John Calvin Commentary Habakkuk 3:13

"Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, For the salvation of thine anointed; Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked man, Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck. Selah." — Habakkuk 3:13 (ASV)

The Prophet again applies to the present state of the people what he had previously recorded—that God went forth with His Christ for the salvation of His people. Some consider that a particle of comparison is understood, and repeat the verb twice: “As you then went forth for the deliverance of your people, so now will you go forth for the deliverance of your people with your Christ.” But this repetition is strained.

I therefore take the words of the Prophet simply as they are—that God went forth for the deliverance of His people. But when God’s people are spoken of, their gratuitous adoption must always be remembered. How was it that the children of Abraham became the peculiar people of God? Did this proceed from any worthiness? Did it come to them naturally? None of these things can be alleged. Though they then differed in no way from other nations, yet God was pleased to choose them to be a people to Himself. Therefore, by the title “the people of God,” their adoption is intimated. Now this adoption was not temporary or momentary, but was to continue to the end. Hence, it was easy for the faithful to draw this conclusion: that they were to hope from God for the same help as what He had formerly granted to their ancestors.

You went forth, he says, for the salvation, for the salvation of your people. He repeats the word “salvation,” and not without reason; for he wished to call attention to this point, as he had said before—that God had not manifested His power in vain by so many miracles, as though He were angry with the sea and with rivers, but was concerned for the preservation of His people.

Since, then, the salvation of the Church has always been God’s design in working miracles, why should the faithful now be cast down when for a time they were oppressed by adversities? For God always remains the same. And why should they despond, especially since that ancient deliverance, and also those many deliverances of which he has spoken until now, are so many evidences of His everlasting covenant.

These, indeed, ought to be connected with the word of God; that is, with that promise according to which He had received the children of Abraham into favor for the purpose of protecting them to the end. For salvation, for salvation, says the Prophet, and that of His elect people.

He adds, with your Christ. This clause still more confirms what Habakkuk had in view—that God had been from the beginning the deliverer of His people in the person of the Mediator. When God, therefore, delivered His people from the hand of Pharaoh, when He made a way for them to pass through the Red Sea, when He redeemed them by doing wonders, when He subdued before them the most powerful nations, when He changed the laws of nature on their behalf—all these things He did through the Mediator.

For God could never have been propitious either to Abraham himself or to his posterity, had it not been for the intervention of a Mediator. Since, then, it has always been the office of the Mediator to preserve the Church of God in safety, the Prophet now takes it for granted that Christ was now manifested in a much clearer light than formerly.

For David was His living image, as well as his successors. God then gave a living representation of His Christ when He established a kingdom in the person of David; and He promised that this kingdom should endure as long as the sun and moon should shine in the heavens.

Since, then, there were in the time of Habakkuk clearer prophecies than in past times respecting the eternity of this kingdom, ought not the people to have taken courage, and to have known with certainty that God would be their Deliverer, when Christ should come? We now, then, apprehend the Prophet’s meaning. But I cannot go further now; I will defer the subject until tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You have so often and in such various ways formerly testified how much care and solicitude You have for the salvation of those who rely and call on You—O grant, that we today may experience the same. And though Your face is justly hidden from us, may we yet never hesitate to flee to You, since You have made a covenant through Your Son, which is founded in Your infinite mercy. Grant then, that we, being humbled in true penitence, may so surrender ourselves to Your Son, that we may be led to You, and find You to be no less a Father to us than to the faithful of old, as You everywhere testify to us in Your word, until at length, being freed from all troubles and dangers, we come to that blessed rest which Your Son has purchased for us by His own blood. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We explained yesterday why the Prophet says that God went forth for the salvation of the elect people with His Christ. His purpose was to confirm the faithful still more in the hope of their deliverance; for God is not only the same, and never changes His purpose, but the same Mediator also performs His office, through whom the people were formerly preserved. We must also notice this difference, to which I referred yesterday; for as God had then more clearly manifested Christ, it was fitting for the faithful to go on with more cheerfulness, as they had such a remarkable pledge of God’s favor, since God had promised that the kingdom of God would be forever.

He adds that wounded was the head from the house of the wicked; that is, there was no power that had not been laid prostrate by God for the sake of His people. We know that all the great kings were formerly destroyed, so that favor might be shown to God’s people.

The other comparison seems different, yet its object is the same: that God had made bare the foundation to the neck. This means He had destroyed His enemies from the roots.

For by “foundation” he means, metaphorically, whatever stability these enemies had, and that this stability was torn up and overthrown to the very neck—that is, to the very summit. For the human body, as we know, is covered from the neck to the feet. And he says that their houses, that is, their families, were laid bare to the neck, for the Lord had destroyed them all from the bottom to the top. We now understand what the Prophet meant.

As for the word סלה, selah, I have said nothing until now; but I will now briefly refer to what the Hebrew interpreters think. Some explain it by לעולם, laoulam, "forever"; and by עד ועד, od uod, "yet and yet"; as though, when this word is inserted, the Holy Spirit pronounced what is to be forever. Others render it by אמן, amen, as though God testified that what is said is true and indubitable.

But as it never occurs except in this song and in the Psalms, and does not always comport with what they say (that is, that it denotes certainty or perpetuity), I prefer embracing the opinion of those who think that it refers to singing, and not to things. What they add is also probable, if we regard its etymology, for the word means “to raise” or “to elevate”; and it was therefore put down to remind the singers to raise their voice.

But as it is a matter of no great importance, it is enough to state briefly what others think. Let us now go on—