state of affairs, the prophet was in a state of collapse (Habakkuk 3:16). Having learned that there were bitter days indeed ahead for God's people, the prophet composed himself and trustfully awaited the day of trouble.
"Strictly speaking, the entire chapter after Habakkuk 3:1 is a prayer. It is an earnest entreaty for Yahweh to let the world again witness his redemptive work."[5]
The purpose of this chapter, according to Robinson was that "of encouragement and to keep alive within the nation a spirit of hope and trust in God."[6]
"A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth."
"Set to Shigionoth ..." This, as well as "Selah" which occurs three times in this chapter, indicates that the chapter was used liturgically in the temple services, being sung or chanted by the congregation. Shigionoth indicates that it was to be sung "after the manner of the elegies, or mournful odes."[7] The plural of this word, Shiggaion, is used as a title (Psalms 7:1). "It is believed to refer to the wild beat of the song, its tempo corresponding to the profound emotions it describes."[8] David composed a Psalm in this same metre "when he sang a song in his affliction accompanied by the cursing of Shimei."[9]
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