Devotional
Commentary on Nahum 2
On the
mountains a herald was announcing peace (verse 1). Judah was to keep their
feasts and vows for the wicked one shall no longer continue to pass through
you, he has been completely cut off (verse 1).
The scatterer
who came up before Judah is besieged by a siege. Assyria came up but now Nahum
sees the fall of Assyria (verse 2).
For the Lord has
restored the pride of Jacob as the pride of Israel, for the emptiers have
emptied them out and destroyed their branches (2:3)
The Arabic
translation of Yaphet is problematic here: "For the Lord brings back the
power of Jacob, as the power of Israel, now they have overthrown them and
destroyed their cities". Branches as cities? He sees the scatterer as
Israel who is restored firstly, and secondly he said that if the scatterer is
the enemy that marches "against Babel (Bagdad)" then it means that
God will bring salvation by the Messiah Who is the might of Jacob.
Because of the
many harlotries of the harlot, charming and enchanting, who delivers nations
with her harlotries, and families with her enchantments (3:4)
The punishment in
this chapter used the same words that we find for the punishment predicted
against Satan and his proxies in Isaiah 14:12-4, Daniel 8:11 and Ezechiel 28,
namely the word hishlak = to scatter to the ground. See the word used in Nahum
3:6. Yaphet made the comment about the above verse, "this is explained in
the direction of Babel [= Mohammed's descendants in his thinking] the verse
describes the alluring ways of the Little Horn and its armed strength, by means
of which the king holds power as alluded to in Daniel 9." It is
interesting that someone as early as 980 could operate with a Little Horn
identification for the year post 680. Of course the true identification lies
not with Islam but with the Roman elements of the religion so that the Vatican
is a better choice. It also connects better with the year day principle applied
to the time zones mentioned in Daniel.
Nahum saw in verse
5 that there is no good outcome for the Assyrians.
The Assyrians
shall remember their mighty men but they shall stagger (verse 6).
The terrible view
for them is that the gates have opened and the palace has dissolved (verse 7). Their
queen and maidens were taken away in great distress (verse 8).
Niniveh is like a
pool of water (verse 9).
They plunder
silver and gold and there is no end in the treasures to sweep out of all
precious vessels (verse 10).
All of them are in
a state of shock and terrified (verse 11).
It has become a
hideout place for lions and their offspring, a lion habitat (verse 12-13).
Are you better
than No-Amon which is situated among the rivers?
Yaphet translated
in 980 "Are you better than the city of Alexandria which sits by the
canals, water surrounds her". The concept that No-Amon is Alexandria was
also suggested later by Rashi, Redak, Kara and Targum Jonathan to the prophets.
Ibn Ezra felt that it was an Egyptian city that was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar
on his way to Niniveh. It is definitely not Alexandria since this city was
created by Alexander the Great and Nahum lived in the 7th century BCE. My
professor Charles Fensham suggested that it refers to Memphis. Nahum saw that
the Lord will bring fire over the chariots and that He will cut off their prey
from the land (verse 14).
About the fall
of Niniveh Ellen White said: “"The pride of Assyria and its fall
are to serve as an object lesson to the end of time. Ellen White, Prophets
and Kings, page 366.
In the 1963
Sabbath School Quarterly on the Minor Prophets by A. V. Wallenkampf, “Nineveh's destruction was made complete.
All that remains today of the ancient city are two great mounds. . . . So complete,
indeed, were Nineveh's ruins that Zenophon scarcely recognized the site; Alexander
the Great marched by, not knowing that a world-empire was buried under his
feet.’ Lucian wrote, ‘Nineveh is perished, and there is no trace
left where once it was.’ Gibbon records that as early as A.D. 62, ‘the city and even the ruins of the city,
had long disappeared.’ The traveler Niebuhr in 1766 passed over
the site without knowing it. Only since Layard and Botta identified the site in
1842 has the city begun to be recognized by the modern world.”—George L.
Robinson, The Twelve Minor Prophets, page 111.
Dear Lord
Prophecy is
true because the messages are coming from You. Keep us in the hollow of Your
hand and guide us step by step. In Jesus Name, Amen.