Study Notes

1:1 The title of the book. prophecy. See Isa 13:1; Hab 1:1 and notes. Nineveh. See Introduction: Background; see also notes on Jnh 1:2; 3:3. Here the capital city stands for the entire Assyrian Empire. vision. See Pr 29:18; Isa 1:1; Ob 1 and notes. Nahum the Elkoshite. See Introduction: Author.

1:2–3 God’s covenant name Yahweh (“the LORD”) is emphasized here (see notes on Ge 2:4; Ex 3:14–15; 6:6; Dt 28:58).

1:2 jealous. See note on Ex 20:5. avenging . . . vengeance . . . vengeance. God acts justly in judgment toward all who oppose him and his kingdom. The repetition is for emphasis (see note on Jer 7:4). “It is mine to avenge; I will repay” (Dt 32:35; see note there; see also Ro 12:19), says the Lord. wrath. See notes on Ps 2:5; Ro 1:18.

1:3 slow to anger . . . not leave the guilty unpunished. An echo of God’s self-revelation in Ex 34:6–7 (see note there). the guilty. Such as Nineveh. whirlwind . . . storm . . . clouds. Awesome natural phenomena that display God’s majesty and power. See notes on Job 38:1; Ps 18:7–15; 68:4; 77:16–19; 104:3–4.

1:4 rebukes the sea and dries it up. As at the crossing of the Red Sea (see Ex 14:1—15:12; see also Ps 18:15 and note). makes all the rivers run dry. As at the crossing of the Jordan (see Jos 3:1—4:24 and note). Bashan . . . Carmel . . . Lebanon. See notes on Ps 22:12; SS 7:5; Isa 2:13; 33:9; 35:2; Eze 39:18; Am 4:1. These three places were noted for their fertility, vineyards and trees, but at the Lord’s word they wither.

1:5 mountains . . . hills . . . earth . . . world. Emblems of stability and permanence.

1:6 Who can withstand . . . ? Who can endure . . . ? Rhetorical questions. If mountains quake before the Lord (v. 5), what human beings can think that they are not vulnerable? Cf. Ro 2:3–5; Rev 6:17.

1:7 those who trust in him. Such as Judah.

1:8 overwhelming flood. Symbolic of an invading army (Isa 8:7–8; 28:17–19). The Hebrew root for the word translated here as “overwhelming” is the same as that translated as “endless” in the last verse of the book (3:19). In this way the prophet shows that Nineveh’s judgment is commensurate with their crime. The nations had felt Nineveh’s “endless” (ʿbr) cruelty; Nineveh would now be destroyed by an “overwhelming” (ʿbr) flood.

1:9 they plot. See note on v. 11. trouble will not come a second time. God’s judgment on Assyria will be final; they will never again be a threat (see note on 3:19).

1:10 drunk from their wine. See 3:11 and note; see also NIV text note.

1:11 one . . . who plots evil. Possibly the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (669–627 bc), the last great Assyrian king, whose western expeditions succeeded in subduing Egypt and to whom King Manasseh had to submit as a vassal (see 2Ch 33:11–13 and notes on 33:11; Ezr 4:9–10). plots evil against the LORD. All such schemes end in futility and destruction (Ps 2:1–4).

1:12 they. The Assyrians. I have afflicted you. God had used Assyria as the rod of his anger against his covenant-breaking people in the days of Ahaz (Isa 10:5) and again in the time of Manasseh.

1:13 See Jer 27:2 and note. I will break their yoke. Judah was Assyria’s vassal; that yoke would be broken.

1:14 I will prepare your grave. God used the Babylonians and Medes to dig Nineveh’s grave in 612 bc. For the fulfillment of this prophecy, see Eze 32:22–23.

1:15 mountains. Of Judah. feet of one who brings good news. This verse sets forth a principle that is applicable in several contexts of deliverance. Here the reference is to the good news of deliverance from the Assyrian threat; in Isa 52:7, deliverance from Babylonian exile; in Ro 10:15, deliverance from sin and death through the gospel (“good news”) of Christ. Celebrate your festivals. In the joy of your deliverance. fulfill your vows. Those you uttered in the time of distress (see notes on Ps 7:17; 50:14; Jnh 2:9), specifically the ones you made during the period of Assyrian oppression. No more will the wicked invade you. The Assyrian invasion in the days of Manasseh was the last (see v. 12 and note). wicked. See note on Dt 13:13. completely destroyed. Fulfilled in 612 when Nineveh fell (see note on v. 14).

2:1 attacker. Refers to the alliance of the Medes under Cyaxares and the Babylonians under Nabopolassar. Guard the fortress . . . marshal all your strength! Probably sarcastic. road. By which the enemies will come.

2:2 restore the splendor of Jacob . . . Israel. The nation will be restored to its previous greatness.

2:3 the soldiers. Those of the attacker (v. 1), or perhaps those of Nineveh itself. red. Either (1) the color of the shields, (2) a reference to blood on them or (3) the result of the reflection of the sun shining on them. brandished. Ready to use.

2:4 chariots . . . rushing. Refers to either (1) the Assyrian war chariots, as the Assyrians take frantic but vain steps to defend themselves, or (2) the chariots of Nineveh’s invaders.

2:5 Nineveh. That is, the king of Assyria. city wall. A moat 150 feet wide had to be filled in before reaching Nineveh’s wall, which was almost 8 miles long with 15 gates. Then battering rams were moved up. protective shield. A large defensive framework covered with hides to deflect stones and arrows.

2:6 river gates. Perhaps the dams on the Khoser River, which ran through the city to the Tigris River. They were either already in place or quickly built to back up the river water, then suddenly released so the flood would damage the walls. palace collapses. One ancient historian (the author of the Babylonian Chronicles) speaks of a flood that washed away some of the wall, making it easier for the invaders to enter the city (see photo).

2:7 female slaves. Even the lowest in the social order will not escape the judgment.

2:8 like a pool . . . water is draining away. Some think that this refers to the Tigris and the smaller rivers encircling and running through parts of the city, as well as to a system of dams to make the city more impenetrable. Others take the language less literally as a reference to Nineveh’s people fleeing, like water draining from a pool.

2:9 The cry of the invaders.

2:10 pillaged, plundered, stripped! The Babylonian Chronicles confirm the fact that a great quantity of plunder was carried off by the invaders. Hearts melt. The powerful, insolent Ninevites become helpless with fear.

2:11–13 Nahum ironically contrasts the devastated and desolate city of Nineveh with its former glory and power, expressed in figurative terms.

2:11 lion and lioness. See Isa 5:29; Jer 4:7. The lion is an appropriate image to apply to Assyria because of the rapacious ways of the Assyrian monarchs and because Nineveh contained numerous lion sculptures.

2:12 filling his lairs . . . with the prey. Nineveh was filled with the spoils of war from many conquered nations.

2:13 I will burn up. Nineveh’s fall will be an act of divine judgment. Nineveh had been put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to destruction. voices . . . no longer be heard. History has confirmed this prediction.

3:1–3 See note on Joel 2:3–11.

3:1 city of blood. Nineveh’s bloody massacres of its conquered rivals were well known. never without victims. The Assyrians were noted for their ruthlessness, brutality and terrible atrocities. Many of their victims were beheaded, impaled or burned.

3:3 piles of dead. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III boasted of erecting a pyramid of chopped-off heads in front of an enemy’s city. Other Assyrian kings stacked corpses like cordwood by the gates of defeated cities. Nahum’s description of the cruel Assyrians is apropos.

3:4 prostitute . . . prostitution. The lure of luxury and wealth brought multitudes to Nineveh, but like the allurements of a prostitute it did not yield life’s true pleasures. sorceries . . . witchcraft. Pagan practices (see Dt 18:10 and note on 18:9).

3:5 lift your skirts over your face. A common way to shame and punish prostitutes and adulterous women (see notes on Isa 47:3; Jer 13:22; Hos 2:3,10).

3:7 who . . . ? Where . . . ? Rhetorical questions. Nineveh will receive no sympathy.

3:8 Thebes. Hebrew No Amon, which means “city of (the god) Amun.” Thebes was the great capital of Upper (southern) Egypt. Its site is occupied today by the towns of Luxor and Karnak. It was destroyed by the Assyrians in 663 bc. See photos here and here.

3:9 Put and Libya. Perhaps better “Put (i.e., Libya)”; see notes on Ge 10:6; Eze 27:10; 30:5.

3:10 Her infants were dashed to pieces. See Ps 137:9; Isa 13:16; Hos 13:16 and notes. her great men were put in chains. Assyrian kings often did this; e.g., King Ashurbanipal gave this description of his treatment of a captured leader: “I . . . put a dog chain on him and made him occupy a kennel at the eastern gate of Nineveh.”

3:11 will become drunk. Probably from the cup of God’s wrath (see Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15; Eze 23:31 and notes).

3:12 like fig trees with their first ripe fruit. A simile for the eagerness with which the victors gather the rich loot of Nineveh. figs fall into the mouth of the eater. Nineveh’s fortresses will finally fall just as easily.

3:13 your troops . . . are all weaklings. They are unable to stand against the invading armies (see Jer 51:30 and note).

3:14 Draw water. A normal preparation for siege. strengthen your defenses! Irony, the point being that it will do no good (see 2:1 and note).

3:15 There. Inside your strong fortifications. fire will consume you. Confirmed by history and archaeology. Assyria’s king died in the flames of his palace.

3:16 your merchants . . . are more numerous than the stars. Speaks of Assyria’s vast trading and commercial enterprises.

3:17 locusts. Feared by the farmers of the ancient Near East, because they came in huge swarms and devoured everything in their path. Their activity provided an apt simile for the exploitative actions of Nineveh’s officials during its destruction. no one knows where. Thus will Nineveh’s officials disappear, without a trace. Interestingly, for centuries no one knew where Nineveh itself lay buried; in 1845 it was finally uncovered by archaeologists (see note on Zep 2:13).

3:18 King. The reigning king at the time of Nineveh’s fall was Sin-Shar-Ishkun, so these words are prophetically addressed to him. shepherds. Leaders (see Jer 2:8 and note). lie down to rest. Die. people are scattered. The age-old scene of refugees fleeing a place of destruction is repeated at Nineveh.

3:19 your wound is fatal. Nineveh was so totally destroyed that it was never rebuilt, and within a few centuries it was covered with windblown sand. So that “great city” (Jnh 1:2; 3:2; 4:11; see note on Jnh 3:3) fell in 612 bc, never to rise again—all in fulfillment of God’s word through his prophet Nahum. your endless cruelty. Their endless punishment will fit their endless crimes (see note on 1:8).