Tag: Nahum

The End (3:1-19)

Neal Pollard

Nahum: Comfort

The End (3:1-19)

Neal Pollard

Actually, Nahum three continues the judgment against Nineveh, but the whole of the chapter spells the ultimate end of the Assyrian Empire and its dominance. The chapter appears to break down into three major sections, verses 1-7, verses 8-11, and verses 12-19. While all three sections deal with the doom of this heathen nation, there are different ways to break down the content. Consider James Smith’s good outline (concerning Nineveh):

1) Evil declared (1-3)

2) Evil described (4-7)

3) Evil defeated (8-13)

4) Evil disparaged (14-18)

5) Evil destroyed (18-19)

(OT Survey Series, 397-400).

While I agree that sin was the cause of their end, this chapter seems most focused on the end itself. Sin is always the reproach and ruin of any nation that entrenches itself into it (Prov. 14:34; Dan. 4:17). Yet, Nahum, foretelling Nineveh’s demise, helps us see at least three things about their end. It serves as a warning to any who follow their foolish pathway.

Why their end was coming (1-7). Nahum pronounces “woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage” (1). His words depict what that would look like, all sights and sounds of the carnage of invasion and military defeat (2-3). Nineveh had played the part of a harlot, and she would be abused and mistreated like one (4-6). She would be so defiled and disgraced that all would distance themselves from her, and no one would mourn or comfort her.  At the very end of the book, the prophet briefly states what history repeatedly chronicled. The Assyrians were brutal taskmasters and oppressors (19); they would get a full dose of their own medicine. 

How their end was coming (8-11). They would go the way of Thebes. Nahum uses that Egyptian city whose overthrow was prophesied by both Jeremiah (46:25) and Ezekiel (30:14ff). Thebes had the advantage of the Nile, a seemingly impregnable position, and powerful allies, but none of these things saved them (8-9). Nahum compares Nineveh’s end to Thebes in these ways (cf. 2:8). Like Thebes’ inhabitants became exiles (10), so would Nineveh’s (11). They would go into captivity, staggering and searching for refuge (11). 

When their end was coming (12-19). Nahum doesn’t deal in terms of time, but rather gives predictions which history shows fulfilled. The Bible Knowledge Commentary shares 12 specific prophesies of Nahum’s, showing their historical fulfillment (chart is at the bottom of this study). Many of those prophesies are in the final chapter. Nahum depicts Nineveh as ripened fruit, ready to be picked. This was about to happen. They would be oblivious and unprepared. It would be too late when it overtook them. 

Nahum’s Prophecies	Historical Fulfillments
1. The Assyrian fortresses surrounding the city would be easily captured (3:12).	1. According to the Babylonian Chronicle the fortified towns in Nineveh’s environs began to fall in 614 B.C. including Tabris, present-day Sharif-Khan, a few miles northwest of Nineveh.
2. The besieged Ninevites would prepare bricks and mortar for emergency defense walls (3:14).	2. A.T. Olmstead reported: “To the south of the gate, the moat is still filled with fragments of stone and of mud bricks from the walls, heaped up when they were breached” (History of Assyria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951, p. 637).
3. The city gates would be destroyed (3:13).	3. Olmstead noted: “The main attack was directed from the northwest and the brunt fell upon the Hatamti gate at this corner … Within the gate are traces of the counter wall raised by the inhabitants in their last extremity” (History of Assyria, p. 637).
4. In the final hours of the attack the Ninevites would be drunk (1:10; 3:11)	4. Diodorus Siculus (ca. 20 B.C.) wrote, “The Assyrian king … distributed to his soldiers meats and liberal supplies of wine and provisions … While the whole army was thus carousing, the friends of Arbakes learned from some deserters of the slackness and drunkenness which prevailed in the enemy’s camp and made an unexpected attack by night” (Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 4)
5. Nineveh would be destroyed by a flood (1:8; 2:6, 8).	5. Diodorus wrote that in the third year of the siege heavy rains caused a nearby river to flood part of the city and break part of the walls (Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 9; 2. 27.3). Xenophon referred to terrifying thunder (presumably with a storm) associated with the city’s capture (Anabasis, 3. 4. 12). Also the Khosr River, entering the city from the northwest at the Ninlil Gate and running through the city in a southwesterly direction, may have flooded because of heavy rains, or the enemy may have destroyed its sluice gate.
6. Nineveh would be destroyed by fire (1:10; 2:13; 3:15).	6. Archeological excavations at Nineveh have revealed charred wood, charcoal, and ashes. “There was no question about the clear traces of burning of the temple (as also in the palace of Sennacherib), for a layer of ash about two inches thick lay clearly defined in places on the southeast side about the level of the Sargon pavement” (R. Campbell Thompson and R.W. Hutchinson, A Century of Exploration at Nineveh. London: Luzac, 1929, pp. 45, 77).
7. The city’s capture would be attended by a great massacre of people (3:3).	7. “In two battles fought on the plain before the city the rebels defeated the Assyrians … so great was the multitude of the slain that the flowing stream, mingled with their blood, changed its color for a considerable distance” (Diodorus, Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 6–7).
8. Plundering and pillaging would accompany the overthrow of the city (2:9–10).	8. According to the Babylonian Chronicle, “Great quantities of spoil from the city, beyond counting, they carried off. The city [they turned] into a mound and ruin heap” (Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 2:420).
9. When Nineveh would be captured its people would try to escape (2:8)	9. “Sardanapalus [another name for king Sin-shar-ishkun] sent away his three sons and two daughters with much treasure into Paphlagonia, to the governor of Kattos, the most loyal of his subjects” (Diodorus, Bibliotheca Historica, 2. 26. 8
10. The Ninevite officers would weaken and flee (3:17).	10. The Babylonian Chronicle states that “[The army] of Assyria deserted [lit., ran away before] the king” (Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 2:420).
11. Nineveh’s images and idols would be destroyed (1:14).	11. R. Campbell Thompson and R.W. Hutchinson reported that the statue of the goddess Ishtar lay headless in the debris of Nineveh’s ruins (“The British Museum Excavations on the Temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, 1930–1,” Annals of Archeology and Anthropology. 19, pp. 55–6).
12. Nineveh’s destruction would be final (1:9, 14).	12. Many cities of the ancient Near East were rebuilt after being destroyed (e.g., Samaria, Jerusalem, Babylon) but not Nineveh.

 Johnson, Elliott E. “Nahum.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck. Vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985. 1495. Print.

Nineveh Would Flee (2:1-13)

Neal Pollard

Nahum gets to the heart of the matter in chapter two. He shares the pending judgment of Assyria in stark and horrific detail. If any of the Assyrians chose to believe God’s Word, this was nightmare news for them. Yet, every word of condemnation against Nineveh was comfort and consolation to Judah in the face of their menacing threat. We see at least three major ideas in this chapter. 

The devastating devastators will be destroyed (1-6). In words of comfort to “Jacob” (“Israel”), Nahum says that though they had been devastated and their vineyards destroyed they would see the tables turned on Nineveh (2). The “devastators” are warned to arm themselves for battle (1) only to overrun and devastated by an invading army. Who is it? Ezekiel 23:14 points to Babylon, though commentators also throw out the possibility of the Medes. Both could be right, as the decisive battle in the overthrow of Assyria (612 B.C.) involved an alliance between Medes, Babylonians, and lesser nations against Assyria and later Egypt (for an intriguing historical read, I found this interesting: https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-3-fall-of-nineveh-chronicle/). The invaders of Assyria rush the capital city (4) and set siege to it (5) and flood it (6). The intimidating Assyrians get a taste of their own medicine.  

The desolation is done (7-12). Nahum switching tenses, now looking at the events as if they have already occurred. God says, “It is fixed” (7). The Hebrew word is found 73 times throughout every genre of Old Testament literature, meaning stand, establish, erect, and in charge. The message is that this is done and cannot be undone by Assyria or anyone else. The description is vivid with details: stripped, carried away, crying, and beating their breasts (7). They flee (8), they are plundered (9), they are emptied (10), and they are anguished (10). Nahum describes their “desolation and waste” (10) with the imagery of lions who tear their prey and feed it to their young (11-13). Many people had been the victim of Assyrian cruelty. Surely, the memory of this filled the minds of the armies that exact vengeance on this empire prime for a fall. 

The divine declaration (13). Though implicit in verse seven, Nahum states it explicitly in the last verse of this chapter. God identifies Himself as Assyria’s antagonist. Though he would use the armies of men, He reveals that He was lighting the fire, bearing the sword, and cutting them off. Are there more sobering words than “I am against you” when spoken by the Creator of the heavens and the earth?

Nineveh was on the pinnacle of prosperity and power, yet it gave itself the credit and glory. Israel was one of its pitiful victims. Nahum says God is turning the tables. He had used them to punish His disobedient people, but now the tool in His hand no longer served His purpose. It was time for them to receive the due reward of their own deeds.