(8) Was the Lord displeased?--Better, Is it with the rivers Jehovah is wroth? Is Thine anger against the rivers? Is Thy wrath against the sea?--that Thou (thus) ridest upon Thy horses, that Thy chariots (thus appear) for deliverance?

Of salvation.--Better, for salvation, or for deliverance. The allusion is obviously to Israel's miraculous passage through the Red Sea and the Jordan. The "horses" and "chariots" which are here the symbols of Divine might, come in the more fittingly in view of Exodus 14 (see Habakkuk 3:14 seq.), where Pharaoh, pursued with "horses and chariots," only to find Jehovah Himself arrayed against him.

Verse 8. - Interrupting his description of the theophany, the prophet asks the motive of this wrathful revelation. This is done, not with expectation of an answer, but giving life and vigour to the composition. Such sudden transitions are not uncommon (camp. Judges 5:12; Psalm 78:19, etc.). Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was it against the rivers, O Jehovah? was thy wrath kindled against the rivers? Was God angry with inanimate nature, when he showed his power, for instance, in the Nile and the Jordan and the Red Sea? God meant more by these acts. He showed his supremacy over all creation, and his will to save his people and to crush all opposition to the execution of his great design (see Psalm 106:9; Psalm 114:3, etc.). That thou didst ride upon thine horses. The prophet speaks of the Lord as a Leader of a mighty host which came with chariots and horses to defend the Israelites and to crush their foes (comp. Psalm 18:10). And thy chariots of salvation. "And," which is not in the Hebrew, is better omitted, the clause being an explanation of "thine horses." The chariots come for the salvation, i.e. the deliverance, of Israel (ver. 13). Some translate, "Thy chariots are salvation;" as the Septuagint, καὶ ἡ ἱππασία σου σωτηρία: and Vulgate, et quadrigae tuae salvatio. It comes to the same thing, whichever rendering we adopt.

3:3-15 God's people, when in distress, and ready to despair, seek help by considering the days of old, and the years of ancient times, and by pleading them with God in prayer. The resemblance between the Babylonish and Egyptian captivities, naturally presents itself to the mind, as well as the possibility of a like deliverance through the power of Jehovah. God appeared in his glory. All the powers of nature are shaken, and the course of nature changed, but all is for the salvation of God's own people. Even what seems least likely, shall be made to work for their salvation. Hereby is given a type and figure of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. It is for salvation with thine anointed. Joshua who led the armies of Israel, was a figure of Him whose name he bare, even Jesus, our Joshua. In all the salvations wrought for them, God looked upon Christ the Anointed, and brought deliverances to pass by him. All the wonders done for Israel of old, were nothing to that which was done when the Son of God suffered on the cross for the sins of his people. How glorious his resurrection and ascension! And how much more glorious will be his second coming, to put an end to all that opposes him, and all that causes suffering to his people!Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers?.... Referring, as is commonly thought, either to the rivers in Egypt turned into blood, which was one of the plagues of that land, Exodus 7:20 when the resentment of the Lord was not so much against them as against the Egyptians; and as a punishment of them for drowning the infants of the Israelites in them, and in order to obtain the dismissal of his people from that land: or else to the river Jordan, called "rivers", because of the largeness of it, and the abundance of water in it; against which the Lord was not angry, when he divided the waters of it, which was done only to make a passage through it for his people into the land of Canaan, Joshua 3:16,

was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? the Red sea, when a strong east wind was sent, and divided the waters of it, which was no mark of displeasure against that; but for the benefit of the people of Israel, that they might pass through it as on dry land; and for the destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts, who, entering into it with his horses and chariots, were drowned; the Lord coming forth against him, riding on his horses and chariots, the pillar of fire and cloud, by which he defended Israel, and through which he looked, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians, and wrought salvation for his people; see Exodus 14:19 with which compare Psalm 114:3. The clouds are the chariots of the Lord, Psalm 104:3 so angels, who are sometimes signified by horses and chariots, Psalm 18:10 Zechariah 1:8 and here they may design the angels of Michael, or Christ, Revelation 12:7 the Christian emperors, Constantine and Theodosius, whom the Lord raised up, and made use of as instruments to demolish Paganism, establish Christianity, and deliver and save his people from their persecutors, who came in like a flood upon them; and who, for their number and force, were comparable to rivers, yea, to the sea; and upon whom the Lord showed some manifest tokens of his wrath and displeasure; so people, tongues, and nations, are compared to many waters, Revelation 17:15 and monarchs and their armies, Isaiah 8:7 and the Targum here interprets the rivers of kings and their armies: and it may be observed that some parts of the Roman empire are signified by the sea, and rivers and fountains of waters, on which the blowing of the second and third trumpets brought desolation; as the antichristian states are described by the same, on which the second and third vials of God's wrath will be poured, when he will indeed be displeased and angry with the rivers and the sea, figuratively understood, Revelation 8:8.