Broken Threads of Power (Nahum 3:14-19

14 Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln.

A. Nahum warns ahead of time that the Assyrians should begin preparations for the siege even though God has decreed its destruction.  The reason for this being that it is human nature, even with the Word of God so blatantly declared, to rely on man-made solutions to spiritual problems.  If Nineveh had repented at Nahum's prophecy the way they did to Jonah's (because the declarations of Jonah were just as bleak), God surely would have turned away His wrath and give them another chance.  

15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust.

A.  It does not matter how many or how strong the preparations, the fire of God's wrath will tear them down with ease.  

B.  Locusts come in overwhelming numbers.  They are an unstoppable force that devastate every habitat they enter.  This is similar to the way sin works in our lives.  One or two small issues may not show up on the radar or do any real damage, but when our lives becomes plagued with them we are quickly overcome by them.

C.  Nahum yet again tells the Ninevites to prepare further by multiplying themselves like locusts.  Yet again he is pointing out that man made solutions will have no effect on the declared plans of God.  They can build stronger fortifications, and they can raise up great armies and multiply, but God's fire will still accomplish what it comes to do.

16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and fleeth away.

A.  Nahum is added a third thread to the supposed strength of Nineveh.  First the strength of walls, then the strength of armies, and now the strength of the massive amount of finances the lubricated the engine of war.  Every aspect of the city would be swallowed into darkness.

B.  The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown commentary says the following, "Nineveh, by large canals, had easy access to Babylon; and it was one of the great routes for the people of the west and northwest to that city; lying on the Tigris it had access to the sea. The Phoenicians carried its wares everywhere. Hence its merchandise is so much spoken of."

17 Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

 A.  "Princes" in the Amplified Version is also frequently translated "crowned ones".  This is because during the time of Assyria it wasn't just the King or princes who wore crowns, but in fact  many governing leaders and officials wore different types of crowns to designate rank.

These crowned princes put on quite a show of strength when the nation seemed strong, but fled like locusts when the enemy came.

18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; thy nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them.

A.  The shepherds, those who of all the Ninevites should have known to see the times and repent to God for their sin.  The blood of that nation is on them more than anyone else.  They had the history of the days of Jonah not far behind and surely saw their nation quickly abandoning what had been instilled by the Word of God, but they chose instead of embrace Dagon their other false gods.  It was because of their heathen and selfish choices that their people were scattered on the mountains, that no one came to save them.

19 There is no assuaging of thy hurt: thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

A.  If any prophecy is true it is this one.  Nineveh was wounded and destroyed, and to this day has never been rebuilt.  It is a mere tourist attraction with no semblance of the world dominating throne it once contained.  

B.  Nineveh, as is always the case with world powers, was a source of every kind of sin.  They harlotry, thievery, lies, deception, murders, and other heinous sins they and their king taught and promoted spread like a sickness, and it cost them their nation.

This study was done using the Amplified Bible, which I don't have permission to publish, so I will replace the verses here with the American Standard Version.  Because of that some of the comments may not totally make sense because the AMP has expanded explanations.  I would highly recommend going to a site like BibleGateway.com where you can read the AMP version for free.

Cornu Amoni (Nahum 3:9-12

This study was done using the Amplified Bible, which I don't have permission to publish, so I will replace the verses here with the American Standard Version.  Because of that some of the comments may not totally make sense because the AMP has expanded explanations.  I would highly recommend going to a site like BibleGateway.com where you can read the AMP version for free.

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

 A. No, as in No-Amon, is the original word, when used in conjunction with "Amon", it is a form of declaring the city of No as not only belonging to Amon, but literally in meaning to be "a portion of Amon".

B. Amon was the god of gods and the god of the wind.  He also held the position as being one of the rare gods who created himself.  This fact of the belief system of Thebes (No-Amon) gives us a glimpse at why Jehovah destroyed the city in such a definite fashion.  

Amon (Amun)

C.  The Greeks later on also began to worship Amon, however they mixed Amon with Zeus and created Ammon Zeus, a god they worshiped not as the original Zeus, but a form of him.  

Ammon Zeus -  Staatliche Antikensammlungen - Munich

D.  According to Wikipedia, "Several words derive from Amun via the Greek form, Ammon, such as ammonia and ammonite. The Romans called the ammonium chloride they collected from deposits near the Temple of Jupiter Amun in ancient Libya sal ammoniacus (salt of Amun) because of proximity to the nearby temple.[26] Ammonia, as well as being the chemical, is a genus name in the foraminifera. Both these foraminiferans (shelled Protozoa) and ammonites (extinct shelled cephalopods) bear spiral shells resembling a ram's, and Ammon's, horns. The regions of the hippocampus in the brain are called the cornu ammonis – literally "Amun's Horns", due to the horned appearance of the dark and light bands of cellular layers."

Ammonia beccarii, a benthic foram from the North Sea. - Wikipedia

Cornu Ammonis in the Hippocampus in the brain. - Brainmaps.org

10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

A.  The city of No was destroyed in a two-fold manner.  It was ironically Sennacherib, the evil one Nahum speaks about, who originally invaded and destroyed No (Thebes).  This, according to historians, took place about three years before he besieged Jerusalem.  Years after Sennacherib destroyed it, Nebuchadnezzar captured the city in the 500's and took its inhabitants into captivity.  In this case, Nahum is not only speaking about the first destruction, but actually prophesying of a second. 

11 Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a stronghold because of the enemy.

A. Now Nahum returns to the subject of Nineveh.  The Ninevites shall be drunk not with wine or drink, but the wrath of God which is a far more potent force to consume.  This same fate that the powerful No-Amon faced, would now be imposed upon Nineveh.  The harlotry, or worship of others gods, depending on other forces for strength is what caused the destruction of these nations.

12 All thy fortresses shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

A.  Ripe figs on the branch are very easily knocked to the ground.  Even with a healthy tree, the slightest shake can cause them to fall.  

B.  Ripe fruit is also desirable, just, as John Gill points out, would have been the fortresses of Nineveh to the invading armies.  They were of strategic strength and importance, and the Babylonians, Medes, Chaldeans, and others would have certainly desired to own them for the strength they provided.

Introducing No-Amon (Nahum 3:5-8)

This study was done using the Amplified Bible, which I don't have permission to publish, so I will replace the verses here with the American Standard Version.  Because of that some of the comments may not totally make sense because the AMP has expanded explanations.  I would highly recommend going to a site like BibleGateway.com where you can read the AMP version for free.

5 Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

A.  As the harlot she was, the seduction shall be put to an end when the nations see The truth of her vileness.  She will be absolutely disgraced and then despised by the surrounding nations.

6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock.

A.  He will make her a gazing stock not only in order to shame the city, but as a warning to others, particularly Babylon which would take Assyria's place.  To follow in the steps of harlotry is to face the same desecration and humiliation as the harlot.  This same truth has been a pattern throughout history that continues to repeat itself.

7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

A.  They will look in terror out of fear that they too will be destroyed, those not in the invading army.  Yet not one will pity or miss her.  She is such a blight in the world that all will celebrate her destruction save those living within her.  None shall come to her aid or comfort her, she will be crushed and ruined and die alone.

8 Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea?

 No-Amon, also known as Thebes was a city captured multiple times by Ashurbanipal in the early 600's B.C..  Smith's Bible Dictionary says this of No-Amon, "...to distinguish Thebes from some other place bearing the same name or on account of the connection of Amen with that city. The description of No-amon as "situated among the rivers, the waters round about it" (Nah. l.c.), remarkably characterizes Thebes. (It lay on both sides of the Nile, and was celebrated for its hundred gates, for its temples, obelisks, statues. etc. It was emphatically the city of temples, in the ruins of which many monuments of ancient Egypt are preserved, The plan of the city was a parallelogram, two miles from north to south and four from east to west, but none suppose that in its glory if really extended 33 miles along both aides of the Nile. Thebes was destroyed by Ptolemy, B.C. 81, and since then its population has dwelt in villages only. --ED.)"

The Bloody City (Nahum 3:1-4)

This study was done using the Amplified Bible, which I don't have permission to publish, so I will replace the verses here with the American Standard Version.  Because of that some of the comments may not totally make sense because the AMP has expanded explanations.  I would highly recommend going to a site like BibleGateway.com where you can read the AMP version for free.

Nahum Chapter 3: 

1. Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not.

 Nineveh certainly was a bloody city.  It's kings were known for awful brutality.  When they defeated their enemies there would lead their captives by putting hooks through their noses and even execute them by skinning them alive.

It was full of lies as are many nations, particularly the nobles and politicians.  They make great promises to nations and peoples in order to convince them to submit, but in the end do not fulfill their end of the bargain.

2 The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots,

A.  Such distinct sounds the inhabitants of the city would have hear from far off.  The cracking of the whip also indicates haste, the rushing onslaught toward the great city. 

3 the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they stumble upon their bodies;-

A.  Such a large multitude of flashing swords and gleaming spears would have been terrible to look at from the city walls.  Then, when they burst into the city the bodies became innumerable.  The stumbling was by both the horsemen and the fleeing Ninevites who were forced to trip over the bodies of their own family and friends.  The horsemen, having no respect for those they killed continued forward, trampling the bodies of their victims.

4 All because of the multitude of the harlotries [of Nineveh], the well-favored harlot, the mistress of deadly charms who betrays and sells nations through her whoredoms [idolatry] and peoples through her enchantments.

 Harlotry in fact was a mainstay of Assyria, John Gill explains: "...all the Assyrian women must be harlots, since they were obliged once in their lifetime to lie with a stranger in the temple of Venus, whom the Assyrians call Mylitta, as Herodotus (b) and Strabo (c) relate; to all which here may be an allusion: and particularly the inhabitants of this city had all the arts of address and insinuation to deceive others as harlots have; and both men and women very probably were given to whoredom and adultery in a literal sense as is generally the case where luxury and intemperance abound; and especially were grossly guilty of idolatry, which in Scripture is frequently expressed by whoredom and adultery; worshiping Bel, Nisroch and other deities and which was highly provoking to God; and therefore for these things, his judgement came upon them, before and after described."

Nineveh had a long history of enslaving nations.  Those nations which rose up and destroyed it were enslaved nations before that time.  

Nahum's Sarcasm (Nahum 2:1-5)

This study was done using the Amplified Bible, which I don't have permission to publish, so I will replace the verses here with the American Standard Version.  Because of that some of the comments may not totally make sense because the AMP has expanded explanations.  I would highly recommend going to a site like BibleGateway.com where you can read the AMP version for free.

Nahum Chapter 2

 1. He that dasheth in pieces is come up against thee: keep the fortress, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

 As mentioned in the AMP version, this is a sarcastic message to Nineveh by the prophet.  As Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal so Nahum is mocking the Ninevites who were in a time of expansion when this was written.  They were growing in strength and becoming ever stronger, believing that they could not possibly fall.  Nahum knew that for all their strength it would come to a bitter and bloody end, as it certainly did.

2 For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the emptiers have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches.

     A.  What a declaration of redemption!  God's desire has always been to restore the excellency of His people.  They so often open the gates and allow plunderers to come in and empty them of their goods, but God is there waiting to restore and bless.

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress spears are brandished.

  A.  The Medes in fact did use red shields and clothing as is depicted in the image of a Median cavalryman here.

Median Cavalryman

It is also likely that the redness of the shields is also in reference to the blood of those killed in the battle.  In the case of the fire and steel it is historically recorded that the Medes and Babylonians always carried torches with them into battle.  Aside from providing light at night, they were also used to honor their gods.

4 The chariots rage in the streets; they rush to and fro in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches; they run like the lightnings.

   A.  What an image of desperation and chaos is this prophecy of what Nineveh will look like when that inevitable war was to come.  The wild, bewildered attempts to escape by the Ninevites as they are overrun by torch carrying chariots of the Babylonian army.  Without a doubt the Babylonians used those torches to set homes and anything else they could on fire.  One can only imagine the terror they must have felt when the overwhelming surge of the enemy began to push through the streets.

5 He remembereth his nobles: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.

     A.  At this point, when the siege actually took place, the brilliant king Ashurbanipal had died, and a less effective king, the son of Ashurbanipal, named Sin-shar-ishkun was ruling in Nineveh.  Once Ashurbanipal had died, the kingdom of Assyria began to unravel fairly quickly.  There were multiple violent conflicts, including with his own brother whom he removed from the throne.   He was killed in the attack.

Nahum 1:13-15

This study was done using the Amplified Bible, which I don't have permission to publish, so I will replace the verses here with the American Standard Version.  Because of that some of the comments may not totally make sense because the AMP has expanded explanations.  I would highly recommend going to a site like BibleGateway.com where you can read the AMP version for free.

13 And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

A. This breaking of bonds and yokes is a violent action, and definite.  When God decides to set a person or nation free, it is true freedom.  Unfortunately too many people decide to return to their former bonds and are once again enslaved.  This is not to say that God will not free them again, but they must go through the entire freedom process again.

B.  Here God is no longer referring to Sennacherib as a person, because Sennacherib had already been defeated before this.  He is now referring to Assyria as a nation and the bonds which Sennacherib caused to be placed on the Israelites by war.

14 And Jehovah hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

A. The Ninevites worshipped primarily Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines, and Nisroch the Assyrian god of agriculture.  

Dagon image 1

Dagon image 2

The god Nisroch

Nisroch was a god that Sennacherib invented: "In the Midrash, "Nisroch" is actually said to be derived from the Hebrew word "neser." Neser was the name given to a plank of wood discovered by Sennacherib on his return to Assyria from his campaign in Judah. The sages write that this plank was originally part of Noah's Ark, and that Sennacherib worshiped it as an idol. It would therefore be concluded that it was this idol that Sennacherib was worshiping when he was murdered by his two sons."

15 Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows; for the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

 A. In this passage Nahum comes very close to quoting Isaiah, who was a nearby contemporary.  

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" - Isaiah 52:7

This goes again to show the influence that Isaiah must have had on Nahum's life.  Here Nahum, even goes on in great assurance of this prophecy in telling the Israelites to go on celebrating their feasts, to celebrate as if the Assyrian's grip had already been broken, although this didn't not happen for another fifty years or so.