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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Micah';
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Title = 'The Book of Nahum';
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<p id="Chapter1" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 1
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<p id="Na1_1"><a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,'1-15');">Nah 1:1-15</a>. JEHOVAH'S ATTRIBUTES AS A JEALOUS JUDGE OF SIN, YET MERCIFUL TO HIS TRUSTING PEOPLE, SHOULD INSPIRE THEM WITH CONFIDENCE. HE WILL NOT ALLOW THE ASSYRIANS AGAIN TO ASSAIL THEM, BUT WILL DESTROY THE FOE.
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<p><b>1. burden of Nineveh</b>—the <i>prophetic doom</i> of Nineveh. Nahum prophesied against that city a hundred fifty years after Jonah.
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<p id="Na1_2"><b>2. jealous</b>—In this there is sternness, yet tender affection. We are jealous only of those we love: a husband, of a wife; a king, of his subjects' loyalty. God is jealous of men because He loves them. God will not bear a rival in His claims on them. His burning jealousy for His own wounded honor and their love, as much as His justice, accounts for all His fearful judgments: the flood, the destruction of Jerusalem, that of Nineveh. His jealousy will not admit of His friends being oppressed, and their enemies flourishing (compare <a onclick="return mV('Exd',20,5);">Exd 20:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',16,22);">1Cr 16:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',11,2);">2Cr 11:2</a>). <i>Burning zeal</i> enters into the idea in "jealous" here (compare <a onclick="return mV('Num',25,11, 13);">Num 25:11, 13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ki',19,10);">1Ki 19:10</a>).
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<br><br><b>the Lord revengeth...Lord revengeth</b>—The repetition of the incommunicable name JEHOVAH, and of His <i>revenging,</i> gives an awful solemnity to the introduction.
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<br><br><b>furious</b>—literally, "a master of fury." So <i>a master of the tongue,</i> that is, "eloquent." "One who, if He pleases, can most readily give effect to His fury" [GROTIUS]. Nahum has in view the provocation to fury given to God by the Assyrians, after having carried away the ten tribes, now proceeding to invade Judea under Hezekiah.
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<br><br><b>reserveth wrath for his enemies</b>—<i>reserves it</i> against His own appointed time (<a onclick="return mV('2Pe',2,9);">2Pe 2:9</a>). After long waiting for their repentance in vain, at length punishing them. A wrong estimate of Jehovah is formed from His suspending punishment: it is not that He is insensible or dilatory, but He reserves wrath for His own fit time. In the case of the penitent, He does not <i>reserve</i> or retain His anger (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',103,9);">Psa 103:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,5,12);">Jer 3:5,12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mic',7,18);">Mic 7:18</a>).
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<p id="Na1_3"><b>3. slow to anger, and great in power</b>—that is, <i>but</i> great in power, so as to be able in a moment, if He pleases, to destroy the wicked. His long-suffering is not from want of power to punish (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',34,6,7);">Exd 34:6-7</a>).
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<br><br><b>not at all acquit</b>—literally, "will not acquitting acquit," or treat as innocent.
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<br><br><b>Lord hath his way in the whirlwind</b>—From this to <a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,5);">Nah 1:5</a>, inclusive, is a description of His power exhibited in the phenomena of nature, especially when He is wroth. His vengeance shall sweep away the Assyrian foe like a whirlwind (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',10,25);">Pro 10:25</a>).
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<br><br><b>clouds are the dust of his feet</b>—Large as they are, He treads on them, as a man would on the small dust; He is Lord of the clouds, and uses them as He pleases.
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<p id="Na1_4"><b>4. rebuketh the sea</b>—as Jesus did (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',8,26);">Mat 8:26</a>), proving Himself God (compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',50,2);">Isa 50:2</a> ).
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<br><br><b>Bashan languisheth</b>—through drought; ordinarily it was a region famed for its rich pasturage (compare <a onclick="return mV('Joe',1,10);">Joe 1:10</a>).
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<br><br><b>flower of Lebanon</b>—<i>its bloom;</i> all that blooms so luxuriantly on Lebanon (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',14,7);">Hsa 14:7</a>). As Bashan was famed for its pastures, Carmel for its corn fields and vineyards, so Lebanon for its forests (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',33,9);">Isa 33:9</a>). There is nothing in the world so blooming that God cannot change it when He is wroth.
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<p id="Na1_5"><b>5. earth is burned</b>—so GROTIUS. Rather, "lifts itself," that is, "heaveth" [MAURER]: as the <i>Hebrew</i> is translated in <a onclick="return mV('Psa',89,9);">Psa 89:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',13,1);">Hsa 13:1</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('2Sa',5,21);">2Sa 5:21</a>, <i>Margin.</i>
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<p id="Na1_6"><b>6. fury is poured out like fire</b>—like the liquid fire poured out of volcanoes in all directions (see <a onclick="return mV('Jer',7,20);">Jer 7:20</a>).
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<br><br><b>rocks are thrown down</b>—or, "are burnt asunder"; the usual effect of volcanic fire (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',51,25,56);">Jer 51:25, 56</a>). As Hannibal burst asunder the Alpine rocks by fire to make a passage for his army [GROTIUS].
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<p id="Na1_7"><b>7.</b> Here Nahum enters on his special subject, for which the previous verses have prepared the way, namely, to assure his people of safety in Jehovah under the impending attack of Sennacherib (<a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,7);">Nah 1:7</a>), and to announce the doom of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian foe (<a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,8);">Nah 1:8</a>). The contrast of <a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,7,8);">Nah 1:7-8</a> heightens the force.
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<br><br><b>he knoweth</b>—recognizes as His own (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',13,5);">Hsa 13:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',3,2);">Amo 3:2</a>); and so, cares for and guards (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',1,6);">Psa 1:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ti',2,19);">2Ti 2:19</a>).
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<p id="Na1_8"><b>8. with an overrunning flood</b>—that is, with irresistible might which <i>overruns</i> every barrier like a flood. This image is often applied to overwhelming <i>armies</i> of invaders. Also of <i>calamity</i> in general (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',32,6);">Psa 32:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',42,7);">42:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',90,5);">90:5</a>). There is, perhaps, a special allusion to the mode of Nineveh's capture by the Medo-Babylonian army; namely, through a <i>flood</i> in the river which broke down the wall twenty furlongs (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Nah/Nah002.html#Na2_6">Nah 2:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',8,8);">Isa 8:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',9,26);">Dan 9:26</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',11,10,22,40);">11:10, 22, 40</a>).
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<br><br><b>end of the place thereof</b>—Nineveh is personified as a queen; and "<i>her</i> place" of residence (the <i>Hebrew</i> for "thereof" is feminine) is <i>the city itself</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Nah',2,8);">Nah 2:8</a>), [MAURER]. Or, He shall so utterly destroy Nineveh that its place cannot be found; <a onclick="return mV('Nah',3,17);">Nah 3:17</a> confirms this (compare <a onclick="return mV('Psa',37,36);">Psa 37:36</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,35);">Dan 2:35</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',12,8);">Rev 12:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',20,11);">20:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>darkness</b>—the severest calamities.
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<p id="Na1_9"><b>9. What do ye imagine against the Lord?</b>—abrupt address to the Assyrians. How mad is your attempt, O Assyrians, to resist so powerful a God! What can ye do against such an adversary, successful though ye have been against all other adversaries? Ye <i>imagine</i> ye have to <i>do</i> merely with mortals and with a weak people, and that so you will gain an easy victory; but you have to encounter God, the protector of His people. Parallel to <a onclick="return mV('Isa',37,'23-29');">Isa 37:23-29</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Psa',1,1);">Psa 1:1</a>.
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<br><br><b>he will make an utter end</b>—The utter overthrow of Sennacherib's host, soon about to take place, is an earnest of the "utter end" of Nineveh itself.
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<br><br><b>affliction shall not rise up the second time</b>—Judah's "affliction" caused by the invasion shall never rise again. So <a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,12);">Nah 1:12</a>. But CALVIN takes the "affliction" to be that <i>of Assyria:</i> "There will be no need of His inflicting on you a second blow: He will make an utter end of you once for all" (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',3,12);">1Sa 3:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Sa',26,8);">26:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Sa',20,10);">2Sa 20:10</a>). If so, this verse, in contrast to <a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,12);">Nah 1:12</a>, will express, Affliction shall visit the Assyrian no more, in a sense very different from that in which God will afflict Judah no more. In the Assyrian's case, because the blow will be fatally final; the latter, because God will make lasting blessedness in Judah's case succeed temporary chastisement. But it seems simpler to refer "affliction" here, as in <a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,12);">Nah 1:12</a>, to Judah; indeed <i>destruction,</i> rather than <i>affliction,</i> applies to the Assyrian.
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<p id="Na1_10"><b>10. while they are folden together as thorns</b>—literally, "<i>to the same degree as thorns</i>" (compare <a onclick="return mV('1Ch',4,27);">1Ch 4:27</a>, <i>Margin</i>). As thorns, so folded together and entangled that they cannot be loosed asunder without trouble, are thrown by the husbandmen all in a mass into the fire, so the Assyrians shall all be given together to destruction. Compare <a onclick="return mV('2Sa',23,6-7);">2Sa 23:6-7</a>, where also "thorns" are the image of the wicked. As this image represents the speediness of their destruction <i>in a mass,</i> so that of "drunkards," their rushing as it were <i>of their own accord</i> into it; for drunkards fall down without any one pushing them [KIMCHI]. CALVIN explains, <i>Although</i> ye be <i>dangerous to touch</i> as thorns (that is, full of rage and violence), yet the Lord can easily consume you. But "although" will hardly apply to the next clause. <i>English Version</i> and KIMCHI, therefore, are to be preferred. The comparison to drunkards is appropriate. For drunkards, though exulting and bold, are weak and easily thrown down by even a finger touching them. So the insolent self-confidence of the Assyrians shall precipitate their overthrow by God. The <i>Hebrew</i> is "<i>soaked,</i>" or "drunken as with their own wine." Their drunken revelries are perhaps <i>alluded to,</i> during which the foe (according to DIODORUS SICULUS [2]) broke into their city, and Sardanapalus <i>burned</i> his palace; though the main and ultimate destruction of Nineveh referred to by Nahum was long subsequent to that under Sardanapalus.
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<p id="Na1_11"><b>11.</b> The cause of Nineveh's overthrow: Sennacherib's plots against Judah.
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<br><br><b>come out of thee</b>—O Nineveh. From thyself shall arise the source of thy own ruin. Thou shalt have only thyself to blame for it.
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<br><br><b>imagineth evil</b>—Sennacherib carried out the <i>imaginations</i> of his countrymen (<a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,9);">Nah 1:9</a>) against the Lord and His people (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',19,22,23);">2Ki 19:22-23</a>).
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<br><br><b>a wicked counsellor</b>—literally, "a counsellor of Belial." Belial means "without profit," worthless, and so bad (<a onclick="return mV('1Sa',25,25);">1Sa 25:25</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',6,15);">2Cr 6:15</a>).
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<p id="Na1_12"><b>12-14.</b> The same truths repeated as in <a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,'9-11');">Nah 1:9-11</a>, Jehovah here being the speaker. He addresses Judah, prophesying good to it, and evil to the Assyrian.
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<br><br><b>Though they be quiet</b>—that is, without fear, and tranquilly secure. So <i>Chaldee</i> and CALVIN. Or, "entire," "complete"; "Though their power be <i>unbroken</i> [MAURER], and though they be <i>so many, yet even so</i> they shall be cut down" (literally, "shorn"; as <i>hair shaved off closely by a razor,</i> <a onclick="return mV('Isa',7,20);">Isa 7:20</a>). As the Assyrian was a razor shaving others, so shall he be shaven himself. Retribution in kind. In the height of their pride and power, they shall be clean cut off. The same <i>Hebrew</i> stands for "likewise" and "yet thus." So <i>many</i> as they are, so many shall they perish.
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<br><br><b>when he shall pass through</b>—or, "and he shall pass away," namely, "the wicked counsellor" (<a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,11);">Nah 1:11</a>), Sennacherib. The change of number to the <i>singular</i> distinguishes <i>him</i> from <i>his host. They</i> shall be cut down, <i>he</i> shall pass away home (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',19,35,36);">2Ki 19:35-36</a>) [HENDERSON]. <i>English Version</i> is better, "they shall be cut down, "when" He (Jehovah) shall pass through," destroying by one stroke the Assyrian host. This gives the reason why they with all their numbers and power are to be so utterly cut off. Compare "pass through," that is, in destroying power (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',12,12,23);">Eze 12:12, 23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',8,8);">Isa 8:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',11,10);">Dan 11:10</a>).
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<br><br><b>Though I have afflicted thee</b>—Judah, "I will afflict thee no more" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',40,1,2);">Isa 40:1-2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',52,1,);">52:1-2</a>). The contrast is between "they," the Assyrians, and "thee," Judah. <i>Their</i> punishment is fatal and final. Judah's was temporary and corrective.
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<p id="Na1_13"><b>13. will I break his yoke</b>—the Assyrian's yoke, namely, the tribute imposed by Sennacherib on Hezekiah (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',18,14);">2Ki 18:14</a>).
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<br><br><b>from off thee</b>—O Judah (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',10,27);">Isa 10:27</a>).
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<p id="Na1_14"><b>14. that no more of thy name be sown</b>—that no more of thy seed, bearing thy name, as kings of Nineveh, be propagated; that thy dynasty become extinct, namely, on the destruction of Nineveh here foretold; "thee" means the <i>king of Assyria.</i>
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<br><br><b>will I cut off...graven image</b>—The Medes under Cyaxares, the joint destroyers of Nineveh with the Babylonians, hated idolatry, and would delight in destroying its idols. As the Assyrians had treated the gods of other nations, so their own should be treated (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',19,18);">2Ki 19:18</a>). The Assyrian palaces partook of a sacred character [LAYARD]; so that "house of thy gods" <i>may</i> refer to the <i>palace.</i> At Khorsabad there is remaining a representation of a man cutting an idol to pieces.
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<br><br><b>I will make thy grave</b>—rather, "I will make it (namely, 'the house of thy gods,' that is, 'Nisroch') thy grave" (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',19,37);">2Ki 19:37</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',37,38);">Isa 37:38</a>). Thus, by Sennacherib's being slain in it, Nisroch's house should be defiled. Neither thy gods, nor thy temple, shall save thee; but the latter shall be thy sepulchre.
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<br><br><b>thou art vile</b>—or, thou art lighter than due weight (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',5,27);">Dan 5:27</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Job',31,6);">Job 31:6</a>) [MAURER].
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<p id="Na1_15"><b>15.</b> This verse is joined in the <i>Hebrew</i> text to the second chapter. It is nearly the same as <a onclick="return mV('Isa',52,7);">Isa 52:7</a>, referring to the similar deliverance from Babylon.
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<br><br><b>him that bringeth good tidings</b>—announcing the overthrow of Sennacherib and deliverance of Jerusalem. The "mountains" are those round Jerusalem, on which Sennacherib's host had so lately encamped, preventing Judah from keeping her "feasts," but on which messengers now speed to Jerusalem, publishing his overthrow with a loud voice where lately they durst not have opened their mouths. A type of the far more glorious spiritual deliverance of God's people from Satan by Messiah, heralded by ministers of the Gospel (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',10,15);">Rom 10:15</a>).
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<br><br><b>perform thy vows</b>—which thou didst promise if God would deliver thee from the Assyrian.
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<br><br><b>the wicked</b>—literally, "Belial"; the same as the "counsellor of Belial" (<a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,11);">Nah 1:11</a>, <i>Margin</i>); namely, Sennacherib.
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