The prophet, having foretold the destruction of Sennacherib, find in him how the enemy of Judah is wholly cut off, goes on to describe the destruction of Nineveh, and with it of his whole kingdom, and, under it, of antichrist and Satan.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT DASHETH IN PIECES - Rather, “the Disperser,” the instrument of God, whereby he should “break her in pieces like a potter’s vessel, or should scatter” her in all lands, is come up against thy face, O Nineveh, i. e., either, over against thee” , confronting her as it were, face to face, or dir... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD HATH TURNED AWAY - (rather restoreth) the excellency of Jacob Speaking of what should come, as already come. For Nineveh falls, because God restores His people, whom it had oppressed. The restoration of God’s favor to His Church is the season of His punishment of their enemies; as, agai... [ Continue Reading ]
Army is arrayed against army; the armies, thus far, of God against the army of His enemy; all without is order; all within, confusion. The assailing army, from its compactness and unity, is spoken of, both as many and one. The might is of many; the order and singleness of purpose is as of one. The s... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL RECOUNT HIS WORTHIES - The Assyrian king wakes as out of a sleep, literally, “he remembers his mighty men” (as Nahum 3:18; Judges 5:13; Nehemiah 3:5); “they stumble in their walk,” literally, paths , not through haste only and eager fear, but from want of inward might and the aid of God. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GATES OF THE RIVERS SHALL BE OPENED, AND THE PALACE SHALL BE DISOLVED - All gives way in an instant at the will of God; the strife is hushed; no more is said of war and death; there is no more resistance or bloodshed; no sound except the wailing of the captives, the flight of those who can escap... [ Continue Reading ]
The first word should he rendered, “And it is decreed; She shall be laid bare. It is decreed.” All this took place, otherwise than man would have thought, because it was the will of God. She (the people of the city, under the figure of a captive woman) “shall be laid bare,” in shame, to her reproach... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NINEVEH IS OF OLD LIKE A POOL OF WATER - that is, of many peoples Revelation 17:1, gathered from all quarters and settled there, her multitudes being like the countless drops, full, untroubled, with no ebb or flow, fenced in, “from the days that she hath been,” yet even therefore stagnant and co... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE YE THE SPOIL OF SILVER, TAKE THE SPOIL OF GOLD - Nineveh had not hearkened of old to the voice of the prophet, but had turned back to sin; it cannot hearken now, for fear. He turns to the spoiler to whom God’s judgments assigned her, and who is too ready to hear. The gold and silver, which the... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE IS EMPTY AND VOID AND WASTE - The completeness of her judgment is declared first under that solemn number, Three, and the three words in Hebrew are nearly the same , with the same meaning, only each word fuller than the former, as picturing a growing desolation; and then under four heads (in all... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE IS THE DWELLING OF THE LIONS, AND THE FEEDING PLACE OF THE YOUNG LIONS? - Great indeed must be the desolation, which should call forth the wonder of the prophet of God. He asks “where is it?” For so utterly was Nineveh to be effaced, that its place should scarcely be known, and now is known by... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD I, MYSELF, AM AGAINST THEE - (Literally, “toward thee”). God, in His long-suffering, had, as it were, looked away from him; now He looked toward (as in Psalms 37:20) him, and in His sight what wicked one should stand? “Saith the Lord of hosts,” whose power is infinite and He changes not, and... [ Continue Reading ]