Habakkuk 2:3

2:1-4 When tossed and perplexed with doubts about the methods of Providence, we must watch against temptations to be impatient. When we have poured out complaints and requests before God, we must observe the answers God gives by his word, his Spirit, and providences; what the Lord will say to our case. God will not disappoint the believing expectations of those who wait to hear what he will say unto them. All are concerned in the truths of God's word. Though the promised favour be deferred long, it will come at last, and abundantly recompense us for waiting. The humble, broken-hearted, repenting sinner, alone seeks to obtain an interest in this salvation. He will rest his soul on the promise, and on Christ, in and through whom it is given. Thus he walks and works, as well as lives by faith, perseveres to the end, and is exalted to glory; while those who distrust or despise God's all-sufficiency will not walk uprightly with him. The just shall live by faith in these precious promises, while the performance of them is deferred. Only those made just by faith, shall live, shall be happy here and for ever.

(3) For the vision is yet for an appointed time . . .—Better, For the vision is to have its appointed day, and it pants for the end. and it shall not disappoint, i.e., it pants for the day of completion, which shall do it justice. It longs to fulfil its destiny. It will not tarry.—This translation is unfortunate. The prophet has just said that it will tarry. Nevertheless, he adds, men are to wait for it, because “it will surely come, and shall not be behindhand,” seil, on its appointed day. This and Habakkuk 2:4 are welded into the Apostle’s exhortation in Hebrews 10:37. The citation is not from the Hebrew, but is an adaptation of the equally familiar LXX. variant, ὅτι ἐρχόμενος ἥξει καὶ οὐ μὴ χρονίσῃἐὰν ὑποστείληται, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the {c} end it shall speak, and not lie: though it may tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (c) Which contained the destruction of the enemy, and the comfort of the Church. And even though God does not execute this according to man's hasty affections, yet the issue of both is certain at his appointed time.

3. for—assigning the cause why it ought to be committed to writing: because its fulfilment belongs to the future. the vision is yet for an appointed time—(Da 10:14; 11:27, 35). Though the time appointed by God for the fulfilment be yet future, it should be enough for your faith that God hath spoken it (La 3:26). at the end it shall speak—Maurer translates, "it pants for the end." But the antithesis between, "it shall speak," and "not be silent," makes English Version the better rendering. So the Hebrew is translated in Pr 12:17. Literally, "breathe out words," "break forth as a blast." though it tarry, wait for it—(Ge 49:18).

3 . Habakkuk 2:3 further explains the reason both for writing the vision and for writing it plainly. The vision bears upon the future and must be preserved; also, it is of common interest to all, learned or unlearned, and the speedy understanding of it will quiet minds that are perplexed. an appointed time ] Perhaps: the appointed time. The vision bears upon the future determined time. Cf. Daniel 8:19 ; Daniel 8:26 ; Daniel 10:14 ; Daniel 11:27 ; Daniel 11:35 . at the end it shall speak ] Rather: and it hasteth (lit. panteth) toward the end . The vision, as the word of God ( Isaiah 55:10-11 ), has an energy and life of its own, and it strains toward the end, though the “end” here is not its own fulfilment, but the determined future time. 2 Peter 2:3 . and not lie ] and it shall not lie , i.e. prove or be found false, deceive. it will not tarry ] will not fail , or, be late , beyond the appointed time. 2 Samuel 20:5 ; Jdg 5:28 .

For; the reason why it must be written is because it should not be forgotten, whilst the appointed time is somewhat afar off; write it that it may be preserved in memory. The vision; the accomplishment of the things showed unto thee, what thou seest is coming, and what thou foretellest to them, will take effect. For an appointed time; determined and fixed with God, though unknown to men. At the end; when the period appointed of God shall come, then, and not till then, it will be accomplished. It shall speak; be accomplished, and fully made good. Not lie; not disappoint your expectation. Though it tarry, from the time of the prophet’s seeing it, which was about Manasseh’s time, or from about the time of captivating the ten tribes, until Cyrus’s time. Wait for it; expect it, then it will speak out, that every one who hath an ear may hear it. It will surely come, when the ruin of Babylon, never to be more, built, shall proclaim the justice of God against his and his church’s enemies, and what difference there is between corrections on his people and destruction upon enemies. It will not tarry; not beyond the appointed time, which, reckoned from the captivity of the ten tribes, was one hundred and sixty years, or from Manasseh’s captivity, was about one hundred and twenty years, more or less, to the destruction of Babylon by Cyrus, when the riddle was fully unfolded.

Verse 3. - For . The reason is given why the oracle is to be committed to writing. Is yet for an ( the ) appointed time. The vision will not be accomplished immediately, but in the period fixed by God (comp. Daniel 8:17, 19 ; Daniel 11:27, 35 ). Others explain, "pointeth to a yet future time." But at the end it shall speak . The verb is literally "breathes," or "pants;" hence the clause is better rendered, and it panteth (equivalent to hasteth ) towards the end. The prophecy personified yearns for its fulfilment in "the end," not merely at the destruction of the literal Babylon, but in the time of the end - the last time, the Messianic age, when the world power, typified by Babylon, should be overthrown (see Daniel, loc cit .). And not lie; it deceiveth not ; οὐκ εἰς κενόν , "not in vain" (Septuagint). It will certainly come to pass. Wait for it . For the vision and its accomplishment. Because it will surely come. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:37) quotes the Septuagint Version of this clause, applying it to the last coming of Messiah Ὅτι (plus ὁ , Hebrew) ἐρχόμενος ἥξει καὶ οὐ μή χρονίσῃ ( οὐ χρονιεῖ Hebrew); so the Vulgate, Veniens veniet, et non tardabit. The original passage does not primarily refer to the coming of Messiah, but as the full and final accomplishment of the prophecy doubtless belongs to that age, it is not a departure from the fundamental idea to see in it a reference hereto.

For the vision is yet for an (the) appointed time - o Not for the present, but to develop itself in the course of time, down to a season which God only knows; as it is subsequently repeated ( Daniel 11:27 , for it is for the appointed time, Daniel 11:35 ), "for the end is yet for the appointed time Daniel 8:19 ; for it is for the appointed time of the end;" and is explained Daniel 10:1 , Daniel 10:14 , "for the vision is yet for the days Daniel 8:26 ; for it is for many days Ezekiel 12:27 ; the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth, is for many days and he prophesieth of the times far off;" yet it should haste toward the end, toward its fulfillment, so that, if it is not at once fulfilled, it should be surely waited for. Theodotion: "It shall certainly be; not in vain hath it been shewn, but as certainly to be. For whatever hath been shown to come and to be, will come and be." But at the end it shall speak - o (or it breatheth, hasteth to the end), not simply "to its own fulfillment," but to that time of the end which should close the period assigned to it, during which it should continually be putting itself forth, it should come true in part or in shadow, gleams of it should here and then part the clouds, which, until the end, should surround and envelop it. Being God's truth, he speaks of it as an animate living thing, not a dead letter, but running, hasting on its course, and accomplishing on its way that for which it was sent.

The will and purpose of God hasteth on, though to man it seemeth to tarry; it can neither be hurried on, nor doth it linger; before "the appointed time" it cometh not; yet it hasteth toward it, and "will not be behindhand" when the time comes. It does not lie, either by failing to come, or failing, when come, of any jot or tittle. "Though it tarry or linger" , continually appearing, giving signs of itself, yet continually delaying its coming, "wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not be behindhand" , when the time comes, Revelation 22:7, "He cometh quickly" also, as He saith; because, from Dion.: "though the delay of His coming and of the fulfillment of the vision seem long, yet, in comparison with eternity, it is very short. In His first coming, He taught why God permitteth these things; in the second coming, He shall teach by experience, how good it it is for the good to bear the persecution of the evil; whence Peter also has to say 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness." The words seem to belong, in the first instance, to the vision itself; but the vision had no other existence or fulfillment than in Him who was the Object of it, and who, in it, was foreshadowed to the mind. The coming of the vision was no other than His coming.