For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Nahum 2:1-7     

1 An attacker advances against you, Nineveh.
    Guard the fortress,
    watch the road,
    brace yourselves,
    marshal all your strength!

2 The Lord will restore the splendour of Jacob
    like the splendour of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste
    and have ruined their vines.

3 The shields of the soldiers are red;
    the warriors are clad in scarlet.
The metal on the chariots flashes
    on the day they are made ready;
    the spears of juniper are brandished.[e]
4 The chariots storm through the streets,
    rushing back and forth through the squares.
They look like flaming torches;
    they dart about like lightning. 5 Nineveh summons her picked troops,
    yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
    the protective shield is put in place.
6 The river gates are thrown open
    and the palace collapses.
7 It is decreed that Nineveh
    be exiled and carried away.
Her female slaves moan like doves
    and beat on their breasts.

A. Find Out:

1. What is Nineveh challenged to do and why? v.1
2. By contrast what will the Lord do with Israel? v.2
3. Who are then described? v.3,4
4. How does Nineveh respond? v.5
5. Yet what happens? v.6
6. Why? v.7a

B. Think:

1. How is the Lord going to deal with Nineveh?
2. How will it eventually fall?

C. Comment:

We come in these verses to what turns out to be a most remarkably accurate prophecy.  What is coming is laid out bit by bit by the Lord.  First comes a warning of an attacker who will come against Nineveh.  It’s not going to be a surprise.  Nineveh is invited to be on its guard.  Because Israel have been one of the victims of Assyria’s violence, the contrast is now made with what will happen to Israel – they will be restored to splendour despite Assyria’s attacks on them.

Then the picture is painted in more fully – of soldiers in red, of their shining chariots who will come to pillage the city.  Whether the chariots of verse 4 are his or Nineveh’s is not clear.  It may be that verses 4 and 5 describe Nineveh ‘s protective measures, but eventually the river is going to flood in and the city will fall because God has decreed for this to happen.

Now what does history tell us about the end of Nineveh, for it was the end for them? Assyria had grown and in 705BC Nineveh was made its capital.  It was a great city with great walls but with the water of rivers surrounding and protecting her.  About 630BC Nahum prophesied these things.  In 612 Nineveh was destroyed.   How?  The Medes, Persians and Scythians came against it but the walls were too great for them.  After a three month siege heavy rains raised the river levels to such an extent that they broke into the city and the walls collapsed.  Nineveh fell by an act of God – just as He said!

D. Application:

1. Human strength will never stand against God’s will.
2. When God says something will happen, it will!

Passage: Nahum 2:8-13    

8 Nineveh is like a pool
    whose water is draining away.
‘Stop! Stop!’ they cry,
    but no one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver!
    Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
    the wealth from all its treasures!
10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
    Hearts melt, knees give way,
    bodies tremble, every face grows pale.

11 Where now is the lions’ den,
    the place where they fed their young,
where the lion and lioness went,
    and the cubs, with nothing to fear?
12 The lion killed enough for his cubs
    and strangled the prey for his mate,
filling his lairs with the kill
    and his dens with the prey.

13 ‘I am against you,’
    declares the Lord Almighty.
‘I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
    and the sword will devour your young lions.
    I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers
    will no longer be heard.’

A. Find Out:

1. To what does the prophet compare Nineveh in the future? v.8
2. What does he see happening? v.9,10
3. To what next does he compare Nineveh in the past? v.11,12
4. What word of doom is then spoken? v.13a
5. What does the Lord say He is going to do? v.13b-

B. Think:

1. What does the first picture convey?
2. What does the second picture convey?
3. What do the other verses convey?

C. Comment:

The prophet has just spoken of the coming armies and the destruction of Nineveh by water.  Now he uses the picture of water to convey something else.  He speaks of a pool draining away (perhaps like our bath drains away when the plug is pulled out). There is an inevitability about the outcome and it won’t matter how much the inhabitants cry, “No!”, it will still happen.  There is going to come a draining of all the wealth of Nineveh (v.9) – and there was a lot – and the stripping of Nineveh is going to be so terrible that the once proud and strong inhabitants will go weak at the knees!

Then comes a second picture – of a lion’s den where the father and mother bring home their prey to the waiting cubs. The implication is that that was how it had been with Assyria. The armies had gone out and plundered the surrounding nations and brought the spoil back to waiting Nineveh who had gladly received it.  Now it is all going to be taken, now they are going to be stripped of everything. 

Why?  Because the Lord is against them and He has decreed it. He is going to destroy all their weapons of destruction (the chariots – v.13b), He will bring a sword from invading armies to kill the occupants of this city who had been like young lions receiving the prey.  No longer will there be prey because no longer will there be those who prey on others.  Gone will be the messengers who came to bring the news of conquests to Nineveh.

D. Application:

1. Some foolish people feel proud and strong.  It is self-deception.
2. When God stands against the unrighteous, they fall.