Nahum 3:13

Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars. BEHOLD, THY PEOPLE - thy soldiers. IN THE MIDST OF THEE ARE WOMEN - unable to fight for thee (, "In that day shall Egypt be like unto women;" ; ). THE GATES OF THY LAND - the fortified passes or entrances to the region of Nineveh (cf. ). Northeast of Nineveh there were hills, affording a natural barrier against an invader; the guarded passes through these are probably "the gates of the land" meant. The fire shall devour thy...

The Prophet declares here, that the hearts of them all would become soft and effeminate when God would proceed to destroy Nineveh. We have said before that the hearts of men are so in the hand of God, that he melts whatever courage there may be in them, whenever he pleases: and God prepares men for ruin, when he debilitates their hearts, that they cannot bear the sight of their enemies. God indeed can leave in men their perverseness, so that they may ever run furiously into ruin, and not be able, with a courageous heart, to repel the attacks of their enemies; but he often softens their hearts and deprives them of power, that he may make more evident his judgment: God does not, however, always work in the same way; for variety in his judgments is calculated to do us good, for thereby our minds are more powerfully awakened. Were his proceedings uniformly the same, we could not so well dist...

8-19 Strong-holds, even the strongest, are no defence against the judgments of God. They shall be unable to do any thing for themselves. The Chaldeans and Medes would devour the land like canker-worms. The Assyrians also would be eaten up by their own numerous hired troops, which seem to be meant by the word rendered "merchants." Those that have done evil to their neighbours, will find it come home to them. Nineveh, and many other cities, states, and empires, have been ruined, and should be a warning to us. Are we better, except as there are some true Christians amongst us, who are a greater security, and a stronger defence, than all the advantages of situation or strength? When the Lord shows himself against a people, every thing they trust in must fail, or prove a disadvantage; but he continues good to Israel. He is a strong-hold for every believer in time of trouble, that cannot be st...

Verse Nahum 3:13. _THY PEOPLE _- ARE _WOMEN_] They lost all courage, and made no resistance. O vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges: "Verily, ye are Phrygian women, not Phrygian men." So said _Numanus_ to the _Trojans_. _Virg_., AEn. ix....

BEHOLD, THY PEOPLE IN THE MIDST OF THEE ARE WOMEN - Fierce, fearless, hard, iron men, such as their warriors still are portrayed by themselves on their monuments, they whom no toll wearied, no peril daunted, shall be, one and all, their whole “people, women.” So Jeremiah to Babylon, “they shall become, became, women” Jeremiah 50:37; Jeremiah 51:30. He sets it before the eyes. “Behold, thy people are women;” against nature they are such, not in tenderness but in weakness and fear. Among the signs of the Day of Judgment, it stands, “men’s hearts failing them for fear” Luke 21:26. Where sin reigns, there is no strength left, no manliness or nobleness of soul, no power to resist. “In the midst

EXPOSITION NAHUM 3:1 Part III. THE CAUSE OF THE JUDGMENT—SINS OF THE CITY, WHICH BRING INEVITABLE PUNISHMENT. NAHUM 3:1 § 1. _The prophet specifies the crimes which have brought this ruin upon Nineveh._ NAHUM 3:1 THE BLOODY CITY; literally, _city of bloods_, where Mood is shed without scruple (comp. Ez

BEHOLD, THY PEOPLE IN THE MIDST OF THEE [ARE] WOMEN,.... Or like women, weak and feeble, fearful and timorous; frightened at the first approach of the enemy; run away, and run up and down in the utmost consternation and distress, having neither skill nor courage to oppose them; some regard may be had to the effeminacy of their king; see Nahum 2:7. The sense is, they should be at once dispirited, and lose all strength of mind and body, and have neither heads nor hearts to form schemes, and execute them in their own defence; and thus should they be, even in the midst of the city, upon their own ground, where, any where, it might be thought they would exert themselves, and play the man, since their all lay at stake: this was another thing they trusted in, the multitude of their people, even of their soldiers; but these would be of no avail, since they would lose all their military skill and...

Nahum 3:1. _Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;_ Assyria became a great empire through violence, falsehood, and robbery. The soldiery had no respect for justice; they trod out the last spark of liberty, and crushed all nations under their feet. Nahum 3:2. _The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:_ When the Medo-Babylonian army came against the great city, it inflicted a terrible slaughter, killing the inhabitants without mercy, making a very h

CHAPTER 3 Nineveh's Guilt and Well-Deserved Judgment _ 1. The great wickedness of Nineveh (Nahum 3:1) _ 2. Her fate to be like the fate of No-Amon (Nahum 3:8) 3. Her well-deserved and complete judgment (Nahum 3:14) Nahum 3:1. Nineveh was a bloody city, for her kings never knew peace, but were constantly at war. The Hebrew Ir-Damim means “city of blood drops.” They boasted of making the blood of their enemies run like rivers. It was a city full of lies and rapine. Her word could not be trusted; she broke truces and covenants and deceived nations with lying promises of help and protection. As stated in the second chapter

Even so Nineveh shall be made drunk with the cup of God's wrath, and faint and staggering shall seek refuge from the enemy. Her outer fortresses shall fall like first-ripe figs (Isaiah 28:4 *) into the mouth of the destroyer, the gateways that barred the approach to the capital shall fly open at the touch of fire, her defenders shall prove weak as women, and despite all efforts to repair the breaches the whole city shall sink beneath the flames. Her people may be numerous as the locust-swarms that encamp on the garden walls in the day of cold; but they shall vanish as completely as these same swarms when the sun shines out. And while the people are scattered over the mountains, the king and nobles shall sleep their last sleep, amid manifestations of triumphant joy from all who hear the tale of doom. Nahum 3:11.