John Calvin Commentary Habakkuk 3:6

"He stood, and measured the earth; He beheld, and drove asunder the nations; And the eternal mountains were scattered; The everlasting hills did bow; His goings were [as] of old." — Habakkuk 3:6 (ASV)

He says that God possessed every power to subdue the earth to himself, and that he could at his will destroy it, indeed, dissolve mountains as well as nations. Some of the Jews understood this in reference to the ark, which was at that time in Gilead. They then supposed that the Prophet meant this, in short: that when God chose a place for the ark of the covenant in Gilgal, he determined then what he would do, and that he then in his secret counsel divided the land, so that each should have his portion by lot.

This, it is true, was accomplished shortly after, for Joshua, as we know, divided it by lot between the tribes. But what the Jews affirm about the ark seems to me strained and cold. Habakkuk, on the contrary, means by the word stand that God was openly conspicuous, like one who assumes an erect posture, so that he is seen from a distance. In this sense, we are to understand the expression that God stood.

The measuring of the earth is not to be confined to Judea, but is to be extended to the whole world. God, he says, has measured the earth. To measure the earth is what properly belongs to a sovereign king, and it is done so that he may assign to each his portion. Unless God, then, had a sovereign right over the earth and the whole world, Habakkuk would not have ascribed this office to him. This we learn from the verse itself, for he immediately adds that the nations, as it were, melted away, that the mountains were destroyed, that the hills bowed down.

Therefore, we see that by "earth" we are not to understand Judea only, but the whole world. It is as though he had said that when God appeared on Mount Sinai, he made it fully evident that the earth was under his power and authority, so that he could determine whatever he pleased and prescribe limits to all nations. For he does not speak of God here as having, like a surveyor, a measuring line; but he says that he measured the earth as one capable even then of changing the boundaries of the whole world. Indeed, he intimates that it was he himself who had at first created the earth and assigned it to men.

It is true that the nations did not then melt away, nor were the mountains demolished, nor the hills bowed down; but the Prophet simply means that God’s power then appeared, a power capable of shaking the whole world.

But he calls these the mountains of eternity and the hills ages, which had been from the beginning fixed on their own foundations. For if an earthquake happens on a plain, it seems less wonderful; and then if any of those mountains split apart, which are not so firmly fixed, it may be because of some hollow places. For when the winds fill the caverns, they are forced to burst, and they split apart the mountains and the earth.

But the Prophet relates an unusual thing, entirely different from the ordinary course of nature: that the mountains of eternity, which had been from the beginning and had remained without any change, were thus demolished and bowed down.

In short, the Prophet intended by all means to build up the confidence of the godly, so that they would become fully persuaded that God’s power to deliver them would be the same as that which their fathers had previously experienced. For there is no other support in adverse, and especially in despairing circumstances, than for the faithful to know that they are still under the protection of that God who has adopted them. This is the reason why the Prophet amplifies the subject of God’s power in such a striking manner.

And therefore he also adds that the ways of ages are those of God. Some render the clause, “the ways of the world.” The word עולם, oulam, however, properly means an age, or perpetual time. The Prophet, I have no doubt, means by “ways of ages” the wonderful means which God is accustomed to adopt for the defense of his Church. For we always tend to reduce God’s wonder to our own understanding, while it is his purpose to complete, in a wonderful manner, the work of our salvation.

Therefore, the Prophet here urges the faithful to lift their thoughts upward and to conceive something greater of God’s power than what they can naturally comprehend. If we take the ways of eternity in this sense, they are to be understood as in opposition to those means which are known and usual.

They are his daily ways: when the sun rises and sets, when spring succeeds winter, when the earth produces fruit. Though even these are so many miracles, yet they are his common ways. But God has ways of eternity, that is, he has means unknown to us by which he can deliver us from death, whenever it pleases him.

However, if any prefer to interpret the ways of eternity as signifying the continued power of God, which has always appeared from the beginning, the meaning would be appropriate and no less useful. For it especially serves to confirm our faith when we consider that God’s power has always been the same from the creation of heaven and earth, that it has never been lessened or undergone any change.

Since, then, God has successively manifested his power through all ages, we should therefore learn that we have no reason to despair, though he may conceal his hand for a time; for he is not, on that account, deprived of his right. He always retains the sovereignty of the world.

We ought, then, to be attentive to the “ways of ages,” that is, to the demonstration of that power, which was manifested in the creation of the world and still continues to be manifested.