Habakkuk 2:1-4 3:1-19; Joshua 10; Exodus 15
For several years, as we sang the fourth Ode of the Paschal canon, I was mystified at the prominent role given to a relatively obscure prophet, who wrote three short chapters of our Old Testament. We sing:
The inspired Prophet Habakkuk now stands with us in Holy Vigil. He is like a shining angel, crying out with a piercing voice: ‘Today salvation has come to the world, for Christ is risen as All-Powerful!’”
Every time we sang it, I made a promise to myself to research the prophet again, and to see why he is envisaged as standing with us waiting for the coming of the LORD, after prophesying the Resurrection so very clearly. And then, with all the joy and activity of Pascha, I would forget. Remembering, however, that it is Habakkuk’s ode that is gathered with the others, as the fourth Biblical canticle, has given me an opportunity to think about this more carefully. For in these nine odes prescribed for Matins, and sung most frequently during Great Lent, he joins noteworthies whom we know with more familiarity: the great prophet Isaiah, the prophet Jonah, the lawgiver Moses, the righteous Hannah, the three Holy Youths, the righteous Zechariah, and our beloved Theotokos. His ode is a difficult one—indeed, the first verse of the Hebrew uses an obscure word, Shigionoth, that may suggest it is a kind of “lament.” But in the harshness of his prophecy we come face-to-face with real godliness—the prophet’s humility, his hope, and his being transported by God to high places. Here is the song, taken from Habakkuk 3.
The prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, with an ode.
O LORD, I have heard of thy renown, and thy work, O LORD, do I fear. Thou shalt be known between the two living creatures; in the approaching of the years thou shalt be revealed; in the troubling of my soul, you shall in in wrath remember mercy.
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. Selah
His brightness was like the light, rays flashed from His hand; and there he veiled His power.
Before Him went pestilence, and plague followed close behind.
He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations, then the eternal mountains were scattered, the everlasting hills sank low. His ways were of old.
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
Was thy wrath against the rivers, O LORD? Was thy anger against the rivers? Or thy indignation against the sea, when thou didst ride upon thy horses, upon thy chariot of victory?
Thou didst strip the sheath from thy bow, and put the arrows to the string. Selah Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
The moutains saw thee, and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice, it lifted its hands on high.
The sun and moon stood still in their habitation at the light of thine arrows as they sped, at the flash of thy glittering spear.
Thou didst bestride the earth in fury, thou didst trample the nations in anger.
Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, for the salvation of thine anointed. Thou didst crush the heads of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah
Thou didst pierce with thy shafts the head of his warriors, who came like whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
Thou didst trample the sea with thy horses, the surging of mighty waters.
I hear, and my body trembles, my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones, my steps totter beneath me. I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.
Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,The flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.The LORD is my God and my strength, and He will instruct my feet unto perfection. He mounteth me upon high places, that I may conquer by His song.
The first verse of the ode introduces all three of the bright themes—humility, hope, and high places: “O LORD, I have heard of thy renown, and thy work, O LORD, do I fear. Thou shalt be known between the two living creatures; in the approaching of the years thou shalt be revealed; in the troubling of my soul, you shall in in wrath remember mercy.” The prophet speaks personally but suggests a pattern for us all. What he knows of God’s being and work heartens him, and on the basis of this knowledge (shared also by us!), he is in awe. The fear of the LORD, as the proverb reminds us, is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge is not enough: it must mature into something that shapes all of what we are, and that puts us in a creaturely perspective before our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and human-loving Creator. Habakkuk had fewer and less dramatic examples of God’s great works than we do—for we know Him in the Son, in His teaching, in His Crucifixion, in His Resurrection, in His Ascension!—yet the prophet gives to us this beautiful example of creaturely humility and dependence. He recognizes God’s renown, fears him, and knows that God will reveal Himself even while there is much to trouble us. As a result, He has a glimpse of God’s glory, enthroned between the “two living creatures,” and present even in our human realm and time—as the years approach! Some will notice that the living creatures are not found in all versions, for we find this reading only in the LXX, the Greek version of the Bible.
Several fathers contemplate this scene of God enthroned, and make different suggestions—is it the LORD high and lifted up between the seraphim, is it the LORD sitting between and fulfilling both the OT and the NT, is it the LORD coming into Jerusalem on the donkey and her foal? Whatever is the prophet’s meaning, God’s presence in His creation elicits awe, and draws us up into the heavenly places as we mediate upon His righteousness. When we get to the final verses of Habakkuk’s entire song, we hear the prophet exalting in where the LORD has transported him—“He mounteth me upon high places, that I may conquer by His song.” Habakkuk’s humility and faithfullness, then, are rewarded as the Lord exalts him. Indeed, the prophet’s place on high—and with us at Pascha—is foreshadowed in an earlier part of his prophecy, where he tells us about how he has climbed up to the watchtower to wait for the LORD: “I will take my stand on my watch, mounted upon the rock, and see what He shall say to me” (Hab 2:1).
As the prophet stands on high, waiting for the LORD to speak, God gives him careful instructions, what to say to a generation that is to come.
In the historical context, Habakkuk is being told what to say about those who must soon face the violence of the Babylonians, who will take away the faithful into exile. The handwriting is on the wall, and even those who face this terrible ordeal are being told to remain faithful, and confident in God’s faithfulness. And so, in this instruction, we receive those wonderful words that find their way into the New Testament— “the righteous will live by My faithfulness” (or faith, Hab 2:4). Habakkuk is the prime example here of one who, despite all the turmoil around, remembers that God is faithful, and retains faith in God’s goodness. At this time in history the people of God are about to face a great ordeal—the coming of the Babylonians against them. And even this ordeal is within the plan of God, hard as it will be to face. Habakkuk describes the coming of the armies in terms of the great deeds the LORD accomplished in the past—the slaying of the Egyptians in the water, the standing still of the sun and moon while Joshua won a great battle. Was God’s anger against the rivers or the sea, or the cosmos at those times? No, it was against sin and death, and so He worked for the deliverance of the Hebrews, and their victory under Joshua. This time, though, Habakkuk warns that the LORD will come to chastise His own people who have been faithless, using the barbarian armies of Babylon as punishment. But this is not God’s final word, and the prophet knows it.
For he sees beyond the assault of the Babylonians, to the time when God will visit His people with mercy, even though punishment is about to come, through the vicissitudes of history All around us, as in the day of Habakkuk, we see evidence of the human fall –
in death, and illness, and the violence of those who reject God. Even in these events, though, the prophet sees the omnipotence of God.: “His brightness was like the light, rays flashed from His hand; and there he veiled His power. Before Him went pestilence, and plague followed close behind.” For us, this view of God, who brings low and can use tragedy for our final good, rankles a bit. We perhaps feel that it confuses our picture of a good and merciful God. Yet it is reality: mysteriously, He has allowed, and continues to allow sorrow and suffering to come our way. All that we experience is in His sight: nothing is a surprise to Him. Yet these sorrowful things are not His final will; His true power is veiled, not fully revealed, in the affliction and punishment. This Habakkuk knows, for He has seen God at work in positive ways for the deliverance of His people, too And so he finishes, after warning God’s people of the coming wrath, with a note of confidence:
“I will quietly wait …. Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
The flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.The LORD is my God and my strength, and He will instruct my feet unto perfection. He mounteth me upon high places, that I may conquer by His song.”
Throughout the centuries, God’s faithful have faced trouble. Yet, knowing who He is, and what He does, we wait quietly. Perhaps there will be no fig, or fruit, or olive, or food, or meat—yet we rejoice, knowing who God is and His promises to deliver us. He is our strength, and will use even dire circumstances to lead us into perfection. May Great Lent, in its austerity, be for us part of that medicine. May the trials that we face not rob us of our joy. May be know that He will lead us to high places—into His very presence, in order to sing His song with the angels and those who have already conquered. Humility and hope instruct us—and so we, too, will be brought on high.
