The End Time Bible Commentary

Habakkuk sees an apocalyptic vision of God (Jesus) fighting Israel's enemies at his second coming, and defeating the Antichrist. To Habakkuk, this is a vision of God acting as a warrior, but based on Isaiah 45:22-23 and Philippians 2:9-11, it is reasonable to see this as an end-time vision of Jesus. At his second coming, the nations will bow the knee and confess Jesus as Jehovah God.

Geography
Let's first of all consider the geographical region described in this chapter. Verse 3a says 'God comes from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran'. Teman was a city or region in Edom, named after Esau's grandson Teman (Genesis 36:11), and is closely associated with Bozrah in Amos 1:12, "So I will set Teman on fire; fire will consume Bozrah’s fortresses". Edom was originally the hill country around the Seir mountain range (Joshua 24:4), between Aqaba in the south and the bottom of the Dead Sea in the north. But by the 6th century BC Edom was seen to extend much further south into Saudi Arabia. In Ezekiel 25:13 Teman is used as a reference to Edom's northern extremities, along with Dedan as a reference to Edom's southern extremities. Dedan is modern-day Al-Ula in western Saudi Arabia. Mount Paran was likely a peak in the Desert of Paran, to the south-east of Aqaba. See the map below:

Verse 7 says 'I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish'. Midian is in north-western Saudi Arabia, on the east side of the Gulf of Aqaba, as in the map above. Their ancestor, Midian, was the son of Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:2). Cushan most likely describes the Arabian Peninsula more generally. The descendants of Cush populated the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Babylonia and Assyria (Genesis 10:7-12). Moses' wife Zipporah was a Midianite (Exodus 2:15-22), but is referred to as a Cushite in Numbers 12:1. Most references to Cush in the Old Testament prophets refer to the Kingdom of Cush that was located in modern-day Sudan. These African Cushites conquered Egypt in the 8th century BC, after which there were several Cushite Pharaohs, including Pharaoh Taharqa who aided King Hezekiah of Judah against the Assyrians. This 'African Cush' was therefore a significant political player in the 8th to 6th centuries BC, during the period of most of the Old Testament prophets. Here in Habakkuk 3, the 'Arabian Cush' is probably called 'Cushan' to distinguish it from the 'African Cush'. Ezekiel 25 describes Dedan as the southern extremity of Edom. Dedan was a grandson of Cush (Genesis 10:7). See Cush (spelt Kush) in the map below:

So Habakkuk 3 portrays Jesus fighting his enemies in Edom, Midian and Cushan, corresponding with southern Jordan, north-western Saudi Arabia, and possibly the Arabian Peninsula at large. As such, Jesus is like an end-time Gideon. In scripture, Joseph foreshadows Jesus as the suffering messiah who is rejected by his brothers. David foreshadows him as the kingly messiah who rules from Jerusalem. And Gideon foreshadows him as the warrior messiah who defeats the Midianites.

Verses 3b and 4 describe Jesus' visible display of glory during this campaign, "His splendor has covered the skies, the earth is full of his glory. 4 His brightness will be as lightning; a two-pronged lightning bolt flashing from his hand. This is the outward display of his power". This open display of his glory places the timing of this campaign after Jesus' glorious appearance at the seventh and last trumpet (Revelation 11:15). Verse 6 describes the earthquake which also occurs at the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:19). It is likely that Jesus first appears in glory at Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 33:2 and Psalm 68:17), which is in Midian (Exodus 3:1).

Verse 5 says "Plague will go before him; pestilence will march right behind him". Plagues corresponds with the seven bowl judgments (Revelation 16) that are released after Jesus appears at the last trumpet.

Verse 6 says, "He took his battle position and shook the earth; with a mere look he frightened the nations. The ancient mountains disintegrated; the primeval hills were flattened. His are ancient roads". This corresponds with the great earthquake that occurs at the seventh bowl judgment (Revelation 16:16-21) when Jesus defeats his enemies at the battle of Armageddon and releases his final judgment upon Mystery Babylon, the Great Prostitute (Saudi Arabia and Islam).

Verse 7 says, "I saw the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble; the tent curtains of the land of Midian were shaking". Trouble afflicting Arabia corresponds with the judgments released upon Mystery Babylon as described in Revelation 16:19-21, which include its great city being split into three parts by a huge earthquake, mountains destroyed, and gigantic hailstones. Mystery Babylon is associated with Arabia in Isaiah 21.

Verse 8 portrays Jesus with his cavalry and war chariots, setting off in a mad rage to make war against the rivers and the sea. These waters represent the nations that are under the power of the Great Prostitute of Islam (Revelation 17:1 & 15). There may also be an allusion to ecological effects upon the rivers, the streams and the sea that are turned to blood in the second and third bowl judgments (Revelation 16:3-4).

Verses 9 says, "Your bow is ready for action; you commission your arrows. Selah. You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface". The bow metaphorically portrays Jesus as armed and ready for war. As he commissions (shoots) his arrows, plagues and judgments are released. In Revelation 16, similar events are portrayed from a heavenly perspective as the result of angels releasing bowls of judgment. Here they are portrayed as the result of Jesus shooting arrows that represent the many weapons at his disposal. Flash floods is one example.

In verse 10, earthquake and storms are more of his arrows. The great deep symbolises the forces of darkness around the world that oppose God (Genesis 1:2) and the nations of the world that stand against him (Revelation 17:15). It shouts out and lifts its hands high, implying its surrender and plea for mercy. The power of Jesus' arrows is more than the nations can stand. Physically, there may also be an allusion to tsunamis, which Jesus included in his list of end-time signs (Luke 21:25).

In verses 11 to 12, Jesus' arrows cause the sun and moon to stand still in their courses. This portrays Jesus as the end-time Joshua. In Joshua 10:12, at the battle of Gibeon when Joshua was fighting a coalition of Amorite kings, he prayed, "O sun, stand still over Gibeon! O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon!” The sun and moon stood still for a whole day, allowing Joshua extra time to crush his enemies. Similarly, at the battle of Armageddon, this allows Jesus extra time to stomp the earth and trample down (thresh) the nations (v12). Stomping the earth is a picture of Jesus stomping the winepress (Isaiah 63:1-6). Trampling the nations is a picture of him threshing. In Luke 3:17, John the Baptist prophesied about Jesus saying, 'His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire'. In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus told his parable of the wheat and the weeds, comparing end-time events to a harvest in which the weeds are first bundled up and thrown into the fire before the wheat is gathered into his barn.

Verse 13a says "You march out to deliver your people, to deliver your special servant (anointed one)". Jesus begins his Armageddon campaign in Edom in order to first break out the Jewish exiles from their 'Bozrah sheepfold' (Micah 2:12-13), which is the safe-place in the wilderness where they spend the Great Tribulation (Revelation 12:14) after the fall of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:5). He then leads them out, as their king advancing before them (Micah 2:13) in order to fight the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21), and liberate occupied Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2). The reference to 'your special servant', which is literally 'your anointed one', would normally be a reference to the Messiah. But it doesn't make sense for Jesus the Messiah to deliver the Messiah. It must therefore be a reference to Israel as God's anointed one.

Verses 13b describes Jesus' defeat of the Antichrist, "You strike the leader of the wicked nation, laying him open from the lower body to the neck. Selah" (NET), or translated in the KJV as "thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah". In gory detail, Jesus slits him open from groin to neck. But as the head of Satan's house, the house of the wicked, this fulfils Genesis 3:15, in which God pronounced sentence on Satan's seed (offspring), "And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel.” At Calvary, Satan's seed bit the heel (metaphorically) of Jesus, the bite of a poisonous serpent being a fatal blow. But at Armageddon, Jesus attacks the head of Satan's offspring, who is the Antichrist, Satan-incarnate. In 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Paul says, "and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy by the breath of his mouth and wipe out by the manifestation of his arrival".

Satan's seed (offspring) in Genesis 3:15 is a collective singular. In the singular, it refers to the Antichrist as here in verse 13b. In the collective sense, it refers to all his followers, as here in verses 14 to 15. Jesus pierces the heads of his warriors. They storm forward and shout with joy, thinking they can plunder with impunity, and doubtless believing that Allah is about to give them a great victory. But Jesus will crush their heads and trample on them. The surging raging waters that Jesus tramples with his horses represent enemy nations that are under the power of the Great Prostitute (Revelation 17:1 & 15).

Verses 16 to 18 describe the effects this awesome vision has upon Habakkuk, leaving him shaking, trembling and his stomach churning. He says, "I long for the day of distress to come upon the people who attack us" (v16). In chapter 2, God had revealed to Habakkuk that he would raise up the Babylonians to invade and judge Israel. But chapter 3 gives him a whole new perspective of this judgment as he sees God's ultimate intervention and judgment of Israel's enemies to deliver Israel. Calamity came upon ancient Babylon when it fell to the Persians in 539 BC, but a much greater calamity will come upon Mystery Babylon and its allies that invade Israel in the end-times, under the leadership of the Antichrist.

In verses 17 to 18, Habakkuk says, "When the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines; when the olive trees do not produce, and the fields yield no crops; when the sheep disappear from the pen, and there are no cattle in the stalls, I will rejoice because of the Lord; I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!" Habakkuk can rejoice in the midst of dire national circumstances such as famine, knowing that God is ultimately going to save Israel and give her victory over her enemies. This is a vision that inspires hope. Habakkuk knows that however long and dark the tunnel may be, there is glorious light at the end of it.

In verse 19, Habakkuk says, "The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain". This vision fills Habakkuk with strength-giving hope that puts the spring back in his step and enables him to look beyond the suffering and injustices of the world that troubled him in chapter 1. "This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments", indicates this vision was to be put to music and used in worship. The vision is something to sing and rejoice about. In Isaiah 30:32, Jesus is portrayed fighting in battle against the Antichrist, to musical accompaniment, "Every blow from his punishing cudgel, with which the Lord will beat them, will be accompanied by music from the tambourine and harp, and he will attack them with his weapons". Armageddon is like a Hollywood movie, with dramatic music playing in the background, except that it is no fiction.