Habakkuk 3:14 - Exposition

Thou didst strike through with his staves; thou didst pierce with his own spears. Thou dost turn on the Chaldeans and all thine enemies the destruction which they intended for others. The people meet with the same fate as the royal house ( Habakkuk 3:13 ); Vulgate, maledixisti sceptris ejus, which seems to be a mistranslation. The head of his villages ( פרזים ). There is a difficulty in arriving at the meaning of this last word. The LXX . renders it, "mighty men;" Jerome, "warriors;" Chaldee, "army;" Delitzsch and many modern critics, "hordes" or "inhabitants of the plain;" others again, "rulers" or "judges." The most probable version is either "warriors" or "hordes." The head, i.e. collectively the heads of his warlike troops. They came out (or, who rush ) as a whirlwind to scatter me (see the description of the Chaldees, Habakkuk 1:6 , etc.). The prophet identifies himself with his people. (For the figure of the whirlwind, comp. Isaiah 41:16 ; Jeremiah 13:24 ; Hosea 13:3 .) Dr. Briggs renders, "Thou dost pierce with his rods the chief, when his rulers are rushing in to scatter me." Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly; or, as in ambush, to devoter the helpless. They exult in acting the part of robbers and murderers, who lurk for the defenceless and afflict the poor ( Psalms 10:8 , etc.). As is equivalent to "as it were." Vulgate, Sicut ejus qui. "The poor" are primarily the Israelites, and then all meek worshippers of God.