Day 877: God's arrows - Habbakuk 3 vs 7 - 15
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. 8-9 Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation? You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows. Selah
10-12 You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear. You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger. 13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah
14-15 You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret. You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. Habakkuk 3:7-15 English Standard Version
Parts of the Old Testament make difficult reading. One reason is because of the strong images of violent warfare they contain. Another reason is that, as in today's verses, the writer uses the language of poetry. But we shouldn't avoid it because of these things. It's part of God's revelation to mankind of where rebellion and sin leads to. So Habakkuk uses vivid images to describe how Babylon was an instrument in God's hand of judgment on the nations, but also how God's judgment would come round to them as well. And three times he speaks of God's arrows!
What Habakkuk said goes back to what Moses warned about many centuries earlier. In a similar poetical section Moses foretold how Israel would turn their backs on God and worship the idols of the nation. And, speaking through Moses, God said: “They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap calamities on them and spend my arrows against them.” Deuteronomy 32:21-23
That painted a really gloomy future for Israel. But what was the good news Habakkuk's poem contained in his description of God riding out like a warrior on his steed? (vs 13)
God's ultimate purpose in judgment on the nations was for the benefit of the people He was redeeming! Moses spoke of this in his poem in Deuteronomy 32, and the prophet Jeremiah also foretold it. Speaking through Jeremiah God said: “I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north. They will take up their positions against her, and from the north she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty-handed. Take up your positions around Babylon, all you who draw the bow. Shoot at her! Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:9-14.
This triumph of God's people over Babylon is the picture used in the book of Revelation to describe the fall of the world's rebellion against God. The apostle John said: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron sceptre. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.” Revelation 19:11&15.
One last thought. King David poetically described a personal picture of God's arrows when he wrote: “Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.” (Psalm 38:1-3). A guilty conscience could well be God's arrow to bring us to repentance. Let us ever be quick to respond to convictions of sin, and to confess and forsake all evildoing.