Introduction

‘Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! Charging cavalry, flashing swords, and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses—all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.’ Nahum 3:1-4

WOE TO NINEVEH

We can hear the cries, this isn’t fair! This is unjust! But, oh how wrong Nineveh was, this judgement was fully deserved and delivered by a very just God. This chapter tells us why God brought judgment upon them. The city is a city of blood, the Assyrians have brutally murdered many people and so they have blood on their hands. Nahum 3:1.

Now it’s time to reap what they have sown, what they did to others, God was going to bring upon them. There’s no escaping the fact that the Assyrians were evil and caused havoc wherever they went as described in Nahum 3:2-3. All they wanted to do was go to other nations and destroy them and take the spoils for themselves.

Ashurbanipal II had a fearsome reputation; he was well known for skinning some leaders alive and then he would use the skin to cover pillars and walls. He loved nothing more than to cut off the heads of some people and publicly display them on the top of poles.

Deane, in his commentary, says the following.

‘On their monuments, we may see prisoners impaled alive, flayed, beheaded, dragged to death with ropes passed through rings in their lips, blinded by the king’s own hand, hung up by hands or feet to die in slow torture. Others had their brains beaten out, their tongues torn out by the roots, while the bleeding heads of the slain were tied round the necks of the living who were reserved for further torture. The royal inscriptions boast with exultation of the number of enemies slain, and of captives carried away, and of cities levelled with the ground.’

They used all kinds of tactics to ensnare other nations, including prostituting, sorcery, and witchcraft, Nahum 3:4 / 2 Kings 18:31. Now we begin to understand why God poured out His wrath upon these people, they were brutal and ruthless in the way they treated other nations.

‘I am against you,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. All who see you will flee from you and say, ‘Nineveh is in ruins—who will mourn for her?’ Where can I find anyone to comfort you?’ Nahum 3:5-7

We can almost feel the embarrassment and shame Nineveh is going to face before the whole world. God is going to lift their skirts over their face and show the nations their nakedness and the kingdoms their shame, Nahum 3:5 / Isaiah 47:1-3 / Jeremiah 13:26-27 / Ezekiel 16:37 / Hosea 2:3-5 / Revelation 17:15-16. He is going to pelt them with filth, treat them with contempt and make them a spectacle, Nahum 3:6.

Smith, in his commentary, says the following.

‘This seems to have been a part of the punishment for fornication and adultery, Jeremiah 13:22 / Jeremiah 13:26 / Ezekiel 16:36 / Hosea 2:8-9.’

Nineveh had played the part of a prostitute for years before the nations, and so, it will suffer the shame of a prostitute, Ezekiel 16:37-39 / Hosea 2:3. It’s not surprising that no other nation would feel sorry for them or comfort them when they were destroyed, Nahum 3:7, because those other nations would remember the way they were treated by them.

‘Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her? The river was her defence, the waters her wall. Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. Yet she was taken captive and went into exile. Her infants were dashed to pieces at every street corner. Lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were put in chains. You too will become drunk; you will go into hiding and seek refuge from the enemy.’ Nahum 3:8-11

Judgement and destruction are inevitable, it’s going to happen and there’s no way back for Nineveh. Although Thebes, Nahum 3:8, was the capital of Egypt and heavily populated, it was conquered by Ashurbanipal.

Watts, in his commentary, says the following.

‘Nahum did not interpret the fall of Thebes as a sign of Assyrian power, but as a symbol of what must happen to any nation that is against God.’

The River Nile was everything to the Egyptians, their whole lives centred around the Nile for religious domestic and military reasons, Nahum 3:8. The Nile didn’t help the Egyptians when the Assyrians came against them and so the River Tigris wouldn’t help the Ninevites. If anything, it would actually be the River Tigris which would begin the process of bringing down this great city.

Here again, we’re reminding of the reaping what you sow process. Thebes was a powerful city, but it was brought down by Ashurbanipal, despite their boundless strength, despite Put and Libya being allies, Nahum 3:9.

Despite their power and alliances, they were taken captive and went into exile, Nahum 3:10. Her infants were dashed to pieces at every street corner, Hosea 13:16, lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were put in chains, Nahum 3:10.

Nineveh was a powerful city, and God is going to bring them down. Ashurbanipal took a whole load of treasures from Thebes, and so a whole load of treasures will be taken from Nineveh. The reference to ‘becoming drunk’ Nahum 3:11 / Nahum 1:10, means they will be in total confusion; they will be shocked and bewildered trying to find a safe place to hide. It’s almost like God is mocking the Ninevites, it’s like God is saying ‘oh how powerful you thought you were, but you didn’t think about how powerful I am’.

‘All your fortresses are like fig trees with their first ripe fruit; when they are shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the eater. Look at your troops—they are all weaklings. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has consumed the bars of your gates. Draw water for the siege, strengthen your defences! Work the clay, tread the mortar, repair the brickwork! There the fire will consume you; the sword will cut you down—they will devour you like a swarm of locusts. Multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locusts! You have increased the number of your merchants till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky, but like locusts they strip the land and then fly away. Your guards are like locusts, your officials like swarms of locusts that settle in the walls on a cold day—but when the sun appears, they fly away, and no one knows where.’ Nahum 3:12-17

He tells them first of all, that all the fortresses of Nineveh weren’t powerful enough to stand against God, as they fell very easily, Nahum 3:12.

Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.

‘First-ripe figs, when at full maturity, fall from the tree with the least shake; so, at the first shake or consternation, all the fortresses of Nineveh were abandoned; and the king, in despair, burnt himself and household in his own palace.’

Then He tells them that those who live in Nineveh will be overcome with terror as helpless women, Nahum 3:13.

Constable, in his commentary, says the following.

‘The Ninevites would prove to be as defenceless, vulnerable, and fearful as women, in contrast to lion-like soldiers, Isaiah 19:16 / Jeremiah 50:37 / Jeremiah 51:30. Their gates would be so weak that they could have been left open rather than bolted shut because fire would consume them, Isaiah 10:16-17.’

God tells them to draw water for the siege, strengthen their defences, work the clay, tread the mortar, repair the brickwork! Nahum 3:14. In other words, God tells them to get ready for the coming onslaught and do everything they can to defend themselves from the oncoming Babylonian army.

Sadly, this too would be a waste of time, nothing they do will stop them as fire will consume them, the sword will cut them down and they will devour them like a swarm of locusts, Nahum 3:15 / Joel 1:2-13.

God asks them to increase their army, like grasshoppers, as many as locusts, Nahum 3:15. They had increased the number of their merchants so much they couldn’t be counted, but like locusts they strip the land and then fly away, Nahum 3:16.

Their guards are like locusts, their officials are like swarms of locusts that settle in the walls on a cold day but when the sun appears they fly away, and no one knows where, Nahum 3:17. In other words, locusts don’t function as an army, they hibernate in the winter.

The point is that no matter how many soldiers they could gather together to fight, they would have no chance against the army God was sending against them, all will be gone. As I mentioned earlier those who ran away from Nineveh went to Carchemish, but they were chased and killed by the Babylonians.

‘King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them. Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?’ Nahum 3:18-19

Notice that the king’s shepherds are asleep, Nahum 3:18. How could they be sleeping knowing what was going on! They should be awake and fully aware of what’s happening, Isaiah 5:26-27. There are some commentators who suggest that they weren’t asleep but rather already dead.

Smith, in his commentary, says the following.

‘The thought that, ‘they slumber and take their ease’ is not in the passage. ‘Sleep’ here must be taken in the sense of death.’

Because of the way they treated others, it seems that the other nations loved to hate the Assyrians, as no one would mourn over them when their empire finally came to an end, Nahum 3:18. The only rejoicing which would happen is when the Assyrians finally fell, the other nations would rejoice greatly, Nahum 3:19.

APPLICATION

As Christians, we are to expect persecution and trouble from those who oppose God and His church, 2 Timothy 3:12. But we must remain faithful to God, who promises to protect us and help us in our time of need, Psalm 27:5. We need to leave those who oppose us in God’s hands, Luke 18:7-8, and trust that He will deal with them appropriately.

The real question we need to ask ourselves is simply this, are we relying on our own strength or are we relying on God and His strength? Psalm 18:2 / Ephesians 6:10.

CONCLUSION

All the way through the Book of Nahum, we hear God speaking through him and saying that Assyria as a nation would be destroyed and would never rise again. We hear Him say that Assyria would reap what they sowed among the other nations, Galatians 6:7-8.

Judgment came upon them as God said, they repented the first time through Jonah’s preaching, Jonah 3:6-10, but as a result of going back to their old practices, they felt and experienced the wrath of God and ceased to be a nation.

Fraser, in his commentary, says the following.

‘The striking fulfilment of Nahum’s prophecy in the disappearance of Nineveh from the face of the earth is a seal upon the abiding truth of his message. Here is no mere piece of antiquity, but a confirmed Word of God.’