Nah 3:1-7 | KingComments | STEP | Nahum again mentions the reason for the verdict on Nineveh. The verdict comes because of the many sins of the city ( ). She cannot avert that judgment any more than No-amon could have done ( ). The judgment will strike her full of horror in spite of all the resources ( ). The city is full of violence and lies. Violence and lies are the two manifestations of sin that include all sins (cf. ). They are, as it were, a summary of it. Nineveh seems to have been hatched by the spirit of her founder Nimrod, who was a mighty hunter before the LORD and who built his kingdom on blood ( ). Nineveh is “the bloody city” and “completely full of lies” because all the spoils in the city were obtained through bloodshed and deceit. None of it is destined for others. It serves everything to satisfy one’s own desires. And the looting is still going on because the greed is insatiable. It is never enough. It is thus a description of the unbridled greed that characterizes mankind today.

‏ Nahum 3:1-7

Introduction

Nahum again mentions the reason for the verdict on Nineveh. The verdict comes because of the many sins of the city (Nah 3:1-7). She cannot avert that judgment any more than No-amon could have done (Nah 3:8-13). The judgment will strike her full of horror in spite of all the resources (Nah 3:14-19).

Woe to the Bloody City

The city is full of violence and lies. Violence and lies are the two manifestations of sin that include all sins (cf. Gen 6:11). They are, as it were, a summary of it. Nineveh seems to have been hatched by the spirit of her founder Nimrod, who was a mighty hunter before the LORD and who built his kingdom on blood (Gen 10:8-9).

Nineveh is “the bloody city” and “completely full of lies” because all the spoils in the city were obtained through bloodshed and deceit. None of it is destined for others. It serves everything to satisfy one’s own desires. And the looting is still going on because the greed is insatiable. It is never enough. It is thus a description of the unbridled greed that characterizes mankind today.

The Battlefield

The situation of the previous verse comes to a dramatic end. The prophet vividly describes, as if he were an eye- and ear witness, the attack on and storming of the city of Nineveh (cf. Nah 2:3-5). It begins with “the noise of the whip”, indicating that the horses are being driven to ever greater speed. The “rattling of the wheel” audibly announce the arrival of the enemy. The “galloping horses” are unstoppable in their run to Nineveh. They run so fast that the wagons they pull are bouncing and bumping up and down over the bumpy ground.

Besides manned chariots with horses before them, there are also ridden horses. The riders are also ready for battle. They ride their horses, they strike with their flaming swords and throw their spears at the speed of lightning.

How great the slaughter is, is said in Nah 3:3. Four times the corpses – for which three different words are used in Hebrew – are mentioned that are left as a trail by the invaded army. There are so many corpses that the victors stumble over them in their advance. Just as it has been said of the wealth that there is no end to it (Nah 2:9), so it is said here of the dead bodies that they are countless.

The Reason for the Judgment

Nahum mentions the reason for the judgment, “because”. Nineveh is compared to a seductive, handsome harlot, who has caught many peoples in her nets. In this she resembles “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS” (Rev 17:1-6). Nineveh is handsome, she has great attraction to other peoples who also want that opulence. The judgment comes on her because she has attracted people like a harlot by what she has to offer. She has offered occult practices, sexual depravity, false religion, political favors, impudent prosperity and immeasurable pleasure in a poor sinking world. With these temptations, she has even approached God’s people to persuade them to surrender to her (2Kgs 18:31-32).

Three times in this verse her harlotry is mentioned, which clearly marks her disgusting activities. Harlotry means betrayal, unfaithfulness, depravity, and lustful lust. She dresses herself in the garment of love and, under the appearance of it, she satisfies her lust for power and wealth.

In her harlotry she makes use of sorcery. She is a harlot and a witch. Her harlotry is not idolatry as with Israel, which is connected to the living God. She applies herself to sorcery. It is her way of doing politics, making a deceptive friendship and suspicious politics, with which she has embraced other states and got them in her power. Sorcery is the enchantment of someone in order to bind him to herself. Both sorcery and harlotry presuppose a control exercised by hidden, secret means that are lethal in their effect. Jezebel was a woman of harlotry and sorcery (2Kgs 9:22; cf. Rev 21:8 ; Rev 22:15).

‘Selling nations’ means depriving them of their freedom and enslaving them through harlotry. Families represent smaller tribes.

The Appropriate Punishment

The treatment she gets suits a harlot. In the area where she sins, there is also her punishment (Isa 47:3; Eze 16:37-41; Jer 13:26). The LORD Himself will work so that the admiration of all those who have meddled with her will turn into abhorrence. It is the picture of a disgraced harlot who has become old and unattractive. Her nakedness, her true form, will be revealed. She is now treated with disgust and contempt. If we tempt people to commit sin, in the end they will not thank us for it, but rather they will despise us.

It does not mean that those who have meddled with her are better. They are just as bad. But this is about the judgment on Nineveh. She will bear the hallmark of the greatest contempt. Throwing dirt on someone is a picture of the most defamatory treatment and contempt. She will be set up as a spectacle, which means that she will be an object of public defamation.

Nineveh Is Without Someone Who Comforts

Nations will look at Nineveh with amazement. But there will not be a nation that feels sorry for her because she has deserved her downfall. She who has not been the friend of anyone, has no one who will grieve for her. He who rejects God has no comforter (cf. Lam 1:2 ; 9). There is no hope for Nineveh.

The expression “grieve for her” is literally “to shake the head”. Shaking the head is an expression of compassion when someone is in great sorrow, saying, as it were: ‘I can’t understand why this sorrow has affected you.’