The rest of the book contains four descriptions of Nineveh's fall that were evidently messages that Nahum delivered at various times in Judah.
The first message sees the details of the siege of Nineveh taking place in the city when the enemy attacked, and it ends with the reaction of a segment of the populace (v. 7).
2:3 Nahum again focused on the destroyer (scatterer) of Nineveh (cf. v. 1). He described the siege and capture of Nineveh. The shields and uniforms of the soldiers who invaded Nineveh would be red. This was, really, a favorite color of the Median and Babylonian armies.30However, they may have been red with blood and or from the copper that they used to cover both shields and uniforms.31Nahum saw the invading chariots flashing with steel. Scythed chariots were in use at this time in the ancient Near East, chariots with steel blades protruding from them and their wheels.32Spears made out of cypress (pine) were long and straight, and Nineveh's invaders would brandish them showing their readiness for battle.33
2:4 The invaders' chariots would race through Nineveh's streets and squares. So gleaming with red and steel would they be that they would look like torches or lightning darting to and fro. Since Nahum described the enemy advancing toward the city walls (v. 5), he may have seen these chariots darting through the suburban streets and squares outside the walls.34
2:5 The Assyrian king would call on his nobles to defend the city, but they would stumble in their haste to do so. They would hurry to Nineveh's walls to set up some type of protective shield to deflect the attacker's arrows, spears, and stones.35
2:6 The Tigris River flowed close to the walls of Nineveh, and two of its tributaries, the Khosr and the Tebiltu, passed through the city. Virtually all of Nineveh's 15 gates also contained passages for the waters from one of these tributaries or its canals. They were called "gates of the river."36
Sennacherib had built a double dam and reservoir system to the north of the city to control the amount of water that entered it and to prevent flooding.37Nahum may have seen the invader opening these dam gates and flooding the city. However, ancient historians wrote that flooding from heavy rains also played a role in Nineveh's fall.
"Diodorus wrote that in the third year of the siege heavy rains caused a nearby river to flood part of the city and break part of the walls (Bibliotheca Historica2. 26. 9; 2. 27. 13). Xenophon referred to terrifying thunder (presumably with a storm) associated with the city's capture (Anabasis, 3. 4. 12). Also the Khosr River, entering the city from the northwest at the Ninlil Gate and running through the city in a southwesterly direction, may have flooded because of heavy rains, or the enemy may have destroyed its sluice gate."38
The palace the prophet saw washed away was perhaps that of Ashurbanipal, which stood in the north part of Nineveh.39However, Nineveh contained many palaces and temples, and the Hebrew word hekal, used here, describes both types of structures. Assyria had ruined many enemy cities, palaces, and temples, but now this fate would befall Nineveh.
2:7 The Lord's judgment of Nineveh had been determined. The city would be stripped of her treasures and they and their possessors would be carried off to other places. Even the slave girls, the bottom of the social scale, as well as the nobles (v. 5), the top, would lament the fall of the city. They would make mournful sounds and beat their breasts like doves that cooed and flapped their wings. Normally one would expect slaves in a city to rejoice at its destruction since that would mean their liberation. But life in Nineveh was good for some foreigners taken there as captives.
The second description of Nineveh's fall is more philosophical than the first one and ends with a statement by Yahweh that gives the reason for its fall (v. 13).
2:8 Nineveh had been as placid as the waters around the city for most of her history.40Nahum now saw it inundated with water and enemy soldiers and its inhabitants fleeing in panic, like water gushing from a broken dam. Someone might call to them to stop, perhaps to defend the city, but no one would turn back.
2:9 The prophet called the invading solders to plunder Nineveh, to take for themselves its vast wealth of silver, gold, and other valuable treasures. Nineveh had accumulated her wealth through centuries of conquests, taxation, and trading.41It was the richest city in the ancient Near East in the seventh century B.C.42
2:10 The invaders would empty Nineveh of her treasures, and it would become a desolate wasteland.43Hearts would melt and knees knock when people would observe its overthrow. Anguish would grip the whole body of observers and their faces would go pale. If Nineveh could fall, would anything be secure?
2:11 After Nineveh's destruction the people who remained would taunt the Assyrians by comparing Nineveh to a lion's den and nearby feeding grounds. They would also compare its inhabitants to lions. Assyria's leaders were lion-like and its youths like young lions in that they had plundered and preyed on others. But their once secure haunts were now desolate.
"Assyrian kings prided themselves in their ability to kill lions in lion hunts. And the kings likened their own ferocity and fearlessness to that of lions. For example, Sennacherib boasted of his military fury by saying, Like a lion I raged.' Lions were frequently pictured in Assyrian reliefs and decorations."44
2:12 Lions normally kill only what they need to eat, but the Assyrians killed many enemies not just to sustain their own needs but for the joy of conquest. They were unusually vicious toward their enemies and notorious in the ancient world as cruel.45Yet lions, while vicious, are not known for being excessively so.
2:13 Nahum closed this message with a word from Yahweh in which the Lord verbalized His antagonism toward Nineveh. What a terrible fate to have almighty Yahweh say, "I am against you!"(cf. 3:5; Jer. 21:13; 50:31; 51:25; Ezek. 5:8; 13:8; 26:3; 28:22; 39:1; Rom. 8:31). He promised to destroy her instruments of warfare. Invading armies would slay her young men. She would no longer devour other peoples like a lion does its prey. And messengers would no longer leave Nineveh with threats and to demand submission and taxes (cf. 2 Kings 18:17-25; 19:22; Isa. 37:4, 6).
This description explains further the "why"for Nineveh's fall whereas the first two descriptions in the previous chapter gave more of the actual events, the "what"of it. There is much similarity between the descriptions of the siege in 2:3-4 and 3:2-3, however. This section has been called a woe oracle because it pronounces doom on Nineveh in typical woe oracle fashion.46
3:1 Nahum pronounce woe on Nineveh, a city characterized by bloodshed. Here, as often elsewhere (e.g., Isa. 3:9), "woe"announces impending doom.47As noted earlier, the Assyrians were notorious for their cruelty that included cutting off hands, feet, ears, noses, gouging out eyes, lopping off heads, impaling bodies, and peeling the skin off living victims.48Nahum saw the city as completely full of lies (cf. 2 Kings 18:31) and pillage (cf. 2:9). Nineveh always had prey; she was constantly on the prowl looking for other nations to conquer.
3:2-3 Again the prophet described the sounds and sights that would accompany the battle in which Nineveh would fall (cf. 2:3-4). Whips could be heard as soldiers urged their horses forward. He heard the sound of chariot wheels and the hoofs of horses bearing cavalry soldiers clattering on the pavement. Horsemen were charging, swords were flashing, and spears were gleaming in the light. The large number of corpses on the scene of battle impressed Nahum. They seemed to be countless, so many that they seemed to cover the ground completely. The living soldiers had trouble moving about because they kept tripping over dead bodies. This was a scene that someone might have seen had they visited the site of one of the Assyrian army's battles, but this one was taking place in Nineveh and the dead were mainly Ninevites.
3:4 This devastation was coming on Nineveh because of her wickedness. She had played the harlot often by luring unsuspecting nations and then harming them. For example, King Ahaz had been attracted to Assyria and had appealed for her to come help Judah (2 Kings 16:7-18), but when she did, years later, she came to destroy rather than assist (cf. Isa. 36:16-17). The Ninevites were also practitioners of sorcery; they appealed to the spirit world for power to determine and control their destiny and that of their victims. The pagan worship of the Assyrians involved occultism, sexual perversion, and human degradation. Assyria had lured other nations, then, with immoral attractions and magical arts. These practices resulted in the enslavement of many nations and people groups; Nineveh sold them into slavery.
3:5 Almighty Yahweh repeated that He was against Nineveh (cf. 2:13). He would expose her shamefulness because of her shameless acts, as when someone lifted up the skirt of a lady over her head so high that he covered her face with it (cf. Isa. 47:1-3; Jer. 13:26-27; Ezek. 16:37; Hos. 2:3-5; Rev. 17:15-16). Nakedness was a great shame in the ancient world. She who had enslaved the nations (v. 4) would have her own nakedness exposed to them.
3:6 As the Assyrians had made many other people detestable, the Lord would do the same to them. Nahum's picture is that of God covering Nineveh with human excrement and then lifting her up for all to behold, a disgusting sight indeed.
3:7 It is no wonder then that everyone who saw Nineveh would recoil from her and remark on her devastated condition. No one would grieve over Nineveh's destruction because they would be glad that she got what she deserved. Mourners over her demise would not be found because people would rejoice, not sorrow, over her humiliation (v. 19). Even a few mourners would attend any funeral in the ancient Near East, even if relatives had to pay them to attend. But no one would agree to weep for Nineveh even if paid to do so. This is hyperbole, but the point is clear: the world would rejoice when Nineveh fell.
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.50Its 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.51Thus 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).52Instead 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.
