Nah. 3:1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
Nah. 3:2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
Nah. 3:3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
Nah. 3:4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
Nineveh is pictured here as a bloody city, a city ripe for judgment.
Full of liars
Full or robbers
Overflowing with dead victims
A corrupt ruling class
Full of sexual immorality
The mistress of witchcraft
One who enslaves people through its idolatry, magic and sorcery
The comparisons to our country today are quickly growing and should bring our nation to its collective knees before Almighty God.
Nah. 3:5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
Nah. 3:6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.
Nah. 3:7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
Again, the terrifying statement by YHWH—“I am against thee.” His intention is to expose Nineveh for the shameful, wicked city that it is. Where once they were feared among the nations, they will now be despised. The change will be so drastic that the nations will gape in amazement at her destruction. It reminds me of how we were all so riveted to the removal from power and humiliation of Sadaam Hussein as it unfolded before our eyes on the television. No one will mourn for Nineveh’s destruction.
Nah. 3:8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
Nah. 3:9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
Nah. 3:10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
According to Easton’s, No, better known as Thebes, was the capital of middle Egypt. It description also includes the following: “It stood on both sides of the Nile, and is by some supposed to have included Karnak and Luxor. In grandeur and extent it can only be compared to Nineveh.”
The LORD is basically saying that Nineveh is no more immune to defeat than No, the mighty city of Egypt. No was surrounded with natural defenses—the rivers and the sea. She had the mighty power of Egypt and her allies the Ethiopians behind her, as well as the support of Put and Lubim. According to whom you believe, Put is a reference either to Libya (including Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco) or Somalia; Lubim would reference Libya. In spite of all her assets, No was carried away captive and defeated by the Assyrian King Sargon.
Nah. 3:11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
Nah. 3:12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
These verses seem to indicate that those in Nineveh will try to bolster their confidence with drunkenness and by seeking allies. No matter how they try to fortify themselves, it will be in vain. Their fortresses will fall as easily as figs fall from the fig tree when it is shaken.
Nah. 3:13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
The implication here seems to be that the mighty soldiers of Nineveh will prove weak in the face of the enemy and will prove ineffective against the advance of the enemy.
Nah. 3:14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
Nah. 3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
Again, they are given an admonition to prepare their defenses. No matter how strong their fortifications or how large their army, the prophet declares that the enemy will devour them as easily as they would a locust and caterpillar.
Nah. 3:16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
Nah. 3:17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
The number of merchants in Nineveh is compared to the stars in the heaven. They are pictured as cutting their losses and running. After reading several translations, it appears that the prophet is painting a picture of the ruling classes gathered en masse until they feel the heat of the enemy, and then they scatter like grasshoppers.
Nah. 3:18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
Nah. 3:19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
The shepherds seem to reference the leaders of the city. The message declares to the king that though his people are being scattered, their shepherds could care less. I get a thought that it’s each man for himself. God is very clear in stating that Nineveh will never recover from this destruction and slaughter; the wound is fatal. When the news of Nineveh’s destruction reaches the nations, they will rejoice because almost all had suffered at the hands of their wicked kings and armies.
The main lessons to learn from Nahum’s message from God to Nineveh:
YHWH, Almighty God, is without equal and is in complete authority over His creation.
God is a jealous and will not share His glory with another.
God is righteous in judgment.
God is longsuffering and patient, but He never lets sin go unpunished.
God’s wrath is directed against His enemies, His adversaries.
God is a source of refuge and protection for His people.
Whatever God purposes to do will be done.
You will reap what you sow.
Smith: “Assyria was one of the cruelest empires in history. The Assyrians were sadists. They maimed and tortured their captives. They would oftentimes pull out the tongues, cut off the ears or the noses or the hands, or gouge out the eyes of their prisoners of war. Extremely cruel. It was a deliberate cruelness to strike terror in the hearts of their enemies, and it worked. The world was terrified of Assyria, for Assyria ruled the world, so to speak, for over a century with her cruelty, with her viciousness, so that when the news that Nineveh has been destroyed, left desolate, is nothing but an ash heap, the Assyrians have been slaughtered, when the news comes through the world, people will clap their hands for joy.”
Constable: “Is this book only about God’s judgment on Nineveh and the Assyrians, or does it have a broader message? The reasons God brought Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire down are the same reasons He will humble any similar people. Any nation or city that lusts for conquest, practices violence and brutality to dominate others, abuses its power, oppresses the weak, worships anything but Yahweh, or seeks help from the demonic world shares Nineveh’s sins and can expect her fate.”