View Nahum 2 in the note window.
The approach of the enemy and taking the city, ver. 1 - 6.
The consequences thereof, ver. 7 - 10.
Sin the cause of all, ver. 11 - 13.
1: He - The Medes or Chaldeans, that dash Nineveh
in pieces. The munition - The forts.
Make thy loins strong - Strengthen thyself.
2: For - Israel and Jacob were more to God, yet he punished
them; much more will he punish Nineveh. Turned - Laid low.
The excellency - The wealth, the valiant men, all that Jacob gloried
in. Jacob - The two tribes. Israel - The ten tribes.
Emptied them - Quite exhausted them. Their vine - branches - Destroyed
all the fruit of the land.
3: The shield - One part for the whole of the armour, and
furniture. Mighty men - Medes or Chaldeans. Red - With the
blood of the slain. Torches - Torches were always carried in them.
In the day - When he shall muster his armies. Shaken - By axes cutting
them down for the war.
4: In the streets - Of Nineveh, when taken. Justle - By reason
of their multitude and fury. In the broad ways - Where is most room,
and yet scarce enough for them to move. Like torches - What with
sparkling fire caused by their horses and chariots, what with the
glittering of the polished irons about them, and what with the light
of flaming torches carried in them. Like the lightnings - Both for speed,
irrestibleness and terror.
5: He - The king of Babylon. His worthies - Approved officers
and commanders. Stumble - Shew such forwardness, that they shall
not stand to pick their way. They - The Assyrians to defend, the
Chaldeans to assault the walls of Nineveh.
6: The gates - Of the city toward the river. The rivers - Of
the Tigris, upon which Nineveh stood. Dissolved - While the
Chaldeans besieged Nineveh, a mighty deluge overthrew the walls
of Nineveh, by the space of twenty furlongs, through which breach
the besiegers made their entrance. Dissolved - As if melted, it shall
drop to pieces.
7: Huzzab - The queen. The voice of doves - Sighing out their
complaints. Upon their breasts - Instead of musical instruments,
on which they were used to play, now they only strike their breasts.
8: Like a pool - Very populous, like a pool which hath been long
breeding fish, and is full of them. Yet - Yet these multitudes shall
flee discomfited and terrified. They - The chieftains, and most valiant
among the Ninevites.
9: Take - Thus the Chaldeans encourage one another in the
plundering of the city.
11: Of the lions - Tyrants and bloody warriors.
12: Did tear - Formerly fell upon his neighbour nations.
His lionesses - Queens, concubines, or ladies in the Assyrian court.
13: I will burn her - Nineveh. In the smoke - The city being
first plundered, then burnt; these chariots were burnt in that smoke.
Thy prey - Cause thee to cease from making a prey any more.
Thy messengers - Embassadors or muster - masters. Probably this refers to
Rabshaketh who had blasphemed the living God. Those are not worthy to
be heard again, that have once spoken reproachfully against God.
