Ashurbanipal - Lion Slayer? (Nahum 2:6-13)

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.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

     A.  Despite the great efforts of the Ninevites to survive and fight back, God's judgement and the prophecy of Nahum was unstoppable.  According to John Gill, the rivers here are, "Of Diava and Adiava, or Lycus and Caprus, between which, according to some writers (i), Nineveh was situated; or the gates of the city, which lay nearest to the river Tigris, are meant; or that river itself, the plural for the singular, which overflowing, broke down the walls of the city for two and a half miles, and opened a way for the Medes and Chaldeans to enter in...".  It was the overflowing of the river Tigris that truly sealed the fate of the Ninevites.  They could have possibly fought for longer and held off the powerful attack the the Babylonians had it not been for the flooding that destroyed their walls.

7 And it is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating upon their breasts.

It is decreed.  Once God decrees something, there is nothing that can stop it.  Not the largest armies, wisest men, or thickest walls. 

Some translations have the word Huzzab instead of "She".  This is because Hebrew word "Huzzab" means "Appointed", and there has been debate as to whether Huzzab is the name of the queen, who would have very likely been taken captive as was the custom in those days, or is this referring to Nineveh itself.  This is unknown for sure, however in my opinion the fact that this passage specifically refers to "her maids" makes me lean toward Huzzab indeed being the queen.

8 But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away. Stand, stand, they cry; but none looketh back.

    A.  Nineveh as a standing pool is an reference to the age of the city, Nineveh was founded by Nimrod (Genesis 10:11) the great hunter before the Lord.  It had been strong for a very long time, but now, even with such deep roots the people fled in chaos.  The bravest of their champions called for them to stand their ground, but they would not listen even to them.

9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.

   A.  It is truly incredible the accuracy of Nahum's description of what would happen. Babylonian accounts of the siege of Nineveh describe that they actually stopped their advance toward the city because the surrounding temples and villages were so full of plunder, they decided to take their times and divvy it up before making their way into the main city.

   B.  According to Gordon Franz*, "Nineveh was the Fort Knox of mid-seventh century BC Mesopotamia. On every Assyrian campaign they removed the silver, gold and precious stones and other items from the cities they sacked. When they bragged about the booty that was taken, silver and gold always topped the list. As an example, after the fall of No-Amon (Thebes), Ashurbanipal bragged that he took:

Silver, gold, precious stones, the goods of his palace, all there was, brightly colored and linen garments, great horses, the people, male and female, two tall obelisks...I removed from their positions and carried them off to Assyria. Heavy plunder, and countless, I carried away from Ni’ [Thebes] (Luckenbill 1989, 2:296,)

* Source: Associates For Biblical Research (http://www.biblearchaeology.org/), Bible and Spade Magazine.

10 She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.

A.  There is no doubt that this is truly what became the fate of Nineveh.  Utter destruction.  To this day it is still nothing but dust and ruins.  The three Hebrew words for, "Emptiness! Desolation! Utter waste!" Are Bukah, Mebukah, Mebullakah, and are intense, definitive words meant to signify the ominous climax to the battle.

11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

Nineveh was such a powerful city, the crown of a world dominating nation that it is entirely appropriate to compare it to a lion's den.  Assyrian Kings were also expected to be men of great bravery, and lion hunting is often depicted in their art.  Pictured here is an artifact from the British Museum taken from the dig of Nineveh's North Palace.  Here were see Ashurbanipal on a royal lion hunt.  

12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin.

A.  Nineveh, the lion was the source of power, strength, and wealth for all of Assyria.  As Gordon Franz* stated, it was the Fort Knox of the nation.  Out of it the military decisions to conquer and destroy others came, and the spoils of those conquests were then brought back to the city.

*Source: Associates For Biblical Research (http://www.biblearchaeology.org/), Bible and Spade Magazine.

13 Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah 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.

 God says He will burn the chariots of Nineveh in smoke.  The fires that will burn the city will be so great that the heat from just the smoke will be enough to cook the famous chariots and their riders.

John Wesley states, "Thy messengers - Ambassadors or muster - masters. Probably this refers to Rabshakeh who had blasphemed the living God. Those are not worthy to be heard again, that have once spoken reproachfully against God."

The Mountain Melting Power of His Presence

                                                   

I am currently in the middle of a verse by verse study of the book of Nahum, and this morning as I was deciding what to write in this blog today, I felt like I should share what I wrote in one of my entries.

"The mountains tremble and quake before Him and the hills melt away, and the earth is upheaved at His presence—yes, the world and all that dwell in it."  Nahum 1:5

 The presence of God is one of the most underestimated forces on earth.  There is a gentleness to it that many of us are used to, but when God brings His presence to bear even the greatest obstacles melt before Him.  It doesn't matter if it is financial problems, addictions, emotional wounds, fear, pride, whatever; if God's presence is involved your world will shift and reform.

Another amazing aspect of this verse is that the only action God took was arriving on the scene.  He didn't command the mountains to tremble or the hills to melt, it happened naturally, like a reflex.  God doesn't leave things the way He finds them, He can't.  Just His presence is so full of power that things rise up or cringe just at the sense of it.  He takes broken people and fixes them, proud people and humbles them, obstacles and destroys them effortlessly.  This is why when we are in a church service where so often we say God moved, the question should always be whether or not something shifted or not.  If everyone leaves the way they came, it was emotion, not God's presence. The true test of revival is not how excited people are about it, but how much of the culture has been impacted, how many lives were utterly transformed by it.

The definition of "presence" is this. "The state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing."  When we refer to the presence of God, we almost always are referring to God arriving in a particular way.  We all know that God is omnipresent, but it is similar to when His presence came after Solomon's prayer and filled the temple in such a powerful way that the priests couldn't stand and minister (1 Kings 8).  There are varying degrees of this, and reactions.  Not everything melted when He arrived.  The mountains trembles, hills melted, and the earth heaved. The point here is that the presence of God isn't even the physical touch of God, it is merely Him being present in the room with us.  It isn't His voice, miraculous action (although miracles do spontaneously happen in His presence, because as we see in this verse things naturally line up with His will), it is literally Him stepping into the room and standing there.  Not that He won't do anything else, but when we refer to His presence, the beginning of it is this.