His brightness was like the light;
Habakkuk 3:4
rays flashed from his hand;
and there he veiled his power.
Habakkuk continues his theophany using the imagery of bright lights.
Bright Light
Habakkuk compares God to a bright light. Think back to what God first created: light (Genesis 1:3-5). Light (Hebrew or) carries the same general idea of light as we use it in English, whether light from the sun or some other means.
We find it translated as lightning in a few places in Job. “Behold, he scatters his lightning (or) about him” (Job 36:30). “He loads the thick cloud with moisture; / the clouds scatter his lightning (or)” (Job 37:11). “Do you know how God lays his command upon them / and causes the lightning (or) of his cloud to shine?” (Job 37:15).
Think of the brightness of the sun. Just as we can’t safely stare at the sun, God is even more brilliant. Think of a lightning bolt strikes during a storm at night. For a moment the world is as light as the daytime.
Horns
Thinking of the rays of the sun or a bolt of lightning, the second line continues his thought. However, the Hebrew has something strange. A more literal reading could be: “Horns from his hand [were] to/for him”. The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) translates it as “horns are in his hands”. Why do most English translations say rays rather than horns?
The word translated rays is keren. Keren is almost exclusively translated as horn, often referring to the horns of an animal. When Abraham was prevented from sacrificing Isaac, he saw a ram caught by its horns (Genesis 22:13).
God commanded altars to be constructed with horns on the four corners (Exodus 27:2). The priests placed the blood of some sacrifices on the horns (Leviticus 4:7). When people were trying to seek sanctuary, they clung to the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:50-51, 2:28). This could be because of some symbolism of the horns or simply because they were the most grabbable part of the altar.
Horns are used as a symbol of strength. Think of a bull charging with its horns out front. David describes God as “the horn of my salvation” (Psalm 18:2; see also Luke 1:69). Part of Habakkuk’s imagery is of God’s strength.
Growing Horns
The root of keren is karan, which is only used in a couple of places. First, we see a clear use:
I will praise the name of God with a song;
Psalm 69:30-31
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an ox
or a bull with horns (karan) and hoofs.
The “horns” here is actually a verb, basically meaning “having horns”. That fits our understanding of keren. However, the other place we see it, we find a completely different translation:
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone (karan) because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone (karan), and they were afraid to come near him.
Exodus 34:29-30
Should we translate it to say Moses had horns on his face? When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin (called the Vulgate), he translated it as Moses being “horned”. This is why when Michaelangelo carved a sculpture of Moses, horns are pointing out of the top of his head.
Sticking Out
Exodus could have used the verb form of or to describe Moses’ face giving light, like the pillar of fire giving light to the people of Israel in the desert (Exodus 13:21), but it does not. Why does it use karan?
This brings us back to Habakkuk’s rays/horns. Keren seems to be a little more generic, perhaps translating as protrusions. The prophet Isaiah uses keren to describe a hill (Isaiah 5:1). This fits the idea of protrusions on altars, too. It is something sticking out, like the rays coming from the sun.
Just as God’s brilliant light shines like rays, so too God’s glory emanated from Moses not in a mere glow but like the rays of the sun coming out of him in some way. Being in God’s presence had physically changed Moses in some way!
To Ponder…
While we can rejoice that God is approachable and wants a close relationship with us, we must also remember that he is the Almighty God. He is brighter than the sun. He is more dangerous than lightning. Do you approach God casually or with great awe and reverence?
Has your time with God changed you? Do you stick out in this world compared to those who don’t know him? Are you a testimony to the Light of the world?