Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nahum 3:6

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

6. make thee vile ] Jer 14:21 disgrace not the throne of thy glory! Deu 32:15; Mic 7:6. The idea that the word originally meant to cast corpses upon, seems baseless.

a gazing-stock ] Eze 28:17-18; Mat 1:19; 1Co 4:9.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee – Alb.: like a weight, that what thou wouldest not take heed to as sin, thou mayest feel in punishment. Abominable things had God seen Jer 13:27 in her doings; with abominable things would he punish her. Man would fain sin, and forget it as a thing past. God maketh him to possess the iniquities of his youth Job 13:26, and binds them around him, so that they make him to appear what they are, vile (compare Wisd. 4:18), These things hast thou done and I kept silence; – I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. And will set thee as a gazing-stock Psa 50:21, that all, while they gaze at thee, take warning from thee (compare 2Ch 7:20). I will cast thee to the ground; before kings will I give thee, for them to gaze upon thee Eze 28:17. : Whoever does not amend on occasion of others, others shall be amended on occasion of him.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 6. I will cast abominable filth upon thee] I will set thee as a gazing-stock. This was a punishment precisely like our pillory. They put such women in the pillory as a gazing-stock; and then, children and others threw mud, dirt, and filth of all kinds at them.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I will cast, by the Chaldean and Medish army, which God will stir up against the Assyrian monarchy,

abominable filth upon thee; as is done to lewd women.

Make thee vile: Nineveh had made herself morally evil and vile by sinning; now she shall be made penally rite.

And will set thee, O Nineveh, as a gazingstock; at which they shall wonder and be astonished, some shall take warning too: so Sennacheribs tomb was a standing monument to put men in mind that God is to be feared, and that men looking on it may reflect on their insolence, and decline it. So Sennacheribs tomb-stone with his statue, of which Nah 1:14.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

6. cast abominable filth upontheeas infamous harlots used to be treated.

gazing stockexposed topublic ignominy as a warning to others (Eze28:17).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And I will cast abominable filth upon thee,…. As dirt and dung, or any or everything that is abominable and filthy; and which is thrown at harlots publicly disgraced, and as used to be at persons when carted. The meaning is, that this city and its inhabitants should be stripped of everything that was great and glorious in them, and should be reduced to the utmost shame and ignominy:

and make thee vile: mean, abject, contemptible, the offscouring of all things; rejected and disesteemed of all; had in no manner of repute or account, but in the utmost abhorrence:

and I will set thee as a gazingstock; to be looked and laughed at: or, “for an example” e; to others, that they may shun the evils and abominations Nineveh had been guilty of, or expect the same disgrace and punishment. Kimchi interprets it “as dung” f; to be no more reckoned of than that, or to be made a dunghill of; and so many others interpret it; or, “for a looking glass” g; that others may look into, and take warning, and avoid the sins that have brought on such calamities.

e , Sept.; “in exemplum”, Drusius, Tarnovius; “sicut spectacalum”, Burkius. f “Tanquam stercus”, Munster, Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin, Cocceius. g “Ut speculum”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Quistorpius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

He afterwards adds, I will besprinkle thee with filth, or defilements. The Prophet still alludes to the similitude of a harlot, who is well and sumptuously adorned, and by her charms captivates the eyes of all: but when any one takes mire and filth from the middle of the road, and bespatters her with it, there is then no one who will not turn away his eyes from so filthy an object. But we have already explained the import of this. God is indeed said to besprinkle kingdoms with defilements, when he casts them down; for they all begin freely to express their opinion: and those who before pretended great admiration, now rise up and bring forth many reproachful things. Then it is, that the Lord is said to besprinkle great kingdoms with filth and defilements.

He then adds, I will disgrace thee נבל, nubel, is to fall, and it is applied to dead bodies; but it means also to disgrace, as it is to be taken here. I will make thee as the dung Some think רואי, ruai, to be dung, or something fetid: but as it comes from ראה, rae, to see, and is in many parts of Scripture taken for vision or view, they are more correct, in my judgment, who render it thus, I will make thee an example; so Jerome renders it; as though he said, “Thou shalt be a spectacle to all nations.” (241) And Nineveh is said to be made an example, because its ruin was more memorable than that of any other which had previously happened. Thou shalt then be a spectacle; that is, the calamity which I now denounce shall attract the observation of all. It afterwards follows —

(241) The Septuagint favors this meaning, “ εις παραδειγμα —for an example.” In this sense Grotius and Piscator take the word. Henderson, with less propriety, renders it “gazingstock,” the word of our version. Newcome translates it “dung,” according to the Rabbins. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

I include the whole of this passage in one view for the sake of shortness, having already extended the Commentary very much beyond the original design. The whole of Nahum’s prophecy, if taken literally, and with an eye to the history of Nineveh, and the Church, is interesting. But if read spiritually, as typifying in Nineveh the enemies of the Church, and the Lord’s deliverance of his people, and the final destruction of their foes, in the redemption by Christ, riseth to a degree of sublimity, beautiful, interesting, and glorious. Reader! may the Lord give to us both the sweet and powerful proofs of his divine teaching, that we may know the things which are freely given to us of God!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Nah 3:6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

Ver. 6. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee ] As they do chamber pots and worse upon harlots that are carted. I have read of a heathen people that put the adulterers’ and adulteresses’ heads into the paunch of a beast, where all the filth lieth, and so stifled them to death.

And make thee vile ] Conspurcabo, deturpabo te, I will bespattle thee and make thee stink above ground, as loathsome carrion doth: so the word signifieth. It was long since complained of by one of her own sons, that the stench of the Church of Rome was gone up to heaven. And by another, that of gold she was become silver, of silver iron, of iron earth, superesse ut in stercus abiret, and now there remained no more, but that she should be looked upon as dung. Accordingly it followeth:

And I will set thee as a gazingstock ] The Septuagint render it, for an example ( ), others, a lookingglass, but Calvin (after R. Salomon and Aben Ezra), ponam te quasi stercus, I will set thee as dung, which men gladly look beside. Luther rendereth it Ponam te in terriculamentum, I will make thee a bugbear. All this was done to Nineveh, that great city, and all was done by God, not by fate or fortune, or any necessity of nature, that states and kingdoms must have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin, as politicians dote.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

make thee vile = disgrace thee.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

I will cast: Job 9:31, Job 30:19, Psa 38:5-7, Lam 3:16, Mal 2:2, 1Co 4:13

make: Nah 1:14, Job 30:8, Mal 2:9

will set: 1Ki 9:7, 1Ki 9:8, Isa 14:16-19, Jer 51:37, Zep 2:15, 1Co 4:9, Heb 10:33, Jud 1:7

Reciprocal: Isa 47:2 – make bare Eze 13:8 – behold Eze 16:37 – General Mal 2:3 – spread Luk 15:15 – to feed

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Nah 3:6, The filth is figurative and refers to the insults and shame that would be cast upon Nineveh by the nations. Make thee vile means to expose the City so that her true condition could be seen and she would be known to be vile.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

As the Assyrians had made many other people detestable, the Lord would do the same to them. Nahum’s picture is that of God covering Nineveh with human excrement and then lifting her up for all to behold, a disgusting sight indeed.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)