Nahum 02 (Contemporary English Version)
- Nineveh, someone is coming to attack and scatter you. Guard your fortresses! Watch the road! Be brave! Prepare for battle!
- Judah and Israel are like trees with branches broken by their enemies. But the LORD is going to restore their power and glory. *
- Nineveh, on this day of attack, your enemies' shields are red; their uniforms are crimson.
- Their horses prance, and their armored chariots dart around like lightning or flaming torches.
- An officer gives a command. But his soldiers stumble, as they hasten to build a shelter to protect themselves against rocks thrown down from the city wall.
- The river gates fly open, and panic floods the palace.
- Nineveh is disgraced. The queen is dragged off. Her servant women mourn; they sound like doves, and they beat their breasts in sorrow.
- Nineveh is like a pond with leaking water. Shouts of "Stop! Don't go!" can be heard everywhere. But everyone is leaving.
- Enemy soldiers shout, "The city is full of treasure and all kinds of wealth. Steal her silver! Grab her gold!"
- Nineveh is doomed! Destroyed! Her people tremble with fear; their faces turn pale.
- What happened to this city? They were safer there than powerful lions in a den, with no one to disturb them.
- These are the same lions that ferociously attacked their victims, then dragged away the flesh to feed their young.
- The LORD All-Powerful is against you, Nineveh. God will burn your chariots and send an army to kill those young lions of yours. You will never again make victims of others or send messengers to threaten everyone on this earth.
The threat of attack by an enemy force was not uncommon in Nahum's day. Stronger nations grew stronger by defeating and acquiring the spoils of weaker nations. Assyria had grown very strong and had defeated and acquired spoils from countless nations. But history shows that regardless of the strength of a nation it would eventually be conquered. Sooner or later a nation would grow strong enough to overpower it, multiple nations would pool their forces against it, or the nation itself would eventually grow weak through complacency or poor leadership. God's promise to Israel to be a mighty nation was not based on her own strength but on His. The only guarantee Israel had of becoming great and remaining great was God's protection. She would never be strong enough to be safe from every invading force that might come against her, just as Assyria was unable to remain impenetrable forever. The rise or the fall of Israel was directly connected to her dependence on God. And even though Assyria was not a follower of the true God or considered to be His people, her fate was also in His hands. As Nahum's account describes for us, it was God's hand that brought the destructive blow against this nation using Babylonian forces as His instrument of destruction.
The first verses of chapter 2 describe the invasion of Nineveh as if it was happening as Nahum spoke. "Man the fortifications! Watch the road! Brace yourself! Summon all your strength!" Nineveh is trying to summon its forces against an invader who is already entering the city through its suburbs. The chariots of the invaders are dashing through the streets, darting "back and forth like lightning." Nineveh's forces are summoned to the wall and protective shields set in place. Then verse 6 speaks of the river gates that are opened and the palace being eroded. Though there are varying ideas of what this means, the most natural meaning and one that is supported by archeological remains would point to Assyria's own innovation being used against her to bring this defeating blow against the great city of Nineveh.
Sennacherib, Assryia's king, had the Khosr River damned using a double dam and two massive river walls to form a reservoir. Using gates and sluices, the water flow from this reservoir to the city could be increased or reduced as desired. What the enemy may have done with this invasion was to close the floodgates allowing the reservoirs to become completely full and then throwing open the gates so that the water flowing to the city actually flooded it causing the collapse of the palace. Though this scenario is speculative, the description of verse 6 fits such a scenario.
Verses 7 and following go on to tell of the sacking of the city. The city is stripped of its beauty, ladies-in-waiting are taken away, people are fleeing the city in droves, and the treasures are plundered. The scene is described in verse 10 as "Desolation, decimation, devastation!" Verse 13 identifies the source of this defeat. It was not Babylon, but the "Lord of Hosts," who declares, "Beware, I am against you."
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