Chapter 2. The Sack of Nineveh.
The prophet now sees in vision the ravage of Nineveh. The sight was similar to those that had been seen many times before, but in those cases it was Assyria who was the invader (the prophet may well have witnessed such sights himself). Now the tables were turned. We must remember as we read his words that the Assyrians had always been ruthless. They had invaded time and again, and killed without mercy. And while Jerusalem may have escaped, other towns were not so fortunate. The Assyrians had shown no mercy to Lachish, or to Debir, or to any other cities. Like Babylon would, they had raped and pillaged, and smashed babies heads against the walls (Psalms 137:9). Their yoke had been very heavy to bear. Now what they had done to others, and to Judah, was to be done to them.
‘The scatterer has come up in front of your eyes (literally ‘before your face'). Man the ramparts; watch the road; gird your loins; collect together all your strength.”
Assyria is urged to prepare for what she is to face. Those who were the experts in scattering the forces of others would now experience it themselves (for the scatterer compare Psalms 68:1; Isaiah 24:1; Jeremiah 52:8). Now they must wait apprehensively, manning the ramparts, watching the road, arming themselves, trying to keep up each other's spirits. Now it is their turn to feel afraid.
‘For YHWH is restoring (or ‘turning away, removing') the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel. For the plunderers have stripped them of everything and ruined their vine branches.'
This seems, as an illustration, to be contrasting the ups and downs of Jacob in his early life, and his servitude, with the prosperity and freedom he enjoyed when he became Israel. YHWH is restoring a Judah which was constantly up and down, and in servitude like Jacob, into a Judah that will flourish like Israel. This expressed the hopes of the period of Josiah, when, after a time of ups and downs, Judah again began to prosper.
So YHWH was giving Judah the opportunity to become prosperous again. They had been completely stripped of their possessions by the plundering Assyrians, but even worse, their vines had been ruined. That was unforgivable. It was rare in ancient warfare to destroy trees. However fierce the battles the trees were preserved, for they took years to grow again and would be needed to bring gain to whoever won. Thus it demonstrated remorseless and unnecessary destruction. But now Judah had the opportunity to recover.
Sadly the recovery would not last overlong, for the death of Josiah would bring it to an end, but that was not in the purview of Nahum.
‘The shield of his mighty men is red, his prime soldiers are clothed in scarlet, the chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the lances (from fir or pine trees) are shaken fiercely.'
Red was a favourite colour of the Babylonian and Medan armies, and as the people of Nineveh watch from the ramparts they would see the blood red shields, and the scarlet uniforms, the chariots flashing with metal as preparations are made, and the soldiers fiercely brandishing their long spears of pine.
‘The chariots rage in the streets, they jostle against one another in the broad ways, their appearance is like flaming torches, they race like flashes of lightning.'
The enemy have breached the outer defences outside the walls, their chariots race though the suburban streets, jostling in their hurry to get at the foe. They shine in the sun, and speed like lightning.
Alternately this may be the Assyrian chariots racing to the walls to prepare for the assault, and possibly a few skirmishes..
‘The officers are summoned, they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall, the mantelet is set up.'
The Ninevite officers race to defend the walls, but in their haste they stumble in their armour, or possibly because drunk. Yet they hurry on to the wall, for it is vital, and there they set up their protective shields.
‘ The river gates are opened, the palace is in dismay.'
But then comes the terrifying news. ‘The river gates have been opened.' Thus their hurrying will do no good. The idea is probably that the flooding of the river Khasr will cause the river defences to be broken down. The river gates will then provide access to the enemy. No wonder the king and his counsellors are dismayed. It will make them recognise that the gods are against them. But they will not realise that it is YHWH Who has done this. Thus the palace is now filled with dismay, (it is also filled with the spoils of war seized from others. Now they too are to be spoiled).
‘Huzzab is uncovered, she is carried off, her maidens lamenting, moaning like doves, and beating their breasts”.
‘Huzzab = she who is set up.' The word is uncertain, but probably represents a goddess. As the statue is dragged away the temple prostitutes lament and moan, beating their breasts. She whom they worshipped was being degraded. Their pantheon of gods and goddesses could do nothing for Assyria now.
“ Nineveh is today a pool whose waters run away. "Stand, stand,” they cry; but none turns back.'
Nineveh is described as like a pool whose banks have burst so that its waters are flowing out from it, not to be replaced. In the same way both soldiers and refugees are fleeing from the city. The pool is emptying. The officers call on their men to ‘make a stand, make a stand', but none of them listen. All hope is gone. The once proud army of Assyria is routed. The shock of the breach of the defences, seen as perpetrated by the gods, has been too much.
Many people today see themselves as equally as invulnerable. Like Assyria they feel that they can ignore God, and that it will not matter. But the sad truth is that many of them will later in life discover too late that actually they are very vulnerable, some sooner than anyone expects. And in the end death will come to all. The only certainty of a secure future is to be in His hands.
‘Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of what is stored up, the wealth of precious objects.'
This is probably spoken to the enemy soldiers rather than to the refugees. Wealthy Nineveh is providing rich pickings. And there would be no doubt that the soldiers would take very advantage of it. But their delay while gathering such spoil probably helped the fleeing Ninevites time to escape.
‘She is empty, totally empty and barren, and the heart faints and knees are knocking, and anguish is on all loins, and all their faces grow pale!”
The result of the looting is a Nineveh empty of treasures and empty of life, a barren desert where shortly before had been a lively city. Those who remain shiver and fear, feel sick and are deathly pale. Their hearts are fluttering, their knees are knocking, their legs will not hold them up, their faces are ghastly pale. How often this had happened to other nations under the might of an Assyrian attack. And now they begin to know what it was like from the other end. They have sown and now they reap.
‘Where is the lions' den, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, the great lion walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?'
This probably represents the king of Assyria and his sons and nobles. The question now is where are the banqueting halls where they banqueted and ate in such confidence and safety, where they strutted in their supremacy, totally without fear? Why are they no longer occupied and filled with drunken merriment?
Possibly the hope was to find the ‘lions' still there. We are told in the Babylonian chronicle the that the King, Sin-shar-ishkun died in the flames.
Others see it as a picture of the whole of Nineveh and its people.
‘The lion tore in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with carcasses.'
Previously the lion had slaughtered enough to provide sufficient and more for all who looked to him. There had been no lack then. His sons and nobles had revelled in splendour, his wives in finery and perfumes and bejewelled chariots. His treasure houses had been full, and his prisons full of wounded captives. But now his gods have failed. Why should this be?
“Behold, I am against you,” says YHWH of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions, and I will cut off your prey from the land, and the voice of your messengers will no more be heard.'
Here is the answer to the unspoken question. It is because YHWH is against him, that YHWH Whom Sennacherib's officers had derided before the walls of Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:22; 2 Kings 18:33). Thus his wives' chariots will be burned in the burning stables from which smoke was billowing, his sons and nobles will be smitten with the sword, their treasures and all their fine things will be carried off as spoil, and no further messengers will stream through the gates of Nineveh with their news or carrying their messages of war.
The last point is potent. For centuries the gates of Nineveh had streamed forth messengers to every part of the empire, to carry the king's commands, and to bring him tribute, and news of all that was going on. For the empire had been alive with activity. But now no messengers go out. There are no messages to carry. All is dead.
So while history will give the victory to the Medes and their allies, Nahum and Israel will know that it was YHWH Who had done it. It may even be significant that many of Israel's exiles lived among the Medes (2 Kings 17:6). It was poetic justice.
We too must remember that what a man sows he will reap. We should not be deceived. If we sow to the flesh we will accordingly reap corruption and death, but if we sow to the Spirit we will reap life everlasting (Galatians 6:7)