Nahum 2
McGeeCHAPTER 2THEME: Execution of God’s decision to destroy NinevehIn chapters 2-3 we are going to see the justice and goodness of God exhibited in the execution of His decision to destroy Nineveh. God didn’t just talk about destroying NinevehGod did it, and He did it in a very remarkable way.
Nahum 2:1
ANNIHILATION OF ASSYRIAIn chapter 2 Nahum prophesies a frightful judgment upon Assyria, and history testifies to its literal fulfillment. God has made it very clear in chapter 1 where He says, “I will make thy grave; for thou art vile” (Nah_1:14); in other words, He says to Assyria, “I’m going to bury you.” And, believe me, that is exactly what happened. This refers to the Medo-Babylonian forces that came against Assyria and destroyed it in 612 B.C. under the leadership of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar. It is very interesting that Nahum, with biting sarcasm, tells Assyria, “You sure had better fortify yourself.” The Assyrians spared no one, and they thought that their capital was impregnable and that they could withstand any kind of a judgment. But God is saying to this nation, “You are going to be destroyed.”
Nahum 2:2
Nahum is saying that the time has come for Assyria’s judgment because God has completed the judgment of His own people and intends to restore them. The mention of both “Jacob” and “Israel” is a reference to both the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. “The emptiers” are the enemies of God’s people, especially the nation of Assyria. The “vine branches” is probably a symbol of the nation of Israel (see Psa_80:8-16). This chapter is Nahum’s detailed prophecy, which today is an accurate, historical record of what took place about one hundred years after Nahum. It speaks of the finality of the judgment of God upon the nation of Assyria; it speaks of the fact that Assyria would never make a comeback. Assyria never did make a comeback, and she never will. According to the Word of God, Babylon will resurge as well as some other nations. But Assyria, one of the great powers in the ancient world, will not make a comebackGod makes that very, very clear. The capture of Nineveh is described here in rather lurid terms. This passage reveals just how terrible it was, and you could write over this chapter, “…whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal_6:7). Assyria had been a very brutal nation, one of the most brutal nations the world has ever seen. For example, one of the things which the Assyrians did to an enemy was to bury him out in the desert sand right up to his chin. Then they would put a thong through his tongue and leave him out in the hot blazing sun, first to go mad, and then to die. That was one of the “nice little things” the Assyrians came up with.
They also had several other little surprises for their enemies. It is said that when the Assyrians were on the march, in many places an entire community which lay in the line of their march would commit suicide rather than fall into the hands of brutal Assyrians. They were dreaded and feared in the ancient world. We find here in the Book of Nahum that Assyria is again beginning to move, but now their movement is in retreat. They are no longer the aggressor, but the Medes and the Babylonians are coming up against them.
Nahum 2:3
“The shield of his mighty men is made red.” This does not mean that their shields were made red with blood as some have suggested. The Assyrians were especially fond of the color of red, or scarlet. In all of their art, the color red is frequently found, and they evidently were very much interested in it. They made everything red. Some scholars believe that they used copper shields and that the reflection of the sunlight on the copper appeared red. Why did they do this? It is believed that they did this to frighten their enemies. As you well know, in warfare you intend to do as much bluffing as you do fighting. You want to frighten your enemies as much as you possibly can. In World War II, when the United States issued a warning before the atom bomb was dropped, the Japanese thought that America was bluffing. That was one time when we were not bluffing, but they did not pay any attention to our warning at all. Today there are many who are using the crying towel, who flagellate this nation, declaring that we are guilty of this awful thing. I personally do not feel that our nation should go into sackcloth and ashes because of what we did at that time. It was an awful, horrible thing, but after all, war is a very awful, horrible thing. Our boys were being slain, and we were not winning the war by any means.
The dropping of the bomb was what brought the war to an end, and my feeling is that we were justified in it. But I am also very frank to say that we see God’s principle working out here in the Book of Nahum, that this enemy who was so brutal reaped exactly what they sowed. I do not think it will be any different with the United States. We happened to be the first ones to drop an atom bomb, and I am not sure that God is going to forget that. The whole point is that in warfare you do attempt to bluff your enemy, and that is probably the reason the Assyrians used the color red. “The valiant men are in scarlet"again we have the color red, you see. The Assyrians had uniforms which were red. “The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.” This refers to the armor that was on the chariots and the way in which they were built. The Assyrian chariots were not built of wood like the chariots you see in the museum in Cairo, Egypt. The Egyptians used a great deal of wood in building their chariots, but apparently the Assyrians were the ones who got the latest model in chariots. They were sort of the General Motors of chariot building.
Nahum 2:4
Verse Nah_2:4 will illustrate to us a method of interpretation of Scripture which is entirely wrong. Let me just say that Nahum is talking here about the battle between the chariots of the Assyrians and the chariots of the enemy. What happened was that when the enemy came against Assyria, they faced the well-defended city of Nineveh. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, tells us that Nineveh had fifteen hundred towers, each of which was two hundred feet high. But at the time of the siege, the Tigris River rose up and flooded, and it took out an entire section of the wall of the city. The river did what the enemy could not doit breached the walls of Nineveh.
Then the enemy was able to come in and penetrate the city itself. They opened the canals used for irrigation and thus flooded the palace. This is the way in which the enemy was able to take the city. The breach in the wall was so great that the chariots of the enemy could get in, and what is described in verse Nah_2:4 is nothing in the world but the chariot battle which took place at that time. There is a type of interpretation of prophecy which I deplore, and I regret that at the present hour we see so much of it. For example, there are those who say that this verse is a prophecy of the automobile! That is what Sir Robert Anderson calls “the wild utterances of prophecy mongers.” There is a great interest in prophecy today because great world events and world crises are taking place. But we need to recognize that we can become fanatical and go overboard concerning prophecy. I believe it was Winston Churchill who said, “A fanatic is one who cannot change his mind, and he won’t change the subject.” Some folk today are just dwelling on prophecy (after all, it is a limited subject), and they become fanatical in their interpretations. My friend, this prophecy has nothing in the world to do with the automobile. I do not think you could even make that kind of application of it for the very simple reason that automobiles don’t rage in the streets. To tell the truth, sometimes the drivers rage when they get tied up in traffic, but the automobiles don’t rage. Sometimes an automobile manages to stay right where it is and not move at all when it gets a vapor lock! And automobiles do not “justle one against another in the broad ways.” Actually, when one jostles against another, it means you have a wreck. One New Year’s Eve, as I was out on the freeways of Southern California with a friend, we saw one wreck after anotherapparently there were quite a few drunk drivers out that evening. The point is that automobiles don’t jostle one against another. What is Nahum talking about when he says, “The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways”? Well, if you have ever been in a museum which had some of the Assyrian relics, you have perhaps seen that on the chariot wheels, that is, on the hub of the wheels, there was a sharp blade. It was like a sword or a sickle, a very dangerous instrument which extended out from the wheel. The one driving the chariot would go up as close as he could get to the enemy, and this very sharp instrument would cut off the wooden wheel of the enemy’s chariot. It would put a chariot out of business right away if you could cut off the wheel on one side. That is the jostling together that Nahum mentions here, and it hasn’t anything to do with the automobile! “They shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.” The chariots moved very fast in that day, although in our day it would seem very slow. The Assyrians had developed the art of fighting by chariot to a very fine degree, and the enemy had picked that up so that when they clashed in the broad ways of the city and outside the city, the battle was a frightful, horrible thing. That, my friend, is all that Nahum is talking about here. I believe that you can make moral and spiritual applications from the Word of God, but I don’t think that you can take this prophecy and interpret it in a literal way for our day. Do you see what a remarkable book Nahum is? We have here another great principle for interpreting the Word of God. For example, when you read in Isaiah, “…therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips” (Isa_17:10), you cannot interpret that to mean the orange trees which today abound in that land. The natural habitat of the orange tree is the land of Israel. In fact, that whole area grew oranges way back even in the days of Solomon.
When Solomon speaks in the Song of Solomon of dwelling under the apple tree, the “apple” referred to is actually a citron fruit, probably an orange tree (see Son_2:3). My point is that we cannot take Scriptures that have an interpretation for a different people at a different time and try to bring them up-to-date and interpret them for our own day. I want to mention again that the little Books of Jonah and Nahum go together. What you have in the Book of Jonah is actually not a prophecy but rather an account of Jonah’s missionary activity in the city of Nineveh when the total population turned to God and God spared them from judgment. But time went by, and they departed from the Lord again. One hundred years after Jonah, God raised up Nahum, and his entire message is directed against Nineveh. What we have, therefore, in the Book of Nahum is a very vivid prophecy of the total annihilation of this city. The city was so completely destroyed that it was not until 1850 that the site of Nineveh was located and excavated. A great deal has been learned about the city of Nineveh and the Assyrian civilization through that excavation.
Nahum 2:5
The destruction of Nineveh came about when the Medes came against the city under Cyaxares. Babylon at that time was not the greatest kingdom, but they did join with the Medes in this battle. The king of Assyria depended upon his military leaders, but because of their fear, they stumbled and fell in their march. Of course, the defense of the city’s wall was of primary importance in the battle.
Nahum 2:6
Nahum prophesies here that the Tigris River will be turned into the city. At the time this campaign was carried on, the heavy rains in that area caused the Tigris River to reach flood stage. The floodwaters took out a section of the wall, and the city became like a pool of water. “The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.” I think that the foundations of the palace were swept out and that the water absolutely brought the palace down. Secular history tells us that part of the city wall was taken out. About 2½miles of the wall of Nineveh was right along by the side of the Tigris River. The city was situated well above the normal flow of the river, but with the river at flood stage, it took out a whole section of the wall, and the enemy was able to enter the city.
In other words, the overflowing river made the breach that the enemy was attempting to make themselves. It would seem as though the Lord cooperated in the destruction of the city. The floodgates were opened, and even the palace was brought down by the flooding. We are told that the enemy opened the irrigation ditches and the palace was completely inundated with water.
Nahum 2:7
Huzzab literally means “it is decreed.” This verse should read, “And it is decreed, she shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering [or, beating] upon their breasts.” I used to hunt doves in Texas as a young fellow. Late in the afternoon, we would hunt down where a dam had been put up and there was a body of water used for the watering of cattlewe called it a tank in those days. The birds would come there late in the afternoon, and as we would come up over the embankment, we’d be able to get a good shot at the doves. They would all take flight, and the flapping of their wings would be like the sound of beating upon your chest. This is the picture that is given to us here by Nahum. The beating upon their breast was just like the noise made by doves taking flight.
The dove’s call, by the way, is a mourning noise, and that is the reason it is called the mourning dove. I have been told that that mourning noise is actually the love call of the dove.
Nahum 2:8
“But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water.” The flood had entered, and the city became like a lake. “Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.” The command was given to them to hold their ground, but when they saw the flood coming in along with the enemy, they decided it was time not to listen to their commanders but to turn and run away as fast as possible.
Nahum 2:9
“Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold.” The enemy is invited to take the spoil of silver and to take the spoil of gold. “For there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.” The city of Nineveh was very wealthy and highly ornate. The palaces were beautiful, and the people lived in luxury because of the success they had had in warfare. You see, the Assyrians had brought in booty from all of the great nations of that dayeven the southern kingdom of Judah was paying tribute to them at that timeso that the city had become very wealthy.
Nahum 2:10
“She is empty, and void, and waste.” Assyria had brought in booty from everywhere else and had gathered it all in one place, but their enemies came in and took it all out. “And the heart melteth, and the knees smite together.” When your knees smite together, it means that you are afraid, it means there is fear in your heart. This is what happened to the Assyrians. “And much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.” This was a time of great fear and dread because the Assyrians knew that they were hated by the world of that day. All their neighbors hated them because of their brutality. Now vengeance was being taken out upon them. Instead of the blood being all drawn from their faces, Nahum says that “the faces of them all gather blackness.” I take it that this means that they were putting on sackcloth and throwing ashes upon their heads.
Nahum 2:11
Both Assyria and Babylon used the lion as the symbol of their empires. Nahum could be referring here to the actual lions which the Assyrians had there, or he could be referring to their strong young men because the lion was the symbol of the strength of the kingdom. The whole point is that, whether it is the literal lions or the strength of their army, they are gonethey’ve left, or they’ve been killed.
Nahum 2:12
Whether these were the literal lions or the Assyrian army, they had once been well-fed, but now all of that is ended. They no longer have anything to eat because all has been taken away by the enemy.
Nahum 2:13
“Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts.” God doesn’t say that very often. He says it only here and to Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Many of us believe that the reference in Ezekiel is directed to modern Russia. That is pretty much established today by conservative scholarship. No one but a liberal who disregards facts and evidence would say that that passage does not refer to modern Russia. God says there to Russia, “I am against you,” and He sets down a pattern for us. Russia has had the gospel; actually, they had it before we did. But today communism is opposed to God. It is atheistic; its basic philosophy is that it is opposed to God. But God beat them to the draw. He said to them long before they appeared as a nation, “I am against you.” Here in Nahum He also says, “I am against you,” and He is talking to Nineveh. They were a people who had had a personal messenger from God (Jonah), and they had turned to the living God, but now they have turned from Him. When you have had the light and you reject it, the Lord Jesus put it like this: “…If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Mat_6:23). In other words, if the light is shining right into your eyes and you say you cannot see, that means you are blind. This reminds me of the story of a young man who was in a mine explosion together with other men. The rescuers got to them as quickly as they could, taking away all of the wreckage and debris between those on the outside and the trapped miners.
When they got through to them, the first thing they did was to turn on a light. But this young man stood there after the light came on and said, “Why don’t they turn on the light?” Everybody looked at him in amazement because they knew then that the explosion had blinded him. But, you see, as long as they were in darkness, nobody could tell that he was blind. He couldn’t tell it himself because he thought the lights were still out. “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!“it means you are blind. This is the picture that Nahum gives to us. The Assyrians had had light, but they rejected it; and when you reject light, your responsibility is greater. “I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions.” Again, this could be literal lions or the young men, but I believe it refers to their young men because the lion was the symbol of the strength of the nation. “And I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.” This is a note of finality. One hundred years earlier God had graciously saved Nineveh when they repented and turned to Him; but time has marched on, they have lapsed into an awful apostasy, and God is now going to judge them. He says to them, “I’m against you. I’m going to bring you down. I will annihilate you, and you will never appear again.” This ought to be a message today to those who have completely turned their backs upon God: it means total judgment.