Exposition of Nahum Part 7: The Heinous Sins of Nineveh

Last installment: Part 6: The Shepherd Versus the Lion

Nahum 3:1-7

Establish the need: The world is filled with stories of dark heavy sins.  Be warned, this passage we will look at involves some dark and heavy sins.  And from this we know that God condemns them and He is one day going to have a day of reckoning for those who commit vile sins.

Woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage; Her prey does not leave. 2 The sound of the whip, The sound of the roar of the wheel, Galloping horses And bounding chariots! 3 Horsemen charging, Swords flashing, spears gleaming, Many killed, a mass of corpses, And there is no end to the dead bodies— They stumble over the dead bodies! 4 All because of the many sexual acts of the prostitute, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations by her sexual acts, And families by her sorceries. 5 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of armies; “And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame. 6 I will throw filth on you And declare you worthless, And set you up as a spectacle. 7 And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated! Who will have sympathy for her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

 

Purpose: We need to know three condemnation God bring against Nineveh and its result so that we desire to see God’s deliverance and also destruction of the wicked.

• Be warned God condemn Nineveh’s violation of the second table of the Ten Commandments (v.1)
• Be warned God condemn Nineveh’s militarism (v.2-3)
• Be warned God condemn Nineveh’s human trafficking (v.4)
• We need to know God punishment of Nineveh and its outcome (v.5-7)

 

Context

• Nahum 3 has five sections: A woe oracle in verses 1-7, three taunts and a dirge for the Assyrian king (Timmer, 147).
• For this woe, there’s about equal amount of words dedicated to condemnation as to the description of God’s punishment (Timmer, 147).

 

Be warned God condemn Nineveh’s violation of the second table of the Ten Commandments (1)

Passage: “Woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage; Her prey does not leave.”

Proof

What is being declared: “Woe”

1. This is a term that appears about 50 times in the Old Testament prophetic writings (Cook, 141).
2. It is a term that convey curses from God (Cook, 141).

The object of condemnation: “Woe to the bloody city” (v.1a)= We already have seen earlier in Nahum that Nineveh was known for violence so this is Nineveh the focus of the book of Nahum.

We see here the three condemnation is based upon the sixth, eighth and ninth commandments which are done in a multinational level (Cook, 141).

Sixth commandment violation:

1. The commandment: “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)
2. “bloody” (1c)
   1. When Nahum wrote his letter he was living under the most violent king of Assyria, King Ashurbanipal (Cook, 139-140).
   2. One of Ashurbanipal’s inscription states this: “I pierced his cheeks with the sharp-edged spear, my personal weapon, by laying the very hands on him which I had received to conquer opposition against me; I put the ring to his jaw, placed a dog collar around his neck and made him guard the bar of the east gate of Nineveh” (Cook, 140).
   3. Ashurbanipal talks about also cutting testicles and tearing out privates of their enemies (Cook, 140).
3. “Her prey does not leave” (1c)= This connects earlier with Nahum’s discussion about Nineveh’s violence in Nahum 2:12-14 with the us of the term “prey” (Timmer, 152).

Eighth commandment violation “completely full of … pillage” (v.1b)

1. The commandment: “You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
2. Yet Nineveh sinned when they “pillage”
3. Nineveh was filled with treasure with vassals payments and also direct invasion of others and taking spoils of war (Timmer, 152).

Ninth commandment violation: “completely full of lies” (v.1b)

1. The commandment: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16)
2. The violation: “completely full of lies”

Practice

1. If advancing any agenda means using the means that goes against God’s Word, it is wrong.
2. Beware not to support any political countries, political entity, groups or ideology that think the means for the goal for control can involve lying, murdering and stealing. It is wickedness.
3. Sometimes Christians can think all of God’s law in the Old Testament is only for Israel; but God’s law is relevant even for Gentiles and Gentile nations (though care must be given for that which is only for Israel). We need to know that.
4. From the first application point there’s another implication: There is something to be gained by Christians studying the Old Testament and specifically also Old Testament laws.
5. Be comforted: God judges wicked nations.

 

Be warned God condemn Nineveh’s militarism (2-3)

Passage: “2 The sound of the whip, The sound of the roar of the wheel, Galloping horses And bounding chariots! 3 Horsemen charging, Swords flashing, spears gleaming, Many killed, a mass of corpses, And there is no end to the dead bodies— They stumble over the dead bodies!”

Proof

Here is an extended description of Assyria’s military action with its human toll (Timmer, 152).

We can see this broken down with three “S:”

The sound of militarism: “The sound of the whip, The sound of the roar of the wheel,” (v.2a-b)= Note the Hebrew word for “sound” appearing twice (Timmer, 153).

The sight of militarism: “Galloping horses And bounding chariots! 3 Horsemen charging, Swords flashing, spears gleaming” (v.2c-d, v. 3a)= There’s rapid movements with snapshots of weapons and chariots (Timmer, 153).

The slaughter of militarism: “Many killed, a mass of corpses, And there is no end to the dead bodies— They stumble over the dead bodies!” (v.3b)

1. Three of the four lines uses different words for the dead to convey a scene of total carnage (Timmer, 153).
2. Note the plural for the dead (Timmer, 153).
3. Last two lines emphasize the how bad it is with absolute terminology (Timmer, 153): “there is no end to the dead bodies”

Practice

1. Once again: If advancing any agenda means using the means that goes against God’s Word, it is wrong. Especially if it involves violence; such agenda can then easily glorify violence rather than seeing it for what it is: ungodly violence.
2. Today the elite and legacy media often talk about the problem of nationalism; violent and oppressive nationalism does not please God. But equally of a concern, though less talk about by the elites is the violence that is done by those committed to certain ideologies that mask itself as opposing nationalism.  There can be an ironic militant spirit and glorification of militancy by the far left.
3. Those that want to control everything often see violence as part of their tools. Yet be comforted that God condemn those who have these agenda and uses oppressive means.

 

Be warned God condemn Nineveh’s human trafficking (4)

Passage: “4 All because of the many sexual acts of the prostitute, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations by her sexual acts, And families by her sorceries.”

Proof

God condemn Nineveh’s Human trafficking: “Who sells nations by her sexual acts, And families” (v.4b)

1. Nahum uses the word “sells” to expose Assyria’s motivation of deporting people is economically motivated which fits with the Assyrian records bragging about lusts of money, power and glory (Cook, 160-161).
2. Who are being sold? “nations…And families”
   1. The double appearance of plural objects that are sold expresses the empire’s expansion and extent of human trafficking (Timmer, 154).
   2. According to the Assyrian’s own record as many as 4.5 million people were deported (Cook, 160).
3. As if stealing from people is not enough, Nineveh’s greed lead them to also steal people and sell them as slaves for money.
4. Two of the means to trap victims are described: “by her sexual acts…by her sorceries”= I take this to mean that among the lies committed by Nineveh as mentioned in Nahum 3:1 is the sin of deception to get people to be slaves including sexual lies and sorceries. In other words, the slaves that Nineveh acquired wasn’t just from war and battles but also from deceptions and tricking those who were vulnerable (Cook, 161).

Some of those who were enslaved and trafficked would then work on projects to lead nations to commit spiritual adultery with foreign gods: “All because of the many sexual acts of the prostitute, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries” (v.4a)

1. Both the Hebrew words “prostitute” and “sorceries” here also appear in 2 Kings 9:22 to refer to Jezebel: “When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is your intention peace, Jehu?” And he answered, “What ‘peace,’ so long as your mother Jezebel’s acts of prostitution and witchcraft are so many?”” So Nineveh was a “Jezebel” (Cook, 156).
2. Nowhere in the Bible does it indicate Jezebel engage in actual sexual immorality but she was the one who led Israel into spiritual adultery with idolatry of foreign gods (Cook, 156).
3. So Nineveh was a “Jezebel” by running a spiritual brothel (Cook, 156).
4. To put it another way: Nineveh was “Madame Nineveh.”
5. Nineveh would use slaves to build temples dedicated to Assyrian gods and goddesses (Cook, 162). No doubt Nineveh’s temples would have made some people who saw it want to worship Assyrian gods and goddesses.
6. The act of forcing people to work as slaves for Assyrian deities to build these temples would make those who were supposed to be God’s people be spiritually raped in light of their spiritual allegiance to God (Cook, 161).

Practice

1. In an age where such sins are trivialized and sadly even glamorized and glorified, those who believe in the Bible must see it from God’s perspective. A verse like this should sober readers to see the sick sin of human trafficking, sexual prostitution and witchcraft for what it is: a heinous evil in the eyes of God that oppresses people.
2. This verse is one of the darkest description of sins in one verse with oppression, deception, temptation and perversion that stands out to me. There’s turmoil just thinking about those who are the victims of Nineveh and also of victims by perpetuators today; yet be comforted: Know that God does see this and He condemn it and will judge it.

 

 

We need to know God punishment of Nineveh and its outcome (5-7)

Passage: “5 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of armies; “And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame. 6 I will throw filth on you And declare you worthless, And set you up as a spectacle. 7 And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated! Who will have sympathy for her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

Proof

God will humiliate Nineveh: “Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of armies; “And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame. 6 I will throw filth on you And declare you worthless, And set you up as a spectacle” (v.5-6)

1. God is the one who punishes: Note the first person singular pronouns used here by God Himself.
2. “Behold, I am against you” (5a) = Recall Nahum 2:13 (Timmer, 155).
3. First three lines focuses on Nineveh being humiliated like a prostitute’s shame with public nudity: “And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame” (5b)
   1. Assyrian laws prohibit prostitutes wearing veils, something only a married woman can wear so when a prostitute is caught wearing one she is publicly stripped at the entry of the palace after she is found guilty, as a punishment (Timmer, 156).
   2. Given the reference to Nineveh’s deceit in Nahum 3:1 and 3:4 this might be the parallel that explain Nineveh’s punishment of being shame with nakedness as a punishment (Timmer, 156). Thus we see Nineveh’s own law turn against itself.
   3. Assyrian goddess Ishtar often appeal to followers with art work of her naked body; but this exposure is not seductive as it is exposing the horror of what Nineveh’s ugliness is like (Cook, 169).
   4. Rather than reveal to intoxicate God’s punishment here is to repulse those who might otherwise might be tempted by her spell.
4. Further shaming: “I will throw filth on you And declare you worthless, And set you up as a spectacle” (6)

The literal consequences: “And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated! Who will have sympathy for her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?” (v.7)

1. Here we see non-Assyrians speaking, one of the rare time this happens in Nahum, the other instance being earlier in Nahum 2:9 (Timmer, 158).
2. Nineveh humiliated literally does make people react with horror rather than being seduced by her (Timmer, 158). People are repulsed.
3. There’s a play on words here since Nahum means “comfort” here we are told Nineveh will not have any comforters.

Practice

1. Know God will judge sins. But what about your sins?  Will you be right with God through confessing your sins and trusting in Jesus as Savior?
2. Even as God punished with shame, Christ Himself was on display on the Cross, to take away the shame of our sins; will you trust in Him today?