{"id":78725,"date":"2020-08-12T10:39:22","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T07:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78725"},"modified":"2020-08-12T10:39:22","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T07:39:22","slug":"psalm-of-understanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/psalm-of-understanding\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalm of Understanding"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78725","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":73524,"related_cahpter":"545","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The culmination of God\u2019s answers to Habakkuk\u2019s questions\r\n\r\n","content":"

Chapter 3 begins an entirely new section of Habakkuk\u2019s prophecy, as evidenced by its superscription, \u201cA prayer of Habakkuk the prophet concerning [or \u201cin the mode of\u201d] the <\/span>shigyonot<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i>\u201d This is the only time in the Bible that the words prophet and prayer appear together in the same verse. Instead of the questioning and dialogue, followed by chapter 2’s suggestion that justice will ultimately prevail, Habakkuk appears to break into spontaneous prayer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, chapter 3 is actually closely linked to the rest of the book in terms of both its themes and its vocabulary, and represents the culmination and completion of God\u2019s answer to Habakkuk\u2019s questions. The chapter begins and ends with Habakkuk speaking in the first person \u2013 the first time a prayer, the second time an expression of trust, with a dramatic description of how God has intervened in the past to save the Jewish people comprising the bulk of the middle of the chapter. If chapter 2 suggests that the triumph of justice is a natural phenomenon, chapter 3 presents a second source for Habakkuk’s confidence in the future: God will ultimately intervene to save His people from injustice, because God has already done so many times in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several stylistic and linguistic elements connect this chapter with the book of Psalms, as noted by Radak. The construction of the first sentence, \u201cA prayer of Habakkuk the prophet concerning the <\/span>shigyonot<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i>\u201d matches the construction of the opening sentences of many psalms, while a form of the word \u201c<\/span>shigyonot<\/span><\/em>\u201d itself appears in only one other place, in the singular \u201c<\/span>shigayon<\/span><\/em>,\u201d in Psalms 7:1. Additionally, the last two words of our chapter are apparently a musical direction – \u201cTo the Conductor (l<\/em><\/span>amenazeiach<\/span><\/em>) [to play] with my melodies (<\/span>neginotai<\/span><\/em>)!\u201d \u2013 words which appear frequently in psalms ( \u201cto the conductor\u201d appear 55 times in Psalms). Another link is the word \u201c<\/span>sela<\/span><\/em>\u201d – this word appears twice in this chapter (v. 3, 13) \u2013 the only time it appears in the Bible outside of Psalms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the word \u201cprayer,\u201d used in the superscription, also appears frequently in Psalms (see Ps. 17, 86, 90, 102, 142, as well as 72:20). Radak advances the idea that Habakkuk wrote this prayer as a psalm, to express his prophet\u2019s praise to God for His protection throughout history while the Jewish people undergo the tribulations of exile.<\/span><\/p>\n

As mentioned above, the word <\/span>shigyonot<\/span><\/em> appears in one other place, in Psalms ch. 7. \u201c<\/span>shigayon.<\/span><\/em>\u201d There, Rashi offers four interpretations of the meaning of the word <\/span>shigayon<\/span><\/em>. His first suggestion, quoting the philologist Menachem ben Saruq, is that it is a type of musical instrument. However, Rashi here interprets the word <\/span>shigyonot<\/em> <\/span>as referring to an error or lapse in judgement for questioning God so harshly: \u201cHabakkuk is begging for mercy for himself because he spoke rebelliously: (1:4) \u201cTherefore Torah is slackened,\u201d and (1:14) \u201cYou have made man like the fish of the sea.\u201d He criticized the divine attribute of justice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78726,"id":78726,"title":"hab3-question-marks","filename":"hab3-question-marks.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hab3-question-marks.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/psalm-of-understanding\/hab3-question-marks\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"hab3-question-marks","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78725,"date":"2020-08-12 07:38:03","modified":"2021-04-04 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