Nahum 2: Nineveh’s End under a magnifying glass

[Preliminary Comments: The descriptions of Nineveh’s end as continued and expanded.]

v.1-6 An enemy attack on Nineveh is coming and she will fall

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

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

v.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. 

v.4 The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning. 

v.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. 

v.6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses. 

[Note: The warning is that an enemy is coming against Nineveh and that will result in Judah being restored. The picture of the enemy army plundering the city, once the walls are breached, is graphic and even Nineveh’s elite troops will stumble and flee before the enemy. The breach will be caused by the river flooding. See Introduction.]

v.7-10 Nineveh’s people will be taken away

v.7 It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away. Her female slaves moan like doves and beat on their breasts. 

v.8 Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back. 

v.9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures! 

v.10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale. 

[Note: The picture of the disaster continues with the emphasis turning to the people of Nineveh being carried away and the city being emptied of its occupants, rather like a pool of water that is draining away. The words ‘pillaged, plundered, stripped’, show the extent of the overwhelming nature of this disaster for Nineveh.]

v.11-13 Their reputation for aggression & violence will become a past thing

v.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? 

v.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. 

v.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.”

[Note: They had once been like young lions, bred for violence but the Lord will deal with them in such a way that all of that will be past history.]

[Additional Comments: The chapter is full of graphic warning.

• An enemy is coming to attack them [see Introduction] [v.1] so they will cease coming against God’s people and Judah can be restored [v.2].
• The enemy will enter and plunder the city [v.3,4] and their own soldiers will be helpless against them [v.5] and this will happen because the protective river around them will breach the walls [v.6].
• So great will be this conquest that their people will be taken away [v.7,8] and the wonderful city plundered of all its valuables [v.9,10].
• Their reputation for being warriors will be a thing of past history [v.11-13].

The prophecy leaves no room for doubt in its devastating clarity.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: