Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nahum 3:1
Woe to the bloody city! it [is] all full of lies [and] robbery; the prey departeth not;
1. bloody city ] Eze 24:9. In ancient states the capital was virtually the kingdom, and to Nineveh are here ascribed all the characteristics of the Assyrian monarchy. The cruelties perpetrated by the Assyrians were shocking. Captive princes who had offered resistance in defence of their country were shut up in cages and exposed to the gaze of the populace; the heads of those already executed were hung round the necks of those still living; and others were flayed alive. The Assyrians appear to have been the most ruthless people of antiquity. See cut representing impaled captives, Layard, Nineveh, II. 369, and Tiele’s chap. on the revolt of Shamas-sum-ukin; comp. also Sayce, Assyria; its princes &c. p. 127 ff. On the other hand they were not incapable of acts of magnanimity, an example of which was Assurbanipal’s pardon of the rebellious Egyptian princes whom his father Esarhaddon had raised to the throne. See his own words, Winckler, Altorient. Untersuch., I. pp. 104, 105.
full of lies and robbery ] Robbery means “rending” or tearing in pieces (Psa 7:2), the figure of the lion (ch. Nah 2:11) being perhaps still retained, while “lies” rather deserts the figure, and refers to the false and overreaching state-craft of Nineveh (ch. Nah 3:4), though possibly the subtlety of the wild beast might be alluded to.
The prey departeth not ] “Prey” may be less the thing caught than the act or habit of catching this prey taking is unceasing; cf. Jer 17:8 last clause.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Woe to the bloody city – Literally, city of bloods , i. e., of manifold bloodshedding, built and founded in blood Hab 2:12; Jer 22:13, as the prosperity of the world ever is. Murder, oppression, wresting of judgment, war out of covetousness, grinding or neglect of the poor, make it a city of bloods. Nineveh, or the world, is a city of the devil, as opposed to the city of God. : Two sorts of love have made two sorts of cities; the earthly, love of self even to contempt of God; the heavenly, love of God even to contempt of self. The one glorieth in itself, the other in the Lord. : Amid the manifold differences of the human race, in languages, habits, rites, arms, dress, there are but two kinds of human society, which, according to our Scriptures, we may call two cities. One is of such as wish to live according to the flesh; the other of such as will according to the Spirit. Of these, one is predestined to live forever with God; the other, to undergo everlasting torment with the devil. Of this city, or evil world, Nineveh, the city of bloods, is the type.
It is all full of lies and robbery – Better, it is all lie; it is full of robbery (rapine). Lie includes all falsehood, in word or act, denial of God, hypocrisy; toward man, it speaks of treachery, treacherous dealing, in contrast with open violence or rapine . The whole being of the wicked is one lie, toward God and man; deceiving and deceived; leaving no place for God who is the Truth; seeking through falsehood things which fail. Man loveth vanity and seeketh after leasing Psa 4:2. All were gone out of the way. Alb.: There were none in so great a multitude, for whose sake the mercy of God might spare so great a city. It is full, not so much of booty as of rapine and violence. The sin remains, when the profit is gone. Yet it ceases not, but perseveres to the end; the prey departs not; they will neither leave the sin, nor the sin them; they neither repent, nor are weary of sinning. Avarice especially gains vigor in old age, and grows by being fed. The prey departeth not, but continues as a witness against it, as a lions lair is defiled by the fragments of his prey.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER III
The prophet denounces a wo against Nineveh for her perfidy and
violence. He musters up before our eyes the number of her
chariots and cavalry; points to her burnished arms, and to the
great and unrelenting slaughter which she spreads around her,
1-3.
Because Nineveh is a city wholly given up to the grossest
superstition, and is an instructress of other nations in
her abominable rites, therefore she shall come to a most
ignominious and unpitied end, 3-7.
Her final ruin shall be similar to that of No, a famous city
of Egypt, 8-11.
The prophet then beautifully describes the great ease with
which the strong holds of Nineveh should be taken, 12,
and her judicial pusillanimity during the siege, 13;
declares that all her preparation, her numbers, opulence, and
chieftains, would be of no avail in the day of the Lord’s
vengeance, 14-17;
and that her tributaries would desert her, 18.
The whole concludes with stating the incurableness of her
malady, and the dreadful destruction consequently awaiting her;
and with introducing the nations which she had oppressed as
exulting at her fall, 19.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. Wo to the bloody city!] Nineveh: the threatenings against which are continued in a strain of invective, astonishing for its richness, variety, and energy. One may hear and see the whip crack, the horses prancing, the wheels rumbling, the chariots bounding after the galloping steeds; the reflection from the drawn and highly polished swords; and the hurled spears, like flashes of lightning, dazzling the eyes; the slain lying in heaps, and horses and chariots stumbling over them! O what a picture, and a true representation of a battle, when one side is broken, and all the cavalry of the conqueror fall in upon them, hewing them down with their swords, and trampling them to pieces under the hoofs of their horses! O! infernal war! Yet sometimes thou art the scourge of the Lord.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Woe! a comprehensive threat of many and great calamities coming.
To the bloody city; Nineveh, the chief city of the Assyrian kingdom: see Nah 1:1.
It is all; every part, officers and rulers, traders, both buyers and sellers, shops, houses, judicatories, all filled with falsehood and lies.
Lies; cheating in their trades, and false witnesses before the judges.
Robbery; their gain, though they count it honest, is no better in Gods account than robbery or rapine, as is that the lion taketh, teareth, and devoureth, as the word in the Hebrew implies.
The prey; unjust acquists by fraud and force; extortions and violent taking away what was not theirs.
Departeth not; as they did so long since, they continue still so to do, no change from injustice to justice.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. the bloody city!literally,”city of blood,” namely, shed by Nineveh; just so now herown blood is to be shed.
robberyviolence[MAURER]. Extortion[GROTIUS].
the prey departethnotNineveh never ceases to live by rapine. Or, the Hebrewverb is transitive, “she (Nineveh) does not make the preydepart”; she ceases not to plunder.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe to the bloody city,…. Nineveh, in which many murders were daily committed; innocent blood shed; the lives of men taken away, under the colour of justice, by false witnesses, and other unlawful methods; and which was continually making war with neighbouring nations, and shedding their blood, which it stuck not at, to enlarge its wealth and dominions; and therefore “woe” is denounced against it; and it is threatened with the righteous judgments of God, with all sorts of calamity and distress: or, “O bloody city”, as the Septuagint; for the word used is vocative, and expressive of calling, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe:
it [is] all full of lies [and] robbery; the palace and court; the houses of noblemen and common persons were full of flattery and deceit; men of high degree were a lie, and men of low degree vanity; no man could trust another, or believe what he said; there were no truth, honesty, and faithfulness, in conversation or commerce; their warehouses were full of goods, got by rapine and violence; and their streets full of robbers and robberies:
the prey departeth not; they go on in making a prey of their neighbours, in pillaging and plundering their substance; they repent not of such evil practices, nor desist from them; or because of the above sins they shall fall a prey to the enemy, who will not cease plundering them till he has utterly stripped them of all they have; and who is represented in the next verse Na 3:2 as just at hand.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The city of blood will have the shame, which it has inflicted upon the nations, repaid to it by a terrible massacre. The prophet announces this with the woe which opens the last section of this threatening prophecy. Nah 3:1. “Woe to the city of blood! She all full of deceit and murder; the prey departs not.” Ir damm , city of drops of blood, i.e., of blood shed, or of murders. This predicate is explained in the following clauses: she all full of lying and murder. Cachash and pereq are asyndeton, and accusatives dependent upon . Cachash , lying and deceit: this is correctly explained by Abarbanel and Strauss as referring to the fact that “she deceived the nations with vain promises of help and protection.” Pereq , tearing in pieces for murder, – a figure taken from the lion, which tears its prey in pieces (Psa 7:3). , the prey does not depart, never fails. Mush : in the hiphil here, used intransitively, “to depart,” as in Exo 13:22; Psa 55:12, and not in a transitive sense, “to cause to depart,” to let go; for if r (the city) were the subject, we should have tamsh .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Judgment of Nineveh. | B. C. 710. |
1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. 3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: 4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. 5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. 7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
Here is, I. Nineveh arraigned and indicted. It is a high charge that is here drawn up against that great city, and neither her numbers nor her grandeur shall secure her from prosecution. 1. It is a city of blood, in which a great deal of innocent blood is shed by unrighteous war, or under colour and pretence of public justice, or by suffering barbarous murders to go unpunished; for this the righteous God will make inquisition. 2. It is all full of lies; truth is banished from among them; there is no such thing as honesty; one knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust. 3. It is all full of robbery and rapine; no man cares what mischief he does, nor to whom he does it: The prey departs not, that is, they never know when they have got enough by spoil and oppression. They shed blood, and told lies, in pursuit of the prey, that they might enrich themselves. 4. There is a multitude of whoredoms in it, that is, idolatries, spiritual whoredoms, by which she defiled herself, and to which she seduced the neighbouring nations, as a well-favoured harlot, and sold and ruined nations through her whoredoms. 5. She is a mistress of witchcrafts, and by them she sells families, v. 4. That which Nineveh aimed at was a universal monarchy, to be the metropolis of the world, and to have all her neighbours under her feet; to compass this, she used not only arms, but arts, compelling some, deluding others, into subjection to her, and wheedling them as a harlot by her charms to lay their necks under her yoke, suggesting to them that it would be for their advantage. She courted them to join with her in her idolatrous rites, to tie them the faster to her interests, and made use of her wealth, power, and greatness, to draw people into alliances with her, by which she gained advantages over them, and made a hand of them. These were her whoredoms, like those of Tyre, Isa 23:15; Isa 23:17. These were her witchcrafts, with which she unaccountably gained dominion. And for this that God has a quarrel with her who, having made of one blood all nations of men, never designed one to be a nation of tyrants and another of slaves, and who claims it as his own prerogative to be universal Monarch.
II. Nineveh condemned to ruin upon this indictment. Woe to this bloody city! v. 1. See what this woe is.
1. Nineveh had with her cruelties been a terror and destruction to others, and therefore destruction and terror shall be brought upon her. Those that are for overthrowing all that come in their way will, sooner or later, meet with their match. (1.) Hear the alarm with which Nineveh shall be terrified, v. 2. It is a formidable army that advances against it; you may hear them at a distance, the noise of the whip, driving the chariot-horses with fury; you may hear the noise of the rattling of the wheels, the prancing horses, and the jumping chariots; the very noise is frightful, but much more so when they know that all this force is coming with all this speed against them, and they are not able to make head against it. (2.) See the slaughter with which Nineveh shall be laid waste (v. 3), the sword drawn with which execution shall be done, the bright sword lifted up and the glittering spear, the dazzling brightness of which is very terrible to those whom they are lifted up against. See what havoc these make when they are commissioned to slay: There is a great number of carcases, for the slain of the land shall be many; there is no end of their corpses; there is such a multitude of slain that it is in vain to go about to take the number of them; they lie so thick that passengers are ready to stumble upon their corpses at every step. The destruction of Sennacherib’s army, which, in the morning, were all dead corpses, is perhaps looked upon here as a figure of the like destruction that should afterwards be in Nineveh; for those that will not take warning by judgments at a distance shall have them come nearer.
2. Nineveh had with her whoredoms and witchcrafts drawn others to shameful wickedness, and therefore God will load her with shame and contempt (v. 5-7): The Lord of hosts is against her, and then she shall be exposed to the highest degree of disgrace and ignominy, shall not only lose all her charms, but shall be made to appear very odious. When it shall be seen that while she courted her neighbours it was with design to ruin their liberty and property, when all her wicked artifices shall be brought to light, then her shame is discovered to the nations. When her proud pretensions are baffled, and her vain towering hopes of an absolute and universal dominion brought to nought, and she appears not to have been so strong and considerable as she would have been thought to be, then to see the nakedness of the land do they come, and it appears ridiculous. Then do they cast abominable filth upon her, as upon a carted strumpet, and make her vile as the offscouring of all things; that great city, which all nations had made court to and coveted an alliance with, has become a gazing-stock, a laughing stock. Those that formerly looked upon her, and fled to her, in hopes of protection from her, now look upon her and flee from her, for fear of being ruined with her. Note, Those that abuse their honour and interest will justly be disgraced and abandoned, and, because miserable, will be made contemptible, and thereby be made more miserable. When Nineveh is laid waste who will bemoan her? Her trouble will be so great, and her sense of it so deep, as not to admit relief from sympathy, or any comforting considerations; or, if it would, none shall do any such good office: When shall I seek comforters for thee? Note, Those that showed no pity in the day of their power can expect to find no pity in the day of their fall. When those about Nineveh, that had been deceived by her wiles, come to be undeceived in her ruin, every one shall insult over her, and none bemoan her. This was Nineveh’s fate, when she was made a spectacle, or gazing-stock. Note, The greater men’s show was in the day of their abused prosperity the greater will their shame be in the day of their deserved destruction. I will make thee an example; so Drusus reads it. Note, When proud sinners are humbled and brought down it is designed that others should take example by them not to lift up themselves in security and insolence when they prosper in the world.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
NAHUM – CHAPTER 3
Verses 1-19:
Nineveh To Reap As She Had Sown
Verse 1 continues Nahum’s description of Nineveh. A doom of woe is pronounced upon her as a “bloody city,” because of blood she had shed of innocent victims, to try to secure material gain. She was full of (puffed up with) lies, promises of security from sources that could not deliver. By dishonesty in trade and commerce, in measures and weights, she had robbed her poor. And she did not cease or restrain herself from a continuing pattern and practice of preying upon the weak, for her own gain, and that of her political and religious leaders, Ezekiel 22; Ezekiel 2, 2; Eze 24:6; Eze 24:9; Hab 1:12.
Verse 2 describes the hurried and harried sound of horsemen going into battle, with the noise (crack) of a whip, the rattling of chariot wheels, the prancing of horses, and of the sound of jumping or high-bouncing chariots, as in Jer 47:3.
Verse 3 further describes the horseman, v. 2, as he rides hard and fast into battle, with the high-held flashing sword and the glittering spear. A never-ending line and pile of slain human carcasses lay side by side, and body upon body in the midst of the battle, so that soldiers stumbled and tripped over carcass after carcass of their own band, slain in the conflict in the capital, Nineveh, when assaulted by the Medo-Babylonian enemy.
Verse 4 discloses the causes of the fall of so many in the battle at Nineveh. She had sought to ensnare others, entrap others in her idolatrous whoredoms, for the gratification of her own selfish, carnal lusts, Isa 23:17; Rev 17:1; Rev 17:5. She was a well-favored harlotcity, a mistress of w4chcrafts. She sought to ensnare or entrap other nations through her whoredoms, and families through her wicked witchcrafts, Isa 47:9; Isa 47:12; Rev 18:2-3. She sold them through her idolatry, robbed them of liberty, brought them under her bondage, and made them pay tribute to her to survive, Deu 32:30; Jdg 2:14.
Verse 5 sounds a warning against wicked Nineveh and Assyria, that God will uncover her skirts upon her face, like the removing of the face covering shawl that the harlot wore over her face to conceal her identify and hide her shame, so that people would not recognize her; Observing nations and kingdoms would see her naked shame soon, her skirts raised, when God destroyed her and the sinful idolatrous ways she pursued, Jer 13:22; Eze 16:37-41; Isa 47:2-3.
Verse 6 also threatens that God will cast filth upon the city, abominable filth, to make her vile, and a gazingstock before curious beholders, exposed to public derision and scorn, Eze 27:17.
Verse 7 describes all who look upon her filth and devastation, as turning to run in obnoxious disgust and shame, v. 6. Nineveh is declared to be a wasted city, Nah 1:1. The question is raised, “who would mourn her?”, Her destruction, and just where anyone, anywhere, might be found to comfort her. A silent void hovered after the prophet’s question, when no friend or comforter was to be found, as pay-day came to her, Isa 51:19; Gal 6:7-8; Rev 18:10.
Verse 8 raises a rhetoric question that means, “you are not better than No, are you?”, than that No-Amnon royal city of Egypt that was destroyed Eze 30:14-15; Jer 46:25. It was protected with waters on every side, but not enough to protect her from judgment for her sins. Neither was Nineveh that strong.
Verse 9 declares that Ethiopia and Egypt, as supporting nations, were the strength or support of once populous and prosperous “No,” or Thebes, with infinite or unlimited strength, while Put and Lubim were financial or tributary supporters as well. She trusted in their strength, for security in her sins, a false source of real security. And she could not preserve herself. See Gen 10:6; Eze 27:10; Jer 46:9; Deu 33:26.
Verse 10 recounts that bloody end to which No or Thebes came, concluding that an even more severe judgment was soon to fall on Nineveh. No had been carried away, deported into captivity, while her young children, unable to travel and keep up with the enemy as captured property, were dashed in pieces at the gate posts, or against the gateposts of all the streets, right where their parents were slain or captured. They cast lots to determine who among the, conquering men would receive their captives, to hold as their own slaves. All the honorable and great men of the conquered are described as being bound in chains or fetters, to display as humiliated property of the conquering army, while being treated with cruel indignities, Joe 3:3.
Verse 11 asserts that Nineveh shall also be drunken or inebriated, not with wine or strong drink, but with the shocking punishment sent upon her by almighty God. Nineveh was to become hid, no longer visible to or with leadership in Assyria, or among the nations. She shall seek strength, some sources of help, when Divine judgment begins to fall, but it will not be found in her enemies, or former fair-weather friends, Isa 51:17; Isa 51:21; Jer 25:15.
Verse 12 prophesies that all the strongholds (fortresses) of planned battle security, v. 13, all fortifications will be taken away or destroyed by Nineveh’s foes, like the pickings of first-ripe figs that fall so lusciously into the mouths of the pickers, Isa 28:4; Rev 6:12-13.
Verse 13 describes these people in the gates of Nineveh in the hour of judgment as “women,” weak, effeminate, timid, unable or unwilling to offer resistance to the enemies, as they sweep down upon the city, Isa 19:16. So fearful will their people, males guarding Nineveh’s gates be, that they will simply let the city gates be opened and the gates and wall bars and braces burned, without resistance.
Verse 14 calls upon the Ninevites to prepare for the coming siege of their city by drawing and storing up cisterns of pure water within the walls. They are to build anew or brace up all their fortifications, rush to the brick kiln, work the clay mortar, and have extra repair brick made ready and piled up within the walls; For they should prepare for whatever wall repair might be needed to repair damaged places in the city walls, during temporary retreats of the foe for retrenching, Isa 8:9; Jer 46:3.
Verse 15 then foretells that there, within those Nineveh city walls, the fire would devour them and the sword would eventually, cut them off from their royal reign. The battle would consume, like a wave of cankerworms destroys its prey, Joe 1:4. They are told to make themselves many, increase their population, like the cankerworm and the locusts, Joe 1:4; Amo 6:1.
Verse 16 declares that Nineveh and Assyria had multiplied their merchants, built up extensive trade in foreign business exchange, like the stars of heaven, beyond the ability to calculate, Eze 27:23-24. But it is then certified that they will vanish like the cankerworm that destroys from without and within, then flees away, Joh 10:12-13.
Verse 17 describes Nineveh and Assyria’s crowned ruler and armed commanders to be like armies of locusts and grasshoppers that hide in hedgerows, overgrown fence rows in the cold, but they disappear at the heat of the rising sun. Rev 9:7; Jer 51:27. They flee so far away that they become invisible, of no help to the people they left behind. The rulers flee as cowards, desert their people when trouble comes, like the hireling shepherd deserts the flock he tends, serving only for what he gets out of it.
Verse 18 laments against the king of Assyria, whose throne was in Nineveh, that his shepherds were slumbering, asleep while a pack of voracious wolves was howling, stalking the flock nearby, for the kill, Psa 76:6; Psa 94:17. This alludes to her princes, nobles, and ruling governors, even her royal counselors, on whom the king and government relied. The flock, or masses of the king’s land, were about to be put to sleep in death, because those conditions existed, Num 27:17; 1Ki 22:17.
Verse 19 concludes that for the healing of the grievous or mortal wound of Assyria there exists no healing or anointing remedy. It is also 4nnounced that all who hear of her suffering and fate shall clap their hands. Nahum then asks whether or not there is anyone on whom their one-world-Assyrian empire had not practiced wickedness continually, repeatedly, or almost without cessation, Pro 16:18; Lam 2:11; Lam 2:15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet, as I have said, more clearly expresses here the reason why the vengeance of God would be so severe on the Ninevites, — because they had wholly given themselves up to barbarous cruelty; and hence he calls it the bloody city. Bloody city! he says. The exclamation is emphatical. Though הו, eu, sometimes means Woe; yet it is put here as though the Prophet would have constrained Nineveh to undergo its punishment, O sanguinary city, then, the whole of it is full of כחש cachesh: the word signifies leanness and the Prophet no doubt joins here together two words, which seem to differ widely, and yet they signify the same thing. For פרק, perek, means to lay by; and כחש, cachesh, is taken for a lie or vanity, when there is nothing solid in what is said: but the Prophet, I doubt not, means by both words the spoils of the city Nineveh. It was then full of leanness for it had consumed all others; it was also full of spoils, for it had filled itself. But the meaning of the Prophet is in no way dubious; for at length he adds, Depart shall not the prey; that is as some think, it shall not be withdrawn from the hands of conquerors; but others more correctly think that a continued liberty in plundering is intended, that the Assyrians were constantly employed in pillaging and kept within no bounds.
We hence see that the Prophet now shows why God says, that he would be an adversary to the Ninevites, because he could not endure its unjust cruelty. He bore with it indeed for a time; for he did not immediately execute his judgment; but yet he never forgot his own people.
As, then, God has once declared by the mouth of his Prophet that he would be the avenger of the cruelty which the Assyrians had exercised, let us know that he retains still his own nature; and whatever liberty he may for a time grant to tyrants and savage wild beasts, he yet continues to be a just avenger. It is our duty calmly to bear injuries, and to groan to him; and as he promises to be at length our helper, it behaves us to flee to him, and to ask him to succor us, so that seeing his Church oppressed, and tyrants exercising licentiously their power, he may hasten the time to restrain them. If then we were at all times to continue thus resigned under God’s protection, there is no doubt but that he would be ready even at this day to execute a similar judgment to that which the city Nineveh and its people had to endure.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
NAHUM AND THE DOOM OF NINEVEH
Nah 1:1 to Nah 3:19
THE discussion of the Minor Prophets provides a great opportunity for such speakers as our great Humorist George Ade describes in his story on The Preacher Who Flew His Kite High. If one wants to quote from learned authorities, these Minor Prophets provide occasion. There is so much about them that is not known, and never can be known that they provide an almost unlimited field for the speculations of the uninspired. In consequence, a great array of names is associated with the discussion of every one of these Books. Like Ades minister, one may quote from learned authorities all the way from Iceland to Italy, and find himself especially provided with German names.
I should regard a review of these names, together with their opinions, as worth my while if there was anything like agreement in their conclusions; but since their discussions resolve themselves into debates which leave every man a dissenter from his fellows, I count the process folly, and propose instead that we frankly admit the difficulties of date, place of writing, possible interpolations, etc. and settle down upon the most probable conclusion as a proper introduction of the study of the Book.
It seems likely that Nahum was a native of Galilee, until the time of the invasion of his land, and the deportation of the Ten Tribes, when he was driven out, taking up his residence in Jerusalem. From this point he witnessed the siege of the city by Sennacherib, and was filled with joy at the destruction of the Assyrian hosts in the reign of Hezekiah; and was moved by the Spirit of God to see in this memorable event an earnest of the coming downfall of the enemy of his people, involving the complete overthrow of Nineveh and the Empire of which she was then the central city. The date of his prophecy was about 712 B. C. He was therefore a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah. This by way of introduction. Now we shall turn to the study of the Book. It is a convenient arrangement and fairly complete I think, to discuss this Book under three Suggestions.
THE FURY OF THE LORD
Immediately after giving the introduction The burden of Nineveh, The Book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite, we have his initial sentence of prophecy
God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; * * the Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies.
This terrible sentence was full of consolation to Gods oppressed people. It was evidently directed against the Assyrian at whose hands they had suffered every indignity and hardship. And yet the Prophet of God conserves Jehovahs character, and in the same sentence describes His method of procedure,
The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked (Nah 1:3). There are many sermons in that single text. I want therefore that we should dwell upon it this morning. Here men behold God in the hour of His righteous wrath, and yet in that hour three things must ever be remembered.
He is slow to anger! This is not the first time that Nineveh has offended. In our study of the Book of Jonah we saw that great city filled with such wickedness as incited Gods purpose of judgment. He said, Their wickedness is come up before Me. Jonah was dispatched to declare judgment, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!
But at the preaching of Jonah they seemed to repentproclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them
It is easier, however, to clothe oneself in sackcloth and cover oneself with ashes than to quit the sins to which one has long been accustomed. We are not surprised therefore to learn, that danger overpast, the Ninevites returned again to their iniquities as the sow returns to the wallow.
That it grieved God to witness this degeneracy, no one would question; but that He waits a hundred years before sending another prophet to declare their just doom, illustrates Nahums claim, The Lord is slow to anger.
He is a God of such grace that the fruitless tree will not be cut down until another years cultivation has failed to bring fruit from it; of such grace that the world will not be flooded until many prophets have pleaded with it, and Noah himself has warned it for more than a century; of such grace, that even Sodom receives angels visits, if not a visit from the Son Himself, and hears the declaration from Divine lips, ere the fire falls. It is sometimes said of a hasty man With him it is a word and a blow. But such a remark can never be made of God. He is slow to anger!
The Psalmist said,
I saw the prosperity of the wicked. * *
They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. * *
Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. * *
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God.
I wonder if coming into the presence of God, if being permitted that high privilege, does not convince every saved sinner of this great truth, The Lord is slow to anger.
He is great in power! (Nah 1:3). There is a natural relation between the sentences The Lord is slow to anger and great in power. The small, the insignificant, are quick to anger. Gods very greatness is here shown in His self-control. No man need fear that he will be smitten by Divine petulance. Patience will have been exhausted when penalty is inflicted. But when all patience is gone, not because God has lost it, but because man has despised it, power will still be with Jehovah, for The Lord is * * great in power.
The Prophet continues
The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.
The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him (Nah 1:3; Nah 1:5-6).
Joseph Parker reminds the men and women who spell nature with a capital N and boast their worship of it that their worship is climatic and Barometric. They are great on sunny Sabbath mornings when the sky is bright and the birds throats are bursting with music. Then you will find them walking abroad and declaring that in Natures Temple they have worshiped Natures God. But when the same God sends rain, they hid themselves to cover, and they do not find it in church either. When the same God sends thunder and lightning, they are filled with alarm. When the earth quakes at their feet, they lose all confidence in Natures God and appeal to Jehovah to save them. And their fears are better than their profession; for it proves that after all their fine speeches they understand that Jehovah is great in power and whether the storm shall sweep them as with the besom of destruction, or they shall be saved out of it by a plain providence, depends upon the will of Him who hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm. In an hour like that, evil men are made afraid. They reason that if the natural elements can exhibit such wrath, who shall be able to stand when God shall speak in judgment?
That same hour, however, is a source of consolation to the saint for he can say, It is my Fathers hand and be free from fear.
The God that reigns on high,
And thunders when He please,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas,
This awful God is ours,
Our Father and our love,
He shall send down His Heavenly powers
To carry us above.
He will not acquit the wicked! (Nah 1:3). The very same God who is slow to anger, sees to it that sinners are punished. Concerning this evil city the Prophet has said, With an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies. * * He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time (Nah 1:8-9).
Evidently He proposed when he did deal with Nineveh to wipe her from the face of the earth. The Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name he sown. * * I will make thy grave; for thou art vile (Nah 1:14).
Is this the God whose Name is Love? Certainly! I can imagine no more unscriptural, insane conception of God, than that which they hold who think that when they have said God is love they have preached a whole Gospel, and effectually disposed of all justice, brought an end to all judgment. I can conceive of the devil as acquitting the wicked without repentance on the part of the latter. I can conceive of him as winking at all kinds of transgressions, but I cannot conceive of God as doing the same. Our best illustrations of divinity are found in good men, and our best type of his satanic majesty is seen in sinful men. Elevate the evil man and the good man to places of power and what will be the result? Gods man will call the guilty to account. Satans man will be a mayor or governor in whom the worst element will delight. Jacob Riis speaks of Tweed as ruling in New York City, and tells how, drunk with power and plunder, he insolently defied the outraged community. In his day, the sinners of New York rejoiced. They seldom had to come to judgment and some saints were foolish enough to defend him by saying, He never squealed, and he was so good to the poor.
How naturally that sounds to a Minneapolitan! What else would you expect of a bad man?the man who is out for buying votes, than that he should let off the guilty with ease? What else would you expect from a good man than such a course as Attorney Folk of Missouri once took? If God acquitted the guilty, He could be impeached from office. Men would have a perfect right to set up another King in His stead. We grow tired of all this sickly sentimentality about the goodness of God as employed by some people. God is good! Infinitely too good to let guilt go on forever without calling it to judgment. Joseph Parker was right when he said, It is a poor ministry that has no perdition in it. It may be a popular ministry. There have been persons who would not go to church because they could not endure the minister who taught that God would execute wrath against evil doers.
But let all such understand that they are not protesting against the preacher, nor yet against the Prophet Nahum who said it, but against the very God whose character demands it, and who will by no means dear the guilty! God was no more acting in keeping with His character when He saved Noah and his household than when He smote the rest of the world with His flood; when He delivered Lot out of Sodom, than when He destroyed the city with fire and brimstone! The physician who comes and cuts the cancer from my flesh hurts me deeply and destroys a part of my body, but that is no sign that he is not my best friend. Removing a diseased part is for the interest of life itself. Ah, beloved, even the fury of Jehovah finds its expression always along the lines of love, life, and holiness.
But I call your attention to the second suggestion.
THE FALL OF NINEVEH
The Prophets sentence is
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face * *.
The shield of His mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet etc. (Nah 2:1; Nah 2:3).
Then follows a description of sacking the city (Nah 2:13).
Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I mil burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.
These words demand two remarks. Sentence was spoken when Nineveh seemed secure.
McClintock and Strong in their Encyclopedia say, That the prophecy was written before the final downfall of Nineveh and its capture by the Medes and Chaldeans (about B. C. 625) will be admitted. The allusions to the Assyrian power imply that this was still unbroken (Nah 1:12; Nah 2:13; Nah 3:15-17). The glory of the kingdom was at its brightest in the reign of EsarHaddon B. C. 680-660, who for thirteen years made Babylon the seat of the empire.
It is altogether likely that Ninevites gave little concern to what Micah had said. The average sinner pays little heed to Gods predicted judgments. The only judgment that appeals to him is the imminent one, or better still, the evident one.
We are told that in 1712, Mr. Whitson, having calculated the return of a comet for the 24th of October, at five minutes past five oclock in the morning, gave out his information to the public, and accompanied this by the statement that the world would burn up on the Friday following; and the untutored people believed him. Here was a danger at hand, and before Friday came around many Londoners had left on barges and boats for mid-ocean, thinking that would be a safer place if the elements should melt with fervent heat. A Dutch ship cast all its powder into the river. A hundred and thirty-five clergymen were called to Lamberth to offer special prayer, there being none in the service for such an occasion. A gentleman who had neglected family prayers for five years resumed the same, and, on Thursday evening, persuaded his wife to put off a ball until they saw whether the comet appeared or not. Three young society women were known to burn their novels and buy every one of them a Bible and a copy of Taylors Holy Living and Dying; while more than 7,000 men, living in illegal marriage relations, secured the necessary documents and had a ceremony said. All this because a man, by a scientific calculation, determined the time of the appearance of a comet and miscalculated the result of its coming. The same people who were terror stricken when they saw that comet put into the heavens, according to prediction, were unconcerned about the prophecies of God and His predicted judgments for the wicked, when it is as certain as the sun shining in heaven that not one jot or tittle of these latter shall fail.
The antediluvians reap the result of such indifference; the scoffing Sodomites share in the same; the sinners of today refuse to learn the lesson. Arthur Pierson tells how those German astronomers left the stone at Aiken, South Carolina on which their meridian circuit rested in observing the transit of Venus in 1884, to stand for the use of those who in June 2,004 shall need to watch another transit and then he remarksThink of itthe faith of science in the inflexible order of nature! One hundred and nineteen years hencethree times, at least, within that space a generation will have perished; thrones will have been emptied of occupant after occupant; empires will have passed away; changes, whose number and gravity are too great now to be conceived, will have taken place; nay, human history may have come to its great last crisis and the millennial march may have begun; but punctual to a second, without delay or failure, Venus will make her transit across the suns disc. So while scoffers sneer and doubters question, while empires vanish and nations perish, prophecy moves steadily onward, and nears its grand fulfillment. To a second of time and to the last minute jot or tittle of detail, the prophetic word shall be fulfilled.
Sentence was executed in accordance with the Prophets speech. There are self-styled scholars who play the parts of critics and pick the Minor Prophets to pieces as improbable. Prof. Ira Price, himself a noted Archaeologist, speaking of the work of such men said, My science is daily wrecking their conclusions and proving the truthfulness of the Word. These prophecies of Nahum are a case in point. Dr. Layard, whose researches of the ruins of Nineveh were extensive, speaks of the words of Nahum spoken 2500 years before he did his work, and declares that he finds every evidence of their fulfillment to the letter. He uncovered the pavement at the Gateway and found it marked with the ruts of the chariot wheels, as Nahum had said in Nah 3:2. The ivory ornaments, the metal bowls, vases and saucers, most beautifully embossed and engraved, which he discovered, are accepted as described by Nah 2:9 the spoil of silver, * * the spoil of gold: * * there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture. While the prophecy, I will * * set thee as a gazingstock is strangely fulfilled when we find the remains of this ancient city on exhibit in the museums of Europe. Beloved, the very literalness with which God fulfills His every word should be a consolation to saints and a warning to sinners. When God says to His own people, I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins, they should shout for joy. God keepeth His Word. But when God says, The wicked shall not be unpunished, evil men have occasion for alarm for God is not slack concerning His promise.
Some years ago, at La Porte, Texas, a young man who had come to the assembly grounds expecting to dance in the pavilion, but found Dr. Dixon there delivering a sermon, listened long enough to be convicted and angered. He walked two or three rods to an eating house and, while taking some refreshments, swore at Dixon, and as Dixon had been preaching on the Holy Ghost, profaned also His Name. A few moments later he walked over to the bathhouse, attired himself in a bathing suit, and leaped from the pier into the water.
The tide was out and the bay more shallow than he had calculated. His head struck the sands; his neck broke. A few minutes later he was brought back to the rooms where he had blasphemed the Holy Ghost, dead. It was just as God had said, He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy (Pro 29:1).
Whether we are concerned with the predictions of men makes little difference, but when God speaks, let all the people attend to His sentences at the peril of their souls. Nineveh went as He had said!
THE INFLICTION JUSTIFIED
The last chapter of this Book is given to the defense of the Divine character and judgments. The Prophet maintains that Nineveh has been treated with justice.
Her bloody character brought judgment!
Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery (Nah 3:1).
We have already heard a description of what it was in Jonahs days. It was worse in Nahums days; a hundred years worse. Cities seldom grow in virtue! Their custom is to grow in vice. In commenting upon this passage, both Joseph Parker and Charles Spurgeon felt led to describe the sins of London, and to say, It is the worst city in the world. If you read Jacob Riis Battle with the Slums you will find that he thinks New York City is the worst. If you talk with a Chicagoan who concerns himself with the morals of that great metropolis, he will tell you that she is unrivalled in iniquity. I could take almost any man sitting before me this morning down the street tonight and convince him by two-hours walk, that Minneapolis is modern Sodom.. Some years ago a man who was perfectly familiar with La Crosse, Wisconsin, affirmed to me that her immoralities could not be surpassed; another gave me a mere description of Cedar Rapids, la. and a few days ago I listened to a man who, with tears in his eyes, told me a tale of debauch, involving even the professed Christians and church-members of a little city nearer at hand, that made me wonder why God had not swept it with a cyclone already, or cracked the earth beneath it and swallowed it up. Beloved, it may not be a mere accident that Galveston was drowned, that Chicago burned, or San Francisco was buried, or even that New Richmond, Wisconsin, was destroyed.
The Lord [who] hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm knows just where the bloody city is, just when its cup of iniquity is full, and Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. If there is one obligation more incumbent than another upon Christian men at this time, it is that of seeing that our cities are not built in blood. When years ago the Federation of Churches made a canvass of the 15th Assembly District, New York City, they found that the churches, schools, and other educational agencies, marshalled a frontage of 756 feet, while the saloon fronts stretched themselves over nearly a mile so that the compiler of these pregnant facts, said Saloon social ideals are minting themselves on the minds of the people at the ratio of seven saloon thoughts to one educational thought. This is the institution that some men and most of congress want back. All our cities had such plague spots, and some of us were content if we could only keep the plague in spots. Legislate the saloon evil away from the door of the well-to-do resident and locate it over against the poor tenement where children, who have no home attractions, will be tempted more than they are able to bear; and all this defended on the cowardly basis that we can do nothing to change it, or by that worse speech It brings financial profit to the city or country, which is the insanity of mens greed for success.
I tell you that for every dollar which comes into the treasury of a city, blood-stained and tear-rusted, and every cent which citizens receive by lying, theft, robbery, and oppression, they will be called to account. God will be saying, Behold, I am against thee, * * and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame (Nah 3:5).
Her judgment was approved, by all, as just. Nahum says of Nineveh,
It shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee? (Nah 3:7)
There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? (Nah 3:19).
The Prophet foresees, here, that the former friends of this city will desert her and say her sentence is just, and it will be in vain to seek comforters for her; while those against whom she has behaved herself wickedly shall clap their hands for joy when they behold her judgment. Such also will be the fate of all sinners. There is no fellowship of sympathy for the man who has continued in sin against God until his doom is sealed. Dives did not find one friend in hell. Many of you have read Vathek by William Beckford, and it is commonly conceded that Beckford is here reciting his personal history, including even the torments of conscience on account of sin. Think of the description which he gives of the final state of the wicked! Almost the same instant the voice of judgment announced to the Caliph, Nouronihar, the five princes, and the princess, the awful and irrevocable decrees, their hearts immediately took fire, and they at once lost the most precious of the gifts of heaven-hope. These unhappy beings recoiled with looks of the most furious distraction; Vathek beheld in the eyes of Nouronihar nothing but rage and vengeance, nor could she discern aught in his but aversion and despair. The two princes who were friends, and until that moment had preserved their attachment, shrunk back, gnashing their teeth with mutual and unchangeable hatred. Kalailh and his sister made reciprocal gestures of imprecation, but the two other princes testified their horror for each other by the most ghastly convulsions, and screams that could not be smothered; all severally plunged themselves into the accursed multitude, there to wander in an eternity of unabating anguish.
Then Beckford adds, Such was, and such should be the punishment of unrestrained passions and atrocious actions! What a marvelous illustration Beckfords words are that the sinner will consent to the judgment of the sinful.
But the Prophet says, All that hear the bruit of thee shall clap their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
It is no wonder that Gods people rejoiced in the downfall of this enemy, nor can one make it appear irreligious. What Christian regretted the overthrow of the Turkish power, and end to all Turkish supremacy, even though it should have involved the destruction of what we call the unspeakable Turk? Have not his abominations invited the severest dealing and if God should be pleased to bring him to an utter end would not the world be vastly better off, and the civilized at least clap their hands for joy? So also of the bloody Soviet! And one can very easily carry this thought up to that greater judgment when Jesus Christ shall overthrow every enemy and bring to utter defeat the Adversary and all his hosts. In fact, is it not true that good men pray ardently for the coming of such a day and the sight of that very event? I once heard Dr. Justin Fulton say that when at last the prophecy in the Apocalyptic vision was realized and an angel came down out of Heaven and laid hold on the Dragon the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him * * and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him he would like to stand where he could see the whole proceedings and lift his voice in song, Halleluiah It Is Done. And where is the Christian who would not rejoice with him, and who does not pray with Dr. Lowell Mason,
Hasten, Lord, the glorious time,
When beneath Messiahs sway,
Every nation, every clime,
Shall the Gospel call obey.
Mightiest kings His power shall own,
Heathen tribes His Name adore;
Satan and his host overthrown,
Bound in chains, shall hurt no more.
Then shall wars and tumults cease,
Then be banished grief and pain;
Righteousness and joy and peace,
Undisturbed shall ever reign.
Bless we then our gracious Lord;
Ever praise His glorious Name;
All His mighty acts record,
All His wondrous love proclaim.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] The prophet resumes his description of the siege. Blood] Drops of blood shed in murder [Keil]. Lies] Vain promises of help. Depart.] Ceases not to plunder.
Nah. 3:2. Noise] In the charges of war-cars. This passage is unrivalled by any other, either in sacred or profane literature [Hend.]. Riders dash along, the flame of the sword, the flash of the lance, and the multitude of the slain, depict the attack and its consequences.
Nah. 3:4. Whoredoms] The reason of the punishment; not idolatry but selfishness, which under the guise of love sought the gratification of lust: the crafty policy to ensnare other States. Selleth] i.e. rob nations of liberty, bring them into bondage or make them tributary (Deu. 32:30; Jdg. 2:14).
HOMILETICS
GREAT WICKEDNESS.Nah. 3:1
The prophet in this chapter repeats and confirms the total ruin of Nineveh, because of cruel oppression and blood. The wickedness of the city is set forth in terrible aspects.
1. Cruel murder. The bloody city. Its prosperity was tainted with blood. Unrighteous war, oppression of the poor, and manifold bloodshedding are the indictment. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!
II. Treacherous dealing. It is all full of lies and robbery. Lies in word and act. Deceit with man, and hyprocrisy before God. Robbery linked with lies, secret treachery and open violence. Full of wickedness. Integrity and truth banished from them, and none upright for whose sake God might spare the city.
III. Constant rapine. The prey departeth not. She never ceased, but continued to make a prey upon others. They neither repented nor grew weary of iniquity. Avarice grew more intense, lusts were daily fed, and like a beast they tore in pieces and greedily fed upon their prey. God specially marks and denounces woe upon those who persevere in wicked courses. Arise, go to Nineveh that great city, and cry against it: for their wickedness is come up before me.
Who, stung by glory, rave and bound away,
The world their field and humankind their prey [Young].
GREAT JUDGMENTS AND GREAT SINS.Nah. 3:2-4
The sentence is enlarged, and the woe explained. Terrible are the preparations of the enemy, and the noise of chariots and horsemen sounds already in the ears. The city is filled with the dead, and the judgments of God are severe.
I. Great sins. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms, &c.
1. Bewitching other nations. The mistress of witchcraft. As harlots try to dement and ensnare by incantations, so Nineveh sought to draw others to her by subtle machinations. The love of gain acts on multitudes like witchcraft. They seduce others, hunt after men in excessive lust, and lead them into idolatry and estrangement from God.
2. Enslaving other nations. That selleth nations. They have no scruples in the use of unlawful means to get power and subdue others beneath their feet. Art and politics, religion and wealth, were used to make the city great and universal.
3. Selfish aggrandizement. All her skill and artifice in ill-doing were employed to gratify the desire of supremacy. Selfishness is often dressed in love to accomplish its own ends. Religion is made subservient to worldly aims; devilish arts enslave man and offend God. Domestic sanctities are violated, the rights of men are trampled down, and justice is outraged. Such ambition, says Sir Walter Scott, breaks the ties of blood, forgets the obligations of manhood.
II. Great judgments. Men may glory in skill, increase in power, and pursue wickedness, but God will have a reckoning with them. Because of the multitude, &c.
1. Judgments are prepared. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, &c. Military preparations are great: a formidable army is advancing against the city with irresistible speed and power. The judgments of God are (a) numerous, (b) ready for execution, and (c) will come with overwhelming speed. When sins are small, God is often patient and long-suffering; but when they become notorious and we continue in them, then God will punish them.
2. Judgments experienced. Before, all was beautiful and arranged to allure in the city, but now how different the scene! Everything fills the ear with terror, and the heart with sadness.
(1) The dead innumerable. Death follows death in rapid succession, and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases.
(2) The dead in every form. They are slain, and the bodies are carcases, corpses, an oppressive number, without end.
(3) The dead causing the living to stumble. So great the multitude of those who perish, that they lie, a hindrance in every street. They stumble upon their corpsessad scene! an awful warning to others. To fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city (Jer. 33:5).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Nah. 3:1. Filled with deceit. Great cities often great centres of wickedness. Notice,
1. The wickedness, (a) deceit, (b) violence, and (c) blood. God would not have destroyed it on account of idolatry or he would not have sent Jonah: his justice waited for the outbreak of greater violence and impious deeds.
2. The degree of this wickedness. It is all full of lies. She is wholly made up of fraud and falsehood, mendaciorum loquacissima; no truth in her private contracts, no trust in her public transactions and capitulations with other nations; be they never so solemnly confirmed, yet had they no longer force with them than stood with their own profit [Trapp].
Nah. 3:2. Here we have,
1. The attack. Eager and furious. Noise of whip, rattling of wheels, &c.
2. The results of the attack. Tremendous slaughter, dead bodies everywhere. Let those, says an old writer, that refuse to hear Gods sweet words fear lest they be forced to hear the noise of the whip, the rattling of the wheels, &c. (Psa. 7:12-13; Luk. 19:42-44; Pro. 1:24). The enemy is sent to revenge the quarrel of Gods covenant; the red horse is at the heels of the white (Rev. 6:4).
Nah. 3:4. The mistress of witchcrafts. The Hebrew not only indicates the subtlety, but the ease by which the great metropolis made itself the centre of nations.
1. The dominion. Mistress, meaning power, control, and dominion.
2. The method of gaining the dominion. Witchcraft. Treacherous friendships, and allurements, to ensnare and bind to herself other nations. She decked herself like a prostitute to entice from God into sin. But she will lose empire and inhabitants, and become like a widow destitute of children. These two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one daythe loss of children and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, &c. (Isa. 47:9-12).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XIV
THE EPITAPH OF NINEVEH
WOE TO THE BLOODY CITY . . . Nah. 3:1-3
RV . . . Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not. The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots, the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they stumble upon their bodies;
LXX . . . O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness, the prey shall not be handled. The noise of whips, and the noise of the rumbling of wheels, and of the pursuing horse, and of the bounding chariot, and of the mounting rider, and of the glittering sword, and of the gleaming arms, and of a multitude of slain, and of heavy falling: and there was no end to her nations, but they shall be weak in their bodies
COMMENTS
Nineveh, for years, had neither been taken nor put in fear. Now she lay, in the prophets vision, as she would soon really lie, in blood and ashes. Nahums reaction to her ruin is far from mourning. He rather lists her past glory and rejoices in her destruction. Reading this passage, one can almost hear Jonah joining Nahum in his rejoicing. What Jonah longed to see, Nahum saw. (cf. Jon. 4:1-5)
IT IS ALL FULL OF LIES . . . Nah. 3:1
Nineveh had aspired to be the capital of the world, by whatever means were at her disposal, whether intrigue in the courts of other nations or by sheer force of arms and the carrying away of conquered peoples. For this Nahum sees her now in ruins.
The God who made of one blood all the nations of men never designed any nation to be tyrants and hold others as her slaves. It is He Who will be universal monarch and none other! Yet the chapters of both ancient and modern history are delineated by the records of kings and nations who have tried to rule the world. None have long succeeded.
THE NOISE . . . THE NOISE . . . Nah. 3:2-3
The city lies dead. The silence of death is broken only by the sound of enemy arms moving about the streets. There is no regard for the dead . . . the invaders stumble over the fallen corpses.
The carnage seems endless. No attempt is made to count the bodies. They are simply a multitude.
Chapter XIVQuestions
The Epitaph of Nineveh
1.
Why does Nahum say Nineveh is full of lies?
2.
In Nahums vision of fallen Nineveh, the silence is broken only by __________.
3.
Discuss Nah. 3:4-7 in light of the modern question, If there is a God, why does He not halt or prevent war?
4.
What are the sins of Nineveh as listed in this paragraph?
5.
What is indicated by Nahums term witchcrafts?
6.
How does God intend to make Nineveh a gazing stock?
7.
Who are No-Amon, Karnak, Thebes?
8.
Where did the sprinkling of exorcism first become confused with the immersion of Christian baptism? When did this occur?
9.
Compare the fate of No-Amon with that of Nineveh.
10.
Who defeated No-Amon in 674 B.C.?
11.
Discuss Nahums question art thou better? as applied to modern America.
12.
In what physical condition were the leaders of Nineveh when the Medes and Babylonians fell upon them?
13.
What were all thy fortresses in Nah. 3:12-15?
14.
What is the irony of Nahums choice of vermin to illustrate the multitudes of Ninevehs defenders?
15.
The destruction of the city of Nineveh was the mortal wound of __________.
16.
How is Gods word in Nahum vindicated by history in the destruction of the Assyrian Empire?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Woe to the bloody city!Better, O bloody city! She is altogether deceit, filled with crime: she ceases not from plunder.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
NINEVEH’S VICES AND INEVITABLE DOOM, 1-19.
A woe is pronounced upon the bloody city (Nah 3:1). Her doom is inevitable and imminent (Nah 3:2-3), but it is well deserved and no one will bemoan her (Nah 3:4-7). Natural strength and resources will avail no more in her case than in the case of the Egyptian No Amon (Nah 3:8-11). In spite of her resources she will come to a terrible end, and the whole earth will rejoice because her power is departed from her (Nah 3:12-19).
Nah 3:1
Nah 3:1 contains a woe upon the bloody city.
Bloody city Literally, city of blood, that is, of bloodshed, of violence. Nineveh represents the whole nation, which was founded and held together by the sword. King after king glories in the cruelties committed against conquered nations. The words of Ashur-nasir-pal may serve as an illustration: “With combat and slaughter I attacked the city, I captured it; three thousand of their fighting men I slew with the sword. Their spoil, their goods, their oxen, their sheep I carried away. Their numerous captives I burned with fire. I captured many of the soldiers alive with the hand; I cut off the hands and feet of some; I cut off the noses, the fingers, and ears of others; the eyes of numerous soldiers I put out. I built up a pyramid of the living and a pyramid of heads. Their young men and their maidens I burned.” A kingdom thus founded and maintained lacks the elements of permanency and sooner or later must go to pieces. The epithet “bloody” is explained in the rest of Nah 3:1.
Full of lies Since the prophet is concerned primarily with external politics, the lies and deceit condemned here are such as were practiced against other nations, though it is not improbable that they flourished also in the intercourse of Assyrians with Assyrians.
Robbery R.V., “rapine”; literally, tearing in pieces. A figure taken from the practice of the lion (Nah 2:11-12), that tears to pieces whatever falls into his power (Psa 7:2).
The prey departeth not Not the prey taken, in the sense that it is always plentiful, but the prey- taking, that is, robbery and oppression, never ceases. It is the one policy Assyria carried out consistently from beginning to end.
Nah 3:2-3
Nah 3:2-3 picture the fulfillment of the woe. The hostile army attacks and takes Nineveh, a great slaughter ensues, and the city is filled with corpses. Nah 3:2 describes the noise of the onslaught: the cracking of the whips as the charioteers urge on the horses, the rattling of the wheels as they speed along, the prancing of the horses as they rage to and fro, and the bumping of the chariots as they rush wildly over the rugged roads, made less passable through obstacles placed in the way by the defenders. Instead of “the noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels,” we might translate, “Hark! the whip! and hark! the rattling of wheels!” (G.-K., 146b.) Nah 3:3 depicts the sights that meet the eye. The charge is progressing; nearer and nearer the enemy approaches; one can see distinctly his various movements. In 3a, R.V. is to be preferred; and the whole description becomes more vivid if “there is” is omitted whenever, as indicated by the italics, it is not in the original.
Mounting Better, with R.V. margin, “charging”; literally, causing to ascend, that is, the horse; to urge it to greater speed. Seen are also the flashing swords and the glittering spears. Scenes representing charges of this sort are depicted on numerous reliefs in the palaces of Nineveh. The prophet describes the sequel with equal vividness. The defenders are slain; corpses are piled up in heaps; the victorious assailants stumble over them as they rush into the city.
Nah 3:4-7
The retribution is just; no one pities her, Nah 3:4-7.
Nah 3:4 contains a new denunciation, justifying the judgment announced in Nah 3:5-7. Nineveh is personified as a harlot.
Multitude of the whoredoms The figure of faithlessness to the marriage relation, when applied to Israel, is used (1) of idolatry, (2) of alliances with other nations, both being evidences of faithlessness to and lack of confidence in Jehovah. Applied to other nations it denotes improper political or commercial intercourse (Isa 23:17). Nahum, in this passage, refers not to idolatry or falling away from the true God, nor to protective alliances or commercial intercourse, but, as Hitzig has so well said, to “the treacherous friendship and statecraft with which the coquette in her search for conquests ensnared the smaller states.”
The well-favored harlot Not, the one receiving special favors, but “beautiful,” “good-looking.” “Beauty and charm is a point in the harlot.” With her splendor and brilliancy Nineveh dazzled and ensnared the nations.
Mistress of witchcrafts In this connection the expression does not denote black arts, but “the secret wiles which, like magical arts, do not come to the light in themselves, but only in their effects” (compare2Ki 9:22). By means of these crafty and treacherous dealings Assyria made easy victims of the other nations.
Nations families Synonymous expressions denoting the nations conquered by Assyria (Amo 3:1).
Selleth Is used here not of selling into bondage or slavery to other nations, but in the general sense of robbing of liberty, making tributary, or in the sense of consigning to ruin (Deu 32:30; Est 7:4). A similar verb in Arabic means “ensnare,” “beguile,” and this meaning is given by several commentators to the verb in this passage.
5-7. Jehovah cannot overlook this treacherous conduct.
I am against thee See Nah 2:13. The punishment will be according to the lex talionis. The part of a harlot she has acted, the fate of a harlot she must endure.
Discover R.V., “uncover.”
Thy skirts I will remove the skirts which form the covering of the body, and which by their gaudiness have added much to her attractiveness.
Upon thy face Or, over; so that the skirts are drawn over the face. Margin renders, “before thy face.” She must look on as she is exposed naked to the curious gaze of the bystanders. The same picture is found several times in the Old Testament (Jer 13:26; Isa 47:3; Hos 2:10); it may be borrowed from an ancient custom of exposing a harlot or adulteress in public (Eze 16:37-40).
As she stands exposed she will be subjected to indignities of every sort.
Abominable filth Literally, abhorrence, or objects of abhorrence, applied quite frequently to idols; hence Kleinert interprets the threat as equivalent to “I will bury thee underneath thy idols” (compare Nah 1:14); but it should be understood here in a more general sense of things that one views with abhorrence and disgust, dirt and filth. To throw these upon a person is a sign of greatest contempt.
Make thee vile The same verb is translated in Mic 7:6, “dishonor”; it means to accord contemptuous treatment, to insult (Jer 14:21). Hitzig, deriving it from a different root, translates “cast carcass upon.”
Set thee as a gazingstock Literally, a sight. The treatment accorded by Jehovah will be so startling that the eyes of all who see it will be fixed upon her in malicious joy (Eze 28:17-18; compare Mat 1:19; 1Co 4:9). The picture will be so awful that the on-lookers will be horror-struck and flee in terror. In 7b the figure of the harlot is interpreted as applying to Nineveh. Without pity and sympathy she must go to her ruin.
Nah 3:8-11
The fate of No Amon is to be the fate of Nineveh, Nah 3:8-11.
Nineveh may boast in her strong defenses, but they will not save her. No Amon in Egypt was the equal of Nineveh in this respect, yet she suffered inglorious defeat. Nineveh can expect no better fate.
Art thou better Better protected or fortified; or, “shalt thou be better?”
that is, shalt thou have a better fate?
Populous No Better, R.V., “No-amon,” that is, No of the god Amon. No is the Old Testament name of Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt (Jer 46:25; Eze 30:14), whose chief deity was Amon. It was a prominent city from very early times, and for many centuries it was the center of Egyptian civilization and power, until, in the seventh century, it fell before the Assyrian invaders. Its final capture by Ashurbanapal is in the mind of the prophet (see p. 429). The rest of Nah 3:8 describes the location of the city.
Among the rivers The city proper lay on the eastern banks of the Nile, here about fifteen hundred feet wide. The noun is used ordinarily of the Nile; the plural might be explained as a plural of majesty, “the great river”; but it seems better to take it as including the canals receiving the water from the Nile (Exo 7:19).
Waters round about The Nile and the canals surrounded the city, thus forming a natural defense. Perhaps moats formed a part of the fortifications, as in the case of Nineveh.
Whose rampart was the sea This translation presupposes a slight change in the original. The “sea” is the Nile which, during its overflow, resembles a sea (compare Isa 18:2; Isa 19:5; Jer 51:36).
Her wall was from the sea R.V., “of the sea,” that is, consisted of the sea, which would have to be understood again of the Nile but the construction is peculiar. LXX., with a very slight change, reads, “and waters were her wall,” which is to be preferred. Some consider, though on insufficient ground, the description unsuitable for Thebes; hence No Amon has been identified with Memphis and several cities in the Delta.
Nah 3:8 describes the natural strength of the city; Nah 3:9 points to her military resources.
Ethiopia See on Zep 2:12.
Egypt At the time No Amon was threatened, Ethiopia and Egypt were one under an Ethiopian dynasty, so that the military strength of both might be summoned to the defense of Egypt.
Infinite Literally, without end (Nah 2:9; Nah 3:3; Isa 2:7).
Put and Lubim The latter are the Libyans, the people settled west of Lower Egypt, who had succeeded in securing a strong foothold in the Delta itself. Put is mentioned several times in the Old Testament (Gen 10:6; Eze 27:10; Eze 38:5), but opinions differ as to its location. It has been identified with the Egyptian Punt, corresponding to the modern Abyssinian and Somali coast in Eastern Africa, a country to which Egyptian kings undertook expeditions (see on Zep 3:10). Against this identification it has been urged that this district never supplied Egypt with soldiers, which assertion can neither be proved nor disproved. LXX. sometimes translates “Libyans”; for this reason, and because sometimes the two are named together, some hold that they are closely connected. Put has been thought to denote all the peoples west of Lower Egypt, while the Libyans, in the narrower sense, were the tribes immediately west of the Delta; others make Put a distinct tribe west of Libya. Other identifications, which have found some support in an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, make Put an island of the Mediterranean or the coast of Asia Minor, whence later Egyptian kings secured mercenaries.
Thy helpers Whatever the exact location of Put, it, with Libya, furnished soldiers for the defense of Thebes. LXX. and other ancient versions read “her helpers,” which, in parallelism with “her strength,” is preferable.
10. In spite of her natural strength and her limitless resources No Amon fell (p. 429), and her treasures were carried to Assyria.
Her young children also were dashed in pieces A barbarous custom, not uncommon in ancient warfare (Hos 13:16; Isa 13:16); another cruel practice was to rip up pregnant women (Amo 1:13; Hos 13:16), in order to exterminate all male children, and thus prevent future revolts. The “top” or “head” of the streets (Isa 51:20) is probably the place where several streets meet, the public square, where many might see the execution.
Cast lots for her honorable men The captured nobles were distributed as slaves (see on Joe 3:3; Oba 1:11).
Her great men were bound in chains The inscription of Ashurbanapal states that his commanders in Egypt “captured the rebellious kings and laid their hands and feet in iron chains and iron bonds.”
11. As Thebes with all her magnificence and splendor became a heap of ruin, so Nineveh must fall under the angry blows of Jehovah.
Be drunken From the deep draught she must take from the cup of Jehovah’s wrath (Hab 2:16; Oba 1:16). A figure of stupefaction caused by calamity (Isa 51:17 ff.).
Shalt be hid So that no one can see a trace of her. Nineveh will be reduced to nothing, will vanish completely (Nah 1:8; Nah 2:11; Oba 1:16). Some render, “thou shalt be shrouded in darkness,” that is, shalt swoon or faint, as a result of the powerful draught (Isa 51:20). Either interpretation gives acceptable sense.
Shalt seek strength R.V., “a stronghold.” As the enemy presses nearer she will seek protection and shelter, but in vain; she, like No Amon, will be utterly ruined? Nah 3:12-19
Vain struggles of Nineveh, Nah 3:12-19.
The description of the hopeless struggle begins with Nah 3:11; but it seems better to regard that verse as the concluding portion of the preceding section, threatening Nineveh with a fate similar to that of No Amon. Desperate efforts are made to save the city, but all in vain. Rapidly the enemy advances, and the city goes down before him; all the earth rejoices over her downfall. 12. The fortresses throughout the land fall almost without a blow. Strongholds [“fortresses”] Not the fortifications of Nineveh, but the strongholds scattered throughout the land to protect the capital.
Like fig trees The tertium comparationis is the ease with which they are taken. It requires only a feeble shaking, and down come the figs (Isa 28:4); so it requires only a feeble assault and the fortresses capitulate, and the cowardly defenders become an easy prey.
First-ripe figs See on Hos 9:10.
13. The news of the resistless advance of the invader causes consternation everywhere, even in the capital.
In the midst of thee In Nineveh.
Thy people are women The people, including the soldiers, are so terrified by the approach of the enemy that strength and courage fail them; they become feeble like women. The Assyrians were considered the most warlike nation of the time; the transformation is therefore the more startling. The figure is not uncommon in the Old Testament (compare Isa 19:16; Jer 50:37; Jer 51:30), and it is found also in the inscriptions. In Nah 3:13 b the prophet reiterates the cause of the terror. The tenses of R.V. are to be preferred.
The gates of thy land shall be set [“are”] wide open The entrance into the land and the roads to the capital. These were barred by strongholds and fortresses (Nah 3:12), but since the latter have fallen the gates are wide open and the enemy can advance unhindered.
Fire shall devour [“hath devoured”] thy bars Bars prevent the entrance into fortified towns (see on Amo 1:5); here the term seems to be used metaphorically of the fortresses themselves (Jer 51:30), which are intended to bar the way to the capital.
With these burned, so that the enemy can advance unhindered, a siege is inevitable; the prophet urges the people in Nah 3:14 to make preparations for it. One cannot fail to see the irony of the appeal, for the prophet immediately proceeds to make plain that all efforts will be futile.
Draw thee waters for the siege In a prolonged siege the ordinary water supply may prove insufficient; for this emergency they are to prepare themselves by storing up water. Billerbeck, on the basis of Assyrian representations (compare, for example, Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains, 2: 32), thinks that the water was to be used in the defense, to be poured, perhaps boiling, upon the heads of the assaulters. That this was one means of defense is quite probable; that the illustration in Layard or the expression in Nahum refers to it is more than doubtful.
Fortify thy strongholds R.V., “strengthen thy fortresses.” Improve the fortifications, the towers, walls, etc. How this is to be done is stated in the rest of the verse.
Clay, mortar Since it was exceedingly difficult to secure stone for building purposes, brick, sometimes burned, more often only sun-dried, was used as a common building material in Assyria, even in the construction of fortifications; and the excavations have shown that brick was used very extensively in the fortifications of Nineveh. The people are urged to make bricks, for the strengthening of the defenses already existing, for the erection of new ones, and for the repairing of possible breaches. The two exhortations are practically identical in meaning (Isa 41:25); they are to tread the clay of which the bricks are to be made, so as to prepare it for the brickmaker.
Make strong the brickkiln Should be translated with margin R.V., “lay hold of the brick mold” (2Sa 12:31); having prepared the clay, they are to make the bricks.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Nah 3:10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
Nah 3:10
[12] Adam Clarke, The Book of the Prophet Jonah, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Jonah 1:3.
Joe 3:3, “And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.”
Oba 1:11, “In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.”
Nah 3:10, “Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.”
Jon 1:7, “And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.”
Eze 27:12, “Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.”
The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus Christ cast lots at the foot of the Cross (Mat 27:35, Mar 15:24, Luk 23:34, Joh 19:24). The Roman statesman Cicero (106-43 B.C.) makes numerous references to the widespread practice of casting lots among the ancient cultures in his work de divination. [13] The Jewish historian Josephus (A.D. 37-100) mentions the practice of casting lots among the Roman soldiers who had encompassed the city of Jerusalem under Titus. [14] The Roman historian Suetonius (A.D. 70-130) mentions this ancient practice among Roman leaders by appointing men to tasks by casting lots, as well as casting lots as a form of divination. [15]
[13] For example, Cicero writes, “But what nation is there, or what state, which is not influenced by the omens derived from the entrails of victims, or by the predictions of those who interpret prodigies, or strange lights, or of augurs, or astrologers, or by those who expound lots (for these are about what come under the head of art); or, again, by the prophecies derived from dreams, or soothsayers (for these two are considered natural kinds of divination)?” ( de divination 1.6) Cicero also writes, “What, now, is a lot? Much the same as the game of mora, or dice, l and other games of chance, in which luck and fortune are all in all, and reason and skill avail nothing. These games are full of trick and deceit, invented for the object of gain, superstition, or error.” ( de divination 2.41) See Cicero, The Treatises of M. T. Cicero on the Nature of the Gods; on Divination; on Fate; on the Republic; on the Laws; and on Standing for the Consulship, trans. C. D. Yonge (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853), 146-147, 235.
[14] Josephus
[15] For example, Suetonius writes, “When later, on his way to Illyricum, he [Tiberius] visited the oracle of Geryon near Patavium, and drew a lot which advised him to seek an answer to his inquiries by throwing golden dice into the fount of Aponus, it came to pass that the dice which he threw showed the highest possible number and even to-day those very dice may be seen under the water.” ( Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Tiberius) Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, trans. Joseph Gavorse (New York: Modern Library, 1931), 130-131.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Miserable Ruin of Nineveh.
v. 1. Woe to the bloody city, v. 2. the noise of a whip, v. 3. The horseman lifteth up, v. 4. because of the multitude of the whoredoms, v. 5. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, v. 6. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, v. 7. And it shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, v. 8. Art thou better than populous No, v. 9. Ethiopia and Egypt, v. 10. Yet, v. 11. Thou also, v. 12. All thy strongholds, v. 13. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women, v. 14. Draw thee waters for the siege, v. 15. There shall the fire devour thee, v. 16. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven, v. 17. Thy crowned, v. 18. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, v. 19. There is no healing of thy bruise,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Nah 3:1-19
Part III. THE CAUSE OF THE JUDGMENTSINS OF THE CITY, WHICH BRING INEVITABLE PUNISHMENT.
Nah 3:1-7
1. The prophet specifies the crimes which have brought this ruin upon Nineveh.
Nah 3:1
The bloody city; literally, city of bloods, where Mood is shed without scruple (comp. Eze 24:6, Eze 24:9; Hab 2:12). The cruelty of the Assyrians is attested by the monuments, in which we see or read how prisoners were impaled alive, flayed, beheaded, dragged to death with ropes passed through rings in their lips, blinded by the king’s own hand, hung up by hands or feet to die in slow torture. Others have their brains beaten out, or their tongues torn out by the roots, while the bleeding heads of the slain are tied round the necks of the living, who are reserved for further torture. The royal inscriptions recount with exultation the number of the enemies slain and of captives carried away, cities levelled with the ground, plundered, and burnt, lands devastated, fruit trees destroyed, etc. It is all full of lies; , “all lie”. The Assyrians used treachery in furthering their conquests, made promises which they never kept, to induce nations to submit to their yoke. Such, doubtless, were those of Rabshakeh (Isa 36:16). Rawlinson, “Falsehood and treachery are often employed by the strong, as furnishing short cuts to success, and even, where the moral standard is low, as being in themselves creditable (see Thucyd; 3.83). It certainly was not necessity which made the Assyrians covenant breakers; it seems to have been in part the wantonness of powerbecause they ‘despised the cities, and regarded no man’ (Isa 33:8); perhaps it was in part also their imperfect moral perception, which may have failed to draw the proper distinction between craft and cleverness” (‘Ancient Monarchies,’ 1.305). Robbery; rather, rapine, or rending in pieces. The figure applies to the way in which a wild beast kills its prey by tearing it to pieces. So the three crimes of Nineveh here enumerated are bloodshed, deceit, and violence. In the uncertainty concerning the word (pereq). rendered “robbery,” which only occurs m Oba 1:14, where it means “crossway,” the LXX. translates, , “full of unrighteousness.” The Vulgate is correct, dilaceratione plena. The prey departeth not. They go on in the same way, gathering spoil into the city, never ceasing from this crime. The monuments continually record the booty that was brought to Nineveh. Septuagint, , which gives a sense contradictory to the text, “Prey shall not be handled.”
Nah 3:2
The noise of a whip. The prophet describes the advance of the investing army. He hears the cracking of the whips of the charioteers, and the rattling of the wheels of the chariots, and the galloping horses, and the chariots bounding over the plain. Probably all the expressions in this verso refer to chariots and to horses yoked to them, which varied in number from one to three. The whip was a simple thong attached to a short handle. Comp. Virg; ‘Georg.,’ 3:106, etc.
“… illi instant verbere torto
Et proni dant lora, volat vi fervidus axis;
Jamque humiles, jamque elati sublime videntur
Aera per vacuum ferri, atque adsurgere in auras.”
Nah 3:3
The horseman lifteth up. The Hebrew is more vivid, the words standing in pairs, as if describing the successive onsets of the enemy. So Pusey. It is best to render, “horsemen making to rear;” or as Septuagint. , “horseman mounting;” so the Vulgate; Henderson. Horsemen are seen in the most ancient sculptures of Nimroud, and in the bas-reliefs of Kouyunjik (comp. Judith 2:15; Eze 23:6; Layard, ‘ Nineveh,’ 2.356). Both the bright sword; better, and the flaming sword (Gen 3:24); literally, the flame of the sword. And the glittering spear; literally, the lightning flash of the spear (Hab 3:11). These are the arms of the foot soldiers. A multitude of slain. The effect of the assault is described. So numerous are the corpses that one cannot help stumbling over them; the invaders themselves are impeded by the heaps of dead bodies which they have to mount. The LXX. connects this verse with the following, thus. “They shall grow weak in their bodies by reason of the multitude of their fornications.”
Nah 3:4
The cause is given that has brought this punishment. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms. This term is commonly applied to idolatry, the swerving from the true God and turning to false deities; and it is thought that it cannot be used in that sense here, as Assyria had always worshipped idols, and could not be said to have forsaken or proved false to the Lord. Hence Hitzig, Keil, and others refer the term to the treacherous friendship and crafty politics by which Nineveh ensnared other states, seeking really only her own interests (comp. Isa 23:17). But this habit of treachery has been already mentioned in Nah 3:1 (where see note); and, as Knabenbauer remarks, the Assyrians used no meretricious blandishments to effect their conquests, but the cruel arts of war and the stern ordeal of the sword. It is scarcely probable that the prophet would omit idolatry among the crimes of the Assyrians that called for vengeance, as all their wars were carried on in the name of their gods, and the monarchs professed to be under Divine protection and influence. The term “whoredom” is applied to the idolatry, not only of the Israelites, but to that of Jezebel (2Ki 9:22), who was always a heathen. The idolatry of the Assyrians may very well be so called, because it was a wilful ignoring of the light of nature and natural religion (see Wis. 13:1; Rom 1:19, etc.). They were careful, too, wherever they carried their arms, to erect there symbols of their deities, and to compel conquered nations to receive them and pay them Divine honour. With this idolatrous worship was associated that gross immorality which even Herodotus (1.199) termed utterly disgraceful (comp. Baruch 6:43). Rightly is Nineveh called the well favoured harlot; for her splendour and magnificence were unsurpassed, dazzling all beholders and hiding the rottenness that lay below the surface. The mistress of witchcrafts. She was skilful in employing every art to seduce nations to her side. We hear much of magic in connection with Babylon and the Chaldeans, but not in reference especially to Assyria. The expression here is metaphorical, alluding to the secret practices which she employed to gain her ends and to make her rule attractive (comp. Rev 18:2, Rev 18:3). That selleth nations. Depriving them of freedom and making them tributary, or, in some cases, actually selling the inhabitants as slaves (comp. Deu 32:30; Jdg 2:14; Joe 3:3; Amo 1:6, Amo 1:7). Families. Not only nations in the aggregate, but smaller bodies, individuals, so that none escape. Septuagint, , “peoples.”
Nah 3:5
I am against thee (see note on Nah 2:13). The Lord will punish Nineveh with the utmost ignominy, treating her (“the whore,” Nah 3:4) like a harlot or adulteress. Thy skirts. The borders of the long flowing dress which added to her pomp (comp. Isa 47:2, etc.; Jer 13:26; Lam 1:8). Upon (before) thy face. So that thou mayst know thine own shame. I will show the nations. All men shall see what thou really art, like an adulteress haled before the congregation.
Nah 3:6
The metaphor is continued. Nineveh shall be like a vile woman exposed to the insults and ill treatment of the rabble (comp. Eze 16:37, etc.). A gazing-stock. That all may see thee and take warning. LXX; , “for a public example,” which recalls Mat 1:19.
Nah 3:7
Shall flee from thee. As an object of disgust, or fearing to be involved in thy ruin (Rev 18:10, Rev 18:15). Who will bemoan her? No one will pity her for her well deserved chastisement (Jer 15:5). Whence shall I seek, etc.? Truly, nowhere in all the world (comp. Isa 51:19).
Nah 3:8-13
2. The ruin of Nineveh can be averted no more than was that of No-Amon.
Nah 3:8
Art thou better than populous No? “Better” probably means here more prosperous. “Populous No” ought to be rendered, No-Amon, i.e. No of the solar god Amon. This is the celebrated Thebes, in Upper Egypt, called in Egyptian Pa-Amun, “the House of Amun,” and in the inscriptions Ni, which is the same word as No. The name Amon is attached because that god was particularly worshipped there. The LXX. has (“a portion of or for Ammon”), translating the word “No.” St. Jerome, misled by his Hebrew teacher, renders, “Alexandria populorum,” as if Thebes stood on the site of the much later city of Alexandria; whereas we see from Assurbanipal’s annals that he was forty days marching from Memphis, where he defeated Rudammon, to Thebes. On the grandeur and magnificence of this city, Denon (quoted by Rawlinson, ‘Ancient Monarchies,’ 1.309, note 7), writes, “On est fatigue d’ecrire, on est fatigue de lire, on est epouvante de la pensee d’une telle conception; on ne peut croire, meme apres l’avoir vu, a la realite de l’existence de tant de constructions reunies sur un meme point, a leurs dimensions, a la constance obstinee qu’a exigee leur fabrication, aux depenses incalculables de taut de somptuosite” (‘Egypte,’ 2.226). “In the long and rich valley of the Lower Nile, which extends above five hundred miles from Syene to Memphis, almost any situation might furnish a site for a great city, since, except at Silsilis and at the Gebelein, the valley is never less than two miles wide, the soil is always fertile, good quarries are always at hand, and lavish Nature is so bounteous with her gifts that abundant sustenance can at any point be obtained for a large population. But in this wealth of eligible sites, there are still degrees of eligibilityspots which Nature has distinguished by special favour, and, as it were, marked out for greatness and celebrity. Such a position is that which the traveller reaches when, passing through the gorge of the Gebelein, he emerges upon the magnificent plain, at least ten miles in width, through which the river flows with a course from southwest to northeast for a distance of some forty miles between Erment and Qobt. Here, for the first time since quitting the Nubian desert, does the Nile enter upon a wide and ample space. On either side the hills recede, and a broad green plain, an alluvium of the richest description, spreads itself out on both banks of the stream, dotted with dom and date palms, sometimes growing singly, sometimes collected into clumps or groves. Here, too, there open out on either side, to the east and to the west, lines of route offering great advantages for trade, on the one hand with the Lesser Oasis and so with the tribes of the African interior, on the other with the western coast of the Red Sea and the spice region of the opposite shore. In the valley of Hammamat, down which passed the ancient route to the coast, are abundant supplies of breccia verde and of other valuable and rare kinds of stone, while at no great distance to the right and left of the route lie mines of gold, silver, and lead, anciently prolific, though exhausted now for many ages. Somewhat more remote, yet readily accessible by a frequented route, was the emerald region of Gebel Zabara, where the mines are still worked” (Rawlinson, ‘Ancient Egypt,’ 2.124, etc.). Thebes was situated on both banks of the Nile, the principal portion lying on the east; the Necropolis and Memnonia were on the west. It seems never to have been surrounded with a wall (notwithstanding its “hundred gates”), the river and canals forming a sufficient defence. At the present time the ruins are some twenty-seven miles in circuit, including Luxor and the remains of the great temple at Karnak. The sea. The Nile formed its rampart. Great rivers are called seas in the poetical books. Thus Isa 19:5; Isa 27:1; Jer 51:36. Her wall was from the sea; or, of the sea. The sea was her wall. Septuagint, , “water her walls.”
Nah 3:9
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength. Urdamaneh, or Rudammon, in whose time this capture of No-Amon took place, was son and successor of Tirhalrah, who is called expressly King of Ethiopia (2Ki 19:9; Isa 37:9). Egypt. The Egyptians proper, combined with the Ethiopians, formed the kingdom of Egypt under the twenty-fifth, the Ethiopian, dynasty. And it was infinite. The power of Egypt was boundless, its forces in numerable (see 2Ch 12:3). Pusey notes a remark of Cato (in Steph. Byzant. ap. Boch; 4.27) that the Egyptians connected with Thebes amounted to seven millions. In Isaiah 18-20. Ethiopia and Egypt are represented as combined against Assyria, and conquered by it (Wordsworth). Septuagint, , “There was no limit of the flight.” This is thought by Jerome to be connected with the previous verses, and to refer to Nineveh. Put and Lubim were thy helpers. No-Amon is here suddenly addressed. Put, or Punt, designates either a part of Arabia or that part of the coast of Egypt opposite to it. Luhim are the Lybians, dwelling on the west of the Canopic mouth of the Nile. Thus the enumeration of the forces of Thebes is regularly arranged, beginning with the south, Ethiopia, then through Egypt proper to the north, and then to the provinces on the east and west (Knabenbauer). The Vulgate translates the two terms, Africa et Libya. The LXX. combines them in one, . These peoples are named together elsewhere: e.g. Jer 46:9; Eze 27:10; Eze 30:5; Eze 38:5.
Nah 3:10
Yet was she carried away. In spite of her strong position and infinite resources, Thebes was captured and despoiled; and shall Nineveh fare better? Surely not. This capture of Thebes took place B.C. 664, and must have been in men’s minds when Nahum wrote his prophecy. The Assyrians twice took Thebes in the days of Assurbanipal. The first time it is merely recorded that the soldiers, under the commander of the satraps, made a slaughter in the city. The second capture is thus described in the monarch’s own tablet (Brugsch, ‘Egypt,’ 1.272-275, Eng. transl.): “Urdamaneh fled alone, and entered Thebes, the city of his kingdom I directed my march in pursuit of him. I came to Thebes. He saw the strength of my army, and left Thebes, and fled to the city of Kipkip. Of that whole city (Thebes), with thanksgiving to Asur and Istar, my hands took the complete possession. Silver, gold, metals, stones, all the treasures of its palace whatsoever, dyed garments of before and linen, great horses [elephants?] men and women, great and small, works of zakah [basalt?] and marble, their kelal and manzas, the gates of their palace I tare away and carried to Assyria. I made spoil of the animals of the land without number, and carried them forth in the midst out of Thebes I caused a catalogue to be made of the spoil. I returned in safety to Nineveh”. Were dashed in pieces. The prophet describes the usual treatment of captured cities. At the top of all the streets. In the most public places, where many streets converge (Lam 2:19). Cast lots. The victors divided the nobles among themselves by lot (see note on Oba 1:11). Were bound in chains. We find in the Assyrian monuments delineations of captives with their arms bound together by a rope held by a soldier, sometimes men, sometimes women and children; the women are tearing their hair in despair. In a bas-relief at Khorsabad captives were led by a rope fastened to a ring in the lip.
Nah 3:11
Thou also shalt be drunken. Nahum makes the application: The fate of Thebes shall be thine, O Nineveh. Thou shalt drink to the full the cup of God’s wrath (see note on Oba 1:16; and comp. Jer 25:15, Jer 25:17, Jer 25:27). The metaphor indicates the effect of some overwhelming calamity that makes men reel with terror or stupefies them with amazement. Thou shalt be hid; thou shalt be powerless, or reduced to nothing; ,“Thou shalt be despised”; Eris despecta (Vulgate). Nineveh, which was taken and destroyed between B.C. 626 and 608, was so effectually “hidden” that its very site was discovered only in late years, and its monuments have only been partially disinterred after immense labour. Thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy; or, thou also shalt seek a stronghold from the enemy. As the Egyptians fled for refuge from one place to another (see note on verse 10), so shall the Assyrians attempt in vain to escape the enemy. History records that they endeavoured to effect a retreat from Nineveh during the siege (see Introduction, I.).
Nah 3:12
Shall be like (are) fig trees with the first ripe figs. The Assyrians’ fortresses are as ready for destruction and as easy to destroy as ripe figs are ready to fall from the tree at the least shake of the eater (Isa 28:1-29. S).
Nah 3:13
The reason why the fortresses are so readily taken is now given. Are women. The Assyrians were essentially a brave nation, but they should be now no more able to resist the enemy than if they were women (comp. Isa 19:16; Jer 1:1-19 :37; Jer 51:30). The gates of thy land. The various approaches and passes which lead into Assyria (comp. Jer 15:7; Mic 5:6). So Strabo (11.12. 13) speaks of certain mountain passes as “the Caspian gates” and Xenophon (‘Anab.’ 1.4. 4) mentions “the gates of Cilicia and Syria.” The famous defile that led into Greece was called Thermopylae The fire shall devour thy bars. Hitzig, Keil, and others take the “bars” metaphorically, meaning the forts and castles which defend the passes; but the literal sense is the most natural, as in the parallel passage, Jer 51:30 (see note on Amo 1:5). It was the Assyrians’ custom to set fire to the gates of any city that they attacked. “It is incontestable,” says Bonomi, in another place, “that, during the excavations, a considerable quantity of charcoal, and even pieces of wood either half burnt or in a perfect state of preservation, were found in many places. The lining of the chambers also bears certain marks of the action of fire. All these things can be explained only by supposing the fall of a burning roof, which calcined the slabs of gypsum, and converted them into dust …. It must have been a violent and prolonged fire to be able to calcine not only a few places, but every part of these slabs, which were ten feet high and several inches thick. So complete a decomposition can be attributed but to intense heat”.
Nah 3:14-19
3. In spite of all its efforts and all its resources, Nineveh shall meet with a terrible end.
Nah 3:14
Nahum ironically bids the Ninevites prepare for the siege they were about to sustain. Draw thee waters for the siege. The drinking water necessary for a long siege is meant. This injunction is not particularly applicable to Nineveh, which from its situation was abundantly supplied with water, unless there was danger that the enemy would divert the courses of the rivers. But the warning would come home with peculiar force to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, among whom Nahum prophesied (2Ki 20:20; Isa 22:11; Isa 30:20). Fortify thy strong holds; strengthen thy fortresses. Repair all defects in thy defences (2Ch 11:11). The mode of doing this in the Assyrian fashion is then denoted. Go into clay, and tread the mortar. The soil round Nineveh was of a tenacious quality; and when moistened with water and kneaded either with feet or hands, with the addition usually of a little chopped straw, was easily formed into bricks. These, even without the aid of fire, became dry and hard in the course of a few days. But it is plain from the investigations of ruins that the Assyrians used both kiln-baked and sun-dried bricks, though the mass of the walls was usually composed of the latter, the more durable material being employed merely as an accessory. Xenophon, ‘Anab.,’ 3.4. 11, speaks of the brick wall ( ) of a town he calls Mespila. Make strong the brick kiln. There is an uncertainty about the meaning of the last word (malben), which occurs only in two other places (2Sa 12:31 and Jer 43:9). In the latter passage it may possibly mean “a square” or “open quadrangle.” Jerome has, tene laterem; the LXX; “make them strong above (equivalent to ‘stronger than’) brick,” connecting it with the following verse. Some translate it, “brick mould.” If the Anglican Version is correct, the prophet bids them repair their kilns, unused in the days of prosperity, when they had no need to look to the security of their walls. Virtually the same sense is elicited by rendering, “lay hold of the brick mould.”
Nah 3:15
There. In the very place where thou hast taken all these precautions. Shall the fire devour thee. That fire played a great part in the destruction of Nineveh is asserted by historians and proved by the remains of the city discovered in modern times (see note on Nah 3:13 : also Herod; 1.106; Diod. Sic; 2.25-28; Athen; 12.529). The fate of the last king, who burnt himself and his palace, is a well known story (see Justin, ‘Hist.,’ 1.3; Eusebius, ‘Chronicles,’ 1.9; 14.3; 15.7; Syncell; ‘Chronicles,’ 1.396, edit. Dind.) (Kuabenbauer). The sword shall cut thee off. While fire destroys the buildings, the sword shall devour the inhabitants of the city. The cankerworm; literally, the licker (Joe 1:4). The locust in its earlier stage is thus described (see Nah 3:16). The figure implies that the destruction of Nineveh should be sudden and complete, as that wrought on vegetation by an inroad of locusts. Make thyself many. Collect thine armies, gather hosts as innumerable as the locusts, it will be all in vain. The “cankerworm” represented the enemy; the “locusts” represent the Assyrians themselves.
Nah 3:16
Its extensive commercial relations shall not save it. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants. Nineveh was most favourably situated for carrying on commerce with other countries. The roads from Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Phoenicia, that led into Media, Persia, and the interior of Asia, converged at Nineveh, and brought thither merchandise from all lands; and the Assyrians themselves exported their own produce and manufactures to the far West. Among these are enumerated textile fabrics, carpets, dyed attire, and embroidered work, carvings in ivory, gems, spices (see Rawlinson, ‘Anc. Mon.,’ 2.179, etc.; Layard, ‘Nineveh,’ 2.414, etc.). The cankerworm spoileth; or, spreadeth itself for plunder; Vulgate, expansus est; Septuagint, , “attacked.” The cankerworm (see note on Nah 3:15) are the enemy,who spread themselves over the rich produce of Nineveh, and then flee away laden with spoil. Pusey makes the cankerworm represent Nineveh. She spread herself everywhere wasting and plundering, and now she is gone, has disappeared. But the former explanation better suits the comparison in Nah 3:15, where “the licker” is the enemy; and it is most natural that the prophet should allude to the fate of that commercial wealth which he has just mentioned, as in previous verses he contrasts the riches and power of Nineveh with the ruin that awaits them.
Nah 3:17
Thy crowned. The word minnezar is found only here, and, as its derivation is uncertain, it has received various interpretations. The Anglican Version derives the word from nezer, “a diadem,” and “the crowned” are the officials of upper rank. “High officers of state in Assyria were adorned with diadems, closely resembling the lower baud of the royal mitre, separated from the cap itself. Very commonly the head was encircled with a simple fillet or hoop, probably of gold, without any adornment”. Others derive it from nazar. “to separate,” in the signification of “those separated or selected for war.” Septuagint, : i.e. the band of mixed mercenary troopsa rendering in which Wordsworth acquiesces. Knabenbauer (referring to Strassmaier’s Assyrian vocabulary) considers the word to be a transliteration (ss being resolved into ne) of the Assyrian ma-as-sa-ru, which means “guardian,” or some inferior officer. With this agrees the Vulgate custodes. As the locusts; i.e. in multitude. That the number of captains and superior officers would be very great may be conjectured from the inscriptions which sometimes enumerate the captives carried off from conquered countries. Thus in the account of the capture of some insignificant nation, the then king boasts that he took away 13,000 fighting men, 1121 captains, and 460 superior officers (Strauss, in loc.). The prophet’s meaning is that if the officers, etc; are so numerous, the multitude of soldiers and civilians must be truly immense. Thy captains. Taphsar is an Assyrian word, occurring only in Jer 51:27. It is probably the same as dupsarru or dipsarru of the inscriptions, and is taken to signify “a scribe” Such officials are often represented on the monuments (see Layard, 2.184), and seem sometimes to have been of high or priestly rank. Jerome translates, parvuli tui, though in Jeremiah, loc. cit; he retains the Assyrian word. The Septuagint omits it. Great grasshoppers; swarms of locusts (Amo 7:1). Which camp in the hedges in the cold day. Locusts become torpid in cold weather; so the captains and princes of Nineveh are paralyzed and useless in the day of calamity. They flee away. Thus the Assyrian army perishes and leaves no trace behind. The LXX. adds, “Woe unto them!”
Nah 3:18
Thy shepherds. The princes and counsellors, on whom the safety of the state depends. Slumber. Sleep the sleep of deathslain in the war (Psa 76:6). O King of Assyria. The power and evil of Nineveh personified, not any particular king. Shall dwell in the dust; are lying, or are at rest, in death; Septuagint, , “Put to sleep thy mighty men”: Vulgate, sepelientur. Is scattered upon the mountains. Their shepherds being dead, the flock, the herd of common people, is scattered abroad and perishes, because no man gathereth themthere is no one to collect them. “The mountains” referred to are those which shut in Assyria on the north.
Nah 3:19
There is no healing of thy bruise; there is no assuaging of thy hurt (Revised Version; Jer 10:19). The ruin is irretrievable; no one shall restore the destroyed kingdom (see Zep 2:13, Zep 2:14). Thy wound is grievous; Pessima est plaga tua (Vulgate); , “Thy wound is inflamed.” The “wound” is the stroke or plague inflicted by God (Le 26:21). Shall clap the hands over thee. All who hear of thy destruction will rejoice over it (Psa 47:1; Lam 2:15). Thy wickedness. The cruelty and oppression of Nineveh have been universally felt. If Edom is the type of insidious foes of the Church’s own household, Nineveh is the emblem of open, blaspheming infidelity, arrayed in powerful opposition against God’s people. In the overthrow of this kingdom there is a prophecy of the destruction of all anti-Christian powers, which shall be utterly crushed in the latter days.
HOMILETICS
Nah 3:1-7
Woe to Nineveh.
I. THREATENED. (Nah 3:1.)
1. By the prophet. Jonah (Jon 3:4) had once before announced the destruction of the Assyrian capital, which threatening, however, was averted by the repentance of its inhabitants; Nahum’s prediction was literally fulfilled, because Nineveh in due time filled up the measure of its iniquities.
2. In the name of God. Had Nineveh’s doom been pronounced only by Nahum’s lips, it had been harmless; but Nahum was the mouthpiece of Jehovah, who already had declared himself against the great and wicked city (Nah 2:13), and a second time repeats the fact, “Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts” (verse 5). There is a wide difference between God’s threatenings and man’s.
II. DEPICTED. (Verses 2, 3.)
1. The advance of a hostile force. “The noise of the whip [of charioteers urging on their steeds], and the noise of the rattling of wheels [of war chariots in motion], and prancing horses [i.e. horses leaping up and starting forward as they feel the spurs dug into their sides], and jumping chariots [i.e. springing up as they dash along the rugged ground].”
2. The attack upon the city. “The horseman mounting [or, ‘charging,’ i.e. causing his steed to leap up and advance against the city]; and the flashing sword and the glittering spear; “rather than” the horseman lifteth up the bright sword and the glittering spear” (Authorized Version).
3. The appearance after battle. “A multitude of slain, and a great heap of carcases.” So numerous, indeed, are the fallen, that “there is none end of the corpses, and they,” the Medo-Babylonian invaders, “stumble upon their corpses,” i.e. the dead bodies of the Assyrians.
III. JUSTIFIED. (Verses 1, 4.) By the character of Nineveh.
1. A city of blood; literally,” of bloods,” i.e. of bloodshed or murder, alluding to the barbarous and inhuman character of her warfare.
2. A city of deceit. Referring to the vain promises of protection with which she beguiled the nations to put their trust in herpromises which she never kept any more than did Egypt.
3. A city of oppression. “The prey departeth not.” She is never done rending in pieces and tearing some nation or people.
4. A city of seductions. A city of witchcrafts, the prophet comparing her brilliance and prosperity by which she fascinated surrounding powers and secretly drew them to seek her favour, to the grace and beauty with which a harlot attracts and bewitches passers by.
IV. EMPHASIZED. (Verses 5, 6.) By Jehovah, who declares that her doom will be:
1. Certain; since he, Jehovah, is against her: “Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts.”
2. Shameful; since he will treat her, not as a chaste matron, but as a polluted harlot, whose skirts are thrown above her head, that her person may be exposed (Isa 47:3; Jer 13:22; Eze 16:37-41; Hos 2:3).
3. Visible; since he will cause the nations to see her nakedness, and the kingdoms to behold her shame.
V. ATTESTED. (Verse 7.) By two things.
1. The horror of the nations. “It shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee.” Not so much in disgust (KeiI) as in terror (Eze 31:16); of. the effect produced by the fall of Tyre (Eze 26:21; Eze 27:35), and of the mystical Babylon (Rev 18:10).
2. The absence of helpers. Her fate was so richly deserved that no one interposed to ward off the stroke. In her hour of sorrow no one bewailed her; in her moment of weakness no one assisted her (Isa 51:19).
Learn:
1. That greater woes have been pronounced against sinners in general than were uttered against Ninevehread the woes of Christ in the Gospels (Mat 23:13, Mat 23:14, Mat 23:15, etc.; Mat 26:24; Luk 6:24, Luk 6:25, Luk 6:26; Luk 11:42, Luk 11:46).
2. That these woes will no more fail in their fulfilment than did those directed against Nineveh. God’s word never returns to him void (Isa 55:11).
3. That God’s judgments upon the wicked will eventually vindicate themselves in all men’s eyes as just. “Salvation and honour and power,” etc. (Rev 19:1, Rev 19:2).
Nah 3:8-13
The story of No-Amon.
I. THE BRILLIANT CITY.
1. Its sacred name. No-Amon, in Egyptian, Nu-Amun, or “Dwelling of Amun;” in Greek, , or Thebes, with which corresponded the Egyptian Ta-ape, or “City of Thrones.” Originally the capital of a home, it subsequently rose to be a royal city. It became the residence of the Theban dynasty of Pharaohs. Homer describes it as having had a hundred gates (‘Iliad,’ 9:383).
2. Its impregnable situation. “Among the rivers [or, ‘canals’].” “In all the long course of the Nile there is no site that can compare with that of Thebes,” writes Stanley Leathes. At Thebes “the mountains (Libyan and Arabian) open out a great ampbitheatre, such as a king would choose to build his capital therein.” “Nothing more lovely than this great amphitheatre, with its border of yellow sand and rampart of cliffs, can be seen in all the land of Egypt” (‘Picturesque Palestine,’ etc; 4:190,191). With the Nile running through, and canals formed round it, the city enjoyed a strong natural position.
3. Its military strength.
(1) Its native forces, those of Egypt and Ethiopia, were practically numberless.
(2) Its foreign auxiliaries, Put and Lubim, or the Libyans in the north of Africa and those contiguous to Egypt, were reliable.
II. THE DISASTROUS OVERTHROW.
1. Its unexpected occurrence. “Yet was she carried away.” Notwithstanding her regal magnificence and boasted strength, she was captured and destroyed. Of this humiliation of Egypt’s proud capital the monuments afford express information. Rudammon, the nephew (son of his sister) and successor of Tirhakah of Egypt, sat upon the throne. In an expedition against Egypt and Ethiopia, Assurbanipal of Assyria marched his forces first against Memphis, which Rudammon incontinently left, and then against Thebes, into which the alarmed fugitive had fled to save his life. The Assyrian king thus relates the issue of his campaign:” After Rudammon the road I took; I went to Thebes, the strong city; the approach of my powerful army he saw, and Thebes he abandoned, and fled to Kipkip. That city (Thebes), the whole of it, in the service of Assur and Ishtar, my hands took; silver, gold, precious stones, the furniture of his palace, all there was; garments costly and beautiful, great horses, people male and female, two lofty obelisks covered with beautiful carvings.; a hundred talents their weight, set up before the gate of a temple; with them I removed and brought to Assyria. Its spoils unnumbered I carried off. From the midst of Thebes, over Egypt and Ethiopia, my servants I caused to march, and I acquired glory. With the tributes peacefully I returned to Nineveh, the city of my dominion”.
2. Its frightful severity. In addition to the information supplied by the Assyrian conqueror, the sacred narrative declares that it was accompanied by heart-rending excesses.
(1) The population of the gay capital were exiled. “She went into captivity.” The deportation of conquered peoples into strange lands was then a customary practice, and seemed the only means that sovereigns like Shalmaneser, Tiglath-Pileser, Assurbauipal, and Nebuchadnezzar had for keeping them in subjection (2Ki 17:6).
(2) The young children were ruthlessly massacredthey were “dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets.” These were probably butchered to avoid trouble and inconvenience upon the march. This inhuman practice was likewise frequent in ancient warfare (2Ki 8:12; Isa 13:16; Hos 13:16).
(3) The princes and nobility were degraded. They were parted among their conquerors by “lot” and “bound in chains;” after which they were borne off into slavery.
III. THE PROPHETIC WARNING. The fate of No-Amon will one day overtake Nineveh.
1. Righteously. “Thou also shalt be drunken.” Nineveh will be made to drink of the cup of Jehovah’s wrath on account of her sins (Isa 51:17, Isa 51:21; Oba 1:16). As Jehovah dealt with the Egyptian capital, so will he deal with the Assyrian. “The particle ‘also’ is here emphatical; it was introduced that the Ninevites might know that they could not possibly escape the punishment which they deserved; for God continues ever like himself” (Calvin).
2. Resistlessly. “Thou also shalt seek a stronghold because of [or, ‘a defence against’] the enemy.” Nineveh would call in vain for allies to help her against the terrible Medo-Babylonian power, as No-Amon had fruitlessly looked to surrounding peoples for aid against Nineveh.
3. Easily. “All thy fortresses shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs; if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.” The ramparts of Nineveh will go down at the first touch of the foe. “Hence a useful doctrine may be deduced: whatever strength men may seek for themselves from different quarters, it will wholly vanish away; for neither forts, nor towers, nor ramparts, nor troops of men, nor any kind of contrivances will avail anything; and were there no one to rise against them, they would yet fall of themselves” (Calvin).
4. Surprisingly. “Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land are set wide open to thine enemies.” The very last thing Nineveh would ever dream of would be that her warriors, hitherto invincible, would become faint-hearted as women, and that her fortresses would be as easily passed through as opened gates. Yet exactly these two things were what should happen to Nineveh.
5. Utterly. “The fire hath devoured thy bars,” and “thou shalt be hid.” Nineveh should perish in flames and pass away as if she had never been, her very site for centuries remaining unknown.
LESSONS.
1. The worthlessness, for nations and cities, as for individuals, of purely material glory.
2. The certain ruin of nations, cities, and individuals who do not build on the only permanent foundation of righteousness.
3. The frequency with which, in the history of nations, no less than of private persons, coming events cast their shadows before.
Nah 3:14-19
The fall of Nineveh.
I. PREPARATIONS FOR A SIEGE. (Nah 3:14.) In anticipation of the impending attack upon their capital, the inhabitants of Nineveh are exhorted by Nahum (ironically) to provide for their safety.
1. For their sustenance. This they should do by laying up within their city a plentiful supply of water for drinking, so as to enable them to withstand a prolonged siege. “Draw thee water for the siege.” This, in a land like Assyria, would be likely to give way earlier than bread. It is only in seasons of exceptional scarcity arising from long continued drought, or from such calamities as occur in war, that men come to estimate correctly the value of water.
2. For their defence. This, on the other hand, they should do by strengthening their fortresses; for which again they would need an abundant store of bricks. Hence the prophet’s exhortation, still satirical in its tone, “Strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick kiln.” The Assyrians, like the Egyptians, as the monuments attest, prepared their bricks with clay, which they mixed with straw, and sometimes burnt, at other times merely drying them in the sun (Layard, ‘Nineveh,’ 2:252); and quantities of these would be required, when the evil day arrived, to repair the breaches that might be made in the walls, or to construct an inner line of defence when the outer should be taken.
II. RESULTS OF THE SIEGE. (Verse 15.)
1. The burning of the city. “There,” in the midst of thy fortifications, “the fire shall devour thee.” That Nineveh perished by fire is attested equally by ancient writers and by the state of the ruins.
2. The slaughter of its inhabitants. “The sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the cankerworm.” The thought is that, even should the people of Nineveh be as numerous as a swarm of locusts, yet should they be swept away as completely as every green blade is swept away by the “cankerworm,” or “licker,” i.e. by the locust (Joe 1:4; Joe 2:3).
3. The plundering of its treasures. “Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm or [‘licker,’ i.e. the army of the enemy] spoileth, and fleeth away.” “As soon as the soldiers entered a captured city they began to plunder, and then hurried away the spoil. They led off the horses, carried forth on their shoulders furniture, and vessels of gold, silver, and other metals; and made prisoners of the inhabitants, who probably became the property of those who seized them” (Layard’s ‘Nineveh,’ 2:377). That Nineveh was a rich city may be inferred from the spoils She had taken from surrounding nations during her career of conquest, as well as from her favourable position for commerce. The costly produce of India was conveyed through Nineveh and Babylon towards the West (Layard, ‘Nineveh,’ 2:414). That Nineveh, who had so often despoiled others, should be herself despoiled was an instance of just retribution.
4. The annihilation of its army. “Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy marshals [or, ‘scribes ‘] as the swarms of grasshoppers which camp in the hedges in the cold day,” etc. (verse 17). Whether the “crowned” ones should be understood as signifying the princes of Nineveh (Calvin, Gesenius, Fausset), or the warriors in general, whom it represents as “levied,” “selected,” “picked” (Keil); and whether the “marshals” here spoken of should be regarded as “military leaders,” and thus as practically, synonymous with the “crowned” ones, or as common soldiers, though of a special excellence (Keil);it is probable that the destruction of the army of Assyria is that which the language is designed to set forth. Though the war force of Nineveh should be as numerous as the locusts, or as swarms of grasshoppers, which pitch their camps in the walls at nights and in cold weather, yet they would as completely vanish as do these insects when the sun ariseth.
5. The destruction of its nobility. “Thy shepherds slumber, O King of Assyria: thy worthies are at rest.” Assyria’s princes and great men, her “royal counsellors, deputies, and generals” (Keil), should be slain and lie in still death. With grim satire the prophet represents them as having sunk into peaceful slumber after the labours of a long and busy day. Perhaps he intended to recall the scene which had once been witnessed before Jerusalem, when the stout-hearted (of Sennacherib’s army) were spoiled, when they “slept their sleep,” and “none of the men of might found their hands,” when at the rebuke of Jacob’s God” both the chariot and horse were cast into a deep sleep” (Psa 76:5, Psa 76:6).
6. The dispersion of its people; i.e. of such of them as had escaped the sword. “Thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them” (verse 18). Compare the language of Micaiah to Ahab with reference to the result of the battle of Ramoth-Gilead (1Ki 22:17).
7. The exultation of the nations. “All that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee” (verse 19). Wherever the report of Nineveh’s overthrow should penetrate, it would awaken no compassion. As all nations had suffered from her wickedness, so would they rejoice in her humiliation. None would seek to help her or raise her up. Hence her downfall would be final; there would be no assuaging of her hurt; her wound would be grievous, would be dangerously bad, would be incurable.
Learn:
1. That the day of doom can be averted as little by ungodly men as by wicked nations.
2. That the resources of civilizationcommerce and gun powderare powerless defences against Heaven’s artillery.
3. That nothing and no one can upraise what God has overthrown.
4. That God’s righteousness in judging the wickedwhether individuals or nationswill ultimately vindicate itself in the eyes of all.
HOMILIES BY S.D. HILMAN
Nah 3:1-7
The guilt and ruin of Nineveh.
We have here
I. A MOURNFUL REVELATION OF NATIONAL GUILT AND DEPRAVITY. (Nah 3:1, Nah 3:4.) The Assyrians are here charged with:
1. Unrighteous war. (Nah 3:1.) There may be times in a nation’s history when war becomes a dire necessity; but all war prompted, not by the desire to defend against unworthy aggression, but by unholy ambition, aggrandizement, lust of conquest and glory, deserves the severest reprobation. And such were the wars of the Assyrians, and which secured to their capital the unenviable appellation here used, “the bloody city,” i.e. “city of bloods,” founded and built up by strife and bloodshed.
2. Cunning craftiness. “It is all full of lies” (Nah 3:1). It gained its unrighteous ends by deceit. Like “the strange woman” (Nah 3:4), who bedecks herself in showy attire, puts on winsome manners, and resorts to bewitching arts, in order to attract, and then conducts her victim to the very “chambers of death,” so Assyria, under show of friendship, brought other powers under her yoke, and effected their overthrow. With cunning craftiness she lay in wait to deceive, so as to enrich herself at the expense of others.
3. Continuous spoliation. “It is full of robbery” (Nah 3:1); “The prey departeth not” (Nah 3:1). Nineveh was great in barbaric splendour, and abounded in costly treasures; but this was secured by spoils taken in war and by tribute extorted from feebler nations unable to resist her encroachments; by robbery she thus continually made additions to her stores. This iniquity was perpetrated despite professed penitence and reformation resulting from the ministry of Jonah; and now the cup was full. Hence we have
II. A SOLEMN DECLARATION OF IMPENDING DIVINE JUDGMENT RESULTING IN NATIONAL RUIN AND SHAME. Observe:
1. The intimate connection, between the sin and the shame. “Because of,” etc. (verse 4). The war so graphically described (verses 2, 3) was declared by the prophet as the outcome of the national guilt.
2. The marked retributive nature of the Divine judgment.
(1) Assyria had delighted in war: by war she should fall (verses 2, 3).
(2) She had practised deceit: her real character should be exposed to her confusion and disgrace (verse 5).
(3) She had triumphed over other nations, and in her victory had shown no consideration towards the vanquished: she should herself now be humiliated, and be made a gazing stock (verse 6).
(4) She had blasphemed the God of Israel: now he would be against her, and would bring all this ruin upon her (verses 5, 6).
3. The entire absence of sympathy towards her in her reverses. (Verse 7.) No regret should be felt at her fall. No sympathy should be expressed. From her shades men should flee (verse 7). She should be thought of only as a beacon and a warning”to point a moral!” She should be utterly, “desolate””cut off” and “laid waste” (verse 7). This is the end of evil doing (Job 18:17; Job 27:23; Pro 10:7; Ecc 8:10; Jer 17:13).S.D.H.
Nah 3:8-13
No-Amon, a sign.
There are certain great principles regulating the Divine government, and these are abiding. The seer spoke in harmony with these when he declared beforehand the ruin of Nineveh. Men, through unbelief, are slow to accept these principles and to acknowledge the inevitable results of their working. They are deceived by present appearances. They reason from things as they are, and conclude that, where there is material prosperity, this will of necessity continue Such was the difficulty with which Nahum had to contend. Assyria m his day was the dominant power, acknowledged and, on account of its tyranny and ambition, dreaded by all How, then, could the Hebrews credit the announcements of this prophet? Nahum felt their difficulty, and hence, in enforcing his teaching, he wisely turned from the future to the past, and, by referring to what God had done, he indicated what might yet be expected, lie appealed to No-Amon as a sign. Consider
I. NO–AMON A SIGN TO THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH CONCERNING NINEVEH. By “No” (verse 8) is intended the renowned city of Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt, called No-Amon, from the idol Ammon enshrined there and represented in the Egyptian monuments by a ram or by a man seated on a chair and with a ram’s head. The sign thus chosen by the prophet by way of enforcing his teaching was singularly appropriate. Could Nineveh boast of remarkable natural advantages? So could No-Amon (verse 8). “It was situate among the rivers,” etc. It was surrounded by the Nile and its canals (rhetorically here called “the sea,” and actually so called still by the Bedouins), and which served as a natural fortification or bulwark. Could Nineveh pride herself in the multitude of her hosts ready to do her bidding? So could No-Amon. In this respect “her strength was infinite” (verse 9). Cato computed the number of Egyptians connected with Thebes at seven millions. Could Nineveh glory in her foreign alliances? So could No-Amon (verse 9). Yet despite all these advantages, No-Amon suffered defeat, and experienced the cruelties attendant thereon (verse 10). The reference is not to the complete destruction of No-Amon, but to the expedition of Sargon against Egypt (Isa 20:3, Isa 20:4), B.C. 714. Profane history gives no record of this; but the inscriptions on the monuments found in the palace at Khorsabad, built by Sargon, mention Egypt in connection with the wars of that king, and, when clearly deciphered, appear likely to strikingly confirm the scriptural representations (see Spiegel’s ‘Nineveh and Assyria’ in Herzog’s ‘Cyclopaedia’). And as No-Amon, despite her resources, suffered at the hands of Assyria, so in the time to come should Assyria, notwithstanding her present glory, suffer through the foes who should rise up against her. Complete destruction should overtake her, and the records of her past triumphs and glories lie hidden under the mounds (verse 11). No power enabling her to withstand the enemy should be available (verse 11). Her strongholds when assailed should prove like fig trees with the first ripe figs, which fall without effort on his part into the eater’s mouth (verse 12). Her proud warriors should be in her midst as weak and timid women, their hearts failing them for terror. Her gates should be thrown wide open, and their belts consumed by fire (verse 13).
II. NO–AMON AND NINEVAH A SIGN TO MODERN NATIONS. No-Amon, which in Nahum’s day. had only been partially subjugated by the Assyrians, subsequently fell beneath the power of the conqueror, and so “proud Thebes,” “the world’s great empress on the Egyptian plains,” came to nought. Nineveh, too, which in his time was great indeed in worldly glory, has likewise passed away, and is no more seen. Solemn impressions must be excited within the minds of reflecting men when they are privileged to visit the sites of these ancient despotisms, and to gaze upon the relics of departed greatness
2. National stability is not secured merely by
(1) Strong natural defends;
(2) influential foreign alliances;
(3) vast accumulated treasure;
(4) great military prowess and success.
3. Permanent influence, whether for individuals or for nations, has its foundation laid in righteousness and in the fear and love of God. (Psa 144:15; Psa 67:1-7.)S.D.H.
Nah 3:14, Nah 3:15
Human efforts as directed against the Divine purpose.
We have furnished us in these verses an illustration of human effort as directed against the accomplishment of the purpose of God. Sometimes this course is taken by men unconsciously, but it was scarcely so in this instance. We know that the Assyrian power in the time of Sennacherib boldly defied the God of heaven, and it seems with the lapse of time to have gone from bad to worse. It was the Divine will that at length the arm of Assyria should be broken, and that its haughty and oppressive rule should cease; and the prophet here set forth how that, in the day of trial, human strength should do its best in order to avert the destruction divinely intended to be wrought. Some regard Nah 3:14 as simply indicating the fact that the Assyrian power would maintain a prolonged defence; whilst others view the prophet as speaking ironically, and as mocking the vain endeavours of the defenders of Nineveh, just as Isaiah ridiculed the makers of idols (Isa 44:9-20). Be this as it may, he certainly declared here prophetically that human effort should be enlisted, against the overthrow divinely purposed, and that this should utterly fail; the fire should devour, and the sword should cut them off; yea, as destructive as the locusts should the instruments of the Divine vengeance prove (verse 15). We may find all this suggestive as applied to man’s hostile action in relation to the Divine working in the spiritual realm.
I. IT IS AN UNDOUBTED FACT THAT HUMAN EFFORT IS DIRECTED AGAINST THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN GRACE. That purpose is the entire subjugation of evilthe recovery of a lapsed world to allegiance to Heaven, and hence its restoration to holiness and happiness. This benevolent purpose of our God is repeatedly expressed in his Word (Psa 2:6; Isa 52:10; Joh 12:32; Rev 11:15). The redemptive plan rests upon it, the unfailing consciousness that he was fulfilling the Divine counsels sustained the Christ as he pressed on with his glorious toil (Heb 12:2), and the mighty hope supports his followers in all holy service. Yet such is the aversion of the hearts of men by nature, that against this glorious and loving will of our God human effort has from age to age been directed. The antagonism has taken various formspersecution, idolatry, scepticism, worldliness; all these forces have been employed in order to bring the counsel of God to nought. Note
II. THE WEAKNESS OF HUMAN EFFORT AS THUS DIRECTED. So weak, indeed, are such endeavours, that in spite of them the Supreme Ruler sits on the throne of his majesty in perfect repose. He views with calm composure and without even a momentary apprehension and with scornful Contempt, this plotting and working of evil doers (Psa 2:4, Psa 2:5).
III. THE VANITY OF ALL SUCH ENDEAVOURS. They must inevitably prove ineffectual. So has it been, and so shall it be. Monumental pillars were raised to the memory of Diocletian, in that “he had everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ, and had extended the worship of the gods;” yet today this “superstition of Christ,” as they called it, is everywhere spreading. The crescent shall wane before the cross; and despite the baneful influences of scepticism and worldliness, the Christ shall become enthroned in every heart. “The burial place of Christianity cannot be pointed out; it is not; for the living have no tomb.” Its adversaries may “draw waters for the siege, fortify their strongholds,” etc. (verse 14), but they shall surely be defeated (verse 15), for “the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.“S.D.H.
Nah 3:16-18
The instability of material greatness.
We have vividly described here
I. MATERIAL GREATNESS. This consisting in:
1. Extensive commercial relations. “Thou hast multiplied thy merchants” etc. (Nah 3:16). “The point at which Nineveh was situated was certainly the culminating point of the three quarters of the globeEurope, Asia, and Africa; and from the very earliest times it was just at the crossing of the Tigris by Nineveh that the great military and commercial roads met which led into the heart of all the leading known lands”. “The lists of plunder or of tribute carried off during the world empire of Egypt, before it was displaced by Assyria, attest the extensive imports or manufactures of Nineveh; the titles of ‘Assyrian nard, Assyrian amomum, Assyrian odours, myrrh, frankincense, involve its trade with the spice countries; domestic manufactures of hers apparently were purple and dark-blue cloaks, embroidery, brocades, and these conveyed in chests of cedar; her metallurgy was on principles recognized now; in one practical point of combining beauty with strength she has ever been copied”.
2. Vast military resources. (Nah 3:17.) “Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers.” By the term here rendered “crowned” some have understood subordinate princes (see Sennacherib’s boast, Isa 10:8), and by “captains” military officers; but it has been urged with force that such interpretations hardly agree with the comparison to locusts, the number of vassal princes and military officers being comparatively small; and that probably the terms are technical for certain classes of the soldiery (Keil and Delitzsch, in loc.). The comparison of these to the locusts and grasshoppers indicates the vast hosts of warriors Assyria could command in her expeditions.
3. Influential counsellors and commanders. (Nah 3:18.) The “shepherds” and “nobles” were the king’s counsellors, and the commanders of his armies, the government of the kingdom devolving upon the former, and its defence upon the latter. In all that constitutes the material strength of a people Assyria was great. Notice
II. THE INSTABILITY OF MATERIAL GREATNESS. The prophet, looking on to the future, declared that these material tokens of greatness would all fail in the day of trial which was inevitably before them. All these outward indications of prosperity and power would then fade away. The merchants: like the cankerworms in the fields, would remain whilst they could secure any gains, but would seek some safe retreat in the lime of national calamity (Nah 3:16). Their military forces should then perish and be no more, even as the locusts with the shining of the sun depart, leaving no trace behind (Nah 3:17). Their counsellors, too, should sleep the sleep of death (Nah 3:18), and their commanders lie beneath the dust of the earth (Nah 3:18). And even so everything that is connected with material glory is unenduring. Seneca related how that one known to him was raised above the inordinate love of the world by the sight of a Roman triumphal procession. When the scene ended he said, “I have seen all this pomp and magnificence put in such order and passing slowly along; yet it is all gone: why should I esteem that which is so momentary?’
” For all that in this world is great and gay
Doth as a vapour vanish and decay.”
III. THE HOPELESSNESS OF THOSE WHO HAVE THIS AS THEIR SOLE DEPENDENCE. “Thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.” Nothing remains in such a case but irretrievable ruin. They only are safe whose repose m placed in the higher and heavenly Source of help. “Pat not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man,” etc. (Psa 146:3-6).S.D.H.
Nah 3:19
Hopelessness.
“There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous.” Nothing can be more distressing than the consciousness of powerlessness in the presence of the deepest human need; to witness from the seashore the wreck, and to be utterly unable to save the shipwrecked mariners; to be sure that some one is in the burning edifice, and yet for it to be impossible to reach him and to bring him out; to stand before an audience alarmed by some needless cry, and to see the rush towards the doors, and to be unequal to checking it; or even to be by the bedside of one in life’s youth or manhood’s prime, and to hear that disease has, humanly speaking, prematurely seized its victim, and that medical help cannot cure, but only, and that for a time, alleviate. This position is occupied by many an earnest-hearted worker for God and the good of souls, in relation to the moral salvation of men. Nahum sustained it in reference to the Ninevites. He saw in them a people wrecked through the adverse winds and tempests of evil, consumed by the fires of unholy passion, on the mad rush to ruin and death, diseased through and through so that recovery was impossible; and hence, unable to heal, he cried in the sadness of his heart, “There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous” (verse 19). So Isaiah said, “Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick,” etc. (Isa 50:5, Isa 50:6). So still. Note
I. THIS STATE OF MORAL HOPELESSNESS IS NOT REACHED ALL AT ONCE, BUT IS BROUGHT ABOUT BY DEGREES.
II. IT IS NOT BROUGHT TO PASS THROUGH DIVINE HELP AND STRENGTH BEING UNAVAILABLE.
III. IT CANNOT BE EXCUSED ON THE GROUND OF THERE BEING A LACK OF WARNINGS AND EXPOSTULATIONS.
IV. IT IS ENTIRELY SELF–CAUSED; THE TRANSGRESSOR BRINGS HIMSELF INTO THIS STATE OF HOPELESSNESS; THE SINNER IS HIS OWN DESTROYER. “Take heed lest ye be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:12, Heb 3:13).S.D.H.
Nah 3:19
The overthrow of evil doers a source of thankful joy.
“All that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? ” These last words in the Book of Nahum are truly impressive. The messenger closes his brief prophecy in the same tone in which he commenced it, the vengeance of God being still his theme. At the outset he declared the solemn fact; at the end he applies the truth thus announced to the particular case in hand. “The magnificent dirge” forming this third chapter “is one sustained shout of wild exultation that the oppressor has fallen at last. The naked discrowned corpse of the glorious city is cast out to the scorn and disgust of the World. No spark of pity mingles with the prophet’s delight. In this storm of indignation and vengeance the spirit of prophecy in the northern kingdom Breathes its last. Under this doom Nineveh vanishes from view, to be no more seen till in our day the discovery of her buried remains has given new life to the whole of this portion of sacred history”. The theme suggested by this final utterance of Nahum is the overthrow of evil doers a source of thankful joy. Wherever the report of the fall of Nineveh should reach it should occasion a sense of relief and should excite rapturous delight. “All that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands,” etc. (verse 19). This satisfaction, providing it does not arise from revenge, may be amply justified. See this in that
I. THE FALL OF WRONG DOERS MEANS A DIMINUTION OF SUFFERING. It is to this that the prophet specially alludes when he says, “For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?” meaning that through her guilt she had proved a bitter scourge to all who had come under her influence, and that hence there would be general thanksgiving at her fall in that the tyranny would cease.
II. THE FALL OF WRONG DOERS MEANS THE TRIUMPH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The true hearted, as they witness the prevalence of iniquity, and as they see on every hand hollowness and insincerity, treachery and malice, envy and jealousy, slander and calumny, tyranny and oppression, are led ardently to long for the time when sin shall be completely vanquished, and when right shall be victorious; and since the discomfiture of wrong doers brings on the final triumph, they rejoice in this, though with a chastened joy, thankfulness for the victory of the right being blended with pity for transgressors.
III. THE FALL OF WRONG DOERS VINDICATES THE DIVINE RECTITUDE. The honour of their God is very precious to the hearts of the faithful and true. This is often impugned when manifest injustice and wrong seems to pass unpunished. The sceptical appeal to such inequalities, and ask tauntingly, “Where is now thy God?” “Is there a God that judges in the earth?” And when, in the history of men and of nations, God interposes in judgments and vindicates his rectitude, his servants cannot but praise and give thanks.
Note:
1. From the discomfiture and defeat which must eventually be the outcome of evil doing, God would save men. “He willeth not the death of the sinner.”
2. How benevolent the ministry of those who seek men’s deliverance from evil!
3. How great the folly of not heeding the call to righteousness given through them!
4. How intense will be the joy of the redeemed Church of God when our poor sin-stricken humanity shall be completely healed, and the full conquest over sin be gained by “the Lord and his Christ”!S.D.H.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Nah 3:1-3. Woe to the bloody city! &c. Woe to the bloody city, which is wholly perfidious and full of cruelty; whence rapines depart not.Ver. 2. Lo! the sound of the whip is at hand, the sound of the rattling wheel, &c.Ver. 3. The horseman approacheth, and the glittering sword, and shining spear, &c. Houbigant. Others render the passage thus, Woe to the bloody city, all over deceit, full of robbery and incessant ravening.Ver. 2. The cracking of the whip, and the rattling noise of the wheel, and the prancing horse, and the rumbling chariot.Ver. 3. The high-bearing horseman, and the flaming sword, and glittering spear, and vast slaughter, and heaps of carcases! But there is no end of the corpses, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
CHAPTER 3
[The Prophet resumes the Description of the Siege of Nineveh (Nah 3:13); traces it to her Idolatry as its cause (Nah 3:4); repeats the Divine Denunciations introduced Nah 2:13 (Nah 3:5-7); points her to the once celebrated, but now desolate Thebes (Nah 3:8-10), declaring that such should likewise be herFate; calls upon her ironically to make every Preparation for her Defense, assuring her that it would be of no avail (Nah 3:14-15); and concludes by contrasting her former prosperous with her latter remediless State.C. E.]
12Where is the den of the lions?
And the feeding-place of the young lions?
Where the lion and the lioness walked,
The lions whelp, and no one frightened [them].
13The lion tore for the supply of his whelps,
And strangled for his lionesses:
He filled his dens with prey,
And his dwelling-places with rapine.
14Behold! I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts,
And I cause her chariots to burn in smoke;
And thy young lions the sword shall devour;
And I cut off thy prey from the earth;
And the voice of thy messengers shall be heard no more.
Nah 3:1Woe, city of blood!
She is all full of deceit and violence:
The prey departs not.
2The cracking of the whip;
And the noise of the rattling of the wheels;
And the horses prancing;
And the chariots bounding.
3Horseman mounting;
And the gleaming of the sword;
And the lightning of the spear;
And the multitude of slain;
And the mass of corpses;
And there is no end of dead bodies:
They stumble over their carcasses.
4Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the harlot,
The very1 graceful one, the mistress of enchantments,
Who sells nations with her whoredoms,
And families with her witchcrafts.
5Behold! I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts;
And uncover thy skirts over thy face;
And show the nations thy nakedness,
And kingdoms thy shame.
6And I cast abominable things upon thee,
And disgrace thee,
And make thee a gazing-stock.
7And it comes to pass, that every one that sees thee shall flee from thee,
And shall say, Nineveh is destroyed:
Who will pity her?
Whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
8Art thou better than No2Amon,
That dwelt by the rivers?
Waters were round about her;
Her bulwark was the sea:
Her wall was3 of the sea.
9Ethiopia was her strength, and Egypt;
And there was no end:
Phut and Libyans were among thy help.
10She also has gone into exile:
Into captivity [has she gone].
Her young children also were dashed in pieces,
At the corners4 of all the streets;
And for her nobles they cast the lot,
And all her great men were bound with chains.
11Thou also shalt be drunken:
Thou shalt be hidden:
Thou also shalt seek a refuge from the enemy.
12All thy fortresses are fig-trees with early figs:
If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.
13Behold! thy people are women in the midst of thee;
To thy enemies the gates of thy land are thrown wide open:
Fire consumes thy bolts.
14Draw for thyself water for the siege:
Make thy fortifications strong:
Enter the clay and tread the mortar;
Make the brick-kiln strong.
15There will the fire devour thee:
The sword will cut thee off:
It shall consume thee like the licking-locust:
Be thou numerous as the licking locust:
Be thou numerous as the swarming locust.
16Thou hast multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of heaven:
The licking-locusts spread5 [themselves out] and fly away.
17Thy princes are as the swarming-locust;
And thy satraps like the locust of locusts,
Which encamp in the hedges6 in a cold day:
The sun arises, and they flee:
And the place where they are is not known.
18King of Assyria! thy shepherds slumber:
Thy nobles have lain down:
Thy people are dispersed upon the mountains.
And no one gathers [them].
19There is no healing of thy bruise:
Thy wound is grievous:
All that hear report of thee clap the hand over thee;
For over whom has not thy wickedness passed continually?
EXEGETICAL
Without apparent pause [Einschnitt], a fuller exposition, which rises over the ruins, like a shout of triumph, and at the same time of wondering, almost of sympathizing astonishment, is connected with the description of the catastrophe. Henceforth the reality of the catastrophe does not appear so much on the foreground as its internal and external cause.
The strophe, Nah 2:12-13, is added, externally viewed, as a concluding strophe to chap. 2, just in the same way that Nah 1:12-14 is joined to chap. 1. However, it belongs to what follows, not merely by its rhetorical character and connection (comp. on Nah 3:1), but it is also united to it by certain external clasps: compare the refrain, Nahum 2:14 a and Nah 3:5 a; and the contrast, Nah 2:12 d and Nah 3:18 e; Nahum 2:14 f and Nah 3:19 c. It contains the ground idea of the following: Nineveh, the robber, has vanished before God and by his agency; and it is characterized at the close, Nah 3:14, as a divine judgment. Where is the lions brood? Lions appear so frequently on the Assyrian monuments, that we see how the people were fond of comparing themselves and their great ones to this powerful animal, and how they considered it, in a certain manner, their escutcheon and ensign. This gives to the sarcasm of the divine power a beautiful point of connection. And no one alarmed them. They were safe from disturbance by means of their strength.
Nah 3:13. The lion tore in pieces as much as his young ones wanted (on comp. Oba 1:5), he strangled for his lionesses (comp. Jdg 5:28 ff.), and he filled his dens with prey, and his lurking-holes with spoil. The Assurakbal cylinder, which Talbot has deciphered (Assyrian Texts Translated, p. 20 ff.), gives an idea of the manner in which the kings of Nineveh amassed [their treasures]: On the 22d of the month I set out from Calah. I passed over the river Tigris. From the right bank of the Tigris I received a rich tribute. I stopped in the city Tabiti. On the 6th day of the month I left the city Tabiti. I marched along the river Karmesch. I stopped in the city Magarisi I stopped in the city Schadikanni. The tribute of this city was gold, silver, brass, oxen, sheep I stopped in the city Katni. I received tribute from the Sunaeern And so forth, two pages long. Compare the similar accounts of the black Obelisk of Salmanassar II. and of Sennacherib in Spiegel 20:222, 224.
Now all that passes away, for, Nah 3:14, behold, I come against thee (comp. Nah 3:5; Jer 51:25), says Jehovah of hosts, who is able to raise up against Assyria very different hosts from the Medes and Babylonians (comp. Doct. and Eth., below); and I burn in smoke, so that it passes into smoke (Tarn.) her, Ninevehs, chariots. The prophet again and again turns himself, in spirit, from Nineveh to Judah (Nah 2:1), so that the suffixes are constantly changing.
And I destroy thy plunder from the earth, so that the insolent voice of thy messengers will no more be heard (comp. 2Ki 19:10 ff.). Hieron.: Nequaquam terras ultra vastabis, nec tributa exiges, nec audientur per provincias emissarii tui. For the form (varr. and ) comp. Ols., sec. 94, 2.
[Keil: The prophet, beholding the destruction in spirit as having already taken place, looks round for the site on which the mighty city once stood, and sees it no more. This is the meaning of the question in Nah 3:11. He describes it as the dwelling-place of lions. The point of comparison is the predatory lust of its rulers and their warriors, who crushed the nations like lions, plundering their treasures, and bringing them together in Nineveh. To fill up the picture, the epithets applied to the lions are grouped together according to the difference of sex and age. , is the full-grown male lion; , the lioness; , the young lion, though old enough to go in search of prey; catulus leonis, the lions whelp, which cannot yet seek prey for itself
The last clause expresses the complete destruction of the imperial might of Assyria. The messengers of Nineveh are partly heralds, as the carriers of the kings command; partly halberdiers, or delegates who fulfilled the rulers commands (cf. 1Ki 19:2; 2Ki 19:23). The suffix in is in a lengthened form, on account of the tone at the end of the section, analogous to in Exo 29:35, and is not to be regarded as an Aramism or a dialectical variation (Ewald, sec. 258, a). The tsere of the last syllable is occasioned by the previous tsere. Jerome has summed up the meaning very well as follows: Thou wilt never lay countries waste any more, nor exact tribute, nor will thy messengers be heard throughout thy provinces. (On the last clause, see Eze 19:9.)C. E.]
A more extended statement of the Cause of the Destruction follows (Nah 3:1-7), whilst both the ground-ideas expressed in Nah 2:12 ff., are further carried out: (a) the rapine of Nineveh (Nah 3:1-4); (b) the behold I come against thee (Nah 3:5-7).
O city of blood! , is originally a pure vocative interjection, yet the threatening signification (vae!) is so evidently required by the connection in passages like the present (Isa 10:1), and Hab 2:15 ff., that it cannot very well (with Hupfeld) be denied.
She is altogether deceit; filled with crime. To the blood-guiltiness (; comp. Nah 2:12 f.) of Nineveh is added as a further cause of her fall, her universally acknowledged craftiness, which Ahaz once experienced. Abarb.: Quia vanis pollicitationibus auil et protectionis gentes decipiebat (comp. Hab 2:15). denotes the violent breaking of an existing barrier (Gen 27:40).
She ceases not from plunder; , nomen actionis pro inf., as in Nahum 2:14. [Keil and Delitzsch: , the prey does not depart, never fails. Mush, in the hiphil here, used intransitively, to depart, as in Exo 13:22; Psa 55:12, and not in a transitive sense, to cause to depart, to let go; for if it (the city) were the subject, we should have tmish. The rule, however, that verbs, adjectives, and pronouns agree in gender and number with the noun to which they relate, is subject to exceptions. See Nordheimers Heb. Gram., vol. i. sec. 755, 2; and Greens, sec. 275, 1, a, b, c. Henderson renders , the prey is not removed, and refers it to the fact that the Assyrians had not restored the ten tribes. Others translate it, with Kleinert, non desinit rapere. See Gesenius Thesaurus, s. v.C. E.] Therefore judgment must certainly come upon her, and the prophet graphically presents it again, first to the ear, then distinctly to the eye; then he breaks out, in Nah 3:2, with the exclamation,
Hark! , as frequently in an absolute sentence expressing, at the same time, interjection, verb, and object (Isa 13:4). [ is here a noun in the construct state: it cannot very well be two or three things at once.C. E.] The crack of the whip, and noise of the rattling of wheels, and the horse galloping, and chariots bounding.
Nah 3:3. Horsemen rearing, properly causing to rear, the riders making the horses rear on high with the bridle, and flaming of the sword, and flashing of the lance, and a multitude of wounded, and a wall of corpses. Many of the nouns are assonant by means of the vowel o.There is no end of dead. Ctesias, in Diodor., says: The waves of the river flowed red a long distance, so great was the number of the slain. And they stumble over their dead. And why all this?
Nah 3:4. On account of the multitude (, as in Oba 1:10) of the whoredoms (comp. on Mic 1:7) of the whore; on account of the charming sweetness ( is a subs.) of the sorceress. Idolatry and witchcraft are marks of the specifically heathen character, the ultimate cause of all Gods judgments upon the heathen and heathendom (comp. Nah 1:15; Mic 1:7; Mic 5:11). The restriction of her fornications to her commercial intercourse has a plausible support in Isa 23:5, but it has in the connection no real force, and must also be more distinctly marked. The idolatry of the heathen is called adultery, not in the special sense in which it is applied to Israel, but in the established prophetical usage (Rev 17:1). Compare Luther in the Horn, suggestions, comp. Gen 37:19.
She sold the nations with her witchcrafts. She was successful in everything, therefore she always became more secure and obstinate in her confidence in her gods. The structure of the passage is an intercalary and connected parallelism: abba; Nah 3:1; Nah 3:4 and Nah 3:2-3 belong together. Just as we had already above, Nah 1:11-14 (11 and 14; 12 and 13); Nah 2:6-9; comp. also below the articulation of the sentence 15 b, ff.
But this must certainly have an end. Nah 3:5. Behold, I come against thee [, when the motion or direction is hostile, may be rendered againstC. E.], saith Jehovah of hosts, and uncover thy skirts, throw them so high that they reach over thy face, and cause the nations to see. thy shame. Nineveh is represented as a virgin not on account of any virtue, but as one not yet subdued (comp. above Nah 2:8); and her subjection under the figure of that which is most disgraceful to a woman. Comp. Isa 47:3, and the similar connection [of ideas], Hab 2:10.
Nah 3:6. And I cast abominable things upon thee: idols, according to the usual mode of expression; also, I bury thee under thy idols (Nah 1:14) Mich. (Others: I pelt thee with filth. But the passage, 2Ki 19:27, cited by Hitzig in support of this, does not prove it.) And I make thee despised, yea, make thee a gazing-stock.
Nah 3:7. And every one who sees thee flees from thee and says: Nineveh is laid waste! , Pual with Kametz, like 1:4, Ges. sec. 52, Rem. 4. Who will comfort her? (Jer 15:5). is voluntative. She has injured all (comp. Nah 3:19). When all forsooth speak in this way, whence shall I then, says the prophet, seek a comforter for thee?Isa 51:19.
Nah 3:8-11. The Certainty of the Destruction. [Keil and Delitzsch: Nineveh will not be able to protect herself from destruction even by her great power. The prophet wrests this vain hope away from her by pointing in Nah 3:8 ff. to the fall of the mighty Thebes in Egypt.C. E.]. Even the powerful Thebes was not able to withstand destruction. Art thou to me (dativus ethicus, compare on Jon 3:3) any better, standing nearer, more important, more worth (for the form instead of compare Olsh. sec. 242 a, Remark), than No Amon,i.e., Thebes, the renowned capital of Upper Egypt. Compare Jer 46:25, and Eze 30:14 ff. In the last passage it is merely called No; but here it is more exactly defined by the addition of Amon, which refers to the great temple of Amon there. Compare Herod 1:182; 2:42 (LXX. Ez. l. c. comp. Diod. 1:45: [It is necessary to compare the Hebrew text of Jer 46:25 and Eze 30:14 ff. in order to verify Kleinerts statement that in the latter passage Thebes is merely called No; for in the English version the former passage reads only No, Amon being rendered by multitude.C. E). Which [was destroyedC. E.] notwithstanding, like thee she was situated by the water, namely, on the river Nile, on both banks of it (Strabo, xvii. p. 816), and also like thee, yea, more than thou, was protected by the water on every side of her, by canals (hence the plural ), so that one could justly say of her: her rampart was the seaa rampart consisting of the sea, a rampart which is the sea; as it is similarly further said: her wall was of sea. ( must mean, whose rampart the sea was). sometimes even denotes the Nile (Isa 19:5).
Nah 3:9. And how many allies she had! Cush, the strong, properly, that which is strong (3 fem. prt. from ) in an elliptical relative clause (Ges. sec. 123, 3). The metheg, with the first Kametz, is doubtless complemental (comp. the reverse, Mic 3:6); if one does not with the versions prefer to insert Mappik in the final . Cush was her (Thebes) strength (from ). The reading in question, the simple feminine substantive ossmah (Cush is strength) is feeble and clumsy;) and Egypt and so forth, if I would enumerate further, without end, Phut and Lubin were for thy help. Nahum, in keeping with his vivacious style, now addresses the absent person, of whom he speaks. The closing predicate (the predicative, as in Job 23:13; Pro 3:26) refers to all that have been named. Cush and Mizraim; Ethiopia, Upper and Lower Egypt; Phut and Lubim; Libya and Nubia (comp. Hitzig on Isa 66:19). Both these appear also elsewhere as confederates of and of the same origin with the powers of the Upper Nile (Jer 46:9; Eze 30:5). And notwithstanding all this she could not preserve herself.
Nah 3:10 : She also was given up to exile (Ezr 6:21), she went into captivity (Deu 18:1); also her children were dashed to pieces in all street corners, as was customary in conquests (2Ki 8:12), and hence the final doom of the savage conquerors on the Euphrates and Tigris was announced from the talio point of view (Isa 13:16 : Psa 137:9); and over her nobles (Isa 23:8) they cast lots (comp. Oba 1:11); and her great men were bound in chains. That the event of which the prophet speaks is not a future one (Hier., Theod., Cocc., Strauss), is proved in the first place externally by the tenses employed: the absolutely perfect action of Nah 3:8-10 stands in manifestly designed antithesis to the concluding future, Nah 3:11; and in the second place it is proved by sound logic, inasmuch as the prophet would scarcely, for the purpose of confirming a future event by an argumentum ad hominem, borrow from the future another example still much more remote and much more improbable [auch mehr ausser der Berechnung stehendes]. We must, therefore, seek for the capture (not destruction, for of that the text says nothing) of No Ammon, to which allusion has been made, in a time which lay back of this prophecy; and if it cannot be found in that time, then we would certainly be compelled, with Hitzig, to cut the knot, and consider this verse a gloss from post-exile times, andan expedient which has fallen into disuserefer it to the capture of No by Nebuchadnezzar, which, even historically, is by no means fully and clearly established. But consider (1) that Isaiah 20 would not have been admitted into the collection of the writings of Isaiah (Deu 18:22), had not the fulfillment, i.e., the conquest of Egypt by Sargon, been known as a historical event in the time designated by Isaiah; (2) that Sargon, who, in the year of the conquest of Samaria, succeeded, on the Assyrian throne, Salmanassar IV., who died about that time, mentions expressly, according to his inscription in the palace founded by him at Khorsabad, the boundaries of Egypt as the scene of his deeds (Spiegel, xx. 224;) (3) that Rawlinson (Monarchies, ii. 416, f.) and Oppert (Sargonides, p. 22, 26 f.) have extracted, from a quite mutilated passage of an inscription found there, an account, in conformity with the statement above, of the overthrow of Sebek (=So, 2 Kings 17) king of Egypt. (Comp. also Journ. Asiat., xii. 462 ff., concerning the battle of Rabek, i.e. Heliopolis) [compare Smiths Dictionary of the Bible, article SoC. E.]; that finally (4) the successors of Sargon ascribe to themselves the standing title King of Cush and Mizraim (Oppert, Chronological Table; Rodiger, viii. 673).In view of these facts we must accord to this passage [that portion of the text under considerationC. E.] the significance of a joint testimony, which, with the others, furnishes a mutual [solidarische] warrant of their truth, and accept, as a historical fact, a capture of Thebes by Sargon, or by his commander-in-chief Tartan (Isa 20:3). This Delitzsch (Is., p. 238) and Keil do. Hitzigs objection to this that the prophet could not very well remind the Assyrians of one of their own conquests, without in any way expressly indicating that it was even their act, since otherwise every one must think of the act of another people, has no force. Rather the reverse is the case; if that capture did not proceed from Assyria herself, it (1) asks too much from Nineveh to draw conclusions from an event which was far separated from her, and which occurred in the other end of the inhabited world; and how (2) should Hitzigs subsequent glossarist come to remind the still existing Nineveh of the destruction of a city, which must have followed after that of Nineveh at least twenty-five years. The first of these two reasons is opposed to the reference by Ewald to a very apocryphal and isolated statement of Ammianus Marcellinus concerning a capture of Thebes by the Carthaginians. But Nahum himself intimates plainly enough why he expressly mentioned Thebes among the Assyrian conquests: by its situation on the river, defenses, and allies, it had a striking resemblance to Nineveh.
[I have been decided in referring it to a conquest by Sargon, because this can he confirmed by arguments from the Bible, and it is sufficient for the understanding [of the passage]. There is, however, to me another still more probable [ground for the] reference which I have made, in the agreement of the results of investigations among the monuments. Assarhaddon is called, on a lion dugout by the Turks at Nebi Yunus, not merely king, but conqueror of Cush and Mizraim (Rd., viii. 673. Comp. also Abyd. in Euseb. in the Chron. Arm.). On his Cylinder (in Talbot, Ass.C. t., p. 13), Egyptian deities are delineated and military expeditions against the countries on the Mediterranean; he appears even to have conquered Arabia (Spiegel, xx. 225). During his sickness the Egyptico-Ethiopian king Tirhaka (692664; Lepsius, Kningsb. d. alt. Eg., i. 96), succeeded in reconquering Memphis, Thebes, and other cities, so that his [the Assyrian conquerors] son Assurbani-pal must have carried the war anew into those countries. If the decipherings pertaining to the point on hand have been settled with certainty, we must refer the passage [Nah 3:10] either to a conquest by Assarhaddon himself, or still rather to that by Tirhaka, which, it is easy to see, must have grieved the Assyrians, which as an admonitory example must have given them a double sting, and which, if we place the time of Nahums prophecy under Assarhaddon (Introd. 2), was still quite fresh in their memory. It would also furnish another effective argument for this date. But in any case there is not the least necessity of thinking of the capture by Nebuchadnezzar as the only one possible.]
[Thebes was long the capital of Upper Egypt and the seat of the Diospolitan dynasties, that ruled over all Egypt at the era of its highest splendor. Upon the monuments this city bears three distinct namesthat of the Nome, a sacred name, and the name by which it is commonly known in profane history. Of the twenty Nomes or districts into which Upper Egypt was divided, the fourth in order, proceeding northward from Nubia, was designated in the hieroglyphics as Zamthe Phathyrite of the Greeksand Thebes appears as the Zam-city, the principal city or metropolis of the Zam Nome. In later times the name Zam was applied in common speech to a particular locality on the western side of Thebes.
In Hebrew the name of Thebes is No-Amon (from , probably dwelling, and ; but the Egyptian name is P-Amen, i.e., house of the god Amun, who had a celebrated temple there (Herod, 1:182; 2:42; see Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr., i. p. 177). The Greeks called it generally with the predicate (Diod. Sic., i. 45) the Great, or , from the profane name of the city, which was Apet. This name, with the feminine article prefixed, became Tapet, or Tape, or Tepe, , generally used in the plural , It was described by Homer (II., 9:383) as ; and the Pharaohs of the eighteenth to the twentieth dynasties, from Amosis to the last Rameses, resided in it, and constructed those works of architecture which were admired by Greeks and Romans, and the remains of which still fill the visitor with astonishment. It was situated on both banks of the Nile, which was 1500 feet in breadth at that point, and was built upon a broad plain formed by the falling back of the Libyan and Arabian mountain wall, over which there are now scattered nine larger or smaller Fellah villages, including upon the eastern bank Karnak and Luxor, and upon the western Gurnah and Medinet Abu, with their plantations of date-palms, sugar-canes, corn, etc.
Though we have no express historical account of the capture of Thebes by the Assyrians, yet a struggle between Assyria and Egypt for supremacy in Hither Asia may be inferred from brief notices in the Old Testament (2Ki 17:4). See Smiths Dictionary of the Bible, article Thebes; Keil and Delitzsch on Nah 3:10.C. E.]
Like No-Amon, Nineveh also shall have no protection in its rivers.
Nah 3:11. Thou also shalt be drunken (comp. Hab 2:16), receive the cup of Gods fury in judgment; Thou shalt perish in darkness, literally, shalt be hidden: Abscondi Hebris spe est in nihilum redigi. Calvin. Thou also shalt seek for help against the enemy, for protection against the advancing enemy, as No engaged the nations to help her: is used as in Isa 25:4. Keil. (One could also translate by from, from among: thou shalt desire help from the enemy, and think of the fact that the King of Assyria himself sent Nabopolassar to maintain Babylon against the Scythians. This, however, is more remote.
[According to Abydenus, who probably drew his information from Berosus, Nabopolassar was appointed to the government of Babylon by the last Assyrian king, at the moment when the Medes were about to make their final attack; whereupon, betraying the trust reposed in him, he went over to the enemy, arranged a marriage between his son Nebuchadnezzar and the daughter of the Median leader, and joined in the last siege of the city. Smiths Dictionary of the Bible.C. E.]
[Thou wilt seek refuge flora the enemy, i.e., in this connection, seek it in vain, or without finding it; not, Thou wilt surely demand salvation from the enemy by surrender (Strauss), for does not belong to , but to (cf. Isa 25:4. Keil and Delitzsch.C. E.]
Immediately subjoined to this [Nah 3:11] is the remedilessness of the destruction, Nah 3:12-13. All thy fortresses are fig-trees with early figs; if one shake them, they fall into the mouth of the eater, comp. Isa 28:4; as if they were already waiting for him. On the Hitzig remarks: If the motion made downward to the object is at the same time an entering one, then the latter is tacitly supplied, and merely is written.
[The tertium compar. is the facility with which the castles will be taken and destroyed by the enemy assaulting them (cf. Isa 28:4). Keil and Delitzsch.C. E.]
Nah 3:13. Behold thy people, once invincibly stern (Isa 5:27 ff.), are women in the midst of thee; comp. Nah 2:11), by reason of anguish and terror. Possibly the prophet thinks, at the same time, of the effeminate manners, which finally crept into Nineveh (Layard, p. 360). [The point of comparison here is not the cowardliness of the warriors, but the weakness and inability to offer any successful resistance into which the nation of the Assyrians, which was at other times so warlike, would be reduced through the force of the divine judgment inflicted upon Nineveh (compare Isa 19:16; Jer 1:3-7; Jer 6:30.) Keil and Delitzsch.C. E.]
The gates of thy land open spontaneously and without effort to thine enemies (Nah 3:12; comp. on Nah 2:7); fire consumes thy bars. The gates and bars of the land are probably the fortresses guarding the frontiers.
[Different views are possible concerning the reference of . It can be connected with what precedes, and can be translated either: thy people are women (through cowardice) in respect to the enemy (J. D. Mich., Rck, Hlem.); or: as touching thy people, the women, the lionesses (Nah 2:13), fall to the lot of the enemy (comp. Jdg 5:30). The latter translation, which I find in no interpreter, has some probability. The Masorites leave the matter undecided. Yet on rythmical grounds I have preferred the usual construction with what follows.]
[Keil: belongs to what follows, and is placed first, and pointed with Zakeph Katon for the sake of emphasis.C. E.]
This remedilessness is further described by two peculiar apodoses, which are construed adversatively (thoughyet), and whose protases are expressed in the imperative. On the use of the imperative in the protasis of conditional clauses, compare Ges., sec. 130, 2 b, 128, 2 c, and Rupert v. Deutz in Burck, p. 363.
First Antithesis, Nah 3:14-15 a, connecting with Nah 3:13. [Keil: Nah 3:14-19. In conclusion, the prophet takes away from the city so heavily laden with guilt the last prop to its hope,namely, reliance upon its fortifications, and the numerical strength of its population.C. E.]
Draw for thyself water of the (for the) siege water necessary for a long-continued siegeC. E.]: make strong thy bulwarksprepare the brick-kiln, in order to burn bricks for the bulwarks: there, in the very midst of these preparations, shall the fire devour thee, the sword shall destroy thee as locusts [locusts is the nominative: as locusts destroyC. E.] so resistless will be thy ruin.
The Second Antithesis, Nah 3:15 b17, is connected with this last word by similarity of sound and association of ideas. Multiply thyself, if thou wilt; literally, make thyself a weight, a multitude, a swarm (comp. Nah 1:12), swarm abundantly. In the root , as in Nah 2:10, Nah 3:3, the signification of a multitude, and that of a burdensome multitude, is prominent (comp. Ecc 12:5). Multiply abundantly like the licking locusts, multiply thyself like the swarming locusts. is a synonym of (comp. Joel 1.), There follows, before the apodosis (Nah 3:17 c) is introduced, a parenthesis, with which it afterwards enters into construction: a parenthesis, in which the ironical summons just uttered is filled out, and its historical warrant exhibited.
Nah 3:16. Thou hast indeed multiplied thy merchants more than the stars of heaven. Taking into view the entire connection, it is not easy to understand this of merchants in the proper sense, as in Isa 23:3 f., Eze 27:3 f., but, according to Nah 3:4, of the despotic manner of trafficking in men as in merchandise, which is practiced by conquering hordes.
[Keil and Delitzsch: That Nineveh was a very rich commercial city may be inferred from its position, namely, just at the point where, according to oriental nations, the east and west meet together, and where the Tigris becomes navigable, so that it was very easy to sail from thence into the Persian Gulf; just as afterwards Mosul, which was situated opposite, became great and powerful through its widely-extended trade.C. E.]
Besides Nah 3:17, the words which immediately follow show this: The licking locusts enter to plunder ( used of hosts, Job 1:17; Jdg 9:33 f.), and fly away:i.e., thy armies were like swarms of locusts, which alighted on a country, laid it waste, and left it desolate,a comparison without the particle of comparison, which is frequently the case (comp. on Hab 1:11)
[Keil and Delitzsch: The meaning of this verse has been differently interpreted, according to explanation given to the verb pshat. Many following the and the expansus est of the LXX. and Jerome, give it the meaning, to spread out the wing; whilst Credner (on Joel, p. 295), Maurer, Ewald, and Hitzig take it in the sense of undressing ones self, and understand it as relating to the shedding of the horny wing-sheaths of the young locusts. But neither the one nor the other of these explanations can be grammatically sustained. Pshat never means anything else than to plunder, or to invade with plundering; not even in such passages as Hos 7:1; 1Ch 14:9; 1Ch 14:13, which Gesenius and Dietrich quote in support of the meaning, to spread; and the meaning forced upon it by Credner, of the shedding of the wing-sheaths of locusts, is perfectly visionary, and has merely been invented by him for the purpose of establishing his false interpretation of the different names given to the locusts in Joe 1:4. In the passage before us we cannot understand by the yelek, which plunders and flies away (pshat vayy–ph), the innumerable multitude of the merchants of Nineveh, because they were not able to fly away in crowds out of the besieged city. Moreover, the flying away of the merchants would be quite contrary to the meaning of the whole description, which does not promise deliverance from danger by flight, but threatens destruction. The yelek is rather the innumerable army of the enemy, which plunders everything, and hurries away with its booty.
The statement of Keil that pshat never means anything else than to plunder, is not sufficiently guarded. Compare Lev 6:4; Lev 16:23; Son 5:3; 1Sa 19:24; Ezekiel 26, 16; Eze 46:19, and Neh 4:17. A man does not plunder his clothes, when he takes them off.C. E.]
Nah 3:17. Thy crowned heads, the vassal princes, with whose aid he undertook war, are like locusts, thy satraps (an Assyrian word; comp. Jer 51:27. Ges., Thes., and Strauss ad I.Ols., sec. 198 c, considers also such; the dagesch forte euphonicum in the , though certainly unusual, is justified by the analogy of (Exo 15:17), like swarms of locusts (the repetition indicates the numberless multitude, Ew. sec. 313; is singular, Ols., sec. 216 d) which encamp in the walls in the time of cold, which deprives them of the power of flying, Hieron.: the sun arises, the encampment comes to an end, they fly away; and one knows not the place where they are. The catastrophe, although as an adversative apodosis it properly corresponds to Exo 15:10, is nevertheless described in immediate connection with the parenthetical filling up of the picture: the complete vanishing of the forces of the Assyrians, which could not take wing in the cold, in the calamity assailing their country, but which assembled in Nineveh, is compared to the vanishing of a swarm of locusts, which alight in the cool of the night, in order to continue their flight in the morning. They have vanished out of sight. Compare Zec 1:5; Psa 103:16. Where are they?
The Concluding Strophe, Nah 3:18 f., answers in elegiac strain: Thy shepherds, those who were appointed chief officers of the army (Mic 5:4 ff.) King of Assyria, have fallen asleep, the sleep of death (Psa 13:4 (3); Psa 76:6 (Psa 76:5): thy powerful ones are lying still (comp. Nah 2:6). Thy people (on the construction compare Ges. sec. 146, 1) are scattered (comp. Nah 3:17) upon the mountains, and no one gathers them. A beautiful contrast to Nah 2:12
Nah 3:19. There is no healing of thy fracture, thy ruin (comp. Pro 16:18), thy stroke is deadly (Jer 30:12). And no one grieves for it (comp. Nah 3:7): all who hear tidings of thee (comp. Isa 23:5; Hab 3:2) clap their hands, (comp. Zep 2:13 ff.) for over whom has not thy wickedness passed continually? Comp. Jon 1:2. The wickedness of which the Holy Scriptures, and now also the monuments testify: the audacious boast of cruelty and of the pitiless crushing of the nations exhibited in the inscriptions: in the sculptures, the rows of the impaled, the prisoners through whose lips rings were fastened, whose eyes were put out, who were flayed alive. Consequently it would be a joy to all nations to hear the voice of the messengers of the tyrant no more (Nahum 2:14), but to hear that of the messengers of his destruction.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL7
The prophecy of Nahum culminates in the words directly ascribed to God: Behold I come against thee. Both the contending powers, the plundering world-power and the just avenger, approach in mutual hostility. One must perish on the spot; and the place where Nineveh stood, has become void.
God is called in this contest Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts. This is not merely poetic diction. The name, which is not used in the Torah, is the usual one in the spiritual conflicts of Israel against heathenism, which were fought by the prophets. No doubt this points to the fact that Sabaoth is not to be interpreted in an external way as has been usual, so as to understand by it, with reference to Exo 7:4; Exo 12:41, the warriors of Israel, whom God led forth to battle.
The name enters more deeply into the nature of God. If that were the meaning, how does it come, that the name occurs, neither in the Pentateuch, which is acquainted with that signification of hosts, nor in the foreign battles in the time of the Judges immediately following that of the Pentateuch? The hosts are, according to the prevailing mode of speech, the host of heaven; the stars together with the celestial spirits gliding over them, by whom they are supposed to be in part inhabited. (Rdiger in Ges., Thes., 1140 a). [In Tomus Tertius of Ges. Thes., published in Leipzig, 1853, the reference is found in 1146 a.C. E.].
To [the worship of] this heavenly host, the most perfect form of the Hither Asiatic, namely, of the Mesopotamian heathenism, was devoted (Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3). This highest form of the worship of Nature spread powerfully, and penetrated also into Israel, when it came in contact with the world-powers (2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 17:3). But even they [the hosts of heaven] are under the control of Jehovah (Jer 31:35), for He created them (Gen 2:1); the heavenly powers must at his command assist in fighting his holy battles (Jdg 5:20). It belonged to the function of the prophets to press this truth upon the conscience of the rebellious people (Jer 8:2) directly under the superior earthly power of the star-worshippers, which continued to loom up with increasing darkness. With this statement corresponds the prophetical name Jehovah Elohe Sabaoth, who is the only living One, and who is also Lord over the hosts of heaven. In harmony with this is the fact that the name seems to be preferred, where the subject treated of is the overthrow of the heathen powers. So in this passage.
God is a God of life, and grants to the nations their life. Therefore He kills him, who has made killing his business. He destroys the destroyer. The time is coming when He will destroy Anti-God, death himself, through whom the cut-throats of the earth have their power (Isa 25:8). God is a long-suffering God. He had also waited in Nineveh (Nah 1:3, compare the book of Jonah); but it did not cease from its robbery. This is what we might expect, for the root is poisoned: blood-guiltiness springs from idolatry. In the land, where the worship of God is observed, there is always a remnant, whose intercession delays judgment (Amos 7.); and who cannot perish with the wicked (Eze 14:14). But Nineveh, the world-power, is all deceit; it must, therefore, entirely Perish. Not on account of idolatry in itself would god have destroyed it, otherwise He would not have sent Jonah: his justice waited for the out break of murder. But after this has infected the whole city, after all its works have assumed the known heathen character, to put itself in the place of God, and to trample under foot the universal revelation of God, that deceit and murder are sins; after it had thus identified itself with the impious principle, its destruction must come.
For Gods judgment is revelation. In the fall the entire ignominy concealed by external glory, the rottenness of the powerful tree, the utterly forlorn condition, in which it for a long time already internally stood, whilst it was externally pressed, come to light. Then indeed the more unexpected the blow, the more certain: the nearer it advances, the more fearful and incurable.
Beck: The name Sabaoth represents God (Deu 10:17; 1Co 8:5; 1Ti 6:15), who goes as a man of war, against his and his peoples enemies (Exo 15:3), as the ruler with all fullness of power even within the highest sphere of life. This is the ruling thought, in the first place, in the prayer of Hannah, whose subsequent song of praise proves how her heart supported itself on the might and strength of God against the insolent power of the enemy; very frequently in the mouth of David, the soldier of God; also in Solomons, the prince of peace; in the warlike period of the kings, when the defenseless, enervated kingdom looked around for powerful allies, etc.
Compare also Oehler in Herzogs Real-Encyc., xviii. 400 ff.
HOMILETICAL
Nah 2:12 to Nah 3:7. Hostility against God cannot be maintained. For
1. It hinders Gods work. It is quarrelsome and lawless, but the world was made for peace, for order, and for life. (Nah 2:12-13 a, 14.)
2. It accumulates guilt, but God is a judge. (13 b, Nah 3:1 a.)
3. It does not rest until it has poisoned the whole man (and the entire community) and made him ripe for death. (Nah 3:1 b.)
4. It experiences no change for the better. (Nah 3:1 c.)
5. Its effort is to make itself equal to God, and God suffers no equal. (Nah 3:4-5.)
6. It estranges all from itself, and finds, therefore, neither consolation nor intercession. (Nah 3:7.)
Nah 3:18-19. There is no deliverance from the judgment of God. For
1. Even the mightiest of the earth are as locusts before Him. (Nah 3:8-11; comp. Isa 40:22)
2. The more obstinately they resist, the more irresistible is the judgment. (Nah 3:12 ff.)
3. The larger and more numerous they are, the more utterly will they be destroyed. (15:100 ff.)
4. The time, after all, is coming, when God shall be all in all. (Nah 3:18 f.)
On Nah 2:12. God knows how to make an end of the greatest distress, in such a way as to astonish us.
Nah 3:13. As it comes so it goes. Unrighteous possessions cannot prosper.
Nah 3:14. Even fire and sword do not do their work without God. Where the voice of the evangelists (Nah 2:1) gains power, the voice of the messengers of sin becomes dumb.
Nah 3:1. Where there is still only a spark of faith, it furnishes us with hope against despair.
Nah 3:2 ff. Where a carcass is, there the eagles gather themselves together.
Nah 3:5. The greatest power does not long conceal secret shame. The more powerful an infamous man is for a long time, the profounder afterwards is his contempt.
Nah 3:6. God will make a gazing-stock, to be gazed at by all, of him who delights in vain pleasure.
Nah 3:7. It is a deplorable state of misery, when a heartless and haughty man falls into misfortune. He has not even a soul which laments it. Make to yourselves friends of the unrighteous Mammon.
Nah 3:8 ff. Men may not learn prudence by experience. Ninety-nine godless persons perish in their security, and the hundredth still thinks that his case is a special one, and relies on the same props, which, under others, have been irremediably broken.
Nah 3:11. The prudent man thinks that his prudence will help him through everywhere. But when Gods hand comes upon him, even the most prudent is bewildered, so that he acts like a drunken man. The more prudent derides him, and soon after fares the same way. To him, who has not learned to use everything, that he has, in the earnest service of God, nothing is of any advantage; in the hour of decision it forsakes him. When Christianity came, the bulwarks of heathen wisdom became subservient to it, and it employed them against the heathen. This is a hint for the Church in all times. It is always important to assault directly the strongholds of the ungodly: they cannot stand. He who ventures nothing wins nothing.
Nah 3:14. God does not need to wait for the unguarded moment of his enemy. He can crush him in the midst of his preparation. We have no occasion for anxiety, if Rome appears to be externally powerful.
Nah 3:15 ff. Should all men come en masse to thwart the work of God, they would still be like locusts before the Lord of Sabaoth.
Nah 3:18 f. All flesh perishes, but the Word of God endures forever. Alexander and Epicurus sleep, but Na-hum and Paul are living. When Jesus was in agony and his disciples slept and fled, then He bore the punishment, which was laid upon the world. But by his wounds we are made whole; the wounds of the world are incurable. A wicked man hurts no one so much as himself.
Luther: On Nah 3:1 f. God is very long-suffering and exercises great patience with our sins, whilst they are concealed. But if we are so utterly infatuated that such sins become notorious, and we continue in them without reserve, just as if we were acting well by such a course, then He cannot look upon them, but He punishes them.
Nah 3:4. I hold that the prophet uses here, in accordance with the usage of Scripture elsewhere, whoredom for idolatry, godless conduct, and contempt. As if he would say: Thy godless conduct is so great, and thou hast gone so far in it, that thou hast also associated many nations with thee. For this purpose also the King of Assyria had many godless teachers, whom he kept and supported, that they might increase such an ungodly way of life. He uses the word vendidit [sold] as Paul does in Rom 7:14. Nineveh enticed the nations to herself and was the cause of other heathen falling into such wicked practices and perishing.
Nah 3:8 f. The God, who delivered Judah, is even the same, who has said: not a hair shall fall from our head without his will.
Starke: Nah 2:12 f. The powerful should prove themselves like lions in good, but not in evil. It is a vain care, when parents are anxious only to be able to leave behind them great estates for their children.
Nah 3:14. As one treats the children of other people, in the same way must he generally expect his own to be treated.Chap. 3 Nah 3:1. Where one does not cease from sinning, there God also cannot cease from punishing. Unpunished blood-guilt accelerates the destruction of a country.
Nah 3:5. Because the godless very soon and easily forget the divine threatenings, they mast be often repeated. The children of the world know how to conceal artfully their knavish tricks for a long time, but God uncovers them to their very great disgrace.
Nah 3:7. A true friend is known in trouble. Great rivers, good fields, safe harbors, gold and possessions do not insure the prosperity of a city. Legitimate alliances are allowable and useful (Gen 14:13; Gen 21:27; 1Ki 5:12), but unrighteous alliances are destructive.
Nah 3:10. When God punishes crimes He does not regard the person. Servitude and captivity are often more bitter than death. The sins of parents are often visited upon their children.
Nah 3:11. If a calamity is preached, one should not take refuge in fortresses, but in God, and exercise true repentance. The pious receive from the hand of God the cup of salvation and of joy (Psa 23:5), the ungodly the cap of wrath.
Nah 3:12. When the best fortifications are taken with little trouble, then we ought much more, in that case, to acknowledge the finger of God.
Nah 3:13. That which is built by the hand of man, the hand of man can also destroy. To be of good courage in trouble is also a gift of God, and no man can give it to himself.
Pfaff: On Nah 3:4. To sin ourselves certainly works damnation; but to lead others into it increases incomparably more the punishment.
Nah 3:7. The godless find consolation nowhere; for God, whom they have forsaken, is the only source of all true and abiding consolation.
Nah 3:12. When Gods judgments come, they come with power, and they cannot be prevented by any human foresight.
Rieger: On Nah 2:12 ff. God laughs at the wicked, whilst they are still powerful. Nineveh was still in its bloom, when He asked: Where is now the dwelling-place of the lions? Now be wise, therefore, ye kings, and be instructed, ye judges of the earth.Chap. 3 Nah 3:1 ff. Before, the eye was never satisfied with objects, which, in a luxurious city, were arranged so as to prove allurements to all kinds of pleasure. But after a little while what an entirely different spectacle does it exhibit, when everything that fills the ear with terror, and the heart with the feeling of the wrath of God, displays itself.
Nah 3:5 ff. It is here, as if king, city, and kingdom stood themselves before the judgment-seat of the Lord of hosts and were obliged to listen to the decree of wrath proceeding from it, with all the appertaining records. What artifices does one often need in civil government, in a community, in a family, to conceal the real condition, to cover internal losses, in order to maintain external show? What will it be, when the Lord shall uncover all this low dealing and exhibit everything in its nakedness? When the hand of God comes upon one, then men begin to judge and to speak in a quite different way. On the part of men there may indeed be much unauthorized, joy at the misfortunes of another, but God, in the mean time however, uses it for his punishment
Nah 3:13 ff. How much ado is made when commerce and trade thrive, and when rich people, with great wealth, go to live in a city or country. But when the guiding principle of the fear of God is wanting, many strange sins are introduced along with them, and when those rich men should advise and help, they flee away. Also under the pretext of the common good they look out for themselves, and they are careful always to flee away with that which they aimed to procure.
Nah 3:18 ff. How many severe means has the Lord been obliged to employ to prevail upon men to rely no longer upon earth. Who then would stiffen his neck against Him, who has in such a signal manner broken others before us!
Hieronymus: On Nahum 2:14. O Nineveh, everything which is predicted thou wilt suffer from no other than me.
Schlier: Nah 3:4. By whoredom unfaithfulness toward Jehovah, from the nature of the case, is not intended; but the treacherous friendship of the great metropolis, by which, like a prostitute, she allured others to her and ensnared them by her witchcrafts, for the purpose of binding them with land and people to herself, and of deriving advantage from them. It is the treacherous friendship of the great metropolis, which makes herself the centre of the nations, on which all the world is dependent.
Schmieder: This characteristic recurs (Rev 18:3) in the description of the spiritual Babylon, which, by the fullness of the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh and of all earthly possessions, produces the most excessive voluptuousness, and by every worldly charm and allurement turns away the hearts of men from God.
Hieronymus: Thou hast entangled all nations in thy net, I must then certainly come to destroy thee.
Footnotes:
[1][Nah 3:4. , beautiful with grace, mistress of witchcrafts, i. e., devoted to them.
[2][Nah 3:8. , Art thou better than No Amon? This was the Egyptian Thebes or Diospolis, the ancient and splendid metropolis of Upper Egypt, called by Homer , Il., ix. 383. No according to Gesenius, signifies a measuring line, then part, portion measured: No Amon, therefore, signifies the portion of Amon, i. e. the possession of the god Amon, as the chief seat of his worship. Amon was the supreme god of the Egyptians, and worshipped at Thebes with great pomp. He is usually depicted, on Egyptian monuments, with a human body and the head of a ram; and the name is there written Amn, more fully Amn-Re, i. e., Amon-Sun. See Ges., Heb. Lex., s. v.
[3][ , her wall was of the sea, i. e., consisting of the sea, formed by the sea.
[4][Nah 3:10, etc., at the head, literally, head of the streets. Gesenius renders it head of the streets, corner. Lam 2:19.
[5][Nah 3:16., to invade for the purpose of plundering. Keil renders it: The licker enters to plunder, and flies away. The LXX.: . The Vulgate: bruchus expansus est et avolavit. Luther: aber nun werden sie sich ausbreiten wie Kafer und davon fliegen. Kleinert: die Heuschrecken brachen ein und flogen davon.
[6][Nah 3:17., in the walls, or hedges. It is used to designate the wall of a city; also that of a vineyard. It signifies also an inclosure, a. fold for flocks. See Ges., .C. E.]
[7][Reichsgedanken, see note, Com. on Jonah, p. 20.C. E.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
We have the continuation of the same subject, as in the two preceding chapters. Under the character of Nineveh, the Lord is declaring the final destruction of the Church’s enemies.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The last verse in this passage serves to throw a light upon the whole; and proves that it is the cause of the Church which the Lord is contending for. And if the Reader attends to the whole prophecy of Nahum under this view, I humbly conceive he will find it a blessed portion of the word of God. I do not wish to be considered singular, but I venture to believe, that all we meet with in scripture concerning the nations of the earth, is introduced purely on account of Zion. The care of the Church of the Lord Jesus, is the one sole cause of all the Lord’s government of the earth. And to the promotion of the glory of Zion, all the events of nations and empires minister. Hence all things, and all persons, whether for correction or for comfort, are directed and guided by Him, and to his own glory. See Isa 10:5-12 . A striking passage this, to be referred to upon all occasions in subjects of this nature.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Uses of History
Nah 3
“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery” ( Nah 3:1 ).
The city was Nineveh. The city is every city under the sun. There is something in the very word “city” suggestive of this kind of prosperity. It would seem as if city-building were a practical blasphemy. We cannot account for this, but the light of history seems to direct our attention in this unhappy direction. Nineveh had repented under the preaching of Jonah; Nineveh had forgotten her penitence and her prayers, and had gone back to riot and revel, idolatry, self-indulgence, and enervating luxury. She had thrown her arms around embodied evil, and loved it with all her wicked passion. Nahum succeeded Jonah, and he pronounces the fate of the backslider. He came from the village to rebuke the city; he brought the fresh air of the country with him, the mountain breeze, the village simplicity, the rustic frankness, sanctified and inspired by the Holy Ghost. Even a village is the germ of a city; but the village is better. There is less thickness of iniquity. Evil is still there; we cannot get rid of evil in time. Who can blot out the evil mark in so short a day as poor little empty time? The fate of backsliders is always the same. Backsliding hardens the heart of the apostate. He puts his fingers into his ears, and will not hear the voice of the divine judgment; he places his hands over his eyes when he does not want to see the light of holiness, and reasons within himself that because he has created the darkness God is purposely concealing his own righteousness. Wickedness is able, subtle, clever, sagacious, inventive. If there is any way into enjoyment wickedness will find it out; if there is any gate by which wickedness can escape final judgment, wickedness is quick enough to discover that way. But there is none. Though hand join in hand, though there be a plot, a conspiracy a confederacy of evil, it shall be burned like stubble.
Of Nineveh the prophet says, “It is a city of bloods”: that is the literal translation of the words which Nahum used; a Hebraism, as of one blood upon another, great coatings of blood. Nineveh was painted in that vermilion. Everything Nineveh had was bought with blood; Nineveh was an Aceldama, a field of blood. Its prosperity was laid in blood. It had nothing that had not on it that red spot, that brand of condemnation. It is difficult to have a city built on any other foundation; such is the rush, the fury, the competition: such is the result of friction, collision, conflict, that man cuts the throat of man, and cuts so many throats that he knows not he is a murderer: the number makes him a kind of hero. How is it to be otherwise? Great cities require great self-restraint, profound and prolonged processes of education. If the moral element once gets loose, if it begins to trifle and to tamper with the realities of life, then the battle is to the strong; let the weak go where they may. It is only Christianity that can save any city. Man ought not to trust himself when he becomes only part of a multitude. He may be but trusted or chastened or highly utilised when he is but one or a unit amongst a few; but when he becomes a million thick on the ground it would seem as if a kind of miasma rose from the sweltering mass and poisoned the men that breathed it. It is sad. It is true. “Oh, it was pitiful, near a whole city full, hope, health, strength, joy she had none.” What is this mystery of numbers? What is this miracle of continuing, increasing in numerical force? An evil passion comes along with it. Things are concealed, or are so perplexed, embarrassed, and wrapped up, that it is difficult to find the central line of justice and right and truth. What mercy can there be in a crowd? The centre has been lost, the guiding, dominating, uplifting principle is for the time being in abeyance. It is easy for a crowd to become mad.
The city, saith Nahum, “is all full of lies”: literally, the city is a lie. They spoke cannon-balls in the olden time. We cannot tell in our softened language what the prophet really said, or how the prophet truly said it; but the opening of his lips was the utterance of a great storm. Is our property a lie? Dare we really analyse our possessions? Was every sixpence taken honestly? Did we not tell the victim that we were his friend, and whilst the tears were in his eyes, expressive of gratitude, did we not put our hands into his pockets, and rob him of his earnings? Nahum saw that in his day there was an organised oppression “The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots.” All this pointed in the direction of forbidden organisation. No Hebrew believer had any right to a horse. The horse was a forbidden animal; the very suggestion brought with it the idea of self-reliance, pomp, pride, War. As Solomon increased in horses he decreased in piety. It is not so with us, because of our different relations; but we must take the typology of the Old Testament as indicating possibilities along the line of our own civilisation. To have an army is to fight, to want to fight An army is itself a provocation to war. Would God all civilised countries could simultaneously disarm themselves, and thus cut off the devil at one source. But the argument is of course only indicated by particular instances; it is not exhausted. All power is dangerous. Wealth without humility, true rational piety, is the horse that tempts the owner, is the army that incites the possessor to defiance, to war, to contempt, which is worse than either. Yet what genius we lavish in our organisations of oppression! How we set actions and policies and movements in such relations that we cannot put our fingers upon the guilty spot, and say, That is it burn it. We have put evil into the kaleidoscope, and whilst we are looking at one image, we are turning it round into another, and we cannot say which is the guilty combination. What if God should deal with us in our corporate capacity, and burn the city? When men begin to divide up evil, and say, “You shall take a part, and you shall take another part, and a third man shall come in and share both the parts with us, and we shall play into one another’s hands in such a manner as that nobody shall be able to say exactly how we came by anything we have,” man cannot handle such knavery, but God will burn it.
“The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses” ( Nah 3:3 ).
And men say, What havoc is this? How awful is pestilence; how terrible is war; how saddening and sickening is the sight of the overthrow of a great city! This is, or may easily become, wasted sentiment. What are corpses, what are carcases, what are dead bodies, compared with starved souls, depleted minds, cheated hearts, blighted opportunities? Reserve your tears for the true tragedy. What of this crying over bleached bones? Who has spent his tears so? On the other side there are murdered souls; minds robbed of their education; hearts enthralled that ought to be at liberty: there let your head be a fountain of tears. Men will not weep at the right sights. They are touched by the bodily, the physical, the concrete, the tangible. They see some poor little white-faced waif on the road, and they are properly touched by that sight; but they might see next to that poor little pilgrim some mighty man, gold-bedizened and feathered and coloured, or riding in some chariot of pomp, and they ought to cry over him. He may be the true object of pity. He does not look it; he has covered up the dead bones well; he has hidden his mental and moral poverty under a veil of plucked flowers, costly enough; but what we pluck we kill, and they shall wither away. There is no need to undervalue, or to pass by in contempt, or neglect things that are obviously in want of attention; at the same time we ought not to dismiss from our mind the doctrine that moral poverty, spiritual destitution, heartache and heartbreak are the things that should constrain our intensest attention, and draw forth our most influential activity.
What is God’s relation to all this evil prosperity, this horrible progress, founded upon hellish policy? When cities have given themselves over to whoredoms and witchcrafts and forbidden luxuries, what does God say? He says, “I am against thee.” Is God ever so terrible as when he is quiet? There is no thunder in this declaration, and yet it is all lightning: “I am against thee.” What miracle is this? The Creator against the creature, God against man, all heaven against the city, the metropolis that ought to be the mother city, and the fairest among the daughters of cities. Yet this is right, this is the very sun in the heavens; without this sun of righteousness we can grow no flowers of morality, no plants of good conduct: this is the sun that warms the roots of virtue. Here is an eternal principle; we may run into it and be restful and glad. God is against all evil. The bad man who has succeeded for a time shall have a miserable end; the ox knee-deep in succulent pasture knows not (for he is a beast) that he is being fatted for the knife. These hard things must be said; we would rather not say them; it would be easier to sing some lullaby, to tell some tale that would lure and delight the fancy; it would be intellectually easier to weave some little fancy network that men would admire because skilfully done, outdoing the cobweb in fineness, and outdoing the bloom upon the flowers in exquisiteness: but this would be wasting time, this would be shutting the eyes to facts, this would be ignoring the tragedy that is killing the world. So there must be times of thunder and lightning and judgment and terrible pestilence; there must be hours of disinfection.
Nineveh said she was strong. She walked around her walls and said, They are all bastions; the enemy would bruise himself against these fortifications more drink, more revelry, more gluttony, more devilry! What did the Lord say? “Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?” Let us attend to the uses of history. Do not throw away the precedents that make up our recollections. He is wise who is rich in precedents, who knows what has happened, what has been done, who lives in the temple of history. No-Ammon fell; the sacred name of the capital of Upper Egypt was rubbed out as the merest speck upon the page of Time. We know the city referred to by the more modern name of Thebes a city of a hundred gates and twenty thousand chariots and the Pharaohs of this great capital warred and conquered riotously from the Soudan to Mesopotamia; trampling down everything, and showing their pride and pomp and power in all manner of ridiculousness of ostentation and wickedness and infamy of royal display. But God blotted out the city. He can do without any city; he can make a metropolis in heaven. He would fain educate us by association; he would turn our relationship to one another into a method of education, healthful progress he would make us co-contributors to one another’s highest well-being: but when we come and spoil God’s idea, though we may have as many gates and as many chariots as Thebes a thousand times multiplied, he can destroy us, throw us into the sea, that we may be swallowed up as stones. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Then the Lord applies history, and says, “Thou also.” That is the voice of all history. God never does anything that is complete in itself, final in its processes; whatever he does refers to the next century, the next city, the next man. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Who died there? The richest man in the world thou also shalt die. What, did that black shadow called the funeral pass through all these terraces of flowers, parterres of choice plants? Did that blighting shadow fall upon the blooming beauty of the full summer day? Yes thou also shalt be carried to thy last resting-place. Has pride been rebuked? Has vanity been snubbed; has self-trust been defeated and overwhelmed? Yes “Thou also.” These are the lessons of history. They thought to build out God with clay; they had walls that they erected against him, and he said they should be eaten up as by a cankerworm. How contemptuous can God be! He said that in their pride and haughtiness they should be as the “first-ripe figs,” so that if a man should shake the tree the figs would fall into his mouth. He needs no ladder to climb, he needs no elaborate machinery by which to get at the fruit; if he will put his hand upon the bark and shake it, the figs will fall down upon the ground. So easily does God hold us in the grip of his almightiness; so that he shakes down tower and temple and town and mountain; so that he dries up seas and rivers and turbulent streams; he sends a blight upon the brain, and the wise man who was all genius yesterday is asking a child to take him home; the man who yesterday commanded listening senates or directed great enterprises, or was the envy, the joy, and the pride of all who knew him, so stalwart in mind, so capable in action, so hospitable in the entertainment of all weakness, he does not know his own child. There is but a step between thee and death. Oh, proud man, thou art but a proud fool. Pride and progress can never go together. Pride and education are sworn enemies. Self-trust and reality of character can never cohere. We live our greatest life in our humility, in our reverence, in our aspiration. Why fight against this God? If the cities have outwitted him, where are they? You should be able to find them. Where is old Babylon? Where the mocking, mighty, pompous, overbearing Rome? Where are those cities that have threatened God and lived? You ought to be able to find them if they have been victorious. Now we are called upon to acquaint ourselves, and be at peace with him; we are called into harmony, and the way by which this harmony is attained is one way and only one, and unchangeable and complete, and that is the way we call the Gospel of Christ, the doctrine of the Cross, the doctrine of atonement, the doctrine of something being done for man that man could never do for himself, and which he lays hold of by the energy called faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You may reform the city, but you cannot regenerate it That is a divine act, and if the city is ever to become a sanctuary of progress, education, liberty, and independence, it must be wrought out by spiritual methods; our life must come from the quarter called true religion, not conventional religion, not ecclesiastical religion, but the Cross, the mighty power of love, the mighty power of sacrifice. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; and when all our reformers and ameliorators and improvers and decorators have done their utmost, they have only painted the devil, they have not destroyed him; they have hidden momentarily his innate and everlasting hideousness under a coating of foolish ornamentation. We can only do this work by going right back to Jesus Christ, and living as he lived. Let us try that method.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXX
THE BOOK OF NAHUM
The title of the book of Nahum is simply this: “The Burden of Nineveh.” It is committed largely to the prophecy of the destruction of the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The writer is Nahum. We know nothing about him. He mentions not even his father’s name. He simply mentions the fact that he was an Elkoshite. Where Elkosh was is disputed. There is a place in Assyria today called Alkush which the Arabians in the region say contains the tomb of Nahum, but the tradition regarding that only goes back as far as the sixteenth century and it is exceedingly questionable. There is a place mentioned by Jerome in Galilee called Elkesi, and Jerome and a great many other scholars believe that that was the home of Nahum, a little village in Galilee. This is doubted by others, and it has been found that there was a little village down in Judah called Elkesi also and some scholars maintain that Nahum had that as his home and that he lived in Judah. He evidently speaks from the standpoint of a Judean. Other scholars maintain that Nahum was one of the exiles transported from Judah and wrote his prophecy while in exile in Assyria. The reason for that is that Nahum seems to know exactly the fortifications and as we shall see the layout of the city of Nineveh, the siege of which he predicts. This theory is not to be credited at all.
The style of Nahum is the most vivid, perhaps, of all the Old Testament writers. In majesty it almost equals Isaiah. In the rapidity of its motion, its energy, its movement, in the imagination displayed he even surpassed Isaiah. This is one of the finest pieces of literature in all the world. The date of this prophecy is somewhere between 663B.C. & 607 BC.; 663 B.C. being the date upon which Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria destroyed Noamon, or Thebes, the great city in Southern Egypt. To the destruction of that city Nahum refers in Nah 3:8 ; so his prophecy took place after that event, possibly sometime after. It was such an important event as would be remembered for a long time. The destruction of a great city like Noamon would be impressed upon the world. The prophecy must have been written previous to 607 B.C., for that is the date of the fall of Nineveh, and this year marks one of the most important events in the political history of that age. Probably his prophecy comes somewhere between 630 B.C., and 610 B.C., not far from the destruction of Nineveh.
The occasion for the writing of this prophecy is the downfall of the Assyrian nation, with the sack and destruction of the great city of Nineveh. The history of Assyria and Nineveh is a history of conquests, a history of oppression, a history of remorseless warfare of indescribable cruelties, siege upon siege of every city that came in contact with any of Assyria’s possessions. No nation in all the world for two hundred years had rolled its resistless tide of savage warriors across the face of the earth as did Assyria. Not a nation in all the known world but what suffered from her attacks. Eastern Palestine, Northern Israel, and Southern Israel were overrun and deported, and the inhabitants of Damascus and Syria were deported also and scores of other nations and tribes were ruthlessly torn away from home and country and carried into exile. The blood, the agony, the tears, the sufferings, the sorrow which Assyria and Nineveh caused, only God himself could describe.
Not a nation during those two hundred years but that hated, but that dreaded her; not a nation but that cringed and trembled as she approached. And those two hundred years engendered in every nation a hatred that was intense, and almost ceaseless. Israel had felt her terrible hand; so had Babylon and all other Semitic nations. And now at last the Medes north and east of Assyria, gather together their nation, with Cyaxares at their head, and march against her. Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, also comes against her. PharaohNecho in the days of Josiah, king of Judah, marched up to the Euphrates to take Nineveh and secure her boundless treasures. Thus it became a contest, as to whether Cyaxares the king of the Modes; Nabopolassar, king of Babylon; or PharaohNecho, king of Egypt, should conquer this city with its incalculable riches. About 625 B.C. Nineveh withstood a great siege and buried back the Medes. But the country was much depopulated. Her allies were gone; a weak king sat upon the throne. The Medes grew more powerful, and at last about 609 B.C. or 608 B.C. Nabopolassar and Cyaxares came to an agreement. Nabopolassar apparently sent Nebuchadnezzar to meet Pharaoh-Necho and drive him back. He himself held the advances to Nineveh and prevented the allies of Assyria from coming to her relief. The king of the Medes came upon her from the North and the East, and after a siege of two years Nineveh fell, and there was not a nation upon the earth that did not feel a relief and there went up from every people and every heart this one cry, “At last! At last! At last! the old savage lion is dead and we are free.” Nahum voices that sentiment. At last the old lion has gone, as all Europe and, perhaps, America, when Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, said, “At last the scourge of the nation is gone.”
The following is an outline of the book:
Title: The theme and author (Nah 1:1 )
I. A verdict of vengeance (Nah 1:2-15
1. The character, majesty, and method of Jehovah (Nah 1:2-8 )
2. His verdict concerning Nineveh (Nah 1:9-14 )
3. His verdict of vengeance on Nineveh, an Evangel to Judah (Nah 1:15 )
II. A vision of vengeance (Nah 2 ) 1. A description of the attack upon the city (Nah 2:1-7 )
2. An inside view during and after the attack (Nah 2:8-13 )
III. A vindication of vengeance (Nah 3 ) 1. The wreck of the city and its causes (Nah 3:1-7 )
2. An example and its lessons (Nah 3:8-19 )
Nahum had a strong and deep conviction that Jehovah is the God who will punish iniquity, and therefore he breaks forth (Nah 1:2-8 ) : “Jehovah is a jealous God and avengeth; Jehovah avengeth and is full of wrath; Jehovah taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.” See the accumulated effect of his repetition here. He goes on: “Jehovah is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty. Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers; Bashan languisheth, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.” This is the effect of Jehovah coming down: “The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken asunder by him.”
Now in Nah 1:7 he gives another view of Jehovah, and here is a beautiful text: “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” How different that is from the other, and how different God’s attitude toward his enemies, and toward those that trust him! “But with an overflowing flood will he make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.” As to his character, he is a God of vengeance, and yet the central fact of his nature is that he is slow to anger. Under the figure of a storm the prophet sets forth the overwhelming majesty of Jehovah. The method of God he describes as “good, a stronghold,” toward his friends, but toward his foes, “He will make a full end.”
Now he speaks against Nineveh (Nah 1:9-14 ) thus: “What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Imagine what you like, he will make a complete end. The affliction shall not rise up the second time, and it didn’t. “For though they be tangled in thorns, and while they are drunken as with their drink, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.” It matters not what your condition, what your defense or how impossible it would seem that you should be destroyed. “There is one gone out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor.” We don’t know who that was. Perhaps it refers to the blasphemous boasts of Sennacherib. “Thus saith Jehovah, though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, and will burst thy bonds asunder.” Then he describes how he shall destroy the gods of Assyria, the graven images, and molten images shall be utterly broken to pieces and buried.
Here (Nah 1:15 ) he pictures a runner hurrying with news to Judah and Jerusalem: “Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!” The cry, “Nineveh is fallen,” was the best news that came to the whole world at that time. And Nahum thus voices the feelings and sentiments of ail these nations. “O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”
The attack of the enemy upon Nineveh is described in Nah 2:1-7 . First, he describes the attack upon the fortifications: “He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.” Thus he ironically advised the city to defend themselves against the enemy’s approach. Nah 2:3 : “The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet, the chariots shall be as flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the cypress spears shall be brandished. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall Jostle one against another in the broad ways: their appearance is like torches, they run like the lightnings. He remembereth his worthies: they stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof and the mantelet shall be prepared.” We can almost see and hear them; the appearance of their chariots is like torches, they run like lightning, as they approach the walls. The enemy now opens the sluice gates of the river which flows into the city and floods it. It is a fact found from excavation that Nineveh was partly destroyed from the water being turned in through the watergates. It is interesting to remember that Diodorus Seculus mentions an old prophecy, that the city would never be taken until the river became its enemy. He moreover declared that during an enemy’s attack the river burst its banks and washed away the wall for twenty stadia. Continuing, Nahum describes the city under the figure of a woman and her attendants. They flee and the enemy captures the spoil.
The inside view of the city during and after the attack is described in Nah 2:8-13 . Here the prophet describes the inhabitants of Nineveh as the besiegers are attacking the walls: “But Nineveh is from of old like a pool of water; yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry, but none shall look back.” Thus Nineveh is described as water which has been gathered in a pool but she scattered in every direction. When the cry is made, Stand! Stand! they flee away and look not back. Now the enemy has entered the city and this is the cry: “Take ye the spoil of silver, take ye the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store and glory of all the pleasant furniture.” And they did take all the spoil, after which he thus describes her: “She is empty, and waste, and the heart melteth and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.” They are about to be sacked.
Then the prophet speaks sarcastically, looking at it from the distance, and seeing the old lion in his den thus besieged: “Where is the den of the lions and the feasting places of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s whelp and none made them afraid? The lion (that is, old Nineveh), did tread in pieces enough for his whelps and strangled for his lioness and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravens.” He is representing Nineveh as a lion in his den, and it was all too true, for thousands and tens of thousands of the hapless inhabitants of other nations were literally strangled, and nation upon nation was seized in order that he might fill his den and his coffers with their wealth. Is it any wonder that the world felt relieved and Jehovah himself gave the prophet a message voicing the sentiment? Then in Nah 2:13 he says, “I am against thee, saith Jehovah, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.”
Then the wreck of the city is described in Nah 3:1-7 . The fall of the city of Nineveh and the causes thereof, are stated in Nah 3 . In the first three verses we have a description of the sack of the city, thus: “Woe to the bloody city I It is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not; the noise of a whip and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman mounting and the flashing sword and the glittering spears and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is no end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses.” The cruelty and savagery of those two hundred years impressed itself upon all those nations, and these soldiers broke into that city, and as Nineveh had never shown any mercy they showed Nineveh no mercy. Now he goes on with the description of her as a harlot: “Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredom, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold I am against thee, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.” All the nations were interested in her destruction. “And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?” They bemoaned when Tyre fell, they bemoaned Thebes, they bemoaned Egypt, and John pictures how they bemoaned the downfall of Rome, but they never bemoaned Nineveh.
The prophet cites an example in Nah 3:8-15 . He compares the fall of Thebes, or Noamon, with the fall of Assyria, and says, “Art thou better than Noamon, that was situated among the rivers, that had the waters round about her, whose rampart was the sea?” She had mighty allies, too, Ethiopia and Egypt, and had no end of strength. Now he says, “You are no better than she; she suffered; she was carried away into captivity.” Then he gives a further description of how the country is infatuated and all the outlying fortresses were taken: “Thou shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid; thou also shall seek strength because of the enemy.” Then he pictures the inhabitants (Nah 3:13 ) : “All thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs; if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire shall devour thy bars.” Then in sarcastic and grim irony he tells the people of Nineveh to go to work and try to defend themselves: “Draw water for the siege, fortify thy strongholds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick kiln. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm ; make thyself many as the locust.”
Nineveh was the greatest commercial center of the age (Nah 3:16-17 ). He describes her great commercial prestige thus: “Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm spoileth, and fleeth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.” And that is how they all dispersed when the enemy entered the city.
The last two verses close with a grim humor, containing a very significant statement regarding her: “Thy shepherds slumber, O Assyria,” are slumbering yet and will continue to slumber. “Thy nobles shall dwell in the dust; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them,” and they have never been gathered since, and never will be. “There is no assuaging of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous; all that hear the report of thee shall clap their hands over thee.” Everybody rejoiced when she went down. “For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?”
It must have been sometime before this, perhaps, two hundred years before this, that Jonah was sent to Nineveh to preach her destruction in forty days, and Nineveh repented and was saved, but there was no Jonah to preach to her now. Her time had come, her wickedness was too great, she was past redemption, and in 607 B.C. the city of Nineveh ceased to be forever. Excavators have been digging there, and they have found the remains of this great city, the walls and the whole plan of it.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the title of this book, who the author, what of his family, and what the traditions and theories about him and his book?
2. What can you say of the style of Nahum?
3. What is the date of this prophecy?
4. What is the occasion of this prophecy, and what the relation of Nineveh to other nations?
5. Give an account of the capture and downfall of Nineveh.
6. Give an outline of the book of Nahum.
7. What t is he character, majesty, and method of Jehovah as revealed in this prophecy (Nah 1:2-8 )?
8. What is his verdict concerning Nineveh (Nah 1:9-14 )?
9. How is the announcement of Nineveh’s fall to Judah described (Nah 1:15 )?
10. Describe the attack of the enemy upon Nineveh (Nah 2:1-7 ).
11. Describe the inside view of the city during and after the attack (Nah 2:8-13 ).
12. Describe the wreck of the city and cite the cause (Nah 3:1-7 ).
13. What example does the prophet cite and what the lesson (Nah 3:8-15 )?
14. What says the prophet here of the commerce of Nineveh and her merchants (Nah 3:16-17 )?
15. What is the permanent condition of this great city as described in the last two verses?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Nah 3:1 Woe to the bloody city! it [is] all full of lies [and] robbery; the prey departeth not;
Ver. 1. Woe to the bloody city ] Nineveh, that delighteth in war, which one well calleth the slaughter house of mankind and hell of this present world, Isa 9:5 : the Greek word , war, signifieth much blood ( ). besides that, many murders were committed in her, and connived at, if not countenanced, by a pretence of justice. Such a sanguinary city is Rome; not only drunk with the blood of saints, but also of her own children. Brazutus, set on by Hildebrand, was the death of six popes successively within the time of thirteen years. Pope John XXII (who sat A.D. 1316) flayed a bishop, who had some way offended him, and afterwards burned him. Pope Paul III poisoned two cardinals Fulgosus and Contarenus, a bishop also, and Johannes Baptists Vergerus, because he suspected them of Lutheranism. The Italians generally, as they blaspheme oftener than they swear, so they murder more than they revile or slander. Such another city of bloods is Paris, in France; witness that barbarous massacre, wherein they poisoned the Queen of Navarre, murdered the most part of the peerless nobility of France, with their wives and children, with a great sort of the common people, 100,000 in one year, in various parts of the realm, besides 6000 gentlemen, slain there in private quarrels, within the time of ten years, as it appears by the king’s pardons. Now if the blood of one Abel had so many tongues as drops Gen 4:10 , “the voice of thy brother’s blood’s crieth unto me,” what shall we think will be the woe of such bloody cities and states? Luther rendereth this text, Woe to the murderous state! Austin interpreteth it of all heinous offences wherewith Nineveh was polluted. But surely if other sins have a woe hanging at their heels, according to that of Job 10:15 , “If I be wicked, woe unto me,” bloody men shall have a woe with a witness, as those that walk in the way of Cain, Jdg 1:11 : see Eze 24:6 Hab 3:12 , and remember that it was the ruin of that great city Nineveh.
It is all full of lies
And robbery
The prey departeth not
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
bloody city = city of great bloodshed (Eze 22:2, Eze 22:3; Eze 24:6, Eze 24:9. Hab 2:12).
departeth not = will not be lacking. Captive princes were exposed to public contumely in cages, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 3
Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. [Suppose that would have been helicopters.] The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: Because of the multitude of the whoredoms [God now giving the reason why Nineveh was to be destroyed.] of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, [the sorceries, the witchcraft, the occult practices that went on in Nineveh] that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and I will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee? ( Nah 3:1-7 )
Remember, Nineveh was a great city. When at the time of Jonah, the city at that time was three-days’ journey. In other words, starting at one end of the city and walking through it would take you three days. There were, at the time of Jonah, sixty thousand babies too young to know their right hand from their left hand. So the population of Nineveh was probably somewhere around the million mark. An extremely large city, and yet the judgment of God is to come; they are to be laid waste. Now the Lord says,
Art thou better than the [You think you’re going to escape the judgment of God?] populous No, [Now this “No” would be Noammon in Egypt, which was destroyed. It was called “thieves” by the Greeks.] that was situate among the rivers [Up in the Nile river about four hundred miles from Cairo.], that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? [Even though] Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, [the city of thieves] and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. [And even though Lybia came in her defense,] Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. Thou also shalt be drunken: thou also shalt be hid, that also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. All thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: [We made reference how that the city walls were destroyed by the flood, and then,] the fire shall devour thy bars ( Nah 3:8-13 ).
When they took the city of Nineveh, then they torched it and left it with just ashes. So, again this prophecy, “The fire shall devour thy bars.” Now prepare for the invasion.
Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strongholds: go into clay and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like a cankerworm [or like a locust] make thyself many as the locusts. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, [So the captains and the leaders are going to flee.] and their place is not known where they are. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? ( Nah 3:14-19 )
So, God’s final declaration, and this is quite awesome. “There is no healing of thy bruise; your wound is grievous.” There’s no answer, there’s no solution; you’ve gone too far. How terrible when God declares of a man’s condition as incurable. How terrible when God said, as He did to Jeremiah, “Ephraim is joined to her idols, let her alone.” When God said, “Don’t pray anymore for their good, for if you do I will not hear you.” When God declares the condition irreparable.
Assyria was one of the cruelest empires in history. The Assyrians were sadists. They maimed and tortured their captives. They would oftentimes pull out the tongues, cut off the ears or the noses or the hands, or gouge out the eyes of their prisoners of war. Extremely cruel. It was a deliberate cruelness to strike terror in the hearts of their enemies, and it worked. The world was terrified of Assyria, for Assyria ruled the world, so to speak, for over a century with her cruelty, with her viciousness, so that when the news that Nineveh has been destroyed, left desolate, is nothing but an ash heap, the Assyrians have been slaughtered, when the news comes through the world, people will clap their hands for joy. There will be no grieving for the fall of Nineveh, because of their exceeding wickedness.
So, God’s witness against the Assyrian empire, against its capital Nineveh, and through Nahum remarkable prophesies that have been completely and literally fulfilled. How could Nahum write of its destruction by the troops becoming drunk and being taken by surprise? How could he write of the wall being destroyed by the river? How could he write of the city being left in ashes except that God was directing his pen as the scripture says, “Holy men of old wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.” Again these remarkable prophesies of Nahum are a testimony of the authorship of the Bible being none other than God. Man could not have written this account in advance and had it come to pass so completely. Again, just another strong proof that all scripture has been written by inspiration of God. Shall we pray?
Father, we thank You for Thy Word, and Thy faithfulness, and Thy righteousness, even in judgment. Father, even as Your judgment came against the Ninevites who had established themselves as your enemies, so we realize that Your judgment will one day come against all who have dared to stand against Thee. Thank You, Father, for loving us, for drawing us to Yourself. Thank You, Father, for Your goodness to those who put their trust in You. Thank You, Lord, for the help that You give to us in our days of trouble, and that we can just rely upon You, Lord, and know Your help through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Now, Father, hide Thy Word in our hearts, impress upon us Thy goodness that we might go, Lord, in Thy name, to declare Thy goodness to a needy world. That we might be the emissaries going out into the world with the good tidings of the gospel of peace, bringing good news to men, of the provision that God has made to forgive man their sins. Lord, may we be faithful heralds of Thy truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
May the Lord watch over you as you go. May His hand be upon your life for good. May the Lord bless you and strengthen you, and fill you with His Holy Spirit, that you might walk in His love, that you might be an instrument through which He works His work of love in a world that is filled with hate and suspicion. May your life be as a light shining in a dark place, bringing hope to those who sit in darkness. In Jesus’ name. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Nah 3:1. Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
Assyria became a great empire through violence, falsehood, and robbery. The soldiery had no respect for justice; they trod out the last spark of liberty, and crushed all nations under their feet.
Nah 3:2-3. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
When the Medo-Babylonian army came against the great city, it inflicted a terrible slaughter, killing the inhabitants without mercy, making a very holocaust of human bodies; but, inasmuch as it was a den of criminals, this horrible execution was well deserved. Yet is the story dreadful.
Nah 3:4-5. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts;
These people had been steeped in sin of the worst kind, they had led other nations into it; and had practiced the witchcrafts which God abhors. Therefore again Jehovah says, I am against thee. When God is in arms against a triumphant nation, he soon makes an end of it.
Nah 3:5-6. And I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.
See what God can do. They were the proudest of the proud, and now he makes them the scorn of the scorner, and sets them as a gazingstock. May God never deal in that way with any proud man here! He can easily do it; when we set ourselves up to be little gods, he can soon make us utterly mean and contemptible, and bring us down to nothing at all. It is his way to deal thus with the proud.
Nah 3:7. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek: comforters for thee?
If you could go today, and see the vast heaps of Kouyunjik, and of the great monuments of that mighty city all destroyed and crumbling into powder, you would know something of what God can do. It does not look likely to you that London can ever become a heap of ruins; and yet it may be, for its sins reek up to heaven as the sins of Nineveh did. The Lord can smite this city as he smote that.
Nah 3:8. Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
The prophet quotes the destruction of the city called No-Amon, probably Thebes, as an instance of what God can do.
Nah 3:9. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite;
There seemed to be no measure to her strength. If she wanted assistance from other nations, she had only to call them in, and the mercenary tribes were ready to defend her.
Nah 3:9-10. Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
So one city is a warning to another. No in Egypt is a warning to Nineveh in Assyria, and both of these a warning to our city, and a warning to every man who is proud, and haughty, and domineering, and oppressive to the poor, great in his own wisdom, and careless for the comfort of others.
Nah 3:11. Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
Nineveh never dreamed of doing that; she said, I am a queen, I shall see no sorrow; I am the greatest of all cities.
Nah 3:12. All thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
As figs do when they are ripe. These castles, towers, fortresses, built to stand the siege, would be no sooner attacked than they would fall into the hand of the enemy.
Nah 3:13. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women:
You see, on those great Assyrian stones, the strong men that are sculptured there, with their enormous muscles, telling of gigantic force. When God came to deal with them, they became weak and cowardly.
Nah 3:13-14. The gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars. Draw thee waters for the siege,
The prophet challenges them to defend themselves.
Nah 3:14. Fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln.
That was, to mend the walls whenever they were broken. They did this with great industry. Do it, says God, yet you shall not be able to stand.
Nah 3:15-17. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
What marvellous poetry is this! How terrible! Their soldiers, their rulers, their captains, were as many as the locusts and the grasshoppers; but when they were wanted, all these hosts would flee, away. What cannot God do when he comes out to fight with men? The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. He brings confusion to his enemies. Oh, fight not against him! Beloved, let us be at peace with him, the strong and mighty God. Let us confess our faults to him, acquaint ourselves with him, and be at peace.
Nah 3:18. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria
They who should have taken care of the people, the chief governors, neglected them; they who should have defended the people were out of the way when they were wanted: Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria.
Nah 3:18. Thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
Let not the same be said of London. Are there any who can say, No man careth for my soul? Let them not be without a helper.
Oh, come, let us go and find them!
In the paths of death they roam;
At the close of the day twill be sweet to say, I have brought some lost one home.
Brothers and sisters, rouse yourselves; be shepherds to the people of this modem Nineveh, and seek to gather the scattered flock of Christ.
Nah 3:19. There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous:
Thank God, we have not come to that point yet, there is healing for the bruised sinner! Though the wounds of our people are grievous, there is a balm for them; we know where it is, and what it is; let us not be slow to tell them about it.
Nah 3:19. All that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee:
I think that is the old Norman-French word, bruit, signifying noise or tumult, that has been left in our Bible.
Nah 3:19. For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
Nineveh had been so wicked, and had done so much evil, that when men heard that it was destroyed, they would even clap their hands for very joy that such an evil-doer was out of the way.
I know not to what purpose I was moved to read this passage; but it is specially meant for some one, to whom may God apply it by his Spirit!
This exposition consisted of readings from Nah 2:11-13; Nah 2:3.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Nah 3:1-3
THE EPITAPH OF NINEVEH
WOE TO THE BLOODY CITY . . . Nah 3:1-3
Nineveh, for years, had neither been taken nor put in fear. Now she lay, in the prophets vision, as she would soon really lie, in blood and ashes. Nahums reaction to her ruin is far from mourning. He rather lists her past glory and rejoices in her destruction. Reading this passage, one can almost hear Jonah joining Nahum in his rejoicing. What Jonah longed to see, Nahum saw. (cf. Jon 4:1-5)
IT IS ALL FULL OF LIES . . . Nah 3:1
Nineveh had aspired to be the capital of the world, by whatever means were at her disposal, whether intrigue in the courts of other nations or by sheer force of arms and the carrying away of conquered peoples. For this Nahum sees her now in ruins. The God who made of one blood all the nations of men never designed any nation to be tyrants and hold others as her slaves. It is He Who will be universal monarch and none other! Yet the chapters of both ancient and modern history are delineated by the records of kings and nations who have tried to rule the world. None have long succeeded.
Zerr: The leading men In Nineveh would not hesitate at bloodshed if it would help their plots to overcome the other citizens. Prey departeth not (Nah 3:1) denotes that the practice of preying upon the helpless citizens never ceased. Thirst for power was merciless.
THE NOISE . . . THE NOISE . . . Nah 3:2-3
The city lies dead. The silence of death is broken only by the sound of enemy arms moving about the streets. There is no regard for the dead . . . the invaders stumble over the fallen corpses. The carnage seems endless. No attempt is made to count the bodies. They are simply a multitude.
Zerr: Nah 3:2 begins describing the details at the “woe” with which the chapter begins. Noise of a whip. Military operations were carried on largely with chariots drawn by horses, and this phase predicts the lashing of the animals in urging them on through the city. Streets had rough and rocky surfaces and the chariot wheels were equipped with hard tires, hence the rattling noise (Nah 3:2) they would make. Jumping is from RAQAD which Strong defines, “A primitive root; properly to stamp, i.e. to spring about (wildly or for joy).” The word has been rendered by dance, jump, leap and skip. The prancing horses would naturally produce such movements in the chariots. The horseman (Nah 3:3) means the man driving the horses drawing the chariots of the preceding verse, for the charioteers did not restrict their activltles to their driving. “They would leap from the rear of the vehicle (whtch was open at that end) and make close attack upon any person of the enemy nearby. Or they would cast the spear from the chariot at those farther away. The great number of the slain is indicated by the words stumble upon their corpses.
Questions
The Epitaph of Nineveh
1. Why does Nahum say Nineveh is full of lies?
2. In Nahums vision of fallen Nineveh, the silence is broken only by __________.
3. Discuss Nah 3:4-7 in light of the modern question, If there is a God, why does He not halt or prevent war?
4. What are the sins of Nineveh as listed in this paragraph?
5. What is indicated by Nahums term witchcrafts?
6. How does God intend to make Nineveh a gazing stock?
7. Who are No-Amon, Karnak, Thebes?
8. Where did the sprinkling of exorcism first become confused with the immersion of Christian baptism? When did this occur?
9. Compare the fate of No-Amon with that of Nineveh.
10. Who defeated No-Amon in 674 B.C.?
11. Discuss Nahums question art thou better? as applied to modern America.
12. In what physical condition were the leaders of Nineveh when the Medes and Babylonians fell upon them?
13. What were all thy fortresses in Nah 3:12-15?
14. What is the irony of Nahums choice of vermin to illustrate the multitudes of Ninevehs defenders?
15. The destruction of the city of Nineveh was the mortal wound of __________.
16. How is Gods word in Nahum vindicated by history in the destruction of the Assyrian Empire?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The last part of the prophecy is devoted wholly to the vindication of Jehovah’s action against Nineveh, and is a fitting defense of the introductory declarations concerning His character.
In the first movement the prophet describes Nineveh as a “bloody city,” evil and cruel. A graphic description of vengeance, consisting of seven illustrations, follows.
In the second movement he more particularly describes both the vice and the vengeance. The national method was whoredom, that is, idolatrous practices; and witchcraft, that is, deceptive methods. The national influence had been in selling nations and families. Jehovah’s vengeance was then described, and also its unquestioned righteousness in the inquiry, “Who will bemoan her? Whence shall I seek comforters for thee?’
In the third movement vice and vengeance are dealt with in yet greater detail. Addressing himself to Nineveh, Nahum inquired, “Art thou better than No-aman? The argument was that No-amon, or Thebes, which was not so corrupt as Nineveh, had been destroyed, notwithstanding her strength. How much more certain then, in view of her greater corruption, was the destruction of Nineveh! In the case of Thebes strength had been of no avail. In the case of Nineveh her corruption had canceled her strength. The vengeance of Jehovah was then set forth.
The last section is a weird description of the destruction of Assyria. The shepherds, the nobles, and the people are dealt with in judgment. The universal verdict agrees as to the righteousness of the judgment. There is to be no healing, and because of the universal oppression exercised by Assyria there will be great rejoicing over her downfall.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Deserved Doom
Nah 3:1-19
This terrible chapter pictures the doom of Nineveh. She had used infamous methods in bringing surrounding nations under her power, and now her shame was to be discovered and exposed. It seemed incredible that so great a city should become desolate, but she is reminded of the populous Thebes especially dedicated to Ammon, the Egyptian Jupiter. As this great city had been overwhelmed by Assyria, so would Nineveh be by the Chaldeans. In spite of her Nile and her tributary nations, Thebes fell, and Nineveh would drink of the same cup. Her fall would be as easy as the plucking of ripe figs. The centuries that have passed since the prophet spoke only lend emphasis to his words. The silence of death still reigns over the desolate mounds that mark the site of the cherished capital. In Rev 19:1-10 the saints and martyrs celebrate the fall of Babylon the Great. Let us see to it that we are heirs of that Kingdom which cannot be shaken, Heb 12:28.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 3
Beyond Healing
Of Ninevehs doom we have been reading. The last chapter continues the subject, and tells us that doom is irretrievable. But it does more. Its first four verses give us Jehovahs terrible indictment, and show us why unsparing judgment had to fall upon it.
A city of blood, full of lies and robbery! Such is the divine description. All its glory was stained by the iniquity of its people (ver. 1). In cruel warfare and sanguinary carnage its haughty inhabitants delighted. The sight of armies rushing together in battle was their joy.25 Therefore others should exult over them when they fell beneath the power of their victorious enemies (vers. 2, 3). Uncleanness abounded; the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, prostitution and sorcery, were openly carried on, and linked with the worship of their demon-gods (ver. 4). Therefore was Jehovahs face against them, and He had determined to make them a gazing-stock and a warning to all who should follow their pernicious ways (vers. 5, 6).
It was but a little before that their great king, Sargon, is reputed to have destroyed No Amon (called in the A. V. populous No), and carried her people into captivity. But Nineveh was equally guilty, and must herself become a prey. In that day the surrounding nations would take up a taunt against her, crying, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? Her course had left her friendless and alone in the day of the Lords anger. Imperious and vindictive, she sought only her own agrandizement, and in no sense the welfare of subject cities and provinces. So she must learn that righteousness [alone] exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people (Pro 14:34). No human power can long exist that persistently practises and encourages corruption and violence. The Most High rules in the kingdoms of men whether they own Him or not; and He puts down one people and exalts another at His own pleasure, taking into account all of their ways (vers. 7-10).
The 11th verse seems again to refer to the last drunken orgy, to which, history tells us, the whole city was given up on the night of its awful fall.
Unable in anywise to resist the invading hordes, the very strongholds poured forth their inebriated hosts for destruction like a fig tree casting her first ripe figs into the eaters mouth when shaken (vers. 12, 13). Thus her ruin was complete in the day when the fire devoured her palaces (vers. 14, 15).
Eaten up as green leaves are destroyed by the locusts, so was Ninevehs splendor to have an end. And if any might apply the locust-figure to the Assyrians themselves, they had become but as an insect host benumbed by cold, unable to pursue their prey, and who, when warmed by the rays of the sun, flee away, and their place is not known where they are (vers. 16, 17).
So should perish Saracus, grandson of the famous Esar-haddon, Assyrias last king, together with all his nobles and his people; for the God whom he knew not, nor cared to know, had solemnly declared, There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit (or, report) of these shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? (vers. 18, 19).
Nineveh has fallen to rise no more forever. Her mighty men have passed off the scene, together with all their guilt and sins, never more to be numbered among the living till that day
When the sun is old, and the stars are cold,
And the leaves of the judgment-book unfold.
But in the crisis of the last days a fierce and unholy power will occupy the land once dominated by Huzzab on the Tigris (chap. 2:7), who will have the traits and bitter hatred of God and His people once characteristic of Assyria, and, appearing in Asshurs spirit and power, will be emphatically denominated The Assyrian, or the king of the north, whose final doom is prefigured in Nahums prophecy of the fall of Nineveh of old.
Thus this book has for us a double value; letting us know how completely inspired prophecy has been fulfilled in the past, and in this way assuring our hearts as to the literal carrying out of all God has caused to be spoken by His divinely-inspired seers. May it be ours to eat the book till our whole being is pervaded with its truth, that thus we may walk as strangers and pilgrims through a scene over which the Most High has written the awful word TEKEL! (Dan 5:27).
24 I have even known prophetic lecturers to wax eloquent over The valiant men are in scarlet; applying the verse to the red-jerseyed soldiers of the Salvation Army!
25 Nineveh seems to have been inbred with the spirit of its founder, Nimrod, the Cushite, a mighty hunter before the Lord (Gen 10:8, 9), taking pleasure in the wanton chase of nations for prey.-[Ed.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
CHAPTER 3
Ninevehs Guilt and Well-Deserved Judgment
1. The great wickedness of Nineveh (Nah 3:1-7)
2. Her fate to be like the fate of No-Amon (Nah 3:8-13)
3. Her well-deserved and complete judgment (Nah 3:14-19)
Nah 3:1-7. Nineveh was a bloody city, for her kings never knew peace, but were constantly at war. The Hebrew Ir-Damim means city of blood drops. They boasted of making the blood of their enemies run like rivers. It was a city full of lies and rapine. Her word could not be trusted; she broke truces and covenants and deceived nations with lying promises of help and protection. As stated in the second chapter, she was ferocious as a lion and the prey never departed.
But she received as she had sown. The next two verses give again the scenes of carnage during her judgment hour.
The cracking of the whip; And the noise of the rattling wheels; The prancing of the horses, And the dashing chariots.
The horseman mounting, And the flashing sword, And the glittering of the spear And the multitude of the Slain; And the heaps of the corpses. There is no end of dead bodies; They stumble over their corpses.
And why? Because of the multitudes of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. She made herself attractive as a harlot does, to ensnare and beguile weaker nations. Like all these ancient cities she was filled with witchcrafts, that is, sorceries. The power of darkness manifested itself in the dominion of evil spirits, which Nineveh courted. Spiritism, as advocated today by men of research and culture, of the type of Oliver Lodge and Conan Doyle, and a multitude of others, is not a new thing. Egypt, Babylon, and Nineveh and other centers of paganism were filled with occultism, the practice of which hastened their doom; as the doom of our age will be consummated through the influence of the same evil powers.
Then Jehovah speaks again, as the God of retribution and judgment. These are solemn words.
Behold! I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; And uncover thy skirts over thy face, And display to the nations thy nakedness, And to kingdoms thy shame! And I will cast vileness upon thee, And disgrace thee And make thee a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass, That all that look upon thee Shall flee from thee, And say, Nineveh is laid waste; Who will lament over her? Whence shall I seek comforters for her?
She had acted the harlot and now she receives the punishment of a harlot, which consisted in exposing her in public. She would be a gazing-stock for nations and kingdoms, as the righteous God stripped her of all and exposed her shame. There would be no one to lament over the vile mistress of witchcrafts.
Nah 3:8-13. Art thou better than No-Amon that dwelt by the rivers? Waters were round about her; her bulwark was the sea and her wall was of the sea. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and there was no limit; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. No-Amon was an Egyptian city, known to the Greeks by the name of Thebes. The judgment of No-Amon, or, as it is also called, No, was announced by the prophet Jeremiah. The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel saith, Behold I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings, even Pharaoh and them that trust in him Jer 46:25. Ezekiel likewise had spoken of this great Egyptian city Eze 30:14-26. There existed an immense temple there in honor of the god of No, the building had great facades and columns and covered a large space; the ruins which are left are still most wonderful to look upon. It was situated on the upper Nile some four hundred miles from Cairo, and was built along the river front. On the other side of the river was the city of the dead, the Necropolis, with a long line of temples, devoted to the worship of former Pharaohs, and behind these temples were thousands of tombs, many of which have been uncovered by the spade of the explorer. The cuneiform monuments tell of the fate of Thebes. Though she was defended by the strong men of Ethiopia and of Egypt and Phut, and the Libyans, nothing could avert her doom. She was carried into captivity, her young children were dashed in pieces, and her great men were bound in chains. Could then Nineveh hope to escape? The fate of No-Amon was a prophecy of Ninevehs fate. She was even more wicked than the Egyptian city. Her fate is described in Nah 3:11-13.
Nah 3:14-19. Dramatically the prophet calls upon Nineveh to draw water for the siege, to secure clay for brick to repair the breaches in the wall. But all would be useless, for the Almighty had decreed her downfall. The fire would devour the proud city, the sword do its havoc in cutting them off. Let them be as numerous as the cankerworm (see annotations of Joe 1:1-20, make thyself as many as the locusts, which come in immense swarms, and it will be all to no avail. Her great commerce, her merchant-princes, were a vast host, like the stars of heaven, but all would soon be devastated, as the cankerworm spoileth and then flies away. Their crowned ones, the chiefs in authority, would all be scattered just as the sun-rise scatters the locusts and swarms of grasshoppers to a place unknown. Their shepherds, the leaders and rulers, under the King of Assyria, would sleep in death, while the population wandered homeless over the mountains, with none to gather them.
Ninevehs ruin is complete and irreparable. All who hear of her fall rejoice and clap their hands.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
to: Isa 24:9, Eze 22:2, Eze 22:3, Eze 24:6-9, Hab 2:12, Zep 3:1-3
bloody city: Heb. city of bloods
full: Nah 2:12, Isa 17:14, Isa 42:24, Hos 4:2
Reciprocal: Isa 10:14 – And my Eze 24:9 – Woe Eze 31:3 – the Assyrian Eze 32:22 – Asshur Mic 5:6 – they Nah 2:11 – the dwelling Nah 2:13 – I will cut
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
NINEVEHS DIRGE
Woe to the bloody city!
Nah 3:1
I. We now come to stanzas of triumph over the great citys fall.For convenience and clearness we may take the closing verses of chapter 2 (i.e., Nah 3:11-13) separately, as they contain a kind of dirge which fitly closes the vivid description of the siege and capture. The dirge opens with the old question which is also ever newthe question, What has become of the glory and strength which once seemed so formidable and even invincible? Nineveh, the stronghold and metropolis of a mighty empire, is described by the prophet as a lions den. Where is the den of lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and lioness walked, the lions whelp, and none made them afraid? The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin.
It is a strong picture of might ruthlessly used. As to the beast of prey the only aim is to gather enough for his mate and his young, so was Nineveh, like a ravening beast, heedless of all interests but his own. But empire ruled on such principles must fall, for it is built on false estimates of things. Strong though it may be, it has placed itself against the might which never fails, viz., the might of God. Such in brief is the picture of Ninevehs iniquity. Blood, falsehood, and an incurable habit of spoliationthe prey-taking never ceases. But she who preyed on others becomes a prey, and the prophet quickly plunges again into description of her overthrow. He hears the warlike sounds echoing everywhere. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses and jumping chariots; the horsemen mounting, and the flashing sword and the glittering spear.
And then all these sounds of war are followed by an awful vision of carnage. A multitude of slain and a great heap of corpses; they stumble upon the corpses.
II. And this terrible doom is a simple consequence of violated moral order.The whole system of empire has been wrong. Instead of using power for good, it has been used for evil. Instead of being a nursing-mother to other people, she has been a seducer and a degrader of them. She has been like a harlot living in splendid ease as the fruit of her unlawful traffic. Her doom of death follows upon her nefarious life. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
The stanzas of woe close with the refrain which reminds us of the invincible but forgotten might which the city, in her proud insolence, has forgotten: Lo, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? when shall I seek comforters for thee?
Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
Illustrations
(1) We need to look to ourselves that no such fate should overtake our British people, for ours also is the lion-empire. Has God forgiven the iniquity of the opium traffic, or forgotten it? Does He not take note of the methods by which we have extended our empire since the days of Clive? Do not the impurity and drunkenness of our streets weigh with Him? Let true patriots confess these things before Him, and plead with Him to spare us that we may yet spread His Gospel to the world.
(2) Not on account of idolatry in itself would God have destroyed Nineveh, otherwise He would not have sent Jonah: His justice waited for the outbreak of murder. But after this has infected the whole city, after all its works have assumed the known heathen character, to put itself in the place of God, and to trample under foot the universal revelation of God, that deceit and murder are sins; after it had thus identified itself with the impious principle, its destruction must come. For Gods judgment is revelation. In the fall the entire ignominy concealed by external glory, the rottenness of the powerful tree, the utterly forlorn condition, in which it for a long time already internally stood, whilst it was externally pressed, come to light. Then indeed the more unexpected the blow, the more certain: the nearer it advances, the more fearful and incurable.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Nah 3:1. The leading men In Nineveh would not hesitate at bloodshed if it would help their plots to overcome the other citizens. Prey departeth not denotes that the practice of preying upon the helpless citizens never ceased. Thirst for power was merciless.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Nah 3:1. Wo to the bloody city Here God shows the cause of his bringing destruction on Nineveh, and overthrowing the Assyrian empire. And first, it is declared, that Nineveh was a city in which acts of cruelty abounded, and innocent blood was frequently shed; that it was also full of deceit, falsehood, and rapine; unjustly and continually increasing its riches by the plunder of the neighbouring countries, which had done them no injury.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Nah 3:1. Woe to the bloody city. Nineveh was drunk with blood. She was burdened with the wealth of plundered nations; her feasts and idolatries filled up the measure of her iniquity. Oh how sublimely is her fall described.
Nah 3:5. I will show the nations thy nakedness. See on Eze 16:37.
Nah 3:8. Populous No. No-Hammon, the god Hammon, from Ham the son of Noah. Thebes or Diospolis, as called by the Greeks. See the note on Eze 30:15, and Jer 46:25. It was the emporium between the Red sea and the Mediterranean. It had a hundred gates, and abounded with superb architecture.
Nah 3:9. Ethiopia and EgyptPut and Lubim were thy helpers. No- Hammon was a sort of mother city to four nations, and she was the only metropolis that could adequately represent the fall of the beautiful Nineveh.
REFLECTIONS.
The catalogue of Ninevehs crimes and calamities is here continued. She was indeed a bloody city. Babylon is called a golden city; and if she exceeded Nineveh in wealth, she did not excel her in cruelty, and the effusion of blood. No army was ever more ferocious and sanguinary than the Assyrian. It was in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few.
Isa 10:7. Nineveh also abounded with whoredoms. She was lost in idolatrous superstition, and in all the associate crimes of drunkenness and fornication. How awful also is that vengeance which discovered her skirts, which sobered her by famine, and punished her tyranny by servitude.
The overthrow of Nineveh, compared with the fall of Thebes, is equally instructive. Both were by arms, both fell from equal glory, both were stormed with carnage, and the survivors in both capitals were led away in chains. Surely the fall of Thebes, of Nineveh, of Tyre, and of Babylon, are highly admonitory to future ages. The ruins of those great cities seem to indicate that heaven has set the curse of Jericho on the very foundation where so much wickedness was once committed.
Nineveh in her day of crisis was cursed with confusion of counsel, and abortion of measures. Thy shepherds slumber, oh king of Assyria. It is usual with God so to do, in the last stages of wicked nations and wicked men. He sends strong delusions on those who obey not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. Surely we should fear this awful spirit next to hell itself.
The fall of Nineveh was a sort of jubilee to the earth. All the nations clapped their hands, having all suffered from her tyranny and scourge. When heaven undertakes to redress the long complaints of injured men, both angels and men rejoice.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Nahum 3. A fresh Picture of the End of Nineveh.
Nah 3:1-7. Woe to that city of blood, full of lies and rapine, where the prey never ceased, nor was any end to the booty! Now nothing is heard in her but the crack of the whip and the rumbling of wheels, the gallop of steeds and the dashing of chariots, with cavalry at the charge, while the sabres flash and the spears glitter, and underneath men stumble over corpses unnumbered. And all this is the fitting punishment of that mistress of harlotry, who fascinated the nations by her charms, and drew them into her chamber of death. Yahweh is against her, and will expose her like an harlot, and make her a gazing-stock to the nations, unwept for, unpitied, and dishonoured.
Nah 3:2 f. A series of vivid exclamations: Hark! the sound of the whip, etc.
Nah 3:4. selleth: rather deceiveth, beguileth.
Nah 3:5 f. The regular punishment of the harlot (cf. Jer 13:22 ff., Eze 16:33 ff., etc.).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
3:1 Woe to the bloody city! it [is] all full of lies [and] robbery; {a} the prey departeth not;
(a) It never ceases to spoil and rob.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The third description of Nineveh’s fall 3:1-7
This description explains further the "why" for Nineveh’s fall whereas the first two descriptions in the previous chapter gave more of the actual events, the "what" of it. There is much similarity between the descriptions of the siege in Nah 2:3-4 and Nah 3:2-3, however. This section has been called a woe oracle because it pronounces doom on Nineveh in typical woe oracle fashion (cf. Isa 5:18-19; Amo 5:18-20; Amo 6:1-7; Mic 2:1-4). [Note: See Patterson, pp. 81-82.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Nahum pronounced woe on Nineveh, a city characterized by bloodshed. Here, as often elsewhere (e.g., Isa 3:9), "woe" announces impending doom. Sometimes "woe" is an expression of grief (e.g., Isa 6:5), but that is only its secondary meaning here. As noted earlier, the Assyrians were notorious for their cruelty that included cutting off hands, feet, ears, noses, gouging out eyes, lopping off heads, impaling bodies, and peeling the skin off living victims. [Note: See Maier, p. 292.] Nahum saw the city as completely full of lies (cf. 2Ki 18:31) and pillage (cf. Nah 2:9). Nineveh always had prey; she was constantly on the prowl looking for other nations to conquer.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE SIEGE AND FALL OF NINEVEH
Nah 2:1-13; Nah 3:1-19
THE scene now changes from the presence and awful arsenal of the Almighty to the historical consummation of His vengeance. Nahum foresees the siege of Nineveh. Probably the Medes have already overrun Assyria. The “Old Lion” has withdrawn to his inner den, and is making his last stand. The suburbs are full of the enemy, and the great walls which made the inner city one vast fortress are invested. Nahum describes the details of the assault. Let us try, before we follow him through them, to form some picture of Assyria and her capital at this time.
As we have seen, the Assyrian Empire began about 625 to shrink to the limits of Assyria proper, or Upper Mesopotamia, within the Euphrates on the southwest, the mountain-range of Kurdistan on the northeast, the river Chabor on the northwest, and the Lesser Zab on the southeast. This is a territory of nearly a hundred and fifty miles from north to south, and rather more than two hundred and fifty from east to west. To the south of it the Viceroy of Babylon, Nabopolassar, held practically independent sway over Lower Mesopotamia, if he did not command as well a large part of the Upper Euphrates Valley. On the north the Medes were urgent, holding at least the farther ends of the passes through the Kurdish mountains, if they had not already penetrated these to their southern issues.
The kernel of the Assyrian territory was the triangle, two of whose sides are represented by the Tigris and the Greater Zab, the third by the foot of the Kurdistan mountains. It is a fertile plain, with some low hills. Today the level parts of it are covered by a large number of villages and well-cultivated fields. The more frequent mounds of ruin attest in ancient times a still greater population. At the period of which we are treating, the plains must have been covered by an almost continuous series of towns. At either end lay a group of fortresses. The southern was the ancient capital of Assyria, Kalchu, now Nimrud, about six miles to the north of the confluence of the Greater Zab and the Tigris. The northern, close by the present town of Khorsabad, was the great fortress and palace of Sargon, Dur-Sargina: it covered the roads upon Nineveh from the north, and standing upon the upper reaches of the Choser protected Ninevehs water supply. But besides these there were scattered upon all the main roads and round the frontiers of the territory a number of other forts, towers, and posts, the ruins of many of which are still considerable, but others have perished without leaving any visible traces. The roads thus protected drew in upon Nineveh from all directions. The chief of those, along which the Medes and their allies would advance from the east and north, crossed the Greater Zam, or came down through the Kurdistan mountains upon the citadel of Sargon. Two of them were distant enough from the latter to relieve the invaders from the necessity of taking it, and Kalchu lay far to the south of all of them. The brunt of the first defense of the land would therefore fall upon the smaller fortresses.
Nineveh itself lay upon the Tigris between Kalchu and Sargons city, just where the Tigris is met by the Choser. Low hills descend from the north upon the very site of the fortress, and then curve east and south, bow-shaped, to draw west again upon the Tigris at the south end of the city. To the east of the latter they leave a level plain, some two and a half miles by one and a half. These hills appear to have been covered by several forts. The city itself was four-sided, lying lengthwise to the Tigris and cut across its breadth by the Choser. The circumference was about seven and a half miles, enclosing the largest fortified space in Western Asia, and capable of holding a population of three hundred thousand. The western wall, rather over two and a half miles long, touched the Tigris at the other end, but between there lay a broad, bow-shaped stretch of land, probably in ancient times, as now, free of buildings. The northwestern wall ran up from the Tigris for a mile and a quarter to the low ridge which entered the city at its northern corner. From this the eastern wall, with a curve upon it, ran down in face of the eastern plain for a little more than three miles, and was joined to the western by the short southern wall of not quite half a mile. The ruins of the western wall stand from ten to twenty, those of the others from twenty-five to sixty, feet above the natural surface, with here and there the still higher remains of towers. There were several gates, of which the chief were one in the northern and two in the eastern wall. Round all the walls except the western ran moats about a hundred and fifty feet broad-not close up to the foot of the walls, but at a distance of some sixty feet. Water was supplied by the Choser to all the moats south of it; those to the north were fed from a canal which entered the city near its northern corner. At these and other points one can still trace the remains of huge dams, batardeaux, and sluices; and the moats might be emptied by opening at either end of the western wall other dams, which kept back the waters from the bed of the Tigris. Beyond its moat, the eastern wall was protected north of the Choser by a large outwork covering its gate, and south of the Choser by another outwork, in shape the segment of a circle, and consisting of a double line of fortification more than five hundred yards long, of which the inner wall was almost as high as the great wall itself, but the outer considerably lower. Again, in front of this and in face of the eastern plain was a third line of fortification, consisting of a low inner wall and a colossal outer wall still rising to a height of fifty feet, with a moat one hundred and fifty feet broad between them. On the south this third line was closed by a large fortress.
Upon the trebly fortified city the Medes drew from east and. north, far away from Kalchu and able to avoid even Dur-Sargma. The other fortresses on the frontier and the approaches fell into their hands, says Nahum, like “ripe fruit.” {Nah 3:12} He cries to Nineveh to prepare for the siege. {Nah 3:14} Military authorities suppose that the Medes directed their main attack upon the northern corner of the city. Here they would be upon a level with its highest point, and would command the waterworks by which most of the moats were fed. Their flank, too, would be protected by the ravines of the Choser. Nahum describes fighting in the suburbs before the assault of the walls, and it was just here, according to some authorities, that the famous suburbs of Nineveh lay, out upon the canal and the road to Khorsabad. All the open fighting which Nahum foresees would take place in these “out-places” and “broad streets” the mustering of the “red” ranks, the “prancing horses” and “rattling chariots” {Nah 3:2} and “cavalry at the charge.” {Nah 3:3} Beaten there the Assyrians would retire to the great walls, and the waterworks would fall into the hands of the besiegers. They would not immediately destroy these, but in order to bring their engines and battering-rams against the walls they would have to lay strong dams across the moats; the eastern moat has actually been found filled with rubbish in face of a great breach at the north end of its wall. This breach may have been effected not only by the rams but by directing upon the wall the waters of the canal; or farther south the Choser itself, in its spring floods, may have been confined by the besiegers and swept in upon the sluices which regulate its passage through the eastern wall into the city. To this means tradition has assigned the capture of Nineveh, and Nahum perhaps foresees the possibility of it: “the gates of the rivers are opened, the palace is dissolved.”
Now of all this probable progress of the siege Nahum, of course, does not give us a narrative, for he is writing upon the eve of it, and probably, as we have seen, in Judah, with only such knowledge of the position and strength of Nineveh as her fame had scattered across the world. The military details, the muster, the fighting in the open, the investment, the assault, he did not need to go to Assyria or to wait for the fall of Nineveh to describe as he has done. Assyria herself (and herein lies much of the pathos of the poem) had made all Western Asia familiar with their horrors for the last two centuries. As we learn from the prophets and now still more from herself, Assyria was the great Besieger of Men. It is siege, siege, siege, which Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah tell their people they shall feel: “siege and blockade, and that right round the land!” It is siege, irresistible and full of cruelty, which Assyria records as her own glory. Miles of sculpture are covered with masses of troops marching upon some Syrian or Median fortress. Scaling ladders and enormous engines are pushed forward to the walls under cover of a shower of arrows. There are assaults and breaches, panic-stricken and suppliant defenders. Streets and places are strewn with corpses, men are impaled, women led away weeping, children dashed against the stones. The Jews had seen, had felt these horrors for a hundred years, and it is out of their experience of them that Nahum weaves his exultant predictions. The Besieger of the world is at last besieged; every cruelty he has inflicted upon men is now to be turned upon himself. Again and again does Nahum return to the vivid details, he hears the very whips crack beneath the walls, and the rattle of the leaping chariots; the end is slaughter, dispersion, and a dead waste.
Two other points remain to be emphasized. There is a striking absence from both chapters of any reference to Israel. Jehovah of Hosts is mentioned twice in the same formula, {Nah 2:13; Nah 3:5} but otherwise the author does not obtrude his nationality. It is not in Judahs name he exults, but in that of all the peoples of Western Asia. Nineveh has sold “peoples” by her harlotries and “races” by her witchcraft; it is “peoples” that shall gaze upon her nakedness and “kingdoms” upon her shame. Nahum gives voice to no national passions, but to the outraged conscience of mankind. We see here another proof, not only of the large, human heart of prophecy, but of that which in the introduction to these Twelve Prophets we ventured to assign as one of its causes. By crushing all peoples to a common level of despair, by the universal pity which her cruelties excited, Assyria contributed to the development in Israel of the idea of a common humanity.
The other thing to be noticed is Nahums feeling of the incoherence and mercenariness of the vast population of Nineveh. Ninevehs command of the world had turned her into a great trading power. Under Assurbanipal the lines of ancient commerce had been diverted so as to pass through her. The immediate result was an enormous increase of population, such as the world had never before seen within the limits of one city. But this had come out of all races and was held together only by the greed of gain. What had once been a firm and vigorous nation of warriors, irresistible in their united impact upon the world, was now a loose aggregate of many peoples, without patriotism, discipline, or sense of honor. Nahum likens it to a reservoir of waters {Nah 2:8} which as soon as it is breached must scatter, and leave the city bare. The Second Isaiah said the same of Babylon, to which the bulk of Ninevehs mercenary populace must: have fled:-
“Thus are they grown to thee, they who did weary thee, Traders of thine from thy youth up Each as he could escape have they fled None is thy helper.”
The prophets saw the truth about both cities. Their vastness and their splendor were artificial Neither of them, and Nineveh still less than Babylon, was a natural center for the worlds commerce. When their political power fell, the great lines of trade, which had been twisted to their feet, drew back to more natural courses, and Nineveh in especial became deserted. This is the explanation of the absolute collapse of that mighty city. Nahums foresight, and the very metaphor in which he expressed it, were thoroughly sound. The population vanished like water. The site bears little trace of any disturbance since the ruin by the Medes, except such as has been inflicted by the weather and the wandering tribes around. Mosul, Ninevehs representative today, is not built upon it, and is but a provincial town. The district was never meant for anything else.
The swift decay of these ancient empires from the climax of their commercial glory is often employed as a warning to ourselves. But the parallel, as the previous paragraphs suggest, is very far from exact. If we can lay aside for the moment the greatest difference of all, in religion and morals, there remain others almost of cardinal importance. Assyria and Babylonia were not filled, like Great Britain, with reproductive races, able to colonize distant lands, and carry everywhere the spirit which had made them strong at home. Still more, they did not continue at home to be homogeneous. Their native forces were exhausted by long and unceasing wars. Their populations, especially in their capitals, were very largely alien and distraught, with nothing to hold them together save their commercial interests. They were bound to break up at the first disaster. It is true that we are not without some risks of their peril. No patriot among us can observe without misgiving the large and growing proportion of foreigners in that department of our life from which the strength of our defense is largely drawn-our merchant navy. But such a fact is very far from bringing our empire and its chief cities into the fatal condition of Nineveh and Babylon. Our capitals, our commerce, our life as a whole are still British to the core. If we only be true to our ideals of righteousness and religion, if our patriotism continue moral and sincere, we shall have the power to absorb the foreign elements that throng to us in commerce, and stamp them with our own spirit.
We are now ready to follow Nahums two great poems delivered on the eve of the Fall of Nineveh. Probably, as we have said, the first of them has lost its original opening. It wants some notice at the outset of the object to which it is addressed: this is indicated only by the second personal pronoun. Other needful comments will be given in footnotes.
1. “The Hammer is come up to thy face! Hold the rampart! Keep watch on the way! Brace the loins! Pull thyself firmly together! The shields of his heroes are red, The warriors are in scarlet; Like fire are the of the chariots in the day of his muster, And the horsemen are prancing. Through the markets rage chariots, They tear across the squares; The look of them is like torches, Like lightnings they dart to and fro. He musters his nobles. They rush to the wall and the mantlet is fixed! The river-gates burst open, the palace dissolves. And Hussab is Stripped, is brought forth, With her maids sobbing like doves, Beating their breasts. And Nineveh! she was like a reservoir of waters, Her waters. And now they flee. “Stand, stand!” but there is none to rally. Plunder silver, plunder gold! Infinite treasures, mass of all precious things! Void and devoid and desolate is she. Melting hearts and shaking knees,”
“And anguish in all loins, And nothing but faces full of black fear.”
“Where is the Lions den, And the young lions feeding ground? Whither the Lion retreated, The whelps of the Lion, with none to affray: The Lion, who tore enough for his whelps, And strangled for his lionesses. And he filled his pits with prey, And his dens with rapine.”
“Lo, I am at thee (oracle of Jehovah of Hosts): I will put up thy in flames. The sword shall devour thy young lions: I will cut off from the earth thy rapine, And the noise of thine envoys shall no more be heard.”
2. “Woe to the City of Blood, All of her guile, robbery-full, ceaseless rapine!”
“Hark the whip, And the rumbling of the wheel, And horses galloping, And the rattling dance of the chariot! Cavalry at the charge, and flash of sabres, And lightning of lances, Mass of slain and weight of corpses, Endless dead bodies-They stumble on their dead For the manifold harlotries of the Harlot, The well-favored mistress of charms She who sold nations with her harlotries And races by her witchcrafts!”
“Lo, I am at thee (oracle of Jehovah of Hosts): I will uncover thy skirts to thy face; Give nations to look on thy nakedness, And kingdoms upon thy shame; Will have thee pelted with filth, and disgrace thee, And set thee for a gazing-stock; So that everyone seeing thee shall shrink from thee and say,”
Shattered is Nineveh-who will pity her? Whence shall I seek for comforters to thee?
“Shalt thou be better than No-Amon, Which sat upon the Nile streams-waters were round her-Whose rampart was the sea, and waters her wall? Kush was her strength and Misraim without end; Phut and the Lybians were there to assist her. Even she was for exile, she went to captivity: Even her children were dashed on every street corner; For her nobles they cast lots. And all her great men were fastened with fetters.”
“Thou too shalt stagger shalt grow faint; Thou too shalt seek help from the foe All thy fortresses are fig-trees with figs early-ripe: Be they shaken they fall on the mouth of the eater.”
“Lo, thy folk are but women in thy midst: {Jer 50:37; Jer 51:30} To thy foes the gates of thy land fly open; Fire has devoured thy bars.”
“Draw thee water for siege, strengthen thy forts! Get thee down to the mud, and tramp in the clay! Grip fast the brick-mould! There fire consumes thee, the sword cuts thee off. Make thyself many as a locust swarm, Many as grasshoppers Multiply thy traders more than heavens stars, -The locusts break off and fly away, They are as locusts and thy as grasshoppers, That hive in the hedges in the cold of the day”:
“The sun is risen, they are fled, And one knows not the place where they be. Asleep are thy shepherds, O king of Assyria, Thy nobles do slumber; Thy people are strewn on the mountains, Without any to gather. There is no healing of thy wreck, Fatal thy wound! All who hear the brunt of thee shall clap the hand at thee. For upon whom hath not thy cruelty passed without ceasing?”