Nahum
Nahum 2
Chapter II · Vol. III, p. 1465
The fearful and victorious armies of God against Nineveh.
1 He that dasheth in pieces1 is come up before thy face:2 keepa the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.3
B.C. cir. 710.
1 Or, The disperser or hammer, Is.14.6,16,17. Je.51.20-23; 25.9.
2 The Babylonian army besieging Nineveh. See ver.8.—C.
a ch.3.13,14. Joel 3.9-11. Je.51.11,12; 46.3-9.
3 See note * below.
* 'The train of thought' in these two verses, says Keil, 'is the following: Asshur will be utterly destroyed by the enemy advancing against Nineveh, for Jehovah will re-establish the glory of Israel, which Asshur has destroyed.' In ver. 2 the reason is given for the curse pronounced with such dramatic power in ver. 1. Then in ver. 3 the prophet proceeds to describe the advance of the enemy against Nineveh.—P.
2 Forb the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob,4 as the excellency of Israel: for cthe emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their dvine branches.5
b Is.10.12. Je.25.29. Joel 3.19. Hab.2.8-17. Ob.10.
4 Or, revenged the pride against Jacob, &c.
c Ps.80.12,13. Am.6.8. Ho.10.1.
d Am.7.9; 6.11,14. 2 Ki.18.13. Ge.49.22. De.33.13-17.
5 As Nineveh has wasted Israel, so now shall Nineveh be wasted.—C.
3 The shield of his mighty men6 is made red,e the valiant men are in scarlet:7 the chariots shall be with flaming torches8 in the day of his preparation, and the fir-trees9 shall be terribly shaken.1
4 Theg chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem2 like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
g ch.3.2,3; ver.3.
2 Heb. their show.
5 Heh shall recount his worthies:3 they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence4 shall be prepared.
6 The gates of the rivers5 shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.6
5 In the third year of the siege the river, in a flood, swept away 20 furlongs of the wall. See ch.1.8.—C.
6 Or, molten.
7 And Huzzab7 shall be led away8 captive; she shall be brought up,9 and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, itabering upon their breasts.
7 Or, that which was established, i.e. Nineveh.
8 Or, taken away, Je.48.15. Ps.102.24.
9 Or, discovered.
i Is.38.14; 59.11. Lu.23.27,48.
8 But Nineveh is of old1 likej a pool of water; yet they shall flee away. kStand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.2
1 Or, from the days that she hath been, Ge.10.11.
j Je.51.13. Re.17.1,15.
k ver.10; ch.3.17,18.
2 Or, cause them to turn.
9 Takel ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is none end of the store3 and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.4
10 Shen is empty, and void, and waste;5 and the oheart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
n Zep.2.13. ch.3.3,7,10,17,18.
5 So completely has this prophecy been fulfilled, that the very site of Nineveh is mere matter of conjecture—while Jerusalem still abides, and, though she still sit solitary as a widow because of her sin, yet her future glory, when her heart shall return to the Lord, renders her, in the eye of Christian hope, 'the joy of the whole earth.'—C.
11 Wherep is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
p ch.3.1,19. Zep.2.13-15. Is.14.10-12. ver.10-13. Job 4.10,11.
12 The qlion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.
q Ps.34.10. Job 4.10,11. Eze.19.2-7, with Is.10.6-14; 37.18,19, with Je.4.7; 25.38; 49.19.
Notes
Ver. 1, 2. Ye Assyrians, who have destroyed the kingdom of Israel and repeatedly harassed Judah, may now exert your whole power to protect your own country and cities; for the Medes and Chaldeans, those terrible destroyers of nations, have begun to invade and besiege you. 3, 4. Red in their apparel and armour, and ready to shed your blood, they shall enter your cities amidst torches and flames of fire, and shall, with the most terrible rapidity and fury, destroy whatever they meet with. 5, 6. While the choicest troops of Media and Chaldea shall furiously attack your walls, ye shall exert yourselves for their defence; but the high-swollen river shall open for them an entrance into the city, and assist them in its utter destruction. 7-10. Nineveh and her inhabitants shall be utterly disgraced; her fine ladies and warriors, who thought themselves secure, shall, in great agonies of grief, hasten away, or be led captives; and, notwithstanding all that her generals can do to make them stand in their own defence, the numerous armies and inhabitants shall flee with the utmost precipitation. And while the Assyrians are quite dispirited and overwhelmed with grief, the Medes and Chaldeans shall seize on their wealth, and reduce Nineveh to a heap of ruins. 11-13. The nations around shall rejoice to see Nineveh, in which their oppressive and murderous tyrants had long dwelt securely, and stored up their wealth, utterly destroyed. For I the Lord will abandon their armies to destruction, and give up their ill-gotten wealth into the hand of their enemies; and never more shall their messengers blaspheme my great name, or terrify the nations with their threatenings or oppressive demands.
Reflections.—Alas! what fearful punishment do injuries done to God's people incur! and at what expense and labour do men destroy one another! But terrible are the weakest nations when God animates them, and pitiful and dastardly the most mighty and numerous when he fights against them. Unavailing are honour, wealth, number, or valour, in the day of his wrath. And it is terrible to have our consciences laden with guilt in an evil day, in which everything dear is taken from us. Awful is it for men to damn their souls by fraudulent attempts to aggrandize themselves and families; and dreadful is the case of oppressors, murderers, and blasphemers, when God rises up to punish them, and when death and hell shut their mouths.