Grace Theological Journal
8.2 (1987) 163-94.
[Copyright © 1987
Grace Theological Seminary; cited with permission;
digitally prepared for use at
Gordon and
THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK
RICHARD D. PATTERSON
Thematically,
textually, and literarily, the psalm of Habakkuk
(3:3 -15) differs
markedly from the material in the rest of the book.
Translation and
subsequent analysis of the psalm reveal that it is a
remnant of epic literature, and as such it focuses on the theme of
the
heroic. Throughout the passage, God is the hero whose actions
divide
the psalm into two parts. The first poem (vv 3-7) relates the
account
of an epic journey as God guides his people toward the land of
promise. In the second poem (vv 8-15), God's miraculous acts in the
conquest period are rehearsed. The singing of these two epic songs
was designed to evoke in the listeners a response of submission
to
the proper movement toward
* * *
INTRODUCTION
AN
enigmatic psalm of praise occupies the greater portion of the
third chapter of Habakkuk's prophecyl
and exhibits striking
differences from the preceding two chapters.
Thematically, the first
two chapters are largely narrative, recording
Habakkuk's great per-
plexities (1:2-4, 12-17) and
God's detailed responses (1:5-11; 2:1-20);
whereas, with the third chapter, a positive tone
emerges in the
l W. F. Albright,
"The Psalm of Habakkuk," in Studies
in Old Testament Prophecy
Dedicated to T: H.
Robinson,
ed. H. H. Rowley (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1950) 1,
notes, "The Psalm of Habakkuk, with its
magnificent but often obscure imagery has
attracted many generations of scholars to its
study." Despite scholarly scrutinizing,
Habakkuk
3 has defied a final solution. B. Margulis, "The
Psalm of Habakkuk: A
Reconstruction
and Interpretation," ZAW 82
(1970) 411, well remarks, "The numerous
treatments of the problems involved, in whole or in
part, attest scholarly interest while
the serious divergences of opinion and conclusion
indicate the need and desirability of
a new approach." (Note that Margulis includes an excellent bibliography of studies on
Habakkuk
3, pp. 440-41.) Although the observations that follow make no claim to be
a final solution of all the problems in the
tantalizingly difficult poetic material in Hab
3:3-15,
it is hoped that they will demarcate some elements that will point toward their
final solution.
164
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
prophet's great prayer of praise of God. The first
two chapters are
written in the usual classical Hebrew that was
prevalent in the seventh
century B.C., whereas the psalm of chap. 3
utilizes older literary
material that had been passed down since Moses'
day. Furthermore
these two sections are written in distinctively
different literary vehicles.
The
first two chapters were composed largely in literary forms that
are typical of prophecy such as oracles, laments,
and woes. However,
the psalm of Hab 3:3-15
is written in an older poetic format that
contains some very difficult Hebrew grammatical
constructions and
very rare words.
These factors, plus the inclusion of several
musical notations
(3:
1, 3, 9, 13, 19) and the exclusion of the third chapter from the
Pesher Habakkuk of the Qumranic
corpus, convinced many liberal
scholars that Habakkuk 3 is not an authentic work
of the prophet but
is made up of several independent units that had
been united with the
prophet's own writings.2 However,
although it may deny the unity of
Habakkuk,
current critical scholarship tends to consider the resultant
canonical book of Habakkuk to be the work of the
prophet. Thus,
Eissfeldt remarks,
We must therefore regard
the book of Habakkuk as a loose
collection of a group of songs of
lamentation and oracles (i, 2-ii, 4), a
series of six cries of woe
(ii, 5-20), and the prayer of iii, which all stem
from the same prophet
Habakkuk, probably a cult-prophet, and origi-
nated in approximately the
same period.3
Leaving aside matters of authorship, date, and composition,
this
article will address specifically Habakkuk's
psalm in 3:3-15. Having
looked at the text and noted some of its distinctive
difficulties, an
analysis of its grammatical, literary,
historical, and theological fea-
tures will be undertaken. A discussion
of the identity of the literary
2 See J. A. Bewer,
The Literature of the Old Testament (3rd
ed.;
at times, as being genuine, some going as far as
Marti who felt that only seven verses in
the entire book were genuinely the work of the
prophet (cf. H. D. Hummel, The Word
Becoming Flesh [
Introduction to the Old
Testament
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969) 932-37.
30.
Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An
Introduction, trans. Peter R. Ackroyd (New
Habakkuk's
authorship of the entire three chapters thematically, historically, and
contextually. See the remarks in the
Introduction to the "Commentary on Habakkuk"
in the forthcoming Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, ed. W. Elwell
(Grand
Rapids:
Baker). In the translation and discussion below, recourse will be made at times
to the principle of the phonetic consonantism of the MT. For details as to phonetic
consonantism, see F. J. Cross, Jr., Studies in Ancient Yahwistic
Poetry (
Johns
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 165
genre of Habakkuk's psalm will follow, together with
an examination
of its literary dependence on other poetic works
of the same genre
in the literature of the ancient Near East. The
closing summation
and conclusions will consider the significance of
the psalm for the
prophet.
TRANSLATION AND NOTES
Translation
3. Eloah came from Teman,
The Holy One from
His glory covered the heavens
And his praise filled the earth.
4. His brightness was like the light;
Rays (flashed) from his very own hand
That were from the inner recesses
of his strength.
5. Plague went before him
And pestilence went out from his feet.
6. He stood and shook the earth;
He looked and made the nations to tremble.
The everlasting hills were shattered;
The eternal hills were made low
--His eternal courses.
7. I looked on Tahath-Aven
The tents of Cushan
were trembling,
The tent curtains of the
8. Oh, Lord, were you angry with the rivers,
Or was your wrath against the streams,
Or your fury against the sea
When you were mounted upon your horses,
Your chariots of
salvation?
9. You laid bare your bow;
You were satisfied with the club which you
commanded.
10. The earth was split with rivers;
The mountains saw you, they trembled.
Torrents of water swept by;
The deep gave its voice;
It lifted its hands on high.
11. Sun
and moon stood still in their lofty height;
They proceeded by the light of your arrows,
By the flash of the
lightning, your spear.
12. In indignation you tread upon the earth;
In anger you trampled the nations.
13. You went out to save your people,
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GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
To deliver your
anointed.
You smashed the head of the house of evil;
You stripped him from head to foot;
14. You split his head with his own club.
His leaders stormed out;
To scatter the humble was their boast,
Like devouring the poor
in secret.
15. You tread upon the sea with your
horses,
Heaping up the many
waters.
Notes
Verse
Three
The interchangeability of the three OT words for
God lxe, Myhilox<,
and haOlx< makes any precise
distinction to be difficult at best. The use
of the last word was predominant in the earlier
periods, particularly
in connection with Edomite
Ternan as shown by the frequency of its
employment in the dialogue between Job and Eliphaz. Accordingly,
Hummel
may be correct in suggesting an association of this name for
God
particularly with that region.4 It occurs
in other early literature
in Deut 32:15, 17 and Ps
One might also construe the second line of v 3
as reading "and
the holy ones from
with wdq, thus reading Mywidq;, and utilizing the
preposition of line
one for line two, as well.5 "Holy
One" is a common epithet for
Yahweh (cf. Job
(e.g.,
6:3) and has already been employed by Habakkuk (
Teman names the southernmost of
itself is also called Teman
(Obad 9), the name stemming from a
grandson of Esau (Gen 36:11, 15, 42; Jer 49:7,20) whose descendants
inhabited the area. (For the relationship Esau =
25:25,
3.0.)
14:6.)
All three terms appear to be used as parallel names for the
southern area that stretched as far as the
33:1-2a
reads: "Yahweh came from Sinai; he beamed forth from Seir;
4 Hummel, The Word Becoming Flesh, 461. See further, H. D. Preuss,
TDOT
1.272; J. Scott, TWOT 1.43.
5 For the presence of God's angels/holy
ones in the movement from the south, see
Deut
33:2b-3; for the use of double duty prepositions, see M. Dahood,
Psalms (AB;
Garden
City; Doubleday, 1970) 3.435-37.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 167
he shone from
also mentioned in Judg
5:4-5,
"O Lord, when you went out from Seir,
When you marched from the
The earth shook, the heavens poured,
The clouds poured down water.
The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of
Sinai,
Before the LORD, the God
of
and Ps 68:7-8 (Heb. 8-9),
"When you went out before your people, O
God,
When you marched through the wasteland,
The earth shook,
The heavens poured down rain."
The
motif seems to be a key one in
Cross
points out,
The relation of this motif, the march of
Conquest, to the early Israelite
cultus has been insufficiently
studied. The last-mentioned hymn, Exodus
15, is rooted in the liturgy of the spring
festival ("Passover" or Massot),
and it may be argued that
it stems originally from the Gilgal cultus as
early as the twelfth century
B.C. It rehearses the story of the Exodus in
the primitive form, the
march of Conquest (13-18), and after the
"crossing
over," the arrival at the sanctuary (verses 13, 17).6
Otl.AhiT; is sometimes translated
"splendor" rather than "praise"
(see BDB, 240).
Verse
Four
Myinar;qa/ 'rays' comes from a root meaning "to shine." The
noun is
used primarily for the horns of various animals and
hence becomes
employed figuratively as a symbol for strength or
power. The juxta-
position of radiance and power can be seen in the
incident of the
outshining of God's power through Moses' face (Exod 34:29). Both
radiance and power seem to be clearly intended
here. The dual form
also controls the verb hyAhA which takes the t-form
common to older
poetry.
6 F. M. Cross, Jr., "The Divine
Warrior in
ed. Alexander Altmann
(Cambridge: Harvard University, 1966) 25. Cross links this
motif with the idea of kingship and suggests that
both were utilized in the royal cultus
(pp.
27-33). See further, R. Patterson, "The Song of Deborah," in Tradition and
Testament: Essays in
Honor of Charles Lee Feinberg, eds. John S. Feinberg and Paul
D.
Feinberg (Chicago: Moody, 1981) 130-31.
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GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
NOyb;H, is hapax
legomenon from the root hbAHA / 'to hide'. The
whole line is extremely difficult and has occasioned
many suggestions
and emendations. Some meaning, such as "secret
place," "inner
recesses," or "source," has
usually been put forward here. Likewise,
the preceding word Mw can be variously
pointed as MwA / 'there', MWe /
'name', or MyWi / 'set'. Thus, the line
could be translated variously:
(1)
"There was the hiding place of his might," (2) "(Its) name was
'The
ing the preposition from
the preceding line] the inner recesses of his
strength." The suggestion that would point
the word as "name" would
be in keeping with the ancient Near Eastern
practice of naming
weapons and essential features.7 The
word may also be divided by adding
the m to the following word,
yielding a still different result (see below).
It may be added that NOyb;H, has often been related
to the root.
hpAHA / JpaHA / 'cover' and accordingly is translated "covering.”8
Thus,
the line would be translated, "And there is
the covering of his power,"
or "The name of the covering is His
Strength." If this latter sugges-
tion is followed, the
covering could be understood as an entourage.
Thus,
a smooth transition with v 5 could be gained by translating the
troublesome line, "And his mighty ones were
there as a covering"
(i.e., encircling the divine king). So constructed, the
thought parallels
that of Deut 33:2, "He came with myriads of
holy ones" (cf. Ps 68:18
[Heb.]). It is of interest to note that Cross
employs the term bbaHA in
this passage as a parallel to Mywidq; / 'his holy ones.' If
this meaning is
allowed, then perhaps NOyb;H, could be normalized NOBHa with a meaning
something like "splendor" (cf. Akkadian ebebu / 'be pure, clean',
ebbu / 'polished, pure,
shining, lustrous'). Hence, the line could be
read in parallel with the preceding two, "There
is the splendor of his
might." However, since the Deuteronomy passage
is beset with great
difficulty and Cross's own handling of the text is
colored by numerous
conjectural emendations, this last translation must
remain a pure
conjecture. Hab 3:4b
stands as a crux interpretum. Ultimately, one
must determine (1) whether the line is best
understood as a strict
parallel to the previous two lines or as
transitional between them and
the two lines that follow, and (2) whether the
contextual emphasis
centers on the frequently stressed idea of the
veiled presence of God9,
7 See further, R. Patterson, "A
Multiplex Approach to Psalm 45," GTJ
6 (1985)
29-48.
8 See R. L. Smith, Micah-Malachi (Word Biblical Commentary;
1984)
112; cf. M. O'Connor, Hebrew Verse
Structure (
1980) 234.
9 See S. L. Terrien,
The Elusive Presence (San Francisco: Harper
& Row, 1978) 69;
.cf.
C. F. Keil, Biblical
Commentary on the Minor Prophets (
1954)
2.99-100.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 169
or is a literary borrowing of the familiar theme
of the divine warrior
moving amidst his heavenly armies that is adapted for
Israelite cultic
purposes,10 or is simply an
expression of God's power as manifested
in the natural world.
The translation followed here takes this line as
parallel to the
preceding two and views it as primarily a poetic
expression of God's
power in the natural world. The rendering given above
is gained by
separating the m from the word and
viewing the remaining w as a
relative particle preceded by a pleonastic waw. The
resultant tense
stresses that the brilliant theophany
originated in the inner recesses of
the strength of him who is light (cf. 1 John .1:5).
Verse
Five
The parallel lines here have often been taken as
evidence for
viewing Debir as an
epithet or alternate name of Reshef, the well-
known Canaanite god of pestilence and sterility.11
Dahood calls
attention to the set pairs Nr,q, / MynipA in vv 4-5.12 O'Connor translates
vynApAl; "at his
face."13
Verse
Six
dd,moy;va has customarily been
translated either "he measured" (RSV,
KJV,
NKJV; cf. NASB, "surveyed") or "shook" (NIV; cf. LXX
e]saleu<qh).
The inappropriateness of the former meaning has led
most critical expositors to favor the latter meaning
here. Scholars
haye suggested various byforms and alloforms to account
for this
understanding of ddm: (1) dUm = FUm / 'crumble', 'set in reeling mo-
tion' (Keil),
(2) dUm = ddanA / dUn / 'move', (cf. FFamA
/ FUm / 'crumble,'
FFanA
/ FUn) / 'shake' [Margulis]), and (3)
Arabic ** (mada)
/ 'was con-
vulsed' (Driver).
Likewise, rTey.ava has occasioned several
translations: die<takh
/
'melt' (LXX), "drove asunder" (KJV),
"startled" (NASB, NKJV),
"shook" (RSV), and "made to tremble" (NIV). If
the previous line is
to be rendered "shook," the NIV
translation is certainly most appro-
priate. If the traditional
understanding of ddamA
/ 'measure'
is retained,
perhaps a root fur / 'spy out, survey' might be
suggested for the form
10 See F. M. Cross, Jr., Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (
University,
1973) 100-105.
11 See W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of
1969) 186. For the proposed Eblaite
evidence, see the comments of Dahood in G.
Pettinato, The Archives of
12 M. Dahood,
"Ugaritic-Hebrew Parallel
Loren
R. Fisher and Stan Rummel (Rome: Pontificium
Institutum Biblicum, 1972)
1.331.
13 O'Connor, Hebrew Verse Structure, 235.
170
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
here. The force of the following couplet and the
dire effects of the
preceding two probably best favor a translation
similar to that of the
NIV for these two lines.
Ol
MlAOf tOkyliHE. The line is difficult.
It has usually been translated
by the English versions "His ways are
everlasting/eternal." Albright
suggested that the l of the last word be
combined with the first two
words of v 7 to read NxtHtl, thus reading an energic feminine plural
of xtAHA with emphatic l.14 So
constructed, the newly constituted line
would be translated "Eternal orbits were
shattered." While this
suggestion is attractive and involves no
consonantal revision, it would
leave a metrical imbalance in vv 6b and 7, which
appear to be formed
as a
eternal courses." The meaning would be that
the ancient hills and
mountains, now convulsing before the approaching theophany, had
formed the time-honored paths of God (cf. Amos
poetic figure is most apropos for him who is called
"The Rider on the
Clouds"
(Ps 68:5 [Heb.]; cf. Isa 19:1) or "He who rides
the Heavens"
(Deut
33:26; cr. Ps 68:34 [Heb.]). The syntax of the line is reminiscent
of Num 23:22b: Ol
Mxer; tpofEOtK; (cf. Ps 18:8 [Heb.]: Ol
hrAHA-hKi UwfEgAt;y.iva).
Verse
Seven
The first line of v 7 is another extremely
difficult sentence to
interpret. The line has frequently been taken with
the first two words
of the second line, leaving the last word of line
two to be constructed
with line three. While this makes for a smooth
translation, "I saw the
tents of Cushan in affliction:
/ And the curtains of the
did tremble (NIV)," it leaves an unusually
long pair of lines: 5 / 4.
Despite
the difficulty of MT, it seems best to retain the more custo-
mary reading with its
translated by the usual "in distress/ affliction,"
but may perhaps be
better taken as a geographical name paralleling Cushan and Midian
in lines two and three. Perhaps it may have been a
name employed by
the Hebrew poet to describe the general area where
the enigmatic
Cushan (= Egyptian Kushu?)
and Midian were located, that is, tbe
southern part of the broad area that stretched
from the Sinai Penin-
sula northward into Transjordania. If so, the whole verse forms a
geographic inclusio with
v 3.15
14 Albright, "The
Psalm of Habakkuk," 15.
15 Note that tHt appears as a
geographical name in Num 33:26, 27. Nvx-type
forms
occur as personal names and geographical names in the
OT (e.g" Num 16:1; Ezra
Neh 6:2; 7:37; 11:35; Amos 1:5; cf. Gen 36:23;
38:4, 8, 9, etc.). If NvxtHt is to be taken
as a geographical name, Nvx- may be associated with
a noun meaning "vigor" or
"wealth" coming from a second homophonous root to that
of the usual noun translated
"trouble" or "wickedness" or "distress." The easy confusion between the two words
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 171
The
presence of ytiyxirA
here, a source of concern to many com-
mentators, may be explained by
recalling the similar employment of
this verb in the Balaam oracles (Num 23:9; 24:17).
Indeed, the poet
may have intended a deliberate pun or literary
allusion to Num 23:21,
"He
has not seen distress/wickedness in Jacob; / Nor has
he looked
upon trouble in
Verse
Eight
Many have pointed out the familiar Ugaritic parallelism here of
MyA/ rhAnA.16 The reason for their employment here is an interpretive
problem that will be discussed below.17
Dahood also calls attention to
the use of tObK;r;ma
/ sUs here.18 The final noun has been taken as
standing at the end of a broken construct chain
by Freedman.19
Verse
Nine
The question of whether rOfTe should be viewed as second mascu-
line singular or third feminine singular is
conditioned by the under-
standing of the parallel line. Albright decides
for the former and
translates "Bare dost Thou strip Thy
bow";20 Keil follows the latter
course: "Thy bow lays itself bare.”21
The second line is particularly
troublesome. Indeed, Margulis
laments, "The second hemistich is
patently impossible.”22 A perusal of
the various ancient and modern
versions, as well as the commentators, shows the
difficulties under
which the translators labored. No consensus as to the
translation has
been reached. Laetsch
points out that by his day Delitzsch had
counted more than one hundred different
interpretations of this diffi-
cult line.23
That the divine warrior's weapons are taken in
hand is clear from
the parallel pair tw,q,
/ hF,.ma.24 The use
of such special weapons are
may possibly have been viewed as a literary pun: NvxtHt / 'wealthy place' is seen as 'in
distress.'
16 For example, Cross, Ancient Yahwistic Poetry, 140 and Dahood, "Ugaritic-
Hebrew Parallel Pairs," 1.203.
17 See below. See further, A. Cooper,
"Divine Names and Epithets in the Ugaritic.
Texts," in Ras Shamra Parallels, 3.375.
18 Dahood, "Ugaritic-Hebrew Parallel Pairs," 1.284; for bkr, see Patterson, "Psalm
45," 37 n. 35.
19 D. N. Freedman,
"The Broken Construct Chain," Biblica 53 (1972) 535.
20 Albright, “The Psalm of
Habakkuk," 12.
21 Keil,
Minor Prophets, 2.103.
22 Margulis,
"The Psalm of Habakkuk," 420.
23 T. Laetsch, Bible Commentary: The Minor Prophets (
1956) 347.
24 See Dahood,
"Ugaritic-Hebrew Parallel Pairs," 1.258.
The final t
in tNFm is the
common Canaanite feminine singular.
172
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
familiar from the literature of the ancient Near
East. Thus Ward
remarks, "Syrian and Hittite art frequently
represents Adad- Ramman,
god of storm, as armed with the same weapons, while
the Babylonian
art gave this western god the forked thunderbolt.”25 Good sense
can
be gained by following Albright's lead in repointing MT tOfbuw; as a
second masculine singular perfect from fbaWA (although Albright .need-
lessly takes the following mattot from ESA mtw / 'fight,’26),
yielding a
rendering that is reminiscent of Anat's fighting as recorded in the Baal
cycle, "Anat fought hard
and gazed (on her work), she battled. . .
until she was sated, fighting in the palace. . . . “27
As for the final rm,xo,
one may take the word possibly as the name of God's
war club, the
noun coming from a verbal root rramA 'drive out,’28 If so, it could be
a veiled reflection or scribal pun on Baal's war
weapon Aymur
("Expeller”).29
Perhaps the simplest solution is achieved, however, by
viewing the final t of mattot as a double duty consonant
and translat-
ing the line "You were
satisfied with the club which you com-
manded.”30
Thus, there is probably a reminiscence of God's promise
to defend his people as given in Deut 32:40-42.
Verses
Nine-c through Eleven
The first line (v 9c) has been translated by
taking "earth" as
either the subject or the object of the sentence:
Because the second
masculine singular verbal suffix is read in the
following line, it seems
best to retain the traditional understanding of fq.abaT; as a second
masculine singular verb and view "earth"
as its object, Earth and
mountains are found in parallel in several texts
commemorating this
event (e.g., Judg 5:5; Ps
18:8 [Heb.]),31 The scene depicted here is
25 W. H. Ward, Habakkuk (lCC;
Patterson,
"Psalm 45," 38-39.
26 Albright, "The
Psalm of Habakkuk," 15.
27 See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends (
1956)
84-85.
28 See C. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (
1965) 3.356.
29 Ibid., 2.180.
30 For the use of double duty consonants,
see I. O. Lehman, "A Forgotten Principle
of Biblical Textual Tradition Rediscovered,'"
JNES 26 (1967) 93; cf. Dahood, Psalms,
2.81,3.371. For asyndetic
subordination, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew
Syntax (
Syntax (Edinburgh: T. & T.
Clark. 1958) 191-92. For the corresponding Akkadian
construction, see W. von Soden, Grundriss des akkadischen Grammatik (
Pontificium lnstitutum Biblicum, 1952) 219.
31 Several other parallel terms common to Ugaritic and Hebrew have been sug-
gested as present here by Dahood, "Ugaritic-Hebrew
Parallel Pairs," 1.177-78, 218,
372-73:
fh/ dy, Ntn/ xWn, Mvht/ lvq (although LXX may be
right in finding the parallel
of Mvht as Mvr).
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 173
recounted in detail also in Pss
18:8-16 (Heb.); 77:17-19 (Heb.); and
144:5-6
(cf. Judg 5:4-5).
The lack of metrical balance at the end of v 10
and the beginning
of v 11 has occasioned several suggestions as to
the division of the
lines. Dahood takes
abyss gave forth its haughty voice.”32
Albright takes the wm,w, of v 11
with v 10 and translates "The Exalted One, Sun,
raised its arms.”33
The
translation adopted here takes HareyA-wm,w, as one composite name,
formed perhaps as a result of a deletion
transformation so as to
achieve the desired three poetic lines. The
juxtaposition of sun and
moon participating in earthly events is noted
elsewhere (e.g., Josh
familiar set terms.34
Smith calls attention to the fact that lbuz; used here for the
dwelling place for the sun and moon; is usually
reserved for the
"exalted dwelling place of God.”35 Since sun and
moon are reported
as being among the heavenly retinue, they may also
be viewed as
being where God dwells.36
Verse
Twelve
The parallel pair Mfz / Jxa appears elsewhere of God's indignation
against his enemies (e.g., Isa
30:27). Especially instructive is Isa 10:5
where not only is this pair found, but hF.,ma (Hab 3:9) also
appears:
"Woe
to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club
of my wrath." For xcAyA employed for God's
going out to fight on
behalf of his people, see Judg
5:4 and Isa 42:13.
Verse
Thirteen
-tx, may be another example of an intrusive
element within a
construct chain.37 Pusey,
however, translates it as the preposition
32 M. Dahood,
"The Phoenician Contribution to Biblical Wisdom Literature," in
The Role of the
Phoenicians in the Interaction of Mediterranean Civilizations, ed.
William
A. Ward (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1968) 140.
33 Albright, "The
Psalm of Habakkuk," 12.
34 For the use of fixed pairs of set terms,
see
Poetry of
Pairs
Common to Phoenician and Biblical Hebrew," UF 7 (1975) 13-47, esp. p. 19.
Note,
however, the caution of P. C. Craigie, "Parallel
Words in the Song of Deborah,"
JETS 20 (1977) 15-22. For
the participation of other celestial phenomena in earthly
events, see Judg 5:20; Isa 60:19-20 and the remarks of P. C. Craigie,
"Three Ugaritic
Notes
on the Song of Deborah," JSOT 2
(1977) 33-49.
35 Smith, Micah-Malachi, 114.
36 See the discussion of J. Gamberoni, TDOT
4.29-31; see also H. Wolf, TWOT 1.235.
37 Freedman, "The Broken Construct
Chain," 535; remarks, "The meaning must be:
'for the salvation of your people/for the salvation of your
anointed.' Apparently the
174
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
"with," while Dahood suggests
that fwayel; / 'for the salvation
of' be
repointed to read fawiyl; / 'to save' (= a yiphil infinitive construct), a
suggestion apparently followed by NIV. The
following –tx, would
thus become an expanded accusative particle after a
causative verbal
form.38
The term j~Heywim;/ 'your
anointed,' has been taken as referring
either to the nation
Smith;
cf. 2 Sam 23: 1), or to the Messiah (Hailey, Keil, Laetsch, Von
Orelli). The problem is largely
an interpretive one. If the reference is
primarily historical and has in view the era of
the exodus and wilder-
ness wanderings, the term must refer to Moses.
Although "your
anointed" seemingly forms a parallel to
"your people,"
elsewhere called by this term. Rather, "the
anointed" is customarily
reserved for individuals such as the high priest
or the king (note also
Cyrus,
Isa 45: 1). If Moses is intended, Pusey
may be right in suggest-
ing that the tx, is to be taken as the
preposition "with" (cf. Lat. Vg. in
salutem cum Christo tuo), for God promised
Moses that he would be
with him (Josh 1:5; note, however, that the
preposition there is Mfi).39
Verses
Thirteen-b through Fourteen-a
The three lines here have occasioned
several difficulties, chief of
which is the figure involved. Does God's smiting
refer to the wicked
enemy (Margulis), a
mythological figure (Albright, Smith), or the
enemy nation or armies viewed here under the figure
of a house
(Keil)? Since, as Cassuto points out, the verb CHamA is commonly used
in both Ugaritic and the
OT to signify a blow that the divine warrior
gives to his enemies, it seems best to translate the
three lines as
rendered in my translation given above (cf. NIV).40
Such an under-
standing does away with the need for finding yet
another broken
construct chain in the first line as suggested by
Freedman.41
second phrase is a construct chain, like the first,
except that the intrusive ‘t has been
inserted between the construct and the absolute.
Exactly what the ‘t is it may be
difficult to say: it may be the emphasizing
particle, normally used to identify the
definite direct object of a verb (here of the
action), or it may be the pronoun written
defectively, used here to call attention to the
pronominal suffix attached to the follow-
ing noun." For added
discussion as to the broken construct chain, see A. C. M.
Blommerde, "The Broken Construct Chain,
Further Examples," Biblica,
55 (1974) 549-
52.
For a negative appraisal of the whole concept, see J. D. Price, "Rosh: An
Ancient
Land
Known to Ezekiel," GTJ6 (1985)
79-88.
38 For details,
see E. B. Pusey, The
Minor Prophets (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1953)
2.217;
and M. Dahood, "Two Yiphil
Causatives in Habakkuk 3, 13a," OR
48 (1979)
258-59.
39 For the interchange of tx and Mf, see H. D. Preuss, TDOT,
1.449-58.
40 See U. Cassuto,
Biblical and Oriental Studies, trans.
Magnes,
1973) 1.268.
41 Freedman,
"The Broken Construct Chain," 535.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 175
tOrfA is doubtless to be construed as an infinitive
absolute detail-
ing the extended activity
of the main verb.42
Verse
Fourteen
The last three lines of v 14 are exceedingly
obscure. The position
taken here suggests that there are three lines of
text in a
rather than the two lines of 3/4 as traditionally
rendered. Key to the
understanding is the dividing of yniceypiHEla into two words: CUp / 'scatter'
and faynic; / 'humble' by viewing
the c
as another example of a double
duty consonant. The resultant translation yields not
only better sense,
but delivers a nice parallel between faynic; / 'humble' and ynifA / 'poor.'
So
construed, faynic; would take its place
alongside such words as NOyb;x,
in contexts with ynifA.43
Verse
Fifteen
For the figure of God treading upon the sea, see
Ps 77:20 (Heb.).
j~ys,Us is an adverbial
accusative absolute which, in compressed lan-
guage, complements the action
of the main verb and governs the
sense of the following line. The preposition of line
one is also to be
understood in the second line.44
ANALYSIS
Grammatical Features
The basic literary
dichotomy between chaps. 1 and 2 and 3:3-15
has already been noted (see above). The data that
support the archaic
nature of 3:3-15 are presented here. First, it may be
noted that there
are numerous cases of defective spelling in the
interior of words, as
pointed out by Albright.45 Next may
be gathered the various archaic
grammatical elements and poetic devices that occur:
(1) the lack of
the definite article throughout these verses, (2)
the t-form imperfect
used with duals or collectives (v 4), (3) the use of
the old pronominal
42 See further, Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 38-39; and M. Hammershaimb, "On the
So-called
Infinitivus Absolutus in
Hebrew," in Hebrew and Semitic
Studies Presented
to Godfrey Rolles Driver, ed. D. Winton Thomas
and W. D. McHardy (
Clarendon,
1963) 85-93.
43 Suitable parallels can be found in Pss 10:2, 8-10; 35:10; Prov
30:14, etc.
44 For details, see Dahood,
Psalms, 3.436.
45 Albright, "The
Psalm of Habakkuk," 10. Albright also suggests the presence of
an old energic form
with emphatic l in vv 6-7: vxtHtl/'(eternal orbits) were
shattered.'
It
should also be noted that E. Wurthwein, The Text of the Old Testament (4th ed.;
the troublesome crux as the Ugaritic
word for destruction preceded by the preposition
l. However, see the discussion above in n. 15.
176
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
suffix in h (vv 4, 11), (4) the
employment of enclitic -m (v 8),46
(5) the
frequent appearance of the old preterite prefix conjugation verb (vv
3-5,
7-12, 14) in variation with the suffix conjugation, (6) the use of
the l of possession in
inverted predicate position in a non-verbal
sentence (v 6), and (7) the use of structured tri-cola
employing climac-
tic parallelism (vv 4, 6b, 7, 8a, 10, 11, 13b) to
mark major divisions
(6b- 7, 8) or subdivisions (vv 4, 10a, 11,
13b-14) within the poem.
As
well, one may notice the use of parallel expressions and set
terms held in common in Ugaritic
and the corpus of old Hebrew
poetry: Cr,x,/ MymawA (v 3), MynipA/ Nr,q,; (vv 4-5), MlAOf tOfb;Gi/ dfa-yrer;ha (v 6),
MyA/ rhAnA, hbAK;r;ma/ sUs (v 8), hF.,ma/ tw,q, (v 9), lOq/ MOhT;, xWAnA/ NtanA (v 8), and
HareyA
/ wm,w,, qrABA / CHe (v 11). Also to be
noted is the utilization of a
vocabulary commonly found in older poetic material
in the OT: haOlx<,
wOdqA, NrAxpA-rha, MyimawA (v 3), hvaHA (v 6), Nv,xA, zgarA (v 7), Jxa, bkarA (v 8), Myima
(Mr,z,), MOhT;, lOq (v 10), Jxa (v 12), hF.,ma, wxro, zrapA (v 14), and MyBira
Myima,
MyA (v 15).47
Literary Features
No less significant is the presence of several
themes common to
the body of Ugaritic and
early OT poetic literature: (1) the Lord's
movement from the southland (v 3); cf. Deut
33:1-2; Judg 5:4; Ps
68:8 [Heb.]), (2) the presence of the heavenly
assemblage (v 5; cf.
Deut
33:2-3), (3) the shaking of the terrestrial and celestial worlds at
God's
presence (vv 6, 10-11; cf. Judg 5:4-5; Pss 18:8-9, 13-15 [Heb.];
68:34
[Heb]; 77:17-19 [Heb.]; 144:5-6), (4) the Lord's anger against.
sea and river (v 8; cf. Exod
15:8; Ps 18:8, 16 [Heb.]), (5) the Lord's
presence riding the clouds (v 8; cf. Exod 15:4; Pss 18:11-12 [Heb.];
68:5,
34 [Heb.]), (6) the fear of the enemy at the Lord's advance (vv 7,
10?; cr. Exod 15:14-16; Pss 18:8 [Heb.]; 77:17-19 [Heb.]), and (7)
the Lord's fighting against the boastful (v 14; cf.
Exod 15:9) enemy
(vv 9, 11, 13-14; cf. Exod 15:3, 6;
Ps 77:18 [Heb.]) so as to deliver his
people (vv 13-15; cf. Pss
46 For enclitic -m, see M. Pope, "Ugaritic Enclitic -m," JCS 5 (1951) 123-28; H. D.
Hummel,
"Enclitic MEM in Early Northwest Semitic, Especially Hebrew," JBL 76
(1957)
85-106; and Dahood, Psalms, 3.408-9.
47 For the bearing of Ugaritic
research upon biblical studies see P. C. Craigie,
sive bibliography, pp.
107-9. For the corpus of ancient OT poetry, see below.
48 See further Albright, "The Psalm of
Habakkuk," 8-9; idem, Yahweh and the
Gods of
69-109;
Parallels, 3.233-84; and Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, 91-194.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 177
Historical/ Theological
Features
Having noted the archaic nature of the
linguistic evidence con-
cerning Hab
3:3-15, it is necessary to inquire further concerning
historical and theological data that can be
analyzed to help in
ascertaining the setting of
Habakkuk's psalmic material. The
his-
torical information is minimal,
consisting of the notice of God's
leading
an advance that brought consternation to that
entire area (v 7). The
era involved in these verses, then, is obviously
that of the period
surrounding the exodus and
ment to the
the victory at the
reminiscences have been suggested for
some of the intervening verses,
such as the crossing of the Jordan or the Battle of Ta’anach (com-
memorated in Deborah's Song in
Judges 5), but certainty is lacking in
either of these proposals. It must be pointed out,
however, that even
though the time frame envisioned in these verses is
that of the exodus
and
figurative nature of the poetry does not allow a
precise identification
as to the time of its original composition.
Much can be said with regard to theological
data. Certainly the
omnipotence and self-revelation of the invisible God
of the universe
are taught here. As well, his sovereign control of
the physical world
and his direct intervention into the historical
affairs of mankind are in
evidence. Moreover, his redemption of and
continuing care for his
people are distinctly underscored. However, because
such theological
information is found in many places in the OT, these
data are not
decisive in determining the date of the original
composition of these
verses. Nevertheless, the fact that the historical
reflections and theo-
logical viewpoint are consistent with and,
indeed, are dominant in the
other early literature that forms parallels with
these verses, and the
fact that the grammatical and literary data are like
those that are
found in the early poetry of
these verses belong to that same literary cycle and
commemorate the
same occasion. If not written in the same era as the
other poetic
material and handed down to the prophet's day,
the poetry found in
Habakkuk's
prophecy here is at least written in a consciously archais-
tic manner. The utilization of earlier traditional
material is cham-
pioned by Cassuto;49
an archaistic style is favored by Albright.50
I
am convinced that Cassuto's position is essentially
correct and
that the substance of Habakkuk's poetry, though
doubtless reworked
49 Cassuto, Biblical and Oriental Studies, 2.73.
50 Albright, "The
Psalm of Habakkuk," 9.
178
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
by the prophet in accordance with the musical
standards demanded
for its employment in the cultus,
was directly part of a living epic
material handed down since the days of the exodus
and its related
events and, under divine inspiration, was incorporated
by Habakkuk
into his prophecy.
DISCUSSION
The Question of Literary
Genre
It has been assumed to this point that the
material in Hab 3:3-15
is epic in nature. The justification for this
classification must now be
considered. An epic is a long narrative poem that
recounts heroic
actions, usually connected with a nation's or
people's golden age. As
such, epic forms a distinct substratum within the
class of heroic
narrative.51 Epic literature usually
finds its unifying factor in a central
hero whose courageous, wise, altruistic, and
virtuous actions are
intended to be exemplary to subsequent
generations. Thus, Ing
remarks,
Its heroic nature is its
prime essential and there is one meaning of
"heroic"
which remains constant throughout all local and temporal
variations: the heroic standard of
conduct means that a man cares for
something beyond his own material
welfare and is prepared to sacrifice
for it comfort, safety and
life itself; and his care for this "something" is
active.52
It
is, therefore, highly didactic in purpose.
Stylistically, the exalted theme(s) and didactic
material call forth
the highest efforts of the poet so that the
language and expressions
become lofty in tone, or as Ryken
puts it, "a consciously exalted
mode of expression that removes the language from
the common-
place.”53
To accomplish this goal, the poet makes special use of static
epithets, standardized literary formulae, and a
body of set terms that
are not just easily memorized but are particularly
designed to achieve
a distinct effect commensurate with his purposes.
Nilsson observes,
In the epical language
of all peoples occurs a store of stock
expressions, constantly recurring
phrases, half and whole verses and
even verse complexes; and
repetitions are characteristic of the epic
style. . . . The singer has a
large store of poetical parts ready, and his
art consists in
coordinating these parts according to the course of
51 See L. Ryken, The Literature of the Bible (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1974) 81.
52 C. M. lng, "Epic," in Cassell's
Encyclopaedia of Literature, ed. S. H. Steinberg
(London:
Cassell & Company, 1953) 1.195-200.
53 Ryken, The Literature of the Bible, 81.
PATTERSON; THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 179
events and connecting them by
the aid of new-made verses. A skilled
poet is able to improvise a
poem on every subject.54
Accordingly, the epic poet's vocabulary is
carefully drawn to
emphasize such qualities as: magnificence and
grandeur, awe-inspiring
might and greatness, munificence and generosity,
virility and valor,
piety and wisdom, and a strong sense of personal
commitment even
to the point of complete self-sacrifice.
Commensurate with these
idealized qualities, the epic plot is usually
sublimated to the character
of its hero. The action of the narrative, while
filled with such things as
exciting adventures, perilous wanderings, and
colossal battles, is
nonetheless usually merely an instrument of focusing
on the hero
himself whose laudatory conduct both emphasizes
the significance of
life's quest and provides for future generations a
model for the
challenges experienced by all men. Tillyard comments,
The epic writer must
express the feelings of a large group of
people living in or near his
own time. The notion that the epic is
primarily patriotic is an unduly
narrowed version of this require-
ment. . . . The epic must
communicate the feeling of what it was like to
be alive at the time.55
The
hero, then, is man written large.
The structure of epic is often like a great arch
through which on
one side the past may be
seen, on the other the future. . . . While epic
raises its figures to
astounding heroic stature, it never makes them
strange by eccentricity. They
may be giants but they retain the form
and blood of the family of
man.56
In turning to the epic literature of the
classical world, certainly
this feature is central in the Homeric epics. As Flaceliere points out,
Homer bequeathed to future generations the ideal
type of Greek man
(if we accept subtlety
and a tendency to deception as part of such a
character); and perhaps the ideal
type of all men (provided one regards
as a virtue prudence,
which, in cases of extremity, is not above lying).57
To be sure, Homer's heroes play out their
earthly roles in the face of
a heavenly family of
deities whose own selfishness often causes them
54 M. P. Nilsson, The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology
(
1932) 19.
55 E. M. W. Tillyard, The English Epic and
Its Background (
University, 1966) 12.
56 Ing,
"Epic," 1.197.
57 R. Flacelieie,
A Literary History of
Aldine, 1964) 38.
180 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
to intervene on the stage of man's affairs in a
capricious and cruel
manner.58 Nevertheless, this
time-honored struggle59 was all to man's
own betterment, for the harshness of life brought
on by the heavenly
fates provided man with a training ground for keeping
in proper
tension60 the twin virtues of
heroism and obedience on the one hand
and an often violent virility blended at times with
a touching tender-
ness on the other. The balanced man must learn to
live the full life of
human potential.
In the midst of the
catastrophes decreed by the gods, the best men
are capable of great
actions, though at the cost of infinite affliction. . . .
Thus Homer sets before the Greeks the twofold
ideal of the hero-sage.
In his two poems he exalts the clear-sighted
energy of men who,
without illusions, struggle with
their tragic destinies, with no real and
constant help save what they
find in themselves, in "the greatness of
their hearts".61
Much of this was passed on to the classical
Latin world where it
was reshaped to fit the Roman mold. Hadas shows that Vergil
"crowns
his work and Latin literature with an epic which
would be inconceiv-
able without the models of Iliad and Odyssey.”62
It was the latter epic
that had the place of prominence for the great Latin
poet, for
there were familiar elements
sure to appeal to the Roman-the spec-
tacle of endurance in the
face of danger, the love of home, the fear of
the gods, the sombre religious associations with the 1ower world.
Odysseus was a hero more after the Roman heart
than Achilles, and
Virgil shows this in his modelling
of Aeneas.63
58 See Flaceliere's
extended discussion, ibid., 46-50. See also, H. C. Baldry, Ancient
Greek Literature in Its
Living Context
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968) 18-23.
59 Nilsson, The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology, 12-34, points out that
Homer
was an heir to a heroic tradition that stretched back to the Middle Helladic
Age
of
1963)
demonstrates that there is an essential core of historical trustworthiness as
to the
Mycenaean Age in the Homeric Iliad. Note, for example, his
extended discussions on
pp.
134-47 and pp. 218-96.
60 W. C. Stephens, ed., The Spirit of the Classical World (
1967),
14, remarks, "The gods were in charge of life--there was no doubt of that--and
man could expect to suffer a good deal from them.
But the Greeks combined this
attitude with an intense joy in living, for they
did not regard themselves as playthings
of a despotic destiny. They were shapers of their
own lives, within a framework set by
the gods, and took a fierce pride in human
accomplishments even while they recognized
their vulnerability. It is this tension which makes
Greek tragedy the profound and
moving form of art it is."
61 Placeliere, A Literary History of
62 M. Hadas, A History of Latin Literature (
1952) II.
63 J. W. Duff, A Literary History of
Ernest Benn, 1953) 91.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 181
However,
Vergil's genius may be seen in his psychologically pene-
trating advance on the concept
of heroism. Thus, Bowra rightly
points out,
In the Aeneid Vergil presented a new ideal of heroism and showed
in what fields it could be
exercised. The essence of his conception is
that a man's virtus is shown
less in battle and physical danger than in
the defeat of his own
weaknesses.64
Still
further, Vergil emphasized that man's virtus became
perfected
not only through courage, cunning, and the conquest
of self, but
through suffering:
Vergil. . . has a profound
sympathy for suffering and sorrow and
a conviction that it is
through suffering that man reaches the depths of
religious experience. It is
through sacrifice and suffering that ultimate
triumph is to be achieved.65
With
all this Vergil's writings begin to take on a
spiritual quality that
at times approaches Christian perspective,
especially as seen in his
famous Fourth
Eclogue. Hadas observes,
This poem has been more
widely discussed than any piece of
similar length in classical
literature. In language reminiscent of Scrip-
ture the poet prophesies the
birth of a boy whose rule will usher in a
golden age of peace. Since
Constantine and Augustine, Christian writers
have regarded the Eclogue as
a prophecy of the Messiah. More prob-
ably the reference is to the
child expected by Octavian and Scribonia,
who proved to be a girl,
the infamous Julia, or possibly to a child of
cannot refer to Jesus, the
notion of an expected redeemer may quite
likely derive from the hopeful
speculations of the Jews on the subject.66
When one turns to the ancient Near Eastern
world, he also
encounters epic material. Kramer counts no less
than nine epics in
ancient
exist between the Sumerian epic and its classical
counterparts.
64 C. M. Bowra, From Vergil to
65 M. Hadas, A History of Latin Literature, 154.
66 Ibid., 144.
Cyrus Gordon, "Vergil and the
Geuthner, 1969) 277, suggests that "by Vergil's time the Jews of Italy must have
cultivated messianism in
the heart of the
Romans of Vergil's
generation."
There was also a growing sense of apocalyptic in
Vergil, a theme for which he was perhaps indebted to
the widespread appearance of
apocalypses in the centuries surrounding the advent
of the Christian era. Messianism
and apocalyptic were blended together by Vergil who had a great feeling for the destiny
of
182
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
The Sumerian epic poems consist of individual
disconnected tales of
varying length, each of which
is restricted to a single episode. There is
no attempt to articulate
and integrate these episodes into a larger unit.
There is relatively little characterization and
psychological penetration
in the Sumerian material.
The heroes tend to be broad types, more or
less undifferentiated,
rather than highly personalized individuals. More-
over, the incidents and plot
motifs are related in a rather static and
conventionalized style; there is little
of that plastic, expressive move-
ment that characterizes such
poems as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
Mortal women play hardly any role in Sumerian
epic literature, whereas
they have a very prominent
part in. Indo-European epic literature.
Finally, in the matter of technique, the
Sumerian poet gets his rhythmic
effects primarily from variations
in the repetition patterns. He makes
no use whatever of the
meters or uniform line so characteristic of Indo-
European epics.67
Kramer
adds that the Sumerian narratives doubtless influenced the
literatures of the peoples around them so that the Sumerian
epic
probably formed the precursor to the later
classical and western
epics.68 Be that as it may, a
direct transmission to the Semitic world
can be shown, most notably in the case of the
famous Gilgamesh Epic
of ancient
Sumerian stories. Important for the
present discussion is the fact that
the Gilgamesh Epic is replete with many themes and
elements common,
to epic literature in general. It focuses on a
central hero whose deeds
and fortunes are praised. It tells of his wisdom
and strength, rehears-
ing his dangerous journeys
during which his courageous strength in
the face of great odds is demonstrated, often in
the presence of hostile
heavenly intervention. It, too, has a
universalistic and timeless tone,
for it grapples with the perennial problems of life
itself: life's frailty,
the relation of life to death and the afterlife,
and how best to make
the most of this life despite its sufferings. As Heidel writes, "Finally,
the epic takes up the question as to what course a
man should follow
67 S. N. Kramer, The Sumerians (Chicago: Chicago University, 1963) 184-85.
68 The vastness of Sumerian connections in
the ancient world has been demon-
strated repeatedly. See, for
example, the discussion of H. W. F. Saggs, The Greatness
that was
The Encounter with the
Divine in
remarks, "Historically, it is difficult to
accept a total absence of continuum in concep-
tual links between ancient
cultural interrelations between
predisposes at least a case for a literary interplay
as well. A literary link between the
classical and Near Eastern civilizations has been
pled by C. H. Gordon,
Minoan
Row,
1962); and idem, The World of the Old
Testament (Garden City: Doubleday,
1958), 101-12.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 183
in view of these hard facts. The solution it
offers is simple: 'Enjoy
your life and make the best of it!’”69
The epic was also alive in ancient Syro-Palestine, as attested by
the Ugaritic literature.
Prominence of place must be given to the
KRT Epic and the Epic of Aqhat. The former deals with
heroism in
the royal house and has a theme in some ways akin
to the Helen of
Troy motif of the Iliad. The latter tells of the
fortunes of Aqhat and
his son Danel at the
hands of the goddess Anat. Although both epics
lack the scope and psychological penetration of the
classical epics and
do not specifically formulate questions about the
eternal issues of life,
nonetheless they do wrestle with the problems of
coping with the
vicissitudes of this life,
particularly in the face of the divine presence.70
As
well, they share motifs common both to the classical and Near
Eastern
literatures so that Gordon can say, "It should thus be ap-
parent that
Testament in language and literature. At the same time,
close Aegean connections.”71
The point of all of this is not necessarily to
demonstrate any
distinct interaction of a particular epic between
the
classical, western traditions, but simply to show
that the epic was a
widespread literary experience in the ancient
world.72 Accordingly, it
would seem only natural that the Hebrews would be
partakers of that
genre. Biblical critics have suggested that such is
certainly the case.
Gordon
finds much traditional epic material in the OT and is espe-
cially attracted to the
concept of royal epic as it appears in the
patriarchal narratives.73 Ryken, however, classifies the patriarchal
69 A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels
(2nd ed.;
Hurrian
tablets.
70 Most scholars suggest that the struggles
of Baal against Yam and Mot also
comprise an epic cycle. Particularly important
parallels exist between Hab 3:3-15 and
the Ugaritic material.
See Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook, 2.169-74, 178-80 (texts 51,
67,
68).
71 Gordon,
72 Although consideration of the epic in
ancient
this paper, it should be noted that the epic made a
significant contribution to the
literary tradition of the classical period. Two
primary epics, both of which experienced
varying recensions and
interpolations, are attested: the Mahabharata which traced the
account of the bloody battle between the Kauravas and its bloody aftermath, including
the adventures of the five sons of Pandu; and the Ramayana, which celebrated the
heroic deeds and adventures of Rama,
the virtuous prince of Ayodhya. For details, see
Vincent
Smith; The
and A. L. Basham, The Wonder that was India (2nd ed.;
409-34,471-78.
73 See Gordon, Before the Bible, 285. Gordon earlier (pp. 101-12) suggests that
Hebrew
literature followed a pure format in its epic style due to its connection with
that, in a sense, the whole Bible is epic, especially
the Christian message.
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GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
accounts as belonging to the wider genre of
heroic narrative, with
which he also includes the stories of Daniel, Gideon,
David, Ruth,
and Esther. He restricts biblical epic to the
exodus event.
There is only one biblical story that is in the
running for consideration
as an epic. It is what I
shall call the Epic of the Exodus, which occupies
parts of the biblical books
of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy. The main narrative
sections are as follows: Exodus 1-
20, 32-34; Numbers 10-14, 16-17, 20-24;
Deuteronomy 32-34.74
Cassuto likewise decides for the presence of
epic tradition in the OT,
relating it particularly to the older poetry.
The Hebrew literature. . . continues the literary tradition that had
already become crystallized
among the Canaanite population before
the people of
Hebrew tongue, with certain dialectal
variations, the most ancient
Canaanite idiom.75
Cassuto is careful to point out, however, that a
fully developed epic
poem does not exist in the OT canon. What is found,
rather, are
poetic remnants of what must have been a once
extensive epic
literature:
When we have regard to the fact that the
relevant passages depict the
events in poetic colours and expressions, and that in the main these
phrases are stereotyped,
recurring verbatim in quite a number of
different verses, . . . it
follows that these legends were not handed down
orally in a simple prosaic
speech, which was liable to variations, but
assumed a fixed, traditional,
poetic aspect. . . . This poetic form was
specifically epic in character.76
On the whole, one must agree with Cassuto. For certainly the
basic epic standard that such a work must be a long
narrative poem is
nowhere met in the OT. Nevertheless, the primary
importance of the
exodus itself and the prevalence of the exodus motif,
as well as the
poetic reproduction of that event in various places in
the OT, make it
highly likely that
great era in epic fashion.77 The epic
remnants scattered throughout
74 Ryken, The Literature after Bible, 81.
75 Cassuto,
Biblical and Oriental Studies, 2.70.
76 Ibid., 73.
77 Hummel, The Word Becoming Flesh, 70, observes, "The exodus event is
the
heart of the Old Testament 'gospel,' and the word
'redeem' comes to be forever bound
to it." To this may be added the remarks of
O. T. Allis, The Old Testament: Its Claims
and Its Critics (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972) 267, "The
deliverance from Egyptian
bondage is the most important, as it is the most
spectacular redemptive event in the
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 185
the OT render it possible also that the details of
the exodus once
existed in full epic form. If that was not in
classical format, it was, at
least, in the traditional style of the familiar Near
Eastern heroic cycle.
Literary Dependence
At this point two further problems surface. (1)
If it can be shown
that Habakkuk's material is of epic quality,
belonging to a corpus of
epic poetry, can the full range of that epic
material be determined or
the original poem itself be recovered? (2) If that
poem can be re-
covered and if it may be safely assumed that
pant in the ancient Near Eastern Mediterranean
milieu, was its epic
drawn from and/or dependent upon any Near Eastern
precursors?
The question of the content of the proposed
Hebrew epic rests
on an examination of those poems that sing of the
era and events of
literary features. To Hab
3:3-15 may be added: Exod 15:1-18; Deut
33:1-3;
Judg 5:4-5; Pss 18:8-16
(Heb.); 68:8-9 (Heb.); 77:17-20
(Heb.); and 144:5-6. Two of these passages, Hab 3:3-15 and Exod
15:1-18, contain extended portrayals of the exodus experience.
Like Habakkuk's psalm, Exod
15:1-18 gives a detailed discus-
sion of the era of the
exodus, first singing of the exodus itself and
Yahweh's
victory at the
for his divine leading, first to
proleptically from Sinai to the
Promised Land (vv 14-18).
Habakkuk adds considerable information to this
event. In these
verses one can observe that there are actually two
compositions, each
of which makes its own contribution to the corpus
of the exodus epic.
That
there are two poems here can be seen both from their differing
themes and the syntax of the respective material. Hab 3:3-7 describes
God's
leading of his heavenly and earthly hosts from the south in an
awe-inspiring mighty theophany. It is marked structurally by the
repeated use of the coordinator waw to tie together its thought
associations. Hab
3:8-15 comprises a victory song commemorating
the conquest itself and points to the basis of that
success in the
exodus event, particularly in the victory at the
no waw coordinator is
used, thought associations being accomplished
via variations in sentence structure, including
change of word order
and the skillful employment of poetic tricola.
Both portions, however, tell of the same era and
sing of the
unfolding drama of the exodus event and in so
doing employ epic
history of
Exodus
3-15 and referred to a hundred or more times in the rest of the Old
Testament."
186
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
themes and style. Thus, there is the central focus on
a hero--God
himself. Moreover, in the first poem (vv 3-7)
the poet relates the
account of an epic journey, here God's leading
of his people from the
southland toward
attention to God's command of nature in awesome theophany (vv
3-4),
his special companions (v 5), his earthshaking power (v 6), and
the effect of all of this on the inhabitants of the
land (v 7).
The second poem (vv 8-15) transcends the general
bounds of the
movement from
being best understood as including God's miraculous
acts in the
conquest period as well. God's victories at the
end of the exodus
account are rehearsed first (vv 8-11), possibly
reflecting such deeds as
the triumph at the
3-4),
as well as the victories at the Wadi Kishon (Judges 4-5) and
Gibeon (Joshua 10). The poet then directs his hearers'
attention to the
basic victory that gave
the singing of these two epic songs was designed
for the listeners'
response in submission to
kuk's own reaction to them
(vv 16-19).
Likewise, epic elements can be seen in these two
poems in the
stylistic employment of literary features common
to epic genre: the
use of static epithets, set parallel terms, and the
utilization of a
vocabulary and themes common to the commemoration
of the exodus
event.78 In both subject matter
and literary style, Habakkuk's twofold
psalm deserves to be recognized as epic remnant.
When one considers both of the major passages
concerning the
exodus (Exod 15:1-18; Hab 3:3-15) together with the reflections of
that event in other fragmentary portions, it is
clear that the primary
emphasis of the epic cycle is on the deliverance
out of
all other happenings that follow, including the
conquest, are intri-
cately tied to it. Thus the
whole movement from Egypt to Canaan
forms one grand exodus event. Seen in this way it may
be possible to
sketch at least in shadowy form something of the
substance of that
once great epic concerning
entrance in triumph into
and victor, God himself.
The following outline of themes and their source
passages may
thus be tentatively proposed.
I.
The Exodus Experience: The Redeemer's redemption of his people (Exod
15:1-10)
78 See further, Rummel, "Narrative Structures in the UgariticTexts," 3.236-38.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 187
A. Heading and Theme: A song of redemption for
the Redeemer (Exod
15:1-2)
B. God's Redemptive Work: Brings deliverance to
his people from their
oppressors (Exod 15:3-5)
C. Israel's redemption: By the power of her
omnipotent Redeemer (Exod
15:6-10;
cf. Hab 3:l4b-15)
II.
The Movement to Sinai: The Redeemer's self-revelation
to his redeemed
people (Exod
III.
The Movement from Sinai to the
Redeemer to the nations (Hab
3:3-15)
A. The Redeemer's
corning from the south (Hab 3:3-15)
1. His appearance (Hab 3:3-4; cf. Judg 5:4; Ps 68:8)
2. His associates (Hab 3:5; cf. Deut 33:2-3)
3. His actions (Hab 3:6-7)
B. The Redeemer's
conquest (Hab 3:8-15)
1. His power: As seen at
the Jordan (Hab 3:8-9)
2. His power: As seen in
the natural world (Hab
5:4-5; Pss
18:8-16; 68:8-9; 77:17-20; 144:5-6)
3. His power: As seen by the enemy (Hab 3:12-15; cf. Exod 15:14-
18)
So
viewed, the exodus epic once sang of God's mighty prowess in
delivering his people from
Sinai
and through the Transjordanian Wilderness, sang of
the cross-
ing of the
the conquest of the land. The full epic, obviously,
has not been
inscripturated. Perhaps this is
because, as Cassuto suggests, the lan-
guage of the full blown
ancient epic was so intertwined with its
mythological predecessors,79
or simply because God wanted the focus
of
could and did supply to his enslaved people rather
than on an
account that all too easily could become treated
as merely legendary.
The question of
traditions must now be considered. Certainly
in the midst of a somewhat similar cultural milieu
favors the pos-
sibility of a literary
borrowing. Moreover,
Literary works
throughout the ancient world, especially in the
ancient Near East, share motifs
and forms. Proverbs, hymns, disputa-
tions, and prophecies appear
in the literature of cultures influenced by
the Hebrews.80
Indeed,
the Hebrew poets' employment of literary themes and ter-
minology found in the epics of
the surrounding nations makes the
79 Cassuto, Biblical and Oriental Studies, 2.70-80, 102.
80 V. L. Toilers and J. R. Maier, eds., The Bible and Its Literary Milieu (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans,
1979) 11.
188
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
question of the relationship of the Hebrew epic
to the epic literature
of the Ancient Near East a pertinent one. However,
as Lambert
points out, with regard to the many parallels between
the literature of
links in such cases.81
Although some scholars suggest a relationship
between the above
mentioned material with Mesopotamian sources
(e.g., Kramer and
Smith),
most underscore the frequent similarities between the OT and
the great Canaanite epics in vocabulary, poetic
devices, and, espe-
cially, thematic motifs. As
for the material considered here, Cassuto
finds Canaanite literary traditions echoed in nearly
every verse of
Exod 15:1-18,82
and also lists the several cases where Habakkuk has
reproduced epic elements in his two psalms: the
noise of the waves of
the sea (Hab
12;
cf. Exod 15:7), the appearance of the Lord riding on
his chariots,
the clouds of the sky (Hab
3:8; cf. Exod 15:2,4), the thunderous voice
of the Lord above the roar of the sea (Hab
the enemy at the presence of the Lord (Hab
Lord's
fighting against the rebels with his divine weapons (Hab
3:9,
11,
14), the Lord's compelling of the monsters to leap into the sea
(Hab 3:6; cf. Exod 15:3), the
Lord's annihilation of Rahab and his
helpers (Hab 3:9, 13;
cf. Exod 15:2), the Lord's treading upon the sea
(Hab
these to the battles reported in the Ugaritic tales of the Baal and Anat
cycles wherein Baal compelled Prince Yam (sea) and
Judge Nahar
(river) to recognize his kingship over them.84
Thus, the Hebrew
poets used "the expression and motifs that. . . were
a paramount
feature of the ancient epic.”85 He
goes on to suggest that the early
Hebrew
storytellers probably borrowed wholesale elements from these
Canaanite
myths and may even have had native (non-biblical)
epic literature to draw upon, such as in the case of
"The Revolt of
the Sea."
81 W. G. Lambert, "A New Look at the
Babylonian Background of Genesis," in
The Bible and Its
Literary Milieu,
285-97.
82 Cassuto, Biblical and Oriental Studies, 2.99-101.
83 See the concise summary by Rummel, "Narrative Structures in the Ugaritic
Texts,"
3.236-39.
84 Cassuto, Biblical and Oriental Studies, 2.80-97. Cassuto relates the Lord's tread-
ing upon the sea to Marduk's defeat of Tiamat
recounted in the Enuma Elish;
see
ANET,67.
85 Ibid., 99. For
a discussion of common elements of the epic battle of the divine
hero against the sea., see E. L. Greenstein,
"The Snaring of Sea in the Baal Epic,"
MAARAV 3 (1982) 195-216.
Greenstein has an excellent bibliography of sources that
relate the epic material to the Bible.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 189
Although the Israelites
no longer recounted tales concerning two
deities who waged war against
each other, they did nevertheless pre-
serve a story about one of
the created beings--the great Sea--who
rebelled against his Creator, or
of some kind of evil angel, who
attempted unsuccessfully to
oppose the will of God of the universe.86
However, it seems that the case for the adoption
of a complete
secular story in full literary dependence upon Ugaritic source material
has not been demonstrated. While many of the data
cited above
extensively reflect the phraseology and vocabulary
of Canaanite
literature, no full scale borrowing can be shown,
even in Cassuto's
"Song of the Sea."
Not only this, but the
settings of these two sources are distinctly
different. The relevant Near Eastern accounts deal
with creation and
the ordering of the heavens and earth.87
The cycle of biblical narra-
tives upon which Habakkuk
evidently drew deals with the exodus, the
basic expression of
tended portions in the OT considered here, Exod 15:1-18; Hab 3:3-
15,
are indeed victory songs, the literary relationship between the
scriptural accounts and the Near Eastern literature
need be viewed as
nothing more than that. All that can be safely
said is that in the
singing of God's redemption of
have used the format, vocabulary, and phraseology of
victory genre
and heroic epic narratives. Therefore, Cross is
correct when he
maintains,
with the mythopoeic
patterns of West Semitic, especially Canaanite
myth. Yet its religion did emerge from the old
matrix and its institu-
tions were transformed by the
impact of formative historical events and
their interpretation by elements of what we may call
"Proto-Israel"
which came together in the days of Moses and in the
era of the
Conquest.88
Accordingly, it is apparent that just as with
the whole corpus, so the
relevant verses of Habakkuk's prophecy partake of
a cycle of tradi-
tional epic material which,
though using the language and literary
motifs of its neighbors (particularly of
a victor, God himself.
86 Cassuto, Biblical and Oriental Studies, 2.81.
87 A discussion and detailed critique of
the growing literature concerning the
Hebrews'
supposed indebtedness to the literature of the ancient Near East in general
and to Ugaritic, in
particular, is given by Rummel, "Narrative
Structures in the
Ugaritic Texts," 3.233-332.
88 Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, 143-44. Cf. P. C. Craigie, "The Poetry
of
190
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Herein lies the crucial
point of the matter. Unlike the typical
secular epic, the central figure of the scriptural
epic is not man written
large, but the one in whose image man is created--God
himself.
Despite
the prowess and success of the hero of the standard non-
biblical epic, a note of pathos and a lack of
fulfillment conventionally
attend his actions. Accompanying the highest
attainments of heroic
man, be it the valor and wisdom of Homer's heroes,
the virtue of
Vergil's Aeneas, or the strength and
resourcefulness of Gilgamesh,
there is always the sense of striving to "make
do" in the face of life's
stark realities and often cruel circumstances. Man,
then, must become
superman, or as Ing
puts it, "the human figures themselves may at
moments be raised to act on the superhuman
plane.”89 However
representative of the finest qualities
of humanity the epic hero may
be, a sense of the unattainable, of the failure to
achieve immortality
and full human potential can be felt. Perhaps no
more telling words
can be cited than those of Gilgamesh:
[For] whom, Urshanabi,
have my hands become weary?
For whom is the blood of my heart being spent?
For myself I have not obtained any boon.
For the 'earth-lion' have I obtained the boon.90
In the corpus of biblical epic literature,
however,
tion is focused always upon
the one who himself is the summum
bonum, the source of man's
redemption and the norm and standard
for man's activities. In the deepest sense, man's
fullest goals become
fulfilled by being identified with and submitted
to him who is ultimate
reality. Israelite epic, then, unlike its
secular counterparts, is realized
epic,91 for the one of whose presence the
Israelite sings is at once
man's highest goal.
That the Hebrew epic is realized epic may be
seen not only from
the clear implications of the epic material itself
(e.g., Exod 15:2, 17-
18;
Ps 77:21 [Heb.]), but from the reaction of Habakkuk at witness-
ing the mighty acts of God
(Hab
seeing the all-sufficient greatness of God, Job
42:1-6). Moreover, it is
clear that the exodus event becomes throughout the OT
not only the
basis of
accordance with God's predetermination of what is
best for man.92
89 Ing,
"Epic," 1.197.
90 The translation given here is taken from
Heidel, The
Gilgamesh Epic and Old
Testament Parallels, 92.
91 I owe the coining of this term to
Michael Travers of the English Department at
92 See the helpful discussion of G. Vox, Biblical
Theology (
mans, 1954) 124-29. See also E. Martens, God's Design (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981)
81-91, 208.
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 191
This
is apparent not only from the account of the exodus from
which itself forms the foundation for the formulaic
presentation of
the Ten Commandments (Exod
19:4-6; 20:2-17; Deut 5:6-21) and
the specific requirements for a redeemed people
(Deut
29;
wilderness wanderings (Deut 8:1-6; 11:1- 7, etc.)
and the culminating
experience of being God's special people (Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6-11;
14:2;
26:16-19) fitted for living in the land of promise (Deut 6:1-25;
8:7-10;
11:8-21; Josh 23:3-6,15; Ps 105:43-45, etc.).93
From start to finish, then, the exodus formed
one grand event
through which a redeemed people was to realize
life's full potential
and finest blessings. Indeed, before that event had
taken place or the
epic songs had been sung, God had told Moses,
"I am the God of
your father, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of
Jacob."
At this, Moses hid his face, because he
was afraid to look at God.
The LORD said, "I
have indeed seen the misery of my people in
I am concerned about their suffering. So I have
come down to rescue
them from the hand of the
Egyptians and to bring them up out of that
land into a good and
spacious land, a land flowing with milk and
honey.”94
Through
it all a redeemed people learned the divine prescription for
living life on the highest plane. As Martens remarks,
In summary, early
nature and among nations. She
experienced him more directly in his
power and salvation at the
exodus, and in an on-going fashion she was
led into a life of intimacy
with him in the religious practices which he
enjoined for her .95
The
basis of that on-going life lay in doing that which was perfect in
God's
sight (Deut
that life rested in the appropriating of God's moral
attributes as one's
own, especially his holiness (Lev
believer's ethical conduct meant living life as God
did, in truth and
justice (Ps 85:1-14 [Heb.]), and the imperative
for that ethic lay in a
growing, all-consuming love for God that
resulted in a consistent
93 K. A. Kitchen, "Exodus;" in The New Bible Dictionary, ed. J. D. Douglas
(Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962) 404, well remarks,
"Repeatedly in later generations,
the prophets in exhorting
meditations hark back to this Exodus. . . . For
them, the great redemption is ever to be
remembered with gratitude and response in
obedience."
94 Exod 3:6-8,
NIV.
95 E. Martens, God's Design, 96. See also his earlier
discussion on pp. 18-20.
192
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
faithfulness to God in every area of
life.96 Unlike the frustrated hero
of the secular epic who ultimately remained
unfulfilled, the OT be-
liever found his epic hero in
the One who offered life on the highest
plane. That message of full salvation would continue
to punctuate the
pages of the old revelation until in the fulness of time would come the
Great
Redeemer who would proclaim "I am come that ye might have
life and that more abundantly" (John
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
A careful analysis of Habakkuk's twofold psalm
reveals that it is
to be viewed primarily as a victory song. Like
other victory songs in
the ancient Near East its leading themes and
literary features place
Habakkuk's psalm firmly within the corpus of
Semitic epic literature.
The
common subject matter, phraseology, and structure it shares with
several other early poetic compositions in the
OT suggest the pos-
sibility of the existence of an
ancient Hebrew epic cycle that com-
memorated God's heroic redemption
of
of that great exodus event, starting from the
deliverance out of
and stretching to the conquest, continued to be
sung in non-canonical
and canonical settings down through
ticularly prominent at times of
national distress, as in Habakkuk's
day. As noted above, the language and literary
themes of that great
event were sung not only by Moses (Exod 15:1-18; cf. Num 23:22-24;
24:8-9;
Deut 33:2-3), but on subsequent occasions at crucial times:
by Deborah (Judg 5:4-5)
and David (Pss 18:8-16 [Heb.]; 68:8-9
[Heb.];
144:5-6), and in the poems of the temple liturgy (Pss
77:17-20
[Heb.];
114:3-7). Thus, Cross affirms that
The oldest poetry of
survive in unrevised form, is
marked by a ubiquitous motif: the march
of Yahweh from the
southern mountains (or from
heavenly armies.97
Cross
goes on to suggest that this became the dominant theme of the
early Israelite cultus.
Whether or not this latter idea can be affirmed,
certainly the exodus event is repeatedly referred
to, and themes from
the epic cycle continue to appear in the canonical
literature at crucial
times in the first millennium B.C. One may consider,
for example, Joel
96 The NT ethic, based on the new covenant
where God's eternal principles are
written in the believer's heart, prescribes the
same great elements: perfection (Matt
97 Cross, "The Divine Warrior in
PATTERSON: THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK 193
(
50:2;
51:10, 15; 64:1-4; 66:15) in the eighth century, and Nahum (1:2-
4),
as well as Habakkuk, in the seventh century.
Thus, there is every reason to believe that
Habakkuk could have
literary antecedents that were fully available to
him for use in com-
posing his double psalm. In this regard, Keil remarks:
The description of this theophany rests throughout upon earlier
lyrical descriptions of the
revelations of God in the earlier times of
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.
lxviii.25; ver. 8 with Ps. lxviii.5, 34). The
points of contact in vers.
10-15 with Ps. lxxvii.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 the prophet has
reproduced in an original manner
such features of the psalm as were
adapted to his purpose.98
Of
course, God could also have supernaturally revealed to Habakkuk
these very events so that Habakkuk saw and heard what
transpired in
those days. If so, he could have easily used the very
archaic phrase-
ology of that earlier age.99
Habakkuk's own reaction to the epic
material may well point to such a visionary
experience: "I heard and
my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the
sound" (Hab
either alternative the archaic nature of the poetry is
readily explained.
In any case, it is evident that Habakkuk had
been led by the
Lord
to consider the greatness and sufficiency of God. In so doing,
his attention is called to
exodus. Habakkuk apparently knew it well: "LORD,
I have heard of
your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O
LORD" (Hab 3:2a). As
suggested above, he may even have had a body of
epic literary
tradition available to him as he contemplated his
perplexities and
God's
person.100 The rehearsal of the double poem
of the exodus
event was sufficient for the prophet.
98 Keil,
Minor Prophets, 2.96.
99 So T. Laetsch,
Minor Prophets, 345. So also, Smith, Micah-Malachi 116, who
remarks, "3:3-15 is a vision of Habakkuk
much like the vision God promised him in
2.3.
Habakkuk may have had an ecstatic experience in which he 'saw' God coming to
defeat his enemies."
100 Note that Habakkuk's final affirmation
of confidence in the Lord (v 19) is also
drawn from the corpus of older literature (cf. Ps
18:33-34 [Heb.] with Job 9:8). For
Heb.
tvmb = bmt
/ 'back,' see Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook, 3.373.
194
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Habakkuk had asked that-beyond whatever judgment
must experience--God would again move on behalf of
his people in a
deliverance like unto that in the exodus (Hab 3:2). The reiteration of
God's
past intervention on behalf of his people, delivering them from
bondage and guiding them into the land of
promise, brought reassur-
ance to him (Hab
to the prophet that both the present situation and
final destination for
the people of God would find their resolution in
the redeeming God
of the exodus event. As Feinberg points out,
In a sublime manner the
prophet now pictures a future redemp-
tion under figures taken
from past events. The background here is the
memory of the events of the
Exodus and Sinai. Just as the Lord
manifested Himself when He
redeemed
appear again to deliver the
godly among His people from their oppres-
sors among the nations and
will judge their foes as He did the land of
Egypt.101
As
the message of Habakkuk is heard again by the people of God,
may that same God-inspired confidence and
conviction grip them as
the prophets of old,
I will wait patiently
for the day of calamity. . .
yet I will rejoice in the
Lord,
I will be joyful in God
my Savior.
The Sovereign LORD is my
strength;
he makes my feet like the
feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the
heights.102
101 C. L. Feinberg, The Minor Prophets (Chicago: Moody, 1976) 216-17. See also,
H.
Hailey, A Commentary on the Minor Prophets (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1972) 290.
102 Hab 3:16,18-19, NIV.
This
material is cited with gracious permission from:
Grace
Theological Seminary
www.grace.edu
Please
report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at:
thildebrandt@gordon.edu