Kommentar zu Chabakkuk 3:20

concerning the errors This may be interpreted according to the Targum. However, according to the apparent meaning, Habakkuk is begging for mercy for himself because he spoke rebelliously: (1: 4) “Therefore Torah is slackened,” and (verse 14) “You have made man like the fish of the sea.” He criticized the Divine standard of justice.

I heard a report of You that from days of yore You always inflicted retribution upon those who provoked You, yet You tolerate this wicked man.

I feared I said, “How has the Divine standard of justice changed because of Israel’s iniquity?”

Your deed. In the midst of the years Your original deed, that You would wreak vengeance for us upon our enemies in the midst of the years of trouble in which we are found. revive it Awaken it and restore it. in the midst of the years And in the midst of these years let it be known.

In anger In the anger that You will vent upon the wicked, You will remember to have mercy.

to have mercy like לְרַחֵם, to have mercy.

You shall remember You shall remember to have mercy on Israel.

God The prophet now mentions before God His original deed, which he begs Him to revive - the deed of the love of Israel and the retribution of the first generations: When You came to give the Torah, You went around to Esau and Ishmael, and they did not accept it.

Teman Esau.

Paran Ishmael, as Scripture states (Gen. 21:21): “And he dwelt in the desert of Paran.”

His glory covered the heavens at Sinai for Israel.

And there was a brightness on that day.

like the light Like the special light of the seven days of Creation. So did Jonathan render it.

rays The expression of a light, which, when piercing and shining through a hole, appears like protruding horns. Similarly, (Ex. 34:29) “For the skin of his face shone.”

from His hand From the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, they came to them.

and there was His strength hidden As the Targum renders: There His strength, which had previously been hidden, was revealed in the secret place of the Most High.

A pestilence went before Him I found in a Midrash Aggadah: At the time the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the Torah to Israel, He drove away the Angel of Death to divert him to other things, lest he stand to accuse and say, “You are giving the Torah to a nation that is destined to deny you at the end of forty days?”

and sparks went out at His feet Fiery angels came with Him to Sinai.

He stood and meted out to the earth He waited to examine minutely the case of the generation of the Flood, to mete out to them a measure for a measure, and He meted it out. “He stood” is to be understood in the sense of (Isa. 3: 13) “The Lord stands to plead, and He stands to judge the peoples.” He waits and examines their case minutely.

and meted out to the earth They sinned with heat, and they were judged with boiling water.

He saw the generation of separation, who, since they were of one language, all came upon the plan, as it is written (Gen. 1 1:1): “And all the earth was of one language.”

and caused nations to wander He caused them to jump into seventy languages as it is said (Lev. 11:21): “To jump with them on the earth,” and (Job 37:1) “My heart trembles and jumps from its place.”

the everlasting mountains The heavenly princes of the nations.

the procedures of the world are His He demonstrated to them that all the procedures of the world are His.

Because of iniquity that was found in Israel.

I saw the tents of Cushan standing in the open and inflicting injury upon Israel, and when they humbled themselves before you... the curtains... quaked All is to be understood according to the Targum.

Was... with the rivers? Some questions are in the affirmative. Have we seen that He performed all these? The explanation of the verse is according to the Targum.

Your chariots were salvation for us.

Your bow revealed itself Your might was revealed.

the oaths to the tribes The oaths that You swore to the tribes.

perpetual statement A statement that is to last forever. אֹמֶר is vowelized with a “pattah,” [meaning a “seggol”] and the accent is on the first syllable, making it a noun.

You split the earth into rivers According to the Targum.

Mountains saw You and quaked The mountains of the streams of Arnon that cleft to one another.

A stream of water passed When they crossed the Jordan, the water was “completely cut off,” and the flow of the stream of water passed downstream; the water “which came down from above stood and rose up.”

The deep gave forth its voice The inhabitants of the land praised Him.

The heaven raised up its thanks The host of the heaven thanked Him.

stood in their dwellings in their dwellings. In every word that requires a “lammed” at the beginning - Scripture placed a “he” at the end [meaning “to”]. They explained the phrase as referring to the war of Gibeon, as the Targum paraphrases it.

to the light of Your arrows they go Israel.

With fury You tread the earth to drive out the seven nation [the heathens of Canaan].

to rescue Your anointed Saul and David.

uncovering it from the foundation The walls of their enemies.

to the neck The height of the walls and the towers.

You pierced the heads... with war clubs Sennacherib and his company. they storm Who were storming with a tempest to scatter me. [Sennacherib] was the staff with which you chastised the nations. When he came and stormed to scatter me, You pierced the heads of his troops with his staffs, with which he had come to chastise me.

the heads of his villages The heads of his towns and his castles, as in (Deut. 3:5) “The open towns” and (Zech. 2:8) “Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls.”

their joy was when they could... devour a poor one in secret Israel, known as a poor people.

You trampled in the sea You trampled upon [Sennacherib’s] hordes, which were as heavy as the sand by the sea.

a heap of many waters Jonathan renders. upon a heap, an expression of (Exod. 8: 10) “many heaps.”

I heard, and my inward parts trembled Jonathan rendered. Said Babylon, “I heard, and the kings trembled before the judgement meted out upon the Egyptians.”

my lips quivered at the sound At the sound of the report, trembling took hold of me until my lips knocked one against the other and their sound was heard.

quivered An expression of (Zech. 14:20) “The bells of the horses.” Tentir in O.F., to tinkle.

and I quaked in my place In my place, I quake.

that [the time] I would rest is destined for a day of trouble That this tranquility of mine is destined for a day of trouble.

to bring up a people that will troop back For the day that He said to bring up from there the people that He will cause to troop back, to return with its troops to its land.

For a fig tree shall not blossom As the Targum renders. However, the phrase may be interpreted according to its simple meaning: From now on, none of Babylon’s deeds shall succeed.

the grain field a white field.

from the fold a stall for sheep.

Yet I the nation of Israel, will rejoice in the Lord.

To the conductor [to play] with my melodies To the Levite who conducts the music in the Temple. I will compose for him [the Levites’ conductor] with my melodies, and the Levite[s] will accompany him with musical instruments.

To the conductor As it is stated (Ezra 3:8) “... appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward to superintend the work of the house of the Lord.”

with my melodies This is an expression of a vocal melody to raise and lower, orgenedors in O.F.

In that sense [viz., “to cease,” or “to leave off”] the verb nuaḥ is used in the phrase “And he left off (va-yanaḥ) on the seventh day.”