INTRODUCTION TO NAHUM 1 This chapter begins with the title of the book, showing the subject matter of it; and describing the penman of it by his name and country, Nahum 1:1; which is followed with a preface to the whole book; setting forth the majesty of a jealous and revenging God; the power of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BURDEN OF NINEVEH,.... Of the city of Nineveh, and the greatness of it, Jonah 1:2; Jonah 3:3; Jonah was sent to this city to threaten it with ruin for its sins; at that time the king and all his people humbled themselves and repented, and the threatened destruction was averted; but they relapsi... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD [IS] JEALOUS, AND THE LORD REVENGETH,.... He is jealous of his own honour and glory, and for his own worship and ordinances; and will not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven images; and therefore will punish all idolaters, and particularly the idolatrous Assyrians: he is jealous... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD [IS] SLOW TO ANGER,.... He is not in haste to execute it; he takes time for it, and gives men space for repentance. Nineveh had had a proof of this when it repented at the preaching of Jonah, upon which the Lord deferred the execution of his wrath; but lest they should presume upon this, an... [ Continue Reading ]
HE REBUKETH THE SEA, AND MAKETH IT DRY,.... As he did the Red sea, when the children of Israel passed through it as on dry land; which shows his power and sovereignty over it; that it is at his command, as a servant at his master's; and since the wind and sea obey him, what is it he cannot do? see I... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MOUNTAINS QUAKE AT HIM, AND THE HILLS MELT,.... As Sinai of old did, when the Lord descended on it, Exodus 19:18. Mountains figuratively signify kings and princes; and hills large countries, as Jarchi and Abarbinel observe, and the inhabitants of them; particularly the kingdoms and nations belon... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO CAN STAND BEFORE HIS INDIGNATION?.... No creature whatever; no man nor body of men; not Nineveh, and the inhabitants of it; nor the whole Assyrian empire: AND WHO CAN ABIDE IN THE FIERCENESS OF HIS ANGER? not the great men of the earth; not kings or generals of armies; not kingdoms and nations,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD [IS] GOOD,.... To Israel, as the Targum adds; to Hezekiah and his, people, that betook themselves to him, and put their trust in him; whom he defended and preserved from the king of Assyria, to whom he was dreadful and terrible, destroying his army in one night by an angel; and so delivered... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WITH AN OVERRUNNING FLOOD HE WILL MAKE AN UTTER END OF THE PLACE THEREOF,.... Of Nineveh, against whom this prophecy was, and upon whom it lay as a burden, Nahum 1:1; and now though the Lord was good to them that trust in him, and a strong hold to them in a time of trouble; yet he was determined... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT DO YE IMAGINE AGAINST THE LORD?.... O ye Ninevites or Assyrians; do you think you can frustrate the designs of the Lord, resist his power, and hinder him from executing what he has threatened and has determined to do? or what mischief is it you devise against his people, which is the same as ag... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHILE [THEY BE] FOLDEN TOGETHER [AS] THORNS,.... Like them, useless and unprofitable, harmful and pernicious, fit only for burning, and, being bundled together, are prepared for it; and which is not only expressive of the bad qualities of the Ninevites, and of the danger they were in, and what t... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS [ONE] COME OUT OF THEE,.... That is, out of Nineveh, as the Targum explains it; meaning Sennacherib, who had his royal seat and palace there; or Rabshakeh that was sent from hence by him with a railing and blaspheming letter to the king of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is sa... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD, THOUGH [THEY BE] QUIET, AND LIKEWISE MANY,.... The Assyrian army under Sennacherib before Jerusalem, though they were quiet and secure and thought themselves out of all danger; not at all fearing that the besieged would sally out against them they being so numerous, and therefor... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR NOW WILL I BREAK HIS YOKE FROM OFF THEE,.... The Assyrian yoke from off the Jews, who had been obliged to pay tribute, or send presents to the king of Assyria, from the times of Ahaz; and were in bondage, while shut up and besieged by his army, and the country all around laid under contribution;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD HATH GIVEN A COMMANDMENT CONCERNING THEE,.... This is directed to Sennacherib king of Assyria, as the Targum expresses it; and so Jarchi and Kimchi; and signifies the decree of God concerning him, what he had determined to do with him, and how things would be ordered in Providence towar... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD UPON THE MOUNTAINS,.... Of the land of Israel, as the Targum; or those about Jerusalem: THE FEET OF HIM THAT BRINGETH GOOD TIDINGS; see how they come one after another with the news of the havoc and slaughter made in the army of Sennacherib by an angel in one night; of his flight, and of the... [ Continue Reading ]