Exposition of Nahum Part 9: Military Taunts

Last installment: Part 8: A Tale of Two Cities 

Nahum 312-15a

Establish the need: Have you know guys in the military that like to brag?

All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit— When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth. 13 Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars. 14 Draw for yourself water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Take hold of the brick mold! 15 There fire will consume you, The sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the creeping locust consumes a crop. Multiply yourself like the creeping locust, Multiply yourself like the migratory locust.

 

Purpose: We will see two points that shows God predicting Assyria’s fall so that we believe God’s Word with what it says and submit to His authority.

1. God predicts Assyria’s vulnerabilities (v.12-13)
2. God mocks Assyria’s futile strength (v.14-15)

 

Context

• Nahum 3 has five sections: A woe oracle in verses 1-7, three taunts and a dirge for the Assyrian king (Timmer, 147).
• Two weeks ago we looked at Nahum 3:1-7 that gives us the reason why God is judging Nineveh and here this section doesn’t focus on Nineveh’s wrong but focus on Nineveh’s downfall (Timmer, 158).
• Last week we saw Nahum 3:8-11 the taunt: Will Nineveh be far better than Thebes (Timmer, 158)?
• Today’s passage we look at God’s taunt of Assyria’s military.

 

God predicts Assyria’s vulnerabilities (12-13)

Passage: “All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit— When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth. 13 Behold, your people are women in your midst! The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars.”

Proof

1. Four images are presented to show Assyria’s vulnerabilities (Timmer, 165).
2. These would have been seen as not believable when Nahum made these prophecies since this was the time of Assyria’s strength (Timmer, 165).
3. Image 1 with figs being eaten: “All your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit— When shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth.” (v.12)
   1. What are “fortifications”?
   2. Comparison: “are fig trees with ripe fruit”
   3. What happened to the fortification: “”
   4. Isaiah 28:4 indicate this is an imagery of judgment, from a prophecy against Ephraim: “And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley, Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to the summer, Which one sees, And as soon as it is in his hand, He swallows it.”= The same rhetoric of judgment with fig metaphor would then strike a chord for those in Judah who read Nahum, knowing that God is capable of judging.
4. Image 2 with women: “13 Behold, your people are women in your midst!” (v.13a)
   1. This is to describe Assyria as weak.
   2. Assyrian kings love to mock their opponents as women. For example Esarhaddon the king described his enemies elite troops in the following matter: “Fear of the great gods, my lords, overwhelmed them, (and when) they saw my mighty battle array, they became like crazed women” (Timmer, 166).
   3. So here God return that mockery to the Assyrians themselves.
5. Image 3 with open gates: “The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies;” (v.13b)
   1. Gates are meant to be closed for protection but here God says the Assyrians gates are open.
   2. It is just a little opened; note it says “opened wide” (Timmer, 167).
   3. This gate isn’t for a particular city but all of Assyria since it said “gates of your land” (Timmer, 167).
6. Image 4 with burned gates: “Fire consumes your gate bars” (v.13c)
   1. Archaeologists have found layer of ash and proof of burning in the Temple and palace Johnson, “Nahum” in Bible Knowledge Commentary, 1493).
   2. See also Nahum 1:10 and 2:13.

Practice

1. May we never have arrogance to think we are too smart, too important or too protected to avoid God’s discipline and punishment for outright disobedience to God; go to God to confess your sins and trust in God. Don’t be like Assyria.
2. Also trust in God’s Word more than human experts.
3. Be comforted: No enemies of God are invicibles: This is true of Globalists, statists, Marxists, perverted form of nationalized unbiblical form of “Christianity” etc.

 

God mocks Assyria’s futile strength (14-15a)

Passage: “14 Draw for yourself water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Take hold of the brick mold! 15 There fire will consume you, The sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the creeping locust consumes a crop”

Proof

There is sarcasm here (Timmer, 164).

How? It is ironic that preparation is commanded after the prediction of a successful attack is announced (Timmer, 167).

Two forms of preparation are given (Timmer, 167).

1. Water: “Draw for yourself water for a siege!” (14a)
   1. Needed for survival if cut off and Nineveh being surrounded.
2. Adding to fortification: “Strengthen your fortifications!” (14b)= How will be given with details in the rest of the verse.

Zooming in the details with fortification we have four further commands:

1. “Go into the clay” (14c)
   1. Idea is to get clay (Timmer, 167).
   2. Incomplete since it doesn’t mention forming the brick (Timmer, 168).
2. “and tread the mortar!” (14c)
   1. Idea is to join the bricks that would eventually be completed (Timmer, 167).
   2. Incomplete since it doesn’t mention bricks are being baked (Timmer, 168).
3. “Take hold of the brick mold!” (14c)
   1. Incomplete since it doesn’t mention where to place the bricks (Timmer, 168).

In the midst of preparation the attack will happen: “There fire will consume you, The sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the creeping locust consumes a crop.” (v.15a)

1. “There fire will consume you”
   1. “There” is nuanced, appearing first in the verse.
   2. It refers to place where preparation is happening.
   3. Preparation will not be completed when attack occurred (Timmer, 168).
2. “The sword will cut you down;”= Sword destroying Assyria mentioned earlier in Nahum 2:13 with the imagery of lions (Timmer, 168).
3. “It will consume you as the creeping locust consumes a crop”

Practice

1. Know that God is serious against sin. Make you sure you are right with Him.  How? Through trust in Jesus Christ.  Have you trusted in Jesus as Savior?
2. If you have not trusted Jesus as your Savior, you need to know you cannot outrun the justice of God. It is futile as we see here with this passage.

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