mh_parser/vol_split/34 - Nahum/Chapter 2.xml

<div2 id="Nah.iii" n="iii" next="Nah.iv" prev="Nah.ii" progress="89.21%" title="Chapter II">
<h2 id="Nah.iii-p0.1">N A H U M.</h2>
<h3 id="Nah.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Nah.iii-p1" shownumber="no">We now come closer to Nineveh, that great city;
she took, not warning by the destruction of her armies and the fall
of her king, and therefore may expect, since she persists in her
enmity to God, that he will proceed in his controversy with her.
Here is foretold, I. The approach of the enemy that should destroy
Nineveh, and the terror of his military preparations, <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.1-Nah.2.5" parsed="|Nah|2|1|2|5" passage="Na 2:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. The taking of the city,
<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.6" parsed="|Nah|2|6|0|0" passage="Na 2:6">ver. 6</scripRef>. III. The captivity of
the queen, the flight of the inhabitants, the seizing of all its
wealth, and the great consternation it should be in, <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.7-Nah.2.10" parsed="|Nah|2|7|2|10" passage="Na 2:7-10">ver. 7-10</scripRef>. IV. All this is traced up
to its true causes—their sinning against God and God's appearing
against them, <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.11-Nah.2.13" parsed="|Nah|2|11|2|13" passage="Na 2:11-13">ver. 11-13</scripRef>.
All this was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar, in the first year of
his reign, in conjunction with Cyaxares, or Ahasuerus, king of the
Medes, conquered Nineveh, and made himself master of the Assyrian
monarchy.</p>
<scripCom id="Nah.iii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2" parsed="|Nah|2|0|0|0" passage="Na 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Nah.iii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.1-Nah.2.10" parsed="|Nah|2|1|2|10" passage="Na 2:1-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Nah.iii-p1.7">
<h4 id="Nah.iii-p1.8">The Judgment of Nineveh. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Nah.iii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 710.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Nah.iii-p2" shownumber="no">1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before
thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make <i>thy</i> loins
strong, fortify <i>thy</i> power mightily.   2 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Nah.iii-p2.1">Lord</span> hath turned away the excellency of
Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied
them out, and marred their vine branches.   3 The shield of
his mighty men is made red, the valiant men <i>are</i> in scarlet:
the chariots <i>shall be</i> with flaming torches in the day of his
preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.   4
The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one
against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches,
they shall run like the lightnings.   5 He shall recount his
worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste
to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.   6
The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be
dissolved.   7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall
be brought up, and her maids shall lead <i>her</i> as with the
voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.   8 But Nineveh
<i>is</i> of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away.
Stand, stand, <i>shall they cry;</i> but none shall look back.
  9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for
<i>there is</i> none end of the store <i>and</i> glory out of all
the pleasant furniture.   10 She is empty, and void, and
waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and
much pain <i>is</i> in all loins, and the faces of them all gather
blackness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Nah.iii-p3" shownumber="no">Here is, I. An alarm of war sent to
Nineveh, <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.1" parsed="|Nah|2|1|0|0" passage="Na 2:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. The
prophet speaks of it as just at hand, for it is neither doubtful
nor far distant: "Look about thee, and see, <i>he that dashes in
pieces has come up before thy face.</i> Nebuchadnezzar, who is
noted, and will be yet more so, for dashing nations in pieces,
begins with thee, and will dissipate and disperse thee;" so some
render the word. Babylon is called the <i>hammer of the whole
earth,</i> <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.50.23" parsed="|Jer|50|23|0|0" passage="Jer 50:23">Jer. l. 23</scripRef>. The
attempt of Nebuchadnezzar upon Nineveh is public, bold, and daring:
"He <i>has come up before thy face,</i> avowing his design to ruin
thee; and therefore stand to thy arms, <i>O Nineveh! keep the
munition;</i> secure thy towers and magazines: <i>watch the
way;</i> set guards upon all the avenues to the city; <i>make thy
loins strong;</i> encourage thy soldiers; animate thyself and them;
<i>fortify thy power mightily,</i> as cities do when an enemy is
advancing against them" (this is spoken ironically); "do the utmost
thou canst, yet thou shalt not be able to put by the stroke of this
judgment, for <i>there is no counsel or strength against the
Lord.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Nah.iii-p4" shownumber="no">II. A manifesto published, showing the
causes of the war (<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.2" parsed="|Nah|2|2|0|0" passage="Na 2:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>The Lord has turned away the excellency of Jacob,
as the excellency of Israel,</i> that is, 1. The Assyrians have
been abusive to Jacob, the two tribes (have humbled and mortified
them), as well as to Israel, the ten tribes, <i>have emptied them,
and marred their vine-branches.</i> For this God will reckon with
them; though done long since, it shall come into the account now
against that kingdom, and Nineveh the head-city of it. God's
quarrel with them is <i>for the violence done to Jacob.</i> Or,
(2.) God is now by Nebuchadnezzar about <i>to turn away the pride
of Jacob</i> by the captivity of the two tribes, as he did the
pride of Israel by their captivity; He has determined to do it, to
bring <i>emptiers</i> upon them, and the enemy that is to do it
must begin with Nineveh, and reduce that first, and humble the
pride of that. God is looking upon proud cities, and abasing them,
even those that are nearest to him. Samaria is humbled, and
Jerusalem is to be humbled, and their pride brought low; and shall
not Nineveh, that proud city, be brought down too? <i>Emptiers have
emptied</i> the cities, <i>and marred the vine-branches</i> in the
country of Jacob and Israel; and must not the excellency of
Nineveh, that is so much her pride, be turned away too?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Nah.iii-p5" shownumber="no">III. A particular account given in of the
terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against Nineveh;
every thing shall contribute to make him formidable. 1. <i>The
shields of his mighty men are made red,</i> and probably their
other arms and array, as if they were already tinctured with the
blood they had shed, or intended hereby to signify they would put
all to the sword; they hung out a red flag, in token that they
would give no quarter. 2. <i>The valiant men are in scarlet;</i>
not only red clothes, to intimate what bloody work they designed to
make, but rich clothes, to intimate the wealth of the army, and
that is the sinews of war. 3. <i>The chariots shall be with flaming
torches in the day of his preparation;</i> when they are making
their approaches, they shall fly as swiftly as lightning; the
wheels shall strike fire upon the stones, and those that drive them
shall drive furiously with a flaming indignation, as Jehu drove. Or
they carried flaming torches with them in the open chariots, when
they made their approach in the night, as Gideon's soldiers carried
lamps in their pitchers, to be both a guide to themselves and a
terror to their enemies, and with them to set all on fire wherever
they went. 4. <i>The fir-trees shall be terribly shaken;</i> the
great men of Nineveh, that overtop their neighbours, as the stately
firs do the shrubs; or the very standing trees shall be made to
shake by the violent concussions of the earth, which that great
army shall cause. 5. The chariots of war shall be very terrible
(<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.4" parsed="|Nah|2|4|0|0" passage="Na 2:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>They shall
rage in the streets,</i> that is, those that drive them shall rage;
you would think the chariots themselves raged; they shall be so
numerous, and drive with so much fury, that even <i>in the broad
ways,</i> where, one would think, there should be room enough, they
shall <i>jostle one another;</i> and these iron chariots shall be
made so bright that in the beams of the sun <i>they shall seem like
torches</i> in the night; they shall <i>run like the
lightnings,</i> so swiftly, so furiously. Nebuchadnezzar's
commanders are here called his <i>worthies,</i> his <i>gallants</i>
(so the margin reads it), his <i>heroes;</i> those <i>he shall
recount,</i> and order them immediately and without fail to render
themselves at their respective posts, for he is entering upon
action, is resolved to take the field immediately, and to open the
campaign with the siege of Nineveh. <i>His worthies shall
remember</i> (so some read it); they shall be mindful of the duty
of their place, and the charge they have received, and shall
thereby be made so intent upon their business that they <i>shall
stumble in their walks,</i> shall make more haste than good speed;
they stumble, but shall not fall; for <i>they shall make haste to
the wall thereof,</i> shall open the trenches; and the defence, or
the covered way, shall be prepared (something to shelter them from
the darts of the besieged), and they shall so closely carry on the
siege, and with so much vigour, that at length the <i>gates of the
rivers shall be opened</i> (<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.6" parsed="|Nah|2|6|0|0" passage="Na 2:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>); those gates of Nineveh which open upon the river
Tigris (on which Nineveh was built) shall be first forced by, or
betrayed to, the enemy, and by those gates they shall enter. And
then the <i>palace shall be dissolved,</i> either the king's house
or the house of Nisroch his god; the same word signifies both a
palace and a temple. When the God of heaven goes forth to contend
with a people, neither the palaces nor their kings, neither the
temples nor their gods, can protect and shelter them, but must all
inevitably fall with them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Nah.iii-p6" shownumber="no">IV. A prediction of the consequences of
this; and it is easy to guess how dismal those will be. 1. The
queen shall fall into the hands of the enemy (<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.7" parsed="|Nah|2|7|0|0" passage="Na 2:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Huzzab shall be led away
captive;</i> she that was <i>established</i> (so some read it),
thought herself safe because she was concealed and shut up in
secret, shall be <i>discovered</i> (so the margin reads it) and
shall be led <i>away captive,</i> in greater disgrace than that of
common prisoners; she shall be <i>brought up</i> in a mock state,
<i>and her maids</i> of honour <i>shall lead her,</i> because she
is weak and faint, not able to bear such frights and hardships,
which are doubly hard and frightful to those that have not been
used to them; they shall attend her, not to speak cheerfully to her
and to encourage her, but murmuring and moaning themselves, as
<i>with the voice of doves,</i> the <i>doves of the valleys</i>
(<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.7.16" parsed="|Ezek|7|16|0|0" passage="Eze 7:16">Ezek. vii. 16</scripRef>), noted for
their <i>mourning,</i> <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.14 Bible:Isa.59.11" parsed="|Isa|38|14|0|0;|Isa|59|11|0|0" passage="Isa 38:14,59:11">Isa.
xxxviii. 14; lix. 11</scripRef>. They shall be <i>tabering upon
their breasts,</i> beating their own breasts in grief and vexation,
as if they were <i>drumming</i> upon them, for so the word
signifies. 2. The inhabitants, though numerous, shall none of them
be able to make head against the invaders, or stand their ground
(<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.8" parsed="|Nah|2|8|0|0" passage="Na 2:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Nineveh is
of old like a pool of water,</i> replenished with people as a pool
with water (and <i>waters</i> signify <i>multitudes,</i> <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Rev.17.15" parsed="|Rev|17|15|0|0" passage="Re 17:15">Rev. xvii. 15</scripRef>), or as those waters
with fish; it was long ago a populous city; in Jonah's time there
were 120,000 little children in it (<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.11" parsed="|Jonah|4|11|0|0" passage="Jon 4:11">Jonah iv. 11</scripRef>), and, ordinarily, cities and
countries are increasing in their number every year; but, though
they have so many hands to be employed in the public service, yet
they shall not be able to inspire one another with courage, but
<i>they shall flee away like cowards.</i> Their commanders shall do
what they can to animate them; they shall cry, "<i>Stand,
stand,</i> have a good heart on it, and we shall do well enough;"
<i>but none shall</i> so much as <i>look back;</i> they shall not
have the least spark of courage remaining, but every one shall
think it is his wisest course to make his best of the opportunity
to escape; they shall not so much as look back to see who calls for
them. Note, God can dispirit the strongest and boldest, in the day
of distress, so that they shall not be what one would expect from
them, but <i>like a pool of water,</i> the water whereof is dried
up and gone. 3. The wealth of the city shall become a prey, and all
its rich furniture shall fall into the hands of the victorious
enemy (<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.9" parsed="|Nah|2|9|0|0" passage="Na 2:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); they
shall thus animate and excite one another to plunder: <i>Take the
spoil of silver; take the spoil of gold;</i> thus the officers
shall stir up the soldiers to improve their opportunity; here are
silver and gold enough for them, for <i>there is no end of the
store of money and plate.</i> Nineveh, having been <i>of old like a
pool of water,</i> has gathered a vast deal of mud; and abundance
of glory it has <i>out of all the pleasant furniture,</i> all the
<i>vessels of desire,</i> which they have gloried in and which
shall now be a prey and a pride to the conquerors. Note, Those who
prepare raiment as the clay, and heap up silver as the dust, know
not who may put on the raiment and divide the silver, <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.16-Job.27.17" parsed="|Job|27|16|27|17" passage="Job 27:16,17">Job xxvii. 16, 17</scripRef>. Thus this rich
city is empty, and void, and waste, <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.9" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.10" parsed="|Nah|2|10|0|0" passage="Na 2:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. See the vanity of worldly
wealth; instead of defending its owners, it does but expose them,
and enable their enemies to do them so much the more mischief. 4.
The soldiers and people shall have no heart to appear for the
defence of the city. Their spirits shall <i>melt</i> away like wax
before the fire; their <i>knees shall smite together</i> (as
Belshazzar's did, in his agony, <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p6.10" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.6" parsed="|Dan|5|6|0|0" passage="Da 5:6">Dan. v.
6</scripRef>), so that they shall not be able to stand their
ground, no, nor to make their escape; <i>much pain</i> shall be
<i>in all loins,</i> as is the case in extreme frights, so that
they shall not be able to hold up their backs. And the <i>faces of
them all shall gather blackness,</i> like that of a pot that is
every day over the fire; so the word signifies. Note, Guilt in the
conscience will fill men with terror in an evil day, and those who
place their happiness in the wealth of this world and set their
hearts upon it think themselves undone when their silver, and their
gold, and their pleasant furniture are taken from them.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Nah.iii-p6.11" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.11-Nah.2.13" parsed="|Nah|2|11|2|13" passage="Na 2:11-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Nah.iii-p6.12">
<h4 id="Nah.iii-p6.13">The Judgment of Nineveh. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Nah.iii-p6.14">b. c.</span> 710.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Nah.iii-p7" shownumber="no">11 Where <i>is</i> the dwelling of the lions,
and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion,
<i>even</i> the old lion, walked, <i>and</i> the lion's whelp, and
none made <i>them</i> afraid?   12 The lion did tear in pieces
enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled
his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.   13 Behold, I
<i>am</i> against thee, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Nah.iii-p7.1">Lord</span> of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in
the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will
cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers
shall no more be heard.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Nah.iii-p8" shownumber="no">Here we have Nineveh's ruin, 1. Triumphed
in by its neighbours, who now remember against it all the
oppressions and abuse of power it had been guilty of in its pomp
and prosperity (<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.11-Nah.2.12" parsed="|Nah|2|11|2|12" passage="Na 2:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11,
12</scripRef>): <i>Where is the dwelling of the lions?</i> It is
gone; there appear no remnants, no footsteps, of it. <i>Where is
the feeding place of the young lions,</i> where they glutted
themselves with prey? The princes of Nineveh had been as lions, as
beasts of prey; cruel tyrants are no better, nay, in this respect
much worse—that, being men, humanity is expected from them; nay,
if they were indeed lions, they would not prey upon those of their
own kind. <i>Savis inter se convenit ursæ—Fierce bears agree
together.</i> But in the shape of men they had the cruelty of
lions: they walked in Nineveh as a lion in the woods, and <i>none
made them afraid;</i> every one stood in awe of them, and they were
under no apprehensions of danger from any; though nobody loved
them, every body feared them, and that was all they desired.
<i>Oderint, dum metuant—Let them hate, so that they do but
fear.</i> The king himself, as well as every prince, made it his
business, by all the arts of violence and extortion, to enrich
himself and raise his family; he did <i>tear in pieces enough for
his whelps</i> (and no little would be enough for them) and he
<i>strangled for his lioness,</i> killed all that came near him,
and seized what they had for his children, for his wives and
concubines, and <i>filled his holes with prey and his dens with
ravin,</i> as lions are wont to do. Note, Many make it an excuse
for their rapine and injustice that they have wives and children to
provide for, whereas what is so got will never do them any good;
those that <i>fear the Lord,</i> and get what they have honestly,
shall not want a competency for themselves and theirs; <i>verily
they shall be fed,</i> when <i>the young lions,</i> though dens and
holes were <i>filled with prey and ravin</i> for them, <i>shall
lack, and suffer hunger,</i> <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.34.10" parsed="|Ps|34|10|0|0" passage="Ps 34:10">Ps.
xxxiv. 10</scripRef>. 2. It is avowed by the righteous Judge of
heaven and earth; it is his doing, and let all the world take
notice that it is so (<scripRef id="Nah.iii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Nah.2.13" parsed="|Nah|2|13|0|0" passage="Na 2:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of
hosts.</i> And what good can hosts do for her in her defence, when
<i>the Lord of hosts</i> is against her for her destruction? The
oppressors in Nineveh thought they only set their neighbours
against them, who were not a match for them, and whom they could
easily overpower; but it proved they set God against them, who is,
and will be, the asserter of right and the avenger of wrong. God is
against the princes of Nineveh, and then, (1.) These military
preparations will stand them in no stead: <i>I will burn their
chariots in the smoke;</i> he does not say <i>in the fire,</i> but,
in contempt of them, the very <i>smoke</i> of God's indignation
shall serve to burn their chariots; they shall be consumed as soon
as the fire of his indignation is kindled, while as yet it does but
smoke, and not flame out. Or, The drivers of the chariots shall be
smothered and stifled with the smoke; then the <i>chariots of their
glory</i> shall be the shame of their families, <scripRef id="Nah.iii-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.22.18" parsed="|Isa|22|18|0|0" passage="Isa 22:18">Isa. xxii. 18</scripRef>. (2.) Their children, the
hopes of their families, shall be cut off: <i>The sword shall
devour the young lions,</i> whom they were so solicitous to provide
for by oppression and extortion. Note, It is just with God to
deprive those of their children, or (which is all one) of comfort
in them, that take sinful courses to enrich them, and (as has been
said of some) damn their souls to make their sons gentlemen. (3.)
The wealth they have heaped up by fraud and violence shall neither
be enjoyed by them nor employed for them: <i>I will cut off thy
prey from the earth;</i> not only thou shalt not be the better for
it, but no one else shall. Some understand it of the disabling of
them for the future to prey upon their neighbours. (4.) Their
agents abroad shall not have that respect from their neighbours and
that influence upon them which sometimes they had had: <i>The voice
of thy messengers shall no more be heard,</i> no more be heeded,
which some think refers to Rabshakeh, one of Nineveh's messengers,
that had blasphemed the living God, an iniquity which was
remembered against Nineveh long after. Those are not worthy to be
heard again that have once spoken reproachfully of God.</p>
</div></div2>