Vers. 3-15. Coming of the Lord to judge the nations and to redeem His people. ‘The description of this theophany rests throughout upon earlier lyrical descriptions of the revelations of God in the earlier times of Israel. Even the introduction (ver. 3) has its roots in the song of Moses in Deut. xxxiii. 2; and in the further course of the ode we meet with various echoes of different psalms (compare ver. 6 with Ps. xviii. 8; ver. 8 with Ps. xviii. 10; ver. 19 with Ps. xviii. 33, 34; also ver. 5 with Ps. Ixvili. 25; ver. 8 with Ps. lxviii. 5, 34). The points of contact in vers. 10-15 with Ps. Ixxvii. 17-21, are still more marked, and are of such a kind that Habakkuk evidently had the psalm in his mind, and not the writer of the psalm the hymn of the prophet, and that the prophet has reproduced in an original manner such features of the psalm as were adapted to his purpose. This is not only generally favoured by the fact that Habakkuk’s prayer is composed throughout after the poetry of the Psalms, but still more decidedly by the circumstance that Habakkuk depicts a coming redemption under figures borrowed from that of the past, to which the singer of this psalm looks back from his own mournful times, comforting himself with the picture of the miraculous deliverance of his people out of Egypt (see Hengstenberg and Delitzsch on Ps. Ixxvii.). For it is very evident that Habakkuk does not describe the mighty acts of the Lord in the olden time, in order to assign a‘ motive for his prayer for the deliverance of Israel out of the affliction of exile which awaits it in the future, as many of the earlier commentators supposed, but that he is predicting a future appearance of the Lord to judge the nations, from the simple fact that he places the future Ni2) (ver. 3) at the head of the whole description, so as to determine all that follows; whilst it is placed beyond the reach of doubt by the impossibility of interpreting the theophany historically, ce. as relating to an earlier manifestation of God.
Ver. 3. “ Eloah comes from Teman, and the Holy One from the mountains of Paran. Selah. His splendour covers the sky, and the earth is full of His glory. Ver. 4. And brightness appears like sunlight, rays are at His hand, and there His power is concealed. Ver. 5. Before Him goes the plague, and pestilence follows His feet.” As the Lord God once came down to His people at Sinai, when they had been redeemed out of Egypt, to establish the covenant of His grace with them, and make them into a kingdom of God, so ill He appear in the time to come in the terrible glory of His omnipotence, to liberate them from the bondage of the power of the world, and dash to pieces the wicked who seek to destroy the poor. The introduction to this description is closely connected with Deut. xxxili. 2. As Moses depicts the appearance of the Lord at Sinai as a light shining from Seir and Paran, so does Habakkuk also make the Holy One appear thence in His glory; but apart from other differences, he changes the preterite 82 (Jehovah came from Sinai) into the future Ni}, He will come, or comes, to indicate at the very outset that he is about to describe not a past, but a future revelation of the glory of the Lord. This he sees in the form of a theophany, which is fulfilled before his mental eye; hence 8i3) does not describe what is future, as being absolutely so, but is something progressively unfolding itself from the present onwards, which we should express by the present tense. The coming one is called Eloah (not Jehovah, as in Deut. xxxiil. 2, and the imitation in Judg. v. 4), a form of the name Elohim which only occurs in poetry in the earlier Hebrew writings, which we find for the first time in Deut. xxxii. 1), where it is used of God as the Creator of Israel, and which is also used here to designate God as the Lord and Governor of the whole world. Eloah, however, comes as the Holy One (qadosh), who cannot tolerate sin (ch. i. 13), and who will judge the world and destroy the sinners (vers. 12-14). As Eloah and Qddosh are names of one God; so “from Teman” and “from the mountain of Paran” are expressions denoting, not two starting-points, but simply two localities of one single starting-point for His appearance, like Seir and the mountains of Paran in Deut. xxxiii. 2. Instead of Seir, the poetical name of the mountainous country of the Edomites, Zeman, the southern district of the Edomitish land, is used per synecdochen for Idumza generally, as in Ob. 9 and Amos i. 12 (see vol. i, p. 248). The mountains of Paran are not the Et-Tih mountains, which bounded the desert of Paran towards the south, but the high mountain-land which formed the eastern half of that desert, and the northern portion of which is now called, after its present inhabitants, the mountains of the Azazimeh (see comm. on Num. x. 12). The two localities lie opposite to one another, and are only separated by the Arabah (or deep valley of the Ghor). We are not to understand the naming of these two, however, as suggesting the idea that God was coming from the Arabah, but, according to the original passage in Deut. xxxill. 2, as indicating that the splendour of the divine appearance spread over Teman and the mountains of Paran, so that the rays were reflected from the two mountainous regions. The word Selah does not form part of the subjectmatter of the text, but shows that the music strikes in here when the song is used in the temple, taking up the lofty thought that God is coming, and carrying it out in a manner befitting the majestic appearance, in the prospect of the speedy help of the Lord. The word probably signified elevatio, from salah = sdlal, and was intended to indicate the strengthening of the musical accompaniment, by the introduction, as is supposed, of a blast from the trumpets blown by the priests, corresponding therefore to the musical forte. (For further remarks, see Hivernick’s Introduction to the Old Testament, iii. p- 120 sqq., and Delitzsch on Ps. iii.) In ver. 30 the glory of the coming of God is depicted with reference to its extent, and in ver. 4 with reference to its intensive power. The whole creation is covered with its splendour. Heaven and earth reflect the glory of the coming one. {7in, His splendour or majesty, spreads over the whole heaven, and His glory over the earth. TJhalléh does not mean the praise of the earth, ¢.e. of its inhabitants, here (Chald., Ab. Ezr., Ros., and others); for there is no allusion to the manner in which the coming of God is received, and according to ver. 6 it fills the earth with trembling; but it denotes the object of the praise or fame, the glory, 9 dd£a, like hdédér in Job xl. 10, or kébhad in Isa, vi. 3, xlii. 8, and Num. xiv. 21. Grammatically considered, inban is the accusative governed by ANP, and }I81 is the subject.—Ver. 4, A splendour shines or arises like the light. man does not point back to inban, “splendour like the sun will His glory be” (Hitzig); but it is the predicate to nogah in the sense of to become, or to arise. N87 is the light of the sun. Like this light, or like the rising sun, when the Lord comes, there arises (spreads) a brilliant light, from which the rays emanate on its two sides. O29), according to MP in Ex. xxxiv. 29, 30, is to be taken in the sense of rays; and this meaning has developed itself from a comparison of the first rays of the rising sun, which shoot out above the horizon, to the horns or antlers of the gazelle, which is met with in the Arabian poets. i, from His hand, i.e. since the hand is by the side, “at His side” (after the analogy of i) and ioNDwD), and indeed “ His hand” in a general sense, as signifying the hand generally, and not one single hand, equivalent therefore to “on both sides” (Delitzsch). As the disc of the sun is surrounded by a splendid radiance, so the coming of God is enclosed by rays on both sides. {9 refers to God. “Such a radiant splendour (0°27?) surrounding God is presupposed when it is affirmed of Moses, that on coming from the presence of Jehovah his face was radiant, or emitted rays” (np, Ex. xxxiv. 29, 30). This interpretation of the words is established beyond all doubt, not only by the 12)" of the original passage in Deut. xxxiil. 2, but also by the expressions which follow in ver. 5, viz. "25? (before him) and vom (behind him); and consequently the interpretation “rays (emanating) from His hand are to Him,” with the idea that we are to think of flashes of lightning darting out of God’s hand (Schnur., Ros., Hitzig, Maurer, etc.), is proved to be untenable. According to Hebrew notions, flashes of lightning do not proceed from the hand of God (in Ps. xviii. 9, which has been appealed to in support of this explanation, we have 131); and O°? does not occur either in Arabic or the later Hebrew in the sense of flashes of lightning, but only in the sense of the sun’s rays. Mty }N DY, and there—namely, in the sunlike splendour, with the rays emanating from it—is the hiding of ‘His omnipotence, ae. the place where His omnipotence hides itself; in actual fact, the splendour forms the covering of the Almighty God at His coming, the manifestation of the essentially invisible God. The cloudy darkness is generally represented as the covering of the glory of God (Ex. xx. 21; 1 Kings viii. 12), not merely when His coming is depicted under the earthly substratum of a storm (Ps. xvii. 12, 13), but also when God was manifested in the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. xiii. 21) on the journey of the Israelites through the desert, where it was only by night that the cloud had the appearance of fire (Num. ix. 15,16). Here, on the contrary, the idea of the splendour of the rising sun predominates, according to which light is the garment in which God clothes Himself (Ps. civ. 2, cf. 1 Tim. vi. 16), answering to His coming as the Holy One (ver. 3). For the sun-light, in its self-illumining splendour, is the most suitable earthly element to serve as a symbol of the spotless purity of the Holy One, in whom there is no variation of light and darkness (Jas. i. 17; see at Ex. xix. 6). The alteration of DM” into B%& (he provides or contrives the concealment of His power), which Hitzig proposes after the LX X. (Aq., Symm., and Syr.), must be rejected, inasmuch as in that case the object, which he makes into the covering (cf. Ps. xviii. 12), could not be omitted; and this thought is by no means suitable here, and has merely been brought into the text on the assumption that God appears in astorm. As the Holy One, God comes to judgment upon the unholy world (ver. 5). Before Him goes debher, plague, and after His feet, 2.e. behind Him, resheph, lit. burning heat, or a blaze (Song of Sol. viii. 6), here the burning heat of the pestilence, fever-heat, as in Deut. xxxii. 24. Plague and pestilence, as proceeding from God, are personified and represented as satellites; the former going before Him, as it were, as a shieldbearer (1 Sam. xvii. 7), or courier (2 Sam. xv. 1); the latter coming after Him as a servant (1 Sam. xxv. 42). This verse prepares the way for the description, which commences with ver. 6, of the impression produced by the coming of God upon the world and its inhabitants.
Ver. 6. “ He stands, and sets the earth reeling: He looks, and makes nations tremble; primeval mountains burst in pieces, the early hills sink down: His are ways of the olden time. Ver. 7. I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction: the curtains of the land of Midian tremble.” God coming from afar has now drawn near and taken His stand, to smite the nations as a warlike hero (cf. vers. 8, 9, and 11, 12). This is affirmed in 72¥, He has stationed Himself, not “ He steps forth or appears.” This standing of Jehovah throws the earth and the nations into trembling. 12” cannot mean to measure here, for there is no thought of any measuring of the earth, and it cannot be shown that mddad is used in the sense of measuring with the eye (Ros. and Hitzig). Moreover, the choice of the joel, instead of the pied, would still remain unexplained, and the parallelism of the clauses would be disregarded. We must therefore follow the Chaldee, Ges., Delitzsch, and others, who take 73 as the poel of T=, to set in a reeling motion. It is only with this interpretation that the two parallel clauses correspond, in which 15}, the hiphil of 103, to cause to shake or tremble, answers to 77%, This explanation is also required by what follows. For just as ver. 7 unquestionably gives a further expansion of D3 1M}, so does peiy... WYBN contain the explanation of POS TIh», The everlasting hills crumble QsyBn" from 7B), de. burst and resolve themselves into dust, and the hills sink down, pass away, and vanish (compare the similar description in Nahum i. 5 and Mic. 1. 4). WNT (=d7P 0, Deut. xxxiit. 15) in parallelism with poiy niy2a are the primeval mountains, as being the oldest and firmest constituents of the globe, which have existed from the beginning (7 °2, Job xx. 4), and were formed at the creation of the earth (Ps. xc. 2; Job xv. 7;
Prov. viii. 25). 9 pdiy nindn is not to be taken relatively, and connected with what precedes, “ which are the old paths,” according to which the hills of God are called everlasting ways (Hitzig); because this does not yield a sense in harmony with the context. It is a substantive clause, and to be taken by itself: everlasting courses or goings are to Him, i.e. He now goes along, as He went along in the olden time. navon, the going, advancing, or ways of God, analogous to the nbiy 77, the course of the primitive world (Job xxii. 15). The prophet had Ps. Ixviii. 25 floating before his mind, in which halikhoth ’élohim denote the goings of God with His people, or the ways which God had taken from time immemorial in His guidance of them. As He once came down upon Sinai in the cloudy darkness, the thunder, lightning, and fire, to raise Israel up to be His covenant nation, so that the mountains shook (cf. Judg. v. 5); so do the mountains and hills tremble and melt away at His coming now. And as He once went before His people, and the tidings of His wondrous acts at the Red Sea threw the neighbouring nations into fear and despair (Ex. xv. 14-16); so now, when the course of God moves from Teman to the Red Sea, the nations on both sides of it are filled with terror. Of these, two are individualized in ver. 7, viz. Cushan and Midian. By Cushan we are not to understand the Mesopotamian king named Cushan Rishathaim, who subjugated Israel for eight years after the death of Joshua (Judg. iii. 8 sqq.); for this neither agrees with OMY, nor with the introduction of Midian in the parallel clause. The word is a lengthened form for Cush, and the name of the African Ethiopians. The Midianites are mentioned along with them, as being inhabitants of the Arabian coast of the Red Sea, which was opposite to them (see at Ex. 11.15). '3 ‘OT, the tents with their inhabitants, the latter being principally intended. The same remark applies to Niv™, lit. the tent-curtains of the land of Midian, i.e. of the tents pitched in the land of Midian.
To the impression produced upon the nations by the coming of the Lord to judge the world, there is now appended in vers. 8 sqq. a description of the execution of the judgment. Ver. 8. “ Was it against rivers, O Jehovah, against the rivers that Thy wrath was kindled? that Thou ridest hither upon Thy horses, Thy chariots of salvation. Ver. 9. Thy bow lays itself bare; rods are sworn by word. Selah. Thou splittest the earth into rivers.” ‘The ode, taking a new turn, now passes from the description of the coming of God, to an address to God Himself. To the mental eye of the prophet, God presents Himself - as Judge of the world, in the threatening attitude of a warlike hero equipped for conflict, so that he asks Him what is the object of His wrath. The question is merely a poetical turn given to a lively composition, which expects no answer, and is simply introduced to set forth the greatness of the wrath of God, so that in substance it is an affirmation. The wrath of God is kindled over the rivers, His fury over the sea. The first clause of the question is imperfect; Jehovah is not the subject, but a vocative, or an appeal, since chdréh, when predicated of God, is construed with b. The subject follows in the double clause, into which the question divides itself, in 758 and 72¥. Here the indefinite 0732 is defined by 0723. Hann‘hdrim, the rivers, are not any particular rivers, such as the arms of the Nile in Lower Egypt, or the rivers of Ethiopia, the Nile and Astaboras, the nahdré Khash (Isa. xviii. 1; Zeph. ill. 10: see Delitzsch), but the rivers of the earth generally; and “the sea” (hayydm) is not the Red Sea, but the world-sea, as in Nahum i. 4 (cf. Ps. Ixxxix. 10, Job xxxvill. 8). It is true that this description rests upon the two facts of the miraculous dividing of the Red Sea and of the Jordan (Ex. xv. 18; Ps. exiv. 3, 5); but it rises far above these to a description of God as the Judge of the world, who can smite in His wrath not only the sea of the world, but all the rivers of the earth, ay is stronger than 48, the wrath which passes over, or breaks through every barrier. Az, quod, explaining and assigning the reason for the previous question. The riding upon horses is not actual riding, but driving in chariots with horses harnessed to them, as the explanatory words “thy chariots” (702370) clearly shows, and as rdkhabh (to ride) always signifies when predicated of God (cf. Deut. xxxili. 26, Ps. Ixvili. 84, civ. 3). Y°%sha'dh is governed by mark*bhothekhd, with the freedom of construction allowed in poetry, as in 2 Sam. xxii. 33, Ps. Ixxi. 7, whereas in prose the noun is generally repeated in the construct state (vid. Gen. xxxvil. 23, and Ewald, § 291,0). Y°sha‘dh signifies salvation, even in this case, and not victory,—a meaning which it never has, and which is all the more inapplicable here, because y’sha‘dh is interpreted in ver. 13 by Yer, By describing the chariots of God as chariots of salvation, the prophet points at the outset to the fact, that the riding of God has for its object the salvation or deliverance of His people-—Ver. 9. God has already made bare the bow, to shoot His arrows at the foe. ivA, third pers. imperf. niph. of y, equivalent to 72¥ (Isa. xxxii. 11), and the more usual 77Y, to be naked. To strengthen the thought, the noun MY is written before the verb instead of the inf. abs. (et. Mic. i. 11). The bow is made bare, not by the shooting of the arrows, but by its covering (ywputos, corytus) being removed, in order to use it asa weapon. The reference is to the bow used in war, which God carries as a warrior; so that we are not to think of the rainbow, even if the chariots might be understood as signifying the clouds, as in Isa. xix. 1 and Ps. civ. 3, since the rainbow is a sign of peace and of the covenant, whereas God is represented as attacking His enemies. The sieet clause, Wok nivi niyay, is very Bait, and has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Of the two meanings which may be given to mattdth, viz. branches, rods, or staffs, and tribes of the people of Israel, the latter can hardly be thought of here, since matidth would certainly have been defined by either a suffix or some determining clause, if the tribes of Israel were intended. On the other hand, the meaning staffs or sticks is very naturally suggested both by the context—viz. the allusion to the war-bow—and also by ver. 14, where mattim unquestionably signifies staves or lances. At the same time, the meaning spears or darts cannot be deduced from either ver. 14 or 2 Sam. xviil. 14. In both passages the meaning staves, used as lances or weapons, is quite sufficient. Matteh, a stick or staff with which blows were struck, might stand, as an instrument of chastisement, for the punishment or chastisement itself (cf. Isa. ix. 8, x. 5), and in Mic. vi. 9 it denotes the rod. niyav may be sither the plural. construct of 332¥, the seventh, the heptad, or the plural of 4Y33¥, an oath, or the passive participle of YY, to be sworn, like miyawy syav in Ezek. xxi. 28. There is no material difference in the meaning obtained from the last two; and the view we take of the eaned 728 must decide bates them and the first explanation. This word, which is peculiar to poetry, denotes a discourse or a word, and in Job xxii. 28 the affair, or the occasion, like 12". Here, at any rate, it signifies the address or word of God, as in Ps. Ixvili. 12, Ixxvii. 9, and is either a genitive dependent upon mattoth or an adverbial accusative. The Masoretic pointing, according to which mattdth is separated from ’omer by tiphchah, and the latter joined to selah by munach, is connected with the evidently false rabbinical rendering of selah as eternity (in sempiternum), and being decidedly erroneous, cannot be taken into consideration at all. But the interpretation of Miy2v as the seventh, does not suit either of these two possible views of "omer. We therefore prefer the second meaning, chastising rods or chastisements. 2, however, cannot be a genitive dependent upon mattoth; since chastisements of Oe would hardly stand for chastisements which God had spoken, but, according to the analogy of 3 bay in Isa. xi. 4, would point to chastisements consisting in words, and this does not agree with the present train of thought. ’Omer is rather an adverbial accusative, and belongs to Niyav, indicating the instrument or media employed in ee swearing: sworn with the word or through the word, like 7275 in ‘Ps. xvii. 13 (for the use of the accusative to ‘dgeersbe the substance or the instrumental medium of an action, see Ewald, § 282, c). Hence niya’ cannot be a noun, but must be a passive participle, sworn. The expression, “ chastising rods (chastisements) are sworn through the word,” points to the solemn oath with which God promised in Deut. xxxii. 40-42 to take vengeance upon His enemies, and avenge the blood of His servants: “For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, As I live for ever, when I have sharpened my glittering sword, and my hand grasps for judgment, I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, and repay them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will eat flesh; from the blood of the slain and the captives, from the hairy head of the enemy.” That Habakkuk had in his mind this promise of the vengeance of God upon His enemies, which is strengthened by a solemn oath, is unmistakeably evident, if we compare 720 P12 in ver. 11 with ‘290 pla in Deut. xxxii. 41, and observe the allusion in yw man wx and 4B WN in vers. 13 and 14 to DS Nniynp wx in Deut. xxxii. 42, From this promise the words of the prophet, which are so enigmatical in themselves, obtain the requisite light to render them intelligible. Gesenius (Thes. p. 877) has explained the prophet’s words in a similar manner, jurejurando firmate sunt castigationes promisse (the threatened rods, 2.e. chastisements, are sworn), even without noticing the allusion to Deut. xxxil. 40 sqq. upon which these words are founded. Delitzsch was the first to call attention to the allusion to Deut. xxxii. 40 sqq-; but in his explanation, “the darts are sworn through his ° word of power (jurejurando adstricta sunt tela verbo tuo),” the swearing is taken in a sense which is foreign to Deuteronomy, and therefore conceals the connection with the original passage. Of the other explanations not one can be vindicated. The rabbinical view which we find in the Vulgate, juramenta tribubus que locutus es, is overthrown by the fact that nivaw without a preposition cannot mean per, or ob, or juata juramenta, as we should have to render it, and as Luther actually has rendered it in his version (“as Thou hadst sworn to the tribes”). Ewald’s rendering, “ sevenfold darts of the word,” is precluded by the combination of ideas, “darts of the word,” which is quite foreign to the context. According to our explanation, the passage does indeed form simply a parenthesis in the description of the judicial interposition of God, but it contains a very fitting thought, through which the description gains in emphasis.._ In the last clause of the verse the description is continued in the manner already begun, and the effect indicated, which is produced upon the world of nature by the judicial interposition of God: “Thou splittest the earth into rivers.” YP3 is construed with a double accusative, as in Zech. xiv. 4. This may be understood either as signifying that the earth trembles at the wrath of the Judge, and rents arise in consequence, through which rivers of water burst forth from the deep, or so that at the quaking of the earth the sea pours its waves over the land and splits it into rivers. The following verses point to an earthquake through which the form of the earth’s surface is changed.
Ver. 10. “ The mountains see Thee, they writhe: a shower of waters passes along: the abyss lifts up its voice, tt lifts up its hands on high. Ver. 11. Sun, moon, enter into their habitation at the light of Thine arrows which shoot by, at the shining of the lightning of Thy spear.” The effect of the coming of God upon the mountains was already referred to in ver. 6. There they crumbled into ruins, here they writhe with terror. This difference is to be explained from the fact that there (ver. 6) the general effect of the omnipotence of God upon nature was intended, whereas here (vers. 10, 11) the special effect is described, which is produced upon nature by the judgment about to be executed by God upon the nations. The perfects in the description represent this effect as following immediately upon the coming of God. But in the first clause of ver. 10 the perfect 787 is followed by the imperfect mM, because the writhing is a lasting condition. The force of the description is heightened by the omission of the copula before the clauses and the particular objects. The two verbs of the first clause stand in the relation of cause and effect to one another: when the mountains have seen Thee, they writhe with terror. The further description is not founded upon the idea of a terrible storm; for there is no reference to thunder, nor even to lightnings, but only to the arrows (ver. 11), which may be explained from the idea of God, as a warlike hero, making bare His bow. The colours and different features of the description are borrowed from the judgment of the flood. Ver. 10 (a and 6) points to this divine judgment of the olden time, both the coming of the showers of water (geshem as in Gen. vii. 12 and viii. 2, and strengthened by mayim, analogous to hammabbal hayéh mayim in Gen. vii. 6; ‘abhar as in Nah. ili. 19, Ps. xlviii. 5), and also the nathan t‘hom qold, the raging outburst of the abyss. Zhom is the mass of water in the abyss, not merely that of the ocean, but that of the subterranean waters also (Gen. xlix. 25; Deut. xxxili. 13), the “ oreat deep” (#’hom rabbah), whose fountains were broken up at the flood (Gen. vii. 11); and not the ocean of heaven, as Hitzig erroneously infers from Gen. vii. 11, viii. 2, and Prov. viii. 27. To this mass of water, which is called ¢’hom from its roaring depth, the prophet attributes a voice, which it utters, to express the loud, mighty roaring of the waters as they rush forth from the bursting earth. As at the time of the flood, which was a type of the last judgment (Isa. xxiv. 18), the windows of heaven and the fountains of the deep were opened, so that the upper and lower waters, which are divided by the firmament, rushed together again, and the earth returned, as it were, to its condition before the second day of creation; so here also the rivers of earth and rain-showers of heaven come together, so that the abyss roars up with a loud noise (Delitzsch). This roaring outburst of the mass of waters from the heart of the earth is then represented as a lifting up of the hands to heaven, with reference to the fact that the waves are thrown up. Rom = rim (Prov. xxv. 3, xxi. 4) is an accusative of direction, like mdrom in 2 Kings xix. 22. 3}, for "'R, a full-sounding and more extended form, possibly to express by the rhythm the greatness of the prodigy, how magna vt brachit tollunt (Delitzsch). The lifting up of the hands is not a gesture denoting either an oath or rebellion; but it is an involuntary utterance of terror, of restlessness, of anguish, as it were, with a prayer for help (Delitzsch)—Ver. 11. The chaotic condition into which the earth has been brought is heightened by the darkness in which the heaven clothes itself. Sun and moon, which give light to day and night, have put themselves, or entered, into their habitation. vat with 7 local, a dwellingplace, is, according to oriental view, the place from which the stars come out when they rise, and to which they return when they set. Nevertheless it is not actual setting that is spoken of here, but simply their obscuration, which is not the effect of heavy clouds that pour out their water in showers of rain, but is caused by the shining of the arrows of God (3 in TiN? and m3 denoting the outward cause or occasion). It is not, however, that they “turn pale in consequence of the surpassing brilliancy of the lightnings” (Ewald), but that they “ withdraw altogether, from the fear and horror which pervade all nature, and which are expressed in the mountains by trembling, in the waters by roaring, and in the sun and moon by obscuration” (Delitzsch). The idea that this verse refers to the standing still of the sun and moon at the believing word of Joshua (Josh. x. 12 sqq.), in which nearly all the earlier commentators agreed, is quite untenable, inasmuch as mprat 2Y cannot mean to stand still in the sky. The arrows and spear (chanith) of God are not lightnings, as in Ps. Ixxvii. 18, 19, xviii. 15, etc., because this theophany is not founded upon the idea of a storm, but the darts with which God as a warrior smites down His foes, as the instruments and effects of the wrath of God. A brilliant splendour is attributed to them, because they emanate from Him whose coming, like the sunlight, pours out its rays on both sides (ver. 4). 2 Pla has the same meaning here as in Nah. iii. 8: the flashing, because naked and sharpened, spear. And just as we cannot understand the “ bright sword” of Nah. iii. 3 as signifying flashes of lightning, so here we cannot take the arrows as lightnings. 32pm is to be taken relatively, “which pass along, or shoot by.”
In ver. 12 there follows a description of the judgment upon the nations for the rescue of the people of God. Ver. 12. “Jn fury Thou walkest through the earth, in wrath Thou stampest down nations. Ver. 13. Thou goest out to the rescue of Thy people, to the rescue of Thine anointed one; Thou dashest in preces the head from the house of the wicked one, laying bare the foundation even to the neck. Selah. Ver. 14. Thou piercest with his spears the head of his hordes, which- storm hither to beat me to powder, whose rejoicing is, as tt were, to swallow the poor in secret. Ver. 15. Thou treadest upon the sea: Thy horses, upon the heap of great waters.” 'The Lord, at whose coming in the terrible glory of the majesty of the Judge of the world all nature trembles and appears to fall into its primary chaotic state, marches over the earth, and stamps or tramples down the nations with His feet (compare the kindred figure of the treader of the winepress in Isa. ]xiii. 1-6). Not all nations, however, but only those that are hostile to Him; for He has come forth to save His people and His anointed one. The perfects in vers. 13-15 are prophetic, describing the future in spirit as having already occurred. 3, referring to the going out of God to fight for His people, as in Judg. v. 4, 2 Sam. v. 24, Isa. xlii. 13, etc. ye, rescue, salvation, is construed the second time with an accusative like an inf. constr. (see Ewald, § 239, a). The anointed of God. is not the chosen, consecrated nation (Schnur., Ros., Hitzig, Ewald, etc.); for the nation of Israel is never called the anointed one (hammdshiach) by virtue of its calling to be “a kingdom of priests” (mamlekheth kohdnim, Ex. xix. 6), neither in Ps. xxviii. 8 nor in Ps. Ixxxiv. 10, Ixxxix. 89. Even in Ps. cv. 15 it is not the Israelites who are called by God “my anointed” (meshichar), but the patriarchs, as princes consecrated by God (Gen. xxiii. 6). And so here also Ji) is the divinely-anointed king of Israel; not, however, this or that historical king—say Josiah, Jehoiakim, or even Jehoiachin—but the Davidic king absolutely, including the Messiah, in whom the sovereignty of David is raised to an eternal duration, “just as by the Chaldean king here and in ch. ii. we must understand the Chaldean kings generally” (Delitzsch), since the prophecy spreads from the judgment upon the Chaldeans to the universal judgment upon the nations, and the Chaldean is merely introduced as the possessor of the imperial power. The Messiah as the Son of David is distinguished from Jehovah, and as such is the object of divine help, just as in Zech. ix. 9, where He is called Yvi3 in this respect, and in the royal Messianic psalms. This help God bestows upon His people and His anointed, by dashing in pieces the head from the house of the wicked one. The rasha (wicked one) is the Chaldean, not the nation, however, which is spoken of for the first time in ver. 14, but the Chaldean king, as chief of the imperial power which is hostile to the kingdom of God. But, as the following clause clearly shows, the house is the house in the literal sense, so that the “ head,” as part of the house, is the gable. A distinction is drawn between this and y’sdd, the foundation, and 1N¥, the neck, 7. the central part looking from the gable downwards. The destruction takes place both from above and below at once, so that the gable and the foundation are dashed in pieces with one blow, and that even to the neck, @.e. up to the point at which the roof or gable rests upon the walls. ‘IY, inclusive, embracing the part mentioned as the boundary; not exclusive, so as to leave the walls still rising up asruins. The description is allegorical, the house representing the Chaldzan dynasty, the royal family including the king, but not “ including the exalted Chaldzan kingdom in all its prosperity” (Hitzig). mY, a rare form of the inf. abs., like nin’ in Isa. xxii. 13 (cf. Ewald, § 240, 8), from MY, to make bare, to destroy from the very foundation, the infinitive in the sense of the gerund describing the mode of the action. The warlike nation meets with the same fate as the royal house (ver. 14). The meaning of the first clause of tlie verse depends upon the explanation to be given to the word p’rdézdv. There is no foundation for the meaning leaders or judges, which has been claimed for the word p%rdzim ever since the time of Schreeder and Schnur. In Hebrew usage pvrazi signifies the inhabitant of the plain (Deut. iii. 5; 1 Sam. vi. 18), and p*rdzoth the plains, the open flat land, as distinguished from walled cities (Ezek. xxxviii.11). P*rdzon has the same meaning in Judg. v. 7 and 11. Consequently Delitzsch derives p’rdzdv from a segholate noun perez or pérez, in the sense of the population settled upon the open country, the villagers and peasantry, whence the more general signification of a crowd or multitude of people, and here, since the context points to warriors, the meaning hordes, or hostile companies, which agrees with the Targum, Rashi, and Kimchi, who explain the word as signifying warriors or warlike troops. wash, the head of his hordes, cannot be the leader, partly because of what follows, “ who come storming on,” which presupposes that not the leader only, but the hordes or warriors, will be destroyed, and partly also because of the preceding verse, in which the destruction of the king is pronounced, and also because the distinction between the king and the leader of the army is at variance with the complex character of the prophetic description. We must take ws> in the literal sense, but collectively, “heads.” The prophet was led to the unusual figure of the piercing of the head by the reminiscence of the piercing of Sisera’s head by Jael (Judg. v. 26). The suffixes in 182 and mB refer back to WW, 8,'sticks, for lances or spears, after 2 Sam. xviii. 14. The meaning of the words is this: with the spear of the king Ged pierces the heads of his warlike troops; and the thought expressed is, that the hostile troops will slay one another in consequence of the confusion, as was the case in the wars described in 1 Sam. xiv. 20 and 2 Chron. xx. 23, 24, and as, according to prophecy, the last hostile power of the world is to meet with its ruin when it shall attack the kingdom of God (Ezek. xxxviii. 21; Zech. xiv. 13). ‘pnd YD" is to be taken relatively: “which storm hither (sd‘ar, approach with the swiftness and violence of a storm) to destroy me.” The prophet includes himself along with the nation, and uses hephits with reference to the figure of the dispersion or powdering of the chaff by a stormy wind (Isa. xli. 16; Jer. xiii. 24, xviii. 17). pnyoy forms a substantive clause by itself: “ their rejoicing is,” for they who rejoice, as if to swallow, i.c. whose rejoicing is directed to this, to swallow the poor in secret. The enemies are compared to highway murderers, who lurk in dark corners for the defenceless traveller, and look forward with rejoicing for the moment when they may be able to murder him.
2y forms the antithesis to ¥¥. Inasmuch as “the wicked” denotes the Chaldean; “the poor” is the nation of Israel, ze. the congregation of the righteous, who are really the people of God. To devour the poor, iz. to take violent possession of his life and all that he has (cf. Prov. xxx. 14, and for the fact itself, Ps. x. 8-10), is, when applied to a nation, to destroy it ' (vid. Deut. vii. 16 and Jer. x. 25).
In order that these enemies may be utterly destroyed, God passes through the sea. This thought in ver. 15 connects the conclusion of the description of the judicial coming of God with what precedes. The drapery of the thought rests upon the fact of the destruction of Pharaoh and his horsemen in the Red Sea (Ex. xiv.). The sea, the heap of many waters, is not a figurative expression for the army of the enemy, but is to be taken literally. This is required by 092 AI, since 74 with 2, to tread upon a place, or enter into it (cf. Mic. v. 4, Isa. lix. 8, Deut. xi. 24, 25), does not suit the figurative interpretation; and it is required still more by the parallel passages, viz. Ps. Ixxvii. 20 (1277 093), which floated before the prophet’s mind, and Zech. x. 11. Just as God went through the Red Sea in the olden time to lead Israel through, and to destroy the Egyptian army, so will He in the future go through the sea and do the same, when He goes forth to rescue His people out of the power of the Chaldean. The prophet does not express the latter indeed, but it is implied in what he says. DiD is an accusative, not instrumenti, however, but of more precise definition: thou, namely, according to thy horses; for “ with thy horses,” as in Ps, Ixxxiii. 19, xliv. 3 (7 THN); cf. Ewald, § 281, c, and 293, c. The horses are to be taken, as in ver. 8, as harnessed to the chariots; and they are mentioned here with reference to the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, which were destroyed by Jehovah in the sea. Chomer, in the sense of heap, as in Ex. viii. 10, is not an accusative, but is still dependent upon the 3 of the parallel clause. The expression “heap of many waters” serves simply to fill up the picture, as in Ps. Ixxvi. 20.
Vers. 16-19 form the second part of the psalm, in which the prophet describes the feelings that are produced within himself by the coming of the Lord to judge the nations, and to rescue His own people; viz. first of all, fear and trembling at the tribulation (vers. 16, 17); then exulting joy, in his confident trust in the God of salvation (vers. 18,19). Ver. 16. “ T heard tt, then my belly trembled, at the sound my lips yelled; rottenness forces rtself into my bones, and I tremble under myself, that I am to wait quietly for the day of tribulation, when he that attacketh it approacheth the nation. Ver. 17. For the fig-tree will not blossom, and there is no yield on the vines; the produce of the olive-tree disappoints, and the corn-fields bear no food; the flock is away from the fold, and no ox in the stalls.” ‘RYDY is not connected with the theophany depicted in vers. 8-15, since this was not an audible phenomenon, but was an object of inward vision, “ a spectacle which presented itself to the eye.” “ T heard” corresponds to “ I have heard” in ver. 2, and, like the latter, refers to the report heard from God of the approaching judgment. This address goes back to its starting-point, to explain the impression which it made upon the prophet, and to develop still how he “ was afraid.” The alarm pervades his whole body, belly, and bones, z.e. the softer and firmer component parts of the body; lips and feet, ze. the upper and lower organs of the body. ‘The lips cried l’gol, at the voice, the sound of God, which the prophet heard. Tsdlal is used elsewhere only of the ringing of the ears (1 Sam. ii. 11; 2 Kings xxi. 12; Jer. xix. 3); but here it is applied to the chattering sound produced by the lips, when they smite one | another before crying out, not to the chattering of the teeth. Into the bones there penetrates rdqabh, rottenness, inward consumption of the bones, as an effect of alarm or pain, which paralyzes all the powers, and takes away all firmness from the body (cf. Prov. xii. 4, xiv. 30). Tachtai, under me, t.e. in my lower members, knees, feet: not as in Ex. xvi. 29, 2 Sam. ii. 23, on the spot where I stand (cf. Ewald, § 217, %). Max Ws might mean, “ I who was to rest;” but it is more appropriate to take ’dsher as a relative conjunction, “ that I,” since the clause explains the great fear that had fallen upon him. “WN is used in a similar way, viz. as a conjunction with the verb in the first person, in Ezek. xxix. 29. Nadch, to rest, not to rest in the grave (Luther and others), nor to bear quietly or endure (Ges., Maurer), but to wait quietly or silently. For it could hardly occasion such consuming pain to a God-fearing man as that which the prophet experienced, to bear misfortune quietly, VOL. II. H when it has already come, and cannot be averted; but it might be to wait quietly and silently, in constant anticipation. Tsdrah, the trouble which the Chaldeans bring upon Judah. ninyd is not subordinate to ™¥ pir? but co-ordinate with it, and is still dependent upon M28; and wT, as a relative clause (who oppresses it), is the subject to mipye: “that I am to wait quietly for him that attacketh to approach my nation.” For if nioy> were dependent upon Dir, it would be necessary to supply oi as the subject: “ when it (the day) comes.” But this is precluded by the fact that ney is not used for the approach or breaking of day. py>, to the people, dativ. incomm., is practically equivalent to DY -Y, against the people. OY, used absolutely, as in Isa. xxvi. 11, xlii. 6, is the nation of Israel. Gad, as in Gen. xlix. 19, 20, i.e. gadad, to press upon a person, to attack him, or crowd together against him (cf. Ps. xciv. 21). In ver. 17 the trouble of this day is described; and the sensation of pain, in the anticipation of the period of calamity, is thereby still further accounted for. The plantations and fields yield no produce. Folds and stalls are empty in consequence of the devastation of the land by the hostile troops and their depredations: “a prophetic picture of the devastation of the holy land by the Chaldean war” (Delitzsch). Fig-tree and vine are mentioned as the noblest fruit-trees of the land, as is frequently the case (see Joel i. 7; Hos. ii. 14; Mic. iv. 4). To this there is added the olive-tree, as in Mic. vi. 15, Deut. vi. 11, viii. 8, ete. Ma‘aséh zayith is not the shoot, but the produce or fruit of the olive-tree, after the phrase 2 MWY, to bear fruit. Kichésh, to disappoint, namely the expectation of produce, as in Hos, ix. 2. Sh'démoth, which only occurs in the plural, corn-fields, is construed here as in Isa. xvi. 8, with the verb in the singular, because, so far as the sense was concerned, it had become almost equivalent to sddeh, the field (see Ewald, § 318, a). Gazar, to cut off, used here in a neuter sense: to be cut off or absent. 72319, contracted from ANPDD: fold, pen, an enclosed place for sheep. epheth, dar. Ney., the rack, then the stable or stall.
Although trembling on account of the approaching trouble, the prophet will nevertheless exult in the prospect of the salvation that he foresees. Ver.18. “ But J, in Jehovah will I rejoice, will shout in the God of my salvation. Ver. 19. Jehovah the
Lord ts my strength, and makes my feet like the hinds, and causes me to walk along upon my high places.” The turning-point is introduced with *28), as is frequently the case in the Psalms. For this exaltation out of the sufferings of this life to believing joy in God, compare Ps. v. 8, xiii. 6, xxxi. 15, ete. PY, a softened form of }2¥, to rejoice in God (cfs Psivi12),.t¢.980 that God is the inexhaustible source and infinite sphere of the joy, because He is the God of salvation, and rises up to judgment upon the nations, to procure the salvation of His people (ver. 13). Elohé yisht (the God of my salvation), as in Ps. xvill. 47, xxv. 5 (see at Mic. vii. 7). The thoughts of the 19th verse are also formed from reminiscences of Ps. xvili.: the first clause, “ the Lord is my strength,” from ver. 33. “God, who girdeth me with strength,” ae. the Lord gives me strength to overcome all tribulation (cf. Ps. xxvii. 1 and 2 Cor. xii. 9). The next two clauses are from Ps. xviii. 34, “ He maketh my feet like hinds’,” according to the contracted simile common in Hebrew for “ hinds’ feet;” and the reference is to the swiftness of foot, which was one of the qualifications of a thorough man of war (2 Sam. i. 23; 1 Chron. xii. 8), so as to enable him to make a sudden attack upon the enemy, and pursue him vigorously. Here it is a figurative expression for the fresh and joyous strength acquired in God, which Isaiah calls rising up with eagles’ wings (Isa. xl. 29-31). Causing to walk upon the high places of the land, was originally a figure denoting the victorious possession and government of a land. It is so in Deut. xxxii. 13 and xxxiil. 29, from which David has taken the figure in Ps. xyiii., though he has.altered the high places of the earth into “ my high places” (bdmdthat). They were the high places upon which the Lord had placed him, by giving him the victory over his enemies. And Habakkuk uses the figurative expression in the same sense, with the simple change of *27 12)" into "2377 after Deut. xxxili. 29, to substitute for the bestowment of victory the maintenance of victory corresponding to the blessing of Moses. We have therefore to understand bamothat neither as signifying the high places of the enemy, nor the high places at home, nor high places generally. The figure must be taken as a whole; and according to this, it simply denotes the ultimate triumph of the people of God over all oppression on the part of the power of the world, altogether apart from the local standing which the kingdom of God will have upon the earth, either by the side of or in antagonism to the kingdom of the world. The prophet prays and speaks throughout the entire ode in the name of the believing congregation. His pain is their pain; his joy their joy. Accordingly he closes his ode by appropriating to himself and all believers the promise which the Lord has given to His people and to David His anointed servant, to express the confident assurance that the God of salvation will keep it, and fulfil it in the approaching attack on the part of the power of the world upon the nation which has been refined by the judgment.
The last words, °n\2133 ny, do not form part of the contents of the supplicatory ode, but are a subscription answering to the heading in ver. 1, and refer to the use of the ode in the worship of God, and Sab differ from the headings nyi? ni2222 in Ps. iv., vi., liv., lv., Ixvii., and Ixxvi., through the use of the suffix in ‘i223, Thratoh the words, “ to the president (of the temple- music, or the contueten) im accompaniment of my stringed playing,” the prophet appoints his psalm for use in the public worship of God accompanied by his stringed playing. Hitzig’s rendering is grammatically false, “to the conductor of my pieces of music;” for 2 cannot be used as a periphrasis for the genitive, but when connected with a musical expression, only means with or in the accompaniment of (A instrumenti or concomitantie). Moreover, i332 does not mean pieces of music, but simply a song, and the playing upon stringed instruments, or the stringed instrument itself (see at Ps. iv.). The first of these renderings gives no suitable sense here, so that there only remains the second, viz. “playing upon stringed instruments.” But if the prophet, by using this formula, stipulates that the ode is to be used in the temple, accompanied by stringed instruments, the expression bingindthat, with my stringed playing, affirms that he himself will accompany it with his own playing, from which it has been justly inferred that he was qualified, according to the arrangements of the Israelitish worship, to take part in the public performance of such pieces of music as were suited for public worship, and therefore belonged to the
Levites who were entrusted with the conduct of the musical performance of the temple.
AIERSON or tHE PropHer.—Zephaniah’s family is traced back in the heading to his book through four members, namely, to his great-great-crandfather Hezekiah; from which it has been justly inferred, that inasmuch as the father only is mentioned as a general rule, Hezekiah must have been a celebrated man, and that in all probability the king of that name is intended. For the only other person of such a name mentioned in the earlier history is an Ephraimite called Y*hizkiyéh in 2 Chron. xxviii. 12, and he can hardly be the person intended. The circumstance that Hezekiah is not described as the king of that name by the predicate hammelekh or melekh Y*haddh, furnishes no decided argument against this assumption, but may probably be explained on the ground that the predicate “king of Judah” follows immediately afterwards in connection with Josiah’s name. There is still less force in the objection, that in the genealogy of the kings only two generations occur between Hezekiah and Josiah, inasmuch as Manasseh reigned for fiftyfive years, that is to say, for nearly two generations. The name Zephaniah (7's‘phanydh), i.e. he whom Jehovah hides or shelters, not “ speculator et arcanorum Dei cognitor,” as Jerome explains it according to an erroneous derivation from tsdphah instead of tséphan, occurs again as the name of a priest (Jer. xxi. 1, xxix. 25, etc.), as well as of other persons (cf. Zech. vi. 10, 14, 1 Chron. vi. 21). The LXX. write it Sodovias, Sophonias, according to their usual custom of expressing ¥ by o, and the Sheva by a short vowel which is regulated by the full vowel that follows; they have also changed the a into 0, as in the case of Todondiov for G’dalyah in ch.i. 1. Nothing further is known concerning the prophet’s life. The statement in Ps. Doroth. and Ps. Epiph., that he sprang “from the tribe of Simeon, from the mountain of Sarabatha” (al. Baratha or Sabartharam), is quite worthless. The date at which he lived is determined by the statement in the heading to his book, to the effect that he prophesied under king Josiah the son of Amos, who reigned from 641 to 610 B.c. This agrees both with the place assigned to his book in the series of the minor prophets, namely, between Habakkuk and Haggai, and also by the contents of his prophecies. According to ch. ii. 13 sqq., where he predicts the destruction of the kingdom of Asshur and the city of Nineveh, the Assyrian empire was still in existence in his time, and Nineveh was not yet conquered, which took place, according to our discussions on Nahum (p. 44 sqq.), at the earliest, in the closing years of Josiah’s reign, and possibly not till after his death. Moreover, his description of the moral depravity which prevailed in Jerusalem coincided in many respects with that of Jeremiah, whose labours as a prophet commenced in the thirteenth year of Josiah. Along with the worship of Jehovah (ch.i. 5; ef. Jer. vi. 20), he speaks of idolatry (ch. i. 4, 5; cf. Jer. vil. 17, 18), of false swearing by Jehovah, and swearing by the idols (ch. i. 55; Jer. v. 2, vii. 9, and y. 7, xii. 16), of the wicked treatment of the thordh (ch. iii. 4; Jer. vill. 8, 9), of the fruitlessness of all the admonitions that have hitherto been addressed to Judah (ch. iii. 2; Jer. ii, 30, vii. 28), and of the deep moral corruption that has pervaded all ranks—the royal family, the princes, the prophets, and the priests (ch. i. 4, 8, 9, iil. 8, 4; cf. Jer. ii. 8,26). He describes the nation as a shameless one (ch. ii. 1, iii. 5; ef. Jer. iii. 3, vi. 15, vill. 12), and Jerusalem as a rebellious city (ANN, ch. ii. 1; cf. Jer. iv. 17, v. 23), as stained with blood and the abominations of idolatry (ch. iii. 1; ef. Jer. ii. 22, 23, 34), and as oppressive towards widows and orphans, and with its houses full of unrighteous possessions (ch. iii. 1 and i. 9; Cher, v2) 27,28; vis 6)
The only point open to dispute is whether Zephaniah’s prophecy belonged to the first or the second half of the thirtyfirst year of Josiah’s reign. Whilst Ewald supposes that Zephaniah wrote at a time when “not even any preparation had yet been made in Jerusalem for that important and thorough reformation of religion which king Josiah attempted with such