This chapter goes on with the burden of Nineveh,
and concludes it. I. The sins of that great city are charged upon
it, murder (
1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 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. 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: 4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. 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. 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. 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?
Here is, I. Nineveh arraigned and indicted.
It is a high charge that is here drawn up against that great city,
and neither her numbers nor her grandeur shall secure her from
prosecution. 1. It is a city of blood, in which a great deal
of innocent blood is shed by unrighteous war, or under colour and
pretence of public justice, or by suffering barbarous murders to go
unpunished; for this the righteous God will make inquisition. 2.
It is all full of lies; truth is banished from among them;
there is no such thing as honesty; one knows not whom to believe
nor whom to trust. 3. It is all full of robbery and rapine;
no man cares what mischief he does, nor to whom he does it: The
prey departs not, that is, they never know when they have got
enough by spoil and oppression. They shed blood, and told lies, in
pursuit of the prey, that they might enrich themselves. 4. There is
a multitude of whoredoms in it, that is, idolatries,
spiritual whoredoms, by which she defiled herself, and to which she
seduced the neighbouring nations, as a well-favoured harlot, and
sold and ruined nations through her whoredoms. 5. She is a
mistress of witchcrafts, and by them she sells
families,
II. Nineveh condemned to ruin upon this
indictment. Woe to this bloody city!
1. Nineveh had with her cruelties been a
terror and destruction to others, and therefore destruction and
terror shall be brought upon her. Those that are for overthrowing
all that come in their way will, sooner or later, meet with their
match. (1.) Hear the alarm with which Nineveh shall be terrified,
2. Nineveh had with her whoredoms and
witchcrafts drawn others to shameful wickedness, and therefore God
will load her with shame and contempt (
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? 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 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. 11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 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. 14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln. 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. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. 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. 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. 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?
Nineveh has been told that God is against her, and then none can be for her, to stand her in any stead; yet she sets God himself at defiance, and his power and justice, and says, I shall have peace. Threatened folks live long; therefore here the prophet largely shows how vain her confidences would prove and insufficient to ward off the judgment of God. To convince them of this,
I. He shows them that other places, which
had been as strong and as secure as they, could not keep their
ground against the judgments of God. Nineveh shall fall unpitied
and uncomforted (for miserable comforters will those prove who
speak peace to those on whom God will fasten trouble), and she
shall not be able to help herself: Art thou better than populous
No?
II. He shows them that all those things
which they reposed a confidence in should fail them. 1. Did the men
of Nineveh trust to their own magnanimity and bravery? Their hearts
should sink and fail them. They shall be hid, shall abscond
for shame, being in disgrace, abscond for fear, being in distress
and danger, and not able to face the enemies, because of whose
strength and terror, having no strength of their own, they shall
seek strength, shall come sneaking to their neighbours to
beg their assistance in a time of need. Thus God can cut off the
spirit of princes, and take away their heart. 2. Did
they depend upon their barrier, the garrisons and strongholds they
had, which were regularly fortified and bravely manned? Those shall
prove but paper-walls, and like the first-ripe figs, which,
if you give the tree but a little shake, will fall into the
mouth of the eater that gapes for them; so easily will all
their strongholds be made to surrender to the advancing enemy, upon
the first summons,