CRITICAL NOTES. Dasheth] Lit. disperser. Keep] in Judah peace, in Nineveh tumult. Watch] for the enemy. Loins] Prepare for conflict (Job 40:7). Every means of defence will be necessary.
HOMILETICS
THE CAUSE AND PREPARATIONS OF WAR.—Nahum 2:1
Whether these words be applied to the Jews defending Jerusalem, or to the Ninevites defending their city against the Medo-Babylonian army, their meaning is the same. They begin a lively description of the siege.
I. The cause of the war. “For the emptiers have emptied them out.”
1. The Assyrians had oppressed God’s people. They had abused their power in the chastisement of Israel, plundered the people, and outrageously destroyed their vines. Now the emptiers must be emptied, and those who chastised others must be chastised themselves. “Power abused brings a curse upon its possessors. Power gives temptation, which in turn sets aside honour, social duty, law, and right; creates abuse; and abuse, strife, confusion, retribution, bloodshed, sin” [Bailey].
2. God’s purpose concerning his people was accomplished. The enemy falls, but God will restore his people. He will re-establish the glory of Israel which Asshur had destroyed. Its eminence, by virtue of its election, will no longer be tarnished. God sees an excellency in his people which the world does not, and eventually will make them “an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.”
II. The approach of the enemy. “He that dasheth in pieces is come up.” Notice,
1. The nature of the enemy. “The dasher in pieces,” not a hammer of war, but one whom God employed to scatter other nations. The feeblest people, in God’s hands, may be a terror to others The mightiest nations, intoxicated with success, and abusive of their privileges, may be broken in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
2. The nearness of the enemy. “Before thy face.” Direct against her, face to face. Men are not sensible of their danger, put the evil day far off, when it is nigh at hand. “Serious things to-morrow,” said the ancient prince, who gave himself to revelry, and was ruined with his kingdom.
III. The defence of the city. Some take the words ironically, and equivalent to a prediction. Thou shalt defend thyself, but all in vain. The most powerful and courageous preparations are matters of derision before God.
1. Keep the fortress. “Keep the munition.” Strong walls, though unassailable by human skill, would not be secure.
2. Guard the avenues. “Watch the way” by which the foe may come and repel him. Prevent entrance into the city.
3. Encourage one another. “Make thy loins strong.” Gather up courage, and let nothing be unemployed. Stand, having your loins girt about like men (Ephesians 6:14; Job 40:7).
4. Resist mightily. “Fortify thy power mightily.” It is a desperate affair, no careless, timid defence will avail. Nor will the utmost the wicked can do prevail against God. Impotent are all efforts of defence when God has departed from a place. “The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Nahum 2:1-2. Dasher in pieces. Demetrius was surnamed Poliorcestes, the destroyer of cities; Attilas called himself Orbis flagellum, the scourge of the world. Julius Cæsar was Fulmen belli, the thunderbolt of war; he had taken in his time a thousand towns, conquered three hundred nations, took prisoners one million of men, and slain as many. These were dissipatores indeed, and dashers in pieces, rods of God’s wrath; and this they took to be a main piece of their glory [Trapp].
Nahum 2:3-4. Chariots were objects of great interest. “Their charioteers had an air of perfect fearlessness; they dashed along as if caring for nothing, but resolved upon crushing everything. These declarations are perfectly accurate, and cannot be more evident than the sculptures and bas-reliefs of Nineveh have shown them to be. Their chariots are represented, covered with costly decorations and Sabean symbols; and their horses are exhibited in almost every variety of attitude—rearing, running and rushing—exactly as we should have supposed them to be, after reading that which is said of them in the prophecies.”
The siege was no easy task. History declares that the king, at the approach of the enemy, collected all his active forces—that the besieging army was three times severely defeated, and that the Medes could only be held with great difficulty to the work. The Assyrians abandoned themselves to negligent rejoicing in the camps before the gates on account of victory, but were attacked in the night and driven back to the walls. Salæmenes, brother-in-law to the king, who had resigned the command to him, was driven into the Tigris (cf. ch. Nahum 3:3); but the city was still uninjured, and the enemy encamped in vain before the gates. In the spring of the third year other powers interfered. The river became “an enemy to the city” (cf. Nahum 2:7; Nahum 1:8-10). The inundation occurred suddenly, and violently broke down in one night the walls on the river. The king despaired of his life, and having sent his family to the north, shut himself up with all his treasures, and burned himself in the royal citadel. Immense booty was carried away. The city was plundered, sacked, and set on fire [Lange, Introduction to Nahum].