068. Prayer Of Habakkuk.
Prayer Of Habakkuk.
Habakkuk 3:1-2, etc. This prophet is supposed to have prophesied in the reign of Manasseh, who occupied the throne of Judah for more than half a century. During this long period, Manasseh had ample time to undo the reformation effected by Hezekiah his father; and assiduously, and successfully, did he address himself to the unworthy task. Altars rose to Baal; fires were lighted up in honor of Moloch; groves were planted for the worship of false gods. Magic, divination, and other sinister arts, were patronized; and even the idol Astarte was honored with a place in the house of the Lord. Added to these abominations, rivers of the blood of innocent persons flowed from one end of the holy city to the other. God himself testified, that Manasseh seduced the people to do more evil, than did the nations whom he destroyed before the children of Israel. 2 Kings 21:9. And terrible were the divine judgments which God threatened for these abominations. “I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish; wiping it, and turning it upside down.” 2 Kings 21:13.
Such was the state of the Jewish nation, when Habakkuk entered upon his work, as a messenger from God. He announces to Manasseh and his people the approaching invasion by the Chaldeans, permitted by God, as a token of his holy indignation. So terrible would be its effects, that the ears of every one, who should hear of it, would tingle. In this third chapter, we have a prayer of the prophet, uttered in view of these impending calamities. For sublimity of thought, and beauty of diction, it has, perhaps, never been surpassed.
Before him were arrayed, it would seem, the wickedness of prince and people, and the terrible divine judgments which impended over them. In the fullness of his heart, he bursts out: “O Lord, I have heard thy speech.”—I have heard thy decree, which has gone forth, that the day of divine indignation and calamity is at hand. I know that it will come— must come—yet, “O Lord, revive thy work.”—Do something for the salvation of this ruined people; something for thine own honor. In the midst of these years of sin and wickedness— of blasphemy and idolatry — make thyself known. Make known “thy power, thy pity, thy providence in the government of the world, for the safety and welfare of the Church.” “In wrath”—and justly art thou wroth—“remember mercy.”
Thus pleads the patriotic prophet. And, from thus pleading, he proceeds, in thought and language of wonderful sublimity, to a rapid view of the divine past providential interventions, in behalf of Israel. This he does, by way of encouraging himself, and those who were faithful to God. And as their Divine Protector had done so much for them, would he not do more? Wonders had been added to wonders. Should they now cease, and all be lost?
We cannot follow the prophet as, in most sublime thought and language, he adverts to the descent of God upon Sinai, at the giving of the law, when his glory was as devouring fire; nor to his driving out the nations of Canaan—measuring the land for his people—dividing the sea and the rivers, that they might pass over—causing the sun and moon to stand still in the heavens: such wonders did God do for his people. The review of these, while they caused the prophet to tremble, as indications of what God in his power could do, comforted him, because they were wrought in behalf of his people. And, though now wicked and apostate, might he not hope for the exercise of that same sovereign and omnipotent power for their salvation, under the sway of Almighty Goodness? The pious soul sometimes sinks, for a season, under an oppressive view of even the just judgments of God. It deprecates them — shrinks away from them — and prays against them. But, in times of calamity, whether national or individual, there is one grace which is called into exercise, and is even strengthened and confirmed, faith, or holy confidence in the rectitude and ultimate kindness of God. Come what calamities may; rise what storms; blow what gales; beat what tempests upon us, or upon our land—God never forsakes his friends. This confidence is to the soul as an ark, into which it may retire until the indignation be past; a rock, on which it may rest till the raging billows are hushed to peace.
How beautifully does the prophet express the confidence of his soul in God! Here, at last, he reposes himself! Here, hope carries him above his despondencies! Here, he rejoices, even in view of the storm which would desolate the land, and send her sons and daughters into a long and gloomy captivity. “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom; neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
We know not what betides our own now happy and beloved country. May she still go on, increasing in her busy and happy population, and flourishing in all that contributes to national prosperity and national renown!
But, should storms hereafter arise; should her rulers seduce her from the observance of the divine ordinances and institutions; should civil anarchy fill her with blood, or some foreign foe desolate her fair and beautiful cities, let the righteous within her borders confide in God; let them look back upon her past history, in no small degree like to that of God’s ancient people; let them plead the promises; let them “rejoice in the Lord,” as did the pious prophet, and “joy in the God of their salvation;” let them say, and sing:
Loud may the troubled ocean roar, In sacred peace our souls abide;
While every nation, every shore, Trembles, and dreads the swelling tide.