3:2. O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid. O Lord, thy work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: In the midst of the years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy.
Thy hearing, etc... That is, thy oracles, the great and wonderful things thou hast revealed to me; and I was struck with a reverential fear and awe.-Ibid. Thy work... The great work of the redemption of man, which thou wilt bring to life and light in the midst of the years, when our calamities and miseries shall be at their height.
3:3. God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan: His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.
God will come from the south, etc... God himself will come to give us his law, and to conduct us into the true land of promise: as heretofore he came from the South (in the Hebrew Theman) and from mount Pharan to give his law to his people in the desert. See Deut. 33.2.
3:4. His brightness shall be as the light: horns are in his hands: There is his strength hid:
Horns, etc... That is, strength and power, which, by a Hebrew phrase, are called horns. Or beams of light, which come forth from his hands. Or it may allude to the cross, in the horns of which the hands of Christ were fastened, where his strength was hidden, by which he overcame the world, and drove out death and the devil.
3:5. Death shall go before his face. And the devil shall go forth before his feet.
Death shall go before his face, etc... Both death and the devil shall be the executioners of his justice against his enemies: as they were heretofore against the Egyptians and Chanaanites.
3:6. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld, and melted the nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces. The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.
He beheld, etc... One look of his eye is enough to melt all the nations, and to reduce them to nothing. For all heaven and earth disappear when they come before his light. Apoc. 20.11. Ibid. The ancient mountains, etc... By the mountains and hills are signified the great ones of the world, that persecute the church, whose power was quickly crushed by the Almighty.