God of My Victory: The Ancient Hymn in Habakkuk 3

by Theodore Hiebert

Book by Hiebert, Theodore

218 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1986

Reviews

[Andrew (Drew) Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow I've read two unrelated books by Hiebert this year, both of which I really liked. This is his published dissertation under Frank M. Cross and the fingerprints of his doktorvater are all over it. As far as the content goes, Hiebert presents a sustained argument for the relative antiquity of Hab. 3 as compared to the first two chapters. His argument was apparently made necessary by the trends of the time that argued that Hab himself wrote all three chapters. However, as Hiebert demonstrates, the features of Hab. 3 bear more in common with other ancient poems (Jud 5; Ex 15; Dt 33). How it differs is that it was appropriated into a very different type of text (prophecy) than the others (narrative). I see no theological reason to doubt him and find the hermeneutical challenges to be quite interesting and to bear precedent throughout the rest of the Old Testament in addition to the other ancient epic poems that are in narrative. Hiebert is not at all interested in theology (I can't speak for his larger program but only in this book) outside of the original context of the poem, though he does touch on how it was appropriated into Habakkuk's own prophecies. Nevertheless, his work lends itself quite well to theological and hermeneutical reflection.