Habakkuk 3:6

3:3-15 God's people, when in distress, and ready to despair, seek help by considering the days of old, and the years of ancient times, and by pleading them with God in prayer. The resemblance between the Babylonish and Egyptian captivities, naturally presents itself to the mind, as well as the possibility of a like deliverance through the power of Jehovah. God appeared in his glory. All the powers of nature are shaken, and the course of nature changed, but all is for the salvation of God's own people. Even what seems least likely, shall be made to work for their salvation. Hereby is given a type and figure of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. It is for salvation with thine anointed. Joshua who led the armies of Israel, was a figure of Him whose name he bare, even Jesus, our Joshua. In all the salvations wrought for them, God looked upon Christ the Anointed, and brought deliverances to pass by him. All the wonders done for Israel of old, were nothing to that which was done when the Son of God suffered on the cross for the sins of his people. How glorious his resurrection and ascension! And how much more glorious will be his second coming, to put an end to all that opposes him, and all that causes suffering to his people!

Habakkuk 3:6 . He stood and measured the earth — “It was customary for a conqueror, as soon as he became possessed of a country, to measure it out, and divide it among his people. Thus David, ( Psalm 60:6 ,) I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Hence Jehovah, who takes possession of the land of Canaan, upon the flight and cession of its guilty inhabitants, is represented as dividing it among the tribes of Israel.” — Green, who translates the former part of the verse thus: He stood and measured out the land; he beheld and scattered the nations: the eternal mountains dispersed, the perpetual hills bowed. The passage is certainly extremely poetical; representing, not only the inhabitants of Canaan, but the land itself, as struck with conscious terror at the approach of Jehovah. His ways are everlasting — His purposes, foreknown from all eternity, will infallibly be executed in their appointed time: or, his wisdom, goodness, justice, holiness, and power, exerted and manifested in governing his people, are immutable and eternal.

(6) He stood, and measured the earth . . . —Better, He has taken His stand and measured the earth, He has looked and made the heathen tremble; and the primeval mountains are broken up, the ancient hills sink down; His goings are as of old; i.e., His proceedings are the same as of old time, when He brought up Israel from Egypt. God measures or parcels out the earth; and the usurping invader is put to confusion. The mountains are convulsed, as was Sinai of old. (Comp. Judges 5:5 , Psalm 68:8 .)

He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his {f} ways are everlasting. (f) Signifying that God has wonderful means, and always has a marvellous power when he will deliver his Church.

6. He stood, and measured the earth—Jehovah, in His advance, is represented as stopping suddenly, and measuring the earth with His all-seeing glance, whereat there is universal consternation. Maurer, from a different root, translates, "rocked the earth"; which answers better to the parallel "drove asunder"; the Hebrew for which latter, however, may be better translated, "made to tremble." everlasting mountains—which have ever been remembered as retaining the same place and form from the foundation of the world. did bow—as it were, in reverent submission. his ways are everlasting—His marvellous ways of working for the salvation of His people mark His everlasting character: such as He was in His workings for them formerly, such shall He be now.

6 . stood, and measured ] “Measured” could only mean surveyed, measured with His eyes, and this might be supposed taken up again in “he looked” of next clause; but the parallelism with the next clause rather requires that the effect of His standing or taking His stand should be stated. Possibly the word “measured” has the sense of a similar word used Isaiah 24:19 , he made the earth to rock . Sept. renders in the pass., the earth was shaken . The preceding verses describe the Theophany as seen in heaven, it has not yet touched the earth, though its baleful accompaniments of pestilence and fever-glow are spoken of. Now the tempest in which the Deity is shrouded descends and touches the earth, enfolding the heights within it. “He stood” means He took his stand , He set His foot; 2 Samuel 20:4 ; Isaiah 1:8 ; Ezekiel 22:30 . The earth felt His tread and rocked, Micah 1:3-4 . Or, “stood” might describe an apparent stationariness of the storm-cloud during which it discharged itself, making the earth rock. Cf. Psalm 29:4-5 . He beheld, and drove asunder ] He looked, and His look scared the nations into violent commotion. The term means to make one spring, up from terror, Job 37:1 . mountains were scattered ] Or, do cleave asunder . The sense is scarcely that the hills were scattered from one another, rather that the individual mountains were cleft. Cf.

Zechariah 14:4 , “His feet shall stand on the mount of Olives, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, toward the east and toward the west.” perpetual hills did bow ] Or, eternal hills .— Genesis 49:26 ; Deuteronomy 33:15 . Their bowing refers to the sinking and rising motion, as in an earthquake, under the feet of Jehovah in the tempest. His ways are everlasting ] R.V. his goings were as of old . If this sense were adopted it would decide that the previous description referred to a Theophany about to appear, which is compared to the former historical one, the term “going” being equivalent to way . The term “goings” however might be in apposition to “eternal hills,” and the meaning be that these hills were Jehovah’s eternal pathways—the trailing tempests, in which Jehovah moves, are seen passing over the mountains, and thus these are considered the pathways of the Lord. Cf. Amos 4:13 , “he treadeth upon the high places of the earth”; Micah 1:3 . The past tenses of A.V. might be retained in the verse, but as the poet feels himself in presence of the imposing phenomenon, it is perhaps better to throw them into the present: He taketh his stand, and maketh the earth to quake, He looketh, and causeth the nations to tremble; And the everlasting mountains are cleft asunder, The eternal hills do bow; Even his pathways from of old. The last line overloads the parallelism, and in whatever sense it be taken rather drags.

He stood; gave his presence with Joshua and others, as one that stood by while the work was done. Measured: he divided to them their inheritance, and did this without toil or difficulty, his very presence with his people was enough to make it known what he allotted to them. The earth; the Promised Land. He beheld; looked with a frowning countenance, with anger in his eye. Drove asunder; cast them out, or caused them to flee, as many did out of that country; his eye did this, for he looked on them and did this. The nations; the cursed nations. The everlasting mountains were scattered; either literally understood, as Nahum 1:5 , and may relate to that the psalmist minds, Psalm 114:4,6 , when the whole mount, all the mountainous parts of Sinai, tremble, Exodus 19:18 , &c.; or figuratively, the state of these nations, seeming as immovable as mountains, yet soon shook and dissolved, before the rebuke of the Lord. The perpetual hills did bow; an elegant immutation of the phrase, to illustrate and confirm the same thing. His ways are everlasting; the wisdom, goodness, justice, holiness, faithfulness, and power of God, which he showeth in the methods of his governing his church and people, are everlasting, they are the same, and where the same circumstances concur the same effects of his power may be hoped for. So the prophet pursueth the argument; they are everlasting loving-kindnesses with which he embraceth his church.

Verse 6. - He stood, and measured the earth. God takes his stand, and surveys the earth which he is visiting in judgment. As his glory filled the heavens, so now he with his presence paces the earth, measuring it, as it were, with his foot. He considers, too, all the doings of the children of men, and requites them accordingly. Vulgate, Stetit, et mensus est terram. So the Syriac. On the other hand, the LXX. gives, Αστη καὶ ἐσαλέυθη ἡ γῆ , "The earth stood and quaked." Thus the Chaldee, and many modern commentators, "rocketh the earth." This rendering seems to anticipate what follows, and is not so suitable as the other, though it is quite admissible. Drove asunder. Dispersed and scattered. Septuagint, διετάκη ἔθνη , "nations melted away." Others translate, "made to tremble" ( Exodus 15:15 , etc.). The everlasting mountains. Mountains that have lasted as long as creation, and are emblems of stability and permanence ( Deuteronomy 33:15 ). Were scattered; or, were shattered (comp. Micah 1:4 ; Nahum 1:5 ). His ways are everlasting. This is best taken alone, not as connected grammatically with the preceding clause, and epexegetical of the "hills and mountains," which are called God's "ways," i.e. his chief creative acts, as Job 40:19 ; Proverbs 8:22 ; but it means that, as God acted of old, so he acts now; "The ancient ways of acting are his" ( Proverbs 31:27 ). "He reneweth his progresses of old time" (Delitzsch).

The eternal, unchangeable purpose and operation of God are contrasted with the disruption of "the everlasting hills." The Greek and Latin Versions connect the words with what precedes. Septuagint, Ἐτάκησαν βουνοὶ αἰώνιοι πορείας αἰωνίας , "The everlasting hills melted at his everlasting goings;" Vulgate, Incurvati sunt colles mundi ab itineribus aeternitatis ejus , where the idea seems to be that the high places of the earth are God's paths when he visits the world. Habakkuk 3:6

He stood - It is "a metaphor of his giving victory to Israel" Tanchum. And measured - So Kimchi, A. E., Rashi, Tanchum, Vulgate. It is borne out by Hithpolel. "extended himself," 1 Kings 17:21. By an interchange of dentals; מוד might be equals מוט, and so the Aramaic and the Septuagint but in no other case do the two forms co-exist in Hebrew. The earth - Joshua, after he had conquered the land, meted it out and divided it among the people. He who should come, should measure out the earth in its length and breadth, that earth which His glory filleth. "He stood," as Stephen saw Him, Acts 7:56, "standing at the right hand of God." Isaiah saith, Isaiah 3:13 : "The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people." He had not need to go forth, but, in the abode of His glory, "He stood" and beheld and with His eye "measured the earth," as His own, whereas, before the cross, it lay under 1 Corinthians 2:5, "the Prince of this world," and he had said, Luke 4:6, "it is delivered unto me, and unto whomsoever I will, I give it." "He measureth it," and gave it to His apostles. Mat 28:18; Mark 16:15 : "all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," and, Psalm 19:4, "their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words into the ends of the world." He measureth it also, surveying and weighing all who dwell therein, their persons, qualities, deeds, good or bad, to requite them, as "Judge of quick and dead;" as David cast down Moab and measured them with a line, 2 Samuel 8:2, "to put to death and to keep alive." He beheld, and drove asunder the nations - or, "made the nations to tremble." When Israel came out of Egypt and God divided the Red Sea before them, they sang: Exodus 15:15-16 "The people shall hear and be afraid; terror shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestine; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away; fear and dread shall fall on them; by the greatness of Thy power they shall be still as a stone." Fear and awe were to be renewed. All nearness of God brings terror to sinful man.