Nahum 2
BBCNahum 2:1
III. DESCRIPTION OF THE SIEGE OF NINEVEH (2:1-12)2:1 The first ten verses deal with the siege of Nineveh by the Babylonians. “He who scatters” may be interpreted as referring to the Lord or to the Babylonians. The frenzied inhabitants of the city are mockingly told to prepare for battle with four commands: “Man the fort!” “Watch the road!” “Strengthen your flanks!” and “Fortify your power mightily.“2:2 The LORD will restore His people. There will be some restoration of Israel’s excellence, but it will not necessarily be soon. The Southern Kingdom had not yet been deported, but was paying tribute. Another totally different meaning to this text is possible from an alternate translation. In his nearly 400-page commentary on Nahum’s short prophecy, Walter A. Maier translates “restore” by a word of opposite meaning, “cut off,” and renders “excellence” by its frequent translation, “pride.” He writes: The statement “Yahweh hath cut off the pride of Jacob” describes a past historic punishment which Yahweh has visited upon Judah, the prophet’s home, because of its haughty rejection of the Almighty. Nahum may be thinking of the devastation wrought by Sennacherib, who boasted that he had ravaged Judah. The reference to Israel as a ruined and emptied vineyard fits in with several OT images (Psa_80:12ff; Isa_5:5-6; Jer_12:10; Hos_10:1). 2:3-6 The soldiers of Babylon are pictured in verses 3 and 4, clad in their favorite colors: the Babylonians in red, and their allies, the Medes, in their scarlet tunics. (The Assyrians’ military color was blue.) The stumbling officers of verse 5 have been understood as being the Assyrian defenders, but the context points rather to the Babylonian invaders. The rivers pour into the city, undermining the foundations so that the palace is dissolved. 2:7-10 The queen is led away captive. The people flee from the city, disregarding the order to “Halt!” The wealth and treasure of Nineveh are plunderedthe spoil of silver and the spoil of gold. The city is now desolate. Fear reigns on every face. 2:11, 12 These verses will be much better appreciated when we recall that as Great Britain has the lion, and the United States has the eagle as its emblem, the Assyrians were simply mad about lions. Men’s heads with lions’ bodies (or vice versa) appear regularly in Assyrian art and sculpture. No doubt they thought of themselves as lions and tried to act the part. Comparing Nineveh to a lion’s den, Nahum pushes his ironical knife in deeply to wound Ninevite arrogance by using the words lions, young lions, lioness, lion’s cubseven times in two verses!
Nahum 2:13
IV. GOD’S DETERMINATION TO DESTROY THE CITY (2:133:19)2:13 The LORD of hosts has decreed Nineveh’s utter destruction. Since the Lord has made Himself her enemy, the city does not stand a chance. Her chariots will be burned and her young lions (warriors) will be cut off by the sword. The sound of her armies would be heard no more and she would have no more victims.