You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,
Habakkuk 3:14
who came like a whirlwind to scatter me,
rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
God attacks those who do evil. What are they doing that gets God so worked up? They “devour the poor in secret”.
Poor and Afflicted
God describes himself as a defender of the poor and needy. “He judged the cause of the poor (ani) and needy (evyon)” (Jeremiah 22:16). Habakkuk’s word translated “poor” is ani (עָנִי). Often paired with evyon, it carries the connotation of being afflicted and humble, which could be caused by or result in poverty. “This poor man (ani) cried, and the LORD heard him / and saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:6). “For you save a humble people” (Psalm 18:27).
The prophet Zechariah foresaw a king coming to Jerusalem “humble (ani) and mounted on a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9), which we connect with Jesus on Palm Sunday.
God commands his people to take care of the poor and needy. “For there will never cease to be poor (evyon) in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy (ani) and to the poor (evyon), in your land'” (Deuteronomy 15:11). To neglect or take advantage of them is an affront to God.
A Hidden Secret
Not only do they devour the poor/afflicted, but they do it in secret (Hebrew מִסְתָּר, mishtar). It is derived from the verb satar, which means to hide or keep hidden. A mishtar is a hidden place.
The Lord promised to give Cyrus, king of Persia treasures in secret places (Isaiah 45:3). We cannot hide ourselves from God’s watchful eye: “Can a man hide himself (satar) in secret places (mishtar) so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:24). However, there are times when we may think he does not see or care:
He sits in ambush in the villages;
Psalm 10:8-11
in hiding places (mishtar) he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
he lurks in ambush (mishtar) like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor (ani);
he seizes the poor (ani) when he draws him into his net.
The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden (satar) his face, he will never see it.”
From this and other uses, we can see that mishtar carries the idea of a hidden place for ambush (see also Psalm 64:4 and Lamentations 3:10).
To Ponder…
Do you believe God sees what you do? Does that impact how you act? Do you ever think God can’t see what is happening to you or that you can hide what you’re up to from him?
How does God expect us to treat the poor and afflicted? Often, people suffer in secret or hide their troubles. It is equally easy to turn aside from those in need around us.