Habakkuk 3:7

Habakkuk 3:7. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction Since Moses’s wife, who was a Midianite, is called ( Num 12:1 ) a Cushite, Cushan may be here another name for Midian, and then the two members of this period will be equivalent; but if they be different, then the Cushites must have been an Arabian nation who dwelt in tents near the Midianites, and were seized with the same consternation, at the approach of Jehovah and his people Israel, as the latter were. The total overthrow which the Israelites gave the Midianites and their allies, as recorded Numbers 31:7-12, is probably here referred to. We can never sufficiently admire the strength and spirit, as well as justness and propriety, of this whole description. “The glory with which Jehovah is arrayed, is such as fills the heaven and the earth; a glory arising not from the pomp of external grandeur, and the parade of honourable followers, but from himself. His power is the terror of all the world around him; the insignia of it being, not the sword or the fasces, but the pestilence and devouring fire; and so great is the dread of him, that the Canaanites flee at his approach, the land trembles at his presence, and the nations around are not able to hide their dismay. Such is Habakkuk’s description of Jehovah, simple and plain, but yet grand and sublime; as much excelling every pagan description of Jupiter, as light surpasses darkness.” Green and Houbigant.