Nahum 2

1. He that dasheth in pieces, etc.** This appears to be addressed to Nineveh, against which the invader is coming. Fulfilled in the campaign of the Median Cyaxares against Nineveh about 606 B.C.

2. For the Lord hath turned away, etc.** Rather, “For Jehovah restoreth (i.e., will restore) the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of Israel”: see R.V. “Jacob” is used as the original name of God’s people, and “Israel” as their covenant name. He will give to the race of Jacob all the blessings conveyed in the promises to Israel.

their vine branches. Cp. Psa. lxxx. 8-16; Isa. v. 1-7. The Assyrian spoilers had laid waste the vineyards.

3 of his mighty men. Of the Median army which should come against Nineveh.

is made red. The shields as the monuments show, were painted red.

The chariots [shall be] with flaming torches, etc. “Gleam like fire” (Luther). Chariots were commonly strengthened and decorated with polished steel or brass, which flashed in the sunlight.

4 shall rage. Rather, “rage.” The whole description is best rendered in the present tense, a vivid picture of the siege.

5. He shall recount.** Heb., “He remembereth”; i.e., he calls up. But in vain; for, through fear or weakness, “they stumble in the ways”; “in their march,” R.V.

the defence. Rather, “the covert” (“mantel,” R.V.); meaning perhaps the engine called by the Romans testudo; a shed to protect the besiegers and their battering-ram, in attacking the wall; or in the case of the besieged, a kind of breast-work to shield them from the missiles of the enemy.

6. The gates of the rivers, etc.** Some take this to be a figurative description of the invasion, and the consequent dissolution of the Assyrian empire; but it may perhaps refer to the entrance of the invaders through the river-gates, or to an actual inundation of the Tigris.

7. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, etc.** The best commentators regard Huzzab as the name of the queen of Nineveh, though the name has not been identified. “Led away captive,” is literally “uncovered.”

tabering. “Beating.” The Heb. word is used Psa. lxviii. 25, “playing with timbrels.”

8 like a pool of water. Water, especially in large quantities, is a frequent emblem of abundant population and prosperity, such as Nineveh had long enjoyed. But this is now rapidly flowing away, and cannot be stopped: cp. Hos. xiii. 15; Rev. xvii. 1, 15.

10. She is empty, and void, and waste.** Or, more emphatically, “emptiness, and a void, and a waste !” The Hebrew has a striking alliteration, of which Moffatt gives the effect in his translation: “desolate, dreary, drained.”

13 thy messengers. Such as the Rabshakch, 2 Kings xviii. 17.