John Calvin Commentary Habakkuk 3:9

"Thy bow was made quite bare; The oaths to the tribes were a [sure] word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers." — Habakkuk 3:9 (ASV)

The Prophet explains the same thing more clearly in this verse—that the power of God was previously manifested solely so that the children of Abraham might be taught to expect continued deliverance from him: for he says that the bow of God was made bare. By the bow, he means also the sword and other weapons, as if he had said that God was then armed, as we have previously seen stated. God therefore was then equipped with weapons and marched to the battle, having undertaken the cause of his chosen people, so that he might defend them against the wicked.

Since this was so, from this we see that these miracles were not to serve only for one period but were intended to perpetually encourage the faithful to always look for God's aid, even in the midst of death; for he can find escapes, though they may not appear to us.

We now see the meaning of the text; but he emphatically adds, The oaths of the tribes; for by this he more fully confirms that God had not assisted the children of Abraham at that time only to discard them afterwards, but that he had truly proved how faithful he was to his promises. For by the oaths of (or to) the tribes he means the covenant that God had made not only with Abraham but also with his descendants forever.

He uses 'oaths' in the plural because God had not only once promised to be a God to Abraham and to his seed but had often repeated the same promise, so that faith might be made more certain, since we need more than one thing to confirm us.

For we see how our infirmity always vacillates, unless God supplies us with many supports.

Since, then, God had often confirmed his servant Abraham, the Prophet speaks here of his oaths. But as to the substance, God's oath is the same: which was that he had taken the race of Abraham under his protection and promised that they would be a peculiar people to him, and, especially, that he had united the people under one head.

For unless Christ had been introduced, that covenant of God would not have been ratified or valid.

Since, then, God had once included everything when he said to Abraham, “I am God Almighty, and I shall be a God to you and to your children;” it is certain that nothing was added when God later confirmed Abraham's faith. But yet the Prophet does not use the plural number without reason; it was done so that the faithful might rest with less fear on God’s promise, seeing that it had been confirmed so often and by so many words.

He also calls them the oaths to the tribes; for though God had spoken to Abraham and later to Moses, yet the promise was entrusted to Abraham and the patriarchs, and later to Moses, so that the people might understand that it belonged equally to them. For it would not have been a great matter to promise what we read about to only a few men.

But Abraham was, so to speak, the depository; and it was a specific solemn agreement made with his entire race. Thus, we see why the Prophet here mentions the tribes rather than Abraham, or the patriarchs or Moses. Indeed, he had special regard for those of his own time, in order to confirm them, so that they might not doubt that God would also extend the same power to them.

How so? Because God had previously worked in a wonderful manner for the deliverance of his people. Why? So that he might prove himself to be true and faithful. In what respect? Because he had said that he would be the protector of his people; and he did not adopt only a few men, but the entire race of Abraham.

Since this was so, why should his descendants not hope for that which they knew was promised to their fathers? For the truth of God can never fail. Though many ages had passed, the faith of his people should have remained certain, for God intended to show himself to be the same as their fathers had previously known him to be.

He later adds אמר, amer, which means 'a word' or 'speech'; but here it is to be understood as a fixed and irrevocable word.

The word, אמר, amer, he says, is—that is, as they say—the word and the deed. For when we say that 'words are given,' we often understand that those who promise liberally are false men, and that we are only trifled with and disappointed when we trust them.

But the term 'word' is sometimes taken in a good sense. “This is the word,” we often say, when we intend to remove every doubt. So now we perceive what the Prophet meant by adding אמר, amer, 'the word.'

“O Lord, you have not given mere words to a people; but what has proceeded from your mouth has been found to be true and valid. Such, therefore, is your faithfulness in your promises, that we should not entertain the least doubt as to the outcome. As soon as you give us any hope, we should feel assured of its accomplishment, as though it were not a word but the manifestation of the thing itself.”

In short, by this term the Prophet commends God's faithfulness, so that we should not harbor doubts about his promises.

He then says that by rivers had been cleft the earth. He refers, I do not doubt, to the history we read in Numbers 14; for the Lord, when the people were nearly dead from thirst, drew water from the rock and caused a river to flow wherever the people journeyed.

Since he had then cleft the earth to make a perpetual course for the stream and thus supplied the people in dry places with abundant water, the Prophet says here that the earth had been cleft by rivers or streams. It was indeed only one river, but he amplifies—and justly so—that remarkable work of God. He later adds—