Habakkuk 3:6

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 ways are everlasting. HE STOOD, AND MEASURED THE EARTH. Yahweh, 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, proposes to translate [yªmodeed, from muwd (H4128), to agitate, whereas the English version makes it the Poel conjugation, from maadad (H4058), to measure], 'rocked the earth;' which answers to the parallel "drove asunder" - the Hebrew [rayateer, from naatar (H5425)] for which latter, however may be better translated, 'made to le...

He says that God possessed every power to subdue the earth to himself, and that he could at his will destroy it, yea, dissolve mountains as veil as nations. Some of the Jews understood this of the ark, which stood at that time in Gilead. They then suppose that the Prophet meant this in short—that when God chose a place for the ark of the covenant in Gilgal, that he determined then what he would do, and that he then in his secret counsel divided the land, so that each should have his portion by lot. This, it is true, was accomplished shortly after, for Joshua, as we know, divided it by lot between the tribes. But what the Jews affirm of the ark seems to me strained and frigid. Habakkuk, on the contrary, means by the word _stand_, that God was openly conspicuous, like him who assumes an erect posture, so that he is seen at a distance. In this sense we are to take the expression that God st...

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 delivera...

Verse 6. _HE STOOD, AND MEASURED THE EARTH_] ארץ _erets, the land_; he divided the promised land among the _twelve tribes_. This is the allusion; and this the prophet had in his eye. God not only made a _general assignment_ of the land to the Hebrews; but he even _divided_ it into _such portions_ as the different families required. Here were both _power_ and _condescension_. When a conqueror had subdued a country, he divided it among his soldiers. Among the Romans, those among whom the conquered lands were divided were termed _beneficiary_; and the lands _beneficia_, as being held on the beneficence of the sovereign. _HE BEHELD, AND DROVE ASUNDER THE NATIONS_] The nations of _Canaan_, the _Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites_, c., and all who opposed his people. Even his _look_ dispersed them. _THE EVERLASTING MOUNTAINS WERE SCATTERED_] Or, broken asunder

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 = 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,...

EXPOSITION HABAKKUK 3:1 Part II. PSALM OR PRAYER OF HABAKKUK. HABAKKUK 3:1 § 1. _The title._ A PRAYER. There is only one formal prayer in the ode, that in Habakkuk 3:2; but the term is used of any devotional composition; and, indeed, the whole poem may be regarded as the development of the precatory sentences in the proemium. (For other hymns in the prophetical books, see Isaiah 24:1, and...

HE STOOD AND MEASURED THE EARTH,.... This alludes to the ark of the Lord, the symbol of his presence, standing and abiding at Gilgal for the space of fourteen years, while the land of Canaan was subdued by Joshua; and then measured out by him, and divided by lot, as an inheritance to the children of Israel, according to the direction and appointment of the Lord, Joshua 13:1 c.: here it may have respect to the mission of the apostles into the various parts of the world, and the distribution of it among them some being sent into one part, and some into another, called their particular line and measure, 2 Corinthians 10:14 some into India, others into Ethiopia; some into Asia, and others into Europe; by which means the Gospel was preached everywhere, and great part of the world became Ch

CHAPTER 3 The Vision of the Coming of the Lord _ 1. The prophet's prayer (Habakkuk 3:1) _ 2. The coming of the Lord for judgment and redemption (Habakkuk 3:3) 3. The effect upon the prophet (Habakkuk 3:16) Habakkuk 3:1. Once more we hear the voice of the man of God in prayer. Shigionoth is the plural of Shiggaion, and is found in the superscription of Psalms 7:1. Its meaning is “loud crying.” The connection with the seventh Psalm is interesting. In that Psalm God appeared to David as the God of judgment, the right

HABAKKUK 3. THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK. Habakkuk 3:1. Shigionoth: probably plural of _shiggaion_ (Psalms 7:1, p. 373). But LXX reads _n e ginoth_, on the stringed instruments (_cf._ Psalms 4:1; Psalms 6:1, etc.). HABAKKUK 3:2. The poet has both heard of and seen Yahweh's doings in days gone by, and prays Him anew to reveal His saving power to His people. For _yarethi_, I was afraid, read _ra-' ithi_, I have seen (LXX), to be taken with the following words: thus, I have seen Thy work, O Lord. IN THE MIDST OF THE YEARS:...

MEASURED THE EARTH: or, caused the earth to tremble. So the Targum and the requirement of the "correspondence" with the next line. BEHELD. looked. DROVE ASUNDER THE NATIONS. caused the nations to shake, or start. SCATTERED. shattered. PERPETUAL. ancient, or primeval....