He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily! For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches. The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the wide ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings. He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts. But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one looks back. Take the plunder of silver. Take the plunder of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale. Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid? The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey. “Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
Parallel Translations
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He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily!
For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.
The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.
The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the wide ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.
He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.
The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her servants moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.
But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one looks back.
Take the plunder of silver. Take the plunder of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.
She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.
Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid?
The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.
“Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
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He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.
For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.
He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.
The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid?
The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.
Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, 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.
Show all 3 translations
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(2-2) A maul is come up before thy face; guard the defences, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily! —
(2-3) For the LORD restoreth the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine-branches. —
(2-4) The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet; the chariots are fire of steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress spears are made to quiver.
(2-5) The chariots rush madly in the streets, they jostle one against another in the broad places; the appearance of them is like torches, they run to and fro like the lightnings.
(2-6) He bethinketh himself of his worthies; they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.
(2-7) The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
(2-8) And the queen is uncovered, she is carried away, and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
(2-9) But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water; yet they flee away; 'Stand, stand'; but none looketh back.
(2-10) Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, rich with all precious vessels.
(2-11) She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and convulsion is in all loins, and the faces of them all have gathered blackness.
(2-12) Where is the den of the lions, which was the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
(2-13) 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.
(2-14) Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, 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.
Cross-references (123)
- Joel 3:9-11 (v1) Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. Beat your…
- 2 Chronicles 25:8 (v1) But if you will go, take action, and be strong for the battle. God will overthrow you before the enemy; for God has power to help, and to…
- Psalms 22:14 (v10) I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.
- Psalms 46:9 (v13) He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
- Jeremiah 21:13 (v13) Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain,’ says Yahweh. ‘You that say, “Who would come down…
Show all 100 cross-references
- Jeremiah 51:20-23 (v1) “You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms. With you I will…
- Daniel 5:6 (v10) Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck…
- Joel 2:6 (v10) At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.
- Nahum 3:5 (v13) “Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and…
- 2 Kings 19:23 (v13) By your messengers, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the…
- Psalms 80:12-13 (v2) Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals…
- Isaiah 5:29 (v11) Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and…
- Isaiah 38:14 (v7) I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.”
- Isaiah 59:11 (v7) We all roar like bears and moan bitterly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far off from us.
- Jeremiah 46:12 (v5) The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they both fall…
- Jeremiah 51:11-12 (v1) “Make the arrows sharp! Hold the shields firmly! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against…
- Ezekiel 37:23 (v2) They won’t defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will…
- Isaiah 13:7-8 (v10) Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone’s heart will melt. They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be…
- Jeremiah 4:13 (v4) Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are…
- Jeremiah 30:6 (v10) Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all…
- Jeremiah 50:23 (v1) How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
- Ezekiel 23:14-15 (v3) “She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with red, dressed with belts…
- Zephaniah 3:11 (v2) In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out from…
- Nahum 3:1 (vv11, 13) Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn’t depart.
- Joshua 11:9 (v13) Joshua did to them as Yahweh told him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
- 2 Kings 19:9 (v13) When he heard it said of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah,…
- Isaiah 21:3 (v10) Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t…
- Isaiah 24:1 (v10) Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.
- Isaiah 45:1-2 (v6) Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open…
- Isaiah 49:24-25 (v13) Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? But Yahweh says, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be…
- Isaiah 60:15 (v2) “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many…
- Isaiah 63:1-3 (v3) Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who is this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of…
- Isaiah 66:15 (v4) For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke…
- Jeremiah 2:15 (v11) The young lions have roared at him and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
- Jeremiah 46:3-10 (v1) “Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle! Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen, and stand up with your helmets.…
- Jeremiah 51:34 (v12) “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed…
- Ezekiel 5:8 (v13) therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
- Ezekiel 26:10 (v4) By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, of the wagons, and…
- Nahum 3:2-3 (v4) The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots, the horseman mounting, and the flashing…
- Zephaniah 2:13-15 (v10) He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness. Herds will…
- Genesis 10:11 (v8) Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,
- Genesis 49:9 (v11) Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?
- Genesis 49:22-23 (v2) “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall. The archers have severely grieved him, shot at…
- Joshua 2:11 (v10) As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God…
- 2 Kings 18:17 (v13) The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and…
- 2 Kings 18:19 (v13) Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says, “What confidence is this in which you trust?
- 2 Kings 18:27-35 (v13) But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you, to speak these words? Hasn’t he sent me to the men who sit on…
- 2 Chronicles 32:9-16 (v13) After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him), to…
- 2 Chronicles 32:19 (v13) They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.
- 2 Chronicles 36:10 (v9) At the return of the year, king Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of Yahweh’s house, and made…
- Job 4:10-11 (v11) The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken. The old lion perishes for lack of…
- Psalms 17:12 (v12) He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
- Isaiah 5:27 (v5) No one shall be weary nor stumble among them; no one shall slumber nor sleep, neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the…
- Isaiah 10:5-12 (v2) Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the…
- Isaiah 10:6-14 (v12) I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the…
- Isaiah 13:14 (v8) It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee…
- Isaiah 13:19-22 (v10) Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be…
- Isaiah 14:6 (v1) who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
- Isaiah 14:8 (v3) Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.”
- Isaiah 14:23 (v10) “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of…
- Isaiah 21:5 (v5) They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!
- Isaiah 31:4 (v11) For Yahweh says to me, “As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him,…
- Isaiah 31:8-9 (v13) “The Assyrian will fall by the sword, not of man; and the sword, not of mankind, shall devour him. He will flee from the sword, and his…
- Isaiah 32:12 (v7) Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
- Isaiah 33:1-4 (v13) Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed, and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be…
- Isaiah 33:4 (v9) Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
- Isaiah 34:10-15 (v10) It won’t be quenched night nor day. Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation, it will lie waste. No one will pass…
- Isaiah 37:24 (v4) By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the…
- Isaiah 37:36-38 (v13) Then Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the…
- Isaiah 47:13 (v8) You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators, stand up and…
- Isaiah 48:20 (v8) Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth: say, “Yahweh has…
- Jeremiah 4:7 (v11) A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land…
- Jeremiah 4:23-26 (v10) I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light. I saw the mountains, and behold, they…
- Jeremiah 25:29 (v2) For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished;…
- Jeremiah 25:34 (v9) Wail, you shepherds, and cry. Wallow in dust, you leader of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully…
- Jeremiah 46:5 (v8) Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward. Their mighty ones are beaten down, have fled in haste, and don’t look back.…
- Jeremiah 49:9 (v2) If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves came by night, wouldn’t they steal until they had…
- Jeremiah 50:16 (v8) Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword, they will each…
- Jeremiah 50:17 (v11) “Israel is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of…
- Jeremiah 50:29 (v5) “Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Pay her back…
- Jeremiah 50:31 (v13) “Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.
- Jeremiah 50:44 (v11) Behold, the enemy will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will suddenly make them run…
- Jeremiah 51:13 (v8) You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
- Jeremiah 51:25 (v13) “Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says Yahweh, “which destroys all the earth. I will stretch out my hand on you, roll you…
- Jeremiah 51:27-28 (v5) “Set up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kingdoms…
- Jeremiah 51:30 (v8) The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting, they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her…
- Jeremiah 51:56 (v9) For the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon. Her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces, for Yahweh is a God of…
- Jeremiah 51:62 (v10) and say, ‘Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it…
- Ezekiel 19:2-8 (v11) and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs. She brought up…
- Ezekiel 26:3 (v13) therefore the Lord Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its…
- Ezekiel 26:12 (v9) They will make a plunder of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise. They will break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant…
- Ezekiel 28:22 (v13) and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Sidon. I will be glorified among you. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when…
- Ezekiel 29:3 (v13) Speak and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the middle of his…
- Ezekiel 29:10 (v13) therefore, behold, I am against you, and against your rivers. I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower…
- Ezekiel 35:3 (v13) and tell it, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you. I will make you a…
- Ezekiel 38:3 (v13) and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
- Ezekiel 39:1 (v13) “You, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
- Daniel 11:8 (v9) He will also carry their gods, with their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, captive into Egypt. He will…
- Daniel 11:40 (v4) “At the time of the end the king of the south will contend with him; and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind, with…
- Hosea 10:1 (v2) Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (123 total citations).
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–13 The waster spoken of here by the Prophet, some…
The waster spoken of here by the Prophet, some consider him to have been Sennacherib, and others, Nebuchodonosor. The verb עלה, ole, is also variously explained: it is often taken metaphorically in Hebrew for vanishing, as we say in French, Il s’en va en fumee; for smoke ascends, and this is the reason for the metaphor. They then elicit this meaning, — that a destroyer had ascended before the face of the chosen people, that is, openly; so that it was evidently the work of God, that the Assyrians vanished, who had come to lay waste the whole land: Vanished then has the destroyer; and then before thy face, that is, manifestly, and before thine eyes. מצורה נצור, nutsur metsure, guard the fortress; that is let every one return to his own city, and keep watch, as it is usually done; for the country shall be left without men; and watch the way, that is, look out which way Sennacherib took in coming to assail the holy city; that way shall be now free from enemies; and then, keep firm or strengthen the loins, for חזק, chesek, sometimes means to keep firm, — keep firm then or strengthen the loins, that thou mayest not relax as before, but stand courageously, for there is no one who can terrify thee; and, lastly, fortify strength greatly, that is, doubt not but thou shalt be hereafter strong enough to retain thy position; for cut off shall be that monarchy, which has been an oppression to thee. But others take a different view and say, — that the destroyer had ascended, that is, that Sennacherib had come; and what follows, they think, was intended to strike terror, as though the Prophet said “Now while ye are besieged keep watch, and be careful to preserve your fortresses and strengthen all your strongholds; but all this will avail nothing. — Why? Because God has taken away the pride of Jacob as he has the pride of Israel.” This is the second explanation. Others again think, that the Prophet addresses here the Assyrians, and that Nebuchodonosor is here called a waster, by whom the empire was removed, and Nineveh, as it has often been stated, was destroyed. According to these interpreters, the Prophet here denounces ruin on the Assyrians in this manner, — “The destroyer now ascends before thy face.” The Assyrians might indeed have regarded such threatening with disdain, when they were surrounded by many provinces and had cities well fortified: — “It will not be,” he says, “according to your expectation; the waster will yet come” before thy face; and how much soever thou mayest now guard thy fortresses, watch thy ways, and carefully look around to close up every avenue against thy enemies, thou wilt yet effect nothing; strengthen the loins as much as thou pleasest and increase thy power, yet this shall be useless and vain.” If this view be approved, it will be in confirmation of what has been previously said, — that God had now determined to destroy the city Nineveh and the empire possessed by the Assyrians. This meaning then is not unsuitable; but if we receive this view, something additional must also be stated, and that is, — that God now designed to destroy Nineveh and its monarchy, because it had humbled more than necessary his people, the kingdom of Judah, as well as the ten tribes. I cannot proceed farther now.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 That is, Nebuchadnezzar is in readiness to destroy the…
That is, Nebuchadnezzar is in readiness to destroy the Assyrians: and the Prophet derideth the enterprises of the Assyrians which prepared to resist him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Nah 2:1 He that dasheth in pieces is come…
Nah 2:1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make [thy] loins strong, fortify [thy] power mightily.
Ver. 1. He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face] Nebuchadnessar the elder, that maul {a} of the whole earth, Jer 50:23, that brake, and dispersed the nations, as a maul or great hammer doth the hardest stones. See how like a right Pyrgopolynices he vaunteth of his valour and victories, Isa 10:8-12. So Demetrius was surnamed Poliorcetes, the destroyer of cities; Attilas called himself Orbis flagellum, the scourge of the world. Julius Caesar was Fulmen belli, the thunderbolt of war; he had taken in his time a thousand towns, conquered three hundred nations, took prisoner one million of men, and slain as many. These were dissipatores indeed, and dashers in pieces, rods of God’s wrath; and this they took to be a main piece of their silly glory. How much more honour was it to Augustine to be styled Haereticorum malleus, the hammer of heretics! and to Mr Hildersam, to be Schismaticorum malleus, the maul of schismatics! and lastly, to Luther, that he could thus say of himself:
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“ Pestis eram virus, moriens ero mors tua papa! ”
“I living, stopped Rome’s breath, and dead, will
be Rome’s death!”
Is come up before thy face] Nineveh lay high, and those that went thither were said to go up, Hos 8:9. Nebuchadnezzar is said here to be come up, to it long before he did (which set forth God’s omniscience: "Known to him are all his works from the beginning of the world," Act 15:18 Psa 139:2; and present to him are all things, both past and future), and to come up before Nineveh’s face; who thought none dared have been so bold as to look her in the face. But though she had been a terror, yet now she is a scorn; as was likewise Ephraim, when he offended in Baal, Hos 13:1. {See Trapp on "Hos 13:1"}
Keep the munition, watch the way, &c.] Ironice omma, q.d. Do all this if you think it will do any good. But it is all to no purpose; you are an undone people, your enemies are above fear and you below hope: you have hitherto delighted in war, you shall now have enough of it; you have troubled the world with your arms and armies, now you shall meet with your match, a people terrible from the beginning. Up, therefore, and do your utmost; neglect nothing that may serve for your necessary defence; but it will not be: for "except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," Psa 127:1.
{a} trans. and fig. after L. malleus. (Often, like hammer, scourge, applied to a person as the irresistible foe or the terrible oppressor of some person, class, or institution.) Obs. ŒD
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–13 He: some by mistake refer this to Sennacherib; it…
He: some by mistake refer this to Sennacherib; it is more rightly referred to the Medes of Scythians or to the Chalthians, all which did somewhat against the Assyrians.
That dasheth in pieces; that as a heavy and strong hammer breaks into pieces. and then with his arm scattereth the broken pieces; so shall the destroyer of Nineveh do, as a maul, (so the word Pro 25:18) or as the wind scatters smoke, so the word Psa 68:2.
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Is come up before thy face, against thee, and is within sight, from thy watch-towers on thy frontiers thou mayst descry his avant-guards.
Keep the munition: the prophet derides Nineveh, and foretells all will be to no purpose; she shall never be able to withstand, so as to conquer; re-enforce thy garrisons, yet they shall fall.
Watch the way; know which way he comes, that thou mayst barricade the way, or set ambushes.
Make thy loins strong; encourage thy soldiers, and make them valiant as thou canst, choose out the ablest and most undaunted. Fortify thy power mightily; gather up all thou canst for the war, increase thy armies, fill up thy companies, engage assistance from abroad; nothing shall avail thee.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 11 Here is, I. An alarm of war sent to…
Here is, I. An alarm of war sent to Nineveh, Nah 2:1. The prophet speaks of it as just at hand, for it is neither doubtful nor far distant: "Look about thee, and see, he that dashes in pieces has come up before thy face. Nebuchadnezzar, who is noted, and will be yet more so, for dashing nations in pieces, begins with thee, and will dissipate and disperse thee;" so some render the word. Babylon is called the hammer of the whole earth, Jer. 1:23. The attempt of Nebuchadnezzar upon Nineveh is public, bold, and daring: "He has come up before thy face, avowing his design to ruin thee; and therefore stand to thy arms, O Nineveh! keep the munition; secure thy towers and magazines: watch the way; set guards upon all the avenues to the city; make thy loins strong; encourage thy soldiers; animate thyself and them; fortify thy power mightily, as cities do when an enemy is advancing against them" (this is spoken ironically); "do the utmost thou canst, yet thou shalt not be able to put by the stroke of this judgment, for there is no counsel or strength against the Lord."
II. A manifesto published, showing the causes of the war (Nah 2:2): The Lord has turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel, that is, 1. The Assyrians have been abusive to Jacob, the two tribes (have humbled and mortified them), as well as to Israel, the ten tribes, have emptied them, and marred their vine-branches. For this God will reckon with them; though done long since, it shall come into the account now against that kingdom, and Nineveh the head-city of it. God's quarrel with them is for the violence done to Jacob. Or, (2.) God is now by Nebuchadnezzar about to turn away the pride of Jacob by the captivity of the two tribes, as he did the pride of Israel by their captivity; He has determined to do it, to bring emptiers upon them, and the enemy that is to do it must begin with Nineveh, and reduce that first, and humble the pride of that. God is looking upon proud cities, and abasing them, even those that are nearest to him. Samaria is humbled, and Jerusalem is to be humbled, and their pride brought low; and shall not Nineveh, that proud city, be brought down too? Emptiers have emptied the cities, and marred the vine-branches in the country of Jacob and Israel; and must not the excellency of Nineveh, that is so much her pride, be turned away too?
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III. A particular account given in of the terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against Nineveh; every thing shall contribute to make him formidable. 1. The shields of his mighty men are made red, and probably their other arms and array, as if they were already tinctured with the blood they had shed, or intended hereby to signify they would put all to the sword; they hung out a red flag, in token that they would give no quarter. 2. The valiant men are in scarlet; not only red clothes, to intimate what bloody work they designed to make, but rich clothes, to intimate the wealth of the army, and that is the sinews of war. 3. The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation; when they are making their approaches, they shall fly as swiftly as lightning; the wheels shall strike fire upon the stones, and those that drive them shall drive furiously with a flaming indignation, as Jehu drove. Or they carried flaming torches with them in the open chariots, when they made their approach in the night, as Gideon's soldiers carried lamps in their pitchers, to be both a guide to themselves and a terror to their enemies, and with them to set all on fire wherever they went. 4. The fir-trees shall be terribly shaken; the great men of Nineveh, that overtop their neighbours, as the stately firs do the shrubs; or the very standing trees shall be made to shake by the violent concussions of the earth, which that great army shall cause. 5. The chariots of war shall be very terrible (Nah 2:4): They shall rage in the streets, that is, those that drive them shall rage; you would think the chariots themselves raged; they shall be so numerous, and drive with so much fury, that even in the broad ways, where, one would think, there should be room enough, they shall jostle one another; and these iron chariots shall be made so bright that in the beams of the sun they shall seem like torches in the night; they shall run like the lightnings, so swiftly, so furiously. Nebuchadnezzar's commanders are here called his worthies, his gallants (so the margin reads it), his heroes; those he shall recount, and order them immediately and without fail to render themselves at their respective posts, for he is entering upon action, is resolved to take the field immediately, and to open the campaign with the siege of Nineveh. His worthies shall remember (so some read it); they shall be mindful of the duty of their place, and the charge they have received, and shall thereby be made so intent upon their business that they shall stumble in their walks, shall make more haste than good speed; they stumble, but shall not fall; for they shall make haste to the wall thereof, shall open the trenches; and the defence, or the covered way, shall be prepared (something to shelter them from the darts of the besieged), and they shall so closely carry on the siege, and with so much vigour, that at length the gates of the rivers shall be opened (Nah 2:6); those gates of Nineveh which open upon the river Tigris (on which Nineveh was built) shall be first forced by, or betrayed to, the enemy, and by those gates they shall enter. And then the palace shall be dissolved, either the king's house or the house of Nisroch his god; the same word signifies both a palace and a temple. When the God of heaven goes forth to contend with a people, neither the palaces nor their kings, neither the temples nor their gods, can protect and shelter them, but must all inevitably fall with them.
IV. A prediction of the consequences of this; and it is easy to guess how dismal those will be. 1. The queen shall fall into the hands of the enemy (Nah 2:7): Huzzab shall be led away captive; she that was established (so some read it), thought herself safe because she was concealed and shut up in secret, shall be discovered (so the margin reads it) and shall be led away captive, in greater disgrace than that of common prisoners; she shall be brought up in a mock state, and her maids of honour shall lead her, because she is weak and faint, not able to bear such frights and hardships, which are doubly hard and frightful to those that have not been used to them; they shall attend her, not to speak cheerfully to her and to encourage her, but murmuring and moaning themselves, as with the voice of doves, the doves of the valleys (Eze 7:16), noted for their mourning, Isa 38:14; Isa 59:11. They shall be tabering upon their breasts, beating their own breasts in grief and vexation, as if they were drumming upon them, for so the word signifies. 2. The inhabitants, though numerous, shall none of them be able to make head against the invaders, or stand their ground (Nah 2:8): Nineveh is of old like a pool of water, replenished with people as a pool with water (and waters signify multitudes, Rev 17:15), or as those waters with fish; it was long ago a populous city; in Jonah's time there were 120,000 little children in it (Jon 4:11), and, ordinarily, cities and countries are increasing in their number every year; but, though they have so many hands to be employed in the public service, yet they shall not be able to inspire one another with courage, but they shall flee away like cowards. Their commanders shall do what they can to animate them; they shall cry, "Stand, stand, have a good heart on it, and we shall do well enough;" but none shall so much as look back; they shall not have the least spark of courage remaining, but every one shall think it is his wisest course to make his best of the opportunity to escape; they shall not so much as look back to see who calls for them. Note, God can dispirit the strongest and boldest, in the day of distress, so that they shall not be what one would expect from them, but like a pool of water, the water whereof is dried up and gone. 3. The wealth of the city shall become a prey, and all its rich furniture shall fall into the hands of the victorious enemy (Nah 2:9); they shall thus animate and excite one another to plunder: Take the spoil of silver; take the spoil of gold; thus the officers shall stir up the soldiers to improve their opportunity; here are silver and gold enough for them, for there is no end of the store of money and plate. Nineveh, having been of old like a pool of water, has gathered a vast deal of mud; and abundance of glory it has out of all the pleasant furniture, all the vessels of desire, which they have gloried in and which shall now be a prey and a pride to the conquerors. Note, Those who prepare raiment as the clay, and heap up silver as the dust, know not who may put on the raiment and divide the silver, Job 27:16, Job 27:17. Thus this rich city is empty, and void, and waste, Nah 2:10. See the vanity of worldly wealth; instead of defending its owners, it does but expose them, and enable their enemies to do them so much the more mischief. 4. The soldiers and people shall have no heart to appear for the defence of the city. Their spirits shall melt away like wax before the fire; their knees shall smite together (as Belshazzar's did, in his agony, Dan 5:6), so that they shall not be able to stand their ground, no, nor to make their escape; much pain shall be in all loins, as is the case in extreme frights, so that they shall not be able to hold up their backs. And the faces of them all shall gather blackness, like that of a pot that is every day over the fire; so the word signifies. Note, Guilt in the conscience will fill men with terror in an evil day, and those who place their happiness in the wealth of this world and set their hearts upon it think themselves undone when their silver, and their gold, and their pleasant furniture are taken from them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–13 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before…
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face,.... O Nineveh, or land of Assyria; for this is not to be understood of Sennacherib's coming up against Jerusalem, as Kimchi; but of Nebuchadnezzar against Nineveh, as Aben Ezra; not Nebuchadnezzar the great, who, the Jewish chronologers say (c), took Nineveh in the first year of his reign; but his father, Nebuchadnezzar the first, called Nabopolassar, who, with Cyaxares or Ahasuerus the Mede, joined their forces against Nineveh, and took it, see the Apocrypha:
"But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineve, which was taken by Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus: and before his death he rejoiced over Nineve.'' (Tobit 14:15)
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and these together, the Chaldeans and Medes, are the "dasher in pieces"; or, "the hammer" (d), as the word may be rendered; and so Babylon, over which one of these kings reigned, is called the hammer of the whole earth, Jer 50:23 these came up openly, boldly, to the face of the king of Assyria, attacked him in his metropolis, not fearing his strength and numbers:
keep the munition; this and what follow are spoken ironically to the Assyrian king, and inhabitants of Nineveh, to take care of their towers and garrisons, and fortify them, and fill them with soldiers: and
watch the way; in which the enemy came; secure the passes and avenues that lead to their city; stop his march, and prevent his access:
make thy loins strong; put on armour, gird on the sword, prepare for war:
fortify thy power mightily; increase thine army, exert all thy strength and courage, and do all that is in thy power to do, to oppose the enemy, and defend thyself; and when all is done, it will be in vain.
(c) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 24. p. 69. (d) "malleus", Drusius, Tarnovius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 The approach of the enemy and taking the city,…
The approach of the enemy and taking the city, ver. 1-6. The consequences thereof, ver. 7-10. Sin the cause of all, ver. 11-13.
He - The Medes or Chaldeans, that dash Nineveh in pieces. The munition - The forts. Make thy loins strong - Strengthen thyself.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Nineveh is now called upon to prepare for the…
CHAPTER II
Nineveh is now called upon to prepare for the approach of her
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enemies, the instruments of Jehovah's vengeance, 1;
and the military array and muster, the very arms and dress, of
the Medes and Babylonians in the reigns of Cyaxares and
Nabopolassar; their rapid approach to the city; the process of
the siege, and the inundation of the river; the capture of the
place; the captivity, lamentation, and flight of the
inhabitants; the sacking of this immense, wealthy, and
exceedingly populous city; and the consequent desolation and
terror, are all described in the pathetic, vivid, and sublime
imagery of Hebrew poetry, 2-10.
This description is succeeded by a very beautiful and
expressive allegory, 11-12;
which is immediately explained, and applied to the city of
Nineveh, 13.
It is thought by some commentators that the metropolitan city
of the Assyrian empire is also intended by the tender and
beautiful simile, in the seventh verse, of a great princess
led captive, with her maids of honour attending her, bewailing
her and their own condition, by beating their breasts, and by
other expressions of sorrow.
NOTES ON CHAP. II
Verse 1. He that dasheth in pieces] Or scattereth. The Chaldeans and Medes.
Keep the munition] Guard the fenced places. From this to the end of the fifth verse, the preparations made at Nineveh to repel their enemies are described. The description is exceedingly picturesque.
Watch the way] By which the enemy is most likely to approach.
Make thy loins strong] Take courage.
Fortify thy power] Muster thy troops; call in all thy allies.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 Nah 2:1. He that dasheth in pieces is come…
Nah 2:1. He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face — This is addressed to the city of Nineveh, and explains more fully how the change, described in the foregoing chapter, should be brought about. It begins with telling Nineveh, that he who should break down her walls, and discomfit her inhabitants, was coming against her, and was, as it were, already in sight. Keep the munition, watch the way — Use thy utmost industry to defend thyself, by strengthening thy garrisons, and guarding the passes. Make thy loins strong — Stir up all thy strength and courage. Fortify thy power mightily — Increase thy forces as much as thou canst. The meaning of this is, that let the Ninevites take all the precautions they could, and strengthen themselves to the utmost, yet it would be all in vain.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 He that dasheth in pieces - Rather, “the Disperser,”…
He that dasheth in pieces - Rather, “the Disperser,” the instrument of God, whereby he should “break her in pieces like a potter’s vessel, or should scatter” her in all lands, is come up against thy face, O Nineveh, i. e., either, over against thee” , confronting her as it were, face to face, or directed against thee . From the description of the peace of Judah, the prophet turns suddenly to her oppressor, to whom, not to Judah, the rest of the prophecy is directed. Jacob and Israel are spoken of, not to . The destroyer of Nineveh “went up against the face of Nineveh,” not in the presence of Judah and Jacob, who were far away and knew nothing of it. “Keep the munition.” While all in Judah is now peace, all in Nineveh is tumult. God whom they had defied, saying that Hezekiah could not “turn away the face of one captain of the least of his servants” Isa 36:9, now bids them prepare to meet him whom He would send against them. “Gird up thy loins now, like a man” Job 40:7. Thou who wouldest lay waste others, now, if theft canst, keep thyself. The strength of the words is the measure of the irony. They had challenged God; He in turn challenges them to put forth all their might.
Fence thy defenses - we might say. Their strong walls, high though they were, unassailable by any then known skill of besiegers, would not be secure.
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The prophet uses a kindred and allusive word, that their protection needed to be itself protected; and this, by one continued watchfulness. Watch, he adds, the way: spy out (as far as thou canst), the coming of the enemy; strengthen the loins, the seat of strength. Elsewhere they are said to be girded up for any exertion. “Fortify thy strength exceedingly.” The expression is rare : commonly it is said of some part of the human frame, knees, arms, or mind, or of man by God.
The same words are strong mockery to those who resist God, good counsel to those who trust in God. “Keep the munition, for He who keepeth thee will not sleep Psa 121:3; watch the way,” by which the enemy may approach from afar, for Satan approacheth, sometimes suddenly, sometimes very stealthily and subtly, “transforming himself into an angel of light.” Jerome: “Watch also the way by which thou art to go, as it is said, ‘Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein;’ Jer 6:16, so that, having stood in many ways, we may come to that Way which saith, ‘I am the Way.’” Then , “make thy loins strong,” as the Saviour commands His disciples, “Let your loins be girded about” Luk 12:35, and the Apostle says, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” Eph 6:14; for nothing so strengthens as the Truth. For Christ being the Truth, whose with his whole heart hath belived in Christ, is strong against himself, and hath power over the loins, the seat of the passions. Then, since this warfare is hard, he adds, be strong, “fortify thy power mightily;” resist not listlessly, but vehemently; and that, in His strength who hath strengthened our nature, taking it to Himself and uniting it with the Godhead. For without Him, strong though thou be, thou wilt avail nothing.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 Face, O Juda. Septuagint, "who blows on thy face,…
Face, O Juda. Septuagint, "who blows on thy face, (Genesis ii. 7.) freeing from misery." Here St. Jerome’s Greek copy ends the chapter. (Haydock) --- Watch. Behold Nabopolassar is about to attack thy enemies. Some think that Nahum addresses Ninive ironically. (Calmet) --- Nabuchodonosor wasted all the environs, and then took the city (Worthington) after his other conquests. (Calmet) --- But his father is here denoted. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Conquest, Plundering, and Destruction of Nineveh. Nahum 1:15–2:14 (Heb.…
CHAPTER 2
THE DESCRIPTION
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Conquest, Plundering, and Destruction of Nineveh. Nahum 1:15–2:14 (Heb. Bib., Nahum . 2)
1 Behold! upon the mountains
The feet of him, who brings1 glad tidings;
That proclaims peace:
Celebrate thy feats, O Judah!
Perform thy vows;
For the worthless2 one shall no more pass through thee;
He is utterly cut off.
2 The disperser has come up against thee [thy face];
Keep the fortress, look out upon the way;
Make strong the loins;
Strengthen thee with power mightily.
3 For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob
As the excellency of Israel;
For plunderers have plundered them
And their branches have they destroyed.
4 The shield of his heroes is made red:
The men of his host are clothed in scarlet:
With the flashing of steel the chariots [glitter]
In the day of his preparation;
And the cypresses are brandished.
5 The chariots rave in the streets:
They run to and fro in the broad ways:
Their appearance is like the torches;
Like the lightning they rush.
6 He remembers his nobles;
They stumble in their march:
They hasten to her wall,
And the defence3 is prepared.
7 The gates of the rivers are opened;
And the palace is dissolved.
8 It is determined:4
She is made bare and carried away;
And her maids moan like doves,
Smiting upon their breasts.
9 And Nineveh is like a pool of water from the time5 she has existed;
And they are fleeing!
Stand! stand!
And no one looks back.
10 Take plunder of silver, take plunder of gold;
There is no end to the store:6
[There is] abundance of all desirable vessels.
11 Emptying, and emptiedness, and wasteness:
And the heart melts;
And [there is] tottering of knees:
[There is] intense pain in all loins;
And all faces withdraw their brightness.7
EXEGETICAL
As the announcement Nah_1:7 if. closes the delineation of the catastrophe, by immediately introducing the Divine sentence Nah_1:12 ff., so the description itself [Nah_2:1-11] begins with a consolatory address, a ray of light for the people of God, in the midst of the approaching night of judgment against Nineveh. Behold on the mountains which separate Nineveh from Jerusalem, and to which the dejected look of the despairing should raise itself (Psa_121:1), the feet—and not simply these; but they are mentioned as that, which is specially valued in a messenger: he hastens, because he brings good tidings—of the messenger of joy.מבש is not a definite individual, but every one collectively, who brings the tidings. Who announces peace.שלום is the accusative, denoting the thing proclaimed, as in Hab_1:2. The messenger of joy (comp. Isa_52:7) begins his address with the salutation of peace, שָלוֹס לִךָ, and continues: Keep thy feasts, O Judah, for no more will the battle-cry of the disturber sound in thee (Isa_16:9); pay thy vows, which thou didst promise in anguish, when thou desiredst to be delivered from the oppressor (Gen_28:20 ff.). For the worthless shall no more pass through thee; for he is wholly destroyed.בליעל (Nah_1:11), according to the etymon of the thing, designates the author [the concrete—C. E.] as in 2Sa_23:6. כֻּלּהֹ, he taken collectively, i. e. his whole people (Nah_1:12); the orthography (—הֹ for —ָהוּ) as in Hab_1:9. The concluding sentence shows the same abbreviation as that in Nah_1:14, a form of energetic expression frequent in prophecy. In a genuine prophetic manner, the result, the joy of Judah, is mentioned first; after which, in. the address directed against Nineveh, Nah_2:2 ff., follows the real prophecy, the description of the catastrophe, assigning the reason [of the judgment.—C. E.]
Comp. Isa_2:10 ff. This is intimately and plainly connected with the course of the work of destruction. The dasher in pieces comes up against thee (Nineveh was situated on the upper course of the Tigris), whom God employed for dispersing the world-power rallied against Him (comp. Jer_51:20), as He had done on a former occasion (Gen_11:8). The prophet fixes (עלה and the sing. מפיץ) his eye especially upon the King of Babylon (comp. above Introd. 4). He comes up against thee,—literally against thy face,—before whom the earth was once dumb with fear (Isa_5:25). Nineveh arms itself against him, forsooth in vain: Guard the fortress! infinitive absolute for the imperative (Ges., sec. 131, 4 b); the imperative form has, as it often does in the prophetical style, the meaning of sarcastic description (comp. Nah_3:15 b). Look to the way, on which the enemies approach, in order to barricade it against them. Strengthen the loins! comp. Isa_5:27. Exert thy strength greatly.
[Keil and Delitzsch: על־פָכַיִךָ cannot be addressed to Judah, as in Nah_1:15 (Chald., Rashi, etc.). It cannot indeed be objected that in Nah_1:15, the destruction of Asshur has already been announced, since the prophet might nevertheless have returned to the time when Asshur had made war upon Judah, in order to depict its ruin with greater precision. But such an assumption does not agree with the second clause of the verse as compared with Nah_2:2, and still less with the description of the approaching enemy which follows in Nah_2:3, since this is unquestionably, according to Nah_2:5, the power advancing against Nineveh, and destroying that city. We must therefore assume that we have here a sudden change in the person addressed, as in Nah_1:11-14. Henderson thinks that the words are addressed to Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.—C. E.]
Nah_2:3. For He who is with this enemy, is none less than Jehovah. He restores (comp. Isa_4:2) the glory of Jacob, at present humbled, yet on the way to grace, so that it becomes again as the glory of Israel, the favored [people], once in a glorious condition, called forever to grace (comp. Gen_32:28). The כְ does not indicate comparison; but designates the standard [or rule], according to which the restoration is to result. Also elsewhere, though not regularly, the prophets observe this mode of speech conformed to the Torah, of designating by the name Jacob, given at his birth, the people standing in need of grace; and by the name Israel, bestowed by God, the people that have become partakers of grace. (Compare the expressions, “worm Jacob” and “Holy One of Israel,” in Isaiah 40. ff.). Cyril: Τὸ μὲν Ια‘κὼβ ὑπὸτῶν πατέρων ἐτέθη τῶ Ιακώβ, τὸ δὲ Ισραὴλ ὑποτοῦ Θεοῦ,ἀμΦοτέρων, δὲ ὀνομάτων μετέλεχεν ὁ ἐξ Ιακὼβ λαός The distinction of the Southern kingdom and of the Northern kingdom by these two names, is scarcely to be thought of, and it would in nowise assist in obtaining a meaning for the passage. That שׁוּב has the causative signification to restore, which following. Hengstenberg (Contributions, 2:104, on Deu_30:3), Keil and Strauss deny also in this passage, is not to be doubted in the constant mode of expression שׁבוּת שוּב (and no where אֶלשׁב וּת), in which to take שׁבוּת as acc. loc, is a mere artifice. [Comp. on Mic_4:10. Of the parallels cited by Keil, Exo_4:20 and Gen_50:14 have ה local; and Num_10:36 is poetic] In this passage the signification, “to turn himself back to,” is not possible, not merely on account of the את, but also on account of the following כגאן; moreover, Jacob at present has no glory, to which God could return, and the expression, “God will turn again to the glory of Jacob,” would be too insipid in the mouth of Nahum for that which he evidently intended to say.
[Keil and Delitzsch: שָב (perf. proph.) has not the force of the hiphil, reducere, restituere, either here or in Psa_85:5 and Isa_52:8, and other passages, where the modern lexicons give it, but means to turn round, or return to a person, and is construed with the accusative, as in Num_10:36; Exo_4:20, and Gen_1:14, although in actual fact the return of Jehovah to the eminence of Jacob involves its restoration. גְּאוֹןיַ עַקֹב, that of which Jacob is proud, i. e. the eminence and greatness or glory accruing to Israel by virtue of its election to be the nation of God, which the enemy into whose power it had been given up on account of its rebellion against God had taken away (see at Amo_6:8). Jacob does not stand for Judah, nor Israel for the ten tribes, for Nahum never refers to the ten tribes, in distinction from Judah; and Oba_1:18, where Jacob is distinguished from the house of Joseph, is of a totally different character Both names stand here for the whole of Israel.—C. E.]
The expression גָאֹן is used by the oldest prophets in a bad sense (pride, haughtiness of Israel, Amo_6:8; Hos_5:5; Hos_7:10); but in Isa_4:2 in a good one. The glory is restored, for plunderers (Isa_24:1), chastisers who abused their power, have plundered them—the Israelites; and their vines (comp. Psa_80:9 ff.) they have outrageously destroyed. Hence it is that the approaching distress, (Nah_2:4,) comes in His power: the shield of His [It is the opinion of Keil and Kleinert that the suffix גִּבּרֵהוּ refers to Jehovah (Nah_2:3), and not to מֵפִיץ, Henderson refers it to the latter, viz., Cyaxares.—C. E.] heroes, the executors of the punitive sentence, commissioned by Him (comp. Isa_13:3; Oba_1:2), is red, the valiant men are clothed in brilliant scarlet; the chariots blaze with their iron equipments in the day of his preparation. In the closing words the subject is the disposition of the troops in battle array before the fight; hence the shields could not be made red with blood (Abarb, Grot.). But their redness, together with that of their uniform and of the metal ornaments of their chariots, is the color, first, of the joyous splendor of the host of divine warriors (comp. 2Ki_6:17); then it is the color of [those who execute—C. E.] the judgment (Zec_1:8; Rev_6:4). That this red light from the shields could proceed from their copper covering (Hitz. according to Jos., Ant., 13:12, 5), is possible, without being necessary to the interpretation. Gosse [Ass., p. 279) says (comp. 1Ki_10:16 f.): From the eagerness with which these shields (on a wall sculpture in Khorsabad) were snatched away, we may suppose that they were made of gold; and this suits just as well and perhaps still better the association of ideas of the prophet, who had no intention of giving us a dissertation upon arms, but a description of the flashing and glittering army. The bright red (מתלעים, part, denom. von תוֹלע, purple worm), on the men of power, the select heroes of the army, is most correctly understood with Strauss and others, of their dress. Red was not the favorite color of the Medes only (Xenophon states that the Persians obtained from them πορΦυροῦς χιτῶνας; comp. Pollux i. 13; Σαράγης, Μήδων τι Φόρημα, πόρΦυρος μεσόλευκος χιτών), but on account of Nah_2:2, we must not, with Strauss, think only of them; it was also the favorite color of the Babylonians (Eze_23:14; comp. Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains, p. 347): the favorite color of the Assyrians was blue (Eze_23:6; Eze_27:23 f.). פלדות is a hapax legomenon in Hebrew in Arabic and Syriac the corresponding words signify steal. Therefore פלדת are certainly not scythes on scythe chariots (Hitz.), for these do not occur on the Assyrian monuments, since they were first introduced by Cyrus; but the glittering steel equipment of the chariots generally: “Nam Assyriorum currus, quales in monumentis conspicimus horrent fulgentibus rebus, seu e ferro seu e chalybe factis, securibus, arcubus, sagittis clypeisque et quibusvis instrumentis; equi rubris cirris ornati, temones denique fulgentibus solibus lunisque apparent distincti.” Strauss. Raschi conjectures the same thing. Comp. also Jos_17:16; Jdg_1:19. God is to be considered the subject of הכינוֹ; so above the suffix in גבּוריהו refers to Him. And the cypresses, the spears made of cypresses, are brandished, literally, made to reel; here also the brandishing of the lances for throwing does not seem to be meant; but the glittering of the forest of approaching lances over the scarlet sheen of the army.
In contrast with this there is indeed, Nah_2:5 f., a very different scene in Nineveh. Without, God arranges his hosts: within is the disorder of wild terror: without, a steady approach against the city, within, a frantic rushing hither and thither: without, a joyful splendor: within, a deadly paleness, like torch-light. Through the streets the chariots rave [are driven furiously.—C. E.], they run to and fro in the market-places, of which in Nineveh there were many, for an entire inclosed part of the great circuit [ein ganzer geschlossener stadtkör per des grossen Complexes] bore this name [the name rendered market-places above—C. E.]. Rehoboth [i. e., streets, or wide places—C. E.] (Gen_10:11). Like torches, so pallid, not red like purple, is their appearance, that of the Assyrians: like lightning, so pale and unsteady, they shoot hither and thither. “The intensive form רוצץ, indicates the manifoldness of the direction, the zigzag of the lightning.” Hitzig. The torches and lightning give a gloomy and not a joyful light; hence (Isa_13:8) anxious faces, “which have withdrawn their ruddiness (comp. Joe_2:6; Nah_2:11, with Isa_29:22; Joel 4:15), are compared to them.
Hitz., Hölemann, Strauss, Keil refer, however, Nah_2:5, to the approaching army of conquerors: which would make it a continuation of Nah_2:4. But it is evident at a glance, that it stands in contrast with Nah_2:4. For in a city of the immense circumference and extensive circumvallation of Nineveh (comp. Jonah 3), when streets and places are spoken of, the pastures and commons before the city cannot well be meant, but only those within. Moreover, in referring it to the Assyrians, which Theodoret has already done (among the moderns Ewald, Umbreit), the transition to what follows, which the interpreters mentioned before cannot adjust, becomes plain of itself.
Nah_2:6. He, the King of Assyria, under whose eyes this frantic tumult fills the city, thinks of his brave men.אדּירים are not the rich and noble (Marck, Strauss), but the heroes, as in Jdg_5:13 (parallel גּבּרים), for these are the persons who alone come into account in the exigencies of war. But they also lose their footing, in the panic terror caused by God (comp. Jdg_5:11; Oba_1:9; Isa_19:14); they stumble in their paths, in their different routes of march, which they, in their hurry, took through the wide city, in order to maintain the hard-pressed point. They hasten to her, Nineveh’s, walls, and arrive just in time to see the last work of the besiegers: there the testudo [see note on Nah_2:6—C. E.] has already been erected. It is erected, for the Babylonians did not construct it as the Romans did (Liv. 34:9) by standing close to each other and holding their shields over their heads; but (besides the movable battering-rams, which went on wheels) towers, which were occupied by warriors, were built on a place and in a position before the walls: the whole formed a temporary building, whose top is represented in the sculptures as on a level with the walls, and even sometimes with the turrets, of the besieged city. Layard, p. 377. Comp. Deu_20:19 f.
Ver 7–9 b introduces a new turn: the elements interfere. The gates of the rivers are opened. These words have vexed interpreters. One understands by the gates of the rivers those which were situated down by the water, which the enemy broke open by storm: Luther, Tuch (who thinks that the east gate is meant, where the If Khosr enters and flows rapidly through the city into the Tigris), Ewald, Strauss, Keil. But Rosenm. justly replies: how foolish would it be in the enemy to make an attack just at the most difficult point, where nature assists the fortifications. The different explanations indicated by Rosenm., De Wette (rivers: rushing masses of the enemy); Hieron. (rivers: swarming population, comp. LXX. πῦλαι τῶν πόλεων), Hitzig (rivers: the streets of Nineveh); Umbreit (rivers, an image of calamity risen to its highest pitch) are make-shifts, which introduce obscure bombast into the pregnant expression. And if it is now certain that נפהח is not used in the Hebrew before the captivity for an opening effected by breaching the walls, but always for a voluntary opening, loosening one’s self, opening itself; if it is never used at all for the breaking open of gates by enemies, but rather for the opening of that which has been kept locked up, of the fountain (Zec_13:1), of the sluices of heaven (Gen_7:11; Isa_24:18; comp. Eze_1:1); if finally, notwithstanding the consideration of Hitzig drawn from the locality, there is no reason to doubt the statements of the ancients, that in the third year the river became an enemy to the city, that by violent rains an unprecedented inundation took place and broke down the walls of Nineveh to a great extent (comp. Introd. 4; Diod. Sic., ii. 27; and the tradition of the surrounding inhabitants mentioned by Xenophon, Anab., III. iv. 8–12), why should the prophet make no announcement of it, since from the time of Deborah it was rather the manner of the Prophet to mention prominently such interference on the part of God? Jdg_5:20-21. He has at least even already plainly enough referred to something similar, Nah_1:8; Nah_1:10. (Comp. Duncker, l. c. i. p. 806 f). The objection of Strauss and Keil, that “gates of the rivers” cannot stand for gates opened by the rivers, has no pertinency, since the thing spoken of is the gates from which the formerly restrained, checked floods burst forth, the sluices of the inundations, and not this or that city-gate. The excellent natural fortification of the city effected by the rivers flowing around, which had, in no small degree, contributed to form just here the magnificent centre of the Mesopotamian despotism (Spiegel, x. 363), turns now to the destruction of Nineveh, since the rivers break its gates and overflow. Our opinion is the more recommended, because first, from it Nah_1:8, receives a much clearer light; secondly, the mention of the water very naturally follows that of the battering-rams, Nah_2:6; thirdly, Nah_2:10 a affords only, from this view, a plain meaning, and finally also the immediately following context fits in with it admirably: the King’s palace,היכ, 1Ki_21:1, is dissolved. The derivatives of מוג are used commonly for the melting of what is solid by destructive floods (comp. Nah_1:5 and Com. on Mic_1:4 f.). Thus the floods flowing around undermine the king’s palace, so that it falls together of itself. The kings of Nineveh understood how to build (comp. Introd. 4, p. 101). They first erected a colossal, pyramidal, quadrate substructure, surrounded by walls with towers, gates, and outside stairs. On a plateau rose a second peribolus. Thus the structure towered through several stories and ramparts to the residence proper of the dynasty, to the two significant gates guarded by the mystic colossal animals. From the court of justice it mounted upwards, in the form of a terrace, to the private pavilions of the princes, which stood in isolated masses in shady garden-plots. And over all this arose as the crowning work, the high pyramid, with the terraces planted with trees, and outside stairs winding up to it. Above was found the sepulchre of the ancestral prince, who was forced upon the subjugated people as a god. Helfferich, Aphorismen über den Kunststil, in the Morgenblaff,8 for 1852, p. 900 fF. [For a description of an Assyrian palace, see Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 207.—c. e.]
The palace, indeed, of the last king (whom Nahum has not named), the so-called southeast palace, was less magnificent (Spiegel, x, 372; 1 c.). With propriety could the difficult word הצב which follows, in Nah_2:8, be connected with the words, the king’s palace dissolves, if, with Gesenius, we were to translate it, “und zerfliesst,” and it flows down. But the word צבב [of which הצב is the Hophal form—C. E.] would occur only in this single passage: it, therefore, seems precarious to give up the old division of verses on account of an uncertain translation. The correction of Hitzig, וְהַצָּב, “and the lizard is heaved up,” is too far-fetched; and the shift of Ewald interpreting Hussab [Hebrew הֻצַּב, the word in question—C. E.], as designating the Assyrian queen (which is found moreover in Nic. 5 Lyra, Luther, Burck, and others), is supported by neither the original text, nor by fact.
The king had caused the queen to be removed from the distressed city (Introd. 4). Just as little probable is it, that Hussab (the stronghold: the audacious) was intended to be a symbolical name for Nineveh itself (Schegg, Breiteneicher). We must, therefore, retain, with Strauss, the old solution of De Dieu and Seb. Schmid, which considers ה [הֻצַּב—C. E.] as an independent neuter sentence (comp. קרבם, Psa_49:12), and הצב, as the Hophal of כצב, statuere (Gen_28:11; Psa_74:17); and it is established, fixed; it is plain, and there the matter rests, namely, in the decree, which now to 10 b completes the description of the inundation. [Henderson connects הֻצַּב with the preceding verse, and translates וְהַהֵיכָל, etc., “And the place” (palace?) “is dissolved, though firmly established.” This rendering takes כצב instead of צבב as the root, but, with Gesenius, removes the word to the end of the preceding verse. Gesenius does not speak very positively: he says, under the Hophal of נָצַב: “Sed vix dubito, quinוְהֻצּב, ad prœcedens comma referendum et a rad.צָבַב, repetendum sit, ubi vide.” Thesaurus, p. 903. Keil follows De Dieu. The English Version reads. “Huzzab,” making it a proper name.—C. E.], She is made bare, the not yet vanquished maid abandoned to the shame of capture (comp. Nah_3:5; Isa_47:3), removed away,הצלה, like the Latin tollere. The verb does not have the meaning of deportare, of leading into captivity: in all the six passages specified by Strauss in favor of that meaning, the Niphal is used, and that with the signification of getting one’s self away. And her maids, the associated dependent states and cities (Theod. Cyril., Hieron.; comp. Isa_23:6 f.): not her inhabitants (Hitz., Strauss, Keil), for these in the inundating deluge have something else to do, they flee, or are already drowned: because the prophet sees the waves rolling over her, she is herself considered as removed—moan like the cry of doves (comp. Isa_38:14; Isa_59:11; Eze_7:16). “The meaning of כהג is rendered certain by the parallelism, by the versions, and by the dialects.” Hitzig, Hieronymus: “Tantus terror erit, ut ne in singultus quidem et ululatum erumpat dolor, sed intra se tacite gemant et obscuro murmure devorent lacrimas, in morem mussitantium columbarum, … smiting on their breasts, a mournful gesture (Luk_18:23; Luk_23:27). It is noted in the Kri that the י is wanting in לבבהן (comp. a similar case in Ewald, sec. 258 a).
Nah_2:9. But Nineveh, like a pool of water are her waters. The rivers, on which it is situated, formerly flowing so rapidly into their beds, form by their inundation a large expanse of water; compare Nah_2:7. In accordance with the LXX., we read the consonants מימי היא, Vulgate: מֵימֵי חִיא. The Masoretic reading מִימֵי, “since her days,” does not give any correct sense, though we compare, with Hitzig, Isa_18:2. [Henderson and Keil follow the Masoretic reading. The latter says מִן הוּא in Isa_18:2 is different.—C. E.]
Nah_2:9 b–11. After that the fury of the devastating element has made an end, all resistance is given up, and the abandoned city stands open to plunder. [The inundation could, on account of the elevated situation of the city (30–150 above the bed of the Tigris), and the rapid descent of that river, be only very transient. And they, not the maids (Strauss), that would require הכה נסות, but the Assyrian warriors, whom the king, Nah_2:6, had summoned, flee (comp. Exo_14:27), because they could not contend with the united power of God and men. Stand, stand! he calls after them, which the prophet sarcastically reëchoes (comp. Nah_2:2)—but no one turns back. So then nothing stands any longer in the way of pillage: plunder silver, plunder gold!
Nah_2:10. Compare, on the immense quantity of the booty, the Introd. Jos., Ant., x. 11, 1. And endless are the dwellings to be plundered (Job_23:3). [The meaning of furniture (Strauss), of garments (Hitzig, comp. LXX. κόσμος) given to תכוּנה is not very probable: at the most, according to the etymology, the magnificent pedestals of the images of the gods could be thought of; but the tense of our translation guaranteed by the passage in Job is sufficient.] An immense quantity (Psa_49:13) of all kinds of ornamental vessels. And thus comes the illustrious city, Nah_2:12, to an end in misery: desolation, devastation, and destruction. For this pictorial accumulation of similar sounds compare Isa_24:1; Gen_1:2; Zep_1:15; Isa_29:1 ff. “The place is laid waste by fire,” etc. And the heart (sing. coll.) melts (for the form, comp. Olsh., p. 592) in complete humiliation and sorrow (Isa_13:7); and tottering knees and pain in all loins, a tragical contrast with Nah_2:2. And all countenances lose their color [literally, the countenances of all of them withdraw ruddiness.—C. E.] (comp. Com. on Nah_2:5; Joe_2:6.)
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL9
The violent shaking, relatively the destruction of the heathen, is a requisite for the restoration of peace and prosperity in Israel, and consequently a condition of accomplishing their salvation. Compare Zechariah 1; Haggai 2. The destruction of the heathen is not an independent end, but a means to the end [the salvation of God’s people—C. E.]; for God is a God of life and of glory. But Israel, upon whom He bestows in love such great blessings, has now no excuse, if he withholds from Him the honor due. The destruction of Nineveh is another item in the account-book which is held before those who withhold from God his feasts and their vows. Comp. Micah 6.
The overthrow of the enemy of God is not the work of men, but His work. A disperser comes up; men would be satisfied with the capture (comp. Obadiah). His heroes are God’s heroes; the terror which is in the city is a bewilderment of mind caused by God: stumbling in the level streets, trembling of the knees of heroes: irremediable and ceaseless flight of those accustomed to victory; and as a last sign that God approaches, He causes the powers of nature, which are subject to Him alone, to take part in the scene: He conquers: to the human conquerors he leaves the [task of] plundering; for as Nineveh had amassed gain, so must it be scattered. The fundamental thought of the patriarchal promise, the election of Israel, and the fundamental thought of the Law, the talio, meet very closely with each other on this point of the prophetic announcement.
HOMILETICAL
The passage, if one does not do violence to it, is to be treated only as a picture of the judgment, thus in a manner purely expository, or rather periphrastic, with interspersed observations. The homiletical part of the treatment can be limited only to the placing, on the one hand, of the whole under the three points of view given in the beginning (Nah_2:2-4), and to the rendering prominent, on the other, of the typical reference to the end. The judgment takes place, (1) because it is necessary to the peace of the kingdom of God (Nah_2:1; Nah_2:3 a); (2) because an evil accumulation of [the means of] human pride, [Höhen] (riches, power, worthlessness), must be destroyed (Nah_2:2); (3) because it is richly deserved. So will it also be at the last judgment.
On Nah_2:1. Even in the most gloomy night there is a ray of light for the pious. (On Nah_2:2 compare Kaulbach’s mural painting of the Christians leaving Jerusalem.) Darkness is not dark to him who is near to God. Will it not be peace, when the great restoration comes, which no rude hand of the world, smothering and chilling, can snatch away! (Psalms 126).
Nah_2:2 f. The saying, “hitherto shalt thou come, and no further,” is applicable also to him accustomed to power and victory. For awhile God goes with him and strengthens his steps; then He turns to the side of the down-trodden.
Nah_2:4 f. So will the conflict of the kingdom of God against the powers of darkness always be: a joyful contest for order, which proceeds from God. But if those who would be his heroes, should tear one another, what will be the result? If they would keep still before Him, planless confusion would soon break forth in the ranks of the enemy, which would show that they are fighting against God. Then must the strong stumble in their paths. Julian and Libanius were strong. And the testudo is projected over their walls: Origen has outflanked the heathen philosophers. Neither equipment, nor the appearance of assembled power (Nah_2:2), nor capacity of hasty movement and vehement and varied activity (Nah_2:5), achieves victory in the battles of the kingdom of God: where God stands, there victory comes.
Nah_2:7 ff. Where human power is not sufficient to accomplish his saving work of destruction against his scourges, there He knows how to interfere himself (1812). That on which a powerful man most firmly relies, may become the severest instrument of punishment to him.
Nah_2:10 f. The greater the accumulated treasures, the more fearful the devastation. Whose will that be, which thou hast prepared, when thy knees tremble in the last agony?
Starke: Nah_2:1. Those who receive the Gospel with true faith possess in their hearts and consciences, as it were, a continual feast of joy. The Lord comforts and quickens: He leads into hell and out again. The Jewish people have still hope of being delivered from their miserable condition.
Nah_2:4 f. To those who, in times of peace, give themselves up to pleasure, and who, like irrational persons, rage and cry in the streets, the same evil will be requited.
Nah_2:6. If kings rely more upon their heroes and armies than upon God, they must become discouraged and flee before their enemies.
Nah_2:8. God can find us, wherever we are, when He intends to punish us.
Nah_2:9. God is not obliged to bestow his favors upon us continually. He can withdraw them on account of our ingratitude.
Nah_2:10. War is terrible; Lord, grant us peace!
Nah_2:11. Natural men, in adversity, allow all their courage to sink, and despair, when their goods, on which their hearts are set, are taken from them. It is certainly a great loss, when one loses money and goods, but not so great as when the heart falls into despair.
Ursinus: On Nah_2:1. Partly a congratulation, that the congregation [die Gemeinde] shall no more be destroyed; partly an exhortation to give God the thanks that are his due (2Ch_32:23).
Cocceius: God has given many swords to serve the Church, which have cut off the persecutors.
Rieger: The chief design in the judgment of Nineveh was that faith in the God of Israel should thereby be powerfully quickened, and the hearts [of God’s people—C. E.] strengthened in waiting for the promise (Isa_37:31). It is probable that very good news was brought into the land of Judah concerning the fall of the Assyrian kingdom; and the prophet hereby shows how they should take advantage of the state of rest acquired for them by it, by means of good regulations in the Church and commonwealth, yea that they should entertain the hope, that the Lord would restore the glory or excellency of Jacob, and also bring the whole nation to its formerly flourishing state.
Schmieder: The peace newly granted by the grace of God was to be celebrated by a new consecration of the people (2Ch_30:1 ff.). The knave, i. e. Belial, who has evil in his mind against the Lord and his people (comp. Nah_1:11). This has special reference to the King of Nineveh and Assyria; and the promise in this reference must have been very precious to his contemporaries oppressed by Assyria. But to us the fundamental truth is far more important, that to the people of God a perfect deliverance is near at hand, and has already appeared in Christ, by which the Belial, from whom every wicked spirit (Belialsgeist) proceeds, is forever cast out.
Luther: On Nah_2:2. With this language he utters defiance, and speaks as if that were already present, which was still future.
Pfaff: Nah_2:11. So even the greatest kingdoms come finally to nothing, when the Lord in flicts upon them his penal judgments; and all their power is unable to quench and stop the fire of his wrath.
Footnotes:
[1][Nah_2:1.—מְבַשֵׁר is collective, every one that brings the glad tidings of the overthrow of the enemy.
[2][בְּלִיַּעַל, abstract for concrete. Compare Nah_1:11, יוֹעֵץ בְּלִיַּעַל, wicked counselor.
[3][Nah_2:6.—וְהֻכַן הַסֹּכֵךְ, da ist das sturmdach errichtet (Kleinert), the vinea is erected. The vinea was a portable shed, or mantelet of boards, covered with wicker-work or hides, and served to protect from the weapons of the enemy the soldiers while undermining the walls.
[4][Nah_2:8.—הֻצַּב has puzzled interpreters, and has received various interpretations. Some suppose that it is intended to designate the Queen of Nineveh, here called Huzzab; but this opinion cannot be maintained, Gesenius, instead of deriving it from the hophal of נָצַב, to set. to put, to place, has recourse to the root צָבַב, which he borrows from the Arabic , to flow, trickle, of water, to pour; and, then connecting the word to the end of the preceding verse, reads thus: הַהֵיכָל נָמוֹג הֻצבֹ, the palace is dissolved and made to flow down, Keil makes it the hophal of נָצב, which, in the hiphil, signifies to establish, to determine (Deu_32:8; Psa_74:17; and Chald. Dan_2:45; Dan_6:13), and translates it, it is established, i. e., determined, sc. by God. Kleinert renders it: Und fest ist’s. The LXX. read καἱ ἡ ὑπόστασις ἀπεκαλύΦθη.
[5][Nah_2:9.—מימֵי היא, an example of a noun in the construct before the full form of the pronoun. See Green’s Heb. Gram., sec. 220, 1. a, p. 249. Since the days of her, i. e. since the time that she has existed. (See Keil and Henderson.) Kleinert renders it: Nineveh aber, wie ein Wasserteich sind ihre Wasser. The LXX. read: Καὶ Νινευὴ ἥν κολυμβήθρα ὕδατος τειχη ὕδ̀ατα αὺτῆς. The Vulgate has: “Et Ninive quasi piscina aquarum aquœ ejus.” It is evidently the plural of יוֹם, day, with the abbreviated preposition מ prefixed. Calvin: Atqui Nineveh quasi piscina aquarum a diebus (hoc est, a longo tempore) fuit.
[6][Nah_2:10.—Kleinert renders תּכוּנָה, wohnungen, dwellings. Comp. Job_23:3 and Eze_43:11.
[7][Nah_2:11.—קּבְּצוּ פָּארוּר, withdraw their ruddiness, or brightness, of countenance, i. e., becomes pale with terror.—C. E.]
[8][A periodical published in Stuttgart.]
[9]Reichsgedanken. See note Com. on Jonah, p. 20.—C. E.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–13 For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of…
For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob--that is, the time for Nineveh's overthrow is ripe, because Jacob (Judah) and Israel (the ten tribes) have been sufficiently chastised. The Assyrian rod of chastisement, having done its work, is to be thrown into the fire. If God chastised Jacob and Israel with all their "excellency" (Jerusalem and the temple, which was their pre-eminent excellency above all nations in God's eyes, Psa 47:4; Psa 87:2; Eze 24:21; see on Amo 6:8), how much more will He punish fatally Nineveh, an alien to Him, and idolatrous? MAURER, not so well, translates, "restores," or "will restore the excellency of Jacob."
emptiers--the Assyrian spoilers.
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have emptied them out--have spoiled the Israelites and Jews (Hos 10:1). Compare Psa 80:8-16, on "vine branches," as applied to Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 8, 9, 11 SIEGE AND DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH; SACK OF THE CITY,…
SIEGE AND DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH; SACK OF THE CITY, Nah_2:1-10.
From the declaration that the doom of Nineveh is decreed the prophet passes to a description of the carrying out of the decree. The army that is ordained to execute the judgment is already approaching (1); in imagination the prophet beholds its terrible attacks against the city, the glittering weapons, the raging chariots (3, 4). Desperate efforts are made to save the city, but in vain, and it falls (5, 6); the queen and her attendants are captured (7); the inhabitants flee (8); the city is sacked and left a desolation (9, 10).
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Nah_2:1 is addressed, like Nah_1:14, to Assyria — Nineveh.
He that dasheth in pieces — Literally, he that scatters. Translated in Pro_25:18, “maul”; a similar word, which some think should be read here, is translated in Jer_51:20, “battle-axe.” The city is exhorted to prepare for the struggle.
Keep the munition — R.V., “fortress”; better, fortification, the wall around the city. This is to be guarded, lest it fall into the hands of the enemy. Some render simply “keep watch.”
Watch the way — By which the enemy approaches, so as to guard against disastrous surprises.
Make thy loins strong — Perhaps equivalent to gird thy loins, that is, prepare for vigorous action (compare Isa_5:27).
Fortify thy power mightily — Collect all thy power and resources; equivalent to strain every nerve.
In Nah_2:2 the translation of R.V. is undoubtedly to be preferred: “For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine branches.” The verse is taken by some as the continuation of Nah_1:15, while Nah_2:3, is thought to be the continuation of Nah_2:1. This transposition would greatly improve the development of the thought; and the only serious objection to it is that Nah_2:2, would be a weak conclusion of the first section of the book. In either case the thought remains essentially the same. If left in its present position, Nah_2:2 explains why Nineveh must be destroyed: to clear the way for the exaltation of Judah; if it is placed after Nah_1:15, it explains why Judah is exhorted to rejoice: because the excellency of Judah is about to be restored. Instead of “as the excellency of Israel” we should read “and the excellency of Israel.”
Jacob,… Israel — Synonyms, both referring to the southern kingdom, which was the only one in existence in the days of Nahum.
Excellency — The nation, at present oppressed and afflicted, will be restored to the position of glory and splendor enjoyed in the days of David. This restoration must be accomplished by Jehovah, for the nation is in a hopeless condition.
The emptiers — The enemies who at various times plundered and desolated Judah; the chief among these were the Assyrians.
Marred [“destroyed”] their vine branches — Judah is likened here to a vineyard, or, perhaps better, to a vine, whose branches have been ruthlessly destroyed (compare Isa_5:1-7; Jer_12:10).
In Nah_2:3 ff. (continuing Nah_2:1) the prophet describes the attack of the besieging army.
His mighty men — The soldiers of the hostile army are preparing for attack.
The shield… is made red — Since this is still “in the day of his preparation,” that is, before the attack and battle, the red cannot be caused by the blood of the slain; it must be some color other than blood reflected by the shields. Some connect this passage with Josephus, Antiquities, 13:12, 5, which mentions “shields of brass (copper)” and “shields covered with brass”; these shields are said in 1Ma_6:39, to blaze in the sunlight “like torches of fire.” On the other hand, there may be an allusion to the custom of “anointing” shields (Isa_21:5), which in some cases may have taken the form of coloring them.
In scarlet — Again, not a reference to blood, but to the scarlet color of the uniforms (Eze_23:14).
The chariots shall be with flaming torches — R.V., “the chariots flash with steel”; literally, with fire of steel are the chariots. An obscure expression. The word peladhoth, rendered “steel” in R.V., is rendered “torches” in A.V. (compare Nah_2:4, where the Hebrew has lappidhim); in order to get such meaning here, a transposition of the consonants must be assumed. The translation “steel” is based upon the meaning of a similar Arabic word, but in the latter language the noun seems to be a loan word from the Persian; if so, we would hardly expect to find it in Hebrew in the time of Nahum. A third translation, based upon the similarity of the noun with an Arabic verb, “to cut,” is “scythes.” This translation is made improbable by the fact that chariots furnished with scythes appear to be a later invention. Tradition ascribes the invention to Cyrus, and they are referred to for the first time in connection with the battle of Cunaxa (Anabasis, Nah_1:8; Nah_1:10); in Jewish literature they are first mentioned in 2Ma_13:2. From the same root “cut” there is derived the meaning “divide”; here, “fire which divides itself,” that is, flashing fire. This meaning also is doubtful. Jeremias has suggested that the word may refer to the steel coverings of Assyrian chariots or of machines used in attacks upon the walls. Following this suggestion, Cheyne proposes to change the word into hallopheth, the Assyrian halluptu, meaning “covering.” Whether the alteration is made or not, it is quite likely that Jeremias’s suggestion is correct. The text becomes smoother if “with fire” is changed into “like fire,” so that the entire clause reads, “like fire are the steel coverings of the chariots.”
Day of his preparation — The attack is not yet in progress.
Fir trees — Better, R.V., “cypress spears.”
Terribly shaken — The verb occurs only here in the Old Testament, but the cognate languages establish the meaning “to move tremblingly,” “to reel.” Here the reference is to the swinging of the spears by the excited warriors. LXX. and Peshitto read “horsemen” or “horses,” and in view of the peculiar expression “fir trees” in the sense of spears made of fir or cypress wood many consider that the original; if so, the verb refers to the restless movements of the cavalry.
Nah_2:4 describes the furious charge.
The chariots — Of the attacking army.
Shall rage — Better, R.V., “rage.” It is a description of something present to the mental vision of the prophet. The verb means “to behave foolishly,” “to rave”; here it is used of mad driving (Jer_46:9; compare 2Ki_9:20), parallel to and synonymous with “rush to and fro” in the next clause.
In the streets… broad ways — Or, places. Not the streets and open places within the city, but those outside the city walls, where the battle rages. The defenders try to prevent the besiegers from getting inside.
Torches — As the steel-covered chariots race to and fro in the light of the sun they look like flaming torches.
Like the lightnings — With lightning-like rapidity they speed from place to place, driving back or treading down the defenders.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–13 1. Now begins the description of the attack upon…
1. Now begins the description of the attack upon Nineveh and its fall. Nah_2:2, however, returns to Israel and contains a reflection on the meaning of the downfall of Nineveh—its purpose is the restoration of Israel. The following Nah_2:3 continues Nah_2:1, and the occurrence of Nah_2:2 between them is very unnatural. Possibly Nah_2:2 is the marginal reflection of a reader, which has fallen into the text, or it is to be placed before Nah_2:1.
He that dasheth in pieces] Probably the word should be pointed so as to mean a maul or hammer, as Jer_51:20; cf. Pro_25:18. The foe and destroyer of Nineveh is referred to.
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before thy face] Or, against thy face. Probably “thy,” which is fem, in Heb. text, should be read as masc. Asshur is addressed.
Keep the munition] i.e. the fortress or stronghold. Nineveh or Asshur is exhorted to be ready for the foe who has come up: the fort is to be kept, the way by which the enemy approaches watched and occupied, and resolute courage displayed. The phrase “fortify thy power,” or, make strong thy might, is parallel to “make thy loins strong,” referring to inward resolution and not to external things, such as fortifications or the army; Amo_2:14.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (1) Keep the munition.—Better, guard the for. tress. These…
(1) Keep the munition.—Better, guard the for. tress. These four sententious directions to Nineveh are, of course, ironical, like Elijah’s instructions to the priests of Baal in 1Ki_18:27. “He that dasheth in pieces” may perhaps be identified with Cyaxares.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Vers. 1-13. Part II THE EXECUTION OF THE DECREE;…
Vers. 1-13. Part II THE EXECUTION OF THE DECREE; THE DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH DESCRIBED.
Vers. 1-8. Nineveh shall be besieged, because God is about to exalt his people by taking vengeance on the enemy, whose defence, howsoever formidable, is of no avail.
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Nahum addresses Nineveh, and forewarns her of the siege she was about to undergo (see Introduction, He that dasheth in pieces; the disperser; qui dispergat (Vulgate); emfuswn , "panting" (Septuagint). The mixed army that invested Nineveh is so called from its effect on the inhabitants of the neighbouring lands. Others translate it, "the maul," or "hammer an appellation of Cyaxares, which reminds one of Charles Martel and Judas Maccabaeus. Is come up before thy face. Placing his forces in thy sight, that thou mayest see his power and thine own danger. Keep the munition. The prophet urges the Ninevites to guard their fortress well. Some connect this clause with the preceding: "the disperser is come to maintain the siege;" as the Vulgate, qui custodiat obsidionem. But the other interpretation is more forcible, and suits the rest of the verse. The LXX, reading differently, gives, exairoumenov se , Alex. ek yliqewv , "one delivered from affliction." Watch the way, by which the enemy approaches. Make thy loins strong. Gather up thy strength, the loins being regarded as the seat of strength. (2Ch_10:10 Eze_29:7 1Pe_1:13) So weak, effeminate people were called in Latin elumbes, loinless." Fortify thy power mightily; Andrisai th iscui sfodra (Septuagint). Make yourselves as strong as possible. (comp. Amo_2:14)
Vers. 1-10. A predicted invasion.
I THE ENEMY DESCRIBED.
1. His violence. Nahum calls him "a dasher in pieces" (ver. 1), and represents his warriors as "mighty" and "valiant" (ver. 3) epithets which apply with fitness and force to the Merdo-Babylonian army under Cyaxares and Nabopolassar.
2. His boldness. He comes up against Nineveh, not stealthily and under cover of darkness, but openly, pitching his tent opposite the city gates. His fearless attitude was a proof that God was secretly impelling him, using him against Assyria as formerly Assyria had been used against other nations.
3. His invincibility. Nineveh may "keep the munition, watch the way, make her loins strong, fortify her power mightily, all will be in vails. The onset of this terrible assailant will be practically resistless. Whether irony (Fausset) or poetry (Keil), the meaning is the same, that Nineveh"s utmost exertions will not be able to ward off her ruin.
4. His fierceness. With crimson-coated soldiers, bearing red-coloured shields and shaking terribly tall spears of fir, and with chariots flashing with the gleam of steel plates, his appearance was fitted to inspire terror (ver. 3). "The chariots of the Assyrians, as we see them on the monuments, elate with shining things made either of iron or steel, battle axes, bows, arrows, and shields, and all kinds of weapons" (Strauss).
5. His impetuosity. The swiftness and the fury of his attack are vividly described (ver. 4). His chariots the prophet represents as raging, driving on madly, through the streets, as crowding the broad spaces in such a fashion as to jostle against and threaten to run down one another, as flashing to and fro like torches, as running hither and thither with the celerity of lightning.
II THE ATTACK EXPLAINED.
1. The Assyrian oppression of Israel. "The emptiers;" i.e. the Assyrians, "have emptied out" the Israelites, and "marred their vine branches" They had done so by their devastation and depopulation of the northern kingdom, (2Ki_17:6) and by their repeated invasions of the southern. (Isa_10:5-11 2Ch_32:1) Now the time was come when they themselves should be emptied (ver. 10) and their branches marred. (Eze_31:12) Jehovah had employed the Assyrian as the rod of his anger to punish Israel and Judah; but he had never concealed his purpose, when this was done, "to punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks". (Isa_10:12)
2. The Divine remembrance of Israel. Having promised never to forget her or finally cast her off, (Isa_44:21 Isa_49:16 Psa_89:33, Psa_89:34) he had returned to the excellency of Jacob as to the excellency of Israel (Keil), or had brought again the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of Israel (Revised Version). Both renderings are admissible, and both conduct to the same goal. The doom of Nineveh was certain because Jehovah was about to restore Judah to her ideal excellence as "Israel," and this he was to do by himself, returning to her as if she were an ideal Israel.
III THE RESISTANCE BEGUN.
1. Suddenly. Nineveh at length realizes her danger and bethinks herself of her warriors: "He remembereth his worthies" (ver. 5). Assyria had good generals and valiant troops; to these she now turns.
2. Hastily. Not a moment is lost. Men and marshals hurry to the wall. No time to trifle when such enemies as Cyaxares and Nabopolassar thunder at the gates.
3. Vigorously. The defence (Authorized Version), mantelet (Revised Version), or movable parapet, literally, the covering one, the testudo or tortoise (Keil), is prepared probably "either a movable tower with a battering ram, consisting of a light framework covered with basket work, or else a framework without any tower, either with an ornamented covering or simply covered with skins and moving upon four or six wheels" (Keil).
4. Blindly. Their energy and haste only lead to confusion: "They stumble in their march." The more haste, the less speed.
IV THE CONQUEST COMPLETED.
1. The capture of the city. This was effected by forcing the gates in the city wall: "The gates of the rivers are opened" (ver. 6). These were the gates leading from the river into the city (Luther, Keil), rather than the dams or sluices through which the waters of the river were admitted into the canals which protected the palace.
2. The demolition of the palace. "The palace is dissolved," not by the inundation of water from the river (Fausset), since the palaces were usually "built in the form of terraces upon the tops of hills, either natural or artificial, and could not be flooded with water" (Keil); but by the inrush of enemies against it. The prophet means that "there will be no impediment to hinder the approach of enemies, for all the fortresses will melt away, and that of themselves, as though they were walls of paper, and the stones as though they were water" (Calvin).
3. The deportation of the queen. "And Huzzab is uncovered," etc. (ver. 7). This may signify either that the consort of the king is seized, degraded, and borne off into inglorious exile (Ewald), or that Nineveh, personified as a queen, is now cheered with shame, and that she who had formerly been established is now swept off into captivity (Keil, Fausset, Calvin). In the former cage the handmaids who accompany her, mourning with the voice of doves and beating on their breasts (literally, "hearts") are the ladies of her court; in the latter, they are most probably the inhabitants who bewail the fate of their once famous city and kingdom (Calvin, Keil).
4. The flight of the inhabitants. "They," i.e. the masses of the people, "flee away" (ver. 8).
(1) Most unexpectedly, since "Nineveh hath been of old like a pool of water," so strong, impregnable, and inaccessible to any foe, as well as so prosperous and flourishing that the thing least to be anticipated was that its inhabitants should flee from it.
(2) Most determinedly, however, they do so giving no heed to the few patriotic men who call upon them to remain. "Stand, stand, they cry; but no one looketh back" (ver. 8).
5. The spoliation of the treasure.
(1) The quality of the treasure silver, gold, pleasant furniture. "The Assyrians were celebrated for their skill in working metals. Their mountains furnished a variety of minerals silver, iron, copper, and lead, and perhaps even gold" (Layard"s "Nineveh," 2:415).
(2) The quantity of the treasure: "none end of the store." That gold, silver, and precious vessels should have been abundant in Nineveh is sufficiently explained by remembering, in addition to the mines just mentioned, the enormous tribute received and rich spoils carried off from conquered nations ("Records of the Past," vol. 1:37, etc., 59, etc.).
1. The desolation of the scene. "She is empty, and void, and waste" (ver. 10) the effect of this description being heightened in Hebrew by the combination of throe synonymous and similarly sounding words, buqah umebhuqah umebullaqah. Emptied of her population and despoiled of her treasure, she became a total ruin. According to Strabo, when Cyaxares and his allies took the city, they utterly destroyed it (Layard"s "Nineveh," 2:159, 204).
2. The horror of the vanquished. "The heart melteth and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale" (ver. 10). "Hence we may learn how foolishly men boast of their courage, while they seem to be like lions; for God can in a moment so melt their hearts that they lose all firmness" (Calvin).
LESSONS.
1. The retributions of Divine providence (ver. 1). The destroyers of others may expect themselves to be destroyed. (Isa_33:1)
2. The hopelessness of defending one"s self against the invasions of Heaven (ver. 1). "Who would set the thorns and briars against me in battle?" (Isa_27:4; cf. "Herod.," 9:16, "Whatever necessarily comes from God, it is impossible for man by any contrivance to turn aside").
a. The true ideal of a nation"s greatness (ver. 2) the dwelling of Jehovah in her midst. (Psa_46:5)
b. The utter vanity of all earthly glory (ver. 8). The world"s strength, riches, honours, are all destined to perish. (1Jn_2:17)
c. The horrors of the wicked when the terrors of judgment come upon them (ver. 10). "Then shall they say to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us," etc. (Rev_6:16)
HOMILIES BY S.D. HILMAN Vers. 1, 2. God the Vindicator of the oppressed.
I THE OPPRESSION OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE BY THE ASSYRIANS.
1. This is expressed figuratively. "The emptiers have emptied them out" (ver. 2), had exhausted their resources, as the contents of a vessel poured out until every drain had been withdrawn, so had both Israel and Judah been impoverished by the Assyrians, "And marred their vine branches." Ancient Israel was often described as God"s vineyard. (Isa_5:1 Psa_80:9) This vineyard the foe had ruthlessly invaded, casting down and injuring its fruit-bearing trees,
2. These figurative representations are sustained by historical fact. The more familiar we become with Assyrian history the more do we trace in that vast heathen power the prevalence of the haughty, overbearing spirit. Its rulers and people vainly supposed that national greatness consisted in the possession of might to be used in oppressing other nations and peoples. To be able to depict upon the walls of the palaces of Ninus battle scenes indicative of military triumph, accompanied by great spoil and cruel chastisement inflicted upon their adversaries, seems to have been their highest ambition. Their whole relationship to Israel and Judah was based upon this principle. The favoured of Heaven, having forsaken their God, and hence lost his protecting care, turned in their exigencies to Assyria for aid, bur only to find, in this supposed helper against their foes, a more powerful enemy. In this way the kingdom of Israel was first made tributary to Assyria by Pul, (2Ki_15:17-20) and, soon after, its tribes were carried away into captivity by Shalmaneser, (2Ki_17:3-23) whilst the kingdom of Judah in like manner became compelled to acknowledge the lordship of Tilgath-Pilneser. (2Ch_28:16-21) Hezekiah sought to cast off the Assyrian yoke, but this only resulted in the nation, in Nahum"s time, being brought into circumstances of extreme peril, (2Ki_18:13-17) and from which eventually supernatural help alone was able to deliver it. (Isa_37:36)
II DIVINE INTERPOSITION PROMISED ON BEHALF OF THE OPPRESSED. (Ver. 2) Such interposition had in a measure but recently taken place. (Isa_37:36) "The angel of death" had "breathed in the face of the foe," and had caused "the might of the Gentile" to "melt like snow," and the oppressor to return humbled to his capital. (Isa_37:37) The time, however, for the complete and final interposition of Heaven had not yet arrived. Still, it should come. The seer, in rapt vision beheld it as though it had been then in operation, and for the encouragement of the oppressed he declared that the Divine eye observed all that was being endured, that the Lord Almighty still regarded them with favour (ver. 2), and would yet make them "an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations". (Isa_60:15)
III THIS DIVINE INTERPOSITION EVENTUALLY TO BE EXPERIENCED VIEWED AS CARRYING WITH IT THE ENTIRE OVERTHROW OF THE OPPRESSOR. (Ver. 1) Asshur should in due course be brought low, and the yoke of bondage should fall from off the necks of the captives. In "the day of visitation:
1. Agents should not be wanting to carry out the Divine behests. The defection of the Assyrian general, the forces of the King of Media, and the overflowing of the Tigris, should all combine to bring about the accomplishment of the Divine purpose; and these forces are here personified as "the dasher in pieces" (ver. 1).
2. Resistance should be in vain. They might "keep the munition, watch the ways," etc. (ver. 1), but all to no purpose. The proud power must inevitably fall, and in its overthrow proclamation be made that it is not by means of tyranny and oppression and wrong doing that any nation can become truly great and lastingly established, but by the prevalence in its midst of liberty, virtue, and righteousness, Nineveh in her downfall "... seems to cry aloud To warn the mighty and instruct the proud; That of the great, neglecting to be just, Heaven in a moment makes a heap of dust. S.D.H.
Ver. 1-ch. Num_24:22. Reference to its capital, Nineveh, and its founder, Asshur, we have also in Gen_10:11. Our proposition suggests two questions
b. WHAT WERE ITS LEADING CRIMES? From these chapters we can infer a few.
1. Rapacity. The city is described as the dwelling place of lions. "Where is the dwelling of the lions?" etc. (Nah_2:11, Nah_2:12) "The point of comparison is," says Keil, "the predatory lust of its rulers and warriors, who crushed the nations like lions, plundering their treasures and bringing them together in Nineveh." As lions prowl about with ravenous instincts in search of their prey, and are utterly regardless of the sufferings and agonies they inflict, so long as they gain their object, so the King of Assyria and his minions went forth to rifle and to ruin distant countries, in order to augment their wealth and promote their aggrandizement. This rapacity seems to have been their habit; the city was a dwelling place of lions. What an enormity is this! man preying upon man like predatory beasts. The spirit of this rapacity lives too strongly in modern nations. It is seen, not only in aggressive wars, but in trade and commerce the strong everywhere preying on the weak for the sake of gain.
2. Cruelty. The lion instinct was so prevailing in the population, that the very city is called "the bloody city". (Nah_3:1) The golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," was trampled in the dust. Instead of respect being paid to the rights of men, life itself was cheaply held; their feet were "swift to shed blood." It lived by rapine. Its cruelty is handed down in its sculptures, where we have lions of every form, winged and unwinged. Cruelty is the worst stage of depravity. When all social love in the human breast gives way to malevolence, what have you but a devil? There are men in every age and country whose chief pleasure is to inflict torture. Atrocities are being perpetrated to a greater or less extent in all ages and lands. "Beasts," says our great dramatist, "are not cruel save when urged by hunger;" but men are often so, and into a cruel nature it is impossible to work the humane and generous. "You may as well use question with the wolf, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb; You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noise When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven; You may as well do anything most hard, As seek to soften that (than which what"s harder?) A cruel heart.
3. Imposture. The city is represented as "full of lies and robbery", (Nah_3:1) or, as Keil renders it, "full of deceit and murder." Falsehood and violence were rampant. The imposture or falsehood is expressed in the fourth verse, "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." "The idolatrous practices of the Ninevites, and the means which they employed to seduce others to worship their gods, are here represented as the principal cause of their destruction. At the same time, the commerce, luxury, etc., which they carried to the greatest height, are not to be excluded; for in making contracts and treaties with the more powerful of their neighbours, they not only employed these as inducements, but did not scruple to deliver into their power nations and tribes that were unable to help themselves. (comp. Joe_3:3, Joe_3:6, 8 Amo_1:6) The metaphor of an unchaste female, and the seductive arts which she employs, is not unfrequent in the prophets" (Henderson). The cunning and deceptive policy is here called whoring or love making, because it was that selfishness which wraps itself up in the dress of love, but under the appearance of love seeks only the gratification of its own lust. It was a mistress of this art, and by it sold nations, deprived them of their independence and liberty. Such are some of the crimes here referred to, of which the Assyrians were pre-eminently guilty rapacity, cruelty, imposture. These imply every species of moral evil, and moral evil in its most inhuman and ungodly aspects. Where these are there is no rectitude, no benevolence, no moral order, no true religion.
II WHY WAS SUCH A NATION ALLOWED TO EXIST SO LONG? It was wicked from the beginning: why did not righteous Heaven crush it at the outset? Why was such a monster of iniquity allowed to perpetrate such enormities in the world from age to age? The question is similar to that which Job asked, "Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, are mighty in power?". (Job_21:7) Without presuming to penetrate the mind of God, or give the reason, we can see some important purposes which the continuation of the existence of wicked men in this world answers. It serves to show:
1. The freedom of the human soul. The natural tendency of all the blessings and beauty of life, the spirit of grandeur and beneficence that runs through all nature, are against wickedness and in favour of virtue and holiness. Notwithstanding this, men are wicked. They have a power to resist the Divine, to pervert the good, and outrage their own natures. Here is freedom of nature. Men are not bad by necessity; they are bad by their own free determination.
2. The wonderful forbearance of God. Though wickedness is to the last degree repugnant to his holy nature, and though by a volition he could annihilate a universe of sinners, through his infinite love he forbears. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance". (2Pe_3:9)
3. The existence of a future state of retribution. Under the righteous government of God such a state of things cannot go on forever. There must come an end, a balancing of the world"s accounts, and an administration of justice to every soul. Human society is in an abnormal state; like water in a flood, it is hurrying onward to a more settled destination. "The mills of God grind slowly. D.T.
Ver. 1-ch. Gen_15:16 2Ki_24:3, 4 Mat_23:32-36) So thorough was the destruction of Nineveh, that its very site for ages was a matter of conjecture. The wonderful discoveries of Botta in 1842, followed up by Layard in 1845, not only determined its site, but disclosed the dwellings, ornaments, history, manners, of the inhabitants of the old Assyrian metropolis. Now, in the prophecy which Nahum gives, we learn that its destruction reveals several things.
I THE FRUITLESSNESS OF THE MOST STRENUOUS EFFORTS OF RESISTANCE. "Keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily". (Nah_2:1) This is supposed by some to be ironical, and to mean Do your utmost to resist, concentrate all your forces, bring them into vigorous play, it will be utterly worthless. No doubt Nineveh, in her extremities, strove to the utmost to crush the invader and to preserve her own existence. But all efforts failed; its doom was sealed, its time had come, it had filled up the measure of its iniquity. There is no resisting God"s judgment when it comes. "There is no discharge in that warfare." We learn from this prophecy that its destruction reveals
II THAT THE SAME VIOLENCE WITH WHICH IT DESTROYED OTHERS WAS NOW EMPLOYED FOR ITS OWN DESTRUCTION. Nineveh was a city of blood, full of lies and violence, the dwelling place of ravenous lions, which had preyed upon other nations and ruined them. Now this violence is brought to bear upon them. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." See the description given of its conquerors, (Nah_2:3 Nah_3:2, Nah_3:3) "The shield of his mighty men is made red," the emblem of slaughter. "The chariots shall be with flaming torches," their wheels rolling with such velocity that they flash lightning from the stones. They "rage in the streets," jostle against each other, and "run like the lightnings," and there are the "noise of the whips," the "rattling of the wheels," the "prancing of the horses," the flashing of the swords and the glittering spears. Crowds are struck down, "a great number of carcases," there is "none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses," etc. The Bible is full of the doctrine of retributive justice; it abounds with examples of sinners receiving back in punishment the very same evils that they have inflicted on others. "Every man shall be rewarded according to his works." How often it happens in the government of the world, that the deceiver is punished by deceit, the ambitious by ambition, the avaricious by avarice, the violent by violence "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
III THE WORTHLESSNESS OF ITS CHIEF METHOD OF DEFENCE. "The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved". (Nah_2:6) "The river wall on the Tigris (the west defence of Nineveh) was 4530 yards long. On the north, south, and east sides there were large moats, capable of being easily filled with water from the Khosru. Traces of dams, gates, or sluices, for regulating the supply, are still visible, so that the whole city could be surrounded with a water barrier. Besides, on the east, the weakest side, it was further protected by a lofty double rampart, with a moat two hundred feet wide between its two parts, cut in the rocky ground. The moats, or canals, flooded by the Ninevites before the siege to repel the foe, were made a dry bed to march into the city, by the foe turning the water into a different channel, as Cyrus did in the siege of Babylon" (Maurer). This, however, is not substantiated. "In the earlier capture of Nineveh by Arbaces the Mode and Belsis the Babylonian, Diodorus Siculus states that there was an old prophecy, that it should not be taken till the river became its enemy; so, in the third year of the siege, the river, by a flood, broke down the walls twenty furlongs, and the king thereupon burnt himself and his palace and all his concubines and wealth together; and the enemy entered by the breach in the wall" (Fausset). It is often thus with the sinner, that the very things on which he relies contribute to his ruin. It may be wealth, physical strength, genius, morality, etc.; but when judgment comes, these, like the Tigris, "flee away.
IV THE INEVITABLENESS OF ITS UTTER RUIN. The reason of it was, "I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts". (Nah_3:5) "Art thou better than populous No?" (Nah_3:8-10) the Egyptian name for Thebes, the possession of Ammon. The populousness of Thebes and its wonderful natural productions did not save it from ruin. Her "strength" was "infinite," yet she was "carried away into captivity;" if she could not resist, neither canst thou. "How vain," says a modern expositor, "are all the defences of sinners when the Lord is against them! No-Ammon, or Thebes, was one of the grandest and most magnificent cities of the earliest ages. Yet her rampart and seawall, with her seemingly infinite strength, were of no avail to save her young children from being dashed in pieces and all her great men from being bound in chains. Such was to be the doom of Nineveh likewise. God acts on the same unchanging principle in all ages, and in the case of all nations. Unrighteousness towards man and impiety and idolatry towards God bear the same bitter fruits everywhere, however for a time transgressors may seem to prosper. Let us as a nation remember that our safety consists, not in our fleets and armies, nor even in the "multiplication of our merchants above the stars of heaven". (Nah_3:16) Riches, like the cankerworm or the grasshopper (ver. 17), certainly make themselves wings, they fly away. (Pro_23:5) The strongholds (ver. 12) on which we rely would fall before the invader as easily as the ripe fruit into the mouth of the eater, if God were against us. The nobles and captains who are the glory of England would soon be abased in the dust (vers. 17, 18). Our security therefore depends on our godliness. Wickedness persevered in continually (ver. 19) would bring on us a grievous wound, not to be healed, and the very nations now in alliance with us would clap their hands over us, exulting in the tidings of our fall Let us therefore repent of our sins as a nation, as families, and as individuals, and "bring forth worthy fruits of repentance. D.T.
Ver. 1-ch. Isa_52:8 Hos_6:11. The excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel. The Lord restores the glory and honour of Jacob, the nation in its political aspect, and the high privileges of the spiritual Israel, the chosen people of God. (comp. Oba_1:18) For. Asshur is visited because Judah has had its full measure of punishment. The emptiers have emptied them out. The plunderers (the enemy) have plundered the Jews. And marred their vine branches. The heathen have cut off the members of Israel, the Lord"s vineyard. (For the metaphor "vine," comp. Psa_80:8, etc.; Isa 5 Jer_41:10) Not only from what is read in the Bible, (e.g. 2Ki_15:19 2Ki_16:7 2Ki_17:3 2Ki_18:14) but from the details in the cuneiform inscriptions, we learn that the Assyrians were a constant danger and annoyance to Israel, and harassed continually both the southern and northern provinces.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 13 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before…
Nah_2:1-2
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face
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God the Vindicator of the oppressed
I.
The oppression of the chosen people by the Assyrians.
1. This is expressed figuratively. The emptiers have emptied them out (ver. 2), had exhausted their resources, as the contents of a vessel poured out until every drain had been withdrawn, so had both Israel and Judah been impoverished by the Assyrians. And marred their vine branches. Ancient Israel was often described as Gods vineyard (Isa_5:1; Psa_80:9). This vineyard the foe had ruthlessly invaded, casting down and injuring its fruit-bearing trees.
2. These figurative representations are sustained by historical fact. The more familiar we become with Assyrian history the more do we trace in that vast heathen power the prevalence of the haughty, overbearing spirit. Its rulers and people vainly supposed that national greatness consisted in the possession of might to be used in oppressing other nations and peoples. To be able to depict upon the walls of the palaces of Ninus battle scenes indicative of military triumph, accompanied by great spoil and cruel chastisement inflicted upon their adversaries, seems to have been their highest ambition. Their whole relationship to Israel and Judah was based upon this principle. The favoured of heaven, having forsaken their God, and hence lost His protecting care, turned in their exigencies to Assyria for aid, but only to find, in this supposed helper against their foes, a more powerful enemy. In this way the kingdom of Israel was first made tributary to Assyria by Paul (2Ki_15:17-20), and, soon after, its tribes were carried away into captivity by Shalmaneser (2Ki_17:3-23), whilst the kingdom of Judah in like manner became compelled to acknowledge the lordship of Tilgath-Pilneser (2Ch_28:16-21). Hezekiah sought to cast off the Assyrian yoke, but this only resulted in the nation, in Nahums time, being brought into circumstances of extreme peril (2Ki_18:13-17), and from which eventually supernatural help alone was able to deliver it (Isa_37:36).
II. Divine interposition promised on behalf of the oppressed. (Ver. 2.) Such interposition had in a measure but recently taken place (Isa_37:36). The angel of death had breathed in the face of the foe, and had caused the might of the Gentile to melt like snow, and the oppressor to return humbled to his capital (Isa_37:37). The time, however, for the complete and final interposition of heaven had not yet arrived. Still, it should come. The seer in rapt vision beheld it as though it had been then in operation, and for the encouragement of the oppressed he declared that the Divine eye observed all that was being endured, that the Lord Almighty still regarded them with favour (ver. 2), and would yet make them an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations (Isa_60:15).
III. This Divine interposition eventually to be experienced viewed as carrying with it the entire overthrow of the oppressor. (Ver. 1.) Asshur should in due course be brought low, and the yoke of bondage should fall from off the necks of the captives In the day of visitation.
1. Agents should not be wanting to carry out the Divine behests. The defection of the Assyrian general, the forces of the King of Media, and the overflowing of the Tigris, should all combine to bring about the accomplishment of the Divine purpose; and these forces are here personified as the dasher in pieces (ver. 1).
2. Resistance should be in vain. They might keep the munition, watch the ways, etc. (ver. 1), but all to no purpose. The proud power must inevitably fall, and in its overthrow proclamation be made that it is not by means of tyranny and oppression and wrong-doing that any nation can become truly great and lastingly established, but by the prevalence in its midst of liberty, virtue, and righteousness, Nineveh in her downfall
. . . seems to cry aloud
To warn the mighty and instruct the proud
That of the great, neglecting to be just,
Heaven in a moment makes a heap of dust.
(S. D. Hillman, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Nahum 2, 3
THE SIEGE AND FALL OF NINEVEH
Nahum 2, 3
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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?"
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 8, 11 CRITICAL NOTES. Dasheth] Lit. disperser. Keep] in Judah peace,…
CRITICAL NOTES. Dasheth] Lit. disperser. Keep] in Judah peace, in Nineveh tumult. Watch] for the enemy. Loins] Prepare for conflict (Job_40:7). Every means of defence will be necessary.
HOMILETICS
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THE CAUSE AND PREPARATIONS OF WAR.—Nah_2:1
Whether these words be applied to the Jews defending Jerusalem, or to the Ninevites defending their city against the Medo-Babylonian army, their meaning is the same. They begin a lively description of the siege.
I. The cause of the war. “For the emptiers have emptied them out.”
1. The Assyrians had oppressed God’s people. They had abused their power in the chastisement of Israel, plundered the people, and outrageously destroyed their vines. Now the emptiers must be emptied, and those who chastised others must be chastised themselves. “Power abused brings a curse upon its possessors. Power gives temptation, which in turn sets aside honour, social duty, law, and right; creates abuse; and abuse, strife, confusion, retribution, bloodshed, sin” [Bailey].
2. God’s purpose concerning his people was accomplished. The enemy falls, but God will restore his people. He will re-establish the glory of Israel which Asshur had destroyed. Its eminence, by virtue of its election, will no longer be tarnished. God sees an excellency in his people which the world does not, and eventually will make them “an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.”
II. The approach of the enemy. “He that dasheth in pieces is come up.” Notice,
1. The nature of the enemy. “The dasher in pieces,” not a hammer of war, but one whom God employed to scatter other nations. The feeblest people, in God’s hands, may be a terror to others The mightiest nations, intoxicated with success, and abusive of their privileges, may be broken in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
2. The nearness of the enemy. “Before thy face.” Direct against her, face to face. Men are not sensible of their danger, put the evil day far off, when it is nigh at hand. “Serious things to-morrow,” said the ancient prince, who gave himself to revelry, and was ruined with his kingdom.
III. The defence of the city. Some take the words ironically, and equivalent to a prediction. Thou shalt defend thyself, but all in vain. The most powerful and courageous preparations are matters of derision before God.
1. Keep the fortress. “Keep the munition.” Strong walls, though unassailable by human skill, would not be secure.
2. Guard the avenues. “Watch the way” by which the foe may come and repel him. Prevent entrance into the city.
3. Encourage one another. “Make thy loins strong.” Gather up courage, and let nothing be unemployed. Stand, having your loins girt about like men (Eph_6:14; Job_40:7).
4. Resist mightily. “Fortify thy power mightily.” It is a desperate affair, no careless, timid defence will avail. Nor will the utmost the wicked can do prevail against God. Impotent are all efforts of defence when God has departed from a place. “The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Nah_2:1-2. Dasher in pieces. Demetrius was surnamed Poliorcestes, the destroyer of cities; Attilas called himself Orbis flagellum, the scourge of the world. Julius Cæsar was Fulmen belli, the thunderbolt of war; he had taken in his time a thousand towns, conquered three hundred nations, took prisoners one million of men, and slain as many. These were dissipatores indeed, and dashers in pieces, rods of God’s wrath; and this they took to be a main piece of their glory [Trapp].
Nah_2:3-4. Chariots were objects of great interest. “Their charioteers had an air of perfect fearlessness; they dashed along as if caring for nothing, but resolved upon crushing everything. These declarations are perfectly accurate, and cannot be more evident than the sculptures and bas-reliefs of Nineveh have shown them to be. Their chariots are represented, covered with costly decorations and Sabean symbols; and their horses are exhibited in almost every variety of attitude—rearing, running and rushing—exactly as we should have supposed them to be, after reading that which is said of them in the prophecies.”
The siege was no easy task. History declares that the king, at the approach of the enemy, collected all his active forces—that the besieging army was three times severely defeated, and that the Medes could only be held with great difficulty to the work. The Assyrians abandoned themselves to negligent rejoicing in the camps before the gates on account of victory, but were attacked in the night and driven back to the walls. Salæmenes, brother-in-law to the king, who had resigned the command to him, was driven into the Tigris (cf. ch. Nah_3:3); but the city was still uninjured, and the enemy encamped in vain before the gates. In the spring of the third year other powers interfered. The river became “an enemy to the city” (cf. Nah_2:7; Nah_1:8-10). The inundation occurred suddenly, and violently broke down in one night the walls on the river. The king despaired of his life, and having sent his family to the north, shut himself up with all his treasures, and burned himself in the royal citadel. Immense booty was carried away. The city was plundered, sacked, and set on fire [Lange, Introduction to Nahum].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Attack and Conquest of Nineveh
Attack and Conquest of Nineveh
1. Description of the attack begins, and Nineveh is called upon to face the invader.
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'He that breaketh in pieces is come up against thee; Guard the watch, look out upon the way, Gird up the loins, gather together thy strength.' Nah_2:2 seems misplaced, as it interrupts the sense. It should perhaps come after Nah_1:15.
3-10. Poetic picture of the sack of the city. It dwells upon, (1) The approach of the hostile army in brilliant, terrible splendour, with flashing shields, furious horses and onrush of chariots. The general impression is vivid, though some of the details have become indistinct. (3. Shall be with flaming torches] RV 'flash with steel.' Fir trees] RV 'spears.') (2) The attack upon the city. Here again individual features are uncertain: e.g. we are not sure whether Nah_2:5 refers to the besiegers or the besieged. Recount his worthies] i.e. call up his bravest warriors. Defence] (RV 'mantelet') is a word difficult of interpretation; it may refer to the movable roof which protected the battering-ram. It is not easy to give a precise explanation of the phrase, 'The gates of the river are opened,' but it is clear that the great city is attacked and its inhabitants thrown into confusion. The actual siege was spread over a long period: here it is sketched with a few sharp strokes and represented in a few memorable scenes. (3) The carrying away captive of the queen and her maidens; the flight of the people and the spoiling of the city. (a) Huzzab is obscure; we must take it to mean the queen of the city, or amend the text. RM has 'It is decreed: she is uncovered,' etc. Tabering] i.e. beating, it. 'drumming.' A taber was a small drum. (b)
8. The phrase translated of old is very awkward in the original. It may have arisen through dittography; in that case we interpret 'Nineveh is like a pool of water,' whose waters rush away where the dam is broken down: thus do the inhabitants of the conquered city flee away.
9, 10. Then all its rich treasures and its magnificent adornments are given to the spoil. All who had any hope or interest in the doomed city are confounded and put to shame.
11. The prophet exults over the downfall of Nineveh. In this stern ironical question the prophet implies that Nineveh has vanished completely; it is vain to seek for it. Thus does he express his full confidence in its utter destruction.
12. This destruction is justified by pointing to the selfish, cruel career of the Assyrian empire.
13. An oracle of Jehovah containing a strong assurance of the judgment that is due and cannot be escaped.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 The Overthrow, Plundering and Destruction Of Nineveh
CHAPTER 2
The Overthrow, Plundering and Destruction Of Nineveh
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1. The capture of Nineveh announced and described (Nah 2:1-10)
2. The completeness of the judgment (Nah 2:11-13)
Nah 2:1-10. This great prophecy was literally fulfilled some ninety years after Nahum had spoken. When these words were spoken Nineveh was in the zenith of her glory. Who told Nahum the Elkoshite that the proud world city would undergo such a sack and be completely wiped out? Who moved his pen to give such a vivid description of what would take place? There is but one answer--the Spirit of God. How was the prophecy fulfilled? Cyaxares of the Medes had surrounded Nineveh in the north. Nabopolassar of Babylon entered into an alliance with Cyaxares against the Assyrians, which was sealed by the marriage of the daughter of Cyaxares, Amunia, with the son of Nabopolassar, that is, Nebuchadnezzar, who appeared then as the colleague of his father, till the Lord called him as the instrument of judgment upon Jerusalem and he became the head of the Babylonian monarchy Dan 1:11). They made an assault upon Nineveh. The Assyrian king, a son of Asshurbanipal, collected all his forces into the lower part of the immense city. Three times the forces of the Assyrian sallied forth from the city and inflicted severe punishment upon the besieging armies, and Nabopolassar had great difficulty in keeping the Median forces from flight. The Assyrians after these successes abandoned themselves to great carousings, as stated inNahum 1:100. But during that night they were attacked by the besiegers and driven back behind the walls. Then the troops which were under the command of the brother-in-law of the Assyrian king were routed and driven into the river Tigris. The main part of Nineveh was still safe. In the third year of the siege the river which surrounded the city became its enemy. Great rains had fallen and suddenly there was a tremendous flood which broke down the walls surrounding the city. This was predicted by Nahum in this chapter in the sixth verse. The king despaired of saving his life. He had sent his family north, and when all hope was gone he shut himself up with all his treasures in the royal citadel and burned himself with them. Then the victors entered into the city, and, after securing an immense booty, which was carried to Babylon and Ecbatana, the Babylonians set fire to the sacked city, and destroyed it completely by fire.
The prophet in the beginning of this chapter addresses Nineveh; he urges that she make ready to defend herself, for he that dasheth into pieces has appeared before her walls. It was the Lord who had used the Assyrian to bring judgment upon Israel and upon Jacob, but now the time had come for the restoration of their former excellency. The Authorized Version gives the wrong sense, and the second verse is correctly rendered: “For the LORD bringeth again the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.” Then the besieging army is described. Here we read of their glittering arms, their fast racing chariots, which dash along like lightning.
We have heard even reputable Bible teachers make the statement that Nahum predicted the automobiles racing along our streets. Such fanciful, far-fetched and arbitrary applications of the Word of God do immense harm. Nahum does not anticipate the automobile, but gives a picture of the besiegers of Nineveh with their chariots, drawn by swift horses.
In Nah 2:5 the Assyrian king is seen turning to his army, as he sees the chariots dashing along the highways and broadways which lead to the city; he counts his worthies, his generals and captains. And the army suddenly called, in making haste stumbled along in disorder and made haste to reach the walls. As stated above, the sixth verse (Nah 2:6) was fulfilled when the river became a flood and undermined the foundations of the walls, so that the besiegers could enter in. And when Babylon fell, under the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the river also was the means of defeat, for the enemy had diverted the river Euphrates and through the dry river-bed entered the city.
The word “Huzzab” in the seventh verse (Nah 2:7) has led to a great deal of discussion. Some claim that it is the name of the queen of Nineveh; others that it is a symbolical name of the city; archaeology throws no light upon its meaning. We believe the word “Huzzab” should be translated, “it is determined.” Then the sentence reads, “It is determined; she is made bare and led away captive; and her maids moan like the doves, smiting upon their breasts.”
The flight of the population of Nineveh is pictured in the eighth verse. Like as a pool of water empties when the sluices are opened, so they flee. The soldiers cry “Stand! Stand!” but there is a panic. They rush away and none looks back.
In the next two verses the plundering of the city is predicted. Silver and gold is taken away. There seems to be no end of all the glorious things which were heaped together in Nineveh. The city is emptied; hearts melt, courage is gone; there are tottering knees and pale faces.
Nah 2:11-13. Is it a sarcastic question which is asked, “Where is the den of lions?” What has become of her proud boastings of being the Queen-City of the nations?
Then Jehovah speaks of the completeness of her judgment and overthrow. “Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Nahum Chapter 2
Nahum Chapter 2
(Chapter 1:15-2:13. ).
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The Conquest, Plundering, and Destruction of Nineveh.
The conquerors of Nineveh would be Jehovah’s instruments, who would effect the destruction of the city with all its vaunted glory.
v. 15. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, of the messenger of joy hastening forward to bring the good news, that publisheth peace, announcing to Judah the overthrow of the enemies. O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, resuming their celebration especially at this time, when the deliverance of the Lord’s people from violence and oppression constituted a further incentive for joy and thanksgiving, perform thy vows, those made in anticipation of this deliverance; for the wicked shall no more pass through thee, he is utterly cut off. The use of Isa 52:7 in this connection is very clear, and Luther is undoubtedly right in finding "here a Messianic allusion, especially since Assyria, as the great world-power, was the type of the antichristian forces which try to overthrow the Church of God.
v. 1. He that dasheth in pieces, the Babylonian invader, is come up before thy face, appearing before the walls of Nineveh. Keep the munition, rather, "Guard the fortress!" in an effort to withstand the foe; watch the way, having spies out on all the roads leading to the city; make thy loins strong, as a warrior preparing for battle; fortify thy power mightily. All this detailed description is given to emphasize the futility of these preparations.
v. 2. For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, Jehovah being on the side of the invading army, and He intends to restore the glory of His people, as the excellency of Israel, when the covenant nation was at the height of its glory; for the emptiers have emptied them out, or, "plunderers have plundered them,". and marred their vine-branches, outrageously destroying the land and outraging its inhabitants, so that the Lord felt obliged to avenge this indignity.
v. 3. The shield of His mighty men, of the heroes commissioned by the Lord to execute His punishment, is made red, all shining for the battle, the valiant men are in scarlet, their war-clothes being made of this color; the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, blazing with their iron equipments, and the fir-trees shall be terribly shaken, the spears made of cypresses are brandished.
v. 4. The chariots shall rage in the streets, as they are driven furiously in the attack, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways, running to and fro in the market-places or squares of Nineveh, all confused by the attack of the enemy; they shall seem like torches, as the light struck the steel ornaments of the chariots, they shall run like the lightnings, namely, as lightning plays in blinding flashes.
v. 5. He shall recount his worthies, the Assyrian king remembering, and counting on, his heroes; they shall stumble in their walk, all confused and uncertain in their effort to reach the point where the attack is launched against the city; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defense shall be prepared. The entire paragraph pictures the haste and confusion which takes hold upon the citizens and the soldiers of a city which has been too secure and now finds itself surrounded by a host of enemies.
v. 6. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, the reference being to some natural or artificial inundation of the city which helped in its destruction, and the palace shall be dissolved, its inmates being overcome with terror and losing all semblance of careful thinking and planning.
v. 7. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, literally, "It is determined," by God; "she is made bare," namely, Nineveh, "like a ravished woman, and carried away. " She shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her, the inhabitants of the city being so regarded, as with the voice of doves, with mournful cries, taboring upon their breasts, beating upon them as though they were tabrets.
v. 8. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water, a term expressing her great population and prosperity; yet they shall flee away, her great population leaving her to her fate. Stand, stand! shall they cry, in an attempt to stop the heedless rush; but none shall look back, refusing to return to the ravished city.
v. 9. Take ye the spoil of silver, so the victors are admonished, take the spoil of gold! For there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture, of the various rich treasures with which the palaces of the city were filled.
v. 10. She is empty and void and waste, literally, "emptiness and being emptied out and desolation!". and the heart melteth, in utter discouragement, and the knees smite together, in the terror which cannot control itself, and much pain is in all loins, Isa 21:3, and the faces of them all gather blackness, all of them pale with fear. Thus the mighty city would be destroyed with all its rich treasures.
v. 11. Where is the dwelling of the lions and the feeding-place of the young lions, for the Assyrians liked to compare themselves with the king of beasts, where the lion, even the old lion, walked and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid? none of the nations, in the early days, daring to disturb the Assyrians in their possession of the land.
v. 12. The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, as much as his young ones desired, and strangled for his lionesses and filled his holes, the dens occupied by him, with prey and his dens with ravin, his lurking-places with spoil. Even so the kings of Assyria heaped up treasures taken from every part of the world for the use of the inhabitants of Nineveh.
v. 13. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, the ruler of the heavenly armies, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, so that all her war material goes up in smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, the mighty men of the city; and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard, as they boasted of the might and prowess of Assyria and Nineveh. God has ways of subduing even the mightiest enemies, no matter how mightily they rise up in their own conceit.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13 General Information:
General Information:
Nahum often wrote prophecy in the form of poetry. Hebrew poetry uses different kinds of parallelism. Here he begins to describe the destruction of Nineveh. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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The one who will dash you to pieces
The word "you" refers to Nineveh. Nahum speaks of an army or military leader destroying Nineveh as if he were to shatter Nineveh like one would shatter a clay pot. AT: "The one who will destroy you" (See: Metaphor)
The one who will dash you
The person who is "the one" is not clear, so translate using a general term. AT: "Someone who will break you"
is coming up against you
The idiom to "come against" means to attack. AT: "is preparing to attack you" (See: Idiom)
Man the city walls, guard the roads, make yourselves strong, assemble your armies
Nahum speaks to the people of Nineveh. He tells them to prepare for battle, although he knows that the enemy will destroy the city. (See: Irony)
Man the city walls
Nineveh had a large, thick wall surrounding it. This refers to placing soldiers on the top of the wall in order to fight off attackers. This can be translated with a more general phrase if necessary. AT: "Man the fortifications" or "Prepare the defenses" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
guard the roads
This refers to having soldiers watch the roads leading to the city so that they can keep track of the enemy's approach.
make yourselves strong
This is an idiom that means to prepare oneself for action. Here it applies to military action. AT: "prepare yourselves for battle" (See: Idiom)
For Yahweh is restoring the majesty of Jacob, like the majesty of Israel
The words "Jacob" and "Israel" are metonyms for the people who are descended from Jacob. Possible meanings are 1) the word "Jacob" refers to the southern kingdom and the word "Israel" refers to the northern kingdom. AT: "For Yahweh is restoring the majesty of Judah, as he promised to restore the majesty of Israel" or 2) both "Jacob" and "Israel" refer to the nation as a whole, included both northern and southern kingdoms and the two lines are parallel. AT: "For Yahweh is restoring the majesty of all Israel" (See: Metonymy and Parallelism)
the plunderers
people who steal things by force, usually in war
destroyed their vine branches
Possible meanings are 1) this is a metaphor in which the Assyrians taking away Israel's possessions by force is spoken of as if Israel were a vine whose branches the Assyrians had stripped bare. AT: "robbed them of all of their possession, like one would strip bare vine branches" or 2) the words "vine branches" are a synecdoche for the agricultural fields throughout the nation. AT: "destroyed their fields of crops" (See: Metaphor and Synecdoche)
translationWords
Yahweh
restore
majesty
Jacob
Israel
vine
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 2:1 Although Nineveh’s defenders might fully prepare to protect…
2:1 Although Nineveh’s defenders might fully prepare to protect the city with ramparts . . . roads . . . defenses, and forces, their efforts were doomed to failure (1:1-14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.