Nahum 3

A Vindication of God’s Judgement on Nineveh (Nahum 3:1-19).“ Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not” (Nahum 3:1). In this chapter the author explains why Nineveh’ s judgment was coming. She was a “ bloody city.” The victims of her aggressive wars were innumerable. Her cruelty to captives was legendary. “ Of King Ashur-nasir- pal we are told, “ His usual procedure after the capture of a hostile city was to bum it, and then to mutilate all the grown male prisoners, putting out their eyes; after which they were piled up in a great heap to perish in torture from the sun, flies, their wounds and suffocation; the children; both boys and girls, were all burned alive at the stake; and the chief was carried off to Assyria to be flayed (skinned) alive for the king’ s delectation” (Hall’ s Ancient History of the Near East, p. 445). No agreement, covenant or alliance with the Ninevites could be trusted. They were full of lies. The Ninevites deserved the judgments God was sending upon them. “ The prey departeth not” Ebenezer Henderson thinks this refers to the prisoners taken from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Others think it means Assyria was always taking from others, never returning or giving back.

“ 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…” (Nahum 3:2-3). Again, in his vision, the prophet sees and hears the invading army doing their deadly work of destmction. “ -because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.” (Nahum 3:4). More charges are lodged against the Ninevites; crimes that well deserve the punishment they will receive. God personifies the great city, liken her to an attractive harlot. Just as harlots use their outward attractiveness to seduce men, so the leaders of Nineveh used every clever enticement to bring other nations under her control. He then likens her to a witch who through deception and superstition intimidates people. Solomon, in warning his sons of harlots, observed “ Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death” (Prov. 7:27). So anyone who dealt with Nineveh was going to suffer for it.

“ Behold I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover 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 will set thee as a gazing stock” (Nahum 3:5-6). The Ruler of nations promises that he would humiliate the proud Ninevites before their neighbors. The figure he uses is that of a harlot who has been publicly punished. In the ancient world it was common that they be stripped naked and displayed in some public place such as the stocks used in our colonial times. The people would cast rotten fruit and vegetables and fecal material upon them. Their punishment would be for all to see.

“ 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?” (Nahum 3:7). In her day of distress, Nineveh will have no friends to come to her aid. None loved her. They feared her. Under threat of destruction they had obeyed her, but now they turn their backs on the suffering city. None would mourn her passing.

Nineveh is No More Invincible than was Thebes (Nahum 3:8-11).“ Art thou better than No-Amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains” (Nahum 3:8-10). The prophet addresses the leaders of Nineveh who boasted that their city was too strong to be taken. “ No-Amon” was the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. It was situated some 450 miles south of modem Cairo. Its fabulous mins can be seen at Luxor.

It was the seat of Amon, the sun god. Thebes served as capital of the Egyptian empire from 711-663 B.C. He describes the fortifications of the great city. Her borders were on both sides of the mighty Nile River, which he called “ the sea.” She ruled over Egypt and Ethiopia. Put and Lubim were confederate with her. Lubim is thought to be modem Libya and Put might possibly refer to modem Somalia.

If that is the case we can appreciate his reference to her strength. With territory stretching from the Mediterranean southward to the equator and eastward to the Indian Ocean. “ Her strength…was infinite,” like Nineveh’ s and yet she fell to the Assyrians. Ashurbanipal had conquered No-Amon in 663. His troops sacked the city and brutalized her population. The Assyrians killed their infants by dashing them against stones. The cream of her citizenry was marched away in chains.

His point is, if this great catastrophe fell upon the great city of Thebes, why do the Ninevites think they can escape a similar fate?

“ Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a stronghold because of the enemy” (Nahum 3:11). He tells the Ninevites they will be dazed and stagger like drunken men, seeking a safe place to hide from the marauding army of invaders. Obadiah likens God’ s judgments to a cup of poisoned drink. “ For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink, and swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been” (Obad. 16).

None of Her Defenses and No Amount of Preparation Will Save Nineveh (Nahum 3:12-19).“ 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. Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire hath devoured thy bars” (Nahum 3:12-13). He chides them, telling them their fortresses will not stand before the invading enemy. Rather than a brave resistance, her men will be frightened and helpless as women. Fire would destroy the great wooden bars that secured her gates from the enemy without. They will be as helpless before their attackers as ripe figs are to the those who come to devour them.

“ Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm; make thyself many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust” (Nahum 3:14-15). He taunts the Ninevites to get busy preparing for the coming siege, though it will be of no avail. The siege would keep them from going outside for water. The attackers would cut off any water flowing into the city. So he advises, store up water.

Nineveh was highly fortified. Her primary walls were 100 feet high and sufficiently wide for four chariots to race abreast upon them. She boasted of 1200 defense towers and a wide and deep moat around her walls. He ridicules their efforts to make additional fired bricks. All of their efforts would be in vain. “ The mortar” was the pit where the clay and sand were mixed with water. It was prepared for the molds by men wading in the mud with their bare feet.

The bricks were fired and hardened in the “ brickkiln.” As the bricks were burned in the kiln, so the people would be burned in the destruction of their city. “ The sword would devour” them like the canker-worm devours the green plants. Of course the sword can do nothing by itself. It is the swordsman that makes the weapon do its brutal job. The figure he uses is a metonymy. “ The canker-worm” is the early stage grasshopper or locust. As they strip the vegetation, so would the invading armies stip Nineveh. While speaking of locusts, he again taunts them, saying even if they could multiply their numbers like the locust, they could not save themselves.

“ Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and fleeth away. Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are” (Nahum 3:16-17). Still using the analogy of the locusts, Nahum mentions the merchants of the nation who, seeing the coming attack, fled the city like locusts. Nineveh was the great emporium of her day. All trade routes led to and from her. Her agents traverse the world about them bringing wealth and treasure to the city.

Although they had grown rich because of her, they would not stay to defend her. The ruling class of the city, her princes, had also multiplied in the days of her prosperity and power. They too would flee when they realized the fall of the city was approaching. The meaning of her “ marshals” is uncertain. The RSV renders it “ your scribes.” The NIV translates it “ your officials.” Whatever the specific meaning, they too would flee like locusts, rather than risk themselves to defend their city. They would never be seen again.

“ Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them. There is no assuaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?” (Nahum 3:18-19). Nahum’ s closing words are addressed specifically to the King of Assyria. When one addresses a person not present, it is a literary device called an apostrophe. The man of God sees the end result of his prophesy. The “ shepherds” of Assyria are those who were responsible for leading and protecting the people.

Her “ nobles” were included among the shepherds. They are now all slumbering in death. The citizens who survived the siege and destruction of Nineveh are like sheep, scattered in the mountains. Without leaders and protectors, there they will perish. Nineveh has suffered a mortal wound. Some cities have been devastated, yet recovered to flourish again, but this will not be the case with Nineveh; “ Her wound is grievous.” When a person dies, we expect there to be someone who will mourn their passing.

When the Assyrian nation died, no one mourned. Rather there was celebrating and rejoicing. People were applauding her death. Why? Because for generations all had felt the oppression of the Assyrians. Rather than mourning, there would be heard a sigh of relief and thanksgiving that at last she had been given her due.

What do you think the response would have been if the king of Assyria had chanced to read the words of Nahum’ s book? He was reigning over the most powerful nation on the earth. Kings of nations feared and trembled at the king’ s word. The lives of millions of subjects were in his hands to bless or destroy. In the royal court, the first question likely to be heard would be, “ Who is this idiot who dares to write such foolishness?” That some obscure preacher, living hundreds of miles away, dared to make such an outlandish prediction would likely be received with scorn and ridicule. When the final assault was being launched against Nineveh, do you wonder if anyone in the court, recalled what the prophet had said? Hebrews who lived to see the overthrow of Nineveh would say, surely God spoke through this man, Nahum!

LESSONS TO There is a limit to the patience of God. We see the universality of God’ s government in the world. He rules in the kingdoms of men (Daniel 4:17). God will punish wicked nations and individuals according to their works (Nahum 1:3). God’ s wrath must be understood in terms of his love. A nation built on pride, cruelty, force and selfishness cannot hope to have friends in its day of calamity. All that God can do with a wicked, impenitent nation is destroy it. In the day of distress and anguish, men who do not know God must endure untold sufferings. Arrogance that leads to senseless destruction of life and property arouses the anger of God. No mercy will be shown to those who show no mercy. The student of world history will see that it is about the judgement of nations. There are no strongholds secure from the vengeance of God. They that take the sword shall perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52). Men and nations are saved to serve. When they cease to serve God and humanity, judgment comes. In Nahum, we see the goodness and the severity of God (Romans 11:22). “ Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small; though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all” (H. W. Longfellow). Nahum Chapter ThreeVerse 1 The reason for the destruction of Nineveh lay in their unmitigated wickedness. “This imperial city had brought such a fate upon itself by its sin and crimes (Nahum 3:1-7), and will no more be able to avert it than was the Egyptian No-Amon (Nahum 3:8-13)."[1] A terrible end will come to the city despite all of their wealth, power, and resources (Nahum 3:14-19). As Augustine said (as quoted by Barnes): “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 … There are but two kinds of human society, which we may call two cities. One is of such as will live only for the flesh; the other of such as will live after the Spirit."[2]Of this city of the evil world, Nineveh is a type. We have already observed inNahum 2 that Nineveh is particularly important because of its status as the second head of the Scarlet Beast of Rev 13:1 ff; this significance of its destruction will appear in even more bold relief under Nahum 3:8 below. Nahum 3:1“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not.““Woe to the bloody city …” In the Bible, such an expression as “woe” is occasionally associated with a lament (Jeremiah 22:18); “But it appears here to be clearly related in nuance to a malediction …” “This would suggest a rendition of Woe be ...' rather than Alas.’"[3]“The bloody city …” or “city of bloods” as rendered by some. Instances of the remarkable and sadistic cruelty of Nineveh have already been cited; but in this connection, we shall return again briefly to that horrible subject: “On their monuments, we may see prisoners 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 had their brains beaten out, their tongues torn out by the roots, while the bleeding heads of the slain were tied round the necks of the living who were reserved for further torture. The royal inscriptions boast with exultation of the number of enemies slain, and of captives carried away, and of cities leveled with the ground."[4]How amazing it is that any scholar would consider Nahum’s description of such a city as in any manner unjustified. Smith wrote, “It is doubtful whether the cruelty of Nineveh exceeded that of other oriental peoples who had like power and opportunity!"[5]Verse 2 “The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots.“The prophet envisioned the attack upon Nineveh here. “This and Nahum 3:3 are a superlative example of Nahum’s powers of description, and form one of the most vivid battle scenes in Hebrew literature. There are the confusion and noise as the chariots and horsemen attack, the glint of sun on armor and weapons, and the huddled dead, lying in heaps about the streets."[6]Verse 3 “The horsemen 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.“This is a continuation of the description of the attack, beginning at once after the utterance of doom inNahum 3:1 - “Woe to the bloody city!” The numbers of the dead were so great as to impede the free movement of the attackers. “Such a ghastly scene overwhelms the imagination. Again and again, in brief staccato clauses, harsh-sounding, almost incoherent in their imagery, these two long verses of battle sounds and sighs, end strikingly with a thrice repeated corpses ... corpses ... corpses.'"[7]The words of the prophet leave no doubt whatever that it was the will of God that such destruction should occur; but why? The answer was given at once. Verse 4 "Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.""Whoredoms" is primarily the word for pagan idolatry, a kind of "code word" focused upon the shameful and licentious "worship" (as they called it) of idol gods. It identified idolatry by its principal and distinguishing characteristic. The term was usually applied as "harlotry" to the defection and apostasy of God's own people; and some scholars seem surprised that a pagan city is here called a harlot. However, even in the case of Nineveh it was an apostasy. The entire city, under the preaching of the prophet Jonah had indeed repented and turned to the worship of the true God, a phenomenon in which the king himself with all of his nobles humbled themselves before God, forsook the violence that was in their hands, clothed themselves with sackcloth, and engaged in fasting, praying for God to avert the doom of Jonah's prophetic announcement. Thus, as usually in the Bible, the term "harlot" applied to a falling away from the truth. That the term was applied now and then to pagan nations cannot indicate any change or variation in this essential meaning of it. The notion that pagan Gentile nations generally were any less apostates from God than were the apostate Israelites is false. Contrary to the thesis that monotheism evolved out of polytheism, all men at one time knew God. "Knowing God, they glorified him not as God" (<a href="/bible/parallel/ROM/1/21" class="green-link">Romans 1:21</a>). How did they know God? "God manifested it unto them" (<a href="/bible/parallel/ROM/1/19" class="green-link">Romans 1:19</a>). Jonah had quite recently (in Nahum's time) manifested God to the Ninevites; and the very terminology of this verse is a witness to the actuality and success of Jonah's mission. (See additional studies on the subject of apostasy under the figure of a harlot in my commentary on Revelation, p. 386, and also on the state of paganism being a falling away, or an apostasy, from the knowledge of the true God even on the part of the pre-Christian Gentile nations, in my commentary on Romans, pp. 30-34.) Therefore, we must reject the view that Nineveh was an apostate (harlot) merely because "theirs was a willful ignoring of the light of nature and natural religion."[8]The application of the term "harlot" to Nineveh has provoked a number of different opinions: Watts thought is was because, "Ishtar, her patroness, was a goddess of sex and war, and her temples were furnished with sacred prostitutes."[9] Barnes applied it only to those who "having been taken by God for his own, forsake him for false gods."[10] Keil said it meant, "the treacherous friendship and crafty politics with which the coquette ensnared smaller nations."[11] "Though commonly designations of idolatrous practices, there is evidently nothing of that kind in Nahum's use of the terms here."[12] We believe all such views are founded in the failure to see in Nineveh a city sinning against the light, a real apostate from God whom they knew in the preaching of Jonah. There is absolutely no good reason for setting aside the basic meaning of this symbol in the Old Testament. "It is correct that the figure of a harlot is a standard symbol of the Old Testament, and it usually means apostasy from Jehovah on the part of his people."[13] But Nineveh was not "God's people !" No ? The vast majority of the whole city were "God's people" after they repented and the Lord turned aside their destruction. "Well-favored harlot ..." This refers to the strategic situation of the city astride the ancient trade-routes, and to the wealth and power that flowed unto her as a result. Verse 5 "Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.""Uncover thy skirts ..." "This seems to have been a part of the punishment for fornication and adultery (<a href="/bible/parallel/JER/13/22" class="green-link">Jeremiah 13:22</a> <a href="/bible/parallel/JER/13/26" class="green-link">Jeremiah 13:26</a> f; <a href="/bible/parallel/EZK/16/36" class="green-link">Ezekiel 16:36</a>; and <a href="/bible/parallel/HOS/2/8" class="green-link">Hosea 2:8-9</a>)."[14] Also, based upon Assyrian inscriptions and monuments, Billerbeck and Jeremias' conclusion was that, "It was an Assyrian method of treating female captives."[15] The execution of this terrible punishment "is carried out still further in literal terms in <a href="/bible/parallel/NAH/3/6" class="green-link">Nahum 3:6-7</a>."[16] Taylor and others reject as totally un-Christian any idea of shameful and humiliating punishment like that in view here. "The statement of what this Deity does is poles removed from the New Testament account of God's character, e.g., in 1John."[17] Such views are not merely inaccurate, they are founded in a remarkable blindness to what Christian teaching actually is. Taylor cited the apostle John, but apparently did not know that the apostle John also detailed in the most extravagant language the judgment of the "Great Whore" in Revelation (Revelation 17-18), and then depicted the saints of all ages rejoicing in her overthrow: "Hallelujah; for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him ... True and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great harlot, her that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand" (<a href="/bible/parallel/REV/19/6" class="green-link">Revelation 19:6-7</a> <a href="/bible/parallel/REV/19/2" class="green-link">Revelation 19:2</a>). "Nineveh, the well-favored harlot will be exposed for what she is, a filthy vagrant, without beauty, virtue, or friend; and such will give rise to a taunting lament by the spectators."[18]Verse 6 "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 shall look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?"These two verses merely draw out the description of the punishment indicated in <a href="/bible/parallel/NAH/3/5" class="green-link">Nahum 3:5</a>. "Cast abominable filth upon thee ..." This was probably what witnesses of such punishment usually did to the victims of it. Why such terrible punishment? "Because, like a beautiful wanton, an image John repeats of Rome in Revelation, Nineveh had lured the nations to their death."[19]"Nineveh is laid waste ..." "That waste’ was to be so complete that for centuries, indeed for over 2,000 years, men would not even know with certainty where it had been situated."[20]“Who will bemoan her … ?” As Smith put it, “Nineveh gave rise to no utterance of national passions, but to the outraged conscience of mankind."[21]Verse 8 “Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was the sea?“In a number of ways No-Amon (capitalizing Amon stresses the name of their false god) was the greatest and most influential city of the pre-Assyrian world. “Here are the mightiest ruins of ancient civilization to be found anywhere on earth.[22] It came into prominence about 2,100 years B.C.; “From that time it held a leading place in Egypt."[23] It was long the capital of Egypt and was nicknamed, “The city of a hundred gates; it was the cult center of the triad of Amon, Mut and Khonsu. ‘Amon’ indicated the relationship between the city and its principal god."[24] The expression No-Amon is found only in this verse, indicating that Nahum connected the place with the larger drama of the Scarlet Sea-Beast already in the world for a long time; but which would be more adequately identified in later times by Daniel and the apostle John. No-Amon bore exactly the same relationship to EGYPT the first head of the Seven Headed Sea-Beast, that Nineveh bore to Assyria the second head. As to the identity of No-Amon, it was most certainly Thebes. The verse before us might appear at first glance to indicate a delta city such as Alexandria, but the Nile was called “the sea” poetically, “as in Job 41:31, andIsaiah 18:2; and with that difficulty removed, there is no doubt that the place is Thebes."[25] “The Arabs still call the Nile the sea."[26] “No had been an earlier, another Nineveh,"[27] as we have seen, the great first head of the Sea-Beast; but in Nahum’s time Ashurbanipal (663 B.C.) had captured No-Amon, giving a mortal wound to the first head, but becoming itself the second head of the great, monolithic organization of men against God which has dominated the whole history of the human race, and even now, under the eighth manifestation of the ‘horns,” which also were part of the beast, multiple governments all over the world are the modern (and perhaps final) successors to the power and authority of the Sea-Beast. Thus, there are eschatological overtones in Nahum of the very greatest significance, as some scholars have discerned. Those who date Nahum prior to 663 B.C. view these words as a prophecy of No-Amon’s destruction; but we believe that event was past when Nahum wrote, the prophet’s discernment of Nineveh’s usurpation of the former status of Thebes being evident in the very denunciations uttered by the prophet. “He holds up No-Amon as an example to Nineveh of the fate that awaited them."[28]Verse 9 “Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.“Some have viewed this as Nahum’s warning to Nineveh that No-Amon was a lot better off regarding her defences than was Nineveh, for No-Amon (Thebes) was supported by powerful allies on all sides, whereas Nineveh had antagonized and alienated all of her political neighbors. Verse 10 “Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.“This fate of Thebes, although executed by Assyria, was nevertheless itself a prophecy of the fate of Nineveh. “Nahum did not interpret the fall of Thebes as a sign of Assyrian power, but as a symbol of what must happen to any nation that is against God."[29]This description of the destruction of No-Amon, coming from Nahum who was almost if not actually a contemporary of the event, indicates that it was altogether as bloody and terrible as the fate that came to Nineveh. Verse 11 “Thou shalt be drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shall seek a stronghold because of the enemy.““Thou also shalt be drunken …” There may be several meanings here, the one usually discerned being that Assyria, like Thebes, shall be drunken with the pride and conceit of their own power, or made drunken upon drinking the cup of the wrath of God. There is also the possibility that the drunkenness of the defenders at a key moment in the assault of the Assyrians contributed to their overthrow. It was surely the latter that was included in the condition of Assyria. “Thou shalt be hid …” These words are uncertain in the text; and Smith rendered them thus: “Thou too wilt take refuge from the foe, an unaccustomed role for Assyrian armies."[30]Verse 12 “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.““Thy fortresses …” “These were the strongholds on the borders of Assyria, protecting the approaches to Nineveh."[31]“Like … first-ripe figs …““First-ripe figs, when at full maturity, fall from the tree with the least shake; so at the first shake or consternation, all the fortresses of Nineveh were abandoned; and the king, in despair, burnt himself and household in his own palace."[32]The ring of outer fortresses protecting the approaches to Nineveh were “certain mountain passes, called by Strabo the Caspian gates,' and others cited by Xenophon as the gates of Cilicia and Syria.’"[33]Verse 13 ““Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire hath devoured thy bars. Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln.“These verses are a taunting announcement of doom. “Thy people … are women …” What was meant is that the strongest and most valiant of their soldiers would be as ineffective against the foe coming upon them, as a company of untrained women, frightened and fleeing from the enemy. “Draw water … go into clay … tread the mortar … etc.” has the thought that, “All your frenzied preparations are useless, the doom of the city is already sealed.” All of this was bitter irony, for it was far too late to make preparations. “Such terror will be upon the defenders of Nineveh that they will be unable to act the part of men."[34]Verse 15 “There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the cankerworm; make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust.“It is a feature of Hebrew prophecy that sometimes a figure of speech (as the simile here) is used with multiple meanings. In the first part of this verse, the sword of vengeance is compared to the locust plague; but in the second half of Nah 3:15, and in Nahum 3:16, the Assyrians themselves are likened to locusts. “Having already applied it to the ravages of the invading army (Nahum 3:15 a), he then uses it (Nahum 3:15-16) to describe the number of Nineveh’s citizens."[35]Verse 16 “Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm ravageth, and fleeth away.““Above the stars of heaven …” Nothing but a great swarm of locusts, or the stars of heaven, could be compared to the teeming population of Nineveh. “The cankerworm ravageth, and fleeth away …” This did not mean that the conquering army would ravage Nineveh and then go away, but that the locust-population of Nineveh itself, so long the ravaging power on the earth, would disappear, after the manner of all great locust plagues which come ultimately to their end. Verse 17 “Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.“The fleeing away of the princes and merchants here is not an indication of their escaping from the invading enemy. It just means that, like all locusts, their time was limited, and that they would soon be gone, forever. “This passage does not promise deliverance from danger by flight, but threatens destruction."[36]Verse 18 “Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them.““Slumber … rest …” The mighty men of Assyria are dead. The judgment of God has fallen upon them. The thought that, “they slumber and take their ease”[37] is not in the passage. “Sleep” here “must be taken in the sense of death."[38]“Scattered upon the mountains …” Nineveh was shut in on the north by very rugged, impassable mountains. “None to gather them” shows the finality of their doom and the impossibility of their resurgence at some later period. Verse 19 “There is no assuaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?““There is no assuaging of thy hurt …” is sometimes rendered “no healing of thy bruise.” The finality and permanence of the destruction of Nineveh appears repeatedly through the prophecy. Note the following: I will make thy grave, for thou art vile (Nahum 1:14). The wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off (Nahum 1:15). She is carried away (Nahum 2:7). She is empty, and void, and waste (Nahum 2:10). Where is the den of lions? (Nahum 2:11). The voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard (Nahum 2:13). I will set thee as a gazing-stock (Nahum 3:6). Nineveh is laid waste (Nahum 3:7). Thou shalt be hid (Nahum 3:11). Fire shall devour thee (Nahum 3:15). The sword shall cut thee off (Nahum 3:15). Their place is not known where they are (Nahum 3:17). There is no assuaging of thy hurt (Nahum 3:19). “So exactly was all this fulfilled, that for ages the very site of Nineveh was lost, until in the 19th century, A.D., Layard and Robinson made excavations and discoveries that brought to light the ruins of a metropolis so vast that none could longer doubt the declarations of Jonah and Nahum in regard to its splendor and magnificence."[39]“The striking fulfillment of Nahum’s prophecy in the disappearance of Nineveh from the face of the earth is a seal upon the abiding truth of his message. Here is no mere piece of antiquity, but a confirmed Word of God."[40]“The reader should keep in mind the perspective of the book. Nineveh is no ordinary city … nor is Assyria just another degenerating civilization. They stand for the ultimate supernatural evil that frustrates and suppresses the purposes and people of God. Their defeat is a sign of the victory of God and the basis of hope that his power and justice will ultimately conquer all evil."[41]“In the overthrow of this kingdom, there is a prophecy of the destruction of all anti-Christian powers."[42]We have cited these quotations as examples of the vivid and startling impression this prophecy makes upon one who reads and studies it. One who understands Nahum knows that supernatural prophecy is a fact and that we have here an incontrovertible example of it. Commentators, ancient and modern alike, have, at the end of their studies of Nahum, paused to contemplate the eternal power and majesty of God. We cite one other example: What probability was there that the capital city of a great kingdom, a city sixty miles in compass, a city with so vast a population, a city with walls a hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could drive abreast upon them, and which had fifteen hundred towers, of two hundred feet in height … what probability was there that such a city should ever be totally destroyed?[43]And not merely destroyed, but lost and hidden from all the peoples of the earth for over two thousand years! We cannot leave this without observing that the author of this prophecy spoke the true Word of God, and that such a fact is obvious. Fiddling around with the date of the prophecy and attempting to make it a pretended oracle after the events prophesied had already occurred are absolutely frustrated by the addition of Nah 3:19, “There is no assuaging of thy hurt.” This most singular and overwhelming aspect of the whole prophecy was a prophetic Word of God and could not have been otherwise, no matter what date might be assigned to Nahum’s life and writing. This is also the pledge and seal that all of the prophecy is bona fide, a true revelation of future events, by the prophetic inspiration of the prophet through the power of God.

Nahum 3:1

Nahum 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.

Nahum 3:2

Nahum 3:2. This verse 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 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.

Nahum 3:3

Nahum 3:3. The horse·man 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 a.way. The great number of the slain is indicated by the words stumble upon their corpses.

Nahum 3:4

Nahum 3:4. This verse sets forth the evils for which the Lord decreed this awful fate for Nineveh and the nation. Literal whoredom was doubtless practiced there, but the term is also used to mean the abominable evils or idolatry. This would Include various kinds of traffic such as witchcraft, by which outside people were defrauded out of their belongings and other rights.

Nahum 3:5

Nahum 3:5. Idolatry is compared with adultery in the Bible, and a harlot is likened unto a city or nation that practices the false religion, hence the accusations were made against Nineveh recorded in this passage. Discover thy skirts upon thy face. The harlot’s skirt was lifted up as far as her face to make sure that her nakedness was exposed. A harlot would not have any sense of shame as far as modesty is concerned, but to have her body exposed by someone who did not intend to patronize her would be humiliating. This is a prediction that Nineveh was literally to be exposed to the gaze of the world.

Nahum 3:6

Nahum 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.

Nahum 3:7

Nahum 3:7. This verse means the same as verse 10 of the preceding chapter.

Nahum 3:8

Nahum 3:8. No is another name for Thebes, an important city in Egypt. In connection with the description of the city given here, I shall quote from Smith’s Bible Dictionary which will verify it: “The description of No as situate among the rivers, the waters round ahout it’ (Nahum 3:8), remarkably characterizes Thebes. It lay on both sides of the Nile, and was celebrated for its hundred gates, for its temples, obelisks, statues, etc. It was emphatically the city of temples, in the ruins of whtch many monuments ot ancient Egypt are preserved. The plan of the city was a parallelogram, two miles from north to south and four from east to west, but none suppose that in its glory it really extended 33 miles along both sides ot the Nile.

Thebes was destroyed by Ptolemy, B. C. 81, and since then its population has dwelt in villages only.” The argument of the prophet in this verse is that if such a stronghold as Thebes could be overthrown, then Nineveh should not feel so confident of resisting the invader.

Nahum 3:9

Nahum 3:9. The fall of No (Thebes) cannot be explained on the ground that the city had insufficient support. She had the backing of two countries, Egypt and Ethiopia. and of the groups known as Put and Lubim.

Nahum 3:10

Nahum 3:10. In spite of the greatness of this Egyptian city, her inhabitants were carried away, the captivity meaning the humiliation that they suffered at the hands of other forces among the nations. Cast lots for the honorable men means the various nations that came against No divided these important men among themselves by casting lots.

Nahum 3:11

Nahum 3:11 . Thou means Nineveh and she is herehy warned that as surely as the city of No was overthrown so she will be ruined also. Shalt be drunken means she will be dealt such a blow that she will be stunned and caused to stagger. Shalt be hid denotes that the city would become obscure and seek strength or help (but in vain).

Nahum 3:12

Nahum 3:12. The firstripe fruit of the fig tree would be very desirable and the Strong holds or fortified places in the city would be the spots most to be desired by an enemy. If the mere shaking ot a tree would place the fruit into the mouth of the eater, it would Illustrate the ease and surety with which the invading army will obtain these coveted spots in Nineveh.

Nahum 3:13

Nahum 3:13. People is from AM and a part of Strong’s definition is, “Collectively troops or attendants. " The thought of the prediction is that the military forces in the city will be no stronger than if they were women, and they are not considered qualified for military service. As a consequence, the gates will be early thrown open as was illustrated by the mere shaking of the tree in the preceding verse. Bars is defined “a bolt” in the lexicon and it denotes that the fasteners on the gates will be easily destroyed by the fire of the enemy.

Nahum 3:14

Nahum 3:14. The actions detailed are those of a city preparing to resist a siege, and the verse Is a prediction that Nineveh will need all the preparation she can make.

Nahum 3:15

Nahum 3:15. Notwithstanding all the preparations suggested in the preceding verse, the fire of the besiegers will devour the fortifications. The cankerworn and locust were destructive insects and consumed that which they attacked. Though the people of Nineveh should make themselves as numerous as these insects were, yet they were to be attacked and destroyed by the invading forces which will be still more numerous.

Nahum 3:16

Nahum 3:16. Nineveh had grown in her business and political interests until it was compared with the stars of the heaven. But in spite of all this apparent strength, the Cankerworm (invading enemy) will present great numbers to attack the city and flee away or make a success in the operation.

Nahum 3:17-19

Nahum 3:17-19. There Is nothing new in these verses that has not been set forth in other verses of the book. The subject is the utter defeat of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, with not a possibility of a “come·back.” (See the historical quotation at Nahum 2:10.)