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Nahum Chapter
Two
Nahum 2
Chapter Contents
Nineveh's destruction foretold. (1-10) The true cause,
their sinning against God, and his appearing against them. (11-13)
Commentary on Nahum 2:1-10
(Read Nahum 2:1-10)
Nineveh shall not put aside this judgment; there is no
counsel or strength against the Lord. God looks upon proud cities, and brings
them down. Particular account is given of the terrors wherein the invading
enemy shall appear against Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a
queen, about to be led captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men
with terror in an evil day; and what will treasures or glory do for us in times
of distress, or in the day of wrath? Yet for such things how many lose their
souls!
Commentary on Nahum 2:11-13
(Read Nahum 2:11-13)
The kings of Assyria had long been terrible and cruel to
their neighbours, but the Lord would destroy their power. Many plead as an
excuse for rapine and fraud, that they have families to provide for; but what
is thus obtained will never do them any good. Those that fear the Lord, and get
honestly what they have, shall not want for themselves and theirs. It is just
with God to deprive those of children, or of comfort in them, who take sinful
courses to enrich them. Those are not worthy to be heard again, that have
spoken reproachfully of God. Let us then come to God upon his mercy-seat, that
having peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ, we may know that he is for
us, and that all things shall work together for our everlasting good.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Nahum》
Nahum 2
Verse 1
[1] He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face:
keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power
mightily.
He — The Medes or Chaldeans, that dash Nineveh in pieces.
The munition — The forts.
Make thy loins strong — Strengthen thyself.
Verse 2
[2] For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob,
as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred
their vine branches.
For — Israel and Jacob were more to God, yet he punished
them; much more will he punish Nineveh.
Turned — Laid low.
The excellency — The wealth, the valiant men, all
that Jacob gloried in.
Jacob — The two tribes.
Israel — The ten tribes.
Emptied them — Quite exhausted them.
Their vine-branches — Destroyed all the
fruit of the land.
Verse 3
[3] The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant
men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of
his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
The shield — One part for the whole of the
armour, and furniture.
Mighty men — Medes or Chaldeans.
Red — With the blood of the slain.
Torches — Torches were always carried in them.
In the day — When he shall muster his armies.
Shaken — By axes cutting them down for the war.
Verse 4
[4] The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall
justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches,
they shall run like the lightnings.
In the streets — Of Nineveh, when taken.
Justle — By reason of their multitude and fury.
In the broad ways — Where is most room,
and yet scarce enough for them to move.
Like torches — What with sparkling fire caused
by their horses and chariots, what with the glittering of the polished irons
about them, and what with the light of flaming torches carried in them.
Like the lightnings — Both for speed,
irrestibleness and terror.
Verse 5
[5] He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in
their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be
prepared.
He — The king of Babylon.
His worthies — Approved officers and commanders.
Stumble — Shew such forwardness, that they shall not stand to
pick their way.
They — The Assyrians to defend, the Chaldeans to assault the
walls of Nineveh.
Verse 6
[6] The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace
shall be dissolved.
The gates — Of the city toward the river.
The rivers — Of the Tigris, upon which Nineveh
stood.
Dissolved — While the Chaldeans besieged
Nineveh, a mighty deluge overthrew the walls of Nineveh, by the space of twenty
furlongs, through which breach the besiegers made their entrance.
Dissolved — As if melted, it shall drop to
pieces.
Verse 7
[7] And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be
brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering
upon their breasts.
Huzzab — The queen.
The voice of doves — Sighing out their
complaints.
Upon their breasts — Instead of musical
instruments, on which they were used to play, now they only strike their
breasts.
Verse 8
[8] But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they
shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
Like a pool — Very populous, like a pool which
hath been long breeding fish, and is full of them.
Yet — Yet these multitudes shall flee discomfited and
terrified.
They — The chieftains, and most valiant among the Ninevites.
Verse 9
[9] Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for
there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
Take — Thus the Chaldeans encourage one another in the
plundering of the city.
Verse 11
[11] Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace
of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's
whelp, and none made them afraid?
Of the lions — Tyrants and bloody warriors.
Verse 12
[12] The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and
strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with
ravin.
Did tear — Formerly fell upon his neighbour nations.
His lionesses — Queens, concubines, or ladies in
the Assyrian court.
Verse 13
[13] Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and
I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young
lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy
messengers shall no more be heard.
I will burn her — Nineveh.
In the smoke — The city being first plundered,
then burnt; these chariots were burnt in that smoke.
Thy prey — Cause thee to cease from making a prey any more.
Thy messengers — Embassadors or muster-masters.
Probably this refers to Rabshaketh who had blasphemed the living God. Those are
not worthy to be heard again, that have once spoken reproachfully against God.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Nahum》
02 Chapter 2
Verses 1-13
Verse 1-2
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face
God the Vindicator of the oppressed
I.
The
oppression of the chosen people by the Assyrians.
1. This is expressed figuratively. “The emptiers have emptied them
out” (ver. 2), had exhausted their resources, as the contents of a vessel
poured out until every drain had been withdrawn, so had both Israel and Judah
been impoverished by the Assyrians. “And marred their vine branches.” Ancient
Israel was often described as God’s vineyard (Isaiah 5:1; Psalms 80:9). This vineyard the foe had
ruthlessly invaded, casting down and injuring its fruit-bearing trees.
2. These figurative representations are sustained by historical fact.
The more familiar we become with Assyrian history the more do we trace in that
vast heathen power the prevalence of the haughty, overbearing spirit. Its
rulers and people vainly supposed that national greatness consisted in the
possession of might to be used in oppressing other nations and peoples. To be
able to depict upon the walls of the palaces of Ninus battle scenes indicative
of military triumph, accompanied by great spoil and cruel chastisement
inflicted upon their adversaries, seems to have been their highest ambition.
Their whole relationship to Israel and Judah was based upon this principle. The
favoured of heaven, having forsaken their God, and hence lost His protecting
care, turned in their exigencies to Assyria for aid, but only to find, in this
supposed helper against their foes, a more powerful enemy. In this way the
kingdom of Israel was first made tributary to Assyria by Paul (2 Kings 15:17-20), and, soon after,
its tribes were carried away into captivity by Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:3-23), whilst the kingdom
of Judah in like manner became compelled to acknowledge the lordship of
Tilgath-Pilneser (2 Chronicles 28:16-21). Hezekiah
sought to cast off the Assyrian yoke, but this only resulted in the nation, in
Nahum’s time, being brought into circumstances of extreme peril (2 Kings 18:13-17), and from which
eventually supernatural help alone was able to deliver it (Isaiah 37:36).
II. Divine
interposition promised on behalf of the oppressed. (Ver. 2.) Such interposition
had in a measure but recently taken place (Isaiah 37:36). “The angel of death” had
“breathed in the face of the foe,” and had caused “the might of the Gentile” to
“melt like snow,” and the oppressor to return humbled to his capital (Isaiah 37:37). The time, however, for the
complete and final interposition of heaven had not yet arrived. Still, it
should come. The seer in rapt vision beheld it as though it had been then in
operation, and for the encouragement of the oppressed he declared that the
Divine eye observed all that was being endured, that the Lord Almighty still
regarded them with favour (ver. 2), and would yet make them “an eternal
excellency, a joy of many generations “ (Isaiah 60:15).
III. This Divine
interposition eventually to be experienced viewed as carrying with it the
entire overthrow of the oppressor. (Ver. 1.) Asshur should in due course be
brought low, and the yoke of bondage should fall from off the necks of the
captives In “the day of visitation.
1. Agents should not be wanting to carry out the Divine behests. The
defection of the Assyrian general, the forces of the King of Media, and the
overflowing of the Tigris, should all combine to bring about the accomplishment
of the Divine purpose; and these forces are here personified as “ the dasher in pieces”
(ver. 1).
2. Resistance should be in vain. They might “keep the munition, watch
the ways,” etc. (ver. 1), but all to no purpose. The proud power must
inevitably fall, and in its overthrow proclamation be made that it is not by
means of tyranny and oppression and wrong-doing that any nation can become
truly great and lastingly established, but by the prevalence in its midst of
liberty, virtue, and righteousness, Nineveh in her downfall
“ .
. . seems to cry aloud
To
warn the mighty and instruct the proud
That
of the great, neglecting to be just,
Heaven
in a moment makes a heap of dust.”
(S. D. Hillman, B. A.)
Verses 3-13
The shield of His mighty men is made red.
The downfall of Nineveh, as illustrative of the Divine and the
human dements in revelation
There are two
elements in the Bible, the Divine and the human. God speaks to us in every
page, nor does He speak the less emphatically, but all the more so, in that He
addresses us through men possessing throbbing hearts, and who were passing
through experiences like our own. The account given in these verses of the
predicted ruin of Nineveh must be taken as a whole, and in the graphic picture
here presented to us we have strikingly illustrated this twofold character of
the Scriptures of eternal truth.
I. The account
contained here of the predicted overthrow of Nineveh serves to illustrate the
Divine element in revelation. Nahum flourished in the feign of Hezekiah (b.c.
725-696), and Nineveh was destroyed between b.c. 609 and 606. He lived and
prophesied thus say a hundred years before the occurrence of the events he so
vividly described, and when the Assyrian power was in the zenith of its
prosperity. His announcements were very distinct and definite, and by placing
these and the records of secular historians given at a subsequent period side
by side, we see how minutely the predictions of this seer have been fulfilled,
and that hence, in making these, he must have been God’s messenger, uttering,
not his own thoughts, but those which had been communicated to him by “visions
and revelations of the Lord.” In Nahum 2:6 we read, “For while they be
folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall
be devoured as stubble, fully dry.” The secular historian write: “While all the
Assyrian army were feasting for their former victories, those about Arbuces,
being informed by some deserters of the negligence and drunkennes in the camp
of the enemies, assaulted them unexpectedly by night, and falling orderly on
them disorderly, and prepared on them unprepared, became masters of the camp,
and slew many of the soldiers and drove the rest into the city.” (Diodrus
Siculus, bk. 2, p. 80.) In Nahum 2:6 we read, “The gates of the
rivers shall be opened, and the place shall be dissolved.” The secular
historian writes: “There was an oracle among the Assyrians that Nineveh should
not be taken till the river became an enemy to the city; and in the third year
of the siege the river, being swollen with continual rains, overflowed part of
the city, and broke down the wall for twenty furlongs. Then the king, thinking
that the oracle was fulfilled, and the river had become an enemy to the city,
built a large funeral pile in the palace, and, collecting together all his wealth
and his concubines and eunuchs, burnt himself and the palace with them all, and
the enemy entered at the breach that the waters had made, and took the city”
(Diodorus Siculus, bk. 2. p. 80). In Nahum 2:9 the prophet, as though
addressing the adversaries of Nineveh, said, Take ye the spoil of silver, take
the spoil of gold:
for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant
furniture”; and the same secular historian already quoted informs us that the
conquerors carried many talents of gold and silver to Ecbatana, the royal city
of the Medes. No language could be more explicit than that in which Nahum
predicted the total destruction of the city (Nahum 2:10-13; Nahum 3:7; Nahum 3:15-17). The prophet Zephaniah
used words equally plain (Nahum 2:13-13). Their utterances would
have appeared very strange to the Ninevites at the time they were spoken; as
strange, indeed, as similar utterances would appear if addressed at the present
time to the inhabitants of our own metropolis; but they were true,
nevertheless, and the facts of history furnish abundant confirmations. For
upwards of two thousand years after its overthrow Nineveh lay buried in the
earth.
II. The account
contained here of the predicted overthrow of Nineveh serves to illustrate the
human element in revelation. Holy Scripture is remarkable in its variety--not
variety in purpose, for this is single throughout, but variety in expression.
History, prophecy, poetry, parable, proverb, miracle, biography, vision,
epistle, are all laid under tribute. As there is a Divine element in the Bible,
so also there is a human element therein. Biblical critics,, are agreed in
recognising “the classic” beauty and the finished elegance of the style of
Nahum, and in assigning to this writer a place in the first rank of Hebrew
literature. “The variety in his method of presenting ideas discovers much
poetic talent in the prophet. The reader of taste and sensibility will be
affected by the entire structure of the poem, by the agreeable manner in which
the ideas are brought forward, by the flexibility of the expression’s, in the
roundness of his turns, the delicate outlines of his figures, by the strength
and delicacy, and the expression of sympathy and greatness, which diffuse
themselves over the whole subject.” (De Wette’s Introduction.)
His description of the siege and fall of Ninevah, contained in
this chapter (vers. 3-13), is wonderfully vivid. As we read the account, even
at this distant date, the stirring scenes seem to live again, and to pass in
review before us. We see the attacking warriors in their scarlet attire and
with their chariots armed with sharp instruments of steel (ver. 3), and the
defenders of the city, suddenly startled, hastening their preparations, their
chariots in the hurry jostling against each other in the streets, and the
gallants summoned by the king hastening to the ramparts, which the foe is
seeking with battering-rams to cast down (vers. 4, 5). We behold the
overflowing of the river, facilitating the advance of the enemy and paralysing
the people by reason of the popular tradition now seemingly being fulfilled
(ver. 6). We witness the inhabitants brought low in shame and dishonour,
moaning like a captive woman (ver. 7), or fleeing for their very life in
hopelessness and despair, conscious that resistance is vain (ver. 8). We view
the spoiling of the city--the conqueror carrying away the gold and the silver
to the Median capital, trophies of victory (ver. 9). Finally, we picture to
ourselves the prophets of the Lord gazing, upon the waste and desolation,
reflecting upon the proud being abased, their offspring cut off, their gains
confiscated, their boastful messengers silenced, and ascribing all the terrible
reverses thus experienced to the righteous retribution of the Lord of hosts
(vers. 10-13); and we feel, as we linger upon the scene thus graphically
portrayed, that whilst rejoicing in this volume of revelation as having been
given by inspiration of God, and as containing Divine lessons abounding both in
encouragement and warning, we may well prize it also even on the lower ground
of its literary merit, and heartily rejoice in the infinite variety of human
powers and endowments here consecrated to the presentation of the loftiest and
grandest spiritual teaching. (De Wette’s Introduction.)
Verse 13
Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts
Man incurring the Divine displeasure
This attitude of God towards man--
I.
Implies
wrong-doing on man’s part. God is not thus adverse to man for naught. “His
delights are with the sons of men” (Proverbs 8:31). Sin alienates man from
God, and causes God to be righteously displeased with man.
II. Involves man in
present distress. Man cannot be at ease whilst under the ban of Jehovah. “In
His favour is life” (Psalms 30:5). Separation from Him through
sin means disquietude and unrest. “The worst troubler in the world is a wilful
heart.” “Conscience makes cowards of us all! The heart melteth, the knees smite
together” (ver. 10).
III. Resulting in
ultimate ruin to such as wilfully persist in sin. God is “the Lord of hosts.”
All power is His. “Who shall stand when He is angry?” (Psalms 76:7). All have sinned, and hence
have incurred the displeasure of Him who “is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity,” but in Christ, whose day the seers saw afar off, God is reconciled
to man; so that the distress and ruin indicated can alone result from man refusing
to be reconciled unto God. (De Wette’s Introduction.)
And the voice of thy
messengers shall no more be heard (with chap. 1:15).
The messengers of Nineveh and the messengers of Zion a comparison
“And the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard” (ver.
13); “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace!” (chap 1:15) The messengers of Nineveh and the
messengers of Zion are alluded to in these passages. A comparison of these
respective messengers may prove suggestive and useful in its application to
certain developments in these modern times. From the Second Book of Kings and
the Sccond Book of Chronicles we learn that the heralds or messengers of
Nineveh cherished the spirit of blasphemy with reference to the God of heaven.
The faith of the pious Hebrews consisted in the recognition of the one living
and true God, and of His providential care over all His creatures; and it was
against this bulwark that the emissaries of Assyria constantly directed their assaults
in words foul and filthy (see Rabshakeh’s appeal to the Jews, 2 Kings 18:33-35; and his letter, 2 Chronicles 32:17). The great and
dis tinguishing characteristic of the messengers of Zion was loyalty to the God
of heaven. Their feet stood upon the mountains, and their voice proclaimed to
the people, “Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40:9); “Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7). In the present age there
are messengers who boldly declare their none acceptance of the teaching that
recognises the Divine Being and His working, and who seek to disseminate their
views, and in doing so are not particular if they blaspheme the God of heaven.
And whilst there are such messengers in the world doing their injurious work,
there are also those who are thoroughly loyal to the King of kings, who delight
to show forth His praise, to tell the story of His love in the gift and work of
Christ, and to seek to draw men in loving obedience to His authority and will.
Note certain contrasts, then, suggested; thus--
I. Captivity in
contrast with freedom. The messengers of Nineveh approached Jerusalem, to which
Sennacherib was laying siege, but they bore no tidings of liberty. They claimed
full submission, and declared that even this must be followed by captivity in a
strange land (2 Kings 18:31-32). The assurance of
ultimate deliverance came from the messengers of the Lord (chap. 1:12, 13). Sin
is bondage. Transgressors are slaves. And scepticism has nothing to offer such
by way of helping them to escape. Lo! the messengers of Zion come. They tell
him of the great Father’s unwearying love, the Saviour’s obedience unto the
death of the Cross, the energising and sanctifying Spirit ready to gird him
with all-sufficient strength.
II. Strife in
contrast to peace. The messengers of Nineveh to Judah had nothing conciliatory
to convey; they told only of contention and strife. The assurance that peace
should ultimately be enjoyed came to the anxious King of Judah from God’s
messengers, who published peace. The messengers of scepticism have no
proclamation of peace to make. It is the privilege, however, of the messengers
of Zion to proclaim those spiritual and eternal verities in which the heart may
securely and tranquilly repose, and to point to him who can quell every storm
and give rest unto the soul
III. Gloom in
contrast to gladness. Hezekiah and his people were in extremity; it was to them
a time of “trouble”; but not a ray of hope came to them through the messengers of Nineveh. Their
worst fears were confirmed; the foe was unrelenting. Their hope was in God, and
in the words spoken by His holy prophets. So in the extremities of life--in
sickness and sorrow, and especially at life’s close, hope springs not from
unbelief, but from the words God has addressed to us through His servants. The
Gospel has no rival in such seasons. Scepticism has no voice then, or, if it
speaks, it but deepens the prevailing gloom; but the good tidings God has
revealed dispels our sadness and fills the soul with immortal hopes. Happy
messengers who are thus enabled to “comfort all that mourn,” etc. (Isaiah 61:2).
IV. Shame in
contrast to honour. The voice of all messengers who blaspheme the holy name of
God “shall be no more heard,” for God will put them to silence; but voices
publishing His love and grace shall go sounding on through the ages,--the
bright succession of proclaimers shall not cease. Growing numbers shall be
raised up who shall find their way to all nations and kindreds and tribes,
until the glad tidings shall reach every shore, and the knowledge of the Lord
shall fill the earth
(Isaiah 11:9). (De Wette’s
Introduction.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》