Nahum 2:3-7

CRITICAL NOTES.

Nahum 2:2.] The Lord hath chastised Judah and Israel, and permitted the enemy to triumph; now the excellency of Israel, the former independence, shall be restored. Emptied] Devastations, taken from vine-pruning and cutting young twigs (Psalms 80:9).

Nahum 2:3. Red] with blood or paint, or overlaid with copper. Scarlet] Crimson, the fighting dress of the nations. Torches] Chariot-wheels like flaming torches in rapidity and motion (Isaiah 5:28). Day] of equipment; to prepare, to equip for battle (Jeremiah 46:14; Ezekiel 7:14). Fir trees] Shields and lances made of fir, brandished and thrown with destructive power.

Nahum 2:4. Rage] The chariots, driven in fury, jostle one against another, and run as lightning (Luke 10:18), in the market-place of the city.

Nahum 2:5. He] King of Nineveh, shall muster choicest troops. Worthies] Heroes or brave men (Judges 5:13; Nehemiah 3:5). Stumble] through fear and haste. Defence] The covering used by besiegers.

Nahum 2:6.] From the siege the prophet passes rapidly to the capture of the city. Gates] The rivers round the city break their sluices and overflood it.

Nahum 2:7. Huzzab] Probably Nineveh; some, the queen of Nineveh. Like a queen she shall be dethroned and dishonoured; her maids mourn like doves over her fate (Isaiah 38:14). Tabering] Beating their breasts, a mournful attitude (Luke 18:23).

THE GREAT SIEGE AND THE VAIN DEFENCE.—Nahum 2:3

The assailing army is now described in its might and compactness, its warlike appearance and design. Notice,

I. The besieging force. The order and equipment are graphically pictured.

1. The army is formidable. Many are spoken of as one. The soldiers are valiant and accustomed to victory, Divinely collected, and deterred by no foe.

2. The army is terrific. Blood-red in uniform. Chariots like flames of fire, and spears like waving forests. No quarter given. Like flames they intend to set all on fire.

3. The army is invincible. Its career has been triumphant, and its success is sure. Against such generals as Cyrus the Younger and Alexander the Great, numbers avail not. They appeared in the joyous splendour of Divine warriors (cf. 2 Kings 6:17), and in the colour of those who execute Divine judgments (Zechariah 1:8; Revelation 6:4). The heroes are God’s heroes, and the bewilderment in the city is from the power of God.

II. The vain defence. The inhabitants are summoned together, and no means of defence are neglected.

1. Brave men are summoned to their post. “He shall recount his worthies.” All is at stake. The leaders especially must set an example of courage. But they are struck with terror, run in perplexity, and through fear or lack of strength fall, “stumble in their walk.” They rush to the walls, but the enemies are already attacking under cover. It is too late.

2. The river became an enemy to the city. The enemy had been three times defeated. The city was intact, and the hosts were encamped before its gates in vain. But a sudden inundation, more violent than usual, burst the sluices and the mighty flood broke down the walls.

3. The royal citadel was destroyed. “The palace shall be dissolved.” The king utterly despaired, shut himself up with his slaves and concubines in his residence, kindled the whole and perished in the flames. One ground of confidence after another failed. The mighty men, the river and the temple, were no protection. Neither the palace of the princes nor the temple of the gods can shelter those whom God will punish. “Of old the funeral pile was erected; yea, for the king it was prepared deep and large: it was prepared with fire and much wood, and the breath of God, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.”

4. The inhabitants mourned. The people of the city, under the figure of a captive woman; and her maids, the lesser cities, as female attendants on the royal city, were brought to shame and distress. (a) They were destroyed by the flood, or (b) They were led captives, and (c) They grieved at their fate. As a queen Nineveh was dethroned and dishonoured. In helplessness and grief she mourned as a dove. If we do not repent in time no “worthies” or “defence” will turn away eternal lamentation and despair.

HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

The overthrow of the enemy of God is not the work of men, but his work. A disperser comes up; men would be satisfied with the capture (cf. Obadiah) [Lange].

Neither equipment, nor the appearance of assembled power (Nahum 2:2), nor capacity of hasty movement and vehement and varied activity (Nahum 2:5) achieves victory in the battles of the kingdom of God: where God stands, there victory comes [Lange].

Thus Nahum 2:3 describes the attack; Nahum 2:4 the defence; the two first clauses of Nahum 2:5 the defence, the two last the attack [Pusey].

Nahum 2:5. If kings rely more upon their heroes and armies than upon God, they must become discouraged and flee before their enemies [Lange].

Nahum 2:6. The palace dissolved. The prophet unites the beginning and the end. The river gates were opened; what had been the fence against the enemy became an entrance for them: with the river there poured in also the tide of the people of the enemy. The palace, then the imperial abode, the centre of the empire, embellished with the history of its triumphs, sank, was dissolved, and ceased to be. It is not a physical loosening of the sun-dried bricks by the stream which would usually flow harmless by; but the dissolution of the empire itself [Pusey].

Nahum predicted the destruction of the city in its grandeur and prosperity. Hence learn:

1. To adore the providence of God in giving an exact and particular account of the siege.

2. To fear the power of God in collecting and employing such terrible forces to execute his will.

3. To forsake sin, lest we should be humbled and destroyed by the judgments of God.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2

Nahum 2:1. Dasher in pieces. Demetrius was surnamed Poliorcestes, the destroyer of cities; Attilas called himself Orbis flagellum, the scourge of the world. Julius Cæsar was Fulmen belli, the thunderbolt of war; he had taken in his time a thousand towns, conquered three hundred nations, took prisoners one million of men, and slain as many. These were dissipatores indeed, and dashers in pieces, rods of God’s wrath; and this they took to be a main piece of their glory [Trapp].

Nahum 2:3. Chariots were objects of great interest. “Their charioteers had an air of perfect fearlessness; they dashed along as if caring for nothing, but resolved upon crushing everything. These declarations are perfectly accurate, and cannot be more evident than the sculptures and bas-reliefs of Nineveh have shown them to be. Their chariots are represented, covered with costly decorations and Sabean symbols; and their horses are exhibited in almost every variety of attitude—rearing, running and rushing—exactly as we should have supposed them to be, after reading that which is said of them in the prophecies.”

The siege was no easy task. History declares that the king, at the approach of the enemy, collected all his active forces—that the besieging army was three times severely defeated, and that the Medes could only be held with great difficulty to the work. The Assyrians abandoned themselves to negligent rejoicing in the camps before the gates on account of victory, but were attacked in the night and driven back to the walls. Salæmenes, brother-in-law to the king, who had resigned the command to him, was driven into the Tigris (cf. ch. Nahum 3:3); but the city was still uninjured, and the enemy encamped in vain before the gates. In the spring of the third year other powers interfered. The river became “an enemy to the city” (cf. Nahum 2:7; Nahum 1:8). The inundation occurred suddenly, and violently broke down in one night the walls on the river. The king despaired of his life, and having sent his family to the north, shut himself up with all his treasures, and burned himself in the royal citadel. Immense booty was carried away. The city was plundered, sacked, and set on fire [Lange, Introduction to Nahum].