Text -- Nahum 3:17 (NET)

3:17 Your courtiers are like locusts, your officials are like a swarm of locusts! They encamp in the walls on a cold day, yet when the sun rises, they fly away; and no one knows where they are.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Nah 3:17

Thy confederate kings and princes.

Wesley: Nah 3:17

Commanders and officers are for number, like locusts and grasshoppers; but 'tis all for shew, not for help.

Wesley: Nah 3:17

While the season suits them.

Wesley: Nah 3:17

When trouble, war, and danger, like the parching sun, scald them.

Wesley: Nah 3:17

Thou shalt never know where to find them.

JFB: Nah 3:17

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."

JFB: Nah 3:17

As many as the swarming locusts.

JFB: Nah 3:17

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.

JFB: Nah 3:17

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.

JFB: Nah 3:17

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).

Clarke: Nah 3:17

Thy crowned are as the locusts - Thou hast numerous princes and numerous commanders

Clarke: Nah 3:17

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.

Calvin: Nah 3:17

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, who dwell 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 —

TSK: Nah 3:17

Rev 9:7

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Nah 3:17

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.

Poole: Nah 3:17

Thy crowned thy rich and wealthy citizens, or thy confederate kings and princes, or thy tributary princes;

thy captains hired, or homeborn, rather the former, commanders and officers; for number and briskness, are like locusts and great grasshoppers, but it is all for show, nothing for help to thee.

Which camp as if they would guard the grounds about which they settle.

In the cold day this lasts while the season suits them.

But when the sun ariseth when trouble, war, and danger, like the parching sun, scalds them, they flee away; they shift from the hedge they eat up.

Their place is not known thou shalt never know where to find them when thou needest, and they should help thee.

Haydock: Nah 3:17

Guards. Hebrew, "crowned" princes. ---

Little. Hebrew, "satraps are like great locusts, which," &c. St. Jerome has read (Calmet) toppic instead of taphseraic, (Haydock) which [the] Septuagint neglect. Thapsar denotes an officer, Jeremias li. 27. (Calmet) ---

Of locusts. The young locusts. (Challoner)

Gill: Nah 3:17

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.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Nah 3:17

¹ tn Or “your guards.” The noun מִגְּזָרַיִךְ (miggÿzarayikh, “your courtiers”) is related to Assyrian manzazu (“courtier”; AHw 2:639.a) or massaru (“guard”; AHw 2:621.a); see HALOT 601 s.v. *מִגְּזָר). The nuance “princes,” suggested by older lexicographers (BDB 634 s.v. מִנְזַר), is obsolete.

² tn The noun טַפְסְרַיִךְ (tafsÿrayikh, “your scribes”) from טִפְסָר (tifsar, “scribe, marshal”) is a loanword from Assyrian tupsarru and Sumerian DUB.SAR (“tablet-writer; scribe; official”); see BDB 381 s.v. טִפְסָר; HALOT 379 s.v. This term is also attested in Ugaritic tupsarru and in Phoenician dpsr. As in Jer 51:27, it is used of military and administrative officials. This term designated military officials who recorded the names of recruits and the military activities of Assyrian kings (see P. Machinist, “Assyria and its Image in the First Isaiah,” JAOS 103 [1983]: 736).

³ tn Heb “it flees.”

⁴ tc The BHS editors propose redividing the singular MT reading וְנוֹדַד (vÿnodad, “and it flees”) to the plural וְנוֹדְדוּ (vÿnodÿdu, “and they flee”) due to the difficulty of a singular verb. However, the LXX supports the singular MT reading. The subject is גוֹב (gov, “swarm”), not individual locusts.

⁵ tc The MT reads the noun with 3rd person masculine singular suffix מְקוֹמוֹ (mÿqomo, “its place”). The BHS editors suggest emending to 3rd person masculine plural suffix מְקוֹמָם (mÿqomam, “their place”). The MT is supported by the LXX reading, which has a singular suffix. The 3rd person masculine singular suffix is not as awkward as the BHS editors claim – its antecedent is the singular אַרְבֶּה (’arbeh, “locust”) and גוֹב גֹבָי (gov govay, “a swarm of locusts”), as reflected by the 3rd person masculine singular verb וְנוֹדַד (translated “it flies away”).

⁶ tc The MT reads אַיָּם (’ayyam, “Where are they?”); see, e.g., Isa 19:12; DCH 1:202-3 s.v. אֵי; HALOT 40 s.v.). On the other hand, the LXX’s οὐαί αὐτοῖς (ouai autoi", “Woe to them!”) seems to reflect a reading of אֶיָּם (’eyyam, “Alas to them!”). The BHS editors suggest emending to אֵיכָה (“Alas!” or “How?”) and join it to v. 18, or אוֹי מַה (’oy mah, “Woe! Why…?”) joined to v. 18. HALOT (40 s.v.) suggests the emendation אֵיךָ (’ekha, “Alas to you!”).

tn Heb “Its place is not known – where are they?” The form אַיָּם has been taken in various ways: (1) an interrogative adverb with 3rd person masculine plural suffix (“where are they?”; GKC 296-97 §100.o; BDB 32 s.v. אַי 1.a); (2) an interrogative particle אֵי (’ey, “where?”) lengthened to אַיָּה (ayyah) and written with the enclitic particle ־ם (mem; GKC 295 §100.g), similar to ayyami (“where?”) in Assyrian (CAD 1.1.220); see W. A. Maier, Nahum, 356; R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 111; T. Longman, “Nahum,” The Minor Prophets, 2:826.

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 3:14-17

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. Tı̄t and chōmer are used synonymously here, as in Isa 41:25. Tı̄t , 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 l^e bhēnâh , 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. שׁם , 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. כּיּלק , 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. התכּבּד 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 התכּבּדי he was thinking of the city. Hithkahbbēd , to show itself heavy by virtue of the large multitude; similar to כּבד in Nah 2:10 (cf. כּבד 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 תּאכלך כּיּלק 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 ὥρμησε 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 מנּזריך and Հ˜פסריך , 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. מנּזרים with dagesh dir. , as for example in מקּדשׁ in Exo 15:17, is probably derived from nâzar , to separate, and not directly from nezer , a diadem, or nâzı̄r , 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. גּוב גּובי , locusts upon locusts, i.e., an innumerable swarm of locusts. On גּובי , 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. איּם contracted from איּה הם . These words depict in the most striking manner the complete annihilation of the army on which Nineveh relied.

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

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_____. "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.