Text -- Nahum 3:10 (NET)

3:10 Yet she went into captivity as an exile; even her infants were smashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her nobility; all her dignitaries were bound with chains.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

JFB: Nah 3:10

Notwithstanding all her might, she was overcome.

JFB: Nah 3:10

They divided them among themselves by lot, as slaves (Joe 3:3).

Clarke: Nah 3:10

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

Clarke: Nah 3:10

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

Calvin: Nah 3:10

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.

TSK: Nah 3:10

she carried : Psa 33:16, Psa 33:17; Isa 20:4

her young : 2Ki 8:12; Psa 137:8; Isa 13:6; Hos 13:16; Amo 1:13

at : Lam 2:19, Lam 4:1

cast : Joe 3:3; Oba 1:11

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Nah 3:10

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?

Poole: Nah 3:10

She was carried away: it is probable this might be about thirty years before; for about A.M. 3207, as Calvisius, or 3277, as Archbishop Usher, Sabacon king of Ethiopia invaded Egypt, took Bocchoris, and burnt him, which was not likely to be done without slaughter of men and sacking of towns, among which time No might be ruined. Now, as Calvisius and Helvicus account, about A.M. 3238, or as Usher, 3307, Nahum appears and flourisheth. She went into captivity: this ingemination confirms the certainty of the thing, and intends to affect the Ninevites the more.

Her young children their innocent age was no safeguard to them.

Were dashed in pieces first barbarously murdered, and then trod under foot in the streets, as was usual with those cruel, bloody soldiers, 2Ki 8:12 Psa 137:9 Isa 13:16 .

They cast lots either to put a scorn upon them, or else to prevent any contest about them, being taken among many others together, and none could say, This is my prisoner.

Honourable men citizens of note, or some officers or governors.

Great men great in place, strength, valour, wisdom, and so likely to do the conqueror a displeasure, should they not be secured.

Were bound in chains of iron or manacled, used as worst slaves.

Haydock: Nah 3:10

Captivity. It was afterwards re-established and taken by Nabuchodonosor. (Calmet) ---

Fetters, or stocks. (Haydock)

Gill: Nah 3:10

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.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Nah 3:10

¹ tc The MT reads לַגֹּלָה (laggolah, “as a captive”) with the preposition לְ (lamed) denoting essence/identity. On the other hand, 4QpNah reads בגולה (“as a captive”) with the preposition בְּ (bet) denoting essence/identity (“as a captive”). The LXX’s αἰξμάλωτος (aixmalwto", “as a prisoner”) does not reveal which preposition was the original.

² tc The past-time reference of the context indicates that the Pual verb יְרֻטְּשׁוּ (yÿruttÿshu) is a preterite describing past action (“they were smashed to pieces”) rather than an imperfect describing future action (“they will be smashed to pieces”). The past-time sense is supported by the Syriac and Vulgate. The LXX, however, misunderstood the form as an imperfect. Not recognizing that the form is a preterite, the BHS editors suggest emending to Pual perfect רֻטְּשׁוּ (ruttÿshu, “they were smashed to pieces”). This emendation is unnecessary once the possibility of a preterite is recognized. The Masoretic reading is supported by the reading ירוטשו found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah 3:10).

³ tc The MT reads יַדּוּ (yadu, “they cast [lots]”) from יָדַד (yadad, “to cast [lots]”). On the other hand, the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah) read ירו (“they threw, cast [lots]”) from יָרָה (yarah, “to throw, cast [lots]”) (e.g., Josh 18:6). The textual variant arose due to orthographic confusion between ד (dalet) and ר (resh) – two Hebrew letters very similar in appearance. The root יָדַד is relatively rare – it occurs only two other times (Obad 11; Joel 4:3 [3:3 ET]) – therefore, it might have been confused with יָרָה which appears more frequently.

⁴ tc The MT and Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah) read ועל נכבדיה (“for her nobles”). The LXX reflects וְעַל כָּל נִכְבַּדֶּיהָ (vÿ’al kol nikhbaddeha, “for all her nobles”), adding כָּל (“all”). The LXX addition probably was caused by the influence of the repetition of כָּל in the preceding and following lines.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Nah 3:1-19

1 The miserable ruin of Nineveh.

MHCC: Nah 3:8-19

Strong-holds, even the strongest, are no defence against the judgments of God. They shall be unable to do any thing for themselves. The Chaldeans and Medes would devour the land like canker-worms. The Assyrians also would be eaten up by their own numerous hired troops, which seem to be meant by the word rendered " merchants." Those that have done evil to their neighbours, will find it come home to them. Nineveh, and many other cities, states, and empires, have been ruined, and should be a warning to us. Are we better, except as there are some true Christians amongst us, who are a greater security, and a stronger defence, than all the advantages of situation or strength? When the Lord shows himself against a people, every thing they trust in must fail, or prove a disadvantage; but he continues good to Israel. He is a strong-hold for every believer in time of trouble, that cannot be stormed or taken; and he knoweth those that trust in Him.

Matthew Henry: Nah 3:8-19

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 men that 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."

II. 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-worm and 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.

Keil-Delitzsch: Nah 3:8-10

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 אמון , 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 Διὸς πόλις , generally with the predicate ἡ 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 Θῆβαι . This strong royal city, which was described even by Homer ( Il. ix. 383) as ἑκατόμπυλος , 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. היּשׁבה בּיארים , 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." אשׁר־חיל , not which is a fortress of the sea (Hitzig), but whose bulwark is sea. חיל (for חילהּ ) 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). מיּם , 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. עצמה , as in Isa 40:29; Isa 47:9, for עצם , strength; it is written without any suffix, which 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 = L^e hâbhı̄m , the Libyans in the narrower sense, probably the Libyaegyptii of the ancients (see at Gen 10:13). בּעזרתך (cf. Psa 35:2) Nahum addresses No-amon itself, to give greater life to the description. Notwithstanding all this might, No-amon had to wander into captivity. Laggōlâh and basshebhı̄ are not tautological. Laggōlâh , for emigration, is strengthened by basshebhı̄ into captivity. The perfect הלכה is obviously not to be taken prophetically. The very antithesis of גּם־היא הלכה and גּם־אתּ תּשׁכּרי (Nah 3:11) shows to itself that הלכה refers to the past, as תּשׁכּרי 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 ידּוּ גורל , Joe 3:3 and Oba 1:11. Nikhbaddı̄m , nobiles ; cf. Isa 23:8-9. G^e dōlı̄m , 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.")

Constable: Nah 1:15--Hab 1:1

III. Nineveh's destruction described 1:15--3:19

This second major part of Nahum contains another introduction and four descriptions of Nineveh's destruction. Having revealed general statements about Yahweh's judgment, Nahum next communicated more specific descriptions of Nineveh's demise. As in the previous section, he also gave promises of Israel's restoration.

"Nahum portrays [the] siege, reproduces its horrors and its savagery, its cruelties and mercilessness, in language so realistic that one is able to see it and feel it. First comes the fighting in the suburbs. Then the assault upon the walls. Then the capture of the city and its destruction."²⁴

The section begins, as the first major one did (cf. 1:2-8), with an emphasis on Yahweh who contrasts with the human destroyer of Nineveh. Humans can destroy, but it takes Yahweh to deliver. This section is also chiastic, as was 1:9-14.

Constable: Nah 2:3--Hab 1:1

B. Four descriptions of Nineveh's fall 2:3-3:19

The rest of the book contains four descriptions of Nineveh's fall that were evidently messages that Nahum delivered at various times in Judah.

Constable: Nah 3:8-19

4. The fourth description of Nineveh's fall 3:8-19

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.⁴⁹

3:8 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 in 663 B.C.⁵⁰ Its solid and liquid defenses did not protect it, and Nineveh's would not protect it either.

3:9 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, 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 (modern Libya) was to the west.⁵¹ Thus Thebes' allies surrounded her for many miles, but that did not guarantee her security.

3:10 No-amon had become an exile and had gone into captivity to Assyria (cf. 2:7).⁵² Instead of taking infants into captivity, however, the Assyrians simply slaughtered them where they found them, even at street corners (cf. Hos. 13:16). The honorable men of Thebes suffered the humiliation of being auctioned off as slaves and dragged away to Assyria in chains.

3:11 The same fate would befall Nineveh. They too would lose their powers of self-defense and self-control. This would happen through their excessive wine-drinking (cf. 1:10) but also in a metaphorical way because they 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."⁵³

As noted above, the ancients could not find Nineveh after its destruction, and modern archaeologists, Botta and Layard, first found physical evidence of Nineveh's existence in the mid 1800s. In the past many people had sought to hide from the invading Assyrians, but when Nineveh fell, the Ninevites would try to hide.

3:12 Nineveh's fortifications would prove as weak as fig trees laden with ripe fruit. Ripe figs fall off their trees of their own accord, and so easily would Nineveh's fortifications fall. Though the city's walls were large and impressive, they would crumble under their own weight when water eroded their foundations (cf. 2:6). The inhabitants, too, would drop like ripe fruit into the hands of their enemies.

3:13 The Ninevites would prove to be as defenseless, vulnerable, and fearful as women, in contrast to lion-like soldiers (cf. Isa. 19:16; Jer. 50:37; 51:30). Their gates would be so weak that they could have been left open rather than bolted shut because fire would consume them (cf. Isa. 10:16-17).

3:14 In irony (cf. 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."⁵⁴

3:15 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.

"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."⁵⁵

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.⁵⁶

3:16 Assyrian traders, seemingly more numerous than the stars, had increased their country's wealth. However they would be like locusts when the invasion came. They would fly away in vast numbers rather than defending Nineveh.

3:17 Assyria's guards also reminded Nahum of locusts. There were huge numbers of them, but when the heat of battle came they would run away. Locusts do the same thing. They take their places on walls in the cool of the day, but when the hot sun beats on them they desert their posts and seek more comfortable surroundings.

3:18 Nahum addressed the king of Assyria who would rule after Nineveh's downfall (in 612 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. The ordinary citizens were scattered all over rather than being under the direction of the leaders, like sheep without shepherds. No one was available to regather them into the imperial fold.

3:19 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.

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.

Guzik: Nah 3:1-19

Nahum 3 - Nineveh, the Wicked City

A. The sin within Nineveh.

1. (1-4) The violence and immorality in Nineveh.

Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs. The noise of a whip and the noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of clattering chariots! Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses; they stumble over the corpses; because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her harlotries, and families through her sorceries.

a. Woe to the bloody city! In his prophetic vision, Nahum takes a tour of the city of Nineveh and observes how ripe it is for judgment. He sees it is a busy city, full of the noise of a whip and the noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of clattering chariots. Yet it is busy with violence, deception, and idolatry.

i. Not only where the rulers of Assyria terribly cruel, they boasted of the cruelty on monuments that exist in museums to this day. Boice quotes some of the choice boasts from various monuments:

· "I cut off their heads and formed them into pillars"

· "Bubo, son of Buba, I flayed in the city of Arbela and I spread his skin upon the city wall"

· "I flayed all the chief men who had revolted, and I covered the pillar with their skins"

· "Many within the border of my own land I flayed, and spread their skins upon the walls"

· "I cut off the limbs of the officers, the royal officers who had rebelled"

· "3,000 captives I burned with fire"

· "Their corpses I formed into pillars"

· "From son I cut off their hands and their fingers, and from other I cut off their noses, their ears, and their fingers, of many I put out their eyes"

· "I made one pillar of the living, and another of heads, I bound their heads to posts round about the city"

b. Who sells the nations through her harlotries: It was bad enough that Nineveh indulged in this sin for herself; it was worse that she led the nations into violence, deception, and idolatry. For this, the judgment of God was coming.

i. "Thousands of tablets uncovered in the Mesopotamian valley show abysmal superstition. Hundreds of sorcery incantations have been brought to light." (Maier, cited in Boice)

2. (5-7) The wicked city is humbled.

"Behold, I am against you," says the LORD of hosts; "I will lift your skirts over your face, I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle. It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you, and say, 'Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?' Where shall I seek comforters for you?"

a. I am against you: Nahum repeats this phrase, first mentioned in Nahum 2:13. In the first mention, the emphasis was on the military defeat of Nineveh. Now, the emphasis is on the humbling of city.

i. This reminds us the principle of 1 Peter 5:5: Be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Nineveh walked in pride, and as a result had the LORD against them. How much better to be humble and receive the grace of God!

b. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle: The strength of the word of the LORD almost surprises us here. He will take the idols of Nineveh (abominable filth, the Hebrew word shiqquts often translated "abomination") and throw them back in their face.

c. Make you vile: The idea behind the Hebrew word for vile (nabel) is that something is made weak, foolish, and contemptible. Nineveh walked high in their pride, but will certainly be brought low - with no one to comfort them (Where shall I seek comforters for you?).

i. Again, this was literally fulfilled The ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote of the destruction of Nineveh: "So great was the multitude of the slain that the flowing stream, mingled with their blood, changed its color for a considerable distance . . . They plundered the spoil of the city, a quantity beyond counting." (Boice)

ii. Adam Clarke, writing before the discovery of the ruins in Nineveh in 1840, quotes an author commenting on the disappearance of the city: "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 yet so totally was it destroyed that the place is hardly known where it was situated . . . Great as it was formerly, so little of it is remaining, that authors are not agreed even about its situation."

B. Nineveh is ripe for judgment.

1. (8-11) Because of the way God judged other cities, Nineveh is ripe.

Are you better than No Amon that was situated by the River, that had the waters around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was boundless; Put and Lubim were your helpers. Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of every street; they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. You also will be drunk; you will be hidden; you also will seek refuge from the enemy.

a. Are you better than No Amon: No Amon is the Hebrew name for the Egyptian city of Thebes. Thebes was another wealthy, mighty city that was destroyed completely. The Assyrians in Nineveh knew this well, because it was their armies that destroyed Thebes. Nahum says, "Remember what you did to No Amon? The same is coming on you."

b. You also: We are like the Ninevites. We see empires and nations judged in our own day and in history, just like the Assyrians saw Thebes destroyed. Yet we, like the Ninevites, somehow think that we will be spared, despite our sinful arrogance and rebellion.

2. (12-15) Because of her own weakness, Nineveh is ripe.

All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs: If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; fire shall devour the bars of your gates. Draw your water for the siege! Fortify your strongholds! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Make strong the brick kiln! There the fire will devour you, the sword will cut you off; it will eat you up like a locust. Make yourself many; like the locust! Make yourself many; like the swarming locusts!

a. Your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs: As easily as ripe fruit falls from a shaken tree, so will the strongholds of Nineveh fall before the judgment of God. We often have our strongholds of sin and pride that we put great confidence in, but they are ready to be shaken and fall to the ground.

b. Fire shall devour the bars of your gates: Archaeologists document the burning of Nineveh. "The excavators of Nineveh have remarked on the large deposits of ash, which are evidence of a gigantic conflagration." (Boice)

c. Draw your water for the siege: Nahum practically mocks the people of Nineveh, cheering them on to do the best they can in light of the coming judgment. They can prepare as many provisions and people they please, but it will all come to nothing against the judgment of God.

3. (16-19) Because her leaders are weak, Nineveh is ripe.

You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away. Your commanders are like swarming locusts, and your generals like great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges on a cold day; when the sun rises they flee away, and the place where they are is not known. Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them. Your injury has no healing, your wound is severe. All who hear news of you will clap their hands over you, for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

a. Merchants . . . commanders . . . generals . . . shepherds . . . nobles: Each of these classes of leaders were numerous in Nineveh, but they all would be ineffective and come to nothing in the day of judgment. Despite their numbers, still your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them. The sinful and rebellious leadership of Nineveh will be powerless against the judgment of God.

b. All who hear news of you will clap their hands over you: Nahum ends his prophecy with a view of the righteous and their triumph over the unrighteous. This is something that the people of God need to be often reminded of, because it often goes against present appearances.

i. Because Nineveh was so known - even renowned - for its violence and cruelty, no wonder Nahum sees the nations applauding when the city is judged and destroyed.

ii. In Psalm 73, Asaph dealt with this same problem. It seemed to him that the wicked constantly prospered and lived at ease. It troubled him so much that he doubted his own walk with God, Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. (Psalm 73:17-19)

iii. For Nahum, Asaph, and for us today, we take comfort in knowing that the judgments of the LORD are faithful and true. We don't need to envy the unrighteous or seek vengeance against them ourselves. Nahum and Asaph each show us that God is more than able to take care of them and us, each according to His promise.

© 2001 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Nahum (Book Introduction)

NAHUM means "consolation" and "vengeance"; symbolizing the "consolation" in the book for God's people, and the "vengeance" coming on their enemies. In the first chapter the two themes alternate; but as the prophet advances, vengeance on the capital of the Assyrian foe is the predominant topic. He is called "the Elkoshite" (Nah 1:1), from Elkosh, or Elkesi, a village of Galilee, pointed out to JEROME [Preface in Nahum] as a place of note among the Jews, having traces of ancient buildings. The name Capernaum, that is, "village of Nahum," seems to take its name from Nahum having resided in it, though born in Elkosh in the neighborhood. There is another Elkosh east of the Tigris, and north of Mosul, believed by Jewish pilgrims to be the birthplace and burial place of the prophet. But the book of Nahum in its allusions shows a particularity of acquaintance with Palestine (Nah 1:4), and only a more general knowledge as to Nineveh (Nah 2:4-6; Nah 3:2-3).

His graphic description of Sennacherib and his army (Nah 1:9-12) makes it not unlikely that he was in or near Jerusalem at the time: hence the number of phrases corresponding to those of Isaiah (compare Nah 1:8-9, with Isa 8:8; Isa 10:23; Nah 2:10, with Isa 24:1; Isa 21:3; Nah 1:15, with Isa 52:7). The prophecy in Nah 1:14 probably refers to the murder of Sennacherib twenty years after his return from Palestine (Isa 37:38). The date of his prophecies, thus, seems to be about the former years of Hezekiah. So JEROME thinks. He plainly writes while the Assyrian power was yet unbroken (Nah 1:12; Nah 2:11-13 Nah 3:15-17). The correspondence between the sentiments of Nahum and those of Isaiah and Hezekiah, as recorded in Second Kings and Isaiah, proves the likelihood of Nahum's prophecies belonging to the time when Sennacherib was demanding the surrender of Jerusalem, and had not yet raised the siege (compare Nah 1:2, &c., with 2Ki 19:14-15; Nah 1:7, with 2Ki 18:22; 2Ki 19:19, 2Ki 19:31; 2Ch 32:7-8; Nah 1:9, Nah 1:11, with 2Ki 19:22, 2Ki 19:27-28; Nah 1:14, with 2Ki 19:6-7; Nah 1:15; Nah 2:1-2, with 2Ki 19:32-33; Nah 2:13, with 2Ki 19:22-23). The historical data in the book itself are the humiliation of Israel and Judah by Assyria (Nah 2:2); the invasion of Judah (Nah 1:9, Nah 1:11); and the conquest of No-ammon, or Thebes, in Upper Egypt (Nah 3:8-10). Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser had carried away Israel. The Jews were harassed by the Syrians, and impoverished by Ahaz' payments to Tiglath-pileser (2Ch. 28:1-27; Isa 7:9). Sargon, Shalmaneser's successor, after the reduction of Phœnicia by the latter, fearing lest Egypt should join Palestine against him, undertook an expedition to Africa (Isa 20:1-6), and took Thebes; the latter fact we know only from Nahum, but the success of the expedition in general is corroborated in Isa 20:1-6. Sennacherib, Sargon's successor, made the last Assyrian attempt against Judea, ending in the destruction of his army in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (713-710 B.C.). As Nahum refers to this in part prophetically, in part as matter of history (Nah 1:9-13; Nah 2:13), he must have lived about 720-714 B.C., that is, almost a hundred years before the event foretold, namely, the overthrow of Nineveh by the joint forces of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar in the reign of Chyniladanus, 625 or 603 B.C.

The prophecy is remarkable for its unity of aim. Nahum's object was to inspire his countrymen, the Jews, with the assurance that, however alarming their position might seem, exposed to the attacks of the mighty Assyrian, who had already carried away the ten tribes, yet that not only should the Assyrian (Sennacherib) fail in his attack on Jerusalem, but Nineveh, his own capital, be taken and his empire overthrown; and this, not by an arbitrary exercise of Jehovah's power, but for the iniquities of the city and its people. His position in the canon is seventh of the minor prophets in both the Hebrew and Greek arrangement. He is seventh in point of date.

His style is clear, elegant, and forcible. Its most striking characteristic is the power of representing several phases of an idea in the briefest sentences, as in the majestic description of God in the commencement, the conquest of Nineveh, and the destruction of No-ammon [EICHORN]. DE WETTE calls attention to his variety of manner in presenting ideas, as marking great poetic talent. "Here there is something sonorous in his language there something murmuring; with both these alternates something that is soft, delicate, and melting, as the subject demands." Excepting two alleged Assyrian words (Nah 3:17), English Version, "crowned," or princes, and English Version, "captains," or satraps (used by Jer 51:27), the language is pure. These two, doubtless, came to be known in Judea from the intercourse with Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.

JFB: Nahum (Outline)

• JEHOVAH'S ATTRIBUTES AS A JEALOUS JUDGE OF SIN, YET MERCIFUL TO HIS TRUSTING PEOPLE, SHOULD INSPIRE THEM WITH CONFIDENCE. HE WILL NOT ALLOW THE ASSYRIANS AGAIN TO ASSAIL THEM, BUT WILL DESTROY THE FOE. (Nah 1:1-15)
• THE ADVANCE OF THE DESTROYING FORCES AGAINST NINEVEH, AFTER IT WAS USED AS GOD'S ROD FOR A TIME TO CHASTISE HIS PEOPLE: THE CAPTURE OF THAT LION'S DWELLING, ACCORDING TO THE SURE WORD OF JEHOVAH. (Nah 2:1-13)
• 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. (Nah. 3:1-19)

TSK: Nahum 3 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Nah 3:1, The miserable ruin of Nineveh.

Poole: Nahum (Book Introduction)

THE ARGUMENT

THE prophet Nahum is one of those prophets whose family and country are concealed, and it would be more labour than profit to spend time on the inquiry after the one or other. He is styled the Elkoshite, and possibly born and bred in Elkosh, a town of Galilee, an obscure place, of which perhaps we had heard no more, had it not been written that this man was born there, to allude to that of the psalmist, Psa 87:5 . The time of his appearing in public to discharge his prophetic office is much more material, being a key to the whole prophecy. Now it is certain that Nahum was a prophet in office whilst the kingdom of Assyria was not only standing, but whilst it was standing in its glory and entire strength, whilst it was dangerous and terrible to its neighbours. It is to me evident that Nahum prophesied before the destruction of Sennacherib’ s army, for he foretelleth the death of Sennacherib, Nah 1:14 . It is certain also he appeared after Hoshea and the ten tribes were carried captives by Shalmaneser. This was either in A.M. 3229, as Helvicus, or 3283, as Archbishop Usher and Doctor Lightfoot, in the ninth year of Hoshea, which was the sixth of Hezekiah, 2Ki 18:10 , and some few years before the death of Shalmaneser, whose son Sennacherib succeeded, and invaded Egypt and Judah in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, eight years after Samaria was taken and the ten tribes were captivated; within which time, and probably toward the fifth of those eight, Nahum is sent a prophet to quiet, support, and encourage Hezekiah and his subjects against all the threats and power of the Assyrian tyrant, who threatened to destroy Judah and Jerusalem, from accomplishing whereof the tyrant shall be so far that God will turn it to his ruin; and here, as a very fit season, the prophet declareth the final and utter ruin of the Assyrian empire and its capital city Nineveh, as a just revenge for all their oppressions of their neighbours, but especially in revenge of their reiterated violence against Israel and Judah: on account of which good tidings the prophet hath his name Nahum, which in the Hebrew is from a word signifying to comfort; and also to repent; indeed repentance is preparatory to comfort; and though his preaching against Nineveh be the comfort of Jerusalem, no doubt he called Jerusalem to repent, which is probably collected from Nah 1:15 , O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows. This whole prophecy, except the 15th verse of this chapter, is directed against Nineveh, head city of the Assyrian kingdom, and against the whole kingdom; which, with all sorts of men and women in it, are threatened with very sore and heavy judgments, with final desolation, or captivity, for their sins; all which was fulfilled by the Lord, using the Babylonian and Median power to overthrow this power of Assyria, and particularly by the joint forces of Nabopollassar and Astyages, as is by the most learned Archbishop Usher observed, in A. M, 3378. Yet others tell us the final ruin of the Assyrian kingdom, foretold by Nahum, came much sooner, and that in the death of Esarhaddon, or Assaradinus, the Assyrian monarchs did expire. But though I determine not the number of years during which this threatened monarchy did stand, yet, be they fewer or more, Nahum’ s prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of Nineveh and the subversion of the Assyrian monarchy, and the Jews were no more infested by the Assyrian though they were by the Babylonian kingdom. The things then spoken of by Nahum do in the letter and historical part of them concern the times between the twelfth or fourteenth of Hezekiah and the end of the Assyrian monarchy. And a skilful observer of the histories of those times would be best able to interpret this prophet, nor shall any do it tolerably well without recourse to those histories, which, though not cited here at large, (which brief annotations admit not,) yet have not been quite neglected; and what errors in applying the histories and computation of times are here committed, all will candidly excuse who know the obscurity and uncertainty of those times.

Poole: Nahum 3 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 3

The miserable ruin of Nineveh.

MHCC: Nahum (Book Introduction)

This prophet denounces the certain and approaching destruction of the Assyrian empire, particularly of Nineveh, which is described very minutely. Together with this is consolation for his countrymen, encouraging them to trust in God.

MHCC: Nahum 3 (Chapter Introduction)

(Nah 3:1-7) The sins and judgments of Nineveh.

(Nah 3:8-19) Its utter destruction.

Matthew Henry: Nahum (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Prophecy of Nahum

The name of this prophet signifies a comforter; for it was a charge given to all the prophets, Comfort you, comfort you, my people: and even this prophet, though wholly taken up in foretelling the destruction of Nineveh, which speaks terror to the Assyrians, is, even in that, comforter to the ten tribes of Israel, who, it is probable, were now lately carried captives into Assyria. It is very uncertain at what time he lived and prophesied, but it is most probable that he lied in the time of Hezekiah, and prophesied against Nineveh, after the captivity of Israel by the king of Assyria, which was in the ninth year of Hezekiah, and before Sennacherib's invading Judah, which was in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, for to that attempt, and the defeat of it, it is supposed, the first chapter has reference; and it is probable that it was delivered a little before it, for the encouragement of God's people in that day of treading down and perplexity. It is the conjecture of the learned Huetius that the two other chapters of this book were delivered by Nahum some years after, perhaps in the reign of Manasseh, and in that reign the Jewish chronologies generally place him, somewhat nearer to the time when Nineveh was conquered, and the Assyrian monarchy reduced, by Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar, some time before the first captivity of Judah. It is probable that Nahum did by word of mouth prophesy many things concerning Israel and Judah, as it is certain that Jonah did (2Ki 14:25), though we have nothing of either of them in writing, but what related to Nineveh, of which though a great and ancient city, yet probably we should never have heard in sacred writ if the Israel of God had not had some concern in it.

Matthew Henry: Nahum 3 (Chapter Introduction)

This chapter goes on with the burden of Nineveh, and concludes it. I. The sins of that great city are charged upon it, murder (Nah 3:1), whoredom and witchcraft (Nah 3:4), and a general extent of wickedness (Nah 3:19). II. Judgments are here threatened against it, blood for blood (Nah 3:2, Nah 3:3), and shame for shameful sins (Nah 3:5-7). III. Instances are given of the like desolations brought upon other places for the like sins (Nah 3:8-11). IV. The overthrow of all those things which they depended upon, and put confidence in, is foretold (Nah 3:12-19).

Constable: Nahum (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title and Writer

The title of the book comes from the name of its writer.

We know nothing about Nahum ("consolation" or "comfort") other than what we read in this book. His name proved significant since he brought comfort and consolation to the Judeans with his prophecies. He was "the Elkoshite" (1:1), so he evidently came from a town named Elkosh, but the location of such a town is yet to be discovered. Scholars have suggested that it stood near Nineveh, in Galilee, near Capernaum (City of Nahum?), east of the Jordan River, or somewhere in Judah. Since he was a Jewish prophet and evidently lived after the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C., a location in Judah seems most likely to me. Perhaps the Assyrians had carried his family away to Mesopotamia when they conquered the kingdom of Israel and Nahum somehow managed to return to Judah later.¹ This may explain Nahum's familiarity with things Assyrian.

Unity

Some scholars have tried to prove that someone other than Nahum wrote sections of the book (1:1; 1:1-2:3; 1:2-10; 2:4-3:19), but their arguments are largely speculative. Jewish and Christian authorities have long held that Nahum was responsible for the whole work.

"Every one of the forty-seven verses of this short prophecy has been attacked by higher critics as being spurious. Contemporary critical scholarship tends to hold that at least one-third of the material was written by someone other than Nahum."²

Date

Nahum mentioned the fall of the Egyptian city of Thebes (3:8), so we know he wrote after that event, which took place in 663 B.C. The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal conquered it. The prophet predicted the fall of the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, which happened in 612 B.C., so he must have written this book between 663 and 612 B.C. Nineveh fell to a combined force of Medes, Babylonians, and Scythians.³

There is some evidence that points to Nahum writing shortly after Thebes fell. First, Nahum's description of Nineveh (1:12; 3:1, 4, 16) does not fit the city as it existed between 626 and 612 B.C. when Ashurbanipal's sons, Ashur-etil-ilani (626-623 B.C.) and Sin-shar-ishkun (623-612 B.C.), ruled over it. Second, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was under the yoke of Assyria when Nahum wrote (1:13, 15; 2:1, 3), a condition that marked the reign of Manasseh (697-642 B.C.) more than that of Josiah (640-609 B.C.). Third, if Nahum wrote after 654 B.C., his rhetorical question in 3:8 would have had little or no force since Thebes rose to power again in that year.⁴ Thus a date of composition between 660 and 650 B.C. seems most likely.

Place of Composition

No one knows for sure where Nahum was when he wrote the book, and our lack of knowledge of his hometown complicates the task of discovering the place of composition. However, traditionally Nahum lived and ministered in Judah, so most conservative scholars assume he wrote somewhere in that kingdom.

Audience and Purpose

Nahum was a Jewish prophet and wrote primarily for the Jewish people. While the main subject of his prophesying was Nineveh, his message was for the Jews.

This book claims to be an oracle (1:1, an uplifting and or threatening prophecy). While most of the book threatens Nineveh with destruction, there are also words of comfort for the people of Judah (1:12, 15; 2:2). Nahum revealed that Yahweh would destroy Nineveh as punishment for the Assyrians' cruelty to many nations, including the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. and Judah. This was a comforting message for the remaining Jews who were presently living under Assyria's shadow in Judah. Assyria had destroyed many Judean cities and had even besieged Jerusalem, unsuccessfully, in 701 B.C. The purpose of Nahum's book, then, was to announce Nineveh's fall and thereby comfort the Judean Jews with the assurance that their God was indeed sovereign and just.

"God is a just governor of the nations who will punish wicked Nineveh and restore His own people."⁵

Literary form

Nahum contains a prophecy of the future destruction of a city that did fall. Critics of the Bible who do not believe that the prophets could possibly predict the future have tried to explain what Nahum wrote as a description of the fall of Nineveh after the fact. Some of them consider the book as a piece of liturgy written for the Israelites' annual "enthronement festival" in Jerusalem. This festival supposedly celebrated Yahweh's enthronement over His people, though there is no biblical evidence that it ever occurred. Other ancient Near Eastern nations conducted similar enthronement festivals. The Book of Nahum was, according to this view, a collection of writings of various literary types that an editor compiled to magnify Yahweh's greatness by reflecting on Nineveh's destruction.

While conservatives reject this low view of prophecy, it is obvious that the book does consist of several different types of literature, as do most of the other prophetical books. We believe that God guided Nahum to express the messages He gave him in a variety of ways using several different forms of expression.

Nahum was a poet . He has been called "the poet laureate among the Minor Prophets."⁶ He wrote in a very vivid and powerful style.

"Nahum was a great poet. His word pictures are superb, his rhetorical skill is beyond praise."⁷

"His reverence for the almighty, trust in divine justice and goodness, condemnation of national iniquity, positive conviction that God will keep His word--these are qualities of true greatness. Add to that Nahum's mighty intellect, his patriotism and courage, his rare, almost unequaled, gift of vivid presentation, and he indeed looms as one of those outstanding figures in human history who have appeared only at rare intervals."⁸

Message⁹

The story that Nahum told is a story of the utter and irrevocable destruction of a great city and a great people. Nahum told the story as prophecy, but what he predicted is now history. Nahum lived when Assyria was threatening Judah's existence. The prophet predicted that God would destroy the proud and cruel capital of the Assyrian Empire, Nineveh. So thorough was Ninevah's destruction that for centuries travelers passed over its ruins without knowing that this mighty and terrible city lay buried beneath their feet. Only in fairly modern times have archaeologists laid bare its ruins. Such was the literal and complete fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy.

The message of Nahum is quite compact. It is clear in statement, logical in argument, and definite in its declarations. In form, it is a vision, a vision of Yahweh, of Yahweh's anger, and of Yahweh acting in anger. Its permanent value is its unique picture of the wrath of God. The prophet begins the revelation of his vision by painting an angry Yahweh (1:2). This is not an aspect of God's character that is popular in our day, but it is one that is prominent throughout the Bible.

Notice first the prophet's vision of God.

All the prophets were impressed with a characteristic of God that shaped their prophecies. Isaiah saw God's holiness. Jeremiah saw God's judgment. Ezekiel saw God's glory. And Nahum saw God's wrath.

Nahum used seven words to describe God's anger: jealous, avenging, wrathful, angry, indignant, fierce, and furious. They all occur in a very brief passage (1:2-3) in the Hebrew text heightening the solemnity of Yahweh's anger. "Jealous," in Hebrew, as in English, presupposes love and expresses an emotional, subjective action. God's jealousy is not self-centered or petty but expresses His zealous concern for the welfare of those He loves. "Avenging" does not mean retaliating but executing retribution, paying back to someone what that one deserves. It expresses a volitional action, an objective rather than a subjective response. "Wrathful" suggests a change in God's attitude. The word comes from a root meaning to cross over, and it was used to describe the Israelites crossing over to the other side of the Jordan River. This word suggests the idea that God crossed over from His typical attitudes of tenderness and compassion to an unusual attitude, for Him, of judgment. "Angry" has the idea of hard breathing and pictures God as laboring over a condition that disturbs Him. "Indignant" is also a pictorial word and suggests God foaming at the mouth because He is so angry. "Fierce" means burning, and "furious" means hot. Both of these last adjectives add even more intensity to the other strong words that describe Yahweh's anger.

Every Hebrew word that describes anger occurs in this short description of Yahweh in 1:2-3. The total impression Nahum wanted to create was that of a very, very angry God. This was not, however, just a piece of rhetoric in which an extremely agitated prophet attributed to God feelings that were in his own heart. It is a careful and remarkable description of the character of God.

As the revelation unfolds, we move from a threefold description of the anger of God to an exposition of that threefold description. I say it is a threefold description of the anger of God because the name "Yahweh" appears three times in verse 2, and then it appears three more times in the next six verses. In verse 2 we have proclamation; this is what God is like. Then in verses 3-8 we have explanation. Let's consider first Nahum's proclamation concerning the character of God (1:2).

Yahweh is jealous and avenging (1:2a). The order of these aspects of God's anger indicates that His passion precedes His action. The second proclamation is that He is avenging and wrathful (1:2b). Here the order is reversed; God's action grows out of His passion. The third proclamation, that Yahweh takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies (1:2c) reveals that God directs His passion and action discriminately, not carelessly or capriciously. This is a very important revelation of God's anger because it is the reverse of what usually characterizes angry people. People are controlled by their anger, but God controls His anger. God's passion leads to action but only against those whom God chooses to make the objects of His wrath.

The explanation of God's anger follows in verses 3-8. Verse 3a explains that Yahweh is a jealous and avenging God (v. 2a). His passion precedes His action. "He is slow to anger and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished." Verses 3b-6 explain that Yahweh is avenging and wrathful (v. 2b). His action grows out of His passion. Verses 7-8 explain that Yahweh takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies (v. 2c). His anger is discriminating.

Often human anger is out of control. Anyone near it gets hurt, not just the object of one's anger. Human anger often results in other mistakes that the angry person makes, the fallout of his anger. That is never true of God's anger. He is slow to anger; He never explodes or looses His temper. His anger is measured; He is never out of control. His anger is focused on the particular object or objects of His wrath. Innocent people never suffer because of His anger. He never makes mistakes because He is angry. He is always in full control of Himself and of everything that happens when He is angry.

We turn now from Nahum's vision of the anger of God to his vision of the vengeance of God. Nahum revealed why God acts in vengeance--the reason for divine judgment--when God acts in vengeance--the principle of divine judgment--and how God acts in vengeance--the method of divine judgment.

Why does God act in judgment? According to Nahum, there is a Godward reason and a manward reason. In 1:11 we have the sin against God: pride. This was the fundamental sin of the Assyrians against God. We see it clearly in Sennacherib's invasion of Jerusalem (Isa. 36). Pride expressed in rebellion against God's sovereign control over His creation was one of Nineveh's greatest sins. The other sin for which God judges is manward: cruelty. We see this in 3:1-4. The Assyrians were notorious for their oppression and cruelty toward their fellowmen. These were the two great sins of Assyria Godward and manward, and they are the primary reason God gets angry and acts in judgment. It is interesting that these two sins almost always go together, as they did in Assyria. Where there is pride against God there is usually cruelty toward other people. Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments were to love God wholeheartedly and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:37-39). When people do this, they are not proud or cruel. Why does God judge? He judges to punish pride and to protect people.

The second question about the judgment of God that Nahum answered was, When does God judge? What is the principle by which God judges? Again, we can look at the answer to this question from two viewpoints: God's and man's. God judges after long patience. A hundred years earlier God had sent Jonah with a message of repentance to Nineveh. The people had repented, and God had relented. But then the people repented of their repentance. They returned to their former pride and cruelty. Now, after long waiting, God was about to avenge. From the human viewpoint, God judges when sin has become exceeding sinful. He waits for people to repent, but if they do not, He steps in to judge (3:18-19; cf. Gen. 15:16; 1 Cor. 11:31).

How does God act in vengeance? The answer reveals God's method. He used natural and supernatural forces to destroy Nineveh. The Babylonians invaded the city through a breach in the wall that the flooding Tigris River had opened up. God supernaturally controlled weather conditions so the walls gave way. He then led human soldiers to storm through that opening and take the city. For centuries it was undiscoverable because its destruction was so complete.

We turn now to the abiding message of this book for our own age and every age.

One aspect of the message of Nahum is what it says about God. Nahum teaches the reader that to believe in God's love is to be sure of His wrath. If God is never angry, He does not love. His anger grows out of His love. Can you look at sin, pride, oppression, and cruelty and not be moved? Then you do not love. Do you not care that Christians are being persecuted for their faith and are being executed daily in over 30 countries in the world? Do you not care that pride is keeping people from acknowledging their need for God in your country? Do you not care that women are being abused and children neglected by fathers who are so selfish that they think only of their own pleasures? Then you are incapable of love. If God cannot burn with hatred, He is a God incapable of love. To believe in His love is to be sure of His wrath.

A corollary to this revelation is another truth about God that Nahum reveals. God's love always interprets His wrath. Whenever we observe some instance of God's vengeance, we must remember that it springs from His love. We cannot always make the connection, and we may not be able to explain the connection to ourselves and others. But there is a connection. God's vengeance proves the depth of His love.

The message of this book also concerns people. One sin against which God acts in vengeance is pride that says I don't need Him. I am sufficient in myself. I am greater than others. If people persist in this sin throughout their lives and refuse to bow the knee to God, they will experience His eternal wrath. If believers lift themselves up in pride, God will bring them down in His hot anger. Another sin that God judges is cruelty toward our fellow man. Our present fascination with violence reflects both pride and cruelty. Unless we repent we will all likewise perish. Pride and cruelty are even worse when people have turned from them in repentance and then repented of their repentance and returned to practice them with greater gusto than ever. These were the great sins of the ancient Assyrians, and they are the sins of modern man.

There is a message of hope in Nahum as well. It is the revelation that God's wrath is discriminating. God is absolutely just. He will not punish the innocent with the guilty. He will not lose control when He judges. Nahum 1:7 reminds us that, "Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him."

I would express the message of the book this way. God's discriminating anger and vengeance against pride and cruelty arise from His great love.

Constable: Nahum (Outline)

Outline

I. Heading 1:1

II. Nineveh's destruction declared 1:2-14

A. The anger and goodness of Yahweh 1:2-8

B. Yahweh's plans for Nineveh and Judah 1:9-14

1. The consumption of Nineveh 1:9-11

2. The liberation of Judah 1:12-13

3. The termination of Nineveh 1:14

III. Nineveh's destruction described 1:15-3:19

A. The sovereign justice of Yahweh 1:15-2:2

B. Four descriptions of Nineveh's fall 2:3-3:19

1. The first description of Nineveh's fall 2:3-7

2. The second description of Nineveh's fall 2:8-13

3. The third description of Nineveh's fall 3:1-7

4. The fourth description of Nineveh's fall 3:8-19

Constable: Nahum

Nahum

Bibliography

Armerding, Carl E. "Nahum." In Daniel-Minor Prophets. Vol. 7 of The Expositor's Bible Commentary. 12 vols. Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein and Richard P. Polcyn. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1985.

Bewer, J. A. The Literature of the Old Testament. 3rd ed. New York: Columbia University, 1962.

Bury, J. B.; S. A. Cook; and F. E. Adcock, eds. The Cambridge Ancient History. 12 vols. 2nd ed. reprinted. Cambridge, Eng.: University Press, 1928.

Calkins, Raymond. The Modern Message of the Minor Prophets. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1947.

Chisholm, Robert B., Jr. "A Theology of the Minor Prophets." In A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 397-433. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

Craigie, Peter C. Twelve Prophets. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1985.

Dyer, Charles H., and Eugene H. Merrill. The Old Testament Explorer. Nashville: Word Publishing, 2001.

Feinberg, Charles Lee. Jonah Micah and Nahum. The Major Messages of the Minor Prophets series. New York: American Board of Missions to the Jews, 1951.

Freeman, Hobart E. Nahum Zephaniah Habakkuk. Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1973.

Johnson, Elliott E. "Obadiah." In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, pp. 1493-1504. Edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1985.

Johnston, Gordon H. "Nahum's Rhetorical Allusions to Neo-Assyrian Conquest Metaphors." Bibliotheca Sacra 159:633 (January-March 2002):21-45.

_____. "Nahum's Rhetorical Allusions to Neo-Assyrian Treaty Curses." Bibliotheca Sacra 158:632 (October-December 2001):415-36.

_____. "Nahum's Rhetorical Allusions to the Neo-Assyrian Lion Motif." Bibliotheca Sacra 158:631 (July-September 2001):287-307.

Keil, Carl Friedrich. The Twelve Minor Prophets. 2 vols. Translated by James Martin. Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Reprint ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949.

Luckenbill, Daniel David, ed. Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylon. 2 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926-27.

Maier, Walter A. The Book of Nahum: A Commentary. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980.

The New Bible Dictionary, 1962. S.v. "Nineveh," by D. J. Wiseman.

Patterson, Richard D. Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

Pritchard, James B., ed. The Ancient Near East in Pictures. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954.

_____, ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

Thomas, D. Winton., ed. Documents from Old Testament Times. New York: Harper & Row, 1958.

Thompson, R. Campbell, and Hutchinson, R. W. A Century of Exploration at Nineveh. London: Luzac, 1929.

Yadin, Yigael. The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Nahum (Book Introduction)

THE PROPHECY OF NAHUM.

INTRODUCTION.

Nahum, whose name signifies a comforter, was a native of Elcese, or Elcesai, supposed to be a little town in Galilee. He prophesied after the ten tribes were carried into captivity, and foretold the utter destruction of Ninive by the Babylonians and Medes; which happened in the reign of Josias, (Challoner) in the sixteenth year, when the father of Nabuchodonosor and the grandfather of Cyrus entirely ruined Ninive, and divided the empire between them, (Calmet) in the year of the world 3378. (Usher) Tobias xiv. 16. --- Nahum was probably on the spot when he proclaimed this beautiful prediction, which yields not to any work of profane authors. He might have been carried captive by Salmanasar, as he alludes to the captivity of Israel and to the blasphemies of Sennacherib. We cannot, therefore, place his prophecy before the fifteenth year of Ezechias. (Calmet) --- He appeared about fifty years after Jonas, when the Ninivites had relapsed, and were destroyed in the space of one hundred and thirty-five years, as a figure of the subversion of idolatry by Christ's preaching the gospel of peace. (Worthington) NAHUM 1

Gill: Nahum (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO NAHUM

This book is called, in the Vulgate Latin version, "the Prophecy of Nahum"; and in the Syriac and Arabic versions, "the Prophecy of the Prophet Nahum"; and in Nah 1:1; it is called "the Book of the Vision of Nahum"; which is very singular; and from whence we learn of what place this prophet was; but of this more will be said on that verse. His name signifies "consolation": and though the subject of his prophecy chiefly relates to the destruction of the Assyrian empire, and of Nineveh, the chief city of it; yet this was a comfort to the people of the Jews, that an enemy so powerful, and who was so troublesome to them, and whom they dreaded, should one day be destroyed. In what age Nahum lived is not said; and writers very much disagree about it. Some make him to be the most ancient of all the prophets; who suppose him to prophesy of the destruction of Nineveh, before the reigns of Joash king of Judah, and Jehu king of Israel, as Huetius ^a observes; and others bring him down as low, placing him after Ezekiel, in the times of Zedekiah, Clemens of Alexandria ^b; neither of which is likely. The Jewish chronologers ^c generally make him to live in the times of Manasseh, and so Abarbinel; but Josephus ^d, with more probability, puts him in the times of Jotham; though perhaps what the greater number of interpreters give into may be most correct; as that he lived in the times of Hezekiah, and was contemporary with Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah; and that this prophecy was delivered out after the ten tribes were carried captive by the king of Assyria, which was in the sixth year of Hezekiah, and before Sennacherib's invasion of Judea, and siege of Jerusalem, which was in the fourteenth year of his reign; and which is thought to be referred to in the "first" chapter of this prophecy. Mr. Whiston ^e places him in the year of the world A. M. 3278, or 726 B.C.; and says that he foretold the destruction of Nineveh an hundred fifteen years before it came to pass, so says Josephus ^f. How long this prophet lived, and where he died, and was buried, is uncertain. Pseudo-Epiphanius ^g says he died and was buried in Begabar. Isidore ^h says it was in Bethafarim; both which are to be corrected by Dorotheus, who calls the place Bethabara, as Huetius ⁱ observes; the same where John was baptizing, Joh 1:28; but Benjamin of Tudela ^k says his grave was to be seen in a place called Einsiphla, in the land of Chaldea; and speaks of a synagogue of this prophet in the province of Assyria ^l; but on these things we cannot depend. Of the authority of this prophecy there need be no doubt, as appears from the inscription of the book, the sublimity and majesty of the style, and its agreement with other prophets; see Nah 1:15; compared with Isa 52:7; and the accomplishment of the prophecies contained in it, which respect the ruin of the Assyrian empire, and particularly Nineveh, the metropolis of it; the cause of which were their sins and transgressions, the inhabitants thereof were guilty of, and are pointed at in it.

Gill: Nahum 3 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO NAHUM 3

In this chapter is contained the prophecy of the destruction of Nineveh, and with it the whole Assyrian empire; the causes of which, besides those before mentioned, were the murders, lies, and robberies it was full of, Nah 3:1 for which it should be swiftly and cruelly destroyed, Nah 3:2 as also its whoredoms and witchcrafts, or idolatry, by which nations and families were seduced, Nah 3:4 and hence she should be treated as a harlot, her nakedness exposed, and she cast out with contempt, and mocked at by all, Nah 3:5 and all those things she placed her confidence in are shown to be of no avail; as her situation and fortresses, as she might learn from the case of No Amon, Nah 3:8 nor the number of her inhabitants, which were weak as women; nor even her merchants, captains, nobles, and king himself, Nah 3:13 nor the people she was in alliance with, who would now mock at her, her case being irrecoverable and incurable, Nah 3:19.