�AHUM 3 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

Woe to �ineveh

1 Woe to the city of blood,

full of lies,

full of plunder,

never without victims!

BAR�ES, "Woe to the bloody city - Literally, “city of bloods” , i. e., of manifold bloodshedding, built and founded in blood Hab_2:12; Jer_22:13, as the prosperity of the world ever is. Murder, oppression, wresting of judgment, war out of covetousness, grinding or neglect of the poor, make it “a city of bloods.” Nineveh, or the world, is a city of the devil, as opposed to the “city of God.” : “Two sorts of love have made two sorts of cities; the earthly, love of self even to contempt of God; the heavenly, love of God even to contempt of self. The one glorieth in itself, the other in the Lord.” : “Amid the manifold differences of the human race, in languages, habits, rites, arms, dress, there are but two kinds of human society, which, according to our Scriptures, we may call two cities. One is of such as wish to live according to the flesh; the other of such as will according to the Spirit.” “Of these, one is predestined to live forever with God; the other, to undergo everlasting torment with the devil.” Of this city, or evil world, Nineveh, the city of bloods, is the type.

It is all full of lies and robbery - Better, “it is all lie; it is full of robbery” (rapine). “Lie” includes all falsehood, in word or act, denial of God, hypocrisy; toward man, it speaks of treachery, treacherous dealing, in contrast with open violence or rapine . The whole being of the wicked is one lie, toward God and man; deceiving and deceived; leaving no place for God who is the Truth; seeking through falsehood things which fail. Man “loveth vanity and seeketh after leasing” Psa_4:2. All were gone out of the way. Alb.: “There were none in so great a multitude, for whose sake the mercy of God might spare so great a city.” It is full, not so much of booty as of rapine and violence. The sin remains, when the profit is gone. Yet it ceases not, but perseveres to the end; “the prey departs not;” they will neither leave the sin, nor the sin them; they neither repent, nor are weary of sinning. Avarice especially gains vigor in old age, and grows by being fed. “The prey departeth not,” but continues as a witness against it, as a lion’s lair is defiled by the fragments of his prey.

CLARKE, "Wo to the bloody city! - Nineveh: the threatenings against which are continued in a strain of invective, astonishing for its richness, variety, and energy. One may hear and see the whip crack, the horses prancing, the wheels rumbling, the chariots bounding after the galloping steeds; the reflection from the drawn and highly polished swords; and the hurled spears, like gashes of lightning, dazzling the eyes; the slain lying in heaps, and horses and chariots stumbling over them! O what a picture, and a true representation of a battle, when one side is broken, and all the cavalry of the conqueror fall in upon them, hewing them down with their swords, and trampling them to pieces under the hoofs of their horses! O! infernal war! Yet sometimes thou art the scourge of the Lord.

GILL, "Woe to the bloody city,.... Nineveh, in which many murders were daily committed; innocent blood shed; the lives of men taken away, under the colour of justice, by false witnesses, and other unlawful methods; and which was continually making war with neighbouring nations, and shedding their blood, which it stuck not at, to enlarge its wealth and dominions; and therefore "woe" is denounced against it; and it is threatened with the righteous judgments of God, with all sorts of calamity and distress: or, "O bloody city", as the Septuagint; for the word used is vocative, and expressive of calling, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe:

it is all full of lies and robbery; the palace and court; the houses of noblemen and common persons were full of flattery and deceit; men of high degree were a lie, and men of low degree vanity; no man could trust another, or believe what he said; there were no truth, honesty, and faithfulness, in conversation or commerce; their warehouses were full of goods, got by rapine and violence; and their streets full of robbers and robberies:

the prey departeth not; they go on in making a prey of their neighbours, in pillaging and plundering their substance; they repent not of such evil practices, nor desist from them; or because of the above sins they shall fall a prey to the enemy, who will not cease plundering them till he has utterly stripped them of all they have; and who is represented in the next verse Nah_3:2 as just at hand.

HE�RY 1-3, "Here is, I. Nineveh arraigned and indicted. It is a high charge that is here drawn up against that great city, and neither her numbers nor her grandeur shall secure her from prosecution. 1. It is a city of blood, in which a great deal of innocent blood is shed by unrighteous war, or under colour and pretence of public justice, or by suffering barbarous murders to go unpunished; for this the righteous God will make inquisition. 2. It is all full of lies; truth is banished from among them; there is no such thing as honesty; one knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust. 3. It is all full of robbery and rapine; no man cares what mischief he does, nor to whom he does it: The prey departs not, that is, they never know when they have got enough by spoil and oppression. They shed blood, and told lies, in pursuit of the prey, that they might enrich themselves. 4. There is a multitude of whoredoms in it, that is, idolatries, spiritual whoredoms, by which she defiled herself, and to which she seduced the neighbouring nations, as a well-favoured harlot, and sold and ruined nations through her whoredoms.5. She is a mistress of witchcrafts, and by them she sells families, Nah_3:4. That which Nineveh aimed at was a universal monarchy, to be the metropolis of the world, and to have all her neighbours under her feet; to compass this, she used not only arms, but arts, compelling some, deluding others, into subjection to her, and wheedling them as a

harlot by her charms to lay their necks under her yoke, suggesting to them that it would be for their advantage. She courted them to join with her in her idolatrous rites, to tie them the faster to her interests, and made use of her wealth, power, and greatness, to draw people into alliances with her, by which she gained advantages over them, and made a hand of them. These were her whoredoms, like those of Tyre, Isa_23:15, Isa_23:17. These were her witchcrafts, with which she unaccountably gained dominion. And for this that God has a quarrel with her who, having made of one blood all nations of men, never designed one to be a nation of tyrants and another of slaves, and who claims it as his own prerogative to be universal Monarch.

II. Nineveh condemned to ruin upon this indictment. Woe to this bloody city! Nah_3:1. See what this woe is.

1. Nineveh had with her cruelties been a terror and destruction to others, and therefore destruction and terror shall be brought upon her. Those that are for overthrowing all that come in their way will, sooner or later, meet with their match. (1.) Hear the alarm with which Nineveh shall be terrified, Nah_3:2. It is a formidable army that advances against it; you may hear them at a distance, the noise of the whip, driving the chariot-horses with fury; you may hear the noise of the rattling of the wheels, the prancing horses, and the jumping chariots; the very noise is frightful, but much more so when they know that all this force is coming with all this speed against them, and they are not able to make head against it. (2.) See the slaughter with which Nineveh shall be laid waste (Nah_3:3), the sword drawn with which execution shall be done, the bright sword lifted up and the glittering spear, the dazzling brightness of which is very terrible to those whom they are lifted up against. See what havoc these make when they are commissioned to slay: There is a great number of carcases, for the slain of the land shall be many; there is no end of their corpses; there is such a multitude of slain that it is in vain to go about to take the number of them; they lie so thick that passengers are ready to stumble upon their corpses at every step. The destruction of Sennacherib's army, which, in the morning, were all dead corpses, is perhaps looked upon here as a figure of the like destruction that should afterwards be in Nineveh; for those that will not take warning by judgments at a distance shall have them come nearer.

JAMISO�, "Nah_3:1-19. Repetition of Nineveh’s doom, with new features; the cause is her tyranny, rapine, and cruelty: No-ammon’s fortifications did not save her; it is vain, therefore, for Nineveh to think her defenses will secure her against God’s sentence.

the bloody city! — literally, “city of blood,” namely, shed by Nineveh; just so now her own blood is to be shed.

robbery — violence [Maurer]. Extortion [Grotius].

the prey departeth not — Nineveh never ceases to live by rapine. Or, the Hebrewverb is transitive, “she (Nineveh) does not make the prey depart”; she ceases not to plunder.

K&D, "The city of blood will have the shame, which it has inflicted upon the nations, repaid to it by a terrible massacre. The prophet announces this with the woe which opens the last section of this threatening prophecy. Nah_3:1. “Woe to the city of blood!

She all full of deceit and murder; the prey departs not.” ‛Ir�dâmım, city of drops of blood,

i.e., of blood shed, or of murders. This predicate is explained in the following clauses:

she all full of lying and murder. Cachash and pereq are asyndeton, and accusatives

dependent upon מל�ה. Cachash, lying and deceit: this is correctly explained by Abarbanel

and Strauss as referring to the fact that “she deceived the nations with vain promises of

help and protection.” Pereq, tearing in pieces for murder, - a figure taken from the lion,

which tears its prey in pieces (Psa_7:3). לא�ימיש, the prey does not depart, never fails.

Mūsh: in the hiphil here, used intransitively, “to depart,” as in Exo_13:22; Psa_55:12,

and not in a transitive sense, “to cause to depart,” to let go; for if ‛ır (the city) were the

subject, we should have tâmısh.

CALVIN, "The Prophet, as I have said, more clearly expresses here the reason why the vengeance of God would be so severe on the Ninevites, — because they had wholly given themselves up to barbarous cruelty; and hence he calls it the bloody city. Bloody city! he

says. The exclamation is emphatical. Though הו,�eu,�sometimes�means�Woe;�yet�it�is�put�here�

as�though�the�Prophet�would�have�constrained�Nineveh�to�undergo�its�punishment,�O�sanguinary�

city,�then,�the�whole�of�it�is�full�ofכחש��cachesh:�the�word�signifies�leanness�and�the�Prophet�no�

doubt�joins�here�together�two�words,�which�seem�to�differ�widely,�and�yet�they�signify�the�same�

thing.�Forפרק�,�perek,�means�to�lay�by;�andכחש�,�cachesh,�is�taken�for�a�lie�or�vanity,�when�there�is�

nothing�solid�in�what�is�said:�but�the�Prophet,�I�doubt�not,�means�by�both�words�the�spoils�of�the�

city�Nineveh.�It�was�then�full�of�leanness�for�it�had�consumed�all�others;�it�was�also�full�of�spoils,�

for�it�had�filled�itself.�But�the�meaning�of�the�Prophet�is�in�no�way�dubious;�for�at�length�he�adds,�

Depart�shall�not�the�prey;�that�is�as�some�think,�it�shall�not�be�withdrawn�from�the�hands�of�

conquerors;�but�others�more�correctly�think�that�a�continued�liberty�in�plundering�is�intended,�

that�the�Assyrians�were�constantly�employed�in�pillaging�and�kept�within�no�bounds.

We�hence�see�that�the�Prophet�now�shows�why�God�says,�that�he�would�be�an�adversary�to�the�

Ninevites,�because�he�could�not�endure�its�unjust�cruelty.�He�bore�with�it�indeed�for�a�time;�for�

he�did�not�immediately�execute�his�judgment;�but�yet�he�never�forgot�his�own�people.

As,�then,�God�has�once�declared�by�the�mouth�of�his�Prophet�that�he�would�be�the�avenger�of�the�

cruelty�which�the�Assyrians�had�exercised,�let�us�know�that�he�retains�still�his�own�nature;�and�

whatever�liberty�he�may�for�a�time�grant�to�tyrants�and�savage�wild�beasts,�he�yet�continues�to�be�

a�just�avenger.�It�is�our�duty�calmly�to�bear�injuries,�and�to�groan�to�him;�and�as�he�promises�to�be�

at�length�our�helper,�it�behaves�us�to�flee�to�him,�and�to�ask�him�to�succor�us,�so�that�seeing�his�

Church�oppressed,�and�tyrants�exercising�licentiously�their�power,�he�may�hasten�the�time�to�

restrain�them.�If�then�we�were�at�all�times�to�continue�thus�resigned�under�God’s�protection,�

there�is�no�doubt�but�that�he�would�be�ready�even�at�this�day�to�execute�a�similar�judgment�to�

that�which�the�city�Nineveh�and�its�people�had�to�endure.

BENSON, ". Wo to the bloody city — Here God shows the cause of his bringing destruction on Nineveh, and overthrowing the Assyrian empire. And first, it is declared, that Nineveh was a city in which acts of cruelty abounded, and innocent blood was frequently shed; that it was also full of deceit, falsehood, and rapine; unjustly and continually increasing its riches by the plunder of the neighbouring countries, which had done them no injury.

COFFMAN, "Verse 1

The reason for the destruction of Nineveh lay in their unmitigated wickedness. "This imperial city had brought such a fate upon itself by its sin and crimes (Nahum 3:1-7), and will no more be able to avert it than was the Egyptian No-Amon (Nahum 3:8-13)."[1] A terrible end will come to the city despite all of their wealth, power, and resources (Nahum 3:14-19). As Augustine said (as quoted by Barnes):

"Two sorts of love have made two sorts of cities; the earthly love of self even to contempt of God; the heavenly love of God even to contempt of self ... There are but two kinds of human society, which we may call two cities. One is of such as will live only for the flesh; the other of such as will live after the Spirit."[2]

Of this city of the evil world, Nineveh is a type. We have already observed in Nahum 2 that Nineveh is particularly important because of its status as the second head of the Scarlet Beast of Revelation 13:1ff; this significance of its destruction will appear in even more bold relief under Nahum 3:8 below.

Nahum 3:1

"Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not."

"Woe to the bloody city ..." In the Bible, such an expression as "woe" is occasionally associated with a lament (Jeremiah 22:18); "But it appears here to be clearly related in nuance to a malediction ..." "This would suggest a rendition of `Woe be ...' rather than `Alas.'"[3]

"The bloody city ..." or "city of bloods" as rendered by some. Instances of the remarkable and sadistic cruelty of Nineveh have already been cited; but in this connection, we shall return again briefly to that horrible subject:

"On their monuments, we may see prisoners impaled alive, flayed, beheaded, dragged to death with ropes passed through rings in their lips, blinded by the king's own hand, hung up by hands or feet to die in slow torture. Others had their brains beaten out, their tongues torn out by the roots, while the bleeding heads of the slain were tied round the necks of the living who were reserved for further torture. The royal inscriptions boast with exultation of the number of enemies slain, and of captives carried away, and of cities leveled with the ground."[4]

How amazing it is that any scholar would consider Nahum's description of such a city as

in any manner unjustified. Smith wrote, "It is doubtful whether the cruelty of Nineveh exceeded that of other oriental peoples who had like power and opportunity!"[5]

COKE, "Verses 1-3

Nahum 3:1-3. Woe to the bloody city! &c.— Woe to the bloody city, which is wholly perfidious and full of cruelty; whence rapines depart not.—Ver. 2. Lo! the sound of the whip is at hand, the sound of the rattling wheel, &c.—Ver. 3. The horseman approacheth, and the glittering sword, and shining spear, &c. Houbigant. Others render the passage thus, Woe to the bloody city, all over deceit, full of robbery and incessant ravening.—Ver. 2. The cracking of the whip, and the rattling noise of the wheel, and the prancing horse, and the rumbling chariot.—Ver. 3. The high-bearing horseman, and the flaming sword, and glittering spear, and vast slaughter, and heaps of carcases! But there is no end of the corpses, &c.

CONSTABLE, "Verse 1

Nahum pronounced woe on Nineveh, a city characterized by bloodshed. Here, as often elsewhere (e.g, Isaiah 3:9), "woe" announces impending doom. Sometimes "woe" is an expression of grief (e.g, Isaiah 6:5), but that is only its secondary meaning here. As noted earlier, the Assyrians were notorious for their cruelty that included cutting off hands, feet, ears, noses, gouging out eyes, lopping off heads, impaling bodies, and peeling the skin off living victims. [Note: See Maier, p292.] Nahum saw the city as completely full of lies (cf. 2 Kings 18:31) and pillage (cf. Nahum 2:9). Nineveh always had prey; she was constantly on the prowl looking for other nations to conquer.

Verses 1-7

3. The third description of Nineveh"s fall3:1-7

This description explains further the "why" for Nineveh"s fall whereas the first two descriptions in the previous chapter gave more of the actual events, the "what" of it. There is much similarity between the descriptions of the siege in Nahum 2:3-4 and Nahum 3:2-3, however. This section has been called a woe oracle because it pronounces doom on Nineveh in typical woe oracle fashion (cf. Isaiah 5:18-19; Amos 5:18-20; Amos 6:1-7; Micah 2:1-4). [Note: See Patterson, pp81-82.]

EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY

Verses 1-19

THE SIEGE AND FALL OF NINEVEH

Nahum 2:1-13; Nahum 3:1-19

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 Nineveh’s 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 Sargon’s 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." [Nahum 3:12] He cries to Nineveh to prepare for the siege. [Nahum 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" [Nahum 3:2] and "cavalry at the charge." [Nahum 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, [Nahum 2:13;, Nahum 3:5] but otherwise the author does not obtrude his nationality. It is not in Judah’s 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 Nahum’s feeling of the incoherence and mercenariness of the vast population of Nineveh. Nineveh’s 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 [Nahum 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 Nineveh’s 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 world’s 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. Nahum’s 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, Nineveh’s 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 Nahum’s 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 Lion’s 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: [Jeremiah 50:37;, Jeremiah 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 heaven’s 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?"

NISBET, "NINEVEH’S DIRGE

‘Woe to the bloody city!’

Nahum 3:1

I. We now come to stanzas of triumph over the great city’s fall.—For convenience and clearness we may take the closing verses of chapter 2 (i.e., Nahum 3:11-13) separately, as they contain a kind of dirge which fitly closes the vivid description of the siege and capture. The dirge opens with the old question which is also ever new—the question, ‘What has become of the glory and strength which once seemed so formidable and even invincible?’ Nineveh, the stronghold and metropolis of a mighty empire, is described by the prophet as a lion’s den. ‘Where is the den of lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and lioness walked, 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 caves with prey, and his dens with ravin.’

It is a strong picture of might ruthlessly used. As to the beast of prey the only aim is to gather enough for his mate and his young, so was Nineveh, like a ravening beast, heedless of all interests but his own. But empire ruled on such principles must fall, for it is built on false estimates of things. Strong though it may be, it has placed itself against the might which never fails, viz., the might of God. Such in brief is the picture of Nineveh’s iniquity. Blood, falsehood, and an incurable habit of spoliation—the prey-taking never ceases. But she who preyed on others becomes a prey, and the prophet quickly plunges again into description of her overthrow. He hears the warlike sounds echoing everywhere. ‘The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses and jumping chariots; the horsemen mounting, and the flashing sword and the glittering spear.’

And then all these sounds of war are followed by an awful vision of carnage. ‘A multitude of slain and a great heap of corpses; they stumble upon the corpses.’

II. And this terrible doom is a simple consequence of violated moral order.—The whole system of empire has been wrong. Instead of using power for good, it has been used for evil. Instead of being a nursing-mother to other people, she has been a seducer and a degrader of them. She has been like a harlot living in splendid ease as the fruit of her unlawful traffic. Her doom of death follows upon her nefarious life. ‘Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.’

The stanzas of woe close with the refrain which reminds us of the invincible but forgotten might which the city, in her proud insolence, has forgotten: ‘Lo, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? when shall I seek comforters for thee?’

—Bishop Boyd Carpenter.

Illustrations

(1) ‘We need to look to ourselves that no such fate should overtake our British people, for ours also is the lion-empire. Has God forgiven the iniquity of the opium traffic, or

forgotten it? Does He not take note of the methods by which we have extended our empire since the days of Clive? Do not the impurity and drunkenness of our streets weigh with Him? Let true patriots confess these things before Him, and plead with Him to spare us that we may yet spread His Gospel to the world.’

(2) ‘Not on account of idolatry in itself would God have destroyed Nineveh, otherwise He would not have sent Jonah: His justice waited for the outbreak of murder. But after this has infected the whole city, after all its works have assumed the known heathen character, to put itself in the place of God, and to trample under foot the universal revelation of God, that deceit and murder are sins; after it had thus identified itself with the impious principle, its destruction must come. For God’s judgment is revelation. In the fall the entire ignominy concealed by external glory, the rottenness of the powerful tree, the utterly forlorn condition, in which it for a long time already internally stood, whilst it was externally pressed, come to light. Then indeed the more unexpected the blow, the more certain: the nearer it advances, the more fearful and incurable.’

NISBET, "The Uses of History

Nahum 3

"Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery" ( Nahum 3:1).

The city was Nineveh. The city is every city under the sun. There is something in the very word "city" suggestive of this kind of prosperity. It would seem as if city-building were a practical blasphemy. We cannot account for this, but the light of history seems to direct our attention in this unhappy direction. Nineveh had repented under the preaching of Jonah; Nineveh had forgotten her penitence and her prayers, and had gone back to riot and revel, idolatry, self-indulgence, and enervating luxury. She had thrown her arms around embodied evil, and loved it with all her wicked passion. Nahum succeeded Jonah , and he pronounces the fate of the backslider. He came from the village to rebuke the city; he brought the fresh air of the country with him, the mountain breeze, the village simplicity, the rustic frankness, sanctified and inspired by the Holy Ghost. Even a village is the germ of a city; but the village is better. There is less thickness of iniquity. Evil is still there; we cannot get rid of evil in time. Who can blot out the evil mark in so short a day as poor little empty time? The fate of backsliders is always the same. Backsliding hardens the heart of the apostate. He puts his fingers into his ears, and will not hear the voice of the divine judgment; he places his hands over his eyes when he does not want to see the light of holiness, and reasons within himself that because he has created the darkness God is purposely concealing his own righteousness. Wickedness is able, subtle, clever, sagacious, inventive. If there is any way into enjoyment wickedness will find it out; if there is any gate by which wickedness can escape final judgment, wickedness is quick enough to discover that way. But there is none. Though hand join in hand, though there be a plot, a conspiracy a confederacy of evil, it shall be burned like stubble.

Of Nineveh the prophet says, "It is a city of bloods": that is the literal translation of the words which Nahum used; a Hebraism, as of one blood upon another, great coatings of blood. Nineveh was painted in that vermilion. Everything Nineveh had was bought with blood; Nineveh was an Aceldama, a field of blood. Its prosperity was laid in blood. It had

nothing that had not on it that red spot, that brand of condemnation. It is difficult to have a city built on any other foundation; such is the rush, the fury, the competition: such is the result of friction, collision, conflict, that man cuts the throat of Prayer of Manasseh , and cuts so many throats that he knows not he is a murderer: the number makes him a kind of hero. How is it to be otherwise? Great cities require great self-restraint, profound and prolonged processes of education. If the moral element once gets loose, if it begins to trifle and to tamper with the realities of life, then the battle is to the strong; let the weak go where they may. It is only Christianity that can save any city. Man ought not to trust himself when he becomes only part of a multitude. He may be but trusted or chastened or highly utilised when he is but one or a unit amongst a few; but when he becomes a million thick on the ground it would seem as if a kind of miasma rose from the sweltering mass and poisoned the men that breathed it. It is sad. It is true. "Oh, it was pitiful, near a whole city full, hope, health, strength, joy she had none." What is this mystery of numbers? What is this miracle of continuing, increasing in numerical force? An evil passion comes along with it. Things are concealed, or are so perplexed, embarrassed, and wrapped up, that it is difficult to find the central line of justice and right and truth. What mercy can there be in a crowd? The centre has been lost, the guiding, dominating, uplifting principle is for the time being in abeyance. It is easy for a crowd to become mad.

The city, saith Nahum , "is all full of lies": literally, the city is a lie. They spoke cannon-balls in the olden time. We cannot tell in our softened language what the prophet really said, or how the prophet truly said it; but the opening of his lips was the utterance of a great storm. Is our property a lie? Dare we really analyse our possessions? Was every sixpence taken honestly? Did we not tell the victim that we were his friend, and whilst the tears were in his eyes, expressive of gratitude, did we not put our hands into his pockets, and rob him of his earnings? Nahum saw that in his day there was an organised oppression—"The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots." All this pointed in the direction of forbidden organisation. No Hebrew believer had any right to a horse. The horse was a forbidden animal; the very suggestion brought with it the idea of self-reliance, pomp, pride, War. As Solomon increased in horses he decreased in piety. It is not so with us, because of our different relations; but we must take the typology of the Old Testament as indicating possibilities along the line of our own civilisation. To have an army is to fight, to want to fight An army is itself a provocation to war. Would God all civilised countries could simultaneously disarm themselves, and thus cut off the devil at one source. But the argument is of course only indicated by particular instances; it is not exhausted. All power is dangerous. Wealth without humility, true rational piety, is the horse that tempts the owner, is the army that incites the possessor to defiance, to war, to contempt, which is worse than either. Yet what genius we lavish in our organisations of oppression! How we set actions and policies and movements in such relations that we cannot put our fingers upon the guilty spot, and say, That is it—burn it. We have put evil into the kaleidoscope, and whilst we are looking at one image, we are turning it round into another, and we cannot say which is the guilty combination. What if God should deal with us in our corporate capacity, and burn the city? When men begin to divide up evil, and say, "You shall take a part, and you shall take another part, and a third man shall come in and share both the parts with us, and we shall play into one another"s hands in such a manner as that nobody shall be able to say exactly how we came by anything we have,"—man cannot handle such knavery, but God will burn it.

PETT, "Introduction

Chapter 3 Why Nineveh Deserves Its Fate.

The prophet now explains why this is to happen to Assyria

Nahum 3:1-3

‘Woe to the bloody city, it is all full of lies and booty. Its spoils (or ‘the prey’) do not leave it. The crack of the whip, and the rumbling of wheels, and prancing horses and bounding chariots! Horsemen charging, and flashing sword and glittering spear, and a host of slain and a great heap of corpses. And there is no end to the dead bodies --they stumble over their bodies!’

This is the grisly fate of Nineveh, as it had been for the many cities from which they had filled their treasure houses and sated their pride. It was not without reason that he named it ‘the bloody city’. It was a city filled with the rewards of blood, and of men boasting about having shed blood, and it was also full of deceit and booty. Sham, hollowness, pretence, all vied with each other and there was booty beyond counting. Nor were their spoils used to benefit others. They remained within the city. This could describe many of our modern cities today, their lives a constant pretence and show, their wealth built on the poverty of others. Why should their inhabitants escape the fate of Nineveh?

Alternately we may read ‘the prey does not leave it’ meaning that many Ninevites are made a prey and cannot flee the city.

But then came the crack of the whip, the rattling of wheels, the prancing of horses and their riders, and the bounding forward of chariots. The flashing sword, the glittering spear, the piles of corpses, corpses without end. Their nemesis had arrived. It was the end that they had never believed would come. This was to be the fate of Nineveh, but why?

PULPIT, "Nahum 3:1

The bloody city; literally, city of bloods, where Mood is shed without scruple (comp. Ezekiel 24:6, Ezekiel 24:9; Habakkuk 2:12). The cruelty of the Assyrians is attested by the monuments, in which we see or read how prisoners were impaled alive, flayed, beheaded, dragged to death with ropes passed through rings in their lips, blinded by the king's own hand, hung up by hands or feet to die in slow torture. Others have their brains beaten out, or their tongues torn out by the roots, while the bleeding heads of the slain are tied round the necks of the living, who are reserved for further torture. The royal inscriptions recount with exultation the number of the enemies slain and of captives carried away, cities levelled with the ground, plundered, and burnt, lands devastated, fruit trees destroyed, etc. It is all full of lies; ο λη ψευδής, "all lie". The Assyrians used treachery in furthering their conquests, made promises which they never kept, to induce nations to submit to their yoke. Such, doubtless, were those of Rabshakeh (Isaiah 36:16). Rawlinson, "Falsehood and treachery … are often employed by the strong, as furnishing short cuts to success, and even, where the moral standard is

low, as being in themselves creditable (see Thucyd; 3.83). It certainly was not necessity which made the Assyrians covenant breakers; it seems to have been in part the wantonness of power—because they 'despised the cities, and regarded no man' (Isaiah 33:8); perhaps it was in part also their imperfect moral perception, which may have failed to draw the proper distinction between craft and cleverness" ('Ancient Monarchies,' 1.305). Robbery; rather, rapine, or rending in pieces. The figure applies to the way in which a wild beast kills its prey by tearing it to pieces. So the three crimes of Nineveh here enumerated are bloodshed, deceit, and violence. In the uncertainty concerning the word (pereq). rendered "robbery," which only occurs m Obadiah 1:14, where it means "crossway," the LXX. translates, α δικίας πλήρης, "full of unrighteousness." The Vulgate is correct, dilaceratione plena. The prey departeth not. They go on in the same way, gathering spoil into the city, never ceasing from this crime. The monuments continually record the booty that was brought to Nineveh. Septuagint, ου ψηλαφηθήσεται θήρα, which gives a sense contradictory to the text, "Prey shall not be handled."

2 The crack of whips,

the clatter of wheels,

galloping horses

and jolting chariots!

BAR�ES, "The noise (literally, “voice”) of the whip - There is cry against cry; the voice of the enemy, brought upon them through the voice of the oppressed. Blood hath a voice which crieth Gen_4:10 to heaven; its echo or counterpart, as it were, is the cry of the destroyer. All is urged on with terrific speed. The chariot-wheels quiver in the rapid onset; the chariots bound, like living things; the earth echoes with the whirling swiftness of the speed of the cavalry. The prophet within, with the inward ear and eye which hears “the mysteries of the Kingdom of God” Mat_13:11, Mat_13:16 and sees things to come, as they shall come upon the wicked, sees and hears the scourge coming,

with The words in Hebrew are purposely chosen with rough “r” sounds: רעש ra‛ash, דהר

dâhar, מרקדה meraqēdâh, a great noise, impetuously; and so describes it as present. Wars

and rumors of wars are among the signs of the Day of Judgment. The “scourge,” though literally relating to the vehement onset of the enemy, suggests to the thoughts, the

scourges of Almighty God, wherewith He chastens the penitent, punishes the impenitent; the wheel, the swift changes of man’s condition in the rolling-on of time. “O God, make them like a rolling thing” Psa_83:14.

GILL, "The noise of a whip,.... Of a horseman or chariot driver whipping his horses to make speed to Nineveh, and enter into it, so near as to be heard by the inhabitants of it; and is thus represented in order to strike terror into them:

and the noise of the rattling of the wheels; that is, of the chariots upon the stones, whose drivers drove Jehu like, making the utmost haste they could to get in first, and seize the prey:

and of the pransing horses; or bounding steeds, upon a full gallop; either with horsemen on them riding full speed to partake of the booty; or in chariots, in which they caper and prance, and shake the ground as they go; hence it follows:

and of the jumping chariots; which, through the swiftness of the motion, seem to leap and dance as they run along.

JAMISO�, "The reader is transported into the midst of the fight (compare Jer_47:3). The “noise of the whips” urging on the horses (in the chariots) is heard, and of “the rattling of the wheels” of war chariots, and the “horses” are seen “prancing,” and the “chariots jumping,” etc.

K&D 2-4, "This threat is explained in Nah_3:2., by a description of the manner in which a hostile army enters Nineveh and fills the city with corpses. Nah_3:2. “The cracking of whips, and noise of the rattling of wheels, and the horse in galloping, and chariots flying high. Nah_3:3. Riders dashing along, and flame of the sword, and flashing of the lance, and multitude of slain men and mass of dead men, and no end of corpses; they stumble over their corpses. Nah_3:4. For the multitude of the whoredoms of the harlot, the graceful one, the mistress of witchcrafts, who sells nations with her whoredoms, and families with her witchcrafts.” Nahum sees in spirit the hostile army bursting upon Nineveh. He hears the noise, i.e., the cracking of the whips of the

charioteers, and the rattling (ra‛ash) of the chariot-wheels, sees horses and chariots

driving along (dâhar, to hunt, cf. Jdg_5:22; riqqēd, to jump, applied to the springing up

of the chariots as they drive quickly along over a rugged road), dashing riders (ma‛ăleh,

lit., to cause to ascend, sc. the horse, i.e., to make it prance, by driving the spur into its side to accelerate its speed), flaming swords, and flashing lances. As these words are well adapted to depict the attack, so are those which follow to describe the consequence or effect of the attack. Slain men, fallen men in abundance, and so many corpses, that one

cannot help stumbling or falling over them. בדK, the heavy multitude. The chethib יכשלו

is to be read שלוKי (niphal), in the sense of stumbling, as in Nah_2:6. The keri is וכשלו

unsuitable, as the sentence does not express any progress, but simply exhibits the

infinite number of the corpses (Hitzig). תםPגו, their (the slain men's) corpses. This

happens to the city of sins because of the multitude of its whoredoms. Nineveh is called

Zōnâh, and its conduct zenūnım, not because it had fallen away from the living God and

pursued idolatry, for there is nothing about idolatry either here or in what follows; nor because of its commercial intercourse, in which case the commerce of Nineveh would appear here under the perfectly new figure of love-making with other nations (Ewald), for commercial intercourse as such is not love-making; but the love-making, with its

parallel “witchcrafts” (keshâphım), denotes “the treacherous friendship and crafty politics

with which the coquette in her search for conquests ensnared the smaller states” (Hitzig, after Abarbanel, Calvin, J. H. Michaelis, and others). This policy is called whoring or love-making, “inasmuch as it was that selfishness which wraps itself up in the dress of love, and under the appearance of love seeks simply the gratification of its own lust”

(Hengstenberg on the Rev.). The zōnâh is described still more minutely as טובת�חן,

beautiful with grace. This refers to the splendour and brilliancy of Nineveh, by which

this city dazzled and ensnared the nations, like a graceful coquette. Ba‛ălath�keshâphım,

devoted to witchcrafts, mistress of them. Keshâphım (witchcrafts) connected with

zenūnım, as in 2Ki_9:22, are “the secret wiles, which, like magical arts, do not come to

the light in themselves, but only in their effects” (Hitzig). מכר, to sell nations, i.e., to rob

them of liberty and bring them into slavery, to make them tributary, as in Deu_32:30;

Jdg_2:14; Jdg_3:8, etc. (not = כמר from כבר, to entangle: Hitzig). זנוניה�\, with (not for)

their whoredoms. Mishpâchōth, families, synonymous with ע[ים, are smaller peoples or

tribes (cf. Jer_25:9; Eze_20:32).

CALVIN, "Verse 2

The Prophet represents here as in a lively picture, what was nigh the Assyrians; for he sets forth the Chaldeans their enemies, with all their preparations and in their quick movements. (239) The sound of the whip, he says; the whips, made a noise in exciting the horses: the sound of the rattling of the wheel; that is, great shall be the haste and celerity, when the horses shall be forced on by the whip; the horse also shaking the earth, and the chariot bounding; the horseman making it to ascend; and then, the flame of the sword and the lightning of the spear He then says, that there would be such a slaughter, that the whole place would be full of dead bodies.

We now then understand what the Prophet means: for as Nineveh might have then appeared impregnable the Prophet confirms at large what he had said of its approaching ruin, and thus sets before the eyes of the Israelites what was then incredible.

1. Oh! The city of blood! All of deceit;

Of plunder it is full, none can search out the spoil: —

e whip, and the sound of the rattling wheel!

And the horse prancing, and the chariot bounding!

The horseman mounting,

And the flaming of the sword and the glittering of the spear!

And a multitude dancing, and a mass inactive!

And no end to her people!

Whoare fallen, with their nations,

Through the many fornications of the harlot,

That exults in beauty, andpossesses enchantments;

Who sells nations by her fornications,

And tribes by her enchantments.

��which�is�to�feel�for�the�purpose�of�exploring,�and�then,�to,מש�search�out,”�I�derive�from“�,ימיש

explore�or�search�out;�see�Genesis�31:34.�The�second�verse�contains�a�simple�enumeration�of�

what�the�city�exhibited.רב�חלל�,�“a�multitude�dancing”�or�piping,�theו��being�dropped�inחלל�,�as�it�

is�inחללים�,�pipers,�1�Kings�1:40.�Then�as�a�contrast�comes�the�dead,�heavy,�inactive�mass,כבד�פגד�.�

“To�her�people”�or�nations,לגויה�,�τοις�εθνεσιν�αυτης.�—�Sept.�In�the�wordבנויתם�,�I�take�thatת��is�

a�mistake�forה�.�If�taken�for�carcasses,�it�wants�aו��beforeת�;�see�Psalms�110:6.�The�third�verse�

must�be�connected�with�the�second,�as�it�has�otherwise�no�grammatical�construction.�—�Ed.

BENSON, "Verse 2-3

Nahum 3:2-3. The noise of a whip, &c. — These verses are highly poetical; the prophet tells them, that he already hears the sound of the whips driving on the horses, and the rattling of the chariot wheels, &c., of their enemies coming against them. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, &c. — In the Hebrew it is, The horseman lifteth up the flame of the sword, and the lightning of the spear, which is more poetical than our rendering. The style of the whole passage is extremely fine; scarce any thing can be more picturesque, or strongly descriptive of a victorious army.

COFFMAN, "Verse 2

"The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots."

The prophet envisioned the attack upon Nineveh here.

"This and Nahum 3:3 are a superlative example of Nahum's powers of description, and form one of the most vivid battle scenes in Hebrew literature. There are the confusion and noise as the chariots and horsemen attack, the glint of sun on armor and weapons, and the huddled dead, lying in heaps about the streets."[6]

CONSTABLE, "Verse 2-3

Again the prophet described the sounds and sights that would accompany the battle in which Nineveh would fall (cf. Nahum 2:3-4). Whips could be heard as soldiers urged their horses forward. Nahum heard the sound of chariot wheels and the hoofs of horses bearing cavalry soldiers clattering on the pavement. Horsemen were charging, swords were flashing, and spears were gleaming in the light. The large number of corpses on the

scene of battle impressed Nahum. They seemed to be countless, so many that they appeared to cover the ground completely. The living soldiers had trouble moving about because they kept tripping over dead bodies. This was a scene that someone might have seen had they visited the site of one of the Assyrian army"s battles, but this one was taking place in Nineveh and the dead were mainly Ninevites.

"God has allowed Nahum to witness the fall of Nineveh even though it is years, perhaps even decades, away." [Note: Longman, " Nahum ," p813.]

"No passage of Hebrew literature surpasses this for vividness of description." [Note: Charles L. Feinberg, " Nahum ," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p867.]

3 Charging cavalry,

flashing swords

and glittering spears!

Many casualties,

piles of dead,

bodies without number,

people stumbling over the corpses—

BAR�ES, "The horseman lifteth up - Rather, “leading up : the flash of the sword, and the lightning of the spear.” Thus, there are, in all, seven inroads, seven signs, before the complete destruction of Nineveh or the world; as, in the Revelations, all the forerunners of the Judgment of the Great Day are summed up under the voice of seven trumpets and seven vials. Rup.: “God shall not use homes and chariots and other instruments of war, such as are here spoken of, to judge the world, yet, as is just, His terrors are foretold under the name of those things, wherewith this proud and bloody world hath sinned. For so all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Mat_26:52. They who, abusing their power, have used all these weapons of war, especially against the servants of God, shall themselves perish by them, and there shall be none end of their corpses, for they shall be corpses forever: for, dying by an everlasting death, they shall, without end, be without the true life, which is God.” “And there is a multitude of slain.” Death follows on death. The prophet views the vast field of carnage, and everywhere there meets him only some new form of death, slain, carcasses, corpses, and

these in multitudes, an oppressive heavy number, without end, so that the yet living stumble and fall upon the carcasses of the slain. So great the multitude of those who perish, and such their foulness; but what foulness is like sin?

GILL, "The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear,.... Or, "the flame of the sword and the glittering spear" (w); he rides with a drawn sword, which, being brandished to and fro, looks like a flame of fire; or with a spear made of polished iron, or steel, which, when vibrated and moved to and fro, glitters like lightning; a large number of which entering the city must be terrible to the inhabitants of it:

and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; of dead men lying in the streets, pierced and slain with the bright sword and glittering spear of the Medes and Chaldeans:

and there is none end of their corpses; the number of them could not be told; they lay so thick in all parts of the city, that there was no telling them:

they stumble upon their corpses; the Ninevites in fleeing, and endeavouring to make their escape, and the Medes and Chaldeans pursuing them.

JAMISO�, "horseman — distinct from “the horses” (in the chariots, Nah_3:2).

lifteth up — denoting readiness for fight [Ewald]. Gesenius translates, “lifteth up (literally, ‘makes to ascend’) his horse.” Similarly Maurer, “makes his horse to rise up on his hind feet.” Vulgate translates, “ascending,” that is, making his horse to advance up to the assault. This last is perhaps better than English Version.

the bright sword and the glittering spear — literally, “the glitter of the sword and the flash of the spear!” This, as well as the translation, “the horseman advancing up,” more graphically presents the battle scene to the eye.

they stumble upon their corpses — The Medo-Babylonian enemy stumble upon the Assyrian corpses.

CALVIN, "As to the words, some interpreters connect what we have rendered, the horseman makes to ascend, with what follows, that is, he makes to ascend the flame of the sword and the lightning of the spear But as a copulative comes between, it seems rather to be an imperfect sentence, meaning, that the horseman makes to ascend or

mount, that is, his horses, by urging them on. With regard to the word להב,�leb,�it�means�I�

have�no�doubt,�a�flame.�By�this�word,�I�know,�is�also�understood�metaphorically�the�brightness�of�

swords,�which�appears�like�a�flame:�but�the�Prophet�immediately�adds�lightning�As�then�he�says�

that�spears�lighten,�I�doubt�not�but�that�for�the�same�reason�he�meant�to�say�that�swords�flame.�

All�these�things�were�intended�for�the�purpose�of�fully�convincing�the�Israelites�that�Nineveh,�

however�much�it�was�supplied�with�wealth�and�power,�was�yet�approaching�its�ruin,�for�its�

enemies�would�prevail�against�it:�and�therefore�he�adds,�that�all�the�roads�would�be�full�of�dead�

bodies,�that�the�enemies�could�not�enter�without�treading�on�them�everywhere.�It�follows�—

COFFMAN, "Verse 3

"The horsemen mounting, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they stumble upon their bodies."

This is a continuation of the description of the attack, beginning at once after the utterance of doom in Nahum 3:1 - "Woe to the bloody city!" The numbers of the dead were so great as to impede the free movement of the attackers.

"Such a ghastly scene overwhelms the imagination. Again and again, in brief staccato clauses, harsh-sounding, almost incoherent in their imagery, these two long verses of battle sounds and sighs, end strikingly with a thrice repeated `corpses ... corpses ... corpses.'"[7]

The words of the prophet leave no doubt whatever that it was the will of God that such destruction should occur; but why? The answer was given at once.

NISBET, ""The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses" ( Nahum 3:3).

And men say, What havoc is this? How awful is pestilence; how terrible is war; how saddening and sickening is the sight of the overthrow of a great city! This Isaiah , or may easily become, wasted sentiment. What are corpses, what are carcases, what are dead bodies, compared with starved souls, depleted minds, cheated hearts, blighted opportunities? Reserve your tears for the true tragedy. What of this crying over bleached bones? Who has spent his tears so? On the other side there are murdered souls; minds robbed of their education; hearts enthralled that ought to be at liberty: there let your head be a fountain of tears. Men will not weep at the right sights. They are touched by the bodily, the physical, the concrete, the tangible. They see some poor little white-faced waif on the road, and they are properly touched by that sight; but they might see next to that poor little pilgrim some mighty Prayer of Manasseh , gold-bedizened and feathered and coloured, or riding in some chariot of pomp, and they ought to cry over him. He may be the true object of pity. He does not look it; he has covered up the dead bones well; he has hidden his mental and moral poverty under a veil of plucked flowers, costly enough; but what we pluck we kill, and they shall wither away. There is no need to undervalue, or to pass by in contempt, or neglect things that are obviously in want of attention; at the same time we ought not to dismiss from our mind the doctrine that moral poverty, spiritual destitution, heartache and heartbreak are the things that should constrain our intensest attention, and draw forth our most influential activity.

What is God"s relation to all this evil prosperity, this horrible progress, founded upon hellish policy? When cities have given themselves over to whoredoms and witchcrafts and forbidden luxuries, what does God say? He says, "I am against thee." Is God ever so terrible as when he is quiet? There is no thunder in this declaration, and yet it is all lightning: "I am against thee." What miracle is this? The Creator against the creature, God against Prayer of Manasseh , all heaven against the city, the metropolis that ought to be the mother city, and the fairest among the daughters of cities. Yet this is right, this

is the very sun in the heavens; without this sun of righteousness we can grow no flowers of morality, no plants of good conduct: this is the sun that warms the roots of virtue. Here is an eternal principle; we may run into it and be restful and glad. God is against all evil. The bad man who has succeeded for a time shall have a miserable end; the ox knee-deep in succulent pasture knows not (for he is a beast) that he is being fatted for the knife. These hard things must be said; we would rather not say them; it would be easier to sing some lullaby, to tell some tale that would lure and delight the fancy; it would be intellectually easier to weave some little fancy network that men would admire because skilfully done, outdoing the cobweb in fineness, and outdoing the bloom upon the flowers in exquisiteness: but this would be wasting time, this would be shutting the eyes to facts, this would be ignoring the tragedy that is killing the world. So there must be times of thunder and lightning and judgment and terrible pestilence; there must be hours of disinfection.

Nineveh said she was strong. She walked around her walls and said, They are all bastions; the enemy would bruise himself against these fortifications—more drink, more revelry, more gluttony, more devilry! What did the Lord say? "Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?" Let us attend to the uses of history. Do not throw away the precedents that make up our recollections. He is wise who is rich in precedents, who knows what has happened, what has been done, who lives in the temple of history. No-Ammon fell; the sacred name of the capital of Upper Egypt was rubbed out as the merest speck upon the page of Time. We know the city referred to by the more modern name of Thebes—a city of a hundred gates and twenty thousand chariots—and the Pharaohs of this great capital warred and conquered riotously from the Soudan to Mesopotamia; trampling down everything, and showing their pride and pomp and power in all manner of ridiculousness of ostentation and wickedness and infamy of royal display. But God blotted out the city. He can do without any city; he can make a metropolis in heaven. He would fain educate us by association; he would turn our relationship to one another into a method of education, healthful progress he would make us co-contributors to one another"s highest well-being: but when we come and spoil God"s idea, though we may have as many gates and as many chariots as Thebes a thousand times multiplied, he can destroy us, throw us into the sea, that we may be swallowed up as stones. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Then the Lord applies history, and says, "Thou also." That is the voice of all history. God never does anything that is complete in itself, final in its processes; whatever he does refers to the next century, the next city, the next man. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Who died there? The richest man in the world—thou also shalt die. What, did that black shadow called the funeral pass through all these terraces of flowers, parterres of choice plants? Did that blighting shadow fall upon the blooming beauty of the full summer day? Yes—thou also shalt be carried to thy last resting-place. Has pride been rebuked? Has vanity been snubbed; has self-trust been defeated and overwhelmed? Yes—"Thou also." These are the lessons of history. They thought to build out God with clay; they had walls that they erected against him, and he said they should be eaten up as by a cankerworm. How contemptuous can God be! He said that in their pride and haughtiness they should be as the "first-ripe figs," so that if a man should shake the tree the figs would fall into his mouth. He needs no ladder to climb, he needs no elaborate machinery by which to get at the fruit; if he will put his hand upon the bark and shake it, the figs will fall down upon the ground. So easily does God hold us in the grip of his

almightiness; so that he shakes down tower and temple and town and mountain; so that he dries up seas and rivers and turbulent streams; he sends a blight upon the brain, and the wise man who was all genius yesterday is asking a child to take him home; the man who yesterday commanded listening senates or directed great enterprises, or was the envy, the joy, and the pride of all who knew him, so stalwart in mind, so capable in action, so hospitable in the entertainment of all weakness,—he does not know his own child. There is but a step between thee and death. Oh, proud Prayer of Manasseh , thou art but a proud fool. Pride and progress can never go together. Pride and education are sworn enemies. Self-trust and reality of character can never cohere. We live our greatest life in our humility, in our reverence, in our aspiration. Why fight against this God? If the cities have outwitted him, where are they? You should be able to find them. Where is old Babylon? Where the mocking, mighty, pompous, overbearing Rome? Where are those cities that have threatened God and lived? You ought to be able to find them if they have been victorious. Now we are called upon to acquaint ourselves, and be at peace with him; we are called into harmony, and the way by which this harmony is attained is one way and only one, and unchangeable and complete, and that is the way we call the Gospel of Christ, the doctrine of the Cross, the doctrine of atonement, the doctrine of something being done for man that man could never do for himself, and which he lays hold of by the energy called faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You may reform the city, but you cannot regenerate it That is a divine Acts , and if the city is ever to become a sanctuary of progress, education, liberty, and independence, it must be wrought out by spiritual methods; our life must come from the quarter called true religion,—not conventional religion, not ecclesiastical religion, but the Cross, the mighty power of love, the mighty power of sacrifice. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; and when all our reformers and ameliorators and improvers and decorators have done their utmost, they have only painted the devil, they have not destroyed him; they have hidden momentarily his innate and everlasting hideousness under a coating of foolish ornamentation. We can only do this work by going right back to Jesus Christ, and living as he lived. Let us try that method.

PULPIT, "The horseman lifteth up. The Hebrew is more vivid, the words standing in pairs, as if describing the successive onsets of the enemy. So Pusey. It is best to render, "horsemen making to rear;" or as Septuagint. ι ππέως α ναβαίνοντος, "horseman mounting;" so the Vulgate; Henderson. Horsemen are seen in the most ancient sculptures of Nimroud, and in the bas-reliefs of Kouyunjik (comp. Judith 2:15; Ezekiel 23:6; Layard, ' Nineveh,' 2.356). Both the bright sword; better, and the flaming sword (Genesis 3:24); literally, the flame of the sword. And the glittering spear; literally, the lightning flash of the spear (Habakkuk 3:11). These are the arms of the foot soldiers. A multitude of slain. The effect of the assault is described. So numerous are the corpses that one cannot help stumbling over them; the invaders themselves are impeded by the heaps of dead bodies which they have to mount. The LXX. connects this verse with the following, thus. "They shall grow weak in their bodies by reason of the multitude of their fornications."

4 all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,

alluring, the mistress of sorceries,

who enslaved nations by her prostitution

and peoples by her witchcraft.

BAR�ES, "Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot - There are “multitudes of slain” because of the “multitude of whoredoms” and love of the creature instead of the Creator. So to Babylon Isaiah saith, “they (loss of children and widowhood) shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, for the great abundance of thine enchantments” Isa_47:9. The actual use of “enchantments,” for which Babylon was so infamous, is not elsewhere attributed to the Assyrians. But neither is the word elsewhere used figuratively; nor is Assyria, in its intimate relation to Babylon, likely to have been free from the longing, universal in pagandom, to obtain knowledge as to the issue of events which would affect her. She is, by a rare idiom, entitled “mistress of enchantments,” having them at her command, as instruments of power. Mostly, idolatries and estrangement from God are spoken of as “whoredoms,” only in respect of those who, having been taken by God as His own, forsook Him for false gods.

But Jezebel too, of whose offences Jehu speaks under the same two titles 2Ki_9:22, was a pagan. And such sins were but part of that larger all-comprehending sin, that man, being made by God for Himself, when he loves the creature instead of the Creator, divorces himself from God. Of this sin world empires, such as Nineveh, were the concentration. Their being was one vast idolatry of self and of “the god of this world.” All, art, fraud, deceit, protection of the weak against the strong 2Ki_16:7-9; 2Ch_28:20-21, promises of good Isa_36:16-17, were employed, together with open violence, to absorb all nations into it. The one end of all was to form one great idol-temple, of which the center and end was man, a rival worship to God, which should enslave all to itself and the things of this world. Nineveh and all conquering nations used fraud as well as force, enticed and entangled others, and so sold and deprived them of freedom. (see Joe_3:3).

Nor are people less sold and enslaved, because they have no visible master. False freedom is the deepest and most abject slavery. All sinful nations or persons extend to others the infection of their own sins. But, chiefly, the “wicked world,” manifoldly arrayed with fair forms, and “beautiful in the eyes of those who will not think or weigh how much more beautiful the Lord and Creator of all,” spreads her enticements on all sides “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,” “her pomps and vanities,” worldly happiness and glory and majesty, and ease and abundance, deceives and sells mankind into the power of Satan. It is called well-favored (literally, good of grace), because the world has a real beauty, nor , “unless there were a grace and beauty

in the things we love, could they draw us to them.” They have their beauty, because from God; then are they deformed, when “things hold us back from God, which, unless they were in God, were not at all.”

We deform them, if we love them for our own sakes, not in Him; or for the intimations they give of Him. : “Praise as to things foul has an intensity of blame. As if one would speak of a skilled thief, or a courageous robber, or a clever cheat. So though he calls Nineveh a well-favored harlot, this will not be for her praise, (far from it!) but conveys the heavier condenmation. As they, when they would attract, use dainty babblings, so was Nineveh a skilled artificer of ill-doing, well provided with means to capture cities and lands and to persuade them what pleased herself.” She selleth not nations only but families, drawing mankind both as a mass, and one by one after her, so that scarce any escape.

The adultery of the soul from God is the more grieveus, the nearer God has brought any to Himself, in priests worse than in the people, in Christians than in Jews, in Jews than in pagan; yet God espoused mankind to Him when He made him. His dowry were gifts of nature. If this be adultery, how much sorer, when betrothed by the Blood of Christ, and endowed with the gift of the Spirit!

CLARKE, "Because of the multitude of the whoredoms - Above, the Ninevites were represented under the emblem of a lion tearing all to pieces; here they are represented under the emblem of a beautiful harlot or public prostitute, enticing all men to her, inducing the nations to become idolatrous, and, by thus perverting them, rendering them also objects of the Divine wrath.

Mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms -Using every means to excite to idolatry; and being, by menace or wiles, successful in all.

GILL, "Because of the multitudes of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot,.... Meaning Nineveh; which, as it was an ancient city, was a well built one; full of stately and beautiful buildings, the seat of the kings of Assyria, and the metropolis of the nation, and abounded with wealth and riches; perhaps here may be an allusion to the name of the city, and to the signification of it; for Nineveh may have its name from the

beauty of it, and be read, in Hebrew, נאי�נוה or נוי, and may signify a beautiful or pleasant

habitation; so Hillerus (x) and Cocceius (y) give the etymology of it; which agrees with its delightful situation on the banks of the river Tigris, and the stately edifices in it, as the king's palace, and others; just as Zion is said to be "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth", Psa_48:2 and the epithet of "well favoured" well agrees with a harlot, whose beauty is engaging and ensnaring, as Lais, and others; particularly Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, from whom it is generally thought Nineveh had its name, was first a harlot, and one of exceeding beauty, who surpassed all others in it; on account of which she was beloved by the king of Assyria, and after a short time made his wife, and then he delivered the government of the kingdom to her (z); yea, Sardanapalus the Last, and at this time the present king of the Assyrians, was very effeminate, used to dress himself in women's clothes, imitate a woman's voice, and paint his face, and even his whole body; and, by other tricks and enticements of harlots, made himself more lascivious, and behaved more lewdly, than any harlot (a); in short, all the Assyrian women must be harlots, since they were obliged once in their lifetime to lie with a stranger in the temple

of Venus, whom the Assyrians call Mylitta, as Herodotus (b) and Strabo (c) relate; to all which here may be an allusion: and particularly the inhabitants of this city had all the arts of address and insinuation to deceive others as harlots have; and both men and women very probably were given to whoredom and adultery in a literal sense as is generally the case where luxury and intemperance abound; and especially were grossly guilty of idolatry, which in Scripture is frequently expressed by whoredom and adultery; worshipping Bel, Nisroch and other deities and which was highly provoking to God; and therefore for these things, his judgements came upon them, before and after described:

the mistress of witchcrafts: thoroughly versed in such wicked and devilish practices, literally understood; see Isa_47:9 for the Assyrians, as well as the Babylonians and Chaldeans, were addicted to such diabolical arts, as appears from a passage in Theocritus (d), which Grotius has also quoted; where one is represented saying that she kept in her box or chest very pernicious poisons, which she had learned from an Assyrian guest. The allusion seems to be to philtres, and other tricks used by harlots to besot young men, and bewitch and captivate them: likewise this city and its inhabitants were well versed in all the arts of flattery, deceit, and carnal policy; and in all the charms of wealth, riches, luxury, and sensuality, the pomp of superstition and idolatry, to draw in kingdoms and nations into subjection to them:

that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts; enslaved whole kingdoms, and brought them under her power and dominion, to be her vassals; and was the instrument, not only of corporeal servitude, but of their selling themselves to work wickedness, by committing spiritual fornication or idolatry; into which multitudes were led by her influence and example, and particularly the kingdoms and families of Israel and Judah; see 2Ki_16:10. In these whoredoms and witchcrafts, as well as in her bloodthirstiness, lies, and oppression, Nineveh was a type of the whore of Rome; see Rev_17:1.

JAMISO�, "Because of the multitude of the whoredoms — This assigns the reason for Nineveh’s destruction.

of the well-favoured harlot — As Assyria was not a worshipper of the true God, “whoredoms” cannot mean, as in the case of Israel, apostasy to the worship of false gods; but, her harlot-like artifices whereby she allured neighboring states so as to subject them to herself. As the unwary are allured by the “well-favored harlot’s” looks, so Israel, Judah (for example, under Ahaz, who, calling to his aid Tiglath-pileser, was made tributary by him, 2Ki_16:7-10), and other nations, were tempted by the plausible professions of Assyria, and by the lure of commerce (Rev_18:2, Rev_18:3), to trust her.

witchcrafts — (Isa_47:9, Isa_47:12). Alluding to the love incantations whereby harlots tried to dement and ensnare youths; answering to the subtle machinations whereby Assyria attracted nations to her.

selleth — deprives of their liberty; as slaves used to be sold: and in other property also sale was a usual mode of transfer. Maurer understands it of depriving nations of their freedom, and literally selling them as slaves to distant peoples (Joe_3:2, Joe_3:3, Joe_3:6-8). But elsewhere there is no evidence that the Assyrians did this.

families — peoples.

CALVIN, "The Prophet mentions again the cause why God would execute so dreadful a

vengeance on that city, which yet procured by its splendor so much glory and respect among all people: and God seems in a manner to have but little regard for the order of the world when he thus overturns great cities. For since he is the Creator of the whole world, it seems to be his proper office to protect its various parts, especially those which excel in beauty, for they seem to deserve a higher regard. When therefore any splendid city is demolished, such thoughts as these occur to us, — That God is either delighted with the ruin of the world, or is asleep in heaven, and that thus all things revolve by chance and contingency. Therefore the Prophet shows, that God had just reasons for decreeing the ruin of Nineveh, and for deforming that beauty, that it might not deceive the eyes of men. Hence he compares Nineveh to a harlot. The similitude seems not to be very suitable: but yet if we take a nearer view of things, the Prophet could not have more fitly nor more strikingly set forth the condition of that city. He had before mentioned its barbarous cruelty, and said, that it was the den of lions, and that savage and bloody wild beasts dwelt there. He now begins to speak of the frauds and crafty artifices by which the kings of this world attain for themselves both wealth and power. The Prophet then makes the city Nineveh to be like a harlot for this reason, — because it had not only brought under its power neighboring nations by threats and terrors, and also by cruelty, but because it had ensnared many by oblique arts and fraudulent means, by captious dealings and allurements. This is the reason why it is now called a harlot by the Prophet.

The Prophets of God seem indeed to speak but with little reverence of great cities and empires: but we know that it rightly belongs to the Spirit of God, that in exercising his own jurisdiction, he should uncover the base deeds of the whole world, which otherwise would lie concealed and even under the appearance of virtues deceive the eyes and senses of the simple: and as men so much flatter themselves, and are inebriated with their own delusions, it is necessary that those who are too self-indulgent and delicate should be roughly handled. As then kings ever set up their own splendor that they may dazzle the eyes of the simple, and seem to have their own greatness as a beautiful covering, the Spirit of God divests them of these masks. This then is the reason why the Prophet speaks here, in no very respectful terms, of that great monarchy which had attracted the admiration of all nations. For when the Spirit of God adopts a humble and common mode of speaking, men, blinded by their vices, will not acknowledge their own baseness; nay, they will even dare to set up in opposition those things which cover their disgraceful deeds: but the Spirit of God breaks through all these things, and dissipates those delusions by which men impose on themselves.

Such is the reason for this similitude; On account of the multitude, he says, of the whoredoms of the harlot, who excels in favor It is said by way of concession that Nineveh was in great favor, that is, that by her beauty she had allured to herself many nations, like a harlot who attains many lovers: and thus the Prophet allows that Nineveh was

beautiful. But he adds that she was the mistress of sorceries כשף,�casheph,�means�sorcery,�

and�also�juggling:�we�may�then�renderכשפים�,�cashaphim,�used�here,�juggleries,�(praestigias�—

sleights�of�hand.)�But�the�Prophet�seems�to�allude�to�filters�or�amatory�potions,�by�which�harlots�

dementate�youths.�As�then�harlots�not�only�attract�notice�by�their�beauty�and�bland�manners�and�

other�usual�ways;�but�they�also�in�a�manner�fascinate�unhappy�youths,�and�use�various�arts�and�

delusions;�so�the�Prophet�under�this�word�comprehends�all�the�deceits�practiced�by�harlots;�as�

though�he�said,�“This�harlot�was�not�only�beautiful,�but�also�an�enchantress,�who�by�her�charms�

deceived�unhappy�nations�like�a�strumpets�who�dementates�unhappy�youths,�who�do�not�take�

care�of�themselves.”

He�afterwards�adds,�Who�sells�nations�by�her�whoredoms,�and�tribes�by�her�sorceries�Though�

Nahum�still�carries�on�the�same�metaphor,�he�yet�shows�more�clearly�what�he�meant�by�

whoredoms�and�sorceries,�—�even�the�crafts�of�princes,�by�which�they�allure�their�neighbors,�and�

then�reduce�them�to�bondage.�Then�all�the�counsels�of�kings�(which�they�call�policies)�(240)�are�

here,�by�the�Spirit�of�God,�called�sorceries�or�juggleries,�and�also�meretricious�arts.�This�reproof,�

as�I�have�already�said,�many�deem�to�have�been�too�severe;�for�so�much�majesty�shone�forth�then�

in�the�Assyrians,�that�they�ought,�as�they�think,�to�have�been�more�respectfully�treated.�But�it�

behaved�the�Spirit�of�God�to�speak�in�this�forcible�language:�for�there�is�no�one�who�does�not�

applaud�such�crafty�proceedings.�Where�any�one,�without�mentioning�princes,�to�ask,�Is�it�right�to�

deceive,�and�then�by�lies,�deceptions,�perjuries,�cavils,�and�other�arts,�to�make�a�cover�for�things?�

—�were�this�question�asked,�the�prompt�answer�would�be,�that�all�these�things�are�as�remote�as�

possible�from�virtue,�as�nothing�becomes�men�more�than�ingenuous�sincerity.�But�when�princes�

appear�in�public,�and�make�this�pretense,�that�the�world�must�be�ruled�with�great�prudence,�that�

except�secret�counsels�be�taken,�all�kingdoms�would�immediately�fall�into�ruin,�—�this�veil�covers�

all�their�shameful�transactions,�so�that�it�becomes�lawful�for�them,�and�even�praiseworthy,�to�

deceive�one�party,�to�circumvent�another,�and�a�third�to�oppress�by�means�of�deception.�Since�

then�princes�are�praised�for�their�craftiness,�this�is�the�reason�why�the�Prophet�here�takes�away,�

as�it�were�by�force,�the�mask,�under�which�they�hide�their�base�proceedings;�“They�are,”�he�says,�

“meretricious�arts,�and�they�are�sorceries�and�juggleries.”

It�is�of�one�city,�it�is�true,�that�he�speaks�here;�but�the�Prophet�no�doubt�describes�in�this�striking�

representation�how�kingdoms�increase�and�by�what�crafty�means,�—�first,�by�robberies,�—�and�

then�by�artful�dealings,�such�as�would�by�no�means�become�honest�men�in�the�middle�class�of�life.�

But�princes�could�never�succeed,�except�they�practiced�such�artifices.�We�yet�see�how�they�are�

described�here�by�the�Spirit�of�God,�—�that�they�are�like�strumpets�given�to�juggleries,�and�to�

other�base�and�filthy�arts,�which�he�calls�whoredoms.�But�I�have�said,�that�the�meaning�of�the�

Prophet�can�be�more�clearly�elicited�from�the�second�clause�of�the�verse,�when�he�says�that�the�

Ninevites�made�a�merchandise�of�the�nations.�We�see�indeed�even�at�this�day�that�princes�disturb�

the�whole�world�at�their�pleasure;�for�they�deliver�up�innocent�people�to�one�another,�and�

shamefully�sell�them,�while�each�hunts�after�his�own�advantage,�without�any�shame;�that�he�may�

increase�his�own�power,�he�will�deliver�others�into�the�hand�of�an�enemy.�Since�then�there�are�

crafty�proceedings�of�this�kind�carried�on�too�much�at�this�day,�there�is�no�need�that�I�should�

attempt�to�explain�at�any�length�the�meaning�of�the�Prophet.�I�wish�that�examples�were�to�be�

sought�at�a�distance.�Let�us�proceed�—

BENSON, "Nahum 3:4. Because of the multitude, &c. — That is, this judgment is executed upon Nineveh because of the multitude of her whoredoms, by which idolatrous rites seem to be meant, for they are generally called whoredoms in the Scripture. Nineveh is called a well-favoured harlot, because, by her example and influence, she drew in other places to practise the same idolatries and other vices of which she was guilty. That selleth nations through her whoredoms — That makes whole nations a prey to their enemies, by encouraging them to worship idols, and thereby exposing themselves to the wrath of God: or by teaching them the arts of softness and effeminacy, and so rendering them weak and defenceless. As the violence and injustice of the Ninevites had been represented under the emblem of a lion, the prophet here paints their irregularities, their idolatry, and corruption, under the idea of a prostitute enticing men to commit lewdness.

COFFMAN, "Verse 4

"Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts."

"Whoredoms" is primarily the word for pagan idolatry, a kind of "code word" focused upon the shameful and licentious "worship" (as they called it) of idol gods. It identified idolatry by its principal and distinguishing characteristic. The term was usually applied as "harlotry" to the defection and apostasy of God's own people; and some scholars seem surprised that a pagan city is here called a harlot. However, even in the case of Nineveh it was an apostasy. The entire city, under the preaching of the prophet Jonah had indeed repented and turned to the worship of the true God, a phenomenon in which the king himself with all of his nobles humbled themselves before God, forsook the violence that was in their hands, clothed themselves with sackcloth, and engaged in fasting, praying for God to avert the doom of Jonah's prophetic announcement. Thus, as usually in the Bible, the term "harlot" applied to a falling away from the truth. That the term was applied now and then to pagan nations cannot indicate any change or variation in this essential meaning of it.

The notion that pagan Gentile nations generally were any less apostates from God than were the apostate Israelites is false. Contrary to the thesis that monotheism evolved out of polytheism, all men at one time knew God. "Knowing God, they glorified him not as God" (Romans 1:21). How did they know God? "God manifested it unto them" (Romans 1:19). Jonah had quite recently (in Nahum's time) manifested God to the Ninevites; and the very terminology of this verse is a witness to the actuality and success of Jonah's mission. (See additional studies on the subject of apostasy under the figure of a harlot in my commentary on Revelation, p. 386, and also on the state of paganism being a falling away, or an apostasy, from the knowledge of the true God even on the part of the pre-Christian Gentile nations, in my commentary on Romans, pp. 30-34.) Therefore, we

must reject the view that Nineveh was an apostate (harlot) merely because "theirs was a willful ignoring of the light of nature and natural religion."[8]

The application of the term "harlot" to Nineveh has provoked a number of different opinions:

Watts thought is was because, "Ishtar, her patroness, was a goddess of sex and war, and her temples were furnished with sacred prostitutes."[9] Barnes applied it only to those who "having been taken by God for his own, forsake him for false gods."[10] Keil said it meant, "the treacherous friendship and crafty politics with which the coquette ensnared smaller nations."[11] "Though commonly designations of idolatrous practices, there is evidently nothing of that kind in Nahum's use of the terms here."[12] We believe all such views are founded in the failure to see in Nineveh a city sinning against the light, a real apostate from God whom they knew in the preaching of Jonah. There is absolutely no good reason for setting aside the basic meaning of this symbol in the Old Testament. "It is correct that the figure of a harlot is a standard symbol of the Old Testament, and it usually means apostasy from Jehovah on the part of his people."[13] But Nineveh was not "God's people !" No ? The vast majority of the whole city were "God's people" after they repented and the Lord turned aside their destruction.

"Well-favored harlot ..." This refers to the strategic situation of the city astride the ancient trade-routes, and to the wealth and power that flowed unto her as a result.

COKE, "Verse 4

Nahum 3:4. That selleth nations— That hath deceived the nations. As the violence and injustice of the Ninevites had been represented under the emblem of a lion, the prophet here paints their irregularities, their idolatry and corruption, under the idea of a prostitute. See Houbigant and Calmet. Those who understand the passage according to our translation, suppose, that by selling the nations, the prophet means subduing them, or transferring the right of government to others; or, selling them as slaves to the same service, to imitate her prostitution and disorders. Compare 1 Kings 20:25. Romans 7:14.

CONSTABLE, "This devastation was coming on Nineveh because of her wickedness. She had played the harlot often by luring unsuspecting nations and then harming them. For example, King Ahaz had been attracted to Assyria and had appealed for her to come help Judah ( 2 Kings 16:7-18), but when she did, years later, she came to destroy rather than assist (cf. Isaiah 36:16-17). The Ninevites were also practitioners of sorcery; they appealed to the spirit world for power to determine and control their destiny and that of their victims. The pagan worship of the Assyrians involved occultism, sexual perversion, and human degradation. Assyria had lured other nations, then, with immoral attractions and magical arts. These practices resulted in the enslavement of many nations and people groups; Nineveh sold them into slavery.

ELLICOTT, "Verses 4-6

(4-6) Because of the multitude.—In the idolatry and superstition of Nineveh the prophet finds the cause of her destruction. Perversion of religious instinct is frequently denounced under the same figure in Scripture. Here, however, a more literal interpretation is possible, since there is reason to believe the religious rites of Assyria

were characterised, like those of Babylon, by gross sensuality. According to Herod, i. 199, the Babylonian worship of Beltis or Mylitta was connected with a system of female prostitution, which was deemed “most shameful” even by the heathen historian. Compare also the Apocryphal Book of Baruch 6:43. The same deity was worshipped in Assyria. Professor Rawlinson writes: “It would seem to follow almost as a matter of course that the worship of the same identical goddess in the adjoining country included a similar usage. It may be to this practice that the prophet Nahum alludes when he denounces Nineveh as a ‘well-favoured harlot,’ the multitude of whose harlotries was notorious” (Five Great Monarchies, ii. 41).

PETT, "Nahum 3:4

‘Because of the countless harlotries of the beautiful prostitute, the mistress of witchcrafts, who betrays nations with her harlotries, and peoples through her witchcrafts.’

This could almost be transferred as it is to Revelation 17, although there it was Babylon the Great. But Babylon the Great sums up all large cities, and Nineveh is one of them and a part of the whole.

Her fate came because like a prostitute she had attracted men to what she had to offer. She had offered occult practises, sexual perversion, false religion, political favour and indecent wealth in a poor and struggling world. And she had offered pleasure beyond telling. And people had flocked to her and had been degraded, and had become like her. She had even tried to turn YHWH’s people against Him, offering the very things that He had offered (2 Kings 18:31-32), but with a very different purpose and with a very different intent.

PULPIT, "The cause is given that has brought this punishment. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms. This term is commonly applied to idolatry, the swerving from the true God and turning to false deities; and it is thought that it cannot be used in that sense here, as Assyria had always worshipped idols, and could not be said to have forsaken or proved false to the Lord. Hence Hitzig, Keil, and others refer the term to the treacherous friendship and crafty politics by which Nineveh ensnared other states, seeking really only her own interests (comp. Isaiah 23:17). But this habit of treachery has been already mentioned in Nahum 3:1 (where see note); and, as Knabenbauer remarks, the Assyrians used no meretricious blandishments to effect their conquests, but the cruel arts of war and the stern ordeal of the sword. It is scarcely probable that the prophet would omit idolatry among the crimes of the Assyrians that called for vengeance, as all their wars were carried on in the name of their gods, and the monarchs professed to be under Divine protection and influence. The term "whoredom" is applied to the idolatry, not only of the Israelites, but to that of Jezebel (2 Kings 9:22), who was always a heathen. The idolatry of the Assyrians may very well be so called, because it was a wilful ignoring of the light of nature and natural religion (see Wis. 13:1; Romans 1:19, etc.). They were careful, too, wherever they carried their arms, to erect there symbols of their deities, and to compel conquered nations to receive them and pay them Divine honour. With this idolatrous worship was associated that gross immorality which even Herodotus (1.199) termed utterly disgraceful (comp. Baruch 6:43). Rightly is Nineveh called the well favoured harlot; for her splendour and magnificence were unsurpassed, dazzling all beholders and hiding the rottenness that lay below the surface. The mistress

of witchcrafts. She was skilful in employing every art to seduce nations to her side. We hear much of magic in connection with Babylon and the Chaldeans, but not in reference especially to Assyria. The expression here is metaphorical, alluding to the secret practices which she employed to gain her ends and to make her rule attractive (comp. Revelation 18:2, Revelation 18:3). That selleth nations. Depriving them of freedom and making them tributary, or, in some cases, actually selling the inhabitants as slaves (comp. Deuteronomy 32:30; 2:14; Joel 3:3; Amos 1:6, Amos 1:7). Families. Not only nations in the aggregate, but smaller bodies, individuals, so that none escape. Septuagint, λαούς, "peoples."

5 “I am against you,” declares the Lord Almighty.

“I will lift your skirts over your face.

I will show the nations your nakedness

and the kingdoms your shame.

BAR�ES, "Behold I am against thee, saith the Lord of Hosts - Jerome: “I will not send an Angel, nor give thy destruction to others; I Myself will come to destroy thee.” Cyril: “She has not to do with man, or war with man: He who is angered with her is the Lord of hosts. But who would meet God Almighty, who hath power over all, if He would war against him?” In the Medes and Persians it was God who was against them. “Behold I am against thee,” literally, “toward thee.” It is a new thing which God was about to do. “Behold!” God in His long-suffering had seemed to overlook her. Now, He says, I am toward thee, looking at her with His all-searching eye, as her Judge. Violence is punished by suffering; deeds of shame by shame. All sin is a whited sepulchre, fair without, foul within. God will strip off the outward fairness, and lay bare the inward foulness. The deepest shame is to lay bare, what the sinner or the world veiled within. “I will discover thy skirts,” i. e., the long-flowing robes which were part of her pomp and dignity, but which were only the veil of her misdeeds. “Through the greatness of thine iniquity have thy skirts been discovered,” says Jeremiah in answer to the heart’s question, “why have these things come upon me?” Upon thy face, where shame is felt. The conscience of thy foulness shall be laid bare before thy face, thy eyes, thy memory continually, so that thou shalt be forced to read therein, whatsoever thou hast done, said, thought. “I will show the nations thy nakedness,” that all may despise, avoid, take example by thee, and praise God for His righteous judgments upon thee. The Evangelist

heard “much people in heaven saying Alleluia” to God that “He hath judged the whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication” Rev_19:1-2. And Isaiah saith, “They shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that hath trangsressed against Me” Isa_66:24.

CLARKE, "I will discover thy skirts upon thy face - It was an ancient, though not a laudable custom, to strip prostitutes naked, or throw their clothes over their heads, and expose them to public view, and public execration. This verse alludes to such a custom.

GILL, "Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts,.... Because her doings were against him; See Gill on Nah_2:13,

and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face; turn up the skirts of her garments over her head, and thereby discover what should be concealed, than which nothing is more disagreeable and abominable to modest persons; it is here threatened she should be used in character as a harlot, or as women oftentimes are by rude soldiers, when a city is taken by them:

and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame; all her charms shall be taken away, and she become odious as a harlot to her former lovers; all her impostures, arts, and tricks, and shameful actions, will be discovered; and her aims and views at universal monarchy will be seen and her weakness to effect it made to appear; and, upon the whole, will become the object of the scorn and derision of kingdoms and nations.

HE�RY 5-7, " Nineveh had with her whoredoms and witchcrafts drawn others to shameful wickedness, and therefore God will load her with shame and contempt (Nah_3:5-7): The Lord of hosts is against her, and then she shall be exposed to the highest degree of disgrace and ignominy, shall not only lose all her charms, but shall be made to appear very odious. When it shall be seen that while she courted her neighbours it was with design to ruin their liberty and property, when all her wicked artifices shall be brought to light, then her shame is discovered to the nations. When her proud pretensions are baffled, and her vain towering hopes of an absolute and universal dominion brought to nought, and she appears not to have been so strong and considerable as she would have been thought to be, then to see the nakedness of the land do they come, and it appears ridiculous. Then do they cast abominable filth upon her, as upon a carted strumpet, and make her vile as the offscouring of all things; that great city, which all nations had made court to and coveted an alliance with, has become a gazing-stock, a laughing stock. Those that formerly looked upon her, and fled to her, in hopes of protection from her, now look upon her and flee from her, for fear of being ruined with her. Note, Those that abuse their honour and interest will justly be disgraced and abandoned, and, because miserable, will be made contemptible, and thereby be made more miserable. When Nineveh is laid waste who will bemoan her? Her trouble will be so great, and her sense of it so deep, as not to admit relief from sympathy, or any comforting considerations; or, if it would, none shall do any such good office: When shall I seek comforters for thee? Note, Those that showed no pity in the day of their

power can expect to find no pity in the day of their fall. When those about Nineveh, that had been deceived by her wiles, come to be undeceived in her ruin, every one shall insult over her, and none bemoan her. This was Nineveh's fate, when she was made a spectacle, or gazing-stock. Note, The greater men's show was in the day of their abused prosperity the greater will their shame be in the day of their deserved destruction. I will make thee an example; so Drusus reads it. Note, When proud sinners are humbled and brought down it is designed that others should take example by them not to lift up themselves in security and insolence when they prosper in the world.

JAMISO�, "I will discover thy skirts upon thy face — that is, discover thy nakedness by throwing up thy skirts upon thy face (the greatest possible insult), pulling them up as high as thy head (Jer_13:22; Eze_16:37-41). I will treat thee not as a matron, but as a harlot whose shame is exposed; her gaudy finery being lifted up off her (Isa_47:2, Isa_47:3). So Nineveh shall be stripped of all her glory and defenses on which she prides herself.

K&D 5-7, "The Lord will plunge Nineveh into shameful misery in consequence. Nah_3:5. “Behold, I come to thee, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts; and uncover thy skirts over thy face, and let nations see they nakedness, and kingdoms thy shame. Nah_3:6. And cast horrible things upon thee, and shame thee, and make thee a gazing-stock.Nah_3:7. And it comes to pass, every one who sees thee will flee before thee, and say, Is Nineveh laid waste? Who will bewail her? whence do I seek comforters for thee?” Nah_3:5.a as in Nah_2:13. The punishment of Nineveh will correspond to her conduct. Her coquetry shall be repaid to her by the uncovering of her nakedness before the nations (cf.

Jer_13:26; Isa_47:3; Hos_2:5). Gillâh, to uncover. Shūlım, fimbriae, the skirts, borders,

or lower end of the long sweeping dress (cf. Exo_28:33-34; Isa_6:1). על�}ניך�, over thy

countenance, so that the train when lifted up is drawn over the face. מער, a contraction of

signifies in 1Ki_7:36 ,ערה from ,מערה an empty space, here nakedness or shame

equivalent to ערוה. This thought is carried out still further in literal terms in Nah_3:6,

Nah_3:7. Shiqqutsım, objects of abhorrence, is used most frequently of idols; but here it

is used in a more general sense for unclean or repulsive things, dirt and filth. Throwing dirt upon any one is a figurative expression for the most ignominious treatment or

greatest contempt. Nibbēl, to treat contemptuously, not with words, as in Mic_7:6, but

with deeds, equivalent to insult or abuse (cf. Jer_14:21). To make it ראיK, the object of

sight, i.e., to give up to open shame, παραδειγµατίζειν (Mat_1:19). ראי, a pausal form of

,the seeing, here the spectacle, like θέατρον in 1Co_4:9. This is evident from Nah_3:7 ,ראי

where ר�יך� contains a play upon ראי. Every one who looks at her will flee from her as an

object of disgust. ש�דה, a rare form of the pual for ש�דה (for the fact, compare Jer_

48:20). The last two clauses express the thought that no one will take pity upon the devastated city, because its fate is so well deserved; compare Isa_51:19, where the same words are used of Jerusalem. Nineveh will not be able to protect herself from destruction even by her great power. The prophet wrests this vain hope away from her by pointing in Isa_51:8. to the fall of the mighty Thebes in Egypt.

CALVIN, "The Prophet confirms here what he has said of the fall of Nineveh; but, as it was stated yesterday, he introduces God as the speaker, that his address might be more powerful. God then testifies here to the Assyrians, that they should have no strife or contention with any mortal being, but with their own judgment; as though he said, “There is no reason for thee to compare thy forces with those of the Chaldeans; but think of this — that I am the punisher of thy crimes. The Chaldeans indeed shall come; chariots shall make a noise and horses shall leap, and horsemen shall shake the earth; they shall brandish the flaming swords, and their spears shall be like lightning; but there is no reason for thee to think that the Chaldeans will, of themselves, break in upon thee: for I guide them by my hidden providence, as it is my purpose to destroy thee; and now the time is come when I shall execute on thee my judgment.”

I am, he says, Jehovah of hosts. The epithet צבאות�tsabaut,�must�be�referred�to�the�

circumstance�of�this�passage;�for�God�declares�here�his�own�power,�that�the�Assyrians�might�not�

think�that�they�could�by�any�means�escape.�He�then�adds,�I�will�disclose�thy�extremities�on�thy�

face�He�alludes�to�the�similitude�which�we�have�lately�observed;�for�harlots�appear�very�fine,�and�

affect�neatness�and�elegance�in�their�dress;�they�not�only�put�on�costly�apparel,�but�also�add�

disguises.�Though�then�this�fine�dress�conceals�the�baseness�of�strumpets,�yet,�were�any�to�take�

the�clothes�of�a�harlot�and�throw�them�over�her�head,�all�her�beauty�would�disappear,�and�all�

men�would�abhor�the�sight:�to�see�her�concealed�parts�disclosed�would�be�a�base�and�filthy�

spectacle.�So�God�declares�that�he�would�strip�Nineveh�of�its�magnificent�dress,�that�she�might�be�

a�detestable�sight,�only�exhibiting�her�own�reproach.�We�now�then�apprehend�the�Prophet’s�

meaning;�as�though�he�said,�“Nineveh�thinks�not�that�she�is�to�perish.�—�How�so?�Because�her�

own�splendor�blinds�her:�and�she�has�willfully�deceived�herself,�and,�by�her�deceits,�has�dazzled�

the�eyes�of�all�nations.�As�then�this�splendor�seems�to�be�a�defense�to�the�city�Nineveh,�I�the�

Lord,�he�says,�will�disclose�her�hidden�parts;�I�will�deprive�the�Assyrians�of�all�this�splendor�in�

which�they�now�glory,�and�which�is�in�high�esteem�and�admiration�among�other�nations.”

And�this�passage�ought�to�be�especially�noticed;�for,�as�I�have�said,�true�dignity�is�not�to�be�found�

in�the�highest�princes.�Princes�ought,�indeed,�to�seek�respect�for�themselves�by�justice,�integrity,�

mercy,�and�a�magnanimous�spirit:�but�they�only�excel�in�mean�artifices;�then�they�shamelessly�

deceive,�lie,�and�swear�falsely;�they�also�flatter,�even�meanly,�when�circumstances�require;�they�

insinuate�themselves�by�various�crafty�means,�and�by�large�promises�decoy�the�simple.�Since�then�

their�true�dignity�is�not�commonly�regarded�by�princes,�this�passage�ought�to�be�observed,�so�that�

we�may�know�that�their�elevation,�which�captivates�the�minds�of�men,�is�an�abomination�before�

God;�for�they�do�not�discern�things,�but�are�blind,�being�dazzled�by�empty�splendor.

Disclose,�then,�he�says,�will�I�thy�shame�He�says�first,�Disclose�will�I�thy�fringes�on�thy�face;�and�

then�I�will�show�to�the�nations�thy�nakedness�And�the�nakedness�of�great�kings�is�shown�to�the�

nations�when�the�Lord�executes�his�vengeance:�for�then�even�the�lowest�of�the�low�will�dare�to�

pass�judgment,�—�“He�deserved�to�perish�with�shame,�for�he�exercised�tyranny�on�his�own�

subjects,�and�spared�not�his�own�neighbors;�he�never�was�a�good�prince;�nay,�he�only�employed�

deceits�and�perjuries.”�When,�therefore�princes�are�cast�down,�every�one,�however�low,�becomes�

a�judge,�and�ascends�as�it�were,�the�tribunal�to�burden�and�load�them�with�reproaches.�And�hence�

the�Prophet�says,�in�the�person�of�God,�Disclose�will�I�thy�fringes�on�thy�face,�and�will�show�to�the�

nations�thy�nakedness,�and�to�kingdoms�thy�filthiness.

BENSON, "Verses 5-7

Nahum 3:5-7. Behold, I will discover thy skirts, &c., upon thy face — Nineveh, as a harlot, had been proud, and appeared beautiful and gay in the gifts of her lovers, but now God would deal with her according to her ways, would send her into captivity naked and bare, exposed to the greatest infamy, or would deal with her as inhuman soldiers deal with captive women. And I will show, &c. — I will expose thy shame to the world, a punishment often inflicted upon harlots: see note on Ezekiel 16:37. I will cast abominable filth upon thee — I will deprive thee of all thine ornaments, and cover thee with shame and reproach. And will set thee as a gazing-stock — I will make a public example of thee. All they that look upon thee shall flee from thee — As being affrighted at the sight of thy dismal condition, and not willing to lend thee any assistance. Who will bemoan her? &c. — Thou didst so offend all people in thy prosperity, that all will rejoice at thy fall, and none will be found to lament or condole with thee.

COFFMAN, "Verse 5

"Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame."

"Uncover thy skirts ..." "This seems to have been a part of the punishment for fornication and adultery (Jeremiah 13:22,26f; Ezekiel 16:36; and Hosea 2:8,9)."[14] Also, based upon Assyrian inscriptions and monuments, Billerbeck and Jeremias' conclusion was that, "It was an Assyrian method of treating female captives."[15] The execution of this terrible punishment "is carried out still further in literal terms in Nahum 3:6,7."[16] Taylor and others reject as totally un-Christian any idea of shameful and humiliating punishment like that in view here. "The statement of what this Deity does is poles removed from the New Testament account of God's character, e.g., in 1John."[17] Such views are not merely inaccurate, they are founded in a remarkable blindness to what Christian teaching actually is. Taylor cited the apostle John, but apparently did not know that the apostle John also detailed in the most extravagant language the judgment of the "Great Whore" in Revelation (Revelation 17-18), and then depicted the saints of all ages rejoicing in her overthrow:

"Hallelujah; for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him ... True and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great harlot, her that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand" (Revelation 19:6,7,2).

"Nineveh, the well-favored harlot will be exposed for what she is, a filthy vagrant, without beauty, virtue, or friend; and such will give rise to a taunting lament by the spectators."[18]SIZE>

CONSTABLE, "Almighty Yahweh repeated that He was against Nineveh (cf. Nahum 2:13). He would expose her shamefulness because of her shameless Acts , as when someone lifted the skirt of a lady over her head so high that he covered her face with it (cf. Isaiah 47:1-3; Jeremiah 13:26-27; Ezekiel 16:37; Hosea 2:3-5; Revelation 17:15-16). Nakedness was a great shame in the ancient world. She who had enslaved the nations ( Nahum 3:4) would have her own nakedness exposed to them.

PETT, "Nahum 3:5-7

“Behold I am against you,” says YHWH of hosts, “and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will let nations look on your nakedness and kingdoms on your shame. I will throw horrible filth at you and treat you with contempt, and make you a gazingstock. And it shall be that all who look on you will shrink from you and say, ‘Wasted is Nineveh; who will bemoan her?’ ”

Because of her sins God will lay Nineveh bare. She will be the laughing stock and abhorrence of nations. The picture is of a disgraced prostitute, grown old and unwanted, and therefore treated with abhorrence and contempt. Those who had once vied for her attention and paid for her favours, now treated her disgracefully and pretended that they had never known her. What she truly was has been revealed. And no one wants her any more. That is the consequence of the life that she had chosen. (But her despisers are as bad, or worse, than she was. There are none who should not feel ashamed). She had offered them a delusion, and now she was exposed, and the same nations who had honoured her, now looked at her in horror. If you lead people into sin they will not thank you in the end. For all will in the end be exposed as what they are like Nineveh. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing (Ecclesiastes 12:14). One day what is done in darkness will be revealed in the light (Luke 12:3).

PULPIT, "I am against thee (see note on Nahum 2:13). The Lord will punish Nineveh with the utmost ignominy, treating her ("the whore," Nahum 3:4) like a harlot or adulteress. Thy skirts. The borders of the long flowing dress which added to her pomp (comp. Isaiah 47:2, etc.; Jeremiah 13:26; Lamentations 1:8). Upon (before) thy face. So that thou mayst know thine own shame. I will show the nations. All men shall see what thou really art, like an adulteress haled before the congregation.

6 I will pelt you with filth,

I will treat you with contempt

and make you a spectacle.

BAR�ES, "And I will cast abominable filth upon thee - Alb.: “like a weight, that what thou wouldest not take heed to as sin, thou mayest feel in punishment.” “Abominable things had God seen” Jer_13:27 in her doings; with abominable things would he punish her. Man would fain sin, and forget it as a thing past. “God maketh him to possess the iniquities of his youth” Job_13:26, and binds them around him, so that they make him to appear what they are, “vile” (compare Wisd. 4:18), “These things hast thou done and I kept silence; - I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. And will set thee as a gazing-stock” Psa_50:21, that all, while they gaze at thee, take warning from thee (compare 2Ch_7:20). “I will cast thee to the ground; before kings will I give thee, for them to gaze upon thee” Eze_28:17. : “Whoever does not amend on occasion of others, others shall be amended on occasion of him.”

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

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

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

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

JAMISO�, "cast abominable filth upon thee — as infamous harlots used to be treated.

gazing stock — exposed to public ignominy as a warning to others (Eze_28:17).

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

He then adds, I will disgrace thee נבל,�nubel,�is�to�fall,�and�it�is�applied�to�dead�bodies;�but�it�

means�also�to�disgrace,�as�it�is�to�be�taken�here.I�will�make�thee�as�the�dung�Some�thinkרואי�,�

ruai,�to�be�dung,�or�something�fetid:�but�as�it�comes�fromראה�,�rae,�to�see,�and�is�in�many�parts�of�

Scripture�taken�for�vision�or�view,�they�are�more�correct,�in�my�judgment,�who�render�it�thus,�I�

will�make�thee�an�example;�so�Jerome�renders�it;�as�though�he�said,�“Thou�shalt�be�a�spectacle�to�

all�nations.”�(241)�And�Nineveh�is�said�to�be�made�an�example,�because�its�ruin�was�more�

memorable�than�that�of�any�other�which�had�previously�happened.�Thou�shalt�then�be�a�

spectacle;�that�is,�the�calamity�which�I�now�denounce�shall�attract�the�observation�of�all.�It�

afterwards�follows�—

COFFMAN,�"Verse�6

"And�I�will�cast�abominable�filth�upon�thee,�and�make�thee�vile,�and�will�set�thee�as�a�gazing�

stock,�And�it�shall�come�to�pass�that�all�they�that�shall�look�upon�thee�shall�flee�from�thee,�and�

say,�Nineveh�is�laid�waste:�who�will�bemoan�her?�whence�shall�I�seek�comforters�for�thee?"

These�two�verses�merely�draw�out�the�description�of�the�punishment�indicated�in�Nahum�3:5.

"Cast�abominable�filth�upon�thee�..."�This�was�probably�what�witnesses�of�such�punishment�

usually�did�to�the�victims�of�it.�Why�such�terrible�punishment?�"Because,�like�a�beautiful�wanton,�

an�image�John�repeats�of�Rome�in�Revelation,�Nineveh�had�lured�the�nations�to�their�death."[19]

"Nineveh�is�laid�waste�..."�"That�`waste'�was�to�be�so�complete�that�for�centuries,�indeed�for�over�

2,000�years,�men�would�not�even�know�with�certainty�where�it�had�been�situated."[20]

"Who�will�bemoan�her�...�?"�As�Smith�put�it,�"Nineveh�gave�rise�to�no�utterance�of�national�

passions,�but�to�the�outraged�conscience�of�mankind."[21]

7 All who see you will flee from you and say,

‘�ineveh is in ruins—who will mourn for her?’

Where can I find anyone to comfort you?”

BAR�ES, "All they that look upon thee shall flee from thee - through terror, lest they should share her plagues, as Israel did, when the earth swallowed up Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and they who “had been made rich by Babylon, stand ajar off, for the fear of her torment. All they who look on thee” Rev_18:15. She was set as a thing to be “gazed at.” He tells the effect on the gazers. “Each one who so gazed” at her should flee; one by one, they should gaze, be scared, flee (compare Psa_31:11; Psa_64:8). Not one should remain. “Who will bemoan her?” Not one should pay her the passing tribute of sympathy at human calamity, the shaking of the head at her woe (compare Job_16:4-5). Whoever had no compassion shall find none.

CLARKE, "Who will bemoan her? - In such cases, who pities the delinquent? She has been the occasion of ruin to multitudes, and now she is deservedly exposed and punished. And so it should be thought concerning Nineveh.

GILL, "And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee,.... As something loathsome and abominable, not fit to be come near unto, or touched; and as astonished and amazed at an object so forlorn and miserable, and lest they should partake of the same punishment:

and say, Nineveh is laid waste; utterly destroyed; its walls broke down, its houses demolished, its substance plundered, and its inhabitants killed, or carried captive; who could have thought it, when it was once so stately, rich, and powerful? but so it is indeed!

who will bemoan her? there are none left in her to do it; and as for others, her neighbours, whom she has oppressed and cruelly used, these will laugh and rejoice, instead of lamenting her case:

whence shall I seek comforters for thee? none from among her inhabitants, being destroyed, or carried into a foreign land; and none from among the nations round about, who will rather deride and insult than pity and comfort; so wretched and miserable would her case be!

JAMISO�, "all ... that look upon thee — when thou hast been made “a gazing stock” (Nah_3:6).

shall flee from thee — as a thing horrible to look upon. Compare “standing afar off,” Rev_18:10.

whence shall I seek comforters for thee? — Compare Isa_51:19, which Nahum had before his mind.

CALVIN, "When he says, ראיך-כל ,�cal-raik,�‘whosoever�sees�thee,’�we�hence�learn�again�that�

��ruai,�at�the�end�of�the�last�verse,�is�to�be�taken�for�example�or�spectacle;�for�the�Prophet,רואי

proceeds�with�the�same�subject:�I�will�make�thee,�he�says,an�example,�or�a�spectacle.�—�For�what�

purpose?�that�whosoever�sees�thee�may�depart�from�thee�(242)�And�it�was�an�evidence�of�horror,�

though�some�think�it�to�have�been�a�reward�for�her�cruelty,�that�no�one�came�to�Nineveh,�but�that�

she�was�forsaken�by�all�friends�in�her�desolation.�And�they�take�in�the�same�sense�what�follows,�

Who�will�condole�with�her?�and�whence�shall�I�seek�comforters�for�thee?�For�they�think�that�the�

Ninevites�are�here�reproached�for�their�cruelty,�because�they�made�themselves�so�hated�by�all�

that�they�were�unworthy�of�sympathy;�for�they�spared�none,�they�allowed�themselves�full�liberty�

in�injuring�others,�they�had�gained�the�hatred�of�all�the�world.�Hence�some�think�that�what�is�

here�intimated�is,�that�the�Ninevites�were�justly�detested�by�and�so�that�no�one�condoled�with�

them�in�so�great�a�calamity,�inasmuch�as�they�had�been�injurious�to�all:�“It�shall�then�happen,�that�

whosoever�sees�thee�shall�go�far�away�from�thee�and�shall�say,�Wasted�is�Nineveh;�who�will�

condole�with�her?�Whence�shall�I�call�comforters�to�her?”

But�I�know�not�whether�this�refined�meaning�came�into�the�Prophet’s�mind.�We�may�explain�the�

words�more�simply,�that�all�would�flee�far�away�as�a�proof�of�their�horrors�and�that�the�calamity�

would�be�such,�that�no�lamentation�would�correspond�with�it.�Who�will�be�able�to�console�with�

her?�that�is,�were�the�greatness�of�her�calamity�duly�weighed,�though�all�were�to�weep�and�utter�

their�meanings,�it�would�not�yet�be�sufficient:�all�lamentations�would�be�far�unequal�to�so�great�a�

calamity.�The�Prophet�seems�rather�to�mean�this.�Who�then�shall�condole�with�her?�and�whence�

shall�I�seek�comforters,�as�though�he�said,�“The�ruin�of�so�splendid�a�city�will�not�be�of�an�

ordinary�kind,�but�what�cannot�be�equaled�by�any�lamentations.”�It�then�follows�—

CONSTABLE, "It is no wonder then that everyone who saw Nineveh would recoil from

her and remark on her devastated condition. No one would grieve over Nineveh"s destruction because all would be glad that she got what she deserved. Mourners over her demise would not be found because people would rejoice, not sorrow, over her humiliation ( Nahum 3:19). Even a few mourners would attend any funeral in the ancient Near East, even if relatives had to pay them to attend. But no one would agree to weep for Nineveh, even if paid to do so. This is hyperbole, but the point is clear: the world would rejoice when Nineveh fell.

PETT, "Nahum 3:7-10

“From where shall I seek comforters for you? Are you better than No-amon (Thebes) which was situated among the rivers, which had waters round about her. Whose rampart was the River (the Nile), and whose wall was of the River? Sudan and Egypt were her strength, and it was immeasurable, Put and the Libyans were your helpers. Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots for her honourable men, and her great men were bound in chains.”

Thebes was captured by the Assyrians in 663 BC. The fathers of these very Ninevites had descended on her and destroyed her, even though she was a great city, protected by surrounding water and strong walls, and had powerful allies. Her king was Sudanese, who at this time ruled Egypt. Yes, Nineveh had destroyed her, and taken away her finest people into captivity (a particularly nasty trait of the Assyrians and Babylonians), and had slaughtered her innocent children, and had made slaves of her nobles and had bound in chains her finest warriors.

And now what she had done to Thebes was to be done to her. She too would be shamed. And why should she see herself as any different? We must remember that how we treat others is the measure by which we should expect to be treated.

8 Are you better than Thebes,

situated on the �ile,

with water around her?

The river was her defense,

the waters her wall.

BAR�ES, "Art thou better - More populous or more powerful, “than the populous No?” rather than No-Ammon, so called from the idol Ammon, worshiped there. No-Ammon, (or, as it is deciphered in the Cuneiform Inscriptions, Nia), meaning probably “the portion of Ammon” , was the sacred name of the capital of Upper Egypt, which, under its common name, Thebes, was far-famed, even in the time of Homer, for its continually accruing wealth, its military power, its 20,000 chariots, its vast dimensions attested by its 100 gates .

Existing earlier, as the capital of Upper Egypt, its grandeur began in the 18th dynasty, alter the expulsion of the Hyksos, or Semitic conquerors of Egypt. Its Pharaohs were conquerors, during the 18th to 20th dynasties, 1706-1110 b.c. - about six centuries. It was then the center of a world empire. Under a disguised name , its rulers were celebrated in Geek story also, for their worldwide conquests. The Greek statements have in some main points been verified by the decipherment of the hieroglyphics. The monuments relate their victories in far Asia, and mention Nineveh itself among the people who paid tribute to them. They warred and conquered from the Soudan to Mesopotamia. A monument of Tothmosis I (1066 b.c.) still exists at Kerman, between the 20th and 19th degrees latitude, boasting, in language like that of the Assyrian conquerors; “All lands are subdued, and bring their tributes for the first time to the gracious god” . “The frontier of Egypt,” they say , “extends Southward to the mountain of Apta (in Abyssinia) and Northward to the furthest dwellings of the Asiatics.” The hyperbolic statements are too undefined for history , but widely-conquering monarchs could alone have used them. : “At all periods of history, the possession of the country which we call Soudan (the Black country) comprising Nubia, and which the ancients called by the collective name of Kous (Cush) or Aethiopia, has been an exhaustless source of wealth to Egypt. Whether by way of war or of commerce, barks laden with flocks, corn, hides, ivory, precious woods, stones and metals, and many other products of those regions, descended the Nile into Egypt, to fill the treasures of the temples and of the court of the Pharaohs: and of metals, especially gold, mines whereof were worked by captives and slaves, whose Egyptian name noub seems to have been the origin of the name Nubia, the first province S. of Egypt.” “The conquered country of Soudan, called Kous in the hieroglyphic inscriptions, was governed by Egyptian princes of the royal family, who bore the name of ‘prince royal of Kous.’“

But the prophet’s appeal to Nineveh is the more striking, because No, in its situation, its commerce, the sources of its wealth, its relation to the country which lay between them, had been another and earlier Nineveh. Only, as No had formerly conquered and exacted tribute from all those nations, even to Nineveh itself, so now, under Sargon and Sennacherib, Nineveh had reversed all those successes, and displaced the Empire of Egypt by its own, and taken No itself. No had, under its Tothmoses, Amenophes, Sethos, the Ousertesens, sent its messengers Nah_2:13, the leviers of its tribute, had brought off from Asia that countless mass of human strength, the captives, who (as Israel, before its deliverance, accomplished its hard labors) completed those gigantic works, which, even after 2000 years of decay, are still the marvel of the civilized world. Tothmosis I, after subduing the Sasou, brought back countless captives from Naharina (Mesopotamia); Tothmosis III, in 19 years of conquests, (1603-1585 b.c.) “raised the Egyptian empire to the height of its greatness. Tothmosis repeatedly attacked the most powerful people of Asia, as the Routen (Assyrians?) with a number of subordinate kingdoms, such as Asshur, Babel, Nineveh, Singar; such as the Remenen or Armenians, the Zahi or Phoenicians, the Cheta or Hittites, and manymore. We learn, by the description of the objects of the booty, sent to Egypt by land and sea, counted by number and weight, many

curious details as to the industry of the conquered peoples of central Asia, which do honor to the civilization of that time, and verify the tradition that the Egyptian kings set up stelae in conquered countries, in memory of their victories. Tothmosis III. set up his stele in Mesopotamia, ‘for having enlarged the frontiers of Egypt.’” Amenophis too is related to have “taken the fortress of Nenii (Nineveh).” : “He returned from the country of the higher Routen, where he had beaten all his enemies to enlarge the frontiers of the land of Egypt” : “he took possession of the people of the South, and chastised the people of the North:” “at Abd-el-Kournah” he was represented as “having for his footstool the heads and backs of five peoples of the S. and four peoples of the North (Asiatics).” : “Among the names of the peoples, who submitted to Egypt, are the Nubians, the Asiatic shepherds, the inhabitants of Cyprus and Mesopotamia.” : “The world in its length and its breadth” is promised by the sphinx to Tothmosis IV. He is represented as “subduer of the negroes.”

Under Amenophis III, the Memnon of the Greeks , “the Egyptian empire extended Northward to Mesopotamia, Southward to the land of Karou.” He enlarged and beautified No, which had from him the temple of Louksor, and his vocal statue , “all people bringing their tributes, their children, their horses, a mass of silver, of iron and ivory from countries, the roads whereto we know not.” The king Horus is saluted as “the sun of the nine people; great is thy name to the country of Ethiopia” ; “the gracious god returns, having subdued the great of all people.” Seti I (or Sethos) is exhibited , as reverenced by the Armenians, conquering the Sasou, the “Hittites, Naharina (Mesopotamia), the Routen (Assyrians?) the Pount, or Arabs in the South of Arabia, the Amari or Amorites, and Kedes, perhaps Edessa.” Rameses II, or the great (identified with the Pharaoh of the Exodus ), conquered the Hittites in the North; in the South it is recorded , “the gracious god, who defeated the nine people, who massacred myriads in a moment, annihilated the people overthrown in their blood, yet was there no other with him.”

The 20th Dynasty (1288-1110 b.c.) began again with conquests. : “Rameses III. triumphed over great confederations of Libyans and Syrians and the Isles of the Mediterranean. He is the only king who, as the monuments shew, carried on war at once by land and sea.” Beside many names unknown to us, the Hittites, Amorites, Circesium, Aratus, Philistines, Phoenicia, Sasou, Pount, are again recognized. North, South East and West are declared to be tributary to him, and of the North it is said , “The people, who knew not Egypt, come to thee, bringing gold and silver, lapis-lazuli, all precious stones.” He adorned Thebes with the great temple of Medinet-Abou and the Ramesseum . The brief notices of following Rameses’ speak of internal prosperity and wealth: a fuller account of Rameses XII speaks of his “being in Mesopotamia to exact the annual tribute,” how “the kings of all countries prostrated themselves before him, and the king of the country of Bouchten (it has been conjectured, Bagistan, or Ecbatana) presented to him tribute and his daughter.” : “He is the last Pharaoh who goes to Mesopotamia, to collect the annual tributes of the petty kingdoms of that country.”

On this side of the Euphrates, Egypt still retained some possessions to the time of Necho, for it is said, “the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt” 2Ki_24:7. Thebes continued to be embellished alike by “the high priests of Ammon,” who displaced the ancient line , and kings of the Bubastite Dynasty, Sesonchis I or Sisak , Takelothis II , and Sesonchis III . The Ethiopian dynasty of Sabakos and Tearko or Tirhaka in another way illustrates the importance of No. The Ethiopian conquerors chose it as their royal city. There, in the time of Sabakos, Syria brought it tribute ; there Tirhaka set up the records of his victories ; and great must have been the conqueror, whom Strabo put on a line with

Sesostris .

Its site marked it out for a great capital; and as such the Ethiopian conqueror seized it. The hills on either side retired, encircling the plain, through the center of which the Nile brought down its wealth, connecting it with the untold riches of the south. : “They formed a vast circus, where the ancient metropolis expaneled itself On the West, the Lybian chain presents abrupt declivities which command this side of the plain, and which bend away above Bab-el-molouk, to end near Kournah at the very bank of the river. On the East, heights, softer and nearer, descend in long declivities toward Louksor and Karnak, and their crests do not approach the Nile until after Medamout, an hour or more below Karnak.” The breadth of the valley, being about 10 miles , the city (of which, Strabo says , “traces are now seen of its magnitude, 80 stadia in length”) must have occupied the whole. : “The city embraced the great space, which is now commonly called the plain of Thebes and which is divided by the Nile into two halves, an Eastern and a Western, the first bounded by the edge of the Arabian wilderness, the latter by the hills of the dead of the steep Libyan chain.”

The capital of Egypt, which was identified of old with Egypt itself , thus lay under the natural guardianship of the encircling hills which expanded to receive it, divided into two by the river which was a wall to both. The chains of hills, on either side were themselves fenced in on East and West by the great sand-deserts unapproachable by an army. The long valley of the Nile was the only access to an enemy. It occupied apparently the victorious army of Asshurbanipal “a month and ten days” to march from Memphis to Thebes. : “At Thebes itself there are still remains of walls and fortifications, strong, skillfully constructed, and in good preservation, as there are also in other Egyptian towns above and below it. The crescent-shaped ridge of hills approaches so close to the river at each end as to admit of troops defiling past, but not spreading out or maneuvering. At each of these ends is a small old fort of the purely Egyptian, i. e., the ante-Hellenic period. Both above and below there are several similar crescent sweeps in the same chain of hills, and at each angle a similar fort.”

All successive monarchs, during more centuries than have passed since our Lord came, successively beautified it. Everything is gigantic, bearing witness to the enormous mass of human strength, which its victorious kings had gathered from all nations to toil for its and their glorification. Wonderful is it now in its decay, desolation, death; one great idol-temple of its gods and an apotheosis of its kings, as sons of its gods. : “What spires are to a modern city, what the towers of a cathedral are to the nave and choir, that the statues of the Pharaohs were to the streets and temples of Thebes. The ground is strewn with their fragments; the avenues of them towered high above plain and houses. Three of gigantic size still remain. One was the granite statue of Rameses himself, who sat on the rightside of the entrance to his palace. - The only part of the temple or palace, at all in proportion to him, must have been the gateway, which rose in pyramidal towers, now broken down and rolling in a wild ruin down to the plain.”

It was that self-deifying, against which Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy; “Speak and say; thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself” Eze_29:3. : “Everywhere the same colossal proportions are preserved. Everywhere the king is conquering, ruling, worshiping, worshiped. The palace is the temple. The king is priest. He and his horses are ten times the size of the rest of the army. Alike in battle and in worship, he is of the same stature as the gods themselves. Most striking is the familiar gentleness, with which, one on each side, they take him by each hand, as one of their own order, and then, in the next compartment, introduce him to Ammon, and the lion-headed goddess. Every distinction, except of

degree, between divinity and royalty is entirely leveled.”

Gigantic dimensions picture to the eye the ideal greatness, which is the key to the architecture of No. : “Two other statues alone remain of an avenue of eighteen similar or nearly similar statues, some of whose remnants lie in the field behind them, which led to the palace of Amenophis III, every one of the statues being Amenophis himself, thus giving in multiplication what Rameses gained in solitary elevation.” : “Their statues were all of one piece.” Science still cannot explain, how a mass of nearly 890 tons of granite was excavated at Syene, transported and set up at Thebes, or how destroyed .

Nozrani, In Egypt and Syria, p. 278: “The temper of the tools, which cut adamantine stone as sharply and closely as an ordinary scoop cuts an ordinary cheese, is still a mystery.” Everything is in proportion. The two sitting colossi, whose “breadth across the shoulders is eighteen feet, their height forty-seven feet, fifty-three above the plain, or, with the half-buried pedestal, sixty feet, were once connected by an avenue of sphinxes of eleven hundred feet with what is now ‘Kom-el-Hettan,’ or ‘the mound of sand-stone,’ which marks the site of another palace and temple of Amenophis III.; and, to judge from the little that remains, it must have held a conspicuous rank among the finest monuments of Thebes. All that now exists of the interior are the bases of its columns, some broken statues, and Syenite sphinxes of the king, with several lionheaded figures of black granite” .

The four villages, where are the chief remaining temples, Karnak, Luksor, Medinet-Abou, Kournah, form a great quadrilateral , each of whose sides is about one and a half mile, and the whole compass accordingly six miles. The avenue of six hundred sphinxes, which joined the temple of Luksor with Karnak must have been one and a half mile long : one of its obelisks is a remarkable ornament of Paris. Mostly massiveness is the characteristic, since strength and might were their ideal. Yet the massive columns still preserved, as in the temple of Rameses II , are even of piercing beauty . And for the temple of Karnak! Its enclosure, which was some two miles in circumference , bears the names of Monarchs removed from one another, according to the Chronology, by above two thousand years . : “A stupendous colonnade, of which one pillar only remains erect, once extended across its great court, connecting the W. gate of entrance with that at its extremity. The towers of the Eastern gate are mere heaps of stones, poured down into the court on one side and the great hall on the other; giant columns have been swept away like reeds before the mighty avalanche, and one hardly misses them. And in that hall, of 170 feet by 329 feet, 134 columns of colossal proportions supported its roof; twelve of them, 62 feet high and about 35 in circumference, and on each side a forest of 66 columns, 42 feet 5 in. in height. Beyond the center avenue are seen obelisks, gateways and masses of masonry; every portion of these gigantic ruins is covered with sculpture most admirably executed, and every column has been richly painted.”

Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. xli.: “Imagine a long vista of courts and doorways and colonnades and halls; here and there an obelisk shooting up out of the ruins, and interrupting the opening view of the forest of columns. - This mass of ruins, some rolled down in avalanches of stone, others perfect and painted, as when they were first built, is approached on every side by avenues of gateways. East and West, North and South, these vast approaches are found. Some are shattered, but in every approach some remain; and in some can be traced, beside, the further avenues, still in parts remaining by hundreds together, avenues of ram-headed sphinxes. Every Egyptian temple has, or ought to have, one of those grand gateways, formed of two sloping towers, with the high perpendicular front between.” Then, over and above, is “their multiplied concentration. -Close before almost every gateway in this vast array were the colossal figures, usually in granite, of the great Rameses, sometimes in white and red marble, of Amenophis and of

Thothmes. Close by them, were pairs of towering obelisks, which can generally be traced by pedestals on either side. - You have only to set up again the fallen obelisks which lie at your feet; to conceive the columns, as they are still seen in parts, overspreading the whole; to reproduce all the statues, like those which still remain in their august niches, to gaze on the painted wails and pillars of the immense ball, which even now can never be seen without a thrill of awe, and you have ancient Thebes before you.”

And most of these paintings were records of their past might. : “There remained on the massive buildings Egyptian letters, recording their former wealthiness; and one of the elder priests, bidden to interpret his native language, related that of old 700,000 of military age dwelt there; and with that army king Rhamses gained possession of Libya, Ethiopia, the Medes and Persians, the Bactrian and Scythian; and held in his empire the countries which the Syrians and Armenians and neighboring Cappadocians inhabit, the Bithynian also and Lycian to the sea. There were read tee the tributes imposed on the natives, the weight of silver amid gold; the number of arms and horses, and the gifts to the temples, ivory and frankincense, and what supplies of corn and utensils each nation should pay, not less magnificent than are now enjoined by Parthian violence or by Roman power.”

That was situate among the rivers - Literally, “the dweller, she that dwelleth.” Perhaps the prophet wished to express the security and ease, in which she dwelt “among the rivers.” They encircled, folded round her, as it were, so that she was a little world in herself, secluded from all who would approach to hurt her. The prophet’s word, “rivers” , is especially used of the branches or canals of the Nile, which is also called the “sea” . The Nile passed through No, and doubtless its canals encircled it. Egypt is said by a pagan to be “walled by the Nile as an everlasting wall,” “Whose rampart was (rampart is) the sea.” Wall and rampart are, properly, the outer and inner wall of a city, the wall and forewall, so to speak. For all walls and all defenses, her enfolding walls of sea would suffice. Strong she was in herself; strong also in her helpers.

CLARKE, "Art thou better than populous No - No-Ammon, or Diospolis, in the Delta, on one branch of the Nile. This is supposed to be the city mentioned by Nahum; and which had been lately destroyed, probably by the Chaldeans.

The waters round about it - Being situated in the Delta, it had the fork of two branches of the Nile to defend it by land; and its barrier or wall was the sea, the Mediterranean, into which these branches emptied themselves: so that this city, and the place it stood on, were wholly surrounded by the waters.

GILL, "Art thou better than populous No,.... Or No Amon, a city in Egypt so called, not because the kings of Egypt were nursed and brought up there, as Jarchi and Abarbinel; see Pro_8:30 but from Ham the son of Noah, whose land Egypt was; or from Jupiter Ammon, worshipped there. No Amon signifies the mansion or palace of Ham, or Hamon; the Egyptians, as Herodotus says (h), call Jupiter by the name of Ammon. The Targum interprets it of Alexandria the great, a city so called long after this, when it was rebuilt by Alexander the great; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, understand it: others take Diospolis or Thebes to be meant, famous in Homer (i) for its hundred gates; though some think this was not the number of the gates of the city, but of the temples in it; and others are of opinion that these were so many palaces of princes (k). The city was built by Osiris; or, according to others, by Busiris, and seems more likely to be the place here

meant; since here was a temple dedicated to Jupiter, called by the Egyptians Ammon, as Diodorus Siculus (l) relates, and was a very large and populous city. Indeed, according to the above historian, it was in compass but a seventeen and a half miles (m); which is to be understood of the city when first built, and before it was enlarged; for it must have been a great deal larger in later times, if we may judge of it by its ruins. Strabo (n), who was an eyewitness of them quickly after its last destruction by Cornelius Gallus, says, the footsteps of its largeness were seen fourscore furlongs in length, or ten miles; and even this was but small, in comparison of what it was before it was destroyed by Cambyses, when it is said to reach four hundred and twenty furlongs, or fifty two miles and a half (o). It was the metropolis of all Egypt; and formerly the whole country was called after its name, as Herodotus (p) observes. The accounts given of its inhabitants are incredible, and particularly of the soldiers it sent out; according to the epitaph of Rhampses, seven hundred thousand soldiers dwelt in it; which number Diodorus Siculus (q) gives to all the people in Egypt; but, though it may seem too large for Thebes, must be too little for all Egypt; especially if what Agrippa in Josephus (r) says is right, that Egypt, from Ethiopia and the borders of India to Alexandria, had no less than 7,500,000 inhabitants: however, if Pomponius Mela (s) may be credited, when it was necessary, the hundred palaces in Thebes could each of them send out ten thousand armed men, or, as some say, twenty thousand; and if what Diodorus Siculus (t) affirms is true, that twenty thousand chariots used to go out from thence to war, this shows it to have been a very populous city indeed, and might well be called "populous" No; but now it is utterly destroyed, first by the Assyrians and Babylonians, then by the Persians, and last of all by the Romans; the first destruction must be here referred to, if this city is designed. Strabo (u) says in his time it was only inhabited in villages; and Juvenal (w) speaks of it as wholly lying in ruins; and Pausanias (x), making mention of it with other cities which abounded with riches, says they were reduced to the fortune of a middling private man, yea, were brought to nothing. It is now, or what is built on the spot, or near it, called Luxxor, or Lukorcen (y). Some (z) think the city Memphis is meant, so Vitringa on Isa_19:5. See Gill on Eze_30:14, Eze_30:15, this was for many ages the metropolis of all Egypt. Strabo (a) calls it a large and "populous" city, and full of men, and second to Alexandria in his time. The compass of it, when first built, was eighteen and three quarter miles (b); but now there is no more remaining of it than if there had never been such a city; nay, it is not easy to say where it once stood: now Nineveh is asked, or its inhabitants, if it could be thought that their city was in a better and safer condition than this city; it might indeed, according to the account of it by historians, and as in the prophecy of Jonah, be larger, and its inhabitants more numerous; but not better fortified, which seems to be the thing chiefly respected, as follows:

that was situate among the rivers; the canals of the river Nile:

that had the waters round about it: a moat on every side, either naturally or artificially:

whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? which agrees with Alexandria, according to the description of it by Strabo (c), Solinus (d), and Josephus (e), which had two seas on each side of it; the Egyptian sea on the north, and the lake Mareotis on the south, as well as had the canals of the Nile running into it from various parts; and is represented as very difficult of access, through the sea, rivers, and marshy places about it; and, besides, might have a wall towards the sea, as by this account it should seem, as well as the sea itself was a wall and rampart to it: and this description may also agree with Diospolis or Thebes, which, though more inland, yet, as Bochart (f)

observes, it had, as all Egypt had, the two seas, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and the canals of the Nile, which might be said to be as a rampart to it. So Isocrates (g)says of all Egypt, that it is fortified with an immortal wall, the Nile, which not only affords a defence, but sufficient food, and is insuperable and inexpugnable; nor is it unusual, as to call rivers and lakes seas, so particularly the Nile, and its canals; see Isa_11:15, and in the Alcoran the Nile is often called a sea (h). There is another Diospolis in Egypt, near Mendes, which, as Strabo (i) says, had lakes about it; but this, being a more obscure place, is not likely to be intended here; though Father Calmet (k) is of opinion that it is here meant; it being situated in the Delta, on one of the arms of the Nile, between Busiris to the south, and Mendes to the north. The description seems to agree better with Memphis, whose builder Uchoreus, as Diodorus Siculus (l) says, chose a very convenient place for it, where the Nile divided itself into many parts, and made the Delta, so called from its figure; and which he made wonderfully strong, after this manner: whereas the Nile flowed round the city, being built within the ancient bed of it, and at its increase would overflow it; he cast up a very great mound or rampart to the south, which was a defence against the swell of the river, and was of the use of a fortress against enemies by land; and on the other parts all about he dug a large and deep lake, which received a very great deal of the river, and filled every place about the city but where the mound (or rampart) was built, and so made it amazingly strong; whence the kings after him left Thebes, and had their palace and court here; and so Herodotus, who makes Menes to be the builder of it, says (m), that without the city he caused lakes to be dug from the river to the north, and to the west, for to the east the Nile itself bounded it; and Josephus (n), who also makes Minaeus, or Menes, the first Pharaoh, to be the builder of it, speaks of that and the sea together, as if not far off each other: now, if a city so populous, and so well fortified by art and nature, as each of these were, was taken, and its inhabitants carried captive, Nineveh could not depend on her numbers or situation for safety, which were not more or better than this.

HE�RY 8-11, "Nineveh has been told that God is against her, and then none can be for her, to stand her in any stead; yet she sets God himself at defiance, and his power and justice, and says, I shall have peace. Threatened folks live long; therefore here the prophet largely shows how vain her confidences would prove and insufficient to ward off the judgment of God. To convince them of this,

I. He shows them that other places, which had been as strong and as secure as they, could not keep their ground against the judgments of God. Nineveh shall fall unpitied and uncomforted (for miserable comforters will those prove who speak peace to those on whom God will fasten trouble), and she shall not be able to help herself: Art thou better than populous No? Nah_3:8. He takes them off from their vain confidences by quoting precedents. The city mentioned is No, a great city in the land of Egypt (Jer_46:25), No-Ammon, so some read it both there and here. We read of it, Eze_30:14-16. Some think it was Diospolis, others Alexandria. As God said to Jerusalem, Go, see what I did to Shiloh(Jer_7:12), so to Nineveh that great city, Go, see what I did to populous No. Note, It will help to keep us in a holy fear of the judgments of God to consider that we are not better than those that have fallen under those judgments before us. We deserve them as much, and are as little able to grapple with them. This also should help to reconcile us to afflictions. Are we better than such and such, who were in like manner exercised? Nay, were not they better than we, and less likely to be afflicted? Now, concerning No, observe, 1. How firm her standing seemed to be, Nah_3:8. She was fortified both by nature and art, was situate among the rivers. Nile, in several branches, not only watered her fields, but guarded her wall. Her rampart was the sea, the lake of Mareotis, an Egyptian sea, like the sea of Tiberias. Her wall was from the sea; it was fenced with a

wall which was thought to make the place impregnable. It was also supported by its interests and alliances abroad, Nah_3:9. Ethiopia, or Arabia, was her strength, either by the wealth brought to her in a way of trade or by the auxiliary forces furnished for military service. The whole country of Egypt also contributed to the strength of this populous city; so that it was infinite, and there was no end of it (so it might be rendered); She set no bounds to her ambition and knew no end of her wealth and strength; people flocked to her endlessly, and she thought there never would be any end of it; but it is God's prerogative to be infinite. Put and Lubim were thy helpers, two neighbouring countries of Africa, Mauritania and Libya, that is, Libya Cyrenica, a country that Egypt had much dependence upon. No, thus helped, seemed to sit as a queen, and was not likely to see any sorrow. But, 2. See how fatal her fall proved to be (v, 10): Yet was she carried away, and her strength failed her; even she that was so strong, so secure, yet went into captivity. This refers to some destruction of that city which was then well-known, and probably fresh in memory, though not recorded in history; for the destruction of it by Nebuchadnezzar (if we should understand this prophetically) could not be made an example to Nineveh; for the reducing of Nineveh was one of the first of his victories and that of Egypt one of the last. The strength and grandeur of that great city could not be its protection from military execution. (1.) Not from that which was most barbarous; for her young children had no compassion shown them, but were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets by the merciless conquerors. (2.) Not from that which was most inglorious and disgraceful: They cast lots for her honourable menthat were made prisoners of war, who should have them for their slaves. So many had they of them that they knew not what to do with them, but they made sport with throwing dice for them; all her great men, that used to be adorned on state-days with chains of gold, were now bound in chains of iron; they were pinioned or handcuffed (so the word properly signifies), not only as slaves, but as condemned malefactors. What a mortification was this to populous No, to have her honourable men and great men, that were her pride and confidence, thus abused! Now hence he infers against Nineveh (Nah_3:11), “Thou also shalt be intoxicated, infatuated; thou also shalt reel and stagger, as drunk with the cup of the Lord's fury, that shall be put into thy hand” (see Jer_25:17, Jer_25:27); “Thou shalt fall and rise no more. The cup shall go round, and come to thy turn, O Nineveh! to drink off at last, and shall be to thee as the waters of jealousy.”

JAMISO�, "populous No — rather, as Hebrew, “No-ammon,” the Egyptian name for Thebes in Upper Egypt; meaning the portion or possession of Ammon, the Egyptian Jupiter (whence the Greeks called the city Diospolis), who was especially worshipped there. The Egyptian inscriptions call the god Amon-re, that is, Amon the Sun; he is represented as a human figure with a ram’s head, seated on a chair (Jer_46:25; Eze_30:14-16). The blow inflicted on No-ammon, described in Nah_3:10, was probably by the Assyrian Sargon (see on Isa_18:1; see on Isa_20:1). As Thebes, with all her resources, was overcome by Assyria, so Assyrian Nineveh, notwithstanding all her might, in her turn, shall be overcome by Babylon. English Version, “populous,” if correct, implies that No’s large population did not save her from destruction.

situate among the rivers — probably the channels into which the Nile here divides (compare Isa_19:6-8). Thebes lay on both sides of the river. It was famed in Homer’s time for its hundred gates [Iliad, 9.381]. Its ruins still describe a circumference of twenty-seven miles. Of them the temples of Luxor and Karnak, east of the river, are most famous. The colonnade of the former, and the grand hall of the latter, are of stupendous dimensions. One wall still represents the expedition of Shishak against Jerusalem under Rehoboam (1Ki_14:25; 2Ch_12:2-9).

whose ... wall was from the sea — that is, rose up “from the sea.” Maurer translates, “whose wall consisted of the sea.” But this would be a mere repetition of the former clause. The Nile is called a sea, from its appearance in the annual flood (Isa_19:5).

K&D 8-10, "Nineveh will share the fate of No-Ammon. - Nah_3:8. “Art thou better than No-amon, that sat by rivers, waters round about her, whose bulwark was the sea, her wall of sea? Nah_3:9. Ethiopians and Egyptians were (her) strong men, there is no end; Phut and Libyans were for thy help. Nah_3:10. She also has gone to transportation, into captivity; her children were also dashed in pieces at the corners of all roads; upon her nobles they cast the lot, and all her great men were bound in

chains.” התיטבי for התיטבי, for the sake of euphony, the imperfect kal of יטב, to be good,

used to denote prosperity in Gen_12:13 and Gen_40:14, is applied here to the prosperous condition of the city, which was rendered strong both by its situation and its

resources. נא��מון, i.e., probably “dwelling (נא contracted from נוא, cf. נאות) of Amon,” the

sacred name of the celebrated city of Thebes in Upper Egypt, called in Egyptian P-amen,

i.e., house of the god Amun, who had a celebrated temple there (Herod. i. 182, ii. 42; see

Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. i. p. 177). The Greeks called it ∆ι�ς�πόλις, generally with the

predicate ��µεγάλη (Diod. Sic. i. 45), or from the profane name of the city, which was

Apet according to Brugsch (possibly a throne, seat, or bank), and with the feminine

article prefixed, Tapet, or Tape, or Tepe, Θήβη, generally used in the plural Θ�βαι. This

strong royal city, which was described even by Homer (Il. ix. 383) as  κατόµπυλος, and in

which the Pharaohs of the 18th to the 20th dynasties, from Amosis to the last Rameses, resided, and created those works of architecture which were admired by Greeks and Romans, and the remains of which still fill the visitor with astonishment, was situated on both banks of the river Nile, which was 1500 feet in breadth at that point, and was built upon a broad plain formed by the falling back of the Libyan and Arabian mountain wall, over which there are now scattered nine larger or smaller fellah-villages, including upon the eastern bank Karnak and Luxor, and upon the western Gurnah and Medinet

Abu, with their plantations of date-palms, sugar-canes, corn, etc. שבה�\יאריםPה, who sits

there, i.e., dwells quietly and securely, on the streams of the Nile. The plural יארים refers

to the Nile with its canals, which surrounded the city, as we may see from what follows:

“water round about her.” אשר־חיל, not which is a fortress of the sea (Hitzig), but whose

bulwark is sea. חיל (for £חיל) does not mean the fortified place (Hitzig), but the

fortification, bulwark, applied primarily to the moats of a fortification, with the wall belonging to it; then, in the broader sense, the defence of a city in distinction from the

actual wall (cf. Isa_26:1; Lam_2:8). םPמ, consisting of sea is its wall, i.e., its wall is

formed of sea. Great rivers are frequently called yâm, sea, in rhetorical and poetical

diction: for example, the Euphrates in Isa_27:1; Jer_51:36; and the Nile in Isa_18:2; Isa_19:5; Job_41:23. The Nile is still called by the Beduins bahr, i.e., sea, and when it overflows it really resembles a sea.

To the natural strength of Thebes there was also added the strength of the warlike nations at her command. Cush, i.e., Ethiopians in the stricter sense, and Mitsraim, Egyptians, the two tribes descended from Ham, according to Gen_10:6, who formed the

Egyptian kingdom before the fall of Thebes, and under the 25th (Ethiopian) dynasty.

strength; it is written without any suffix, which ,עצם as in Isa_40:29; Isa_47:9, for ,עצמה

may easily be supplied from the context. The corresponding words to עצמה in the parallel

clause are ואין�קצה (with Vav cop.): Egyptians, as for them there is no number; equivalent

to an innumerable multitude. To these there were to be added the auxiliary tribes: Put, i.e., the Libyans in the broader sense, who had spread themselves out over the northern

part of Africa as far as Mauritania (see at Gen_10:6); and Lubim = Lehâbhım, the Libyans

in the narrower sense, probably the Libyaegyptii of the ancients (see at Gen_10:13).

Nahum addresses No-amon itself, to give greater life to the (cf. Psa_35:2) \עזרתך�

description. Notwithstanding all this might, No-amon had to wander into captivity.

Laggōlâh and basshebhı are not tautological. Laggōlâh, for emigration, is strengthened by

basshebhı into captivity. The perfect הלכה is obviously not to be taken prophetically. The

very antithesis of ם־היא�הלכה¤ and ריKם־�¥�¥ש¤ (Nah_3:11) shows to itself that הלכה refers

to the past, as ריKש¥ does to the future; yea, the facts themselves require that Nahum

should be understood as pointing to the fate which the powerful city of Thebes had already experienced. For it must be an event that has already occurred, and not something still in the future, which he holds up before Nineveh as a mirror of the fate that is awaiting it. The clauses which follow depict the cruelties that were generally

associated with the taking of an enemy's cities. For עלליה�וגו�roF�.se, see Hos_14:1; Isa_

13:16, and 2Ki_8:12; and for י�ו�גורל, Joe_3:3 and Oba_1:11. Nikhbaddım, nobiles; cf. Isa_

23:8-9. Gedōlım, magnates; cf. Jon_3:7. It must be borne in mind, however, that the

words only refer to cruelties connected with the conquest and carrying away of the inhabitants, and not to the destruction of No-amon.

We have no express historical account of this occurrence; but there is hardly any doubt that, after the conquest of Ashdod, Sargon the king of Assyria organized an expedition against Egypt and Ethiopia, conquered No-amon, the residence of the Pharaohs at that time, and, as Isaiah prophesied (Isa_20:3-4), carried the prisoners of Egypt and Ethiopia into exile. According to the Assyrian researches and their most recent results (vid., Spiegel's Nineveh and Assyria in Herzog's Cyclopaedia), the king Sargon mentioned in Isa_20:1 is not the same person as Shalmaneser, as I assumed in my commentary on 2Ki_17:3, but his successor, and the predecessor of Sennacherib, who ascended the throne during the siege of Samaria, and conquered that city in the first year of his reign, leading 27,280 persons into captivity, and appointing a vicegerent over the country of the ten tribes. In Assyrian Sargon is called Sar Kin, i.e., essentially a king. He was the builder of the palace at Khorsabad, which is so rich in monuments; and, according to the inscriptions, he carried on wars in Susiana, Babylon, the borders of Egypt, Melitene, Southern Armenia, Kurdistan, and Media; and in all his expeditions he resorted to the removal of the people in great numbers, as one means of securing the lasting subjugation of the lands (see Spiegel, l.c. p. 224). In the great inscription in the palace-halls of Khorsabad, Sargon boasts immediately after the conquest of Samaria of a victorious conflict with Pharaoh Sebech at Raphia, in consequence of which the latter became tributary, and also of the dethroning of the rebellious king of Ashdod; and still further, that after another king of Ashdod, who had been chosen by the people, had fled to Egypt, he besieged Ashdod with all his army, and took it. Then follows a difficult and mutilated passage, in which Rawlinson (Five Great Monarchies, ii. 416) and Oppert (Les

Sargonides, pp. 22, 26, 27) find an account of the complete subjugation of Sebech (see Delitzsch on Isaiah, at Isa_20:5-6). There is apparently a confirmation of this in the monuments recording the deeds of Esarhaddon's successor, whose name is read Assur-bani-pal, according to which that king carried on tedious wars in Egypt against Tirhaka, who had conquered Memphis, Thebes, and sundry other Egyptian cities during the illness of Esarhaddon, and according to his own account, succeeded at length in completely overcoming him, and returned home with rich booty, having first of all taken hostages for future good behaviour (see Spiegel, p. 225). If these inscriptions have been read correctly, it follows from them that from the reign of Sargon the Assyrians made attempts to subjugate Egypt, and were partially successful, though they could not maintain their conquests. The struggle between Assyria and Egypt for supremacy in Hither Asia may also be inferred from the brief notices in the Old Testament (2Ki_17:4) concerning the help which the Israelitish king Hosea expected from So the king of Egypt, and also concerning the advance of Tirhaka against Sennacherib.

(Note: From the modern researches concerning ancient Egypt, not the smallest light can be obtained as to any of these things. “The Egyptologists (as J. Bumüller observes, p. 245) have hitherto failed to fill up the gaps in the history of Egypt, and have been still less successful in restoring the chronology; for hitherto we have not met with a single well-established date, which we have obtained from a monumental inscription; nor have the monuments enabled us to assign to a single Pharaoh, from the 1st to the 21st, his proper place in the years or centuries of the historical chronology.”)

CALVIN, "The Prophet, in order to gain credit to his prophecy, produces here the ensample of Alexandria. It is indeed certain, from many testimonies of Scripture, that Alexandria is called No, which was a very ancient city, situated on the confines of Africa, and yet in Egypt. It might, at the same time, be, that the Alexandrians formerly had their own government, at least their own kings: and this is probable; for the Prophet says here, that Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as Africa and the Libyan nations, were the confederates of this city. It may hence then be concluded, that Alexandria was not then a part of Egypt, but had its own government, and was in alliance with the Egyptians, as with the other nations. But as Egypt, after the death of our Prophet, was in part overthrown by the Assyrians, and in part by the Chaldeans, some interpreters think, that the Prophet speaks of a ruin which had not yet taken place. (243) But this would not harmonize with his design; for the Prophet shows here, as in a mirror, that the chief empires fall according to the will of God, and that cities, the richest and the best fortified, come to nothing, whenever it pleases God. Unless, then, the destruction of Alexandria was notorious and everywhere known, the Prophet could not have suitably adduced this example: I therefore doubt not but that Alexandria had been then demolished. It is no matter of wonder that it afterwards returned to its former state and became rich; for the situation of the city was most commodious, not so much on account of the fertility of the land, as on account of its traffic; for ships from the Mediterranean sailed up near to it. It had, indeed, on one side, the lake Marcotis, which is not very healthy; and then the sea fortified it; and Pharos was a neighboring island: but yet the city was inhabited by many, and adorned with splendid buildings; for the advantage of traffic drew together inhabitants from all quarters. It was afterwards built again by Alexander of Macedon. But it is evident enough that it had been already an opulent city: for Alexander did not build a new city but enlarged it. (244) Let us now come to the words of the Prophet.

Shall it be better to thee than to Alexandria? The word אמון,�amun,�some�render�populous;�

and�I�am�inclined�to�adopt�this�meaning,�which�has�been�received�nearly�by�the�consent�of�all.�

Others�have�supposed�it�to�be�the�name�of�a�king;�but�as�proof�fails�them,�I�leave�to�themselves�

their�own�conjecture.�Shall�it�then�be�better�to�thee�than�to�Alexandria?�For�it�stood,�he�says,�

between�the�rivers�Alexandria�had�the�Nile,�as�it�were,�under�its�own�power;�for�it�was�then�

divided�into�many�parts,�so�that�it�intersected�the�city�in�various�places.�So�then�he�says,�that�

Alexandria�dwelt�between�the�rivers;�for�it�divided�the�Nile,�as�it�suited�its�convenience,�into�

several�streams.

Then�he�says,�The�sea�was�around�her:�for�it�was�surrounded�on�one�side�by�the�sea,�and�

protected�by�the�island�Pharos,�which�had�a�tower,�not�only�for�the�sake�of�defense,�but�that�ships�

coming�in�from�the�Mediterranean,�might�have�a�signal,�by�which�they�might�direct�their�course�

straight�to�the�harbor.�The�sea�then�was�around�her;�for�the�sea�encircled�more�than�half�of�the�

city;�and�then�the�lake�Mareotis�was�on�the�other�side�to�the�south.�He�afterwards�adds,�And�its�

wall�or�moat�was�the�sea�The�word�is�written�withי�,�iod,חיל�,�chil;�but�it�means�a�wall�or�a�moat,�

though�Latins�render�antemurale�—�a�front-work:�for�they�were�wont�formerly�to�fortify�their�

cities�with�a�double�wall,�as�old�buildings�still�show.�According�to�these�interpretersחיל�,�chil,�is�

the�inner�wall,�and�so�they�render�its�front-work:�and�there�was�also�an�outer�wall�towards�the�

sea.�But�we�may�takeחיל�,�chil,�for�a�moat�or�a�trench;�and�it�is�easy�to�find�from�other�passages�

that�it�was�a�trench�rather�than�a�front-work.�It�is�said�that�the�body�of�Jezebel�was�torn�by�dogs�in�

the�trench,�and�the�word�there�isחיל�,�chil.�As�to�the�object�of�the�Prophet,�he�evidently�intended�

to�show,�that�Alexandria�was�so�well�fortified,�that�Nineveh�had�no�reason�to�think�herself�to�be�

in�a�safer�state;�for�its�fortress�was�from�the�sea,�and�also�from�Ethiopia,�on�account�of�the�

munitions�which�he�has�mentioned.�Then�he�speaks�of�Africa�and�Egypt,�and�the�Libyan�nations,�

(245)�and�says�in�short,�that�there�was�no�end�of�her�strength;�that�is,�that�she�could�seek�the�help�

of�many�friends�and�confederates:�many�were�ready�to�bring�aid,�even�Africa,�Ethiopia,�and�the�

Lybians.

BENSON, "Verses 8-10

Nahum 3:8-10. Art thou better than populous No — Art thou in a better or safer condition; or hast thou more merit than the famous populous city of No? The Hebrew reads, No-ammon, the same city which is spoken of Jeremiah 46:25; and Ezekiel 30:15; where see the notes; and where our version reads, the multitude of No, as here, populous No. It is thought by some, that the place took its rise from Ham, by whose posterity Egypt was peopled, (thence called the land of Ham, Psalms 106:22,) and who was worshipped under the name of Jupiter-ammon. Accordingly the LXX. render it

Diospolis, that is, the city of Jupiter. That was situate among the rivers — Which was defended by the river Nile on the one side, and the Red sea on the other, as by so many walls and ramparts. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength — Their forces defended this city. And it was infinite — Houbigant renders the verse, The Ethiopians and Egyptians, who are innumerable, were her strength; the Africans and Libyans were her helpers. Yet was she carried away — It is evident that Nahum does not here foretel the destruction of No-ammon as an event yet to come, but speaks of it as a transaction past, although but lately. It therefore cannot be attributed to Nebuchadnezzar, for that would suppose it to have happened after the destruction of Nineveh, instead of before it. Dr. Prideaux, with more reason, believes that it was effected by Sennacherib, about three years before he besieged Jerusalem, in the time of Hezekiah. At that time Sevechus, the son of Sabaccon, or So, mentioned 2 Kings 17:4, was king both of Egypt and Ethiopia; so they are mentioned here as confederates, and Isaiah foretels that they should be vanquished by Sargon, or Sennacherib. They cast lots for her honourable men — Conquerors used to cast lots what captives should come to each man’s share: see note on Obadiah 1:11.

COFFMAN, "Verse 8

"Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was the sea?"

In a number of ways No-Amon (capitalizing Amon stresses the name of their false god) was the greatest and most influential city of the pre-Assyrian world. "Here are the mightiest ruins of ancient civilization to be found anywhere on earth.[22] It came into prominence about 2,100 years B.C.; "From that time it held a leading place in Egypt."[23] It was long the capital of Egypt and was nicknamed, "The city of a hundred gates; it was the cult center of the triad of Amon, Mut and Khonsu. 'Amon' indicated the relationship between the city and its principal god."[24] The expression No-Amon is found only in this verse, indicating that Nahum connected the place with the larger drama of the Scarlet Sea-Beast already in the world for a long time; but which would be more adequately identified in later times by Daniel and the apostle John. No-Amon bore exactly the same relationship to EGYPT the first head of the Seven Headed Sea-Beast, that Nineveh bore to Assyria the second head.

As to the identity of No-Amon, it was most certainly Thebes. The verse before us might appear at first glance to indicate a delta city such as Alexandria, but the Nile was called "the sea" poetically, "as in Job 41:31, and Isaiah 18:2; and with that difficulty removed, there is no doubt that the place is Thebes."[25] "The Arabs still call the Nile the sea."[26] "No had been an earlier, another Nineveh,"[27] as we have seen, the great first head of the Sea-Beast; but in Nahum's time Ashurbanipal (663 B.C.) had captured No-Amon, giving a mortal wound to the first head, but becoming itself the second head of the great, monolithic organization of men against God which has dominated the whole history of the human race, and even now, under the eighth manifestation of the 'horns," which also were part of the beast, multiple governments all over the world are the modern (and perhaps final) successors to the power and authority of the Sea-Beast. Thus, there are eschatological overtones in Nahum of the very greatest significance, as some scholars have discerned.

Those who date Nahum prior to 663 B.C. view these words as a prophecy of No-Amon's destruction; but we believe that event was past when Nahum wrote, the prophet's

discernment of Nineveh's usurpation of the former status of Thebes being evident in the very denunciations uttered by the prophet. "He holds up No-Amon as an example to Nineveh of the fate that awaited them."[28]

COKE, "Nahum 3:8. Art thou better than populous No?— No-ammon. Houbigant. The destruction of No-ammon, or Diospolis in Egypt, which Nahum mentions as a late transaction, would greatly assist in fixing the time of his prophesy, if we could know certainly when that destruction happened, or by whom it was effected. It is commonly attributed to Nebuchadnezzar; but that time is too late, and the destruction of No-ammon would fall out after the destruction of Nineveh, instead of before it. Dr. Prideaux, with more reason, believes, that it was effected by Sennacherib, before he marched against Jerusalem; and then Nahum's prophesying would coincide exactly with the reign of Hezekiah, which is the time assigned for it by St. Jerome. See Bishop Newton, and the introductory note. Instead of, Whose rampart, &c. we may read, Whose rampart was the river [Nile], and her wall from the river.

CONSTABLE, "Nineveh was similar to the Egyptian capital, No-amon ("city of the god Amon," Gr. Thebes). Thebes had been the capital of Upper (southern) Egypt and had stood at the site of modern Karnak and Luxor, 400 miles south of Cairo. Water from rivers, tributaries, canals, and moats surrounded this city, as it did Nineveh, and both were capitals of mighty kingdoms. However, Thebes had fallen to Sargon the Assyrian in663 B.C. Jeremiah and Ezekiel predicted its fall ( Jeremiah 46:25; Ezekiel 30:14; Ezekiel 30:16). Its solid and liquid defenses did not protect it, and Nineveh"s would not protect it either.

Verses 8-19

4. The fourth description of Nineveh"s fall3:8-19

This section, evidently another message that Nahum delivered concerning Nineveh"s fall, begins by comparing it to the fall of another great city. Nahum proceeded to use many figures of speech to describe how various segments of Ninevite society would respond to the coming invasion. The literary form of the section is that of a taunt song. [Note: See Patterson, pp93-94.]

ELLICOTT, "(8) Populous No.—Better, No Amon. Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt, was known to the Hebrews as “No Amon” (perhaps, “house of the god Amon;” similarly the Greeks called it διόσπολις). Assyria herself had reduced the power of Thebes. (1) Sargon, the father of Sennacherib, had defeated Shebah, the Egyptian Tar-dan, at Rapikh, cir. B.C. 716. (2) Esar-haddon, Sennacherib’s son, had routed the forces of Tirhakah, subjugated the whole of the Nile valley, and taken the city where Tirhakah held his court, probably Thebes, cir. B.C. 670. (3) Asshur-bani-pal invaded Egypt in the year of his accession, B.C. 668, and reinstated certain rulers of his father’s appointment, whom Tirhakah had driven out. In B.C. 665, another revolt brought this king again into Egypt. On this occasion Thebes was certainly sacked, and a large booty, including “gold, silver, precious stones, dyed garments, captives (male and female), tame animals brought up in the palace, obelisks, &c., was carried off, and conveyed to Nineveh” {Five Great Monarchies, ii. 203). The present passage may refer either to this event or to Esar-haddon’s previous capture of Thebes. The fall of the city was certainly a thing of the past

when Nahum wrote. The allusion, therefore, helps us to assign the date of the composition (see Introduction). To mere human reasoning the downfall of Thebes testified to the power of Assyria, its conqueror. But to the inspired vision of Nahum, the ruin of the one world-power is an earnest of the ruin of the other. Both had been full of luxury and oppression, both were hated of mankind and opposed to God. If No-Amon has fallen, the city of the hundred gates, the metropolis of the Pharaohs, the conqueror whose countless captives reared the pyramids, why shall Nineveh stand? If Nineveh is protected by rivers—the Tigris and the Khausser—had not Thebes a rampart in the Nile, that “sea” of waters (comp. Isaiah 19:5), and its numerous canals? If Nineveh relies on subordinate or friendly states—Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Syria—had not Thebes all the resources of Africa—Ethiopia in the south, the Egypts in the north, her Libyan allies, Put and the Lubim, in the north-west? Yet what was the fate of No Amon? Her youth carried off in the slave-gangs of Assyria; her infants dashed to pieces at the street-corner (2 Kings 8:12), as unprofitable to the captor; her senators reserved to grace a triumph, and assigned to the Assyrian generals by lot (Obadiah 1:11).

PULPIT, "Art thou better than populous No? "Better" probably means here more prosperous. "Populous No" ought to be rendered, No-Amon, i.e. No of the solar god Amon. This is the celebrated Thebes, in Upper Egypt, called in Egyptian Pa-Amun, "the House of Amun," and in the inscriptions Ni, which is the same word as No. The name Amon is attached because that god was particularly worshipped there. The LXX. has µερίδα α µµών ("a portion of or for Ammon"), translating the word "No." St. Jerome, misled by his Hebrew teacher, renders, "Alexandria populorum," as if Thebes stood on the site of the much later city of Alexandria; whereas we see from Assurbanipal's annals that he was forty days marching from Memphis, where he defeated Rudammon, to Thebes. On the grandeur and magnificence of this city, Denon (quoted by Rawlinson, 'Ancient Monarchies,' 1.309, note 7), writes, "On est fatigue d'ecrire, on est fatigue de lire, on est epouvante de la pensee d'une telle conception; on ne peut croire, meme apres l'avoir vu, a la realite de l'existence de tant de constructions reunies sur un meme point, a leurs dimensions, a la constance obstinee qu'a exigee leur fabrication, aux depenses incalculables de taut de somptuosite" ('Egypte,' 2.226). "In the long and rich valley of the Lower Nile, which extends above five hundred miles from Syene to Memphis, almost any situation might furnish a site for a great city, since, except at Silsilis and at the Gebelein, the valley is never less than two miles wide, the soil is always fertile, good quarries are always at hand, and lavish Nature is so bounteous with her gifts that abundant sustenance can at any point be obtained for a large population. But in this wealth of eligible sites, there are still degrees of eligibility—spots which Nature has distinguished by special favour, and, as it were, marked out for greatness and celebrity. Such a position is that which the traveller reaches when, passing through the gorge of the Gebelein, he emerges upon the magnificent plain, at least ten miles in width, through which the river flows with a course from southwest to northeast for a distance of some forty miles between Erment and Qobt. Here, for the first time since quitting the Nubian desert, does the Nile enter upon a wide and ample space. On either side the hills recede, and a broad green plain, an alluvium of the richest description, spreads itself out on both banks of the stream, dotted with dom and date palms, sometimes growing singly, sometimes collected into clumps or groves. Here, too, there open out on either side, to the east and to the west, lines of route offering great advantages for trade, on the one hand with the Lesser Oasis and so with the tribes of the African interior, on the other with the western coast of the Red Sea and the spice region of the opposite shore. In the valley of Hammamat, down which passed the ancient route to the coast, are abundant supplies of

breccia verde and of other valuable and rare kinds of stone, while at no great distance to the right and left of the route lie mines of gold, silver, and lead, anciently prolific, though exhausted now for many ages. Somewhat more remote, yet readily accessible by a frequented route, was the emerald region of Gebel Zabara, where the mines are still worked" (Rawlinson, 'Ancient Egypt,' 2.124, etc.). Thebes was situated on both banks of the Nile, the principal portion lying on the east; the Necropolis and Memnonia were on the west. It seems never to have been surrounded with a wall (notwithstanding its "hundred gates"), the river and canals forming a sufficient defence. At the present time the ruins are some twenty-seven miles in circuit, including Luxor and the remains of the great temple at Karnak. The sea. The Nile formed its rampart. Great rivers are called seas in the poetical books. Thus Isaiah 19:5; Isaiah 27:1; Jeremiah 51:36. Her wall was from the sea; or, of the sea. The sea was her wall. Septuagint, ο δωρ τα τείχη αυ τη ς, "water her walls."

9 Cush[a] and Egypt were her boundless strength;

Put and Libya were among her allies.

BAR�ES, "Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength - Literally, “Egypt was strength , and Ethiopia, and boundless.” He sets forth first the imperial might of No; then her strength from foreign, subdued power. The capital is a sort of impersonation of the might of the state; No, of Egypt, as Nineveh, of Assyria. When the head was cut off or the heart ceased to beat, all was lost. The might of Egypt and Ethiopia was the might of No, concentrated in her. They were strength, and that strength unmeasured by any human standard. Boundless was the strength, which Nineveh had subdued: boundless, the store Nah_2:10 which she had accumulated for the spoiler; boundless Nah_3:3 the carcasses of her slain. “And it was infinite.” “The people that came up with the king out of Egypt, were without number” 2Ch_12:3. The Egyptians connected with Thebes are counted by a pagan author at seven million. Put or Phut is mentioned third among the sons of Ham, after Cash anal Mizraim Gen_10:6. They are mentioned with the Ethiopians in Pharaoh’s army at the Euphrates , as joined with them in the visitation of Egypt Eze_30:5; with Cush in the army of Gog Eze_38:15; with Lud in that of Tyre Eze_29:10; a country and river of that name were, Josephus tells us , “frequently mentioned by Greek historians.” They dwelt in the Libya, conterminous to the Canopic mouth of the Nile .

And Lubim - These came up against Judah in the army of Shishak 2Ch_12:3 against Rehoboam, and with the Ethiopians, “a huge host” under Zerah the Ethiopian against Asa . The Ribou or Libou appear on the monuments as a people conquered by

Menephthes and Rameses III . They were still to be united with Egypt and the Ethiopians in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes Dan_11:43; so their connection with Egypt was not broken by its fall. Those unwearied enemies had become incorporated with her; and were now her help. These were (English Margin) in thy help; set upon it, given up to it. The prophet appeals to No herself, as it were, “Thou hadst strength.” Then he turns away, to speak of her, unwilling to look on the miseries which he has to portray to Nineveh, as the preludes of her own. Without God, vain is the help of man.

CLARKE, "Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength - The land of Cush, not far from Diospolis; for it was in Arabia, on the Red Sea.

Put and Lubim - A part of Africa and Libya, which were all within reach of forming alliances with No-Ammon or Diospolis.

GILL, "Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,.... That is, the strength, support, protection, and defence of No, whether Alexandria, or Thebes, or Memphis: Egypt was, for these cities were in it, and subject to it; or, if this was a free city, as some think, yet in alliance with Egypt, and under its protection; and in like connection it was with Ethiopia, that is, Arabia, a country that lay near to it; and yet, though it was strengthened by such powerful neighbours and allies, it was not secure from the devastation of the enemy:

and it was infinite; or there was "no end" (o); of its strength, or of the number of its allies, or the forces they were able to bring in its defence. The Ethiopians were very numerous, as may be learnt from 2Ch_14:9 and so were the Egyptians, to whom some interpreters strictly connect this sentence. In the times of Amasis, as Mela (p) relates, there were twenty thousand cities inhabited in it; and Josephus (q) says there were in it seven hundred and fifty myriads of men; as Sethon, king of Egypt, and Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, were about this time the allies of the Jews, in whom they trusted, no doubt they were confederate together, and so both the strength of this city; see Isa_36:6,

Put and Lubim, were thy helpers; Put, or the Putim, were the people of the Moors, that dwelt in Mauritania; and Lubim were the Lybians that bordered on Egypt, and whose country is sometimes reckoned a part of it. The Jews (r) say Lybia is Egypt; see Act_2:10 these several people were the confederates of No; and helped them, not only by their commerce with them, but in time of war assisted them against their enemies; and yet, though so strengthened by alliances, were not safe and secure; and therefore Nineveh could not depend upon such helps and helpers.

JAMISO�, "Ethiopia — Hebrew, Cush. Ethiopia is thought at this time to have been mistress of Upper Egypt.

Egypt — Lower Egypt.

her strength — her safeguard as an ally.

it was infinite — The resources of these, her allies, were endless.

Put — or Phut (Gen_10:6); descended from Ham (Eze_27:10). From a root meaning a bow; as they were famed as archers [Gesenius]. Probably west of Lower Egypt. Josephus [Antiquities, 1:6.2] identifies it with Mauritania (compare Jer_46:9, Margin; Eze_38:5).

Lubim — the Libyans, whose capital was Cyrene; extending along the Mediterranean west of Egypt (2Ch_12:3; 2Ch_16:8; Act_2:10). As, however, the Lubim are always connected with the Egyptians and Ethiopians, they are perhaps distinct from the Libyans. The Lubim were probably at first wandering tribes, who afterwards were settled under Carthage in the region of Cyrene, under the name Libyans.

thy — No’s.

helpers — literally, “in thy help,” that is, among thy auxiliaries.

COFFMAN, "Verse 9

"Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers."

Some have viewed this as Nahum's warning to Nineveh that No-Amon was a lot better off regarding her defences than was Nineveh, for No-Amon (Thebes) was supported by powerful allies on all sides, whereas Nineveh had antagonized and alienated all of her political neighbors.

CONSTABLE, "In contrast to Nineveh, Thebes had several allies. Ethiopia (Cush) was the country No-amon ruled over. It was a territory that included parts of modern southern Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and northern Ethiopia along the Red Sea. Egypt (Lower Egypt) in Nahum"s day was a separate country to the north of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia was the stronger of the two powers. Put evidently lay farther to the south reaching as far as present-day Somalia on the eastern tip of Africa, and Lubim (part of modern Libya) was to the west. Some references to Put in ancient literature seem to put it in the same area as modern Libya (cf. Genesis 10:6; 1 Chronicles 1:8; Jeremiah 46:9; et al.), but the location described above seems more likely. [Note: See Maier, p322; and Elizabeth Achtemeier, Nahum -, Malachi , p25.] Thus Thebes" allies surrounded her for many miles, but that did not guarantee her security.

PULPIT, "Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength. Urdamaneh, or Rudammon, in whose time this capture of No-Amon took place, was son and successor of Tirhalrah, who is called expressly King of Ethiopia (2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9). Egypt. The Egyptians proper, combined with the Ethiopians, formed the kingdom of Egypt under the twenty-fifth, the Ethiopian, dynasty. And it was infinite. The power of Egypt was boundless, its forces in numerable (see 2 Chronicles 12:3). Pusey notes a remark of Cato (in Steph. Byzant. ap. Boch; 4.27) that the Egyptians connected with Thebes amounted to seven millions. In Isaiah 18-20. Ethiopia and Egypt are represented as combined against Assyria, and conquered by it (Wordsworth). Septuagint, ου κ ε στη τέρας τη ς φυγη ς, "There was no limit of the flight." This is thought by Jerome to be connected with the previous verses, and to refer to Nineveh. Put and Lubim were thy helpers. No-Amon is here suddenly addressed. Put, or Punt, designates either a part of Arabia or that part of the coast of Egypt opposite to it. Luhim are the Lybians, dwelling on the west of the Canopic mouth of the Nile. Thus the enumeration of the forces of Thebes is regularly arranged, beginning with the south, Ethiopia, then through Egypt proper to the north, and then to the provinces on the east and west (Knabenbauer). The Vulgate translates the two terms, Africa et Libya. The LXX. combines them in one, λίβυες. These peoples are named together elsewhere: e.g. Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 27:10; Ezekiel 30:5; Ezekiel 38:5.

10 Yet she was taken captive

and went into exile.

Her infants were dashed to pieces

at every street corner.

Lots were cast for her nobles,

and all her great men were put in chains.

BAR�ES, "Yet was she - (also ) carried away, literally, “She also became an exile band,” her people were carried away, with all the barbarities of pagan war. All, through whom she might recover, were destroyed or scattered abroad; “the young,” the hope of another age, cruelly destroyed (see Hos_14:1-9; Isa_13:16; 2Ki_8:12); “her honorable men” enslaved (see Joe_3:3), “all her great men prisoners.” God’s judgments are executed step by step. Assyria herself was the author of this captivity, which Isaiah prophesied in the first years of Hezekiah when Judah was leaning upon Egypt (see Isa_20:1-6). It was repeated by all of the house of Sargon. Jeremiah and Ezekiel foretold fresh desolation by Nebuchadnezzar Jer_46:25-26; Eze_30:14-16. God foretold to His people, “I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee” Isa_43:3; and the Persian monarchs, who fulfilled prophecy in the restoration of Judah, fulfilled it also in the conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia. Both perhaps out of human policy in part.

But Cambyses’ wild hatred of Egyptian idolatry fulfilled God’s word. Ptolemy Lathyrus carried on the work of Cambyses; the Romans, Ptolemy’s. Cambyses burned its temples ; Lathyrus its four-or five-storied private houses ; the Roman Gallus leveled it to the ground . A little after it was said of her , “she is inhabited as so many scattered villages.” A little after our Lord’s Coming, Germanicus went to visit, not it, but “the vast traces of it.” : “It lay overwhelmed with its hundred gates” and utterly impoverished. No was powerful as Nineveh, and less an enemy of the people of God. For though these often suffered from Egypt, yet in those times they even trusted too much to its help (see Isa. 30). If then the judgments of God came upon No, how much more upon Nineveh! In type, Nineveh is the image of the world as oppressing God’s Church; No, rather of those who live for this life, abounding in wealth, ease, power, and forgetful of God. If, then, they were punished, who took no active part against God, fought not against God’s truth, yet still were sunk in the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, what shall be the end

of those who openly resist God?

CLARKE, "They cast lots for her honorable men - This refers still to the city called populous No. And the custom of casting lots among the commanders, for the prisoners which they had taken, is here referred to.

Great men were bound in chains - These were reserved to grace the triumph of the victor.

GILL, "Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity,.... Not by Nebuchadnezzar; though this city was afterwards taken, and its inhabitants carried captive, by that monarch, as was foretold, Jer_46:25 but the prophet here does not predict an event to be accomplished, and instance in that, and argue from it, which could have no effect on Nineveh and its inhabitants, or be an example or terror to them; but refers to what had been done, a recent fact, and which they were well acquainted with. Aben Ezra says, this city No was a city of the land of Egypt, which the king of the Chaldeans took as he went to Nineveh; but when, and by whom it was taken, is nowhere said. According to Bishop Usher (s) and Dean Prideaux (t), the destruction of the city of Thebes was by Sennacherib, in his expedition against Egypt, which he harassed for three years together, from one end to the other; at which time Sevechus, the son of Sabacon, or So, the Ethiopian, was king of Egypt; and Egypt and Ethiopia were as one country, and helped each other; but could not secure this city from falling into the hands of Sennacherib, about three years before he besieged Jerusalem; and so, according to Mr. Whiston (u), it was destroyed three years before the army of Sennacherib was destroyed at Jerusalem:

her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: against the walls of the houses, or upon the stones and pavements of the streets; which cruelties were often used by conquerors upon innocent babes at the sacking of cities, Psa_137:9,

and they cast lots for her honourable men; the soldiers did, who should have them, and sell them for slaves; which was done without any regard to their birth and breeding, Joe_3:3,

and all her great men were bound in chains; as nobles may be meant by "honourable men", by "great men" may be designed the gentry, merchants, and others; these were taken, and bound in iron chains, handcuffed, and pinioned, and so led captive into a foreign land; and Nineveh might expect the same treatment.

JAMISO�, "Notwithstanding all her might, she was overcome.

cast lots for her honourable men — They divided them among themselves by lot, as slaves (Joe_3:3).

CALVIN, "Yet, he says, she departed into captivity a captive; that is, the inhabitants of

Alexandria have been banished, and the city become as it were captive, for its inhabitants were driven here and there. Dashed, he says, have been their little ones at the head of every street The Prophet means, that so great a power as that of Alexandria did not prevent the conquerors to exercise towards her the most barbarous cruelty; for it was a savage act to dash little children against stones, who ought on account of their tender age, to have been spared. There was indeed no reason for raging against them, for they could not have been deemed enemies. But yet the Prophet says that Alexandria had been thus treated; and he said this, that Nineveh might not trust in her strength, and thus perversely despise God’s judgment, which he now denounced on it. He adds, They cast lots on her princess and bound were her great men with fetters In saying that lots were cast, he refers to an ancient custom; for when there was any dispute respecting a captive, the lot was cast: as for instance, when two had taken one man, to prevent contention, it was by lot determined who was to be his master. So then he says that lots were cast on their princes. This usually happened to the common people and to the lowest slaves; but the Prophet says that the conquerors spared not even the princes. They were therefore treated as the lowest class; and though they were great princes, they were led into captivity and bound with chains, in the same manner with the meanest and the lowest of the people. They were not treated according to their rank; and there was no differences between the chief men and the most degraded of the humbler classes; for even the very princes were so brought down, that their lot differed not from that of the wretched; for as common people are usually treated with contempt, so were the chiefs of Alexandria treated by their enemies.

COFFMAN, "Verse 10

"Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains."

This fate of Thebes, although executed by Assyria, was nevertheless itself a prophecy of the fate of Nineveh. "Nahum did not interpret the fall of Thebes as a sign of Assyrian power, but as a symbol of what must happen to any nation that is against God."[29]

This description of the destruction of No-Amon, coming from Nahum who was almost if not actually a contemporary of the event, indicates that it was altogether as bloody and terrible as the fate that came to Nineveh.

CONSTABLE, "No-amon had become an exile and had gone into captivity to Assyria (cf. Nahum 2:7). [Note: See Armerding, pp484-85 , for a short history of the fall of Thebes.] Instead of taking infants into captivity, however, the Assyrians simply slaughtered them where they found them, even at street corners (cf. Hosea 13:16). The honorable men of Thebes suffered the humiliation of being auctioned off as slaves and dragged away to Assyria in chains.

PULPIT, "Yet was she carried away. In spite of her strong position and infinite resources, Thebes was captured and despoiled; and shall Nineveh fare better? Surely not. This capture of Thebes took place B.C. 664, and must have been in men's minds when Nahum wrote his prophecy. The Assyrians twice took Thebes in the days of Assurbanipal. The first time it is merely recorded that the soldiers, under the

commander of the satraps, made a slaughter in the city. The second capture is thus described in the monarch's own tablet (Brugsch, 'Egypt,' 1.272-275, Eng. transl.): "Urdamaneh fled alone, and entered Thebes, the city of his kingdom … I directed my march in pursuit of him. I came to Thebes. He saw the strength of my army, and left Thebes, and fled to the city of Kipkip. Of that whole city (Thebes), with thanksgiving to Asur and Istar, my hands took the complete possession. Silver, gold, metals, stones, all the treasures of its palace whatsoever, dyed garments of before and linen, great horses [elephants?] men and women, great and small, works of zakah [basalt?] and marble, their kelal and manzas, the gates of their palace … I tare away and carried to Assyria. I made spoil of the animals of the land without number, and carried them forth in the midst out of Thebes I caused a catalogue to be made of the spoil. I returned in safety to Nineveh". Were dashed in pieces. The prophet describes the usual treatment of captured cities. At the top of all the streets. In the most public places, where many streets converge (Lamentations 2:19). Cast lots. The victors divided the nobles among themselves by lot (see note on Obadiah 1:11). Were bound in chains. We find in the Assyrian monuments delineations of captives with their arms bound together by a rope held by a soldier, sometimes men, sometimes women and children; the women are tearing their hair in despair. In a bas-relief at Khorsabad captives were led by a rope fastened to a ring in the lip.

11 You too will become drunk;

you will go into hiding

and seek refuge from the enemy.

BAR�ES, "Thou also - As thou hast done, so shall it be done unto thee. The cruelties on No, in the cycle of God’s judgments, draw on the like upon Nineveh who inflicted them. “Thou also shalt be drunken” with the same cup of God’s anger, entering within thee as wine doth, bereaving thee of reason and of counsel through the greatness of thy anguish, and bringing shame on thee , and a stupefaction like death. “Thou shalt be hid, a thing hidden” from the eyes of men, “as though thou hadst never been.” Nahum had foretold her complete desolation: he had asked, where is she? Here he describes an abiding condition; strangely fulfilled, as perhaps never to that extent besides; her palaces, her monuments, her records of her glorious triumphs existed still in their place, but hidden out of sight, as in a tomb, under the hill-like mounds along the Tigris. “Thou also shalt seek strength, or a stronghold from the enemy,” out of thyself, since thine own shall be weakness. Yet in vain, since God, is not such to thee Nah_1:7. “They shall seek, but not find.” “For then shall it be too late to cry for mercy, when it is

the time of justice.” “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy” Jam_2:13.

GILL, "Thou also shalt be drunken,.... This is said to Nineveh, whose turn would be next to drink of the cup of the wrath of God, and be inebriated with it, so that they should not know where they were, or what they did; and be as unable to guide and help themselves as a drunken man. So the Targum,

"thou also shalt be like to a drunken man;''

this was literally true of Nineveh when taken; see Nah_1:10,

thou shalt be hid; or, "thou shall be", as if thou wast not; as Nineveh is at this day, "hid" from the sight of men, not to be seen any more. So the Targum,

"thou shall be swallowed up or destroyed.''

The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it "despised"; or the meaning is, she should "hide herself" (w); or be lurking about through shame, as drunken, or through fear of her enemies:

thou also shall seek strength because of the enemy; seek to others to help them against the enemy, not being able with their own strength to face them: or, seek strength "of the enemy" (x); beg their lives of him, and their bread; pray for quarter, and desire to be taken under his protection; to so low and mean a state and condition should Nineveh and its inhabitants be reduced, who had given laws to all about them, and had been a terror to them.

JAMISO�, "drunken — made to drink of the cup of Jehovah’s wrath (Isa_51:17, Isa_51:21; Jer_25:15).

hid — covered out of sight: a prediction remarkably verified in the state in which the ruins of Nineveh have been found [G. V. Smith]. But as “hid” precedes “seek strength,” etc., it rather refers to Nineveh’s state when attacked by her foe: “Thou who now so vauntest thyself, shalt be compelled to seek a hiding-place from the foe” [Calvin]; or, shalt be neglected and slighted by all [Maurer].

seek strength because of the enemy — Thou too, like Thebes (Nah_3:9), shalt have recourse to other nations for help against thy Medo-Babylonian enemy.

K&D 11-13, "The same, or rather a worse fate than No-amon suffered, is now awaiting Nineveh. Nah_3:11. “Thou also wilt be drunken, shalt be hidden; thou also wilt seek for a refuge from the enemy. Nah_3:12. All thy citadels are fig-trees with early figs; if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Nah_3:13. Behold thy people, women in the midst of thee; the gates of thy land are thrown quite open to thine

enemies; fire consumes thy bolts.” �¥ם־�¤ corresponds to ם־היא¤ in Nah_3:10 : as she, so

also thou. “The fate of No-amon is a prophecy of thine own” (Hitzig). ריKש¥, thou wilt be

drunken, viz., from the goblet of divine wrath, as at Oba_1:16. הי�נעלמה¥ might mean,

“thou wilt be hiding thyself;” but although this might suit what follows, it does not agree

with ריKש¥ , since an intoxicated person is not in the habit of hiding himself. Moreover,

:always means “hidden,” occultus; so that Calvin's interpretation is the correct one נעלם

“Thou wilt vanish away as if thou hadst never been; the Hebrews frequently using the expression being hidden for being reduced to nothing.” This is favoured by a comparison both with Nah_1:8 and Nah_2:12, and also with the parallel passage in Oba_1:16, “They will drink, and be as if they had not been.” This is carried out still further in what follows: “Thou wilt seek refuge from the enemy,” i.e., in this connection, seek it in vain, or without finding it; not, “Thou wilt surely demand salvation from the enemy by

surrender” (Strauss), for מאויב does not belong to בקשי¥, but to מעוז (cf. Isa_25:4). All the

fortifications of Nineveh are like fig-trees with early figs (עם in the sense of

subordination, as in Son_4:13), which fall into the mouth of the eater when the trees are shaken. The tertium compar. is the facility with which the castles will be taken and destroyed by the enemy assaulting them (cf. Isa_28:4). We must not extend the comparison so far, however, as to take the figs as representing cowardly warriors, as Hitzig does. Even in Nah_3:13, where the people are compared to women, the point of comparison is not the cowardliness of the warriors, but the weakness and inability to offer any successful resistance into which the nation of the Assyrians, which was at other times so warlike, would be reduced through the force of the divine judgment inflicted

upon Nineveh (compare Isa_19:16; Jer_50:37; Jer_51:30). לאיביך� belongs to what

follows, and is placed first, and pointed with zakeph-katon for the sake of emphasis. The gates of the land are the approaches to it, the passes leading into it, which were no doubt provided with castles. Tuch (p. 35) refers to the mountains on the north, which Pliny calls impassable. The bolts of these gates are the castles, through which the approaches were closed. Jeremiah transfers to Babel what is here said of Nineveh (see Jer_51:30).

CALVIN, "Nahum, after having adduced the example of Alexandria, now shows that nothing would be able to resist God, so that he should not deal with Nineveh in the same manner; and he declares that this would be the case, Thou also, he says, shalt be inebriated. Well known is this metaphor, which often occurs in Scripture: for the Prophets are wont frequently to call punishment a cup, which God administers. But when God executes a heavy punishment, he is said to inebriate the wicked with his cup. The Prophet says now, that the chastisement of Nineveh would make her like a drunken man, who, being overcome with wine, lies down, as it were, stupefied. Hence by this metaphor he intended to set forth a most severe punishment: Thou then shalt be also

inebriated The particle גם,�gam,�is�here�emphatical;�it�was�introduced,�that�the�Ninevites�might�

know,�that�they�could�not�possibly�escape�the�punishment�which�they�deserved;�for�God�

continues�ever�like�himself.�Thou�then�shalt�be�also�inebriated�This�would�not�be�consistent,�were�

not�God�the�judge�of�the�world�to�the�end.�There�is�then�a�common�reason�for�this�proceeding;�

hence�it�necessarily�follows,�—�since�God�punished�the�Alexandrians,�the�Assyrians�cannot�

escape�his�hand,�and�be�exempt�from�punishment.

He�adds,�Thou�shalt�be�hidden�Some�refer�this�to�shame,�as�though�the�Prophet�had�said,�—

“Thou�indeed�showest�thyself�now�to�be�very�proud,�but�calamity�will�force�thee�to�seek�hiding-

places,�in�which�to�conceal�thyself.”�But�I�am�more�inclined�to�this�meaning,�—�that�Nineveh�

would�vanish�away,�as�though�it�never�had�been;�for�to�be�hidden�is�often�taken�in�Hebrew�in�the�

sense�of�being�reduced�to�nothing.

He�afterwards�says,Thou�shalt�also�seek�strength,�or�supplies,�from�the�enemy.�The�wordsמעוז��

��meouz�meavib,�may�admit�of�two�meanings,�—�either�that�she�will�humbly�solicit�her,מאויב

enemies,�—�or�that�on�account�of�her�enemies�she�will�flee�to�some�foreign�aid;�for�the�

prepositionמ�,�mem,�may�be�taken�in�both�senses.�If�we�adopt�the�first�meaning,�then�I�think�that�

the�Prophet�speaks�not�of�the�Babylonians,�but�of�the�other�nations�who�had�been�before�

harassed�by�the�Assyrians.�Thou�shalt�now�then�humbly�pray�for�the�aid�of�those�who�have�been�

hitherto�thine�enemies,�—�not�because�they�had�provoked�thee,�but�because�thou�hast�as�an�

enemy�treated�them.�Now�it�is�an�extreme�misery,�when�we�are�constrained�to�seek�the�help�of�

those�by�whom�we�are�hated,�and�hated,�because�we�have�by�wrongs�provoked�them.�But�the�

other�sense�is�more�approved,�for�it�is�less�strained:�Thou�shalt�also�seek�aids�on�account�of�the�

enemy;�that�is,�as�strength�to�resist�will�fail�thee,�thou�wilt�seek�assistance�from�thy�neighbors.�

(246)�It�follows�—

BENSON,�"Verses�11-13

Nahum�3:11-13.�Thou�also�shalt�be�drunken�—�Thou�shalt�drink�deep�of�the�bitter�cup�of�God’s�

displeasure.�Thou�shalt�be�hid,�&c.�—�Thou�shalt�not�dare�to�appear�in�the�open�field.�Thou�shalt�

seek�strength�because�of�the�enemy�—�Thou�shalt�retire�into�thy�strong�holds,�or�fortified�places,�

for�fear�of�the�enemy.�All�thy�strong�holds�shall�be�like�fig-trees�—�As�figs�when�quite�ripe�drop�

off�from�the�trees�by�the�least�shaking,�so�shall�thy�strong�holds�fall�into�the�enemies’�hands�upon�

the�first�assault.�The�gates�of�thy�land�shall�be�set�wide�open,�&c.�—�The�several�passages,�by�

which�the�enemy�may�invade�thee,�shall�be�open�to�them,�either�through�fear�or�treachery,�or�

shall�be�easily�forced.�The�fire�shall�devour�thy�bars�—�With�which�the�gates�were�shut�and�

strengthened.

COFFMAN,�"Verse�11

"Thou�shalt�be�drunken;�thou�shalt�be�hid;�thou�also�shall�seek�a�stronghold�because�of�the�

enemy."

"Thou�also�shalt�be�drunken�..."�There�may�be�several�meanings�here,�the�one�usually�discerned�

being�that�Assyria,�like�Thebes,�shall�be�drunken�with�the�pride�and�conceit�of�their�own�power,�

or�made�drunken�upon�drinking�the�cup�of�the�wrath�of�God.�There�is�also�the�possibility�that�the�

drunkenness�of�the�defenders�at�a�key�moment�in�the�assault�of�the�Assyrians�contributed�to�their�

overthrow.�It�was�surely�the�latter�that�was�included�in�the�condition�of�Assyria.

"Thou�shalt�be�hid�..."�These�words�are�uncertain�in�the�text;�and�Smith�rendered�them�thus:�

"Thou�too�wilt�take�refuge�from�the�foe,�an�unaccustomed�role�for�Assyrian�armies."[30]

CONSTABLE,�"The�same�fate�would�befall�Nineveh.�It�too�would�lose�its�powers�of�self-defense�

and�self-control.�This�would�happen�through�excessive�wine�drinking�(cf.�Nahum�1:10)�but�also�in�

a�metaphorical�way�because�the�Ninevites�would�imbibe�a�cup�of�wrath�from�Yahweh.�They�

would�vanish�from�the�world.

"The�disappearance�of�the�Assyrian�people�will�always�remain�an�unique�and�striking�

phenomenon�in�ancient�history.�Other,�similar,�kingdoms�and�empires�have�indeed�passed�away,�

but�the�people�have�lived�on.�Recent�discoveries�have,�it�is�true,�shown�that�poverty-stricken�

communities�perpetuated�the�old�Assyrian�names�and�various�places,�for�instance�on�the�ruined�

site�of�Ashur,�for�many�centuries,�but�the�essential�truth�remains�the�same.�A�nation�which�had�

existed�two�thousand�years�and�had�ruled�a�wide�area,�lost�its�independent�character."�[Note:�J.�

B.�Bury,�et�al,�eds,�The�Cambridge�Ancient�History,�3:130.]

As�noted�above,�the�ancients�could�not�find�Nineveh�after�its�destruction,�and�modern�

archaeologists,�the�Frenchman�Botta�and�the�Englishman�Layard,�first�found�physical�evidence�

of�Nineveh"s�existence�in1842.�In�the�past�many�people�had�sought�to�hide�from�the�invading�

Assyrians,�but�when�Nineveh�fell,�the�Ninevites�would�try�to�hide.

PETT,�"Nahum�3:11-13

“You�also�will�be�drunken,�you�will�be�hidden;�you�will�seek�a�refuge�because�of�the�enemy.�All�

your�fortresses�will�be�like�fig�trees�with�first-ripe�figs,�if�they�are�shaken�they�fall�into�the�mouth�

of�the�eater.�Behold,�your�troops�in�your�midst�are�women.�The�gates�of�your�land�are�set�wide�

open�to�your�foes;�the�fire�has�devoured�your�bars.”

This�is�the�picture�of�defeated�Assyria,�a�people�with�no�hope,�a�pitiable�sight.�On�the�run�from�

their�enemies,�drinking�heavily�in�order�to�drown�their�sorrows,�hiding�because�they�are�afraid,�

seeking�for�safe�refuge�in�their�last�few�remaining�cities.�But�her�fortresses�will�be�easily�taken,�as�

easily�as�shaking�first-ripe�figs�from�a�fig�tree.�Her�troops�will�be�like�women�(in�those�days�seen�

as�incapable�of�fighting),�her�gates�useless,�their�bars�unable�to�keep�out�the�enemy.�The�result�is�

that�the�bars�will�be�burned�once�the�city�has�fallen,�proof�of�their�humiliation.�Her�proud�

strength�will�become�firewood.

PULPIT,�"Thou�also�shalt�be�drunken.�Nahum�makes�the�application:�The�fate�of�Thebes�

shall�be�thine,�O�Nineveh.�Thou�shalt�drink�to�the�full�the�cup�of�God's�wrath�(see�note�

on�Obadiah�1:16;�and�comp.�Jeremiah�25:15,�Jeremiah�25:17,�Jeremiah�25:27).�The�

metaphor�indicates�the�effect�of�some�overwhelming�calamity�that�makes�men�reel�with�

terror�or�stupefies�them�with�amazement.�Thou�shalt�be�hid;�thou�shalt�be�powerless,�or�

reduced�to�nothing;�εσ¬�­περεωραµένη,"Thou�shalt�be�despised";�Eris�despecta�

(Vulgate).�Nineveh,�which�was�taken�and�destroyed�between�B.C.�626�and�608,�was�so�

effectually�"hidden"�that�its�very�site�was�discovered�only�in�late�years,�and�its�monuments�

have�only�been�partially�disinterred�after�immense�labour.�Thou�also�shalt�seek�strength�

because�of�the�enemy;�or,�thou�also�shalt�seek�a�stronghold�from�the�enemy.�As�the�

Egyptians�fled�for�refuge�from�one�place�to�another�(see�note�on�verse�10),�so�shall�the�

Assyrians�attempt�in�vain�to�escape�the�enemy.�History�records�that�they�endeavoured�to�

effect�a�retreat�from�Nineveh�during�the�siege�(see�Introduction,�§�I.).

12 All your fortresses are like fig trees

with their first ripe fruit;

when they are shaken,

the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.

BAR�ES, "All thy strong-holds shall be like fig trees, with the first ripe figs - Hanging from them; eagerly sought after , to be consumed. Being ripe, they are ready to fall at once; “if they be shaken;” it needs but the tremulous motion, as when trees wave in the wind, “they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater,” not costing even the slight pains of picking them from the ground . So easy is their destruction on the part of God, though it cost more pains to the Babylonians. At the end of the world it shall be yet more fulfilled Rev_6:13, for then God will use no human instrument, but put forth only His own Almightiness; and all strong-holds of man’s pride, moral or spiritual, shall, of themselves, melt away.

CLARKE, "Thy strong holds - The effects of the consternation into which the Ninevites were cast by the assault on their city are here pointed out by a very expressive metaphor; the first-ripe figs, when at full maturity, fell from the tree with the least shake; and so, at the first shake or consternation, all the fortresses of Nineveh were abandoned; and the king, in despair, burnt himself and household in his own palace.

GILL, "Nahum 3:12All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs,.... Upon them, or like them: "and the first ripe figs"; which are easily shook and gathered; and so easily should the fortresses and towers of Nineveh, in which they trusted for safety, be taken by the enemy, not only one, but all of them:

if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater; as such ripe fruit is very desirable, and the mouth of a man is open and ready for them; so if he gives the tree but the least shake, they will fall into his mouth, or about him in great plenty: in like manner, as the fortresses of Nineveh, being of importance, were desirable by the Chaldeans and Medes, and for which they were gaping; so upon the least assault they would fall into their hands; see Rev_6:13.

HE�RY 12-19, 'He shows them that all those things which they reposed a confidence in should fail them. 1. Did the men of Nineveh trust to their own magnanimity and bravery? Their hearts should sink and fail them. They shall be hid, shall abscond for shame, being in disgrace, abscond for fear, being in distress and danger, and not able to face the enemies, because of whose strength and terror, having no strength of their own, they shall seek strength, shall come sneaking to their neighbours to beg their assistance in a time of need. Thus God can cut off the spirit of princes, and take away their heart.2. Did they depend upon their barrier, the garrisons and strongholds they had, which were regularly fortified and bravely manned? Those shall prove but paper-walls, and like the first-ripe figs, which, if you give the tree but a little shake, will fall into the mouth of the eater that gapes for them; so easily will all their strongholds be made to surrender to the advancing enemy, upon the first summons, Nah_3:12. Note, Strongholds, even the strongest, are no fence against the judgments of God, when they come with commission.

The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and a high wall, but only in his own conceit,Pro_18:10. They are supposed to make their strongholds as strong as possible, and are challenged to do their utmost to make them tenable, and serviceable to them against the invader (Nah_3:14): Draw thee water for the siege; lay in great quantities of water, that that which is so necessary to the support of human life may not be wanting; it is put here for all manner of provision, with which Nineveh is ironically told to furnish herself, in expectation of a siege. “Take ever so much care that thou mayest not be starved out, and forced by famine to surrender, yet that shall not avail. Fortify the strongholds, by adding out-works to them, or putting men and arms into them,” as with us by planting cannon upon them. “Go into clay, and tread the mortar, and make strong the brick-kiln; take all the pains thou canst in erecting new fortifications; but it shall be all in vain, for (Nah_3:15) there shall even the fire devour thee if it be taken by storm.” It is by fire and sword that in time of war the great devastations are made. 3. Did they put confidence in the multitude of their inhabitants? Were they, from their number and valour, reckoned their strongest walls and fortifications? Alas! these shall stand them in no stead; they shall but sink the sooner under the weight of their own numbers (Nah_3:13): Thy people in the midst of thee are women; they have no wisdom, no courage; they shall be fickle, feeble, and faint-hearted, as women commonly are in such times of danger and distress; they shall be at their wits' end, adding to their griefs and fears by the power of their own imagination, and utterly unable to do any thing for themselves; the valiant men shall become cowards. O verè Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges - Phrygian dames, not Phrygian men. Though they make themselves many (Nah_3:15), as the canker-wormand as the locust, that come in vast swarms, though thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven, though thy exchange be thronged with wealthy traders, who, having so much money to stand up in defence of and so much to lay out in the means of their defence, should, one would think, give the enemy a warm reception, yet their hearts shall fail them too; though they be numerous as caterpillars, yet the fire and sword shall eat them up easily and irresistibly as the canker-worm, Nah_3:15. They are as numerous as those wasting insects, but their enemies shall be mischievous like them. He adds (Nah_3:16), The canker-worm spoils, or spreads herself, and flies away. Both the merchants and the enemies were compared to canker-worms. The enemies shall spoil Nineveh, and carry away the spoil, without opposition, or any hope of recovering it. Or the rich merchants, who have come from abroad to settle in Nineveh, and have raised vast estates there, out of which it was hoped they would contribute largely for the defence of the city, when they see the country invaded and the city likely to be besieged, will send away their effects, and remove to some other place, will spread their wings and fly away where they may be safe, and Nineveh shall be never the better for them. Note, It is rare to find even those that have shared with us in our joys willing to share with us in our griefs too. The canker-worms will continue upon the field while there is any thing to be had, but they are gone when all is gone. Those that men have got by they do not care to lose by. Nineveh's merchants bid her farewell in her distress. Riches themselves are as the canker-worms, which on a sudden fly away as the eagle towards heaven,Pro_23:5. 4. Did they put a confidence in the strength of their gates and bars? What fence will those be against the force of the judgments of God? Nah_3:13. The gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thy enemies, the gates of thy rivers (Nah_2:6), the flood-gates, or the passes and avenues, by which the enemy would make his entrance into the country, or the gates of the cities; these, though ever so strong and well-guarded, shall not answer their end: The fire shall devour thy bars, the bars of thy gates, and then they shall fly open. 5. Did they put a confidence in their king and princes? They should do them no service (Nah_3:17): Thy crowned heads are as the locusts; those that had pomp and power, as crowned heads, were enfeebled, and had no power to make

resistance, when the enemy came in like a flood. “Thy captains, that should lead thy forces into the field, are great indeed, and look great, but they are as the great grasshoppers, the maximum quod sic - the largest specimens of that species; still they are but grasshoppers, worthless things, that can do no service. They encamp in the hedges, in the cold day, the cold weather, but, when the sun arises, they flee away, and are gone, nobody knows whither. So these mercenary soldiers that lay slumbering about Nineveh, when any trouble arises, flee away, and shift for their own safety. The hireling flees, because he is a hireling.” The king of Assyria is told, and it is a shame he needs to be told it (who might observe it himself), that his shepherds slumber; they have no life or spirit to appear for the flock, and are very remiss in the discharge of the duty of their place and the trust reposed in them: Thy nobles shall dwell in the dust, and be buried in silence. 6. Did they hope that they should yet recover themselves and rally again? In this also they should be disappointed; for, when the shepherds are smitten, the sheep are scattered; the people are dispersed upon the mountains and no man gathers them, nor will they ever come together of themselves, but will wander endlessly, as scattered sheep do. The judgment they are under is as a wound, and it is incurable; there is no relief for it, “no healing of thy bruise, no possibility that the wound, which is so grievous and painful to thee, should be so much as skinned over; thy case is desperate (Nah_3:19) and thy neighbours, instead of lending a hand to help thee, shall clap their hands over thee,and triumph in thy fall; and the reason is, because thou hast been one way or other injurious to them all: Upon whom has not thy wickedness passed continually? Thou hast been always doing mischief to those about thee; there is none of them but what thou hast abused and insulted; and therefore they shall be so far from pitying thee that they shall be glad to see thee reckoned with.” Note, Those that have been abusive to their neighbours will, one time or another, find it come home to them; they are but preparing enemies to themselves against their day comes to fall: and those that dare not lay hands on them themselves will clap their hands over them, and upbraid them with their former wickedness, for which they are now well enough served and paid in their own coin. The troublers shall be troubled will be the burden of many, as it is here the burden of Nineveh.

JAMISO�, "thy strongholds — on the borders of Assyria, protecting the approaches to Nineveh: “the gates of thy land” (Nah_3:13).

fig trees with the first ripe figs — expressing the rapidity and ease of the capture of Nineveh (compare Isa_28:4; Rev_6:13).

CALVIN, "The Prophet here declares that the strongholds of the Assyrians would avail them nothing; whether they trusted in the number of their men, or in their walls, or in other defenses, they would be disappointed; for all things, he says, will of themselves fall, even without being much assailed. And he employs a very apposite similitude, “Thy fortifications,” he says, “which thou thinkest to be very strong, shall be like figs; for when the fruit is ripe, and any comes to the tree, as soon as he touches it or any of the branches, the figs will fall off themselves.” We indeed know that there is not much firmness in that fruit; when it is ripe, it immediately falls to the ground, or if it hangs on the branches, a very little shaking will bring it down. We now see the design of the Prophet.

And hence an useful doctrine may be deduced: whatever strength men may seek for themselves from different quarters, it will wholly vanish away; for neither forts, nor

towers, nor ramparts, nor troops of men, nor any kind of contrivances, will avail any thing; and were there no one to rise against them, they would yet fall of themselves. It afterwards follows —

COFFMAN, "Verse 12

"All thy fortresses ,shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater."

"Thy fortresses ..." "These were the strongholds on the borders of Assyria, protecting the approaches to Nineveh."[31]

"Like ... first-ripe figs ..."

"First-ripe figs, when at full maturity, fall from the tree with the least shake; so at the first shake or consternation, all the fortresses of Nineveh were abandoned; and the king, in despair, burnt himself and household in his own palace."[32]

The ring of outer fortresses protecting the approaches to Nineveh were "certain mountain passes, called by Strabo `the Caspian gates,' and others cited by Xenophon as `the gates of Cilicia and Syria.'"[33]

13 Look at your troops—

they are all weaklings.

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire has consumed the bars of your gates.

BAR�ES, "Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women - Fierce, fearless, hard, iron men, such as their warriors still are portrayed by themselves on their monuments, they whom no toll wearied, no peril daunted, shall be, one and all, their whole “people, women.” So Jeremiah to Babylon, “they shall become, became, women” Jer_50:37; Jer_51:30. He sets it before the eyes. “Behold, thy people are women;” against nature they are such, not in tenderness but in weakness and fear. Among the signs of the Day of Judgment, it stands, “men’s hearts failing them for fear” Luk_21:26.

Where sin reigns, there is no strength left, no manliness or nobleness of soul, no power to resist. “In the midst of thee,” where thou seemest most secure, and, if anywhere, there were hope of safety. The very inmost self of the sinner gives way.

To thine enemies - (This is, for emphasis, prefixed) not for any good to thee, but “to thine enemies shall be set wide open the gates of thy land,” not, “thy gates,” i. e., the gates of their cities, (which is a distinct idiom), but “the gates of the land” itself, every avenue, which might have been closed against the invader, but which was “laid open.” The Easterns, as well as the Greeks and Latins . See further Liddell and Scott, loc. cit.)

the πύλαι�τ�ς�Κιλικίας�κα²�τ�ς�Συρίας pulai tēs Kilikias kai tēs Surias, Xen. Anab. i. 4. 14, the

“Amsnicae Pylae” (Q. Curt. iii. 20). Pliny speaks of the “portae Caucasiae” (H. N. vi. 11) or “Iberiae” (Albaniae Ptol. v. 12.) Ibid. 15), used the word “gate” or “doors” of the mountain passes, which gave an access to a land, but which might be held against an enemy. In the pass called “the Caucasian gates,” there were, over and above, doors fastened with iron bars . At Thermopylae or, as the inhabitants called them, Pylae , “gates,” the narrow pass was further guarded by a wall . Its name recalls the brilliant history, how such approaches might be held by a devoted handful of men against almost countless multitudes. Of Assyria, Pliny says , “The Tigris and pathless mountains encircle Adiabene.” When those “gates of the land” gave way, the whole land was laid open to its enemies.

The fire shall devour thy bars - Probably, as elsewhere, the bars of the gates, which were mostly of wood, since it is added expressly of some, that they were of the iron Psa_107:16; Isa_14:2 or brass 1Ki_4:13. : “Occasionally the efforts of the besiegers were directed against the gate, which they endeavored to break open with axes, or to set on fire by application of a torch - In the hot climate of S. Asia wood becomes so dry by exposture to the sun, that the most solid doors may readily be ignited and consumed.” It is even remarked in one instance that the Assyrians “have not set fire to the gates of this city, as appeared to be their usual practice in attacking a fortified place.”

So were her palaces buried as they stood, that the traces of prolonged fire are still visible, calcining the one part and leaving others which were not exposed to it, uncalcined. : “It is incontestable that, during the excavations, a considerable quantity of charcoal, and even pieces of wood, either half-burnt or in a perfect state of preservation, were found in many places. The lining of the chambers also bears certain marks of the action of fire. All these things can be explained only by supposing the fall of a burning roof, which calcined the slabs of gypsum and converted them into dust. It would be absurd to imagine that the burning of a small quantity of furniture could have left on the walls marks like these which are to be seen through all the chambers, with the exception of one, which was only an open passage. It must have been a violent and prolonged fire, to be able to calcine not only a few places, but every part of these slabs, which were ten feet high and several inches thick. So complete a decomposition can be attributed but to intense heat, such as would be occasioned by the fall of a burning roof.

“Botta found on the engraved flag-stones scoria and half-melted nails, so that there is no doubt that these appearances had been produced by the action of intense and long-sustained beat. He remembers, beside, at Khorsabad, that when he detached some bas-reliefs from the earthy substance which covered them, in order to copy the inscriptions that were behind, he found there coals and cinders, which could have entered only by the top, between the wall and the back of the bas-relief. This can be easily understood to have been caused by the burning of the roof, but is inexplicable in any other manner. What tends most positively to prove that the traces of fire must be attributed to the burning of a wooden roof is, that these traces are perceptible only in the interior of the

building. The gypsum also that covers the wall inside is completely calcined, while the outside of the building is nearly everywhere untouched. But wherever the fronting appears to have at all suffered from fire, it is at the bottom; thus giving reason to suppose that the damage has been done by some burning matter falling outside. In fact, not a single bas-relief in a state to be removed was found in any of the chambers, they were all pulverized.”

The soul which does not rightly close its senses against the enticements of the world, does, in fact, open them, and death is come up into our windows Jer_9:21, and then “whatever natural good there yet be, which, as bars, would hinder the enemy from bursting in, is consumed by the fire,” once kindled, of its evil passions.

CLARKE, "Thy people - are women - They lost all courage, and made no resistance. O vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges: “Verily, ye are Phrygian women, not Phrygian men.” So said Numanus to the Trojans. Virg., Aen. ix.

GILL, "Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women,.... Or like women, weak and feeble, fearful and timorous; frightened at the first approach of the enemy; run away, and run up and down in the utmost consternation and distress, having neither skill nor courage to oppose them; some regard may be had to the effeminacy of their king; see Nah_2:7. The sense is, they should be at once dispirited, and lose all strength of mind and body, and have neither heads nor hearts to form schemes, and execute them in their own defence; and thus should they be, even in the midst of the city, upon their own ground, where, any where, it might be thought they would exert themselves, and play the man, since their all lay at stake: this was another thing they trusted in, the multitude of their people, even of their soldiers; but these would be of no avail, since they would lose all their military skill and bravery:

the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thine enemies: instead of guarding the passes and avenues, they would abandon them to the enemy; and, instead of securing the gates and passages, they would run away from them; and the enemy would find as easy access as if they were thrown open on purpose for them; perhaps this may respect the gates of the rivers being opened by the inundation, which threw down the wall, and made a way into the city; see Nah_2:6,

the fire shall devour thy bars; with which their gates had been shut, but now opened, and in the enemies' hands; who would set fire to them, that the way to go in and out might be open and free.

JAMISO�, "thy people — thy soldiers.

women — unable to fight for thee (Isa_19:16; Jer_50:37; Jer_51:30).

gates on thy land — the fortified passes or entrances to the region of Nineveh (compare Jer_15:7). Northeast of Nineveh there were hills affording a natural barrier against an invader; the guarded passes through these are probably “the gates of the land” meant.

fire shall devour thy bars — the “bars” of the fortresses at the passes into Assyria. So in Assyrian remains the Assyrians themselves are represented as setting fire to the

gates of a city [Bonomi, Nineveh, pp. 194, 197].

CALVIN, "The Prophet declares here, that the hearts of them all would become soft and effeminate when God would proceed to destroy Nineveh. We have said before that the hearts of men are so in the hand of God, that he melts whatever courage there may be in them, whenever he pleases: and God prepares men for ruin, when he debilitates their hearts, that they cannot bear the sight of their enemies. God indeed can leave in men their perverseness, so that they may ever run furiously into ruin, and not be able, with a courageous heart, to repel the attacks of their enemies; but he often softens their hearts and deprives them of power, that he may make more evident his judgment: God does not, however, always work in the same way; for variety in his judgments is calculated to do us good, for thereby our minds are more powerfully awakened. Were his proceedings uniformly the same, we could not so well distinguish the hand of God, as when he acts now in this way, and then in another. But, as I have already said, it is what is well known, that God enervates men and strips them of all courage, when he gives them over to destruction.

So now the Prophet speaks of the Ninevites, Behold, he says, thy people are women (247) The demonstrative particle, Behold, is here emphatical: for the Assyrians, no doubt, ridiculed, as a fable, the prediction of the Prophet; and it was what the Israelites found it difficult to believe. This is the reason why the Prophet pointed out, as by the finger, what surpassed the comprehensions of men. By saying, in the midst of thee, he intimates, that though they should be separated from their enemies and dwell in a fortified city, they should yet be filled with trembling. This amplification deserves to be noticed: for it is nothing wonderful, when an onset frightens us, when enemies join battle with us, and when many things present themselves before our eyes, which are calculated to deprive us of courage; but when we are frightened by report only concerning our enemies, and we become fainthearted, though walls be between us, it then appears evident, that we are smitten by the hand of God; for when we see walls of stone, and yet our hearts become brittle like glass, is it not evident, that we are inwardly terrified by the Lord, as it were, through some hidden influence, rather than through intervening and natural causes? We now then perceive the Prophet’s meaning, when he says, that the people would become women, or effeminate, in the midst of the city, in its very bowels; as though he had said, that they would not cease to tremble, even while they were dwelling in a safe place.

By opening, opened shall be thy gates, he says, to thy enemies. He shows again, that though the Assyrians were fortified, every access would be made open to their enemies, as though there was no fortress. By saying, the gates of thy land, it is probable that he speaks not only of the city, but of all their strongholds. The Assyrians, no doubt, fortified many cities, in order to keep afar off the enemy, and to preserve the chief seat of the empire free from danger and fear. I therefore understand the Prophet as referring here to many cities, when he says, By opening, opened shall be the gates of thy land to thine enemies and fire shall consume thy bars He means, that though they had before carefully fortified the whole land around, so that they thought themselves secure from all hostile invasion, yet all this would be useless; for the fire would consume all their bars. By fire, the Prophet understands metaphorically the judgment of God. For as we see that so great is the vehemence of fire, that it melts iron and brass, so the Prophet means, that there would be no strength which could defend Nineveh and its empire against the hand

of God. It follows —

COFFMAN, "Verse 13

""Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies; the fire hath devoured thy bars. Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln."

These verses are a taunting announcement of doom.

"Thy people ... are women ..." What was meant is that the strongest and most valiant of their soldiers would be as ineffective against the foe coming upon them, as a company of untrained women, frightened and fleeing from the enemy.

"Draw water ... go into clay ... tread the mortar ... etc." has the thought that, "All your frenzied preparations are useless, the doom of the city is already sealed." All of this was bitter irony, for it was far too late to make preparations. "Such terror will be upon the defenders of Nineveh that they will be unable to act the part of men."[34]

PULPIT, "The reason why the fortresses are so readily taken is now given. Are women. The Assyrians were essentially a brave nation, but they should be now no more able to resist the enemy than if they were women (comp. Isaiah 19:16; Jeremiah 1:1-19 :37; Jeremiah 51:30). The gates of thy land. The various approaches and passes which lead into Assyria (comp. Jeremiah 15:7; Micah 5:6). So Strabo (11.12. 13) speaks of certain mountain passes as "the Caspian gates" and Xenophon ('Anab.' 1.4. 4) mentions "the gates of Cilicia and Syria." The famous defile that led into Greece was called Thermopylae The fire shall devour thy bars. Hitzig, Keil, and others take the "bars" metaphorically, meaning the forts and castles which defend the passes; but the literal sense is the most natural, as in the parallel passage, Jeremiah 51:30 (see note on Amos 1:5). It was the Assyrians' custom to set fire to the gates of any city that they attacked. "It is incontestable," says Bonomi, in another place, "that, during the excavations, a considerable quantity of charcoal, and even pieces of wood either half burnt or in a perfect state of preservation, were found in many places. The lining of the chambers also bears certain marks of the action of fire. All these things can be explained only by supposing the fall of a burning roof, which calcined the slabs of gypsum, and converted them into dust .... It must have been a violent and prolonged fire to be able to calcine not only a few places, but every part of these slabs, which were ten feet high and several inches thick. So complete a decomposition can be attributed but to intense heat".

14 Draw water for the siege,

strengthen your defenses!

Work the clay,

tread the mortar,

repair the brickwork!

BAR�ES, "Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strongholds - This is not mere mockery at man’s weakness, when he would resist God. It foretells that they shall toil, and that, heavily. Toil is added upon toil. Nineveh did undergo a two years’ siege. Water stands for all provisions within. He bids them, as before Nah_2:1, strengthen what was already strong; strongholds, which seemed to “cut off” all approach. These he bids them strengthen, not repairing decays only but making them exceeding strong 2Ch_11:12. Go into clay. We seem to see all the inhabitants, like ants on their nest, all poured out, every one busy, every one making preparation for the defense. Why had there been no need of it? What needed she of towers and fortifications, whose armies were carrying war into distant lands, before whom all which was near was hushed? Now, all had to be renewed. As Isaiah in his mockery of the idol-makers begins with the forging of the axe, the planting and rearing of the trees, which were at length to become the idol (Isa_44:12, following), Nahum goes back to the beginning. The neglected brick-kiln, useless in their prosperity, was to be repaired; the clay, which abounded in the valley of the Tigris , was to be collected, mixed and kneaded by treading, as still represented in the Egyptian monuments. The conquering nation was to do the work of slaves, as Asiatic captives are represented, under their taskmasters , on the monuments of Egypt, a prelude of their future. Xenophon still saw the massive brick wall, on the stone foundation .

Yet, though stored within and fenced without, it shall not stand (see Isa_27:10-11).

CLARKE, "Draw thee waters for the siege - The Tigris ran near to Nineveh, and here they are exhorted to lay in plenty of fresh water, lest the siege should last long, and lest the enemy should cut off this supply.

Go into clay, and tread the mortar - This refers to the manner of forming bricks anciently in those countries; they digged up the clay, kneaded it properly by treading, mixed it with straw or coarse grass, moulded the bricks, and dried them in the sun. I have now some of the identical bricks, that were brought from this country, lying before me, and they show all these appearances. They are compact and very hard, but wholly soluble in water. There were however others without straw, that seem to have been burnt in a kiln as ours are. I have also some fragments or bats of these from Babylon.

GILL, "Draw thee waters for the siege,.... Before the siege is begun, fetch water from the river, wells, or fountains without the city, and fill cisterns, and such like receptacles of water, with them; that there may be sufficiency of it to hold out, which is often wanting in long sieges; the want of which gives great distress to the besieged: this is put for all necessary provisions, which should be made when a city is in danger of being blocked up: this, and what follows, are said ironically; signifying, let them do what

they would or could for their support and security, it would be all in vain:

fortify thy strong holds; repair the old fortifications, and add new ones to them; fill them with soldiers, arms, and ammunition:

go into clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brick kiln; repair the brick kilns, keep them in good order; employ men in digging clay, and treading it, and making it into bricks, and burning them in the kiln, that there be no want of bricks to repair the fortifications, or such breaches as might be made by the enemy. Bricks were much used instead of stone in those countries; but when they had done their utmost, they would not be able to secure themselves, and keep out the enemy.

JAMISO�, "Ironical exhortation to Nineveh to defend herself.

Draw ... waters — so as not to be without water for drinking, in the event of being cut off by the besiegers from the fountains.

make strong the brick-kiln — or “repair” [Maurer]; so as to have a supply of bricks formed of kiln-burnt clay, to repair breaches in the ramparts, or to build new fortifications inside when the outer ones are taken by the foe.

K&D 14-17, "In conclusion, the prophet takes away from the city so heavily laden with guilt the last prop to its hope, - namely, reliance upon its fortifications, and the numerical strength of its population. - Nah_3:14. “Draw thyself water for the siege! Make thy castles strong! tread in the mire, and stamp in the clay! prepare the brick-kiln! Nah_3:15. There will the fire devour thee, the sword destroy thee, devour thee like the lickers. Be in great multitude like the lickers, be in great multitude like the locusts?Nah_3:16. Thou hast made thy merchants more than the star so heaven; the licker enters to plunder, and flies away. Nah_3:17. Thy levied ones are like the locusts, and thy men like an army of grasshoppers which encamp in the hedges in the day of frost; if the sun rises, they are off, and men know not their place: where are they?” Water of the siege is the drinking water necessary for a long-continued siege. Nineveh is to provide itself with this, because the siege will last a long while. It is also to improve the

fortifications (chizzēq as in 2Ki_12:8, 2Ki_12:13). This is then depicted still more fully.

Tıt and chōmer are used synonymously here, as in Isa_41:25. Tıt, lit., dirt, slime, then

clay and potter's clay (Isaiah l.c.). Chōmer, clay or mortar (Gen_11:3), also dirt of the

streets (Isa_10:6, compared with Mic_7:10). החזיק, to make firm, or strong, applied to

the restoration of buildings in Neh_5:16 and Eze_27:9, Eze_27:27; here to restore, or to

put in order, the brick-kiln (malbēn, a denom. from lebhēnâh, a brick), for the purpose of

burning bricks. The Assyrians built with bricks sometimes burnt, sometimes unburnt, and merely dried in the sun. Both kinds are met with on the Assyrian monuments (see Layard, vol. ii. p. 36ff.). This appeal, however, is simply a rhetorical turn for the thought that a severe and tedious siege is awaiting Nineveh. This siege will end in the destruction

of the great and populous city. שם, there, sc. in these fortifications of thine, will fire

consume thee; fire will destroy the city with its buildings, and the sword destroy the inhabitants. The destruction of Nineveh by fire is related by ancient writers (Herod. 1:106, 185; Diod. Sic. 2:25-28; Athen. xii. p. 529), and also confirmed by the ruins (cf. Str. ad h. l.). It devours thee like the locust. The subject is not fire or sword, either one or

the other, but rather both embraced in one. לקPK, like the licker; yeleq, a poetical epithet

applied to the locust (see at Joe_1:4), is the nominative, no the accusative, as Calvin, Grotius, Ewald, and Hitzig suppose. For the locusts are not devoured by the fire or the sword, but it is they who devour the vegetables and green of the fields, so that they are everywhere used as a symbol of devastation and destruction. It is true that in the following sentences the locusts are used figuratively for the Assyrians, or the inhabitants of Nineveh; but it is also by no means a rare thing for prophets to give a new turn and application to a figure or simile. The thought is this: fire and sword will devour Nineveh and its inhabitants like the all-consuming locusts, even though the city itself, with its

mass of houses and people, should resemble an enormous swarm of locusts. ד\Kהת may

be either an inf. abs. used instead of the imperative, or the imperative itself. The latter seems the more simple; and the use of the masculine may be explained on the

assumption that the prophet had the people floating before his mind, whereas in די\Kהת

he was thinking of the city. Hithkahbbēd, to show itself heavy by virtue of the large

multitude; similar to בדK in Nah_2:10 (cf. בדK in Gen_13:2; Exo_8:20, etc.).

The comparison to a swarm of locusts is carried still further in Nah_3:16 and Nah_

3:17, and that so that Nah_3:16 explains the לקPKאכלך�¥ in Nah_3:15. Nineveh has

multiplied its traders or merchants, even more than the stars of heaven, i.e., to an

innumerable multitude. The yeleq, i.e., the army of the enemy, bursts in and plunders.

That Nineveh was a very rich commercial city may be inferred from its position, -namely, just at the point where, according to oriental notions, the east and west meet together, and where the Tigris becomes navigable, so that it was very easy to sail from thence into the Persian Gulf; just as afterwards Mosul, which was situated opposite, became great and powerful through its widely-extended trade (see Tuch, l.c. p. 31ff., and Strauss, in loc.).

(Note: “The point,” says O. Strauss (Nineveh and the Word of God, Berl 1855, p. 19), “at which Nineveh was situated was certainly the culminating point of the three quarters of the globe - Europe, Asia, and Africa; and from the very earliest times it was just at the crossing of the Tigris by Nineveh that the great military and commercial roads met, which led into the heart of all the leading known lands.”)

The meaning of this verse has been differently interpreted, according to the

explanation given to the verb pâshat. Many, following the ´ρµησε and expansus est of the

lxx and Jerome, give it the meaning, to spread out the wing; whilst Credner (on Joel, p. 295), Maurer, Ewald, and Hitzig take it in the sense of undressing one's self, and understand it as relating to the shedding of the horny wing-sheaths of the young locusts. But neither the one nor the other of these explanations can be grammatically sustained.

Pâshat never means anything else then to plunder, or to invade with plundering; not even

in such passages as Hos_7:1; 1Ch_14:9 and 1Ch_14:13, which Gesenius and Dietrich quote in support of the meaning, to spread; and the meaning forced upon it by Credner, of the shedding of the wing-sheaths by locusts, is perfectly visionary, and has merely been invented by him for the purpose of establishing his false interpretation of the different names given to the locusts in Joe_1:4. In the passage before us we cannot

understand by the yeleq, which “plunders and flies away” (pâshat�vayyâ‛ōph), the

innumerable multitude of the merchants of Nineveh, because they were not able to fly away in crowds out of the besieged city. Moreover, the flying away of the merchants

would be quite contrary to the meaning of the whole description, which does not

promise deliverance from danger by flight, but threatens destruction. The yeleq is rather

the innumerable army of the enemy, which plunders everything, and hurries away with its booty. In Nah_3:17 the last two clauses of Nah_3:15 are explained, and the warriors of Nineveh compared to an army of locusts. There is some difficulty caused by the two

words זריך�µמ and טפסריך�, the first of which only occurs here, and the second only once

more, viz., in Jer_51:27, where we meet with it in the singular. That they both denote warlike companies appears to be tolerably certain; but the real meaning cannot be

exactly determined. זריםµמ with dagesh dir., as for example in מ·דש in Exo_15:17, is

probably derived from nâzar, to separate, and not directly from nezer, a diadem, or nâzır, the crowned person, from which the lexicons, following Kimchi's example, have derived the meaning princes, or persons ornamented with crowns; whereas the true meaning is

those levied, selected (for war), analogous to bâchūr, the picked or selected one, applied

to the soldiery. The meaning princes or captains is at variance with the comparison to

'arbeh, the multitude of locusts, since the number of the commanders in an army, or of

the war-staff, is always a comparatively small one. And the same objection may be

offered to the rendering war-chiefs or captains, which has been given to taphsar, and

which derives only an extremely weak support from the Neo-Persian tâwsr, although the

word might be applied to a commander-in-chief in Jer_51:27, and does signify an angel in the Targum-Jonathan on Deu_28:12. The different derivations are all untenable (see Ges. Thes. p. 554); and the attempt of Böttcher (N. Krit. Aehrenl. ii. pp. 209-10) to trace

it to the Aramaean verb טפס, obedivit, with the inflection ־ר for ־ן, in the sense of clientes,

vassals, is precluded by the fact that ar does not occur as a syllable of inflection. The word is probably Assyrian, and a technical term for soldiers of a special kind, though

hitherto it has not been explained. וב�¤ובי¤, locusts upon locusts, i.e., an innumerable

swarm of locusts. On ובי¤, see at Amo_7:1; and on the repetition of the same word to

express the idea of the superlative, see the comm. on 2Ki_19:23 (and Ges. §108, 4). Yōm�

qârâh, day (or time) of cold, is either the night, which is generally very cold in the East,

or the winter-time. To the latter explanation it may be objected, that locusts do not take

refuge in walls or hedges during the winter; whilst the expression yōm, day, for night,

may be pleaded against the former. We must therefore take the word as relating to certain cold days, on which the sky is covered with clouds, so that the sun cannot break

through, and zârach as denoting not the rising of the sun, but its shining or breaking

through. The wings of locusts become stiffened in the cold; but as soon as the warm rays

of the sun break through the clouds, they recover their animation and fly away. Nōdad,

(poal), has flown away, viz., the Assyrian army, which is compared to a swarm of locusts, so that its place is known no more (cf. Psa_103:16), i.e., has perished without leaving a

trace behind. םP� contracted from ה�הםP�. These words depict in the most striking manner

the complete annihilation of the army on which Nineveh relied.

CALVIN, "The Prophet goes on with the same subject, — that the Ninevites would labor in vain, while striving anxiously and with every effort to defend themselves against

their enemies. The meaning then is, “That though thou remittest no diligence, yet thou shalt lose all thy labor; for thou wilt not be able to resist the vengeance of God; and thou deceives thyself if thou thinkest that by the usual means thou canst aid thyself; for it is God who attacks thee by the Babylonians. How much soever then thou mayest accumulate of those things which are usually employed to fortify cities, all this will be useless.” Draw for thyself, he says, waters for the siege; that is, lay up provisions for thyself, as it is usually done, and have water laid up in cisterns; strengthen thy fortresses, that is, renew them; enter into the clay for the sake of treading the mortar: fortify, or

cement, or join together; the brick-kiln (for what some think that חזק,�chezek,�means,�here�

is�to�hold,�or�to�lay�hold,�is�wholly�foreign�to�the�Prophet’s�meaning:)�to�fortify�then�the�brick-

kiln,�that�is,�the�bricks�which�come�forth�from�the�kiln,�nothing�else�than�to�construct�and�join�

them�together,�that�there�might�be�a�solid�building:�for�we�know�that�buildings�often�fall,�or�are�

overturned,�because�they�are�not�well�joined�together:�and�he�refers�to�the�mode�of�building�

which�historians�say�was�in�use�among�the�Assyrians.�For�as�that�country�had�no�abundance�of�

stones,�they�supplied�the�defect�by�bricks.�We�now�then�understand�the�intention�of�the�Prophet.

BENSON, "Verse 14-15

Nahum 3:14-15. Draw thee waters for the siege — Fill all thy cisterns, and draw the waters into the ditches. Go into the clay, &c. — Set thy brickmakers on work to prepare store of materials for thy fortifications. There shall the fire devour thee — After all that thou canst do, the fire of the enemy shall reach even thy inmost works, and their darts shall drive off the defenders of them. The sword shall cut thee off — The Hebrew word, which we render here sword, properly signifies any kind of dart; and this seems to be spoken of the fire, and missile weapons which the enemy should throw, in order to burn their inner works, or drive them from off them. It shall eat thee up like the canker-worm — The sword of the enemy shall destroy thee, as the canker-worm eats up the fruits of the earth. Or, as some interpret the expression, Thou shalt be devoured as the cankerworm is eaten up; because the Assyrians were wont to eat these kinds of worms, which were a species of locusts, which are still eaten in the eastern countries. Make thyself many as the canker-worm — Though thou multiply thine armies like locusts, or caterpillars, yet the enemy shall destroy them.

CONSTABLE, "In irony (cf. Nahum 2:1) Nahum urged the Ninevites to draw plenty of water so they would have enough to drink and so they could extinguish the fires that would burn their gates and city. They should strengthen their fortifications and make more bricks to build their walls and battlements higher and stronger and to fill in the holes the enemy would punch in them.

"Nineveh"s ruins include traces of a counter-wall built by the inhabitants to defend the city near places where the enemy had broken down some of the city"s defenses." [Note: Johnson, p1503.]

ELLICOTT, "(14) Draw thee waters.—In this desperate plight Nineveh is scoffingly advised to protract her resistance. The outer walls are broken down; let her hold out in the citadel. Nay, let her begin anew her preparations for defence. Let her lay in water and

provision, and build new buttresses of brick. What shall it avail her? In the midst of her preparations, fire and sword shall again surprise her. The account of this last struggle for existence is minute. Nahum goes back to the repair of the brick-kiln, just as Isaiah, in his description of idol-worship, goes back to the smith working with the tongs, and the carpenter measuring with his rule (Isaiah 44:12, seq.). In both cases the irony gains force by a minute and elaborate description of operations destined to be futile.

PETT, "Nahum 3:14-15

“Draw yourselves water for the siege, strengthen your forts; go into the clay, and tread the mortar, take hold of the brick mould! There will the fire devour you, the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the young locust.”

All her efforts to save herself will be in vain. She may draw water for the siege, strengthen her forts, erect new defences and new buildings, but even while she makes the attempt she will perish. Fire and sword will do their work. And just as the young locust descends on the land, devouring until nothing is left, so will their enemies descend on them and devour them.

PULPIT, "Nahum 3:14-19

§ 3. In spite of all its efforts and all its resources, Nineveh shall meet with a terrible end.

Nahum 3:14

Nahum ironically bids the Ninevites prepare for the siege they were about to sustain. Draw thee waters for the siege. The drinking water necessary for a long siege is meant. This injunction is not particularly applicable to Nineveh, which from its situation was abundantly supplied with water, unless there was danger that the enemy would divert the courses of the rivers. But the warning would come home with peculiar force to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, among whom Nahum prophesied (2 Kings 20:20; Isaiah 22:11; Isaiah 30:20). Fortify thy strong holds; strengthen thy fortresses. Repair all defects in thy defences (2 Chronicles 11:11). The mode of doing this in the Assyrian fashion is then denoted. Go into clay, and tread the mortar. The soil round Nineveh was of a tenacious quality; and when moistened with water and kneaded either with feet or hands, with the addition usually of a little chopped straw, was easily formed into bricks. These, even without the aid of fire, became dry and hard in the course of a few days. But it is plain from the investigations of ruins that the Assyrians used both kiln-baked and sun-dried bricks, though the mass of the walls was usually composed of the latter, the more durable material being employed merely as an accessory. Xenophon, 'Anab.,' 3.4. 11, speaks of the brick wall ( πλίνθινον τει χος) of a town he calls Mespila. Make strong the brick kiln. There is an uncertainty about the meaning of the last word (malben), which occurs only in two other places (2 Samuel 12:31 and Jeremiah 43:9). In the latter passage it may possibly mean "a square" or "open quadrangle." Jerome has, tene laterem; the LXX; κατακράτησον υ περ πλίνθον "make them strong above (equivalent to 'stronger than') brick," connecting it with the following verse. Some translate it, "brick mould." If the Anglican Version is correct, the prophet bids them repair their kilns, unused in the days of prosperity, when they had no need to look to the security of their

walls. Virtually the same sense is elicited by rendering, "lay hold of the brick mould."

15 There the fire will consume you;

the sword will cut you down—

they will devour you like a swarm of locusts.

Multiply like grasshoppers,

multiply like locusts!

BAR�ES, "There - where thou didst fence thyself, and madest such manifold and toilsome preparation,

Shall the fire devour thee. - All is toil within. The fire of God’s wrath falls and consumes at once. Mankind still, with mire and clay, build themselves Babels. “They go into clay,” and become themselves earthly like the mire they steep themselves in. They make themselves strong, as though they thought “that their houses shall continue forever” Psa_49:11, and say, “So, take thine ease eat, drink and be merry” Luk_12:19-20. God’s wrath descends. “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. It shall eat thee up like the canker-worm.” What in thee is strongest, shall be devoured with as much ease as the locust devours the tender grass. The judgments of God, not only overwhelm as a whole, but find cut each tender part, as the locust devours each single blade.

Make thyself many as the cankerworm - As though thou wouldest equal thyself in oppressive number to those instruments of the vengeance of God, gathering from all quarters armies to help thee; yea, though thou make thy whole self one oppressive multitude, yet it shall not avail thee. Nay, He saith, thou hast essayed to do it.

CLARKE, "Make thyself many as the cankerworm - On the locusts, and their operations in their various states, see the notes on Joel 2 (note). The multitudes, successive swarms, and devastation occasioned by locusts, is one of the most expressive similes that could be used to point out the successive armies and all-destroying influences of the enemies of Nineveh. The account of these destroyers from Dr. Shaw, inserted Joel 2, will fully illustrate the verses where allusion is made to locusts.

GILL, "There shall the fire devour thee,.... In the strong holds, made ever so firm

and secure; either the fire of divine wrath; or the fire of the enemy they should put into them; or the enemy himself, as Kimchi; and so the Targum,

"thither shall come upon thee people who are as strong as fire:''

the sword shall cut thee off; it shall eat thee up as the cankerworm: that is, the sword of the Medes and Chaldeans shall utterly destroy thee, as the cankerworm is destroyed by rain or fire; or rather, as that creature destroys all herbs, plants, and trees it falls upon, and makes clear riddance of them, so should it be with Nineveh:

make thyself many as the cankerworm; make thyself many as the locust; which go in swarms, innumerable, and make the air "heavy" in which they fly, and the earth on which they fall, as the word (y) signifies. The locust has one of its names, "arbah", in Hebrew, from the large numbers of them; so a multitude of men, and large armies, are often signified in Scripture to be like grasshoppers or locusts, for their numbers; see Jdg_6:5. So Sithalces king of Thrace is represented (z) as swearing, while he was sacrificing, that he would assist the Athenians, having an army that would come like locusts, that is, in such numbers; for so the Greek scholiast on the place says the word used signifies a sort of locusts: the sense is, gather together as many soldiers, and as large an army, as can be obtained to meet the enemy, or cause him to break up the siege: and so we find (a) the king of Assyria did; for, perceiving his kingdom in great danger, he sent into all his provinces to raise soldiers, and prepare everything for the siege; but all to no purpose, which is here ironically suggested. The word in the Misnic language, as Kimchi observes, has the signification of sweeping; and some render it, "sweep as the locust" (b); which sweeps away and consumes the fruits of the earth; so sweep with the besom of destruction, as Jarchi, either their enemies, sarcastically spoken, or be thou swept by them.

JAMISO�, "There — in the very scene of thy great preparations for defense; and where thou now art so secure.

fire — even as at the former destruction; Sardanapalus (Pul?) perished with all his household in the conflagration of his palace, having in despair set it on fire, the traces of which are still remaining.

cankerworm — “the licking locust” [Henderson].

make thyself many as the locusts — “the swarming locusts” [Henderson]; that is, however “many” be thy forces, like those of “the swarming locusts,” or the “licking locusts,” yet the foe shall consume thee as the “licking locust” licks up all before it.

CALVIN, "But he adds, There shall the fire consume thee There is much importance in the adverb of place, there, which he uses: there also, he says, shall the fire eat thee up: for he expresses more than before, when he said, that the Assyrians would weary themselves in vain in fortifying their city and their empire; for he says now, that the Lord would turn to their destruction those things in which they trusted as their defenses; There then shall the fire consume thee We now then see what the Prophet means.

We must at the same time observe, that he mentions water; as though he said, However sparingly and frugally thy soldiers may live, being content with water as their drink, (for it is necessary, when we would firmly resist enemies, to undergo all indulgences, and if needs be to endure want, at least the want of delicate meat and

drink,) — though thy soldiers be content with water, and seek not water fresh from the spring or the river, but drink it from cisterns, and though thy fortresses be repaired, and thy walls carefully joined together in a solid structure, by bricks well fitted and fastened, yet there shall the fire consume thee; that is, thy frugality, exertion, and care, not only will avail thee nothing, but will also turn out to thy ruin; for the Lord pronounces accursed the arrogance of men, when they trust in their own resources.

He afterwards adds, Exterminate thee shall the sword; that is, the Lord will find out various means by which he will consume thee. By the fire, then, and by the sword, will he waste and destroy thee. He then says, He will consume thee as the chafer we may read the last word in the nominative as well as in the objective case — He as a chafer will consume thee. If we approve of this rendering, then the meaning would be, — “As chafers in a short time devour a meadow or standing corn, so thy enemies shall soon devour thee as with one mouthful.” We indeed know, that these little animals are so hurtful, that they will very soon eat up and consume all the fruit; and there is in these insects an astonishing voracity. But as the Prophet afterwards compares the Assyrians to chafers and locusts, another sense would be more suitable, and that is, — that God’s judgment would consume the Assyrians, as when rain, or a storm, or a change of season, consumes the chafers; for as these insects are very hurtful, so the Lord also exterminates them whenever he pleases. (248) He afterwards adds,to be multiplied; which is, as I have said, a verb in the infinitive mood. But the sentence of the Prophet is this, by multiplying as the chafer, to multiply as the locusts: but why he speaks thus, may be better understood from the context; the two following verses must be therefore added —

Verse 16

From these words we may learn what the Prophet before meant, when he said that the Assyrians were like locusts or chafers; as though he said, — “I know that you trust in your great number; for ye are like a swarm of chafers or locusts; ye excel greatly in number; inasmuch as you have assembled your merchants and traders as the stars of heaven.” Here he shows how numerous they were. But when he says, The chafer has spoiled, and flies away, he points out another reason for the comparison; for it is not enough to lay hold on one clause of the verse, but the two clauses must be connected; and they mean this, — that the Assyrians, while they were almost innumerable, gloried in their great number, — and also, that this vast multitude would vanish away. He then makes an admission here and says, by multiplying thy merchants, thou hast multiplied them; but when he says, as chafers and as locusts, he shows that this multitude would not continue, for the Lord would scatter them here and there. As then the scattering was nigh, the Prophet says that they were chafers and locusts.

We now understand the design of the Prophet: He first ridicules the foolish confidence with which the Assyrians were inflated. They thought, that as they ruled over many nations, they could raise great armies, and set them in any quarter to oppose any one who might attack them: the Prophet concedes this to them, that is, that they were very numerous, by multiplying thou hast multiplied; but what will this avail them? They shall be locusts, they shall be chafers. — How so? A fuller explanation follows, Thou hast multiplied thy merchants as the stars of heaven: but this shall be temporary; for thou shalt see them vanishing away very soon; they shall be like the chafers, who, being in a moment scattered here and there, quit the naked field or the meadow. But by merchants or traders some understand confederates; and this comparison also, as we have before

seen, frequently occurs in the Prophets: and princes at this day differ nothing from traders, for they outbid one another, and excel in similar artifices, as we have elsewhere seen, by which they carry on a system of mutual deception. This comparison then may be suitable, Thou hast multiplied thy traders, — tes practiciens. But the meaning of the Prophet may be viewed as still wider; we may apply this to the citizens of Nineveh; for the principal men no doubt were merchants: as the Venetian of the present day are all merchants, so were the Syrians, and the Ninevites, and also the Babylonians. It is then nothing strange, that the Prophet, by taking a part for the whole should include under this term all the rich, Thou hast then multiplied thy merchants (249)

He has hitherto allowed them to be very numerous; but he now adds, The chafer has spoiled, and flies away The verb means sometimes to spoil, and it means also to devour: The chafer then has devoured, and flies away; that is, “Thy princes, (as he afterwards calls them,) or thy principal men, have indeed devoured; they have wasted many regions by their plunders, and consumed all things on every side, like the chafers, who destroy the standing corn and all fruits: thou hast then been as a swarm of chafers.” For as chafers in great numbers attack a field, so Nineveh was wont to send everywhere her merchants to spoil and to denude the whole land. “Well,” he says “the chafer has devoured, but he flies away, he is scattered; so it shall happen,” says the Prophet, “to the citizens of Nineveh.” And hence he afterwards adds,

Increase thyself as the chafer,

Increase thyself as the locust,

16. Multiply thy merchants more than the stars of heaven:

The chafer spoils, and flies away:

17. Thy crowned ones shall beas the locusts,

And thy rulers as the gibbous caterpillar;

Which lodge in the fences in the cold day;

The sun rises and they flit away,

And not known is the place where they are.

— Ed.

COFFMAN, "Verse 15

"There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the cankerworm; make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust."

It is a feature of Hebrew prophecy that sometimes a figure of speech (as the simile here) is used with multiple meanings. In the first part of this verse, the sword of vengeance is compared to the locust plague; but in the second half of Nahum 3:15, and in Nahum 3:16, the Assyrians themselves are likened to locusts. "Having already applied it to the ravages of the invading army (Nahum 3:15a), he then uses it (Nahum 3:15-16) to describe the number of Nineveh's citizens."[35]

CONSTABLE, "However if the Ninevites did strengthen their defenses, fire would consume them where they went to draw water and the sword would cut them down as they built. The walls of Nineveh would become the walls of her tomb rather than her defense.

"There was no question about the clear traces of the burning of the temple (as also in the palace of Sennacherib), for a layer of ash about two inches thick lay clearly defined in places on the southeast side about the level of the Sargon pavement." [Note: R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, A Century of Exploration at Nineveh, p77.]

The city"s destruction would be like a locust invasion. A hoard of invading soldiers would descend on Nineveh and leave nothing remaining (cf. Joel 1:2-13). Nahum ironically encouraged the Ninevites to multiply their numbers like locusts since they would have to face a swarm of invading locust-like soldiers. [Note: Longman, " Nahum ," p825.] Another interpretation is that Nahum was addressing the invading soldiers and encouraging them to increase their number so they would be successful. This seems less likely to me since the references to "yourself" are to the people of Nineveh in the context, and an ironical word to them makes sense.

ELLICOTT, "(15, 16) The diversion of metaphor here is somewhat repugnant to modern taste. The sword, like the locust, shall devour Nineveh. Yet Nineveh is immediately afterwards compared in its numbers, destructive influence, and sudden disappearance to the locust. It is a transition like St. Paul’s “going off at a word.” The comparison of the locust suggests the thought that Nineveh herself has been a locust-pest to the world, and the direction of the metaphor is thereupon suddenly changed. A paraphrase will best bring out the meaning. (15) “Hostile swords devour thee, as a locust swarm devours. Vainly clusters together thy dense population, itself another locust-swarm. (16) Yea, as the stars of heaven for number have been thy merchants, as a pest of locusts which plunders one day and is gone the next.”

PETT, "Nahum 3:15-17

“Multiply yourselves like the locust, multiply yourselves like the grasshopper! You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away. Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts, settling on the fences in a day of cold, but when the sun rises, they fly away; and no one knows where they are”

Assyria was constantly expanding and growing rich, boasting at her prosperous economy and the huge numbers of her merchants, as they multiplied like locusts and grasshoppers, and even more than the stars of heaven. But her merchant princes are grasshoppers, her accountants (scribes) in their huge numbers are locusts, they have flown in and settled there because circumstances are favourable, but as soon as there is a change of circumstance, and there is no more for them there, they will disappear to where the sun shines. No one is more flexible than the merchant. When it comes to the crunch Nineveh only has fair-weather friends.

So nothing lasts for ever. We must therefore ensure we make the most of what we have

while we have it. Our wisest move is to lay up our treasure in heaven where the equivalent of the Babylonians cannot reach it, to use it to make lasting friends in eternal habitations (Luke 16:9).

PULPIT, "There. In the very place where thou hast taken all these precautions. Shall the fire devour thee. That fire played a great part in the destruction of Nineveh is asserted by historians and proved by the remains of the city discovered in modern times (see note on Nahum 3:13 : also Herod; 1.106; Diod. Sic; 2.25-28; Athen; 12.529). The fate of the last king, who burnt himself and his palace, is a well known story (see Justin, 'Hist.,' 1.3; Eusebius, 'Chronicles,' 1.9; 14.3; 15.7; Syncell; 'Chronicles,' 1.396, edit. Dind.) (Kuabenbauer). The sword shall cut thee off. While fire destroys the buildings, the sword shall devour the inhabitants of the city. The cankerworm; literally, the licker (Joel 1:4). The locust in its earlier stage is thus described (see Nahum 3:16). The figure implies that the destruction of Nineveh should be sudden and complete, as that wrought on vegetation by an inroad of locusts. Make thyself many. Collect thine armies, gather hosts as innumerable as the locusts, it will be all in vain. The "cankerworm" represented the enemy; the "locusts" represent the Assyrians themselves.

16 You have increased the number of your

merchants

till they are more numerous than the stars in

the sky,

but like locusts they strip the land

and then fly away.

BAR�ES, "Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven -Not numerous only but glorious in the eyes of the world, and, as thou deemest, safe and inaccessible; yet in an instant all is gone.

The commerce of Nineveh was carried back to prehistoric times, since its rivers bound together the mountains of Armenia with the Persian gulf, and marked out the line, by which the distant members of the human family should supply each others’ needs. “Semiramis” they say , “built other cities on the Euphrates and the Tigris, where she placed emporia for those who convey their goods from Media and Paraetacene. Being mighty rivers and passing through a populous country, they yield many advantages to

those employed in commerce; so that the places by the river are full of wealthy emporia.” The Phoenicians traced back their Assyrian commerce (and as it seems, truly) to those same prehistoric times, in which they alleged, that they themselves migrated from the Persian gulf. They commenced at once, they said , the long voyages, in which they transported the wares of Egypt and Assyria. The building of “Tadmor in the wilderness” 1Ki_9:18 on the way to Tiphsach (Thapsacus) the utmost bound of Solomon’s dominions (1Ki_5:4 1Ki_4:24), connected Palestine with that commerce.

The great route for couriers and for traffic, extending for 1,500 or 1,600 miles in later times, must have lain through Nineveh, since, although no mention is made of the city which had perished, the route lay across the two rivers , the greater and lesser Zab, of which the greater formed the Southern limit of Nineveh. Those two rivers led up to two mountain-passes which opened a way to Media and Agbatana; and pillars at the summit of the N. pass attest the use of this route over the Zagros chain about 700 b.c. . Yet a third and easier pass was used by Nineveh, as is evidenced by another monument, of a date as yet undetermined . Two other lines connected Nineveh with Syria and the West. Northern lines led doubtless to Lake Wan and the Black Sea . The lists of plunder or of tribute, carried off during the world-empire of Egypt, before it was displaced by Assyria, attest the extensive imports or manufactures of Nineveh ; the titles of “Assyrian nard, Assyrian amomum, Assyrian odors, myrrh, frankincense , involve its trade with the spice countries: domestic manufactures of hers apparently were purple or dark-blue cloaks, embroidery, brocades, and these conveyed in chests of cedar; her metallurgy was on principles recognized now; in one practical point of combining beauty with strength, she has even been copied .

A line of commerce, so marked out by nature in the history of nations, is not changed, unless some preferable line be discovered. Empires passed away, but, at the end of the 13th century a.d., trade and manufacture continued their accustomed course and habitation. The faith in Jesus had converted the ancient paganism; the heresy of Mohammedanism disputed with the faith for the souls of men; but the old material prosperity of the world held its way. Mankind still wanted the productions of each others’ lands. The merchants of Nineveh were to be dispersed and were gone: itself and its remembrance were to be effaced from the earth, and it was so; in vain was a new Nineveh built by the Romans; that also disappeared; but so essential was its possession for the necessities of commerce, that Mosul, a large and populous town, arose over against its mounds, a city of the living over-against its buried glories; and, as our goods are known in China by the name of our great manufacturing capital, so a delicate manufacture imposed on the languages of Europe (Italian, Spanish, French, English, German) the name of Mosul .

Even early in this century, under a mild governor, an important commerce passed through Mosul, from India, Persia, Kurdistan, Syria, Natolia, Europe . And when European traffic took the line of the Isthmus ef Suez, the communication with Kurdistan still secured to it an important and exclusive commerce. The merchants of Nineveh were dispersed and gone. The commerce continued over-against its grave.

The cankerworm spoileth and fleeth away - Better, “the locust hath spread itself abroad (marauded) and is flown.” The prophet gives, in three words, the whole history of Nineveh, its beginning and its end. He had before foretold its destruction, though it should be oppressive as the locust; he had spoken of its commercial wealth; he adds to this, that other source of its wealth, its despoiling warfares and their issue. The pagan conqueror rehearsed his victory, “I came, saw, conquered.” The prophet goes further, as the issue of all human conquest, “I disappeared.” The locust (Nineveh) spread itself abroad (the word is always used of an inroad for plunder , destroying and wasting,

everywhere: it left the world a desert, and was gone. Ill-gotten wealth makes one poor, not rich. Truly they who traffic in this world, are more in number than they who, seeking treasure in heaven, shall shine as the stars forever and ever. “For many are called, but few, are chosen.” And when all the stars of light “shall abide and praise God Psa_148:3, these men, though multiplied like the locust, shall, like the locust, pass away, destroying and destroyed. They abide for a while in the chillness of this world; when the Sun of righteousness ariseth, they vanish. This is the very order of God’s Providence. As truly as locusts, which in the cold and dew are chilled and stiffened, and cannot spread their wings, fly away when the sun is hot and are found no longer, so shalt thou be dispersed and thy place not anymore be known . It was an earnest of this, when the Assyrians, like locusts, had spread themselves around Jerusalem in a dark day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy Isa_37:3, God was entreated and they were not. Midian came up like the grasshopper for multitude Jdg_6:4-5; Jdg_7:12. In the morning they had fled Jdg_7:21. What is the height of the sons of hen? or how do they spread themselves abroad?” At the longest, after a few years it is but as the locust spreads himself and flees away, no more to return.

CLARKE, "Thou hast multiplied thy merchants - Like Tyre, this city was a famous resort for merchants; but the multitudes which were there previously to the siege, like the locusts, took the alarm, and fled away.

GILL, "Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven,.... A hyperbolical expression, setting forth the great number of merchants that were in Nineveh, and in the land of Assyria; who either were the natives of the place, or came thither for the sake of merchandise, which serve to enrich a nation, and therefore are encouraged to settle; and from whom, in a time of war, much benefit might be expected; being able to furnish with money, which is the sinews of war, as well as to give intelligence of the designs of foreign princes, they trading abroad:

the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away; or "puts off" (c) its clothes, disrobes and changes its form; or breaks out with force, as the Septuagint, out of its former worm state, and appears a beautiful butterfly, and then flies away. The word is rendered a caterpillar, Psa_105:34 and what we translate "spoileth" is used of stripping, or putting off of clothes, 1Sa_19:24 and the sense may be, that though their merchants were multiplied above the stars of heaven, in which there may be an allusion to the increase of caterpillars, Nah_3:15 yet, as the caterpillar drops its clothes, and flies away, so their merchants, through fear of the enemy, would depart in haste, or be suddenly stripped of their riches, which make themselves wings, and fly away, Pro_23:5. These merchants, at their beginning, might be low and mean, but, increasing, adorning, and enriching themselves in a time of peace, fled away in a time of war: or, "spreads itself" (d), and "flies away"; so these creatures spread themselves on the earth, and devour all they can, and then spread their wings, and are gone; suggesting that in like manner the merchants of Nineveh would serve them; get all they could by merchandise among them, and then betake themselves elsewhere and especially in a time of war, which is prejudicial to merchandise; and hence nothing was to be expected from them, or any dependence had upon them.

JAMISO�, "multiplied thy merchants — (Eze_27:23, Eze_27:24). Nineveh, by large canals, had easy access to Babylon; and it was one of the great routes for the people of the west and northwest to that city; lying on the Tigris it had access to the sea. The Phoenicians carried its wares everywhere. Hence its merchandise is so much spoken of.

the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away — that is, spoiled thy merchants.The “cankerworm,” or licking locust, answers to the Medo-Babylonian invaders of Nineveh [G. V. Smith]. Calvin explains less probably, “Thy merchants spoiled many regions; but the same shall befall them as befalls locusts, they in a moment shall be scattered and flee away.” Maurer, somewhat similarly, “The licking locust puts off (the envelope in which his wings had been folded), and teeth away” (Nah_2:9; compare Joe_1:4). The Hebrew has ten different names for the locust, so destructive was it.

BENSON, "Verse 16-17

Nahum 3:16-17. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars —

Thou hast drawn more merchants to thee than there are stars in the heavens. This is a hyperbolical expression, to signify the great number of them. The canker-worm spoileth, and fleeth away — As the locusts destroy the fruits of the earth, and then fly away to another place; so shall thy soldiers pillage all the wealth thou hast gained by traffic, and then leave thee. Thy crowded (or, thy princes) are as the locusts, &c. — For as they fly away when the heat comes on, so thy princes and captains will fly away from the heat of battle, or danger.

COFFMAN, "Verse 16

"Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm ravageth, and fleeth away."

"Above the stars of heaven ..." Nothing but a great swarm of locusts, or the stars of heaven, could be compared to the teeming population of Nineveh.

"The cankerworm ravageth, and fleeth away ..." This did not mean that the conquering army would ravage Nineveh and then go away, but that the locust-population of Nineveh itself, so long the ravaging power on the earth, would disappear, after the manner of all great locust plagues which come ultimately to their end.

PULPIT, "Its extensive commercial relations shall not save it. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants. Nineveh was most favourably situated for carrying on commerce with other countries. The roads from Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Phoenicia, that led into Media, Persia, and the interior of Asia, converged at Nineveh, and brought thither merchandise from all lands; and the Assyrians themselves exported their own produce and manufactures to the far West. Among these are enumerated textile fabrics, carpets, dyed attire, and embroidered work, carvings in ivory, gems, spices (see Rawlinson, 'Anc. Mon.,' 2.179, etc.; Layard, 'Nineveh,' 2.414, etc.). The cankerworm spoileth; or, spreadeth itself for plunder; Vulgate, expansus est; Septuagint, ω ρµησεν, "attacked." The cankerworm (see note on Nahum 3:15) are the enemy,who spread themselves over the rich produce of Nineveh, and then flee away laden with spoil. Pusey makes the cankerworm represent Nineveh. She spread herself everywhere wasting and plundering,

and now she is gone, has disappeared. But the former explanation better suits the comparison in Nahum 3:15, where "the licker" is the enemy; and it is most natural that the prophet should allude to the fate of that commercial wealth which he has just mentioned, as in previous verses he contrasts the riches and power of Nineveh with the ruin that awaits them.

17 Your guards are like locusts,

your officials like swarms of locusts

that settle in the walls on a cold day—

but when the sun appears they fly away,

and no one knows where.

BAR�ES, "Thy crowned are as the locust, and thy captains as the great locusts - What he had said summarily under metaphor, the prophet expands in a likeness. “The crowned” are probably the subordinate princes, of whom Sennacherib said, “Are not my princes altogether kings?” Isa_10:8. It has been observed that the headdress of the Assyrian Vizier has the ornament which “throughout the whole series of sculptures is the distinctive mark of royal or quasi-royal authority.” : “All high officers of state, ‘the crowned captains,’ were adorned with diadems, closely resembling the lower band of the royal mitre, separated from the cap itself. Such was that of the vizier, which was broader in front than behind, was adorned with rosettes and compartments, and terminated in two ribbons with embroidered and fringed ends, which hung down his back.” “Captain” is apparently the title of some military ounce of princely rank.

One such Jeremiah Jer_51:27, in a prophecy in which he probably alludes to this, bids place over the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, to marshall them against Babylon, against which he summons the cavalry like the rough locust. The “captains” are likened to the “great caterpillars,” either as chief in devastation, or as including under them the armies antler their command, who moved at their will. These and their armies now subsided into stillness for a time under the chill of calamity, like the locust “whose nature it is, that, torpid in the cold, they fly in the heat.” The stiffness of the locusts through the cold, when they lie motionless, heaps upon heaps, hidden out of sight, is a striking image of the helplessness of Nineveh’s mightiest in the day of her calamity; then, by a different part of their history, he pictures their entire disappearance. : “The locusts, are commonly taken in the morning when they are agglomerated one on another, in the places where they passed the night. As soon as the sun warms them, they

fly away.” “When the sun ariseth, they flee away,” literally, “it is chased away.”

One and all; all as one. As at God’s command the plague of locusts, which He had sent on Egypt, was removed; “there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt” Exo_10:19; so the mighty of Nineveh were driven north, with no trace where they had been, where they were. “The wind carried them away Isa_41:16; the wind passes over him and he is not, and his place knows him no more Psa_103:16. The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the ungodly for a moment: though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever; they which have seen him shall say, where is he? He shall fly away, as a dream, and shall not be formal; neither shall his place any were bebold him Job_20:5-9.

Where they are - So Zechariah asks, “Your fathers, where are they?” Zech. 1. History, experience, human knowledge can answer nothing. They can only say, where they are not. God alone can answer that much-containing word, “Where-they.” They had disappeared from human sight, from their greatness, their visible being, their place on earth.

CLARKE, "Thy crowned are as the locusts - Thou hast numerous princes and numerous commanders.

Which camp in the hedges in the cold day - The locusts are said to lie in shelter about the hedges of fertile spots when the weather is cold or during the night; but as soon as the sun shines out and is hot, they come out to their forage, or take to their wings.

GILL, "Thy crowned men are as the locusts,.... Tributary kings, and hired officers, as some think, who might be distinguished by what they wore on their heads; or their own princes and nobles, who wore coronets or diadems; unless their religious persons are meant, their Nazarites and devotees, their priests; these were like locusts for their number, fear, and flight in time of danger, and for their spoil of the poor; and some locusts have been seen with little crowns on their heads, as those in Rev_9:7 "which had on their heads as it were crowns like gold". In the year 1542 came locusts out of Turkish Satmatia into Austria, Silesia, Lusatia, and Misnia, which had on their heads little crowns (e). In the year 1572 a vehement wind brought large troops of locusts out of Turkey into Poland, which did great mischief, and were of a golden colour (f); and Aelianus (g) speaks of locusts in Arabia, marked with golden coloured figures; and mention is made in the Targum on Jer_51:27, of the shining locust, shining like gold:

and thy captains as the great grasshoppers; or "locusts of locusts" (h); those of the largest size. The Vulgate Latin renders the word for captains "thy little ones", junior princes, or officers of less dignity and authority; these were, as the Targum paraphrases it, as the worms of locusts; but rather as the locusts themselves, many and harmful:

which camp in the hedges in the cold day; in the cold part of the day, the night; when they get into the hedges of fields, gardens, and vineyards, in great numbers, like an army, and therefore said to encamp like one:

but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are; whither they are fled, as the Targum; so these captains, or half pay officers,

swarmed in great numbers about the city, and in the provinces, while it was a time of peace, and they were indulged in sloth, and enjoyed much ease and prosperity; but when war broke out, and the heat of it began to be felt, these disappeared, and went into their own countries, from whence they came, with the auxiliaries and hired troops; nor could they be found where they were, or be called upon to do their duty: this is true of locusts in a literal sense, who flee away when the sun rises; hence the Arabs, as Bochart says (i)elegantly express this by the word "ascaara"; signifying, that when the sun comes to the locust it goes away, According to Macrobius (k), both Apollo and Hercules are names for the sun; and both these are surnamed from their power in driving away locusts: Hercules was called Cornopion by the Oeteans, because he delivered them from the locusts (l): and Apollo was called Parnopius by the Grecians, because, when the country was hurt by locusts, he drove them out of it, at Pausanias (m) relates; who observes, that they were drove out they knew, but in what manner they say not; for his own part, he says, he knew them thrice destroyed at Mount Sipylus, but not in the same way; one time a violent wind drove them out; another time a prodigious heat killed them; and a third time they perished by sudden cold; and so, according to the text here, the cold sends them to the hedges, and the heat of the sun obliges them to abandon their station.

JAMISO�, "Thy crowned — Thy princes (Rev_9:7). The king’s nobles and officers wore the tiara, as well as the king; hence they are called here “thy crowned ones.”

as the locusts — as many as the swarming locusts.

thy captains — Tiphsar, an Assyrian word; found also in Jer_51:27, meaning satraps [Michaelis]; or rather, “military leaders” [Maurer]. The last syllable, sar means a “prince,” and is found in Belshaz-zar, Nabopolas-sar, Nebuchadnez-zar.

as the great grasshoppers — literally, “as the locust of locusts,” that is, the largest locust. Maurer translates, “as many as locusts upon locusts,” that is, swarms of locusts. Hebrew idiom favors English Version.

in the hedges in the cold — Cold deprives the locust of the power of flight; so they alight in cold weather and at night, but when warmed by the sun soon “flee away.” So shall the Assyrian multitudes suddenly disappear, not leaving a trace behind (compare Pliny, Natural History, 11.29).

BI, "Which camp in the hedges in the cold day.

Locusts affected by the cold

Paxton and others have remarked that there is much difficulty in this passage; but to anyone who has attentively watched the habits of the locusts it is not only plain, but very striking. In the evenings, as soon as the air became cool, at Aheih, they literally camped in the hedges and loose stone walls, covering them over like a swarm of bees settled on a bush. There they remained until the next day’s sun waxed warm, when they again commenced to march. One of the days on which they were passing was quite cool, and the locusts scarcely moved at all from their camps, and multitudes remained actually stationary until the next morning. Those that did march crept along very heavily, as if cramped and stiff; but in a hot day they hurried forward in a very earnest, lively manner. It is an aggravation of the calamity if the weather continues cool; for then they prolong their stay, and do far more damage. (Thomson’s “Land and Book.”)

CALVIN, "And thy princes are as locusts: this refers to the wicked doings, by which they

laid waste almost the whole earth. As then the locusts and chafers, wherever they come, consume every kind of food, devour all the fields, leave nothing, and the whole land becomes a waste; so also have been thy princes; they have been as locusts and thy leaders as the locusts of locusts, that is, as very great locusts; for this form, we know, expresses the superlative degree in Hebrew. Their leaders were then like the most voracious locusts for the whole land was made barren by them, as nothing was capable of satisfying their avarice and voracity.

The Prophet then adds, They are locusts, whodwell in the mounds during the time of cold; but when the sun rises, not known any more is their place He now shows, that it would not be perpetual, that the Ninevites would thus devour the whole earth, and that all countries would be exposed to their voracity; for as the locusts, he says, hide themselves in caverns, and afterwards fly away, so it shall happen to thy princes. But this passage may be taken to mean, — that the Ninevites concealed themselves in their hiding-places during the winter, and that when the suitable time for plundering came, they retook themselves in different directions, and took possession of various regions, and brought home plunder from the remotest parts. This meaning may be elicited from the words of the Prophet; and the different clauses would thus fitly coalesce together, that when the Ninevites left their nests, they dispersed and migrated in all directions. I do not at the same time disapprove of the former meaning: they are then like locusts, who lodge in mounds during the time of cold; but when the sun rises, — that is, when the season invites them, (for he speaks not of the winter sun,) but when the heat of the sun prevails and temperate the air, — then, he says, the locusts go forth and fly away, and known no more is their place He means, in short, that the Ninevites plundered, and that they did so after the manner of locusts; and that a similar end also was nigh them; for the Lord would destroy them, yea, suddenly consume them, so that no trace of them could be found. It follows —

COFFMAN, "Verse 17

"Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are."

The fleeing away of the princes and merchants here is not an indication of their escaping from the invading enemy.

It just means that, like all locusts, their time was limited, and that they would soon be gone, forever. "This passage does not promise deliverance from danger by flight, but threatens destruction."[36]

COKE, "Verse 17

Nahum 3:17. Thy crowned— Thy princes. The author of the Observations, in order to explain the phrase. Which camp in the hedges in the cold day, remarks, that the locusts in 1724 and 1725, which in the eastern parts of the world made their first appearance towards the latter end of March, and were prodigiously increased in numbers by the

middle of April, began in May gradually to disappear, and retired into the Metijiah, and other adjacent places, where they deposited their eggs, which were hatched in June. These swarms put off their nympha state in about one month, and soon after were dispersed. This retiring in May into the Metijiah, a place full of gardens and consequently of hedges or walls, while the rest of the country, used for feeding of cattle and as arable lands, is all open, without any inclosure whatever—may possibly explain the above words of the prophet. The word גדרות gederoth, translated hedges, precisely speaking, seems to mean the walls of a garden. But it may be asked, Can the months of April and May be called the day of cold in these countries? I observe, that the same word is made use of to signify that grateful cooling which Eglon sought, Judges 3:20 that these gardens are the places to which the people of the Levant retire for cooling; and that in April and May, the time when the locusts appear in Palestine, the people at Aleppo retire to their gardens; as also, that the locusts are brought by hot winds; from all which I am led to think the day of cold should rather have been translated the day of cooling; the time when people first retire to their summer-houses or country-seats. When the sun ariseth, says the prophet, they flee away, that is, (as I suppose, a like expression, James 1:11 is to be understood,) "When the summer advances, they are totally dispersed;" and though the Sea is now supposed by the eastern people to be their common grave, yet, that probably not being known to be the fact in Nahum's time, the prophet says, upon occasion of their disappearing, (speaking according to the received opinion,) that their place is not known where they are. I will only farther remark on this subject, says our author, that, agreeably to their being called by the prophet great locusts, it is observed by some naturalists, that those locusts which appear in such swarms, are larger than the locusts which are seen at other times; and I mention this, because I do not remember to have seen any thing of this sort in the commentators. See Observations, p. 120, &c.

Verses 17-19

Nahum 3:17-19. Their place is not known— What probability was there, that the capital city of a great kingdom, a city which was sixty miles in compass, a city which contained so many thousand inhabitants, a city which had walls a hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast upon them, and which had 1500 towers of 200 feet in height;—what probability was there that such a city should ever be totally destroyed? and yet so totally was it destroyed, that the place is hardly known where it was situated. What we may suppose helped to complete its ruin and devastation, was Nebuchadnezzar's enlarging and beautifying of Babylon, soon after Nineveh was taken: from that time no mention is made of Nineveh by any of the sacred writers; and the most ancient of the heathen authors, who have occasion to say any thing about it, speak of it as a city which was once great and flourishing, but now destroyed and desolate. Great as it was formerly, so little of it is remaining, that authors are not agreed even about its situation: from the general suffrage of ancient historians and geographers, it appears to have been situated upon the Tigris; though others represent it as placed upon the river Euphrates. Bochart has shewn, that Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Ammianus Marcellinus, all three speak differently of it; sometimes as if situated upon the Tigris, sometimes as if on the Euphrates; to reconcile whom he supposes, that there were two Ninevehs; and Sit John Marsham, that there were three; the Syrian upon the Euphrates, the Assyrian on the Tigris, and a third built afterwards upon the Tigris by the Persians, who succeeded the Parthians in the empire of the East, in the third century, and were subdued by the Saracens in the seventh century after Christ: but whether this latter was built in the same place as the old Nineveh, is a question which cannot be decided.

Lucian, who flourished in the second century after Christ, affirms, that Nineveh was utterly perished, and there were no footsteps of it remaining, nor could you tell where it was once situated: and the greater regard is to be paid to Lucian's testimony, as he was a native of Samosata, a city upon the river Euphrates; and coming from a neighbouring country, he must have known whether there had been any remains of Nineveh or not. There is a city at this time called Mosul, situate upon the western side of the Tigris; and on the opposite eastern shore are ruins of a great extent, which are said to be those of Nineveh. Benjamin of Tuleda, who wrote his itinerary in the year after Christ 1173, informs us, that there is only a bridge between Mosul and Nineveh; and, though the latter is laid waste, yet it has many streets and castles. Another writer in 1300 asserts, that Nineveh is totally laid waste; but that by the ruins which are still to be seen there, we may firmly believe that it was one of the greatest cities in the world. Dr. Prideaux, following Thevenot, observes, that Mosul is situated on the west side of the Tigris, where was anciently only a suburb of the old Nineveh; for the city itself stood on the east side of the river, where are to be seen some of its ruins of great extent even to this day. Tavernier also affirms, that, after crossing the Tigris, (which has a swift stream and whitish water, whereas the Euphrates runs slow, and is reddish,) you come to the ancient city of Nineveh, which is now a heap of rubbish only, for a league along the river, full of vaults and caverns. And Salmon in his account of Assyria says, that in this country the famous city of Nineveh once stood on the eastern banks of the Tigris opposite to the place where Mosul now stands; that there is nothing now to be seen but heaps of rubbish about a league along the river, which people imagine to be the remains of this vast city. But it is more than probable, that these ruins are the remains of the Persian Nineveh, and not the Assyrian: even the ruins of old Nineveh, as we may say, have been long ago ruined and destroyed: such an utter end has been made of it, and such is the truth of the divine predictions!

These extraordinary circumstances may strike the reader more strongly, by supposing only a parallel instance. Let us then suppose, that a person should come in the name of a prophet, preaching repentance to the people of this kingdom, or otherwise denouncing the destruction of the capital city within a few years;—With an overflowing flood will God make an utter end of the place thereof: He will make an utter end: Its place may be sought, but it shall never be found. I presume we should look upon such prophet as a madman, and shew no farther attention to his message, than to deride and despise it: and yet such an event would not be more strange and incredible than the destruction and devastation of Nineveh; for Nineveh was much the larger, stronger, and older city of the two; and the Assyrian empire had subsisted and flourished more ages than any form of government in this country; so that there is no objecting the instability of the eastern monarchies in this case. Let us then, since this event would not be more improbable and extraordinary than the other, suppose again, that things should succeed according to the prediction; that the floods should arise, and the enemy should come; the city should be overthrown and broken down, be taken and pillaged, and destroyed so totally, that even the learned could not agree about the place where it was situated. What would be said or thought in such a case? Whoever of posterity should read and compare the prophesy and event together, must they not by such an illustrious instance be thoroughly convinced of the providence of God, and of the truth of his prophet, and be ready to acknowledge, Verily this is the word which the LORD hath spoken; verily there is a God who judgeth the earth! See Bishop Newton, vol. 1: Dissert. 9. We may read, Nahum 3:18. Thy nobles lie still: Thy people, &c.;—ver. 19. There is no closing up thy fracture: Incurable is thy wound: All that hear thy history will clap hands, &c.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, Where sin unrepented is found, there all the terrible woes of God are written against the guilty soul.

1. The sins of Nineveh are charged upon her. It is a bloody city; innocent blood was shred there with impunity, or by the unjust wars that her ambition waged against her neighbours: full of lies, where no honesty, truth, or fidelity was to be found; and of robbery, each preying on his neighbour, or on the nations around them; the prey departeth not, they never rest from plundering, nor think of making restitution to the injured: her whoredoms were multiplied, both carnal and spiritual: their idolatries notorious, their lewdness infamous; like a well-favoured harlot, she enticed the nations to learn her ways; and, being a mistress of witchcrafts, bound them as with magic spells to sell themselves to work wickedness; and, having brought them first under corporal bondage, afterwards enslaved their souls. Note; The charms of a harlot are like the spells of witchcraft, and issue in the destruction of body and soul.

2. Her judgment is read. The noise of the invading foe is heard; the whip of the charioteer, the rattling of the wheels, the prancing of the horses, the jumping of the chariots, sound terrible: the bright sword is unsheathed, the glittering spear is brandished, and to innumerable the multitude of the slain, that the very streets and ways are obstructed by them, and men stumble over them. Since God is her foe, she shall be stripped naked to her shame, deprived of all her wealth and power, exposed as a strumpet to the derision of those whom she had seduced, and daubed with abominable filth and dung, made vile and contemptible, a gazing-stock of public reproach and infamy; every passenger, instead of affording the least kindness or compassion, shall shun her with abhorrence, and say, Nineveh is laid waste, pleased to proclaim the tidings, or astonished at the fearful change; who will bemoan her? she deserves no pity, that shewed none: whence shall I seek comforters for thee? the calamity is too great to admit of consolation; nor can any be found to discharge this friendly office to a city so universally detested. Note; (1.) They who in the day of their prosperity treated others with insolence, may expect, when they fall, to be trampled upon by every foot. (2.) The best-favoured harlot will shortly be a foul hag, hated and shunned by her former dearest paramours.

2nd, All the vain confidences of Nineveh are destroyed. She thought herself safe because of her greatness; but vain is her presumption. Art thou better than populous No? or Diospolis, in Egypt; a city, vast and full of inhabitants; fortified by art and nature, and situate in a place almost inaccessible to an enemy, supported by all the united forces of Egypt and Ethiopia, whose armies were immense, and helped by her confederates of Libya and Mauritania: yet with all these advantages No was destroyed, probably by Sennacherib; the inhabitants carried captives; the infants dashed in pieces against the stones by the inhuman soldiers; her honourable men divided by lot as slaves among the conquerors, and her nobles bound in chains. And if such a city fell so fearfully, the men of Nineveh ought not to be thus secure: the same treatment awaited them.

1. Their forces shall be dispirited, weakened, and destroyed, staggering like drunkards, effeminate, and terrified as women, flying to hide themselves, and seeking in vain help

from others against their enemies: for, when God dispirits the host, the bravest turn cowards.

2. Their fortresses shall stand them in no stead. Though they take every precaution to repair the walls, to lay in provision, to place numerous garrisons therein, and assemble their whole force in order to oppose the invaders, yet their strong-holds shall fall as easily before the besiegers as a ripe fig when the tree is shaken; her gates shall be set wide open, the fire shall devour the bars, and with the sword shall their enemies consume, as the canker-worm, all the inhabitants of their cities, though numerous as the swarms of locusts.

3. Their friends shall desert them. The merchants, who once crowded the streets of Nineveh, and enriched themselves with the commerce there carried on, will no sooner behold the storm approaching, than with their wealth they will forsake the devoted city, and flee away as the canker-worm when the field is eaten up; and their auxiliaries and tributary kings, who in days of peace camped around them, and promised them assistance, no sooner feel the scorching sun of danger, than, like locusts, they take their flight and are heard of no more.

4. Their princes and officers, the shepherds who should defend the flock, slumber, enervated with sloth and luxury, and asleep when they should be at their posts; or they sleep the sleep of death, and are laid with the nobles in the dust; while the people, as sheep without a shepherd, are scattered, and fall an easy prey to the enemy.

5. Their case is desperate, their bruise incurable, their wound grievous; the city and empire fall together at a blow, never to he restored again. With triumph shall the oppressed nations clap their hands at the sound of their fall; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually; having been oppressed, harassed, and plundered by the Assyrians, they will rejoice to see their destroyers destroyed. Let proud oppressors and hardened sinners tremble: their day shall come to fall; and heaven and earth shall exult in their destruction.

ELLICOTT, "(17) Thy crowned.—The subordinate kings who represent the Assyrian empire in her tributary provinces.

Captains.—Taphs’rîm, an Assyrian term denoting some high military office. The sudden disappearance of the Assyrian locust-pest is here enlarged upon. A sudden outburst of sunshine will sometimes induce a swarm of locusts to take flight; cold, on the other hand, makes these insects settle, and soon deprives them of the power of flying. Dr. Pusey well observes, “The heathen conqueror rehearsed his victory, ‘I came, I saw, conquered.’ The prophet goes further, as the issue of all human conquest, ‘I disappeared.’” The insect designations, rendered in Authorised Version, “cankerworm,” “locust,” “great grasshopper,” all represent varieties of the locust species.

PULPIT, "Thy crowned. The word minnezar is found only here, and, as its derivation is

uncertain, it has received various interpretations. The Anglican Version derives the word from nezer, "a diadem," and "the crowned" are the officials of upper rank. "High officers of state in Assyria were adorned with diadems, closely resembling the lower baud of the royal mitre, separated from the cap itself. Very commonly the head was encircled with a simple fillet or hoop, probably of gold, without any adornment". Others derive it from nazar. "to separate," in the signification of "those separated or selected for war." Septuagint, ο συµµικτός: i.e. the band of mixed mercenary troops—a rendering in which Wordsworth acquiesces. Knabenbauer (referring to Strassmaier's Assyrian vocabulary) considers the word to be a transliteration (ss being resolved into ne) of the Assyrian ma-as-sa-ru, which means "guardian," or some inferior officer. With this agrees the Vulgate custodes. As the locusts; i.e. in multitude. That the number of captains and superior officers would be very great may be conjectured from the inscriptions which sometimes enumerate the captives carried off from conquered countries. Thus in the account of the capture of some insignificant nation, the then king boasts that he took away 13,000 fighting men, 1121 captains, and 460 superior officers (Strauss, in loc.). The prophet's meaning is that if the officers, etc; are so numerous, the multitude of soldiers and civilians must be truly immense. Thy captains. Taphsar is an Assyrian word, occurring only in Jeremiah 51:27. It is probably the same as dupsarru or dipsarru of the inscriptions, and is taken to signify "a scribe" Such officials are often represented on the monuments (see Layard, 2.184), and seem sometimes to have been of high or priestly rank. Jerome translates, parvuli tui, though in Jeremiah, loc. cit; he retains the Assyrian word. The Septuagint omits it. Great grasshoppers; swarms of locusts (Amos 7:1). Which camp in the hedges in the cold day. Locusts become torpid in cold weather; so the captains and princes of Nineveh are paralyzed and useless in the day of calamity. They flee away. Thus the Assyrian army perishes and leaves no trace behind. The LXX. adds, "Woe unto them!"

18 King of Assyria, your shepherds[b] slumber;

your nobles lie down to rest.

Your people are scattered on the mountains

with no one to gather them.

BAR�ES, "Thy shepherds - that is, they who should counsel for the people’s good and feed it, and “keep watch over their flocks by night,” but are now like their master, the “King of Assyria,” are his shepherds not the shepherds of the people whom they care not for; these slumber, at once through listlessness and excess, and now have fallen asleep in death, as the Psalmist says, “They have slept their sleep” Psa_76:6. The prophet speaks of the future, as already past in effect, as it was in the will of God. All “the shepherds of the people” , all who could shepherd them, or hold them to together, themselves sleep “the sleep of death;” their mighty men dwelt in that abiding-place, where they shall not move or rise, the grave; and so as Micaiah, in the vision predictive of Ahab’s death, “saw all Israel scattered on the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd” 1Ki_22:17, so the people of the Assyrian monarch shall be “scattered on the mountains,” shepherdless, and that irretrievably; no man gathers them.

CLARKE, "Thy shepherds slumber - That is, the rulers and tributary princes, who, as Herodotus informs us, deserted Nineveh in the day of her distress, and came not forward to her succor.

Diodorus Siculus says, lib. ii., when the enemy shut up the king in the city, many nations revolted, each going over to the besiegers, for the sake of their liberty; that the king despatched messengers to all his subjects, requiring power from them to succor him; and that he thought himself able to endure the siege, and remained in expectation of armies which were to be raised throughout his empire, relying on the oracle that the city would not be taken till the river became its enemy. See the note on Nah_2:6.

GILL, "Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria,.... Who this king of Assyria was is not easy to say; some think Esarhaddon, who is the last of the kings of Assyria the Scriptures speak of; according to Diodorus Siculus (n), Sardanapalus was the last of these kings, and in him the Assyrian monarchy ended; though, according to Alexander Polyhistor (o), Saracus, perhaps the Chyniladanus of Ptolemy, was king when Nineveh was destroyed: it is very likely that Sardanapalus and Saracus design the same person, though set at a great distance by historians; since the same things are said of the one as of the other; particularly that, when they saw their danger, they burnt themselves and theirs in the royal palace at Nineveh; nor is it probable that the same city with the empire should be destroyed and subverted twice by the same people, the Medes and Babylonians, uniting together; and it is remarkable that the double destruction of this city and empire is related by different historians; and those that speak of the one say nothing of the other: but this king, be he who he will, his case was very bad, his "shepherds slumbered"; his ministers of state, his counsellors, subordinate magistrates in provinces and cities, and particularly in Nineveh; his generals and officers in his army were careless and negligent of their duty, and gave themselves up to sloth and ease; and which also was his own character, as historians agree in; or they were dead, slumbering in their graves, and so could be of no service to him:

thy nobles shall dwell in the dust; be brought very low, into a very mean and abject condition; their honour shall be laid in the dust, and they be trampled upon by everyone: or, "they shall sleep" (p); that is, die, and be buried, as the Vulgate Latin renders it: or, "shall dwell in silence", as others (q); have their habitation in the silent grave, being cut

off by the enemy; so that this prince would have none of his mighty men to trust in, but see himself stripped of all his vain confidences:

thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them; like sheep without a shepherd, which being frightened by beasts of prey, run here and there, and there is none to get them together, and bring them back again; so the subjects of this king, being terrified at the approach of the Medes and Babylonians, forsook their cities, and fled to the mountains; where they were scattered about, having no leader and commander to gather them together, and put them in regular order to face and oppose the enemy. So the Targum interprets it

"the people of thine armies.''

JAMISO�, "Thy shepherds — that is, Thy leaders.

slumber — are carelessly secure [Maurer]. Rather, “lie in death’s sleep, having been slain” [Jerome] (Exo_15:16; Psa_76:6).

shall dwell in the dust - (Psa_7:5; Psa_94:17).

thy people is scattered — the necessary consequence of their leaders being laid low (1Ki_22:17).

K&D 18-19, "Nahum 3:18-19

Such an end will come to the Assyrian kingdom on the overthrow of Nineveh. Nah_3:18. “The shepherds have fallen asleep, king Asshur: thy glorious ones are lying there: thy people have scattered themselves upon the mountains, and no one gathers them.Nah_3:19. No alleviation to thy fracture, thy stroke is grievous: all who hear tidings of thee clap the hand over thee: for over whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?” The king of Asshur addressed in Nah_3:18 is not the last historical king of that kingdom, but a rhetorical personification of the holder of the imperial power of

Assyria. His shepherds and glorious ones ('addırım, as in Nah_2:6) are the princes and

great men, upon whom the government and defence of the kingdom devolved, the royal

counsellors, deputies, and generals. Mâmū, from nūm, to slumber, to sleep, is not a

figurative expression for carelessness and inactivity here; for the thought that the people would be scattered, and the kingdom perish, through the carelessness of the rulers (Hitzig), neither suits the context, where the destruction of the army and the laying of the capital in ashes are predicted, nor the object of the whole prophecy, which does not threaten the fall of the kingdom through the carelessness of its rulers, but the

destruction of the kingdom by a hostile army. Nūm denotes here, as in Psa_76:6, the

sleep of death (cf. Psa_13:4; Jer_51:39, Jer_51:57 : Theodoret, Hesselb., Str., and

others). Shâkhan, a synonym of shâkhabh, to have lain down, to lie quietly (Jdg_5:17),

used here of the rest of death. As the shepherds have fallen asleep, the flock (i.e., the Assyrian people) is scattered upon the mountains and perishes, because no one gathers it together. Being scattered upon the mountains, is easily explained from the figure of the flock (cf. Num_27:17; 1Ki_22:17; Zec_13:7), and implies destruction. The mountains are mentioned with evident reference to the fact that Nineveh is shut in towards the

north by impassable mountains. Kēhâh, a noun formed from the adjective, the extinction

of the wound (cf. Lev_13:6), i.e., the softening or anointing of it. Shebher, the fracture of

a limb, is frequently applied to the collapse or destruction of a state or kingdom (e.g.,

Psa_60:4; Lam_2:11). תך�Kנחלה�מ, i.e., dangerously bad, incurable is the stroke which has

fallen upon thee (cf. Jer_10:19; Jer_14:17; Jer_30:12). Over thy destruction will all

rejoice who hear thereof. שמעך�, the tidings of thee, i.e., of that which has befallen thee.

Clapping the hands is a gesture expressive of joy (cf. Psa_47:2; Isa_55:12). All: because

they all had to suffer from the malice of Asshur. רעה, malice, is the tyranny and cruelty

which Assyria displayed towards the subjugated lands and nations.

Thus was Nineveh to perish. If we inquire now how the prophecy was fulfilled, the view already expressed by Josephus (Ant. x. 2), that the fall of the Assyrian empire commenced with the overthrow of Sennacherib in Judah, is not confirmed by the results of the more recent examinations of the Assyrian monuments. For according to the inscriptions, so far as they have been correctly deciphered, Sennacherib carried out several more campaigns in Susiana and Babylonia after that disaster, whilst ancient writers also speak of an expedition of his to Cilicia. His successor, Esarhaddon, also carried on wars against the cities of Phoenicia, against Armenia and Cilicia, attacked the Edomites, and transported some of them to Assyria, and is said to have brought a small

and otherwise unknown people, the Bikni, into subjection; whilst we also know from the

Old Testament (2Ch_33:11) that his generals led king Manasseh in chains to Babylon. Like many of his predecessors, he built himself a palace at Kalah or Nimrud; but before the internal decorations were completely finished, it was destroyed by so fierce a fire, that the few monuments preserved have suffered very considerably. His successor is the last king of whom we have any inscriptions, with his name still legible upon them (viz., Assur-bani-pal). He carried on wars not only in Susiana, but also in Egypt, viz., against Tirhaka, who had conquered Memphis, Thebes, and other Egyptian cities, during the illness of Esarhaddon; also on the coast of Syria, and in Cilicia and Arabia; and completed different buildings which bear his name, including a palace in Kouyunjik, in which a room has been found with a library in it, consisting of clay tablets. Assur-bani-pal had a son, whose name was written Asur-emid-ilin, and who is regarded as the Sarakos of the ancients, under whom the Assyrian empire perished, with the conquest and destruction of Nineveh (see Spiegel in Herzog's Cycl.). But if, according to these testimonies, the might of the Assyrian empire was not so weakened by Sennacherib's overthrow in Judah, that any hope could be drawn from that, according to human conjecture, of the speedy destruction of that empire; the prophecy of Nahum concerning Nineveh, which was uttered in consequence of that catastrophe, cannot be taken as the production of any human combination: still less can it be taken, as Ewald supposes, as referring to “the first important siege of Nineveh, under the Median king Phraortes (Herod. i. 102).” For Herodotus says nothing about any siege of Nineveh, but simply speaks of a war between Phraortes and the Assyrians, in which the former lost his life. Nineveh was not really besieged till the time of Cyaxares (Uwakhshatra), who carried on the war with an increased army, to avenge the death of his father, and forced his way to Nineveh, to destroy that city, but was compelled, by the invasion of his own land by the Scythians, to relinquish the siege, and hasten to meet that foe (Her. i. 103). On the extension of his sway, the same Cyaxares commenced a war with the Lydian king Alyattes, which was carried on for five years with alternating success and failure on both sides, and was terminated in the sixth year by the fact, that when the two armies were standing opposite to one another, drawn up in battle array, the day suddenly darkened into night, which alarmed the armies, and rendered the kings disposed for peace. This was brought about by the mediation of the Cilician viceroy Syennesis and the Babylonian viceroy Labynetus, and sealed by the establishment of a marriage relationship between

the royal families of Lydia and Media (Her. i. 74). And if this Labynetus was the same person as the Babylonian king Nabopolassar, which there is no reason to doubt, it was not till after the conclusion of this peace that Cyaxares formed an alliance with Nabopolassar to make war upon Nineveh; and this alliance was strengthened by his giving his daughter Amuhea in marriage to Nabopolassar's son Nebuchadnezzar (Nabukudrossor). The combined forces of these two kings now advanced to the attack upon Nineveh, and conquered it, after a siege of three years, the Assyrian king Saracusburning himself in his palace as the besiegers were entering the city. This is the historical kernel of the capture and destruction of Nineveh, which may be taken as undoubted fact from the accounts of Herodotus (i. 106) and Diod. Sic. (ii. 24-28), as compared with the extract from Abydenus in Euseb. Chron. Armen. i. p. 54; whereas it is impossible to separate the historical portions from the legendary and in part mythical decorations contained in the elaborate account given by Diodorus (vid., M. v. Niebuhr, Geschichte Assurs, p. 200ff.; Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums. i. p. 793ff.; and Bumüller, Gesch. d. Alterth. i. p. 316ff.).

The year of the conquest and destruction of Nineveh has been greatly disputed, and cannot be exactly determined. As it is certain that Nabopolassar took part in the war against Nineveh, and this is indirectly intimated even by Herodotus, who attributes the conquest of it to Cyaxares and the Medes (vid., i. 106), Nineveh must have fallen between the years 625 and 606 b.c. For according to the canon of Ptolemy, Nabopolassar was king of Babylon from 625 to 606; and this date is astronomically established by an eclipse of the moon, which took place in the fifth year of his reign, and which actually occurred in the year 621 b.c. (vid., Niebuhr, p. 47). Attempts have been made to determine the year of the taking of Nineveh, partly with reference to the termination of the Lydio-Median war, and partly from the account given by Herodotus of the twenty-eight years' duration of the Scythian rule in Asia. Starting from the fact, that the eclipse of the sun, which put an end to the war between Cyaxares and Alyattes, took place, according to the calculation of Altmann, on the 30th September b.c. 610 (see Ideler, Handbuch der Chronologie, i. p. 209ff.), M. v. Niebuhr (pp. 197-8) has assumed that, at the same time as the mediation of peace between the Lydians and Medes, an alliance was formed between Cyaxares and Nabopolassar for the destruction of Nineveh; and as this treaty could not possibly be kept secret, the war against Assyria was commenced at once, according to agreement, with their united forces. But as it was impossible to carry out extensive operations in winter, the siege of Nineveh may not have commenced till the spring of 609; and as it lasted three years according to Ctesias, the capture may not have been effected before the spring of 606 b.c. It is true that this combination is apparently confirmed by the fact, that during that time the Egyptian king Necho forced his way into Palestine and Syria, and after subduing all Syria, advanced to the Euphrates; since this advance of the Egyptian is most easily explained on the supposition that Nabopolassar was so occupied with the war against Nineveh, that he could not offer any resistance to the enterprise of Necho. And the statement in 2Ki_23:29, that Necho had come up to fight against the king of Asshur on the Euphrates, appears to favour the conclusion, that at that time (i.e., in the year of Josiah's death, 610 b.c.) the Assyrian empire was not yet destroyed. Nevertheless there are serious objections to this combination. In the first place, there is the double difficulty, that Cyaxares would hardly have been in condition to undertake the war against Nineveh in alliance with Nabopolassar, directly after the conclusion of peace with Alyattes, especially after he had carried on a war for five years, without being able to defeat his enemy; and secondly, that even Nabopolassar, after a fierce three years' conflict with Nineveh, the conquest of which was only effected in consequence of the wall of the city having been thrown down for the length of twenty stadia, would hardly possess the power to take the field at once against Pharoah Necho,

who had advanced as far as the Euphrates, and not only defeat him at Carchemish, but pursue him to the frontier of Egypt, and wrest from him all the conquests that he had effected, as would necessarily be the case, since the battle at Carchemish was fought in the year 606; and the pursuit of the defeated foe by Nebuchadnezzar, to whom his father had transferred the command of the army because of his own age an infirmity, even to the very border of Egypt, is so distinctly attested by the biblical accounts (2Ki_24:1 and 2Ki_24:7; Jer_46:2), and by the testimony of Berosus in Josephus (Ant. x. 11, 1, and c. Ap. i. 19), that these occurrences are placed beyond the reach of doubt (see comm. on 2Ki_24:1). These difficulties would not indeed be sufficient in themselves to overthrow the combination mentioned, provided that the year 610 could be fixed upon with certainty as the time when the Lydio-Median war was brought to a close. But that is not the case; and this circumstance is decisive. The eclipse of the sun, which alarmed Cyaxares and Alyattes, and made them disposed for peace, must have been total, or nearly total, in Central Asia and Cappadocia, to produce the effect described. But it has been proved by exact astronomical calculations, that on the 30th September 610 b.c., the shadow of the moon did not fall upon those portions of Asia Minor, whereas it did so on the 18th May 622, after eight o'clock in the morning, and on the 28th May 585 (vid., Bumüll. p. 315, and M. v. Niebuhr, pp. 48, 49). Of these two dates the latter cannot come into consideration at all, because Cyaxares only reigned till the year 594; and therefore, provided that peace had not been concluded with Alyattes before 595, he would not have been able to carry on the war with Nineveh and conquer that city. On the other hand, there is no valid objection that can be offered to our transferring the conclusion of peace with the Lydian king to the year 622 b.c. Since, for example, Cyaxares became king as early as the year 634, he might commence the war with the Lydians as early as the year 627 or 628; and inasmuch as Nabopolassar was king of Babylon from 625 to 605, he might very well help to bring about the peace between Cyaxares and Alyattes in the year 622. In this way we obtain the whole space between 622 and 605 b.c. for the war with Nineveh; so that the city may have been taken and destroyed as early as the years 615-610.

Even the twenty-eight years' duration of the Scythian supremacy in Asia, which is recorded by Herodotus (i. 104, 106, cf. iv. 1), cannot be adduced as a well-founded objection. For if the Scythians invaded Media in the year 633, so as to compel Cyaxares to relinquish the siege of Nineveh, and if their rule in Upper Asia lasted for twenty-eight years, the expedition against Nineveh, which led to the fall of that city, cannot have taken place after the expulsion of the Scythians in the year 605, because the Assyrian empire had passed into the hands of the Chaldaeans before that time, and Nebuchadnezzar had already defeated Necho on the Euphrates, and was standing at the frontier of Egypt, when he received the intelligence of his father's death, which led him to return with all speed to Babylon. There is no other alternative left, therefore, than either to assume, as M. v. Niebuhr does (pp. 119, 120), that the war of Cyaxares with the Lydians, and also the last war against Nineveh, and probably also the capture of Nineveh, and the greatest portion of the Median conquests between Ararat and Halys, fell within the period of the Scythian sway, so that Cyaxares extended his power as a vassal of the Scythian Great Khan as soon as he had recovered from the first blow received from these wild hordes, inasmuch as that sovereign allowed his dependent to do just as he liked, provided that he paid the tribute, and did not disturb the hordes in their pasture grounds; or else to suppose that Cyaxares drove out the Scythian hordes from Media at a much earlier period, and liberated his own country from their sway; in which case the twenty-eight years of Herodotus would not indicate the period of their sway over Media and Upper Asia, but simply the length of time that they remained in Hither Asia generally, or the period that intervened between their first invasion and the

complete disappearance of their hordes. If Cyaxares had driven the Scythians out of his own land at a much earlier period, he might extend his dominion even while they still kept their position in Hither Asia, and might commence the war with the Lydians as early as the year 628 or 627, especially as his wrath is said to have been kindled because Alyattes refused to deliver up to him a Scythian horde, which had first of all submitted to Cyaxares, and then fled into Lydia to Alyattes (Herod. i. 73). Now, whichever of these two combinations be the correct one, they both show that the period of the war commenced by Cyaxares against Nineveh, in alliance with Nabopolassar, cannot be determined by the statement made by Herodotus with regard to the twenty-eight years of the Scythian rule in Asia; and this Scythian rule, generally, does not compel us to place the taking and destruction of Nineveh, and the dissolution of the Assyrian empire, as late as the year 605 b.c., or even later.

At this conquest Nineveh was so utterly destroyed, that, as Strabo (xvi. 1, §3) attests, the city entirely disappeared immediately after the dissolution of the Assyrian kingdom

(��µ¸ν�ο¹ν�Ν»νος�πόλις�¼φανίσθη�παραχρ�µα�µετ¿�τÀν�τÁν�Σύρων�κατάλυσιν). When

Xenophon entered the plain of Nineveh, in the year 401, on the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks, he found the ruins of two large cities, which he calls Larissa and Mespila, and by the side of the first a stone pyramid of 200 feet in height and 100 feet in breadth, upon which many of the inhabitants of the nearest villages had taken refuge, and heard from the inhabitants that it was only by a miracle that it had been possible for the Persians to conquer those cities with their strong walls (Xenoph. Anab. iii. 4, 7ff.). These ruined cities had been portions of the ancient Nineveh: Larissa was Calah; and Mespila, Kouyunjik. Thus Xenophon passed by the walls of Nineveh without even learning its name. Four hundred years after (according to Tacitus, Annal. xii. 13), a small fortress stood on this very spot, to guard the crossing of the Tigris; and the same fortress is mentioned by Abul-Pharaj in the thirteenth century (Hist. Dynast. pp. 266, 289, 353). Opposite to this, on the western side of the Tigris, Mosul had risen into one of the first cities of Asia, and the ruins of Nineveh served as quarries for the building of the new city, so that nothing remained but heaps of rubbish, which even Niebuhr took to be natural heights in the year 1766, when he was told, as he stood by the Tigris bridge, that he was in the neighbourhood of ancient Nineveh. So completely had this mighty city vanished from the face of the earth; until, in the most recent times, viz., from 1842 onwards, Botta the French consul, and the two Englishmen Layard and Rawlinson, instituted excavations in the heaps, and brought to light numerous remains of the palaces and state-buildings of the Assyrian rulers of the world. Compare the general survey of these researches, and their results, in Herm. J. C. Weissenborn's Ninive u. sein Gebiet., Erfurt 1851, and 56, 4.

But if Nahum's prophecy was thus fulfilled in the destruction of Nineveh, even to the disappearance of every trace of its existence, we must not restrict it to this one historical event, but must bear in mind that, as the prophet simply saw in Nineveh the representative for the time of the power of the world in its hostility to God, so the destruction predicted to Nineveh applied to all the kingdoms of the world which have risen up against God since the destruction of Asshur, and which will still continue to do so to the end of the world.

CALVIN, "He confirms the preceding verse, and says that there would be no counsel nor wisdom in the leading men: for theshepherds of the king of Assyria were his counselors, in whose wisdom he trusted, as we know that kings usually depend on their counselors: for they think that there is in them prudence enough, and therefore they commit to them the care of the whole people. But the Prophet ridicules the confidence of the king of

Assyria, because the shepherds would not have so much vigilance as to take care of themselves, and of the people, and of the whole kingdom. He speaks in the past tense, either to show the certainty of the prediction, or because the change of tenses is common in Hebrew. Lie still, he says,shall thy mighty men; (250) that is, they shall remain idle; they shall not be able to sally out against their enemies, to stop their progress. They shall then lie still: and then he says, Scattered are thy people פוש, push, is not to scatter; hence I doubt not, but that there is a change of letter, that ש, schin, is put for ץ, tzaddi; and I am surprised that some derive the verb from פוש, push, when, on the contrary, it is from פוף, puts, and the change of these two letters is common in Hebrew. Thy people then are dispersed on the mountains and there is no one to assemble them

By these words the Prophet means, that such would be the scattering of the whole kingdom, that there would be no hope of restoration; There will then be none to assemble them He had said before that the chiefs or mighty men would be still. Though it would be needful to go forth to check the progress of their enemies; yet he says, They shall idly lie down: He refers here to their sloth. But the people who ought to be quiet at home, as being weak and feeble, shall be dispersed on the mountains, and no one will be there to gather them It follows —

">Dispersed are thy people on the mountains, And there isno gatherer.

Calvin is mistaken as to the meaning of the verb פוש : it means more properly, than the other, a dispersed state. It is applied in Leviticus 13:5, and in other places, to the spreading of leprosy. When so used, it is in Kal. It is here, and here only, in Niphal. —Ed.

BE�SO�, "Verse 18-19

�ahum 3:18-19. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria — Thy rulers and

counsellors are remiss, heartless, or dead. Thy nobles — Or valiant ones, shall dwell

in the dust — These words are not in the Hebrew, but are supplied by our

translators. The strict rendering of the Hebrew would rather be, Have lain down, as

Grotius renders it; that is, have indulged themselves in ease, and not concerned

themselves about the public affairs. The Vulgate, however, renders this former part

of the verse, Thy shepherds have slept, thy princes shall be buried: understanding it,

probably, of their being slain in battle, or having died through famine or pestilence

during the siege. Thy people is scattered upon the mountains — Thy people, or

common soldiers, for want of commanders, are scattered about, and there is no chief

officer, or head commander, to collect them together. There is no healing of thy

bruise — Or binding up of thy wound. Thy destruction is inevitable. The state of thy

affairs is so bad, that there is no hope of recovering them. All that hear the bruit of

thee — That is, the report of thee; (as the obsolete word bruit signifies;) all to whom

the account of thy fall shall come; shall clap the hands over thee — �amely, for joy.

For upon whom hath not thy wickedness, &c. — To whom hast thou not been

injurious?

Thus it is evident, upon the whole of this prophecy of �ahum, that the entire

desolation and complete destruction of �ineveh were most expressly and

particularly foretold therein: yet one can hardly imagine any event more

improbable than this was, at the time when �ahum predicted it. Surely there was no

probability that the capital of a great kingdom, a city which was sixty miles in

compass, a city which contained so many myriads of inhabitants, which had walls

one hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast upon them,

and which had one thousand five hundred towers of two hundred feet in height;

surely there was no probability that such a city should ever be totally destroyed;

and yet so totally was it destroyed, that authors are not agreed about its situation.

From the general suffrage, indeed, of ancient historians and geographers, it seems to

have been situated upon the Tigris; but yet no less authors than Ctesias and

Diodorus Siculus represent it as situated upon the river Euphrates. �ay, authors

differ, not only from one another, but also from themselves. For the learned Bochart

hath shown, that Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Ammianus Marcellinus, all

three speak differently of it, sometimes as if it was situated upon the river Tigris,

and sometimes as if upon the river Euphrates. So that, to reconcile these authors

with themselves and with others, it is supposed by Bochart that there were two

�inevehs, and by Sir John Marshman that there were three; the Syrian, upon the

river Euphrates; the Assyrian, upon the river Tigris; and a third, built afterward

upon the Tigris by the Persians, who succeeded the Parthians in the empire of the

East in the third century, and were subdued by the Saracens in the seventh century

after Christ: but whether this latter �ineveh was built in the same place as old

�ineveh is a question that cannot be decided. Lucian, who flourished in the second

century after Christ, affirms, that �ineveh was utterly perished, and there was no

footstep of it remaining, nor could one tell where once it was situated. And the

greater regard is to be paid to his testimony, as he was a native of Samosata, a city

upon the river Euphrates; and, coming from a neighbouring country, he must have

known whether there had been any remains of �ineveh or not. “Even the ruins,”

says Bishop �ewton, “of old �ineveh have been, as I may say, ruined and destroyed;

such an utter end hath been made of it, and such is the truth of the divine

predictions! This, perhaps, may strike us the more strongly, by supposing only a

parallel instance: let us, then, suppose that a person should come in the name of a

prophet preaching repentance to the people of this kingdom, or otherwise

denouncing the destruction of the capital city within a few years. I presume we

should look upon such a prophet as a madman, and show no further attention to his

message than to deride and despise it: and yet such an event would not be more

strange and incredible than the destruction and devastation of �ineveh. For

�ineveh was much the larger, and much the stronger and older city of the two; and

the Assyrian empire had subsisted and flourished more ages than any form of

government in this country; so that we cannot object the instability of the eastern

monarchies in this case. Let us, then, since this event would not be more improbable

and extraordinary than the other, suppose again, that things should succeed

according to the prediction, the floods should arise, and the enemy should come, the

city should be overflowed and broken down, be taken and pillaged, and destroyed so

totally, that even the learned could not agree about the place where it was situated.

What would be said or thought in such a case? Whoever of posterity should read

and compare the prophecy and event together, must they not, by such an illustrious

instance, be thoroughly convinced of the providence of God, and of the truth of this

prophet, and be ready to acknowledge, Verily this is the word that the Lord hath

spoken! Verily there is a God who judgeth in the earth!”

COFFMA�, "Verse 18

"Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are

scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them."

"Slumber ... rest ..." The mighty men of Assyria are dead. The judgment of God has

fallen upon them. The thought that, "they slumber and take their ease"[37] is not in

the passage. "Sleep" here "must be taken in the sense of death."[38]

"Scattered upon the mountains ..." �ineveh was shut in on the north by very

rugged, impassable mountains. "�one to gather them" shows the finality of their

doom and the impossibility of their resurgence at some later period.

CO�STABLE, "�ahum addressed the king of Assyria who would rule after

�ineveh"s downfall (in612 B.C.). This turned out to be Ashur-uballit who tried for

three years to hold the empire together from the city of Haran. The prophet told the

king that Assyria"s shepherds (leaders) and nobles were not providing leadership

for their people. They were lying down on the Job , asleep at the switch (cf. Isaiah

5:26-27). The ordinary citizens were scattered all over rather than being under the

direction of the leaders, like sheep without shepherds. �o one was available to

Revelation -gather them into the imperial fold.

ELLICOTT, "(18) Shepherds—i.e., chief officers, as in Micah 5:2 and passim. Their

sheep are “scattered upon the mountains and none attempts to gather them.” So

Micaiah announces to Ahab, “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that

have not a shepherd” (1 Kings 22:17).

Thy nobles shall dwell.—Better, thy mighty men are lying still.

PETT, "�ahum 3:18

“Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles are slumbering. Your

people are scattered on the mountains and there is no one to gather them. There is

no assuaging your hurt, your wound is grievous. All who hear the news of you clap

their hands over you. For on whom has your evil not continually descended?”

The king of Assyria now finds himself helpless. There is no hope of recovery, for it is

the act of God. The result is that those who should be caring for the people, their

shepherds and nobles, are asleep, and will continue to be so. (This probably signifies

that they are mainly dead). The people are left without leaders. They are no longer a

united people. His task is therefore in vain for Assyria is wounded with a deadly

wound.

�or will anyone lament her fate. They have suffered too much at her hands. When

they hear they will clap with delight. For their suffering under the hand of Assyria

has been long and continuing. And now it is over.

So the prophecy is a warning to all nations, and all people, that in the end they must

give account to God. It is telling us that the selfish multiplying of riches can only in

the end result in sorrow. What a man sows he will reap.

PULPIT, "Thy shepherds. The princes and counsellors, on whom the safety of the

state depends. Slumber. Sleep the sleep of death—slain in the war (Psalms 76:6). O

King of Assyria. The power and evil of �ineveh personified, not any particular king.

Shall dwell in the dust; are lying, or are at rest, in death; Septuagint, ἐκοίµισε

τουστας σου, "Put to sleep thy mighty men": Vulgate, sepelientur. Is scattered upon

the mountains. Their shepherds being dead, the flock, the herd of common people, is

scattered abroad and perishes, because no man gathereth them—there is no one to

collect them. "The mountains" referred to are those which shut in Assyria on the

north.

19 �othing can heal you;

your wound is fatal.

All who hear the news about you

clap their hands at your fall,

for who has not felt

your endless cruelty?

BAR�ES, "There is no healing - (literally, “dulling”) of thy bruise It cannot be softened or mitigated; and so thy wound is grievous (literally, sick), incurable, for when the wound ever anew inflames, it cannot be healed. The word, bruise, is the more expressive, because it denotes alike the abiding wound in the body Lev_21:19, and the shattering of a state, which God can heal Psa_60:4; Isa_30:26, or which may be great, incurable Jer_30:12. When the passions are ever anew aroused, they are at last without remedy; when the soul is ever swollen with pride, it cannot be healed; since only by submitting itself to Christ, “broken and contrite” by humility, can it be healed. Nineveh sank, and never rose; nothing soothed its fall. In the end there shall be nothing to mitigate the destruction of the world, or to soften the sufferings of the damned. The “rich man, being in torments,” asked in vain that Lazarus might “dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.”

All that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee - For none can grieve at thy fall.

Nineveh sinks out of sight amid one universal, exulting, exceeding joy of all who heard the report of her. “For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?” “In that he asketh, upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? He affirms most strongly that his evil did pass upon all continually.” His wickedness, like one continual flood. which knew no ebb or bound, had passed upon the whole world and each one in it; now at length it had passed away, and “the whole earth is at rest, is quiet; they break forth into singing” Isa_14:7.

It is not without meaning, that having throughout the prophecy addressed Nineveh (in the feminine), now, in the close Nah_3:18-19, the prophet turns to him in whom all its wickedness is, as it were, gathered into one, the soul of all its evil, and the director of it, its king. As Nineveh is the image of the world, its pomps, wealth, luxury, vanity, wickedness, oppression, destruction, so its king is the image of a worse king, the Prince of this world. : “And this is the song of triumph of those, over whom ‘his wickedness has passed,’ not rested, but they have escaped out of his hands. Nahum, ‘the comforter,’ had ‘rebuked the world of sin;’ now he pronounces that ‘the prince of this world is judged.’ ‘His shepherds’ are they who serve him, who ‘feed the flock of the slaughter,’ who guide them to evil, not to good. These, when they sleep, as all mankind, dwell there; it is their abiding-place; their sheep are ‘scattered on the mountains,’ in the heights of their pride, because they are not of the sheep of Christ; and since they would not be gathered of Him, they are ‘scattered, where none gathereth.’” “The king of Assyria (Satan) knows that he cannot deceive the sheep, unless he have first laid the shepherds asleep. It is always the aim of the devil to lay asleep souls that watch. In the Passion of the Lord, he weighed down the eves of the Apostles with heavy sleep, whom Christ arouseth, ‘Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation’ Mat_26:41; and again, ‘What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch!’ ‘And no man gathers them,’ for their shepherds themselves cannot protect themselves. In the Day of God’s anger, ‘the kings of the earth and the great men, and the rich men and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains’ Rev_6:15. Such are his shepherds, and his sheep; but what of himself?

Truly his bruise or breaking can not he healed; his wound or smiting is incurable; that namely whereby, when he came to Him in whom he found nothing Joh_14:30, yet bruised His heel, and exacted of Him a sinner’s death, his own head was bruised.” And hence, “all who have ears to hear,” who hear not with the outward only, but with the inner ears of the heart, “clap the hands over thee,” that is, give to God all their souls’ thanks and praise, raise up their eyes and hands to God in heaven, praising Him who had “bruised Satan under their feet.” Ever since, through the serpent, the evil and malicious one has lied, saying, “ye shall not surely die, eat and ye shall be as gods,” hath his evil, continually and unceasingly, from one and through one, passed upon all men. As the apostle saith, “As by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” Rom_5:12.

Upon whom then hath not his sin paased? Who hath not been shapen in iniquity? and whom did not his mother conceive in sin? Yet, it passes only, for “the world itself also passeth away,” and we pass away from it, and all the evil it can do us, unless we share in its evil, is not abiding, but passing. This then is the cause, and a great cause, why “all that hear the bruit of thee” should “clap the hands over thee;” because thee, whose wickedness passed through one upon all, One Man, who alone was without sin, contemned and bruised, while He riced and justified from wickedness them who “hearing” rejoiced, and rejoicing and believing, “clapped the hands over thee.” Yet they

only shall be glad, upon whom his “wickedness,” although it passed, yet abode not, but in prayer and good deeds, by the grace of God, they lifted up their hands to Him Who overcame, and Who, in His own, overcomes still, to whom be praise and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen.

CLARKE, "There is no healing of thy bruise - Thou shalt never be rebuilt.

All that hear the bruit of thee - The report or account.

Shall clap the hands - Shall exult in thy downfall.

For upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed - Thou hast been a universal oppressor, and therefore all nations rejoice at thy fall and utter desolation.

Bp. Newton makes some good remarks on the fall and total ruin of Nineveh.

“What probability was there that the capital city of a great kingdom, a city which was sixty miles in compass, a city which contained so many thousand inhabitants, a city which had walls a hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast upon them, and which had one thousand five hundred towers, of two hundred feet in height; what probability was there that such a city should ever be totally destroyed? And yet so totally was it destroyed that the place is hardly known where it was situated. What we may suppose helped to complete its ruin and devastation, was Nebuchadnezzar’s enlarging and beautifying Babylon, soon after Nineveh was taken. From that time no mention is made of Nineveh by any of the sacred writers; and the most ancient of the heathen authors, who have occasion to say any thing about it, speak of it as a city that was once great and flourishing, but now destroyed and desolate. Great as it was formerly, so little of it is remaining, that authors are not agreed even about its situation. From the general suffrage of ancient historians and geographers, it appears to have been situated upon the Tigris, though others represent it as placed upon the Euphrates. Bochart has shown that Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Ammianus Marcellinus, all three speak differently of it; sometimes as if situated on the Euphrates, sometimes as if on the Tigris; to reconcile whom he supposes that there were two Ninevehs; and Sir John Marsham, that there were three; the Syrian upon the Euphrates, the Assyrian on the Tigris, and a third built afterwards upon the Tigris by the Persians, who succeeded the Parthians in the empire of the East, in the third century, and were subdued by the Saracens in the seventh century after Christ. But whether this latter was built in the same place as the old Nineveh, is a question that cannot be decided.

“There is a city at this time called Mosul, situate upon the western side of the Tigris; and on the opposite eastern shore are ruins of great extent, which are said to be those of Nineveh.

“Dr. Prideaux, following Thevenot, observes that Mosul is situated on the west side of the Tigris, where was anciently only a suburb of the old Nineveh; for the city itself stood on the east side of the river, where are to be seen some of its ruins of great extent even to this day. Even the ruins of old Nineveh, as we may say, have been long ago ruined and destroyed; such an utter end hath been made of it, and such is the truth of the Divine predictions!

“These extraordinary circumstances may strike the reader more strongly by supposing only a parallel instance. Let us then suppose that a person should come in the name of a prophet, preaching repentance to the people of this kingdom, or otherwise denouncing the destruction of the capital city within a few years. ‘With an overflowing flood will God make an utter end of the place thereof; he will make an utter end: its place may be

sought, but it shall never be found.’ I presume we should look upon such a prophet as a madman, and show no farther attention to his message than to deride and despise it. And yet such an event would not be more strange and incredible than the destruction and devastation of Nineveh; for Nineveh was much the larger, stronger, and older city of the two. And the Assyrian empire had subsisted and flourished more ages than any form of government in this country; so there is no objecting the instability of Eastern monarchies in this case. Let us then since this event would not be more improbable and extraordinary than the other, suppose again, that things should succeed according to the prediction; that the floods should arise, and the enemies should come; the city should be overthrown and broken down, be taken and pillaged, and destroyed so totally that even the learned could not agree about the place where it was situated. What would be said or thought in such a case? Whoever of posterity should read and compare the prophecy and event together, must they not, by such an illustrious instance, be thoroughly convinced of the providence of God, and of the truth of his prophet, and be ready to acknowledge, ‘Verily, this is the word which the Lord hath spoken; verily, there is a God who judgeth the earth?”’ - See Bp. Newton, vol. i., dissert. 9.

GILL, "There is no healing of thy bruise,.... Made by the fatal blow given to the empire by the taking of Nineveh; the ruin of it was irreparable and irrecoverable; the city of Nineveh was no more, and the Assyrian empire sunk, and never rose again: or, "there is no contraction of thy bruise" (r); as when a wound is healed, or near it, the skin round about is wrinkled and contracted. The Targum is,

"there is none that grieves at thy breach;''

so the Syriac version; so far from it, that they rejoiced at it, as in a following clause:

thy wound is grievous; to be borne; the pain of it intolerable; an old obstinate one, inveterate and incurable: or, is "weak", or "sickly" (s); which had brought a sickness and weakness on the state, out of which it would never be recovered:

all that hear the bruit of thee; the fame, the report of the destruction of Nineveh, and of the ruin of the Assyrian empire, and the king of it:

shall clap the hands over thee; for joy; so far were they from lending a helping hand in the time of distress, that they clapped both hands together, to express the gladness of their hearts at hearing such news:

for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? to which of thy neighbours hast thou not been troublesome and injurious? which of them hast thou not oppressed, and used with violence and cruelty? what province or city but have felt the weight of thine hand, have been harassed with wars, and distressed with tributes and exactions? and therefore it is no wonder they rejoice at thy fall. The destruction of this city, and so of the whole empire, is placed by Dr. Prideaux in the twenty ninth year of Josiah's reign, and in the year 612 B.C.; and by what Josephus says (t) it appears to have been but a little while before Josiah was slain by Pharaohnecho, who came out with an army to Euphrates, to make war upon the Medes and Babylonians; who, he says, had overturned the Assyrian empire; being jealous, as it seems, of their growing power. Learned men justly regret the loss of the Assyriaca of Abydenus, and of the history of the Assyrians by Herodotus, who promised (u) it; but whether he finished it or no is not certain; however, it is not extant; and in one place, speaking of the Medes attacking

Nineveh, and taking it, he says (w), but how they took it I shall show in another history; all which, had they come to light, and been continued, might have been of singular use in explaining this prophecy.

JAMISO�, "bruit — the report.

clap the hands — with joy at thy fall. The sole descendants of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians in the whole country are the Nestorian Christians, who speak a Chaldean language [Layard].

upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? — implying God’s long forbearance, and the consequent enormity of Assyria’s guilt, rendering her case one that admitted no hope of restoration.

CALVIN, "The Prophet shows here more clearly, that when the empire of Nineveh should be scattered, it would be an incurable evil, that every hope of a remedy would be taken away. Though the wicked cannot escape calamity, yet they harbor false expectations, and think that they can in a short time gather new strength. Hence, in order to take from them this hope, the Prophet says, that there would be no contraction of the fracture (251) And this is a striking similitude; for he compares the ruin of Nineveh to a wound which cannot be seamed and healed. There is then no contraction; some render it, a wrinkle, but improperly. There is then no contraction: and he adds, Thy stroke is full of pain; (252) that is, the pain of thy stroke cannot be allayed. This is one thing, — that the ruin of Nineveh would be irreparable.

Then he says, Whosoever shall hear the report, shall strike the hand on thy account Many give this rendering, They shall clap the hand over thee, or with the hands; and they think that the singular is put for the plural number. But as in Hebrew to strike the hand is a token of consent, it would not be unsuitable to say, that the Prophet means, that wherever the report of this calamity would be heard, all would express their approbation, “See, God has at length proved himself to be the just avenger of so much wickedness.” To strike the hand is said to be done by those who make an agreements or when any one pledges himself for another. (253) As then in giving pledges, and in other compacts, men are said to strike the hand; so also all shall thus give their assent to God’s judgment in this case, “O how rightly is this done! O how justly has God punished these tyrants, these plunderers.” They will then strike the hand on thy account; that is, “This thy ruin will be approved;” as though he said, “Not only before God art thou, Nineveh, accursed, but also according to the consent of all nations.” And thus he intimates, that Nineveh would perish in the greatest dishonor and disgrace. It sometimes happens that an empire falls, and all bewail the event: but God here declares, that he would not be satisfied with the simple destruction of the city Nineveh without adding to it a public infamy, so that all might acknowledge that it happened through his righteous judgment.

He afterwards adds, For upon whom has not thy wickedness passed continually? This is a confirmation of the last clause; and this reason will suit both the views which have been given. If we take the striking of the hand for approbation, this reason will be suitable. — How? For all nations will rejoice at thy destruction, because there is no nation which thou hast not in many ways injured. So also, in token of their joy, all will congratulate themselves, as though they were made free; or they will clap their hands, that is, acknowledge that thou hast been destroyed by the judgment of God, because all had experienced how unjustly and tyrannically thou hast ruled. As then thy wickedness

has been like a deluge, and hast nearly consumed all the earth, all will clap or shake their hands at thy ruin.

And he says, continually, to show that God’s forbearance had been long exercised. Hence, also, it appears, that the Assyrians were inexcusable, because, when God indulgently spared them, they did not repent, but pursued their wicked ways for a long course of time. As then to their sinful licentiousness they added perverseness, every excuse was removed. But the Prophet does, at the same time, remind the Israelites, that there was no reason for them to be cast down in their minds, because God did not immediately execute punishment; for by the word תמיד, tamid, he insinuates, that God would so suspend for a time his judgment as to Nineveh, that his forbearance and delay might be an evidence of his goodness and mercy. We hence see that the Prophet here opposes the ardor of men, for they immediately grow angry or complain when God delays to execute vengeance on their enemies.

He shows that God has a just reason for not visiting the wicked with immediate punishment; but yet the time will come when it shall appear that they are altogether past recovery, — the time, I say, will come, when the Lord shall at length put forth his hand and execute his judgment.

COFFMAN, "Verse 19

"There is no assuaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?"

"There is no assuaging of thy hurt ..." is sometimes rendered "no healing of thy bruise." The finality and permanence of the destruction of Nineveh appears repeatedly through the prophecy. Note the following:

I will make thy grave, for thou art vile (Nahum 1:14).

The wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off (Nahum 1:15).

She is carried away (Nahum 2:7).

She is empty, and void, and waste (Nahum 2:10).

Where is the den of lions? (Nahum 2:11).

The voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard (Nahum 2:13).

I will set thee as a gazing-stock (Nahum 3:6).

Nineveh is laid waste (Nahum 3:7).

Thou shalt be hid (Nahum 3:11).

Fire shall devour thee (Nahum 3:15).

The sword shall cut thee off (Nahum 3:15).

Their place is not known where they are (Nahum 3:17).

There is no assuaging of thy hurt (Nahum 3:19).

"So exactly was all this fulfilled, that for ages the very site of Nineveh was lost, until in the 19th century, A.D., Layard and Robinson made excavations and discoveries that brought to light the ruins of a metropolis so vast that none could longer doubt the declarations of Jonah and Nahum in regard to its splendor and magnificence."[39]

"The striking fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy in the disappearance of Nineveh from the face of the earth is a seal upon the abiding truth of his message. Here is no mere piece of antiquity, but a confirmed Word of God."[40]

"The reader should keep in mind the perspective of the book. Nineveh is no ordinary city ... nor is Assyria just another degenerating civilization. They stand for the ultimate supernatural evil that frustrates and suppresses the purposes and people of God. Their defeat is a sign of the victory of God and the basis of hope that his power and justice will ultimately conquer all evil."[41]

"In the overthrow of this kingdom, there is a prophecy of the destruction of all anti-Christian powers."[42]SIZE>

We have cited these quotations as examples of the vivid and startling impression this prophecy makes upon one who reads and studies it. One who understands Nahum knows that supernatural prophecy is a fact and that we have here an incontrovertible example of it.

Commentators, ancient and modern alike, have, at the end of their studies of Nahum, paused to contemplate the eternal power and majesty of God. We cite one other example:

What probability was there that the capital city of a great kingdom, a city sixty miles in compass, a city with so vast a population, a city with walls a hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could drive abreast upon them, and which had fifteen hundred towers, of two hundred feet in height ... what probability was there that such a city should ever be totally destroyed?[43]

And not merely destroyed, but lost and hidden from all the peoples of the earth for over two thousand years! We cannot leave this without observing that the author of this prophecy spoke the true Word of God, and that such a fact is obvious. Fiddling around

with the date of the prophecy and attempting to make it a pretended oracle after the events prophesied had already occurred are absolutely frustrated by the addition of Nahum 3:19, "There is no assuaging of thy hurt." This most singular and overwhelming aspect of the whole prophecy was a prophetic Word of God and could not have been otherwise, no matter what date might be assigned to Nahum's life and writing. This is also the pledge and seal that all of the prophecy is bona fide, a true revelation of future events, by the prophetic inspiration of the prophet through the power of God.

CONSTABLE, "Addressing Nineveh again, in conclusion, Nahum reiterated that the breakdown of Assyria would be impossible to repair. She had a fatal illness from which she would not recover. Everyone who heard about her demise would rejoice because her long practice of wickedness had touched everyone.

Only two books in the Bible end with rhetorical questions, Jonah and Nahum , both of which focus on Nineveh. Jonah ends on a note of compassion for Nineveh, but Nahum ends with assurance that God"s patience had run out and the destruction of Nineveh was now certain.

Is this book only about God"s judgment on Nineveh and the Assyrians, or does it have a broader message? The reasons God brought Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire down are the same reasons He will humble any similar people. Any nation or city that lusts for conquest, practices violence and brutality to dominate others, abuses its power, oppresses the weak, worships anything but Yahweh, or seeks help from the demonic world shares Nineveh"s sins and can expect her fate.

PULPIT, "There is no healing of thy bruise; there is no assuaging of thy hurt (Revised Version; Jeremiah 10:19). The ruin is irretrievable; no one shall restore the destroyed kingdom (see Zephaniah 2:13, Zephaniah 2:14). Thy wound is grievous; Pessima est plaga tua (Vulgate); ε φλέγµανεν η πληγή σου, "Thy wound is inflamed." The "wound" is the stroke or plague inflicted by God (Le 26:21). Shall clap the hands over thee. All who hear of thy destruction will rejoice over it (Psalms 47:1; Lamentations 2:15). Thy wickedness. The cruelty and oppression of Nineveh have been universally felt. If Edom is the type of insidious foes of the Church's own household, Nineveh is the emblem of open, blaspheming infidelity, arrayed in powerful opposition against God's people. In the overthrow of this kingdom there is a prophecy of the destruction of all anti-Christian powers, which shall be utterly crushed in the latter days.