Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin (continued)
Habakkuk 3
Habakkuk 3:1
1. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
1. Precatio Chabakuk Prophetae super ignorantiis (vel, super canticis, aut instrumentis musicis.)
There is no doubt but that the Prophet dictated this form of prayer for his people, before they were led into exile, that they might always exercise themselves in the study of religion. We indeed know that God cannot be rightly and from the heart worshipped but in faith. Hence, in order to confine the dispersed Israelites within due limits, so that they might not fall away from true religion, the Prophet here sets before them the materials of faith, and stimulates them to prayer: and we know, that our faith cannot be supported in a better way than by the exercise of prayer.
Let us then bear in mind, that the way of fostering true religion, prescribed here to the miserable Israelites while dispersed in their exile, was to look up to God daily, that they might strengthen their faith; for they could not have otherwise continued in their obedience to God. They would, indeed, have wholly fallen away into the superstitions of the Gentiles, had not the memory of the covenant, which the Lord had made with them, remained firm in their hearts: and we shall presently see that the Prophet lays much stress upon this circumstance.
He calls it his own prayer, 53 not because he used it himself privately, or composed it for himself, but that the prayer might have some authority among the people; for they knew that a form of prayer dictated for them by the mouth of a Prophet, was the same as though the Spirit itself was to show them how they were to pray to God.
The name, then, of Habakkuk is added to it, not because he used it himself, but that 53The more correct rendering here would be, "A Prayer (or rather, An Intercession) by Habakkuk the Prophet;" that is, It was a prayer composed by him. The preposition [{[{לbefore Habakkuk, as often before David in the Psalms, would be better rendered in this way, than by ``of;'' for the meaning is, not that it was his prayer, that is, one offered up by him, but that it was composed by him. ``A Psalm of David,'' ought to be, ``A Psalm by David.''---Ed.