Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Nahum 3:8

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 8. Art thou better than populous No — No-Ammon, or Diospolis, in the Delta, on one branch of the Nile. This is supposed to be the city mentioned by Nahum; and which had been lately destroyed, probably by the Chaldeans.

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

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Destroyed because of greed (3:1-19)

Not only was Assyria cruel, but it was also greedy. Often it conquered nations solely to plunder them. Nahum likens it to a prostitute, for it thought only of money and pleasure and gave no thought for morality. The prophet gives another vivid picture of the battle scene in Nineveh as God acts in judgment against the guilty people (3:1-4).
Like a prostitute Nineveh dressed herself with lavish adornments and lived in luxury by tempting and deceiving others. Her splendour will be replaced by shame. She will be like a prostitute who is stripped and made to walk naked in the streets. Those whom she deceived and robbed will now laugh at her (5-7).
Nahum reminds Nineveh of what happened to the city of Thebes in Egypt. It was well defended and had strong allies, but it was conquered and its people taken into captivity (8-10). The same will happen to Nineveh. Its outlying fortresses will be demolished as easily as ripe figs are shaken from a tree. When troops in the city hear of this they will lose courage and the city will be overthrown (11-13). They may store water in case of a siege, and strengthen the city walls to withstand the battering rams, but all their precautions and preparations will prove to be useless. The city will be burnt to the ground and left as bare as a field that has been stripped by locusts (14-15a).
The merchants, officials and others involved in Nineveh’s commerce are likened to a swarm of locusts. But just as locusts fly away when the sun gets hot, so these will flee when Nineveh is attacked (15b-17). Assyria’s leaders will be killed, leaving the people leaderless and an easy prey for the attackers. Assyria will fall, never to rise again. Those who suffered from its cruelty will then rejoice (18-19).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

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

In a number of ways No-Amon (capitalizing Amon stresses the name of their false god) was the greatest and most influential city of the pre-Assyrian world. "Here are the mightiest ruins of ancient civilization to be found anywhere on earth.J. M. Powis Smith, op. cit., p. 343. It came into prominence about 2,100 years B.C.; "From that time it held a leading place in Egypt."Ibid. It was long the capital of Egypt and was nicknamed, "The city of a hundred gates; it was the cult center of the triad of Amon, Mut and Khonsu. 'Amon' indicated the relationship between the city and its principal god."Carl E. DeVries, Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975), p. 1211. The expression No-Amon is found only in this verse, indicating that Nahum connected the place with the larger drama of the Scarlet Sea-Beast already in the world for a long time; but which would be more adequately identified in later times by Daniel and the apostle John. No-Amon bore exactly the same relationship to EGYPT the first head of the Seven Headed Sea-Beast, that Nineveh bore to Assyria the second head.

As to the identity of No-Amon, it was most certainly Thebes. The verse before us might appear at first glance to indicate a delta city such as Alexandria, but the Nile was called "the sea" poetically, "as in Job 41:31, and Isaiah 18:2; and with that difficulty removed, there is no doubt that the place is Thebes."M. G. Kyle, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Chicago: Howard-Severance Co., 1915), p. 2153. "The Arabs still call the Nile the sea."George Adam Smith, The Twelve Prophets (Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham), p. 110. "No had been an earlier, another Nineveh,"Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 152. as we have seen, the great first head of the Sea-Beast; but in Nahum's time Ashurbanipal (663 B.C.) had captured No-Amon, giving a mortal wound to the first head, but becoming itself the second head of the great, monolithic organization of men against God which has dominated the whole history of the human race, and even now, under the eighth manifestation of the 'horns," which also were part of the beast, multiple governments all over the world are the modern (and perhaps final) successors to the power and authority of the Sea-Beast. Thus, there are eschatological overtones in Nahum of the very greatest significance, as some scholars have discerned.

Those who date Nahum prior to 663 B.C. view these words as a prophecy of No-Amon's destruction; but we believe that event was past when Nahum wrote, the prophet's discernment of Nineveh's usurpation of the former status of Thebes being evident in the very denunciations uttered by the prophet. "He holds up No-Amon as an example to Nineveh of the fate that awaited them."C. F. Keil, op. cit., p. 34.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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

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

But the prophet’s appeal to Nineveh is the more striking, because No, in its situation, its commerce, the sources of its wealth, its relation to the country which lay between them, had been another and earlier Nineveh. Only, as No had formerly conquered and exacted tribute from all those nations, even to Nineveh itself, so now, under Sargon and Sennacherib, Nineveh had reversed all those successes, and displaced the Empire of Egypt by its own, and taken No itself. No had, under its Tothmoses, Amenophes, Sethos, the Ousertesens, sent its messengers Nahum 2:13, the leviers of its tribute, had brought off from Asia that countless mass of human strength, the captives, who (as Israel, before its deliverance, accomplished its hard labors) completed those gigantic works, which, even after 2000 years of decay, are still the marvel of the civilized world. Tothmosis I, after subduing the Sasou, brought back countless captives from Naharina (Mesopotamia); Tothmosis III, in 19 years of conquests, (1603-1585 b.c.) “raised the Egyptian empire to the height of its greatness. Tothmosis repeatedly attacked the most powerful people of Asia, as the Routen (Assyrians?) with a number of subordinate kingdoms, such as Asshur, Babel, Nineveh, Singar; such as the Remenen or Armenians, the Zahi or Phoenicians, the Cheta or Hittites, and manymore. We learn, by the description of the objects of the booty, sent to Egypt by land and sea, counted by number and weight, many curious details as to the industry of the conquered peoples of central Asia, which do honor to the civilization of that time, and verify the tradition that the Egyptian kings set up stelae in conquered countries, in memory of their victories. Tothmosis III. set up his stele in Mesopotamia, ‘for having enlarged the frontiers of Egypt.’” Amenophis too is related to have “taken the fortress of Nenii (Nineveh).” : “He returned from the country of the higher Routen, where he had beaten all his enemies to enlarge the frontiers of the land of Egypt” : “he took possession of the people of the South, and chastised the people of the North:” “at Abd-el-Kournah” he was represented as “having for his footstool the heads and backs of five peoples of the S. and four peoples of the North (Asiatics).” : “Among the names of the peoples, who submitted to Egypt, are the Nubians, the Asiatic shepherds, the inhabitants of Cyprus and Mesopotamia.” : “The world in its length and its breadth” is promised by the sphinx to Tothmosis IV. He is represented as “subduer of the negroes.”

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

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

On this side of the Euphrates, Egypt still retained some possessions to the time of Necho, for it is said, “the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt” 2 Kings 24:7. Thebes continued to be embellished alike by “the high priests of Ammon,” who displaced the ancient line , and kings of the Bubastite Dynasty, Sesonchis I or Sisak , Takelothis II , and Sesonchis III . The Ethiopian dynasty of Sabakos and Tearko or Tirhaka in another way illustrates the importance of No. The Ethiopian conquerors chose it as their royal city. There, in the time of Sabakos, Syria brought it tribute ; there Tirhaka set up the records of his victories ; and great must have been the conqueror, whom Strabo put on a line with Sesostris .

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

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

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

It was that self-deifying, against which Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy; “Speak and say; thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself” Ezekiel 29:3. : “Everywhere the same colossal proportions are preserved. Everywhere the king is conquering, ruling, worshiping, worshiped. The palace is the temple. The king is priest. He and his horses are ten times the size of the rest of the army. Alike in battle and in worship, he is of the same stature as the gods themselves. Most striking is the familiar gentleness, with which, one on each side, they take him by each hand, as one of their own order, and then, in the next compartment, introduce him to Ammon, and the lion-headed goddess. Every distinction, except of degree, between divinity and royalty is entirely leveled.”

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

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

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

Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. xli.: “Imagine a long vista of courts and doorways and colonnades and halls; here and there an obelisk shooting up out of the ruins, and interrupting the opening view of the forest of columns. - This mass of ruins, some rolled down in avalanches of stone, others perfect and painted, as when they were first built, is approached on every side by avenues of gateways. East and West, North and South, these vast approaches are found. Some are shattered, but in every approach some remain; and in some can be traced, beside, the further avenues, still in parts remaining by hundreds together, avenues of ram-headed sphinxes. Every Egyptian temple has, or ought to have, one of those grand gateways, formed of two sloping towers, with the high perpendicular front between.” Then, over and above, is “their multiplied concentration. - Close before almost every gateway in this vast array were the colossal figures, usually in granite, of the great Rameses, sometimes in white and red marble, of Amenophis and of Thothmes. Close by them, were pairs of towering obelisks, which can generally be traced by pedestals on either side. - You have only to set up again the fallen obelisks which lie at your feet; to conceive the columns, as they are still seen in parts, overspreading the whole; to reproduce all the statues, like those which still remain in their august niches, to gaze on the painted wails and pillars of the immense ball, which even now can never be seen without a thrill of awe, and you have ancient Thebes before you.”

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

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

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

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

Shall it be better to thee than to Alexandria? The word אמון, amun, some render populous; and I am inclined to adopt this meaning, which has been received nearly by the consent of all. Others have supposed it to be the name of a king; but as proof fails them, I leave to themselves their own conjecture. Shall it then be better to thee than to Alexandria? For it stood, he says, between the rivers Alexandria had the Nile, as it were, under its own power; for it was then divided into many parts, so that it intersected the city in various places. So then he says, that Alexandria dwelt between the rivers; for it divided the Nile, as it suited its convenience, into several streams.

Then he says, The sea was around her: for it was surrounded on one side by the sea, and protected by the island Pharos, which had a tower, not only for the sake of defense, but that ships coming in from the Mediterranean, might have a signal, by which they might direct their course straight to the harbor. The sea then was around her; for the sea encircled more than half of the city; and then the lake Mareotis was on the other side to the south. He afterwards adds, And its wall or moat was the sea The word is written with י, iod, חיל, chil; but it means a wall or a moat, though Latins render antemurale — a front-work: for they were wont formerly to fortify their cities with a double wall, as old buildings still show. According to these interpreters חיל, chil, is the inner wall, and so they render its front-work: and there was also an outer wall towards the sea. But we may take חיל, chil, for a moat or a trench; and it is easy to find from other passages that it was a trench rather than a front-work. It is said that the body of Jezebel was torn by dogs in the trench, and the word there is חיל, chil. As to the object of the Prophet, he evidently intended to show, that Alexandria was so well fortified, that Nineveh had no reason to think herself to be in a safer state; for its fortress was from the sea, and also from Ethiopia, on account of the munitions which he has mentioned. Then he speaks of Africa and Egypt, and the Libyan nations, ⁽²⁴⁵⁾ and says in short, that there was no end of her strength; that is, that she could seek the help of many friends and confederates: many were ready to bring aid, even Africa, Ethiopia, and the Lybians.

(243) So does Newcome, but with no countenance from the passage. The verb in the 10^th verse which refers to the captivity of No, is in the past tense. Most commentators regard the event as having passed. — Ed.

(244) Opinions differ as to No. Bochart supposed it to be Diospolis, near Mendes, in Lower Egypt. Henderson says, that later commentators are in favor of Thebes, the ancient capital of Upper Egypt. It is of no consequence to the present purpose which it was. It was some celebrated city in Egypt, whose ruin was well known in the Prophet’s time. Both the Rabbins and early Fathers thought that it was what was afterwards called Alexandria. But most probably it was a city which had lost its name and existence from the catastrophe that is here mentioned. — Ed.

(245) The original names in this verse are כוש, supposed to be Ethiopia, — מצרים, Egypt, here, either Upper or Lower, — פוט, Put, a country to the west of Lower Egypt, its inhabitants the descendants of Ham, Genesis 10:6, — לובים, Lybians, who occupied the region between Put and Numidia. — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 3

Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. [Suppose that would have been helicopters.] The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: Because of the multitude of the whoredoms [God now giving the reason why Nineveh was to be destroyed.] of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, [the sorceries, the witchcraft, the occult practices that went on in Nineveh] that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and I will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee? ( Nahum 3:1-7 )

Remember, Nineveh was a great city. When at the time of Jonah, the city at that time was three-days' journey. In other words, starting at one end of the city and walking through it would take you three days. There were, at the time of Jonah, sixty thousand babies too young to know their right hand from their left hand. So the population of Nineveh was probably somewhere around the million mark. An extremely large city, and yet the judgment of God is to come; they are to be laid waste. Now the Lord says,

Art thou better than the [You think you're going to escape the judgment of God?] populous No, [Now this "No" would be Noammon in Egypt, which was destroyed. It was called "thieves" by the Greeks.] that was situate among the rivers [Up in the Nile river about four hundred miles from Cairo.], that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? [Even though] Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, [the city of thieves] and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. [And even though Lybia came in her defense,] Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. Thou also shalt be drunken: thou also shalt be hid, that also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. All thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: [We made reference how that the city walls were destroyed by the flood, and then,] the fire shall devour thy bars ( Nahum 3:8-13 ).

When they took the city of Nineveh, then they torched it and left it with just ashes. So, again this prophecy, "The fire shall devour thy bars." Now prepare for the invasion.

Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strongholds: go into clay and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like a cankerworm [or like a locust] make thyself many as the locusts. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, [So the captains and the leaders are going to flee.] and their place is not known where they are. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? ( Nahum 3:14-19 )

So, God's final declaration, and this is quite awesome. "There is no healing of thy bruise; your wound is grievous." There's no answer, there's no solution; you've gone too far. How terrible when God declares of a man's condition as incurable. How terrible when God said, as He did to Jeremiah, "Ephraim is joined to her idols, let her alone." When God said, "Don't pray anymore for their good, for if you do I will not hear you." When God declares the condition irreparable.

Assyria was one of the cruelest empires in history. The Assyrians were sadists. They maimed and tortured their captives. They would oftentimes pull out the tongues, cut off the ears or the noses or the hands, or gouge out the eyes of their prisoners of war. Extremely cruel. It was a deliberate cruelness to strike terror in the hearts of their enemies, and it worked. The world was terrified of Assyria, for Assyria ruled the world, so to speak, for over a century with her cruelty, with her viciousness, so that when the news that Nineveh has been destroyed, left desolate, is nothing but an ash heap, the Assyrians have been slaughtered, when the news comes through the world, people will clap their hands for joy. There will be no grieving for the fall of Nineveh, because of their exceeding wickedness.

So, God's witness against the Assyrian empire, against its capital Nineveh, and through Nahum remarkable prophesies that have been completely and literally fulfilled. How could Nahum write of its destruction by the troops becoming drunk and being taken by surprise? How could he write of the wall being destroyed by the river? How could he write of the city being left in ashes except that God was directing his pen as the scripture says, "Holy men of old wrote as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit." Again these remarkable prophesies of Nahum are a testimony of the authorship of the Bible being none other than God. Man could not have written this account in advance and had it come to pass so completely. Again, just another strong proof that all scripture has been written by inspiration of God. Shall we pray?

Father, we thank You for Thy Word, and Thy faithfulness, and Thy righteousness, even in judgment. Father, even as Your judgment came against the Ninevites who had established themselves as your enemies, so we realize that Your judgment will one day come against all who have dared to stand against Thee. Thank You, Father, for loving us, for drawing us to Yourself. Thank You, Father, for Your goodness to those who put their trust in You. Thank You, Lord, for the help that You give to us in our days of trouble, and that we can just rely upon You, Lord, and know Your help through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Now, Father, hide Thy Word in our hearts, impress upon us Thy goodness that we might go, Lord, in Thy name, to declare Thy goodness to a needy world. That we might be the emissaries going out into the world with the good tidings of the gospel of peace, bringing good news to men, of the provision that God has made to forgive man their sins. Lord, may we be faithful heralds of Thy truth. In Jesus' name. Amen.

May the Lord watch over you as you go. May His hand be upon your life for good. May the Lord bless you and strengthen you, and fill you with His Holy Spirit, that you might walk in His love, that you might be an instrument through which He works His work of love in a world that is filled with hate and suspicion. May your life be as a light shining in a dark place, bringing hope to those who sit in darkness. In Jesus' name. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

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. Jeremiah and Ezekiel predicted its fall (Jeremiah 46:25; Ezekiel 30:14; Ezekiel 30:16). Its solid and liquid defenses did not protect it, and Nineveh’s would not protect it either.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

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. [Note: See Patterson, pp. 93-94.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Art thou better than populous No,.... Or No Amon, a city in Egypt so called, not because the kings of Egypt were nursed and brought up there, as Jarchi and Abarbinel; see Proverbs 8:30 but from Ham the son of Noah, whose land Egypt was; or from Jupiter Ammon, worshipped there. No Amon signifies the mansion or palace of Ham, or Hamon; the Egyptians, as Herodotus says h, call Jupiter by the name of Ammon. The Targum interprets it of Alexandria the great, a city so called long after this, when it was rebuilt by Alexander the great; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, understand it: others take Diospolis or Thebes to be meant, famous in Homer i for its hundred gates; though some think this was not the number of the gates of the city, but of the temples in it; and others are of opinion that these were so many palaces of princes k. The city was built by Osiris; or, according to others, by Busiris, and seems more likely to be the place here meant; since here was a temple dedicated to Jupiter, called by the Egyptians Ammon, as Diodorus Siculus l relates, and was a very large and populous city. Indeed, according to the above historian, it was in compass but a seventeen and a half miles m; which is to be understood of the city when first built, and before it was enlarged; for it must have been a great deal larger in later times, if we may judge of it by its ruins. Strabo n, who was an eyewitness of them quickly after its last destruction by Cornelius Gallus, says, the footsteps of its largeness were seen fourscore furlongs in length, or ten miles; and even this was but small, in comparison of what it was before it was destroyed by Cambyses, when it is said to reach four hundred and twenty furlongs, or fifty two miles and a half o. It was the metropolis of all Egypt; and formerly the whole country was called after its name, as Herodotus p observes. The accounts given of its inhabitants are incredible, and particularly of the soldiers it sent out; according to the epitaph of Rhampses, seven hundred thousand soldiers dwelt in it; which number Diodorus Siculus q gives to all the people in Egypt; but, though it may seem too large for Thebes, must be too little for all Egypt; especially if what Agrippa in Josephus r says is right, that Egypt, from Ethiopia and the borders of India to Alexandria, had no less than 7,500,000 inhabitants: however, if Pomponius Mela s may be credited, when it was necessary, the hundred palaces in Thebes could each of them send out ten thousand armed men, or, as some say, twenty thousand; and if what Diodorus Siculus t affirms is true, that twenty thousand chariots used to go out from thence to war, this shows it to have been a very populous city indeed, and might well be called "populous" No; but now it is utterly destroyed, first by the Assyrians and Babylonians, then by the Persians, and last of all by the Romans; the first destruction must be here referred to, if this city is designed. Strabo u says in his time it was only inhabited in villages; and Juvenal w speaks of it as wholly lying in ruins; and Pausanias x, making mention of it with other cities which abounded with riches, says they were reduced to the fortune of a middling private man, yea, were brought to nothing. It is now, or what is built on the spot, or near it, called Luxxor, or Lukorcen y. Some z think the city Memphis is meant, so Vitringa on Isaiah 19:5.

Isaiah 19:5- :,

Isaiah 19:5- :, this was for many ages the metropolis of all Egypt. Strabo a calls it a large and "populous" city, and full of men, and second to Alexandria in his time. The compass of it, when first built, was eighteen and three quarter miles b; but now there is no more remaining of it than if there had never been such a city; nay, it is not easy to say where it once stood: now Nineveh is asked, or its inhabitants, if it could be thought that their city was in a better and safer condition than this city; it might indeed, according to the account of it by historians, and as in the prophecy of Jonah, be larger, and its inhabitants more numerous; but not better fortified, which seems to be the thing chiefly respected, as follows:

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

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

whose rampart [was] the sea, [and] her wall [was] from the sea? which agrees with Alexandria, according to the description of it by Strabo c, Solinus d, and Josephus e, which had two seas on each side of it; the Egyptian sea on the north, and the lake Mareotis on the south, as well as had the canals of the Nile running into it from various parts; and is represented as very difficult of access, through the sea, rivers, and marshy places about it; and, besides, might have a wall towards the sea, as by this account it should seem, as well as the sea itself was a wall and rampart to it: and this description may also agree with Diospolis or Thebes, which, though more inland, yet, as Bochart f observes, it had, as all Egypt had, the two seas, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and the canals of the Nile, which might be said to be as a rampart to it. So Isocrates g says of all Egypt, that it is fortified with an immortal wall, the Nile, which not only affords a defence, but sufficient food, and is insuperable and inexpugnable; nor is it unusual, as to call rivers and lakes seas, so particularly the Nile, and its canals; see Isaiah 11:15, and in the Alcoran the Nile is often called a sea h. There is another Diospolis in Egypt, near Mendes, which, as Strabo i says, had lakes about it; but this, being a more obscure place, is not likely to be intended here; though Father Calmet k is of opinion that it is here meant; it being situated in the Delta, on one of the arms of the Nile, between Busiris to the south, and Mendes to the north. The description seems to agree better with Memphis, whose builder Uchoreus, as Diodorus Siculus l says, chose a very convenient place for it, where the Nile divided itself into many parts, and made the Delta, so called from its figure; and which he made wonderfully strong, after this manner: whereas the Nile flowed round the city, being built within the ancient bed of it, and at its increase would overflow it; he cast up a very great mound or rampart to the south, which was a defence against the swell of the river, and was of the use of a fortress against enemies by land; and on the other parts all about he dug a large and deep lake, which received a very great deal of the river, and filled every place about the city but where the mound (or rampart) was built, and so made it amazingly strong; whence the kings after him left Thebes, and had their palace and court here; and so Herodotus, who makes Menes to be the builder of it, says m, that without the city he caused lakes to be dug from the river to the north, and to the west, for to the east the Nile itself bounded it; and Josephus n, who also makes Minaeus, or Menes, the first Pharaoh, to be the builder of it, speaks of that and the sea together, as if not far off each other: now, if a city so populous, and so well fortified by art and nature, as each of these were, was taken, and its inhabitants carried captive, Nineveh could not depend on her numbers or situation for safety, which were not more or better than this.

h L. 2. sive Euterpe, c. 42. i Iliad. 9. ver. 381. k Vid. Mela de Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 9. Diodor. Sicul. l. 1. p. 43. l Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 14, 42. Ed. Rhodoman. m Ibid. p. 42. n Geograph. l. 16. p. 561, Ed. Casaubon. o See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 396. p Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 15. q Ut supra, (Bibliothec. l. 1.) p. 27. r De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 4. s De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 9. t Ut supra, (Bibliothec. l. 1.) p. 43. Vid. Homer, ut supra. (Iliad. 9. ver. 381.) u Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 16. p. 561, Ed. Casaubon.) w "Vetus Theba centum jacet obruta portis", Satyr. 15. l. 6. x Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 509. Ed. Hanau. y Norden's Travels in Egypt and Nubia, vol. 2. p. 61, 62. z So Hillerus, Onomast. Sacr. p. 571, 572. & Burkius in loc. a Geograph. l. 17. p. 555. b Diodor. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 46. c Geograph. l. 17. p. 545. d Polyhistor. c. 45. e De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 4. f Phaleg. l. 1. c. 1. col. 6, 7. g Busiris, p. 437. h Vid. Schultens in Job xiv. 11. i Geograph. l. 17. p. 551. k Dictionary, in the word "Diospolis". l Ut supra. (Diodor. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 46.) m Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 99. n Antiqu. l. 8. c. 6. sect. 2. & l. 2. c. 10. sect. 1.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?   9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.   10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.   11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.   12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.   13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.   14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln.   15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.   16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.   17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.   18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.   19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

      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?Nahum 3:8; Nahum 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 (Jeremiah 46:25), No-Ammon, so some read it both there and here. We read of it, Ezekiel 30:14-16. Some think it was Diospolis, others Alexandria. As God said to Jerusalem, Go, see what I did to Shiloh (Jeremiah 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, Nahum 3:8; Nahum 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, Nahum 3:9; Nahum 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 (Nahum 3:10; Nahum 3:10): 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 (Nahum 3:11; Nahum 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 Jeremiah 25:17; Jeremiah 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, Nahum 3:12; Nahum 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,Proverbs 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 (Nahum 3:14; Nahum 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 (Nahum 3:15; Nahum 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 (Nahum 3:13; Nahum 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 Phrygiæ, neque enim Phryges--Phrygian dames, not Phrygian men. Though they make themselves many (Nahum 3:15; Nahum 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, Nahum 3:15; Nahum 3:15. They are as numerous as those wasting insects, but their enemies shall be mischievous like them. He adds (Nahum 3:16; Nahum 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,Proverbs 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? Nahum 3:13; Nahum 3:13. The gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thy enemies, the gates of thy rivers (Nahum 2:6; Nahum 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 (Nahum 3:17; Nahum 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 (Nahum 3:19; Nahum 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.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

Lectures on the Minor Prophets.

W. Kelly.

Singular was the reproach of the Jews in the time of our Lord (John 7:52); for there were prophets who had arisen out of Galilee. Jonah and Nahum were both Galileans. There is nothing in which men are apt to be so blind as in reading the Bible; and even the facts of scripture are too commonly passed over with greater carelessness than those of any other book. People readily forget what it does not suit them to remember.

"Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem,

Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, et quae

Ipse sibi tradit spectator."

Affections too govern the judgment. Hence the tendency to forget the plainest facts, and to find some artificial means of exalting whatever to our minds takes the highest place in religious matters. As once by God's appointment Jerusalem had such a place, the Jews spite of their reversed sentence were striving hard to exaggerate whatever invested it with halo, and to deny what God had wrought elsewhere. But God loves to work in unexpected grace; and hence I do not doubt that there was a fitness in the call of these two prophets both of them having to do with Nineveh. Galilee was a district which both bordered on the Gentiles, and had not a few dwelling in its midst. Hence people there, though prejudiced as everywhere, could not but be open to thoughts and exercises of heart about the Gentiles. Nevertheless, as we have seen in Jonah, there might be a feeling as decidedly Jewish as in any prophet that God ever raised up even in Jerusalem itself.

First of all Nahum brings before us the character of God in remarkably vivid terms, and indeed with a majesty of utterance most suitable to the subject God entrusted to him. "The burden of Nineveh" means the heavy sentence of God against that famous city, a phrase customary in the prophets. In Isaiah we may remember the burden of Babylon, and of one place after another; that is, a strain of judgment which was therefore called a "burden." "The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. A God jealous and avenging is Jehovah; Jehovah revengeth, and is furious; Jehovah will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. Jehovah is slow to anger." Are we not all of us apt to set these things against one another? But it is not so in truth; for the stronger the feeling of God against that which destroys His own glory, the more worthy is it that He should be slow to act on His indignation, as we should be for quite different reasons. Indeed slowness to anger is ordinarily the proof of moral greatness, though there are extreme cases where waiting would bespeak want of right feeling. Scripture shows us both the rule and the exceptions. Not that it is of God or even of man that there should be slowness to feel; but to act on feeling is another thing. I am persuaded that the more there is the sense of the presence of God, and of what becomes Him, and consequently of what becomes us who are His children to have the interest of His kingdom at heart, and also the sense of His honour dear to us, yea, dearer to us than any other consideration so much the more ought we to cultivate in presence of evil a patient spirit.

Yet is it certain that anger in the true and godly sense of abhorrence of evil formed part of the moral nature of our Lord Jesus. There is no greater fallacy of modern times among not a few Christians than the exclusion of, holy anger from that which is morally perfect. Our Lord Jesus on one occasion looked round about with anger; on another He used a scourge of small cords with indignation; so also He thundered from time to time at religious hypocrites who stood high in popular estimation. The Christian who does not share such feelings is altogether wanting in what is of God, and also in what becomes a man of God. I grant you that anger is too apt to take a personal shape, and consequently to slide into vindictive as well as wounded feeling. It is not necessary for me to say that there was an entire absence of this in our Lord Jesus. He came to do the will of God; He never did anything but that will not only what was consistent with it, but only that. But for this very reason He too was slow, not of course to form a judgment, but to execute it on man; indeed, as we know, He refused it absolutely when here below. He could await the due time. God was then displaying His grace, and, as part of His grace, His long-suffering in the midst of evil. And there is nothing finer, nothing more truly of God, than this display of grace in patience.

Here too it seems a remarkable feature that, even when the prophet proclaims the approaching judgment of God, he takes such particular pains to assert, not only the certainty of His avenging Himself on His adversaries, but His slowness to anger. "Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked]: Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet." It is clear that the expression "holding pure he will not hold pure" is not at all inconsistent with His justifying the believer in Jesus up to that time without God and ungodly. It was not yet the fit and destined occasion to reveal the grace of God in justifying; but even so there is no acquitting any one as wicked. And this it is important to hold clearly. His not imputing iniquity is a very different thing from acquitting. He never acquits the wicked as such. There is no stronger condemnation of wickedness than when He does not impute iniquity, because the ground of His not imputing iniquity to the believer is that He has not only imputed it, but dealt with it according to His own horror of evil and just judgment of all in the cross of Christ. More manifestly when it is a question, as here, not of His grace but of His righteous government on earth, it always remains true that God does not treat the wicked as innocent.

Now the believer has to imitate the character of God; for we must remember that it is our point as Christians. Anything else becomes self-righteousness. But there is nothing more important than being true to the character of God, who is our Father, whose nature we have now, who has revealed Himself perfectly in Christ. And we find this most beautifully in His servant Paul, who puts patience above all the other signs of an apostle. It is as eminently Christ-like as any quality manward. There is nothing that more thoroughly shows superiority to all that Satan can do. It had of course also a more trying character in the midst of those who should have known better, as, for instance, among the Corinthians. For they were souls which took the place of serving the Lord and bore His name; but it is exactly to them he says that truly the signs of an apostle were shown by him in all patience. He brings in afterwards in their place miracles and extraordinary revelations; but patience takes precedence, and justly so, because it supposes evil and this in power, and nevertheless proves superior to it. How can you deal with a man whom nothing can overthrow, and who, no matter what you do or he may suffer, cannot be driven from the line of Christ? Now this, I think, is exactly what shone in Paul so very conspicuously. No doubt there were qualities from the Spirit's operation most blessed and refreshing in Peter, John, Barnabas, and in others, whether apostles or not; but I do not think anyone approached Paul in the draught made upon his patience in circumstances calculated to try to the uttermost, and provoke to the quick. Although Paul had like passions with the rest, still there was such a sense of Christ as made him thus practically more than conqueror.

So here, in respect of His government of man on earth, Jehovah is revealed in certain qualities; and this is to be heeded, because Jehovah is that special revelation of God which was meant for His people as one who governed them. Even so He was "slow to anger and great in power, and would not at all hold as guiltless. Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and crieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him:" of course a figure, the word "mountains" being used to indicate the great seats of power on earth. "The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him."

But this is not all. "Jehovah is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble." Now we come to that which is in relation to the righteous. He is patient even as respects the wicked, whom He will finally judge, but He has given a strong hold. "He knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies." Then comes a challenge "What do ye imagine against Jehovah? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time." There may be perhaps an allusion here to a blow which had already fallen on the Assyrian. "Affliction shall not rise up the second time; for while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." But we must bear in mind that the Spirit of prophecy sees and declares things that are not as though they were. I have therefore said "perhaps;" for either way the believer need feel no difficulty. The destruction of Nineveh by Cyaxares and Nabopolassar is generally put B.C. 625; as Nahum is by most considered to have flourished near a century before.

After this comes a direct allusion to the enemy, which draws out this magnificent description. "There is one come out of thee that imagineth evil against Jehovah, a wicked counsellor. Thus saith Jehovah; Though they be complete, and ever so many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass away." It is thus plain that there are two elements God has combined in these revelations the judgment on the one hand of what was wrong in His own people, and on the other of merciless adversaries, who knew not the gracious purpose of God to chasten His people. He would not leave them unpunished; but could He permit a full end? Thus on the one hand the chastening was measured, and its end was according to the goodness of God. On the other hand, God lets the adversary pour out without scruple or bound hatred on His people; but He does not merely use their animosity against them for the good of His own people, and for the punishment of their unfaithfulness, but would surely turn on the malignant foe when His purpose was accomplished. For does God sanction implacable hatred of Israel? utter indifference not to pity only but righteousness, nay, contempt and pride against Himself? turning the fact that God permitted them so to ravage the land and people of Israel into a delusion that there was no God at all, or that they had gained an advantage against the true God? Jehovah accordingly would righteously turn round on the adversaries and destroy them, as surely as He had used them in the first instance to deal with what was faulty in Israel. This we may find everywhere in the prophets, and in none more conspicuously than in the use made of the Assyrian. Nahum also looks like the rest to the end.

Thus the first blow was, I suppose, Sennacherib; the second would be not from the threatening of the Assyrian rebuked but the destruction of Nineveh; and the destruction of Nineveh is the type of the final judgment of the great Assyrian in the last days, the king of the north. Though Jehovah had broken down Israel by the enemy for their good, there would be no such trouble more. The passage looking onward to the end: "Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. And Jehovah hath given a commandment concerning thee," now He turns to the Assyrian, and addresses him, "Jehovah hath given a command concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown. Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make [it] thy grave; for thou art vile." I think that "thee" in verse 12 means Israel, and in verse 13 means the Assyrian. Hence Jehovah is represented as addressing each personally in turn.

Then in the last verse, or, as some prefer, forming the beginning of the second chapter, the chapter is wound up by the beautiful words, "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!" for the judgment of the Assyrian will be the established peace of Israel, and the proclamation of it everywhere when Jehovah shall have completed His full work in Jerusalem. That is, when the moral work is complete there, He will do His last deed of judgment in principle on the Assyrian, and then will come the reign of peace, of which there is the announcement here.

It would appear that Israelites will go out to the nations with the testimony of the kingdom after the destruction of the Assyrian and their settlement in the land. Thus the word of Jehovah will spread far and wide, backed by the power which has interfered on behalf of His people so conspicuously. For the knowledge of Jehovah and of His glory is to cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea; and Israel will be the messengers of it among the nations. There will be, I think, a Jewish testimony both before and after they are settled in the land. It appears clear that there will be an active preaching during the period between the rapture of the saints and their appearing with Christ from heaven in glory; but there is ground to believe this will not be given up though its form may change, after the Lord will have come.

For be it observed that there are two great transitions in prophecy, which are apt to be confounded in many minds, and yet must be distinguished in order to have anything like a grasp of the subject. There is a transition after Christ takes saints to meet Him above, before He displays Himself and destroys antichrist; that is between the translation of those destined to heavenly glory, and the manifestation of the Lord and His own before the world. During this time when providential judgments fall on guilty Christendom, the Lord is mainly occupied, as far as the earth is concerned, with preparing a remnant of the Jews, some of whom will be put to death, afterwards by grace to be raised up in the first resurrection. Having suffered with Christ, they shall reign together. This is the invariable principle of God. But others who will not suffer thus will be delivered, and have a distinguished place of honour in the kingdom on earth. But when the Lord shall have appeared and destroyed the beast with the false prophet, and their adherents Jewish or Gentile, there will be another transition in which Jehovah will have set the ten tribes in due order, as He had done for the two tribes in the first transition, when in fact He will reunite and re-establish the people as a whole. Thus the two transitions have mainly for their object the setting right, first the Jews as such, and next Ephraim, making finally the two sticks one in His hand (Ezekiel 37:1-28), and the destruction of the Assyrian holds a similar relation to the ten tribes that the destruction of antichrist does to the two. The one is before He shall have appeared; the other is the interval that takes place after He has appeared, but before He establishes the millennial reign of peace, properly so called. There will be the public message given and heard. It will be still a time of proclamation before all is fully accomplished.

But further, in the millennium, I think the Jews specially will go out to the nations with the word of Jehovah. (Isaiah 2:1-22; Micah 4:1-13) No doubt glory will be manifest in the land of Israel, but still there will be a certain testimony, I suppose, for the conversion of the nations. (Isaiah 66:1-24) Of this there would seem to be little doubt. There will be, particularly during the period of the second transition, as well as during the first. The first will have "the gospel of the kingdom" going out; but there seems to be a further message. "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows" Israel may not be fully gathered; "for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off." Thus if all be not yet established in peace as far as the whole people are concerned, the fall of the last Assyrian is the sign of stable peace ensuing. (Compare Micah 5:5.)

There is another passage which refers to something like the ministry of the heavenly saints. The nations shall walk in the light. "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." I have not the slightest doubt that the glorified saints will exercise a beneficent action or ministry of grace over the world in general, although the light of the heavenly state may be more general, perhaps, than this. The leaves of the tree seem to represent special means that the Lord will use for the healthful condition of men on the earth during the millennium; the fruit is, so to speak figuratively, for lips of heavenly taste.

In Nahum 2:1-13 and Nahum 3:1-19 we have very distinctly and fully the prime object of the prophecy of Nahum, to which the first chapter is a preface, though in the latter part of it quite without reference to the direct subject matter, namely, the Assyrian. But now the great city comes most prominently before us. "He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily." The challenge is forthwith given to Nineveh to defend herself as best she may; for there is the utmost danger staring her in the face. "For Jehovah hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches." Thus we see the collateral subject, namely, the judgment of Israel by their enemies; but inasmuch as the Assyrians executed that judgment in such a way as to insult God Himself, and not only to chasten His guilty people, they must be prepared for their own doom. Thus we see the combined truth brought before us the destruction of Nineveh, but not apart from the discipline of Israel. Jehovah does judge Israel, and if He judges His own people who had at any rate the knowledge and after a larger measure the responsibility of righteousness, how must the ungodly and the sinner appear? Nineveh had been a godless city which had no thought nor care, still less formal profession, of doing the will of God. But the people of Israel had, and they suffered the consequence.

Here follows the most animated description of the preparations of the Ninevites to defend themselves against their enemies. Historically the foes that destroyed Nineveh were, as is known, the Medes; and though there is little information in human history about the circumstances, it appears certain that Babylon helped. Though a city as old if not older than Nineveh, it was not until God had overthrown Assyria and Egypt that Babylon was permitted to leave the background. It was hundreds of years, like an animal in training, kept in the leash till the right moment arrived, when it shot forth beyond all competitors. Other cities or races might show a speedier maturity; but Babylon in due time, after having been thus held in check from remote antiquity, was brought out into the first place of imperial supremacy in this world. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, which was quite a distinct power.

As to all this it will be found, I think, that the heathen authors are a mass of confusion; and there cannot be a greater contrast in early history than the precision of scripture and the blundering of the best lights of Pagan antiquity as to these powers. The ignorance even of the Greeks is something astonishing. The celebrated Xenophon passed within a few miles of the city of Nineveh, but does not seem to have known anything about it. He shows the greatest want of acquaintance with such facts before his day. Possibly he stumbled on some of the outworks of Nineveh without knowing it. He calls it merely a Median city, erected in later times no doubt out of some remains of ancient Nineveh. I merely mention this to show what a wonderful book the Bible is, even as a book, and how deeply we are indebted to God. The man who uses the Bible with simplicity will have the certainty of knowledge not merely of divine things, but even of the nations of the world, with which not all the books that ever were written outside the Bible could supply him. In fact, one of the worst historians in point of trustworthiness was a man who ought to have known best, if knowledge depended on long residence in the east (as physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon); but he is almost a fabulist, and his intermingling of what was intended to hide the dishonour of. the Assyrians and to exalt the greatness of his Persian master led him, if not to falsify, certainly to propagate the Persian view of their policy, habits, etc. This naturally misled others, as for instance historians of note who wrote on this subject at a later day adopted some extravagant errors of this man. Ctesias was the name of the physician; and Diodorus Siculus followed suite. He consequently has given us a statement of alleged facts which can be disproved by other writers of antiquity. The consequence is that the Greeks who were the nearest, and the Romans who usually followed the Greeks, are in the greatest confusion on this head; and hence those who are trained in subjection to the classics, and taught to look up to these historians as authorities on the subject, are led astray. Who are more confused in these matters than men of letters? The reason is because they look up to such as were themselves in the dark. Hence all these authors are apt to confound Assyria with Babylon. Never will any distinct light be enjoyed, as far as we may speak of others, in any ancient human historian on this subject; but the divine light, when used firmly, enables us to sift out remarkable confirmations.

Were there an adequate examination of Genesis 10:1-32 we might gain not a little historically from its copious early details, and be shown the different lines that penetrated through the earth, tracing them forward to their ultimate developments. It would be of considerable interest, but would require a goodly volume to itself. It is certain that there is unerring light in scripture and nothing else; but it may be doubted much whether a continuous history could be made of a genealogical line. This would be just the difficulty. Completeness men would like, if it could be; but I do not think it is according to what may be called the moral system of the word of God to give that kind of unbroken continuity. Thus, even in the life of our Lord Jesus, it would be an exceedingly precarious task to form out of the four Gospels a continuous history of the ministry of Christ. I have not the slightest doubt that everything stated there is exactly and divinely true; that is, it is not merely true according to man's observation, but according to God's perfect knowledge of all the facts; yet for this very reason it is much above man, as also it is on a different principle from man's; for there is no thought of continuity in the Gospels, but only of facts selected for a moral purpose. I suppose it is the same thing in the glimpses of the Old Testament history: first, the beginning, the sources; next, perhaps after hundreds of years, another glance at their collision with Israel, and then finally the judgment, which concludes all.

I conceive that the great object of scripture is to show us the sources in order to compare them with the final scene and not with the continuous line between, this being the proper work of history. Hence would be just the difficulty of the matter; but it is a difficulty in the main due to the want of historic materials found outside the Bible. Undoubtedly Damascus is mentioned in an early part of Genesis, and is frequently referred to in the time of David, and at various other epochs of scripture. Thus it is one of the oldest cities in the world, and on the other hand it is a city flourishing now in a certain way. Again, several of the primeval cities in Genesis 10:1-32 have been identified within the last few years; and of course it would have its interest, more or less, to point this out clearly with the proofs of each. At the same time it would be a task of considerable delicacy, and of enormous labour, even supposing it possible, to do it well.

"The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved." This is certainly a striking picture of the last scenes; for it is not only that we have minutely enough that which recent discoveries have shown as to the abundance of scarlet and of chariots, and all the preparation of war which was characteristic of Nineveh, but the manner in which Nineveh was to fall is most vividly and exactly foreshown; and the more so because of its contrast with, as well as resemblance to, Babylon; for the city in the plain of Shinar was a capital not inferior in extent, and even superior in magnificence, to Nineveh; both being built upon famous rivers rivers of Paradise. Nevertheless, although both were typical, and the fall of the one like that of the other has in either case a most important character (Babylon even more than Nineveh), and the river in each played a very important element in the capture of the two cities, yet there is a contrast quite as much as a resemblance. For the special means of the destruction of Babylon was by laying the bed of the river dry by turning the river off; whereas the crisis which led directly towards the destruction of Nineveh was the irruption of the river in not turning it out. This was surely remarkable; at the same time it convicts of singular dulness those who failed to see the differences clearly. The whole is a good lesson for human nature, and no unimportant hint for us to read the word of God a little more closely. He who wrote scripture had no difficulty. It was all as plain as possible to Him. The real obstacle does not arise in general from its language, save in very exceptional cases, but from our own slowness of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

"The gates of the rivers shall be opened" not merely the gates of the city. A gate of the city was opened in the case of Babylon; and we know the splendid description of it in Isaiah, with its doors of brass and bars of iron, which must yield to righteousness from the east; for God called Cyrus to his foot, and gave kings as the dust of his sword, as driven stubble to his bow. When the moment came, the difficulty vanished, and the Persians entered the imperial city through the dried bed of the Euphrates, which was turned into another channel. Thus the doors were opened for the rest, when the drunken guards were despatched. But in the case of Nineveh it was the waters of the river which dissolved the palatial dwellings and defences. It was not the place taken by an army which stealthily crept up the emptied bed of the river, and then let in the main body through the gates. The converse of this happened to Nineveh. The Euphrates was turned off from Babylon but the Tigris burst its bounds and swamped and otherwise destroyed a vast portion of Nineveh; so that the very foundations, and not the walls only, were swept away. In vain then does the king summon his nobles: they stumble in their march; they hasten to the wall; and the defence is prepared. The flood-gates are opened and the palace is dissolved. "And Huzzab* shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture. She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness." That is, all the vast store of what contributes to the pride of life, all that ministered to selfish enjoyment and vanity, was now shown to be so much laid up for the conquerors so much gathered together for utter destruction, if not carried away by the captors. Such indeed is the history of man generally.

*This word has led to great discussion. On the one hand Gesenius takes it as "and made to flow away;" on the other hand Dr. Henderson prefers, "though firmly established;" both construe it with the preceding phrase. Mr. Leeser translates "And the queen." Ewald among recent Hebraists adheres to Huzzab as the name literal or symbolical of the queen.

Then comes the prophet's exultation over the city that had been the terror of Israel, the old enemy that had triumphed over them so haughtily and persistently; for Assyria was the principal enemy which God had used in the days of the kings to check or crush the pride of His people by their own pride. "Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?" This is a most animated picture of the lordly place among the nations which Assyria had long possessed up to the moment of its ruin. "The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions; and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard."

At the same time we must carefully remember that, whatever might be the greatness of Nineveh, and what ever the terror the city inspired among the nations, imperial power never had belonged to it. Those who say so mistake the facts, and confound the position of Assyria with Babylon. It will be found on examination of scripture that Assyria was only the greatest among confederate or independent powers. But this is not the true meaning of an empire, which really means a power that is not only greater than any other, but that keeps the kings and nations as vassals, not simply towering above a crowd of compeers, but rather a lord and master of all others. Such was the position to which Babylon subsequently rose by divine appointment, to which Assyria, like Egypt, had long aspired in vain. The desire was in no way new; the accomplishment was. The old taskmistress of Israel, Egypt, would have liked well to have it, and so would the Assyrian, as we find in the prophet Ezekiel. These both strove hard and long for the mastery. They no doubt thought it morally certain that supreme dominion must fall to one or other of the two; and so they fought to the death, Egypt succumbing first, and then Assyria. A power which neither suspected or feared was held in reserve: for it the God of heaven kept the highest place from the beginning. Nebuchadnezzar became the "head of gold." Babel was the cradle of the Babylonish empire.

In Nahum 3:1-19 says the prophet, "Woe to the bloody city." Such had Nineveh been to Israel above all. "It is all full of lies and robbery" rather violence, the usual twofold form of iniquity. "The prey departeth not." The allusion is no doubt to the people carried off and not restored.

Then is given (verses 2, 3) a most animated sketch of the enemies' advance to assail and slay. "The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horsemen lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses." And this carnage and ruin are attributed to the idolatry of Nineveh, and their efforts, too successful, to entice others. "Because of the multitudes of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts."

Next follows the stern condemnation of Jehovah, who once spared but now would have Nineveh know that it was no mere jealousy of others, but His own resolve to disgrace her who had so enjoyed herself and misled others. "Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and will make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that shall look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?"

Verses 8-10 set forth as a warning to Nineveh the awful desolation of the famous No-Amon. This was neither Alexandria nor Egypt, but Thebes with its hundred gates; which was the more pointed because the Assyrians themselves ravaged it both before the prophet's days and later, till Cambyses caused it to drink the cup of Persian insolence to the dregs. "Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains."

Then from verse 11 the prophet addresses Nineveh once more, and declares that she must fare no better. "Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou shalt seek strength because of the enemy." Indeed Nineveh should fall more easily still as they are told in verses 12, 13. "All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars." Prepare as they might (and the crisis called for it), fire and sword should take their course over the devoted city. "Draw the waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln." Merchants, princes, satraps, viceroys, nobles, people, all should vanish, save those who should remain only to sink irreparably.

Like Babylon afterwards, Nineveh is never to reappear as a capital city; but the kind of power which prevailed in the Assyrian and Babylonish monarchies will each have its representative in the last days. At that time the order will be just the converse, as prophecy shows, of what it was in history. And this is a very important means of demonstrating that they are altogether mistaken who think that we have only to do with Babylon and Nineveh in the past. For the fact historically is that Nineveh fell first. Indeed the overthrow of the Assyrian capital was no unimportant step in God's providence for the remarkable position, unique at that time, into which Babylon was allowed to rise, as Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision and Daniel recalled and expounded according to the sovereign will of the God of heaven. Consequently the order of old was Nineveh towering up into its own place as the chief among a number of distinct powers; then, according to the prophetic warning, it fell utterly as Egypt had done before. Next Babylon was raised by God to be the head of gold, the first great representative of imperial power in the earth. The fall of Babylon, the first which attained such a character, typifies the fall of the last of these imperial powers. The final holder of the system which began with Babylon will be the beast, or Roman empire revived, and in its final apostate state at the end of this age. The beast then answers to the Chaldean monarchy, or Babylon viewed as an imperial power.

I do not mean by it of course Babylon in the Revelation; because this is clearly corrupt ecclesiastical power. But, the last holder of imperial power being typified to a certain extent by the first holder of it, the judgment of the Babylonish empire shadows to no insignificant extent the judgment of the fourth empire in its resuscitated form when it goes to destruction. But it is plain as it is important to observe in the prophetic account of the future, that what answers to Assyria will be after Babylon's destruction, not before it. In history the fall of Assyria was before Babylon. In the future, according to prophecy, the fall of Assyria will be after the power that represents the imperial system of Babylon. Therefore the distinction between the two excludes controversy for such as read prophecy believingly; and those who contend that all is done with Babylon and Assyria are really without excuse.

The same conclusion results from the very plain words of Isaiah. "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets." That is, the Lord employed him as a means of beating down the pride of Israel. "Howbeit he meaneth not so." He only seeks to gratify his own pride. O that Israel had stood for their true boast, even Jehovah, and humbly looked to Him to plead their cause. But no, they sought what the Gentiles sought; and their God gave them up to the haughty and cruel foe. But assuredly if the Lord chastise the faults of His people, He will not fail to punish the overbearing iniquity of His enemies. "But it is in his heart to cut off and destroy nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?" This he valued, and would have liked yet more, but God did not allow the Assyrian to have all he wished. Supreme dominion was his ambition; but Babylon was given it by the sovereign will of God. "Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria: shall I not as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom."

This is all recalled for the purpose of clearing as much as possible the final character of the judgment to be executed on the Assyrian. It is when the Lord shall have performed His whole work. Consequently we gather here an important item of divine truth, namely, that the Assyrian (speaking now in a general manner) is the last. It is the closing operation before the millennium in the full sense of the reign of peace, which accordingly is given just after in Isaiah 11:1-16. But in the description there given we have the introduction by the way of the Antichrist. He is destroyed, as it is said, by the breath of Jehovah's lips, but the time is not defined like the Assyrian. When we advance a little after we have more. InIsaiah 14:1-32; Isaiah 14:1-32 for instance it is said, "Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land." It is now evidently, therefore, a question of settling the people in the land of Palestine, not merely a part of them, but the whole. Then follow the standing types of the final enemies of the people. "It shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou hast been made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruleth the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth."

Then we find the earth at rest, and even Hades full of congratulation over the fall of the king of Babylon, a highly figurative picture, of course, but as exact as sublime. The empire of Babylon or first beast so far shadows the fourth beast, which was, is not, and shall be present. The beast, as we know, has extremely intimate associations with the Antichrist of St. John; so that it is very difficult indeed to distinguish between these two allies in lawlessness at the end. Prophetic students differ immensely as to this; and I do not wonder at it, because the two are so closely combined in their policy. The main features are these: they both claim to be objects of divine worship, and both play a great and combined part in the great apostacy of the future. The beast is of course the empire of the West, but he is also closely connected with Jerusalem, where the man of sin sits in the temple of God. They are seen as the two beasts in Revelation 13:1-18. But the false prophet will be in Jerusalem, whereas the beast's central seat of power is Rome. Whether he lives there or not, it is not for any man to say; but it is plain enough, no matter where he resides, that he will possess the old capital of imperial Rome, as Jerusalem will be that of apostate religious power. They are therefore so leagued and similar in policy and objects that one must not be surprised if many confound them, though it is not meant that each has not his own distinctive place and dignity in the future crisis.

But the connection of the beasts is so close that the difficulty of drawing the line is often great. Thus many think that the description of Lucifer in Isaiah 14:1-32 points to Antichrist, whereas it appears really to be the king of Babylon as he is energized by Satan. Nevertheless the most subtle power of Satan will be shown in the false prophet, and not in the beast; but inasmuch as they both work into one another's hands, it is sometimes a delicate task to discriminate between them. In point of fact they are both judged at the very same instant, both cast alive into the lake of fire together. Therefore, even if somewhat confounded, such a mistake does not matter as to their doom; it is of more consequence when it is a question of their character, work, and usual sphere. But it would seem that the true distinction between them is that the beast is greater politically, and that the false prophet is higher religiously, and that they divide the spoil between them, in this way accommodating each other in their bad eminence and little dreaming of the common doom that awaits them. The beast exalts the false prophet, and the false prophet exalts the beast; and thus they consequently are as friendly as wicked powers can be to each other, Satan being the head of both and employing them variously and together in his efforts against God and His Christ.

In the end of the same Isaiah 14:1-32, when the prophet has done with the subtle king of Babylon as the type of the haughty imperial power, we read what it is well particularly to observe: "Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders." It is what was promised inNahum 1:1-15; Nahum 1:1-15: "This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" I consider therefore that it is plain, both from Isaiah 10:1-34 and fromIsaiah 14:1-32; Isaiah 14:1-32, that the future fall of the Assyrian is distinct from, and subsequent to, that of the king of Babylon. But beyond doubt in history this was not the case. For in the past the destruction of Nineveh took place before Nebuchadnezzar became the head of the golden image. The general impression among chronologists is that the fall of Nineveh took place more than six hundred years before Christ. Indeed, if I mistake not, Sir Henry Rawlinson and others are of opinion that it took place nearly twenty years before the commonly assigned date. Even this, however, suffices; and we shall leave the archaeologists to sift the question more fully among themselves. It is a matter of no great moment to my object now. We know that it took place at any rate before Babylon's supremacy, which was consequently subsequent to either of those dates, and that is the main point, and the only one essential a point confessed on all sides. If so, it is surely evident that, if there must be the fall of the king of Babylon, and then the destruction of the Assyrian, it is quite impossible to refer to the past as the complete accomplishment of prophecy.

God has taken particular pains to cast us on the future for the exact fulfilment; and nothing can be more admirable than the perfectness of the word of God in this. It was essential that prophecy should have an accomplishment in the days in which it was written. This was needful for the comfort of the people of God. In order to mark that this was not the whole exhaustive scope of the prophecy, the very order is changed, and yet there is no dwelling on the fact nor an explanation. Thus, we see, God has pity upon His people, and would guard us against the miserable principle of regarding prophecy as little better than an old almanac as that which has been accomplished, and is of no direct use longer. The reverse is true. Prophecy has been accomplished; but the most important bearing of its predictions is yet to be in the future.

There is no need of dwelling particularly on the various forms of Nineveh's wickedness here brought before the mind of the prophetic Spirit. "Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. All thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst of them are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars." So great should be Nineveh's weakness when the hour struck for her doom.

It seems that even the figure of drunkenness is not without a literal import; for although one may conceive that the charge of drunkenness does in a figurative sense take in that false security in which Nineveh lay, like Babylon afterwards in a later day, yet as a fact it is notorious that there was a surprise at Nineveh during a religious festival of their gods, which may remind us of the infamous feast of Belshazzar the very night that Babylon was taken. Thus there was an unholy revelry, not without either impious honour to their false gods on the one hand, or impious dishonour to the true God on the other hand. In short, a feast with the drunkenness that attended them was bound up with the siege of Nineveh, just as with Babylon's. But the way so far differed, as the camp of Nineveh seems to have been surprised before the city was taken. Consequently we hear inNahum 1:1-15; Nahum 1:1-15 how they were caught as thorns folded in drunkenness. All this is described before the account of taking the bloody city. But if such was the case with Nineveh, not so with Babylon: notoriously the drunken feast of King Belshazzar took place on the night when it was taken. At Nineveh the surprise of the camp was without the city before its fall. Thus each has its own peculiar features; and both show the admirable perfectness of the word of God.

Again the interval between the fall of Babylon and that of Nineveh may be set down at less than ninety years in round numbers. The captivity of Israel measures the supremacy of Babylon. This was seventy years; and we may allow a margin of some few years in consequence of the inability of chronologists to settle the exact time when Nineveh fell. It was certainly taken before Nebuchadnezzar acquired his imperial power, and therefore more than six centuries before Christ.

Do what they might, the prophetic sentence is, "There shall the fire devour thee." Just so it is a matter of common history that, when the king found he could not defend himself, he set fire to the place himself. It was not the enemies that did it, as in the case of the Chaldean capital. In Babylon the enemy secured the victory in this way, but it was otherwise with Nineveh. Again only a partial fire consumed Babylon, which therefore remained an humbled but proud city long after the days of Alexander the Great, who in fact died there. But the Assyrian city perished then. Nineveh fell, not only never to rise again, but not even to survive in any measure. The hand that chiefly effected its conflagration was that of the unhappy prince who saw the hopelessness of escape, and therefore, surrounding himself with his wives and concubines, his jewels, gold and silver, and every other valuable, set fire in desperation to the whole.

Hence we have this described as regards Nineveh in a way not found in the description of Babylon's fall. "Draw the waters for the siege, fortify thy strongholds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln." Alas! no care should avail. "There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm,* make thyself many as the locusts.* Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers,* which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles shall lie down." It is a completeness of ruin for its grandeur unexampled in history. "Thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is fatal: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? "

*Some as Dr. Henderson take these as "the licking locust," "the swarming locust," and "the largest locust" [literally "locust of locust''] respectively.

Nevertheless there is this difference to be seen, that Assyria will certainly have a place in the millennium and a distinguished place not Nineveh indeed but Assyria. (Isaiah 19:1-25) As for Babylon or Chaldea, we never hear of either when the kingdom comes. Jehovah in the midst of His judgment will remember mercy; and Egypt and Assyria are particularly mentioned as having a leading place along with Israel in that day.