Exposition of Nahum Part 5: Nineveh’s Inevitable Fall

Last installment:  Part 4: Nahum in a Nutshell Part 2

 

Nahum 2:1-10

Establish the need: If you were to have a summary nutshell of the book of Nahum this would be the passage; do you know its message?

The one who scatters has come up against you. Keep watch over the fortress, watch the road; Bind up your waist, summon all your strength. 2 For the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel, Even though destroyers have laid waste to them And ruined their vines. 3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red, The warriors are dressed in scarlet, The chariots are fitted with flashing steel When he is prepared to march, And the juniper spears are brandished. 4 The chariots drive wildly in the streets, They rush around in the public squares; Their appearance is like torches, They drive back and forth like lightning flashes. 5 He remembers his officers; They stumble in their advance, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up. 6 The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace sways back and forth. 7 It is set: She is stripped, she is led away, And her slave women are sobbing like the sound of doves, Beating their breasts. 8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, Yet they are fleeing; “Stop, stop,” But no one turns back. 9 Plunder the silver, Plunder the gold! For there is no end to the treasure— Wealth from every kind of desirable object. 10 She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees wobbling! Also trembling is in the entire body, And all their faces have become pale! 11 Where is the den of the lions And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub went With nothing to disturb them? 12 The lion tore enough for his cubs, Killed enough prey for his lionesses, And filled his lairs with prey And his dens with torn flesh. 13 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of armies. “I will burn up her chariots in smoke, and a sword will devour your young lions; I will eliminate your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”

 

Purpose: We need to know three focus of God’s prophecy concerning Nineveh’s fall so that we desire to see God’s deliverance and also destruction of the wicked.

1. We need to know it is ironic to prepare for God’s attack (v.1)
2. We need to know the description of Nineveh: Before and after Fall (v.3-10)
3. We need to know the blessing for Judah with Nineveh’s Fall (v.2)

 

Context

Remember earlier in Nahum 1:2-8 it reveal God’s future universal judgment so here in Nahum 2:1-13 show us a historical partial manifestation of that judgment of God against an empire that mocks God (Timmer, 118-19).

 

We need to know it is ironic to prepare for God’s attack (1)

Passage: “The one who scatters has come up against you. Keep watch over the fortress, watch the road; Bind up your waist, summon all your strength.”

Proof

Who is “The one”? It seems to be God since:

1. God Himself in Nahum 1:2-8 is committed to destroying evil forces (Timmer, 122).
2. Nahum 1:14 earlier mentioned that God is against Assyria (Timmer, 122).

Who is “you”? It is feminine singular and in context since it describes a city destroyed we conclude this is talking about Nineveh.

God’s two actions are mentioned here:

1. The action of God 1: “has come up against” (1a)
   1. The main verb in this sentence.
   2. This verb is often used as a military expression to oppose someone as seen in Joshua 22:12, 22:33 and Judges 6:3 (Timmer, 122).
2. The action of God 2: “scatters” (1a)
   1. This verb is a Hebrew participle that shows the manner in which God is opposing Nineveh.
   2. The verb is the same one used in Genesis 10-11 with God’s action against those building the tower of Babel (Cook, 96).
   3. The verb “scatter” in Genesis 11:4, 11:8 is the same as the one here and thus we see God scattering is an act of judgment (Cook, 96).
   4. There is an irony here as in Genesis 10:8-12 we know Nineveh was build after the Tower of Babel incident by Nimrod (Cook, 96). Now God is going to judge Nineveh in the same way God has judge the “nations” earlier in Genesis.

Since God is coming to judge we see four commands given that in the context is addressing a military to be prepared (Timmer, 123).

First two commands involves watching for an enemy from afar:

1. Command 1: “Keep watch over the fortress” (1)
2. Command 2: “watch the road” (1)

Last two commands involves individual soldier’s preparation:

1. Command 3: “Bind up your waist” (1)
2. Command 4: “summon all your strength” (1)

The commands are ironic since it will not do anything to stop God (Timmer, 123).

Picture: Christopher Hitchens before he was going to die was making all these statements out of fear he would convert the last minute. It is ironic to war against God and Hitchens was aware he’s not that strong to suppress the truth.

Practice:

1. Enemies of God boasts of their own strength, wisdom and other accolades. You need to see through their boasts and not let it shake your faith.
2. We need to know that resistance and rebellion against God by His enemies ultimately will not be successful. Let that comfort you after all Nahum means comfort!

 

We need to know the description of Nineveh: Before and after Fall (3-10)

Passage: “3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red, The warriors are dressed in scarlet, The chariots are fitted with flashing steel When he is prepared to march, And the juniper spears are brandished. 4 The chariots drive wildly in the streets, They rush around in the public squares; Their appearance is like torches, They drive back and forth like lightning flashes. 5 He remembers his officers; They stumble in their advance, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up. 6 The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace sways back and forth. 7 It is set: She is stripped, she is led away, And her slave women are sobbing like the sound of doves, Beating their breasts. 8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, Yet they are fleeing; “Stop, stop,” But no one turns back. 9 Plunder the silver, Plunder the gold! For there is no end to the treasure— Wealth from every kind of desirable object. 10 She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees wobbling! Also trembling is in the entire body, And all their faces have become pale!”

Proof

Earlier in verse 1 the geographical focus is on looking outward with the faraway roads from the position of the fortress but the movement from verses 3-10 goes from outside Nineveh where the enemies are near (v.3), outside the wall (v.4), the wall (v.5) the citadel/temple (v.6-7) and then the city inhabitants (v.8-10) (Timmer, 126).

The invading enemies of Nineveh described in verses 3-4.

1. While God is described in verse 1 here we see God uses the secondary cause of a human invading army.
2. The army described: “The shields of his warriors are dyed red, The warriors are dressed in scarlet, The chariots are fitted with flashing steel When he is prepared to march, And the juniper spears are brandished.” (3)
   1. Shields being red indicate it might be made out of leather rather than metal (Timmer, 125).
   2. Soldiers are also dressed in red here.
   3. Red uniform is costly and this likely was worn by an elite group of soldiers (Timmer, 126).
   4. This color of red allude to the Babylonians since Ezekiel 23:14 indicates Neo-Babylonians/Chaldeans were dressed in red: “So she increased her obscene practices. And she saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans drawn in bright red” (Timmer, 126).
   5. It was indeed the Babylonians in history that was involved with Nineveh’s destruction.
3. The attack described: “The chariots drive wildly in the streets, They rush around in the public squares; Their appearance is like torches, They drive back and forth like lightning flashes” (4)
   1. Chariots are like the ancient version of today’s Main Battle Tanks.
   2. There is an irony here in that Assyria’s military are often used against foes but now it appear against Nineveh itself by her enemies (Timmer, 128).
   3. In the Hebrew “in the streets” is nuanced, appearing first in the verse and though it’s the object it appears before the verb and object. So what’s important about the streets?
      1. The streets of Nineveh must have been wide enough to allow chariots going about wildly; Assyrian King Sennacherib himself boasts in surviving writing that “I widened the squares, made bright the avenues and trees; I made its market streets wide enough to run a royal road” (Timmer, 127).
      2. Thus we see what is the pride of Assyria is now part of its downfall to allow chariots to be enter into Nineveh.

The invasion’s effects are given in verses 5-10.

Effects on Nineveh 1: Chaos for the military: “He remembers his officers; They stumble in their advance, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up.” (v.5)

1. Nineveh’s stumbling officers are contrasted with the effective invasion force (Timmer, 128).
2. Though these officials hurry to the city wall the turning of the tide of the battle is already too late.
3. Manlet are mobile protective shelter or large shield (Timmer, 128). Even though these were available nevertheless the turning of the tide of the battle is already too late.

Effects on Nineveh 2: Gates opened: “The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace sways back and forth.” (v.6)

1. This verse describes the demise of the mightiest city of the world at that time in just 9 words (Cook, 115).
2. Greek Historian Diodorus Siculus described how in the third year of the siege heavy rains caused a nearby river to flood part of the city and broke its walls (Elliott Johnson, “Nahum” in Bible Knowledge Commentary, 1495).
3. Also the Khosr river ran near the royal palace also (Timmer, 127). Hence the mention in this verse of both rivers and the palace.
4. It is ironic: all the amazing water works and canals that was the project and pride of Assyrian kings like Sennacherib is now the source of its destruction (Timmer, 130-31).

Effects on Nineveh 3: Ishtar taken: “It is set: She is stripped, she is led away, And her slave women are sobbing like the sound of doves, Beating their breasts.” (v.7)

1. “It is set”
   1. I take this masculine singular subject of the verb to be God, in contrast to the other two verbs here with a feminine singular subject.
   2. There’s discussion about what this verb means and I take it to be that God has decreed or establish the following (Timmer, 132).
2. The focus of this woman seems to be the idol of the Assyrian goddess Ishtar that is the focus later on in Nahum 3:4-7 (Cook, 123).
3. The Temple for Ishtar is next to the Palace and was burned and things confiscated from it just as this verse mentioned of Ishtar being taken away (Timmer, 133).

Effects on Nineveh 4: People flee: “8 Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, Yet they are fleeing; “Stop, stop,” But no one turns back.” (v.8)

1. Nineveh explicitly mentioned here.
2. This passage seems to be referencing soldiers since those were in the military were expected to fight until death (Timmer, 134).
3. The quote of “Stop! Stop!” is the only time in this book we “hear” from the Assyrian and this is likely the leaders of the military telling soldiers not to quit when the leaders aren’t yet ready to admit defeat (Timmer, 134).

Effects on Nineveh 5: Plundered: “9 Plunder the silver, Plunder the gold! For there is no end to the treasure— Wealth from every kind of desirable object.” (v.9)

1. What was plundered? The order of the phrase silver and gold are the standard description for wealth in the Old Testament, see for example Genesis 13:2, 44:8, Exodus 20:23, Numbers 22:18, 24:13, etc (Timmer 135). So we should see its wealth being plundered and not just only limited to silver and gold.
2. The Babylonian Chronicle echoes the second half of verse 9 when it states that the Babylonians took a lot of spoils from the city, beyond counting (Elliott Johnson, “Nahum” in Bible Knowledge Commentary, 1495).

Effects on Nineveh 6: Abandoned: “10 She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees wobbling! Also trembling is in the entire body, And all their faces have become pale!” (v.10)

1. Begins with a summary sentence: “She is emptied!” followed by four descriptive clauses about the survivors, with each clause longer than the previous clause (Timmer, 137).
2. Heart melt is an idiom in Hebrew for the lost of courage, see Deuteronomy 1:28, 20:8 (Timmer, 137).
3. “Knees wobbling” refers to fear of disaster (Timmer, 137).
4. Likewise “trembling is in the entire body” and “their faces have become pale” indicate fear or distress (Timmer, 137).

Practice

1. Are you amaze at how detailed these descriptions about the fall of Nineveh took place in history?
2. Are you sobered up that God takes sin and rebellion against Him seriously? Are there sins you need to confess?
3. Some might think God is harsh but read this passage and compare it to how the Assyrians write about their enemies; there is a sense of gory details being left out and the rhetoric is much more subtle. This is meant to warn, not be a gore galore.

 

We need to know the blessing for Judah with Nineveh’s Fall (2)

Passage: “2 For the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel, Even though destroyers have laid waste to them And ruined their vines.”

Proof

Here the promises to Judah is greater than the one given by God earlier in Nahum 1:12: Earlier it only promise affliction no more but here it promises restoration (Timmer, 124).

This promised restoration isn’t just only for the tribe of Judah but the rest of Israel when the verse named “Jacob” and “Israel.”

Use of the term “Jacob” and “Israel” seems deliberate to recall how Jacob before his name was changed is not one who is spiritually close to God and was always up to trickery while his name change to Israel in Genesis 32 when he wrestled with God result in blessings (Timmer, 124). Likewise Judah’s future restoration isn’t on the basis of works but God’s grace!

This promise is despite their physical condition at the moment Nahum was written, which God acknowledged in the end of this verse: “Even though destroyers have laid waste to them And ruined their vines”= We got to have faith in God until then!

Practice

1. Do you see the importance of God’s grace in this passage?
2. Do you see the importance of faith in this passage?
3. Have you trusted in the grace of God to save you from His Holy judgment? Jesus is the way: He came and died for sinners who trust in His life and works.