Bede

The tents of the Ethiopians will be terrified, and the tents of the land of Midian. For who does not know that the Ethiopians and Midianites are peoples of the nations? By whose names all the nations of the Gentiles are hinted, who, upon hearing the preaching of the gospel, would be shaken with a healthy fear, so that just as the prophet heard the future report of the Lord and feared, considered the future works of His incarnation, and trembled, so the nations, upon hearing the same report through the apostles, and with His works already accomplished, would begin to serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. And appropriately, he first mentioned the Ethiopians, who are at the ends of the world, to mystically indicate that the sound of the preachers would go out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In this mystery, the eunuch of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, as it is read in the Acts of the Apostles, the first fruits of the Gentiles, with Philip evangelizing, received the faith and sacraments of Christ. The people of the Midianites, however, descended from one of the sons of Abraham from Keturah, who was called Midian, and is in the desert of the Saracens towards the east of the Red Sea in Arabia. Therefore, let the Ethiopians fear the name of Christ, so that His faith may be signified as reaching the ends of the world. Let the Midianites also fear, thus indicating that the Mediterranean peoples too may be saved through this. But that he did not say: The Ethiopians and Midianites will be terrified, but the tents of the Ethiopians will be terrified, and the tents of the land of Midian, is said in that manner of speech, as it is said in the Gospel: And the whole city went out to meet Jesus; and in the psalm: And your cup intoxicating (Psalm 21:5), while it was not the city itself, but those who were in the city, who went out; nor was it the cup itself, but that which is in the cup that is accustomed to intoxicate: this figure of speech is called metonymy in Greek, that is, transnomination, when through that which contains, that which is contained is shown.

The waters shall see you, and the nations shall mourn. Indeed, the hearts of sinners, broken to the acknowledgment and confession of the truth by the frequent exhortation of teachers, as if by the flood of frequent torrents, see God for now through faith, and lament that they have been separated from Him for so long by their guilt; yet when their sorrow of repentance is ended, they see Him more fully in the future by sight, and rejoice forever in the blessed vision of Him. It can also be understood in this way that it is said the earth will be split by rivers, as if it were said that the earth is to be split so that newly formed rivers might arise from it—a phenomenon often recounted in ancient histories, namely, that, when an earthquake occurs, rivers that were not there appear. Whoever understands prudently does not doubt that this can happen, because the earth is as full of countless water veins as the human body is full of blood veins; according to this perception, the earth is split by rivers when a carnal conscience, broken to repentance, progresses so much over time with the help of divine grace that it can also bring forth streams of doctrines to others, watering the parched hearts of others with its example or words to bear the fruits of virtues.

Sprinkling waters on the paths, the abyss gave its voice from the height of its imagination. The same teachers are symbolized by the name abyss, who are also symbolized above by the rivers, but they are called rivers because of the power of stronger reproach, by which they cut through the hardness of the earthly mind to bring it to repentance for its errors. The abyss is rightly called by the depth of knowledge with which they are filled within, attested by Solomon, who says: "Deep waters are the words from the mouth of a man" (Prov. XVIII, 4). Therefore, the abyss gives its voice sprinkling waters on the paths, when the holy preachers, filled inwardly in their hearts with the deep knowledge of truth, outwardly present the ministry of the word to those who listen, gradually and in parts according to the capacity of the weak, bringing forth what they themselves hold inwardly in much and ample measure. However, he says "on the paths" in the works, either of the same teachers or their hearers. For they sprinkle waters on their paths when they show examples of rightly living wherever they walk, with the voice of preaching always showing to those who watch. They sprinkle waters on the paths of those who watch when, by teaching and living, they show in advance by which ways of actions they should enter. If, however, it is read as some manuscripts have: “Disperse waters on the paths,” it is clearly said by God, who Himself spread the waters of life from the fountains of Israel far and wide into the nations of the whole world, saying to His disciples: "Go, teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Well then, when He had said that the abyss would give its voice, He added "from the height of its imagination," because that which the holy preachers proclaim marvelously outside to us proceeds indeed from that fountain of wisdom by which they, amazed themselves, are illuminated inwardly with contemplation of heavenly joys. Did not the great abyss give its voice from the height of its imagination when the apostle Paul said: "Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged; you are not narrowed in us, but you are narrowed in your own bowels. I speak as to children, be enlarged yourselves also" (II Cor. VI, 11). However, from where or in what order it happened that the world was sprinkled with saving waters, and that the abyss of heavenly wisdom thundered unto the earth, is subsequently shown when it is said:

In light, your arrows will go forth, in the brightness of the splendor of arms. The arrows of Christ, however, are his words, by which the hearts of men are pierced, so that with the wound of salvation inflicted, the faithful soul may say: "I am wounded with love." Certainly, these arrows go forth in light, because through the ministry of teachers, the words of truth became known openly to the world, according to what the same Truth commanded them, saying: "What I tell you in darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered, preach on the rooftops" (Matthew 10:27). And since the brightness of miracles followed the words of light, he added: "In the brightness of the splendor of your arms." For warriors strike down their adversaries with arrows, defending themselves from wounds with weapons; hence, appropriately it signifies the words of the preachers, by which they overcome the depravity of unbelievers, and the miracles by which they confirm the truth of their preaching. Therefore, the arrows of Christ go forth in light, they go forth in the brightness of the splendor of his arms, because the great deeds he accomplished, the mysteries he revealed, the commandments he set forth, the rewards he promised, are now known to the whole world more clearly than the sun through the evangelical writings. And the holy teachers, because they are children of light, whatever they do or speak with his gift, naturally shine brightly with light and splendor.

You sent death upon the heads of the enemies; you stirred up bonds up to the neck. For indeed, to his chosen ones, whom the prophet had called Christ's, he brought the joy of salvation, but to those who neglected his anointing grace, he sent eternal death. This was fulfilled even corporally in the very Jewish people, who pursued the Lord appearing in flesh unto death, after they crucified him, not many years intervening, when the Roman army fell upon them; excepting only those who withdrew into the faith of evangelical grace, they were condemned with an enormous disaster, and moreover deprived of their kingdom and homeland; and this is what he said: You stirred up bonds up to the neck; namely the neck of the kingdom, which they had raised against the Lord before, about which the most blessed protomartyr Stephen said to them in their fury against him: Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit (Acts VII, 51). But the Lord stirred up bonds up to the neck, when he sent the hostile army for the overthrow of the proud nation, not only of the Jews but of all who refused to accept the humility of the Christian faith. The Lord dashes pride according to what the Psalmist sings about the saints: And the two-edged swords in their hands to execute vengeance on the nations, reproaches on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with iron fetters (Ps. CXLIX, 6); iron, evidently, because eternal, which once taken, can never be loosed. But if anyone were to say it should be read in the plural: You stirred up bonds up to the necks, the sense is the same. For the just Lord will strike down the necks of sinners.

You went out for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones. The Mediator between God and men went forth from the Father and came into the world, not to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He calls all the elect anointed ones, who are most rightly named by this title because of the anointing of spiritual grace; hence the Psalmist says about those who, wishing to harm the saints, were restrained by divine prohibition: "He rebuked kings for their sake, saying, 'Do not touch my anointed ones'" (Psalm 105:14). However, he saved his anointed ones, not those he found as anointed, but those he made his own anointed, that is, anointed ones, by going forth from the Father and appearing in the flesh through the Spirit of adoption. Concerning this anointing, admonishing his listeners, the Apostle John says: "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth" (1 John 2:27). This verse is found in some editions as: "You went out to save your people through Jesus Christ your Son," which is understood as said to the Father because he went out to save his people through Jesus Christ his Son. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and because the same going forth, that is, his coming into the world, was to be not only for the resurrection of the faithful but also for the ruin of the faithless, it is aptly added:

You cut off the heads of the mighty in their alienation; the nations will be moved in it. In the Greek, it is written "in ecstasy," which some have interpreted as "in stupor," others "in mental excess." Whether it is called stupor, alienation, or mental excess, it all means the same thing: when someone, astonished and bewildered by a sudden miracle, is rendered alien from their own mind, something the Evangelical history frequently recounts as having happened to the Jews, saying they were astounded and marveled at the teachings and virtues of Jesus, saying: "Where did this man get all these things, whose father and mother we know?" (John 6:42). And in the Acts of the Apostles, when the lame man was healed by Peter and John at the temple gate, it says: "They were filled with astonishment and ecstasy" (Acts 3:10), in which ecstasy, that is, admiration or mental alienation, many people were moved to believe in the Lord; but the heads of the mighty, that is, the chief priests and elders, were cut off by not believing, from the lot of the faithful. Nations were also moved in it, when, hearing or seeing the virtues of the Lord and his apostles, they were so astonished and amazed that, anathemaing and rejecting the gods they had worshipped, they devoutly received the new faith of Christ. Regarding them, aptly it is added:

You sent your horses into the sea, stirring up many waters. For the sea, indeed, means the world; the horses of God, the holy preachers; the many waters, the peoples of the nations. When the horses of God were sent into the sea, the many waters were stirred up, because when the heralds of the word were scattered into the world, the hearts of the nations were disturbed, some to believe and receive the sacrament of faith, others to contradict or even persecute the heralds of this faith. Hence the Psalmist aptly says: "All who saw them were troubled, and every man feared, and they declared the works of God and understood His deeds" (Ps. 63:9). For although all were troubled, not all feared and declared the works of God, but whosoever remained rational men; and those who were estranged from human reason were compared to senseless animals and became like them. Although such people were disturbed and moved by the virtues of the saints, they neither wanted to fear God nor to declare or understand His deeds. Furthermore, it is aptly said of these horses, namely the holy preachers, earlier: "You will ascend, you will ascend on your horses," and now it is added about the same: "You sent your horses into the sea," so that from both sentences it may be gathered that the Lord sent preachers into the world in such a way that, while they preached, He was never absent, but like a charioteer to horses, He was always present to guide their minds.

I guarded and my stomach was terrified at the voice of the prayer of my lips. He calls his mind his stomach in the manner customary to prophets, because just as the stomach receives food by which the strength and life of the body are replenished; so are holy thoughts received in the mind, by which the life of the inner man is sustained and maintained, lest it should fail. Therefore, I guarded, says the Prophet, carefully attending to the future passions of Christ and the subsequent glories, the reprobation of my people, the faith of the nations, the disturbance of the same nations at the new preaching, the persecution to be stirred up by unbelievers against believers; and my heart was terrified by these things which I, foreseeing, spoke of as coming. Or certainly contemplating the different states of the human race: I guarded, he says, myself, with a trembling mind more diligently, lest I should sin in deed, in word, or in thought, and lest I, while preaching to others, should become a reprobate. And it should be noted that he says he was terrified by the voice of the prayer of his lips, although he seems to have prayed nothing at all in this whole song; but only describing with fear and trembling the future mysteries of Christ and the Church; nor is he mistaken who calls his song a prayer, he who also gave it such a title: The Prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet for Ignorances, because whatever a holy man speaks, indeed the whole of this is a prayer to God; whatever he does, anyone whose sincere intention is to please the Lord, this itself intercedes with God for him, and recommends him to the Lord.