Nahum 2:10

She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. SHE IS EMPTY, AND VOID, AND WASTE - literally, emptiness, and emptiedness, and devastation. The accumulation of substantives without a verb (as in Nahum 3:2), the two first of the three being derivatives of the same root, and like in sound, and the number of syllables in them, increasing in a kind of climax, intensify the gloomy effectiveness of the expression. Hebrew, Bukah Mebukah, Mebullakah (cf. Isaiah 24:1; Isaiah 24:3; Zephaniah 1:...

The Prophet here confirms what the last verse contains; for he shows why he had called the Chaldeans to take away the spoil, — because it was to be so. He did not indeed (as I have already said) command the Chaldeans in such a way as that their obedience to God was praiseworthy: but the Prophet speaks here only of His secret counsel. Though then the Chaldeans knew not that it was God’s decree, yet the Prophet reminds the faithful that the Ninevites, when made naked, suffered punishment for their cruelty, especially for having so hostilely conducted themselves towards the Jews: and hence he declares, that Nineveh is _emptied, is emptied, and made naked. _(233) By repeating the same word, he intimates the certainty of the event: Emptied, emptied, he says, as when one says in our language, _videe et revidee _ We hence see that by this repetition what the Prophet meant is more distinctly exp...

1-10 Nineveh shall not put aside this judgment; there is no counsel or strength against the Lord. God looks upon proud cities, and brings them down. Particular account is given of the terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a queen, about to be led captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men with terror in an evil day; and what will treasures or glory do for us in times of distress, or in the day of wrath? Yet for such things how many lose their souls!...

Verse Nahum 2:10. _SHE IS EMPTY, AND VOID, AND WASTE_] The original is strongly emphatic; the words are of the _same sound_; and increase in their _length_ as they point out _great, greater_, and _greatest_ desolation. בוקה ומבוקה ומבלקה _Bukah, umebukah, umebullakah_. She is _void, empty_, and _desolate_. _THE FACES OF THEM ALL GATHER BLACKNESS._] This marks the diseased state into which the people had been brought by reason of _famine_, c. for, as Mr. _Ward_ justly remarks, "_sickness_ makes a great change in the countenance of the Hindoos; so that a person who was rather _fair_ when in _health_, becomes nearly _black_ by sickne

SHE IS EMPTY AND VOID AND WASTE - The completeness of her judgment is declared first under that solemn number, Three, and the three words in Hebrew are nearly the same , with the same meaning, only each word fuller than the former, as picturing a growing desolation; and then under four heads (in all seven) also a growing fear. First the heart, the seat of courage and resolve and high purpose, melteth; then the knees smite together, tremble, shake, under the frame; then, much pain is in all loins, literally, “strong pains as of a woman in travail,” writhing and doubling the whole body, and making it wholly powerless and unable to stand upright, shall bow the very loins, the seat of strength Proverbs 31:17, and, lastly, the faces of them all gather blackness (see the note at Joel 2:6),

EXPOSITION NAHUM 2:1 Part II. THE EXECUTION OF THE DECREE; THE DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH DESCRIBED. NAHUM 2:1 § 1. _Nineveh shall be besieged, because God is about to exalt his people by taking vengeance on the enemy, whose defence, howsoever formidable, is of no avail._ NAHUM 2:1 Nahum addresses Nineveh, and forewarns her of the siege she was about to undergo (see Introduction, § I.). HE THAT DASHETH IN PIECES; the disperser; qui disper

SHE IS EMPTY, AND VOID, AND WASTE,.... The city of Nineveh, empty of inhabitants, being killed, or having fled; and stripped of all its treasures and riches by the enemies; its walls and houses demolished and pulled down, and laid in ruins, and become a heap of rubbish; Nahum 1:8. Various words are here used to ascertain and confirm the thing; and there is an elegant play on words or likeness of sounds, which our language will not express: AND THE HEART MELTETH; the heart of every inhabitant of Nineveh melted with fear at the approach of their enemies, their entrance into the city, and plunder of it; flowed like water, or melted like wax; see Psalms 22:14: AND THE KNEES SMITE TOGETHER; like people in a fright, and when a panic has seized them; and as it was with

CHAPTER 2 The Overthrow, Plundering and Destruction Of Nineveh _ 1. The capture of Nineveh announced and described (Nahum 2:1) _ 2. The completeness of the judgment (Nahum 2:11) Nahum 2:1. This great prophecy was literally fulfilled some ninety years after Nahum had spoken. When these words were spoken Nineveh was in the zenith of her glory. Who told Nahum the Elkoshite that the proud world city would undergo such a sack and be completely wiped out? Who moved his pen to give such a vivid description of what would take place? There is but one answer--the Spirit of God. How was the prophecy fulfilled? Cyaxares of the Medes had surrounded Nineveh in the north. Nabopolassar of Babylon entered into an allianc

NAHUM 1:11; NAHUM 1:14; NAHUM 2:1; NAHUM 2:3. THE FALL OF NINEVEH. Nahum 1:11. In days gone by there went out of Nineveh one that planned villainous devices against Yahweh and His people. Now Yahweh has given commandment that his name shall be blotted out, his grave dishonoured, and the temple of his gods robbed of its images. NAHUM 1:11. The reference is clearly to Sennacherib. BELIAL (_mg.): i.e._ malicious destruction ...

EMPTY... VOID... WASTE. Note the Figure of speech _Paronomasia_ (App-6), for emphasis. Hebrew. _bukah umbukah umebullakah._ THE FACES OF THEM ALL, &C. Only here, and in Joel 2:6. The reference is to Joel 2:6 (as Nahum 1:15 is to Isaiah 52:7); not vice versa....