Charles Ellicott Commentary Habakkuk 3:7

"I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble." — Habakkuk 3:7 (ASV)

“I saw.”—Better, I see. Did tremble.—Better, are trembling. Probably the imagery is still borrowed from the Exodus story, the nations instanced being the borderers on the Red Sea—namely, Cushan (Cush, or Ethiopia) on the west, and Midian on the east side. A plausible theory, however, as old as the Targum, connects this verse with later episodes in Israel’s history. “Cushan” is identified with that Mesopotamian oppressor, “Cushan-rishathaim,” whom the judge Othniel overcame (Judges 3:8–10).

And “Midian” is interpreted by Judges 6:0, which records how Gideon delivered Israel from Midianite oppression. Both names thus become typical instances of tyranny subdued by Jehovah’s intervention. We prefer the other interpretation, because the prophet’s eye is still fixed apparently on the earlier history (see Habakkuk 3:8 and following), and a reference here to the time of the Judges would mar the climactic symmetry of the composition. “Cushan,” however, is never used elsewhere for “Cush,” though the Septuagint understood it in this meaning. “Curtains” in the second hemistich is merely a variation on “tents” in the first (Compare to Song of Solomon 1:5).