Commentari biblici

Na 3:1-19.

REPETITION OF NINEVEH'S DOOM, WITH NEW FEATURES; THE CAUSE IS HER TYRANNY, RAPINE, AND CRUELTY: NO-AMMON'S FORTIFICATIONS DID NOT SAVE HER; IT IS VAIN, THEREFORE, FOR NINEVEH TO THINK HER DEFENSES WILL SECURE HER AGAINST GOD'S SENTENCE.

1. the bloody city!--literally, "city of blood," namely, shed by Nineveh; just so now her own blood is to be shed.

robbery--violence [MAURER]. Extortion [GROTIUS].

the prey departeth not--Nineveh never ceases to live by rapine. Or, the Hebrew verb is transitive, "she (Nineveh) does not make the prey depart"; she ceases not to plunder.

2. The reader is transported into the midst of the fight (compare

Jer 47:3).

The "noise of the whips" urging on the horses (in the chariots) is heard, and of "the rattling of the wheels" of war chariots, and the "horses" are seen "prancing," and the "chariots jumping," &c.

3. horseman--distinct from "the horses" (in the chariots,

Na 3:2).

lifteth up--denoting readiness for fight [EWALD]. GESENIUS translates, "lifteth up (literally, 'makes to ascend') his horse." Similarly MAURER, "makes his horse to rise up on his hind feet." Vulgate translates, "ascending," that is, making his horse to advance up to the assault. This last is perhaps better than English Version.

the bright sword and the glittering spear--literally, "the glitter of the sword and the flash of the spear!" This, as well as the translation, "the horseman advancing up," more graphically presents the battle scene to the eye.

they stumble upon their corpses--The Medo-Babylonian enemy stumble upon the Assyrian corpses.

4. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms--This assigns the reason for Nineveh's destruction.

of the well-favoured harlot--As Assyria was not a worshipper of the true God, "whoredoms" cannot mean, as in the case of Israel, apostasy to the worship of false gods; but, her harlot-like artifices whereby she allured neighboring states so as to subject them to herself. As the unwary are allured by the "well-favored harlot's" looks, so Israel, Judah (for example, under Ahaz, who, calling to his aid Tiglath-pileser, was made tributary by him,

2Ki 16:7-10),

and other nations, were tempted by the plausible professions of Assyria, and by the lure of commerce

(Re 18:2, 3),

to trust her.

witchcrafts--

(Isa 47:9, 12).

Alluding to the love incantations whereby harlots tried to dement and ensnare youths; answering to the subtle machinations whereby Assyria attracted nations to her.

selleth--deprives of their liberty; as slaves used to be sold: and in other property also sale was a usual mode of transfer. MAURER understands it of depriving nations of their freedom, and literally selling them as slaves to distant peoples

(Joe 3:2, 3, 6-8).

But elsewhere there is no evidence that the Assyrians did this.

families--peoples.

5. I will discover thy skirts upon thy face--that is, discover thy nakedness by throwing up thy skirts upon thy face (the greatest possible insult), pulling them up as as high as thy head

(Jer 13:22; Eze 16:37-41).

I will treat thee not as a matron, but as a harlot whose shame is exposed; her gaudy finery being lifted up off her

(Isa 47:2, 3).

So Nineveh shall be stripped of all her glory and defenses on which she prides herself.

6. cast abominable filth upon thee--as infamous harlots used to be treated.

gazing stock--exposed to public ignominy as a warning to others

(Eze 28:17).

7. all . . . that look upon thee--when thou hast been made "a gazing stock"

(Na 3:6).

shall flee from thee--as a thing horrible to look upon. Compare "standing afar off,"

Re 18:10.

whence shall I seek comforters for thee?--Compare

Isa 51:19,

which Nahum had before his mind.

8. populous No--rather, as Hebrew, "No-ammon," the Egyptian name for Thebes in Upper Egypt; meaning the portion or possession of Ammon, the Egyptian Jupiter (whence the Greeks called the city Diospolis), who was especially worshipped there. The Egyptian inscriptions call the god Amon-re, that is, Amon the Sun; he is represented as a human figure with a ram's head, seated on a chair

(Jer 46:25; Eze 30:14-16).

The blow inflicted on No-ammon, described in

Na 3:10,

was probably by the Assyrian Sargon (see on

Isa 18:1;

Isa 20:1).

As Thebes, with all her resources, was overcome by Assyria, so Assyrian Nineveh, notwithstanding all her might, in her turn, shall be overcome by Babylon. English Version, "populous," if correct, implies that No's large population did not save her from destruction.

situate among the rivers--probably the channels into which the Nile here divides (compare

Isa 19:6-8).

Thebes lay on both sides of the river. It was famed in HOMER'S time for its hundred gates [Iliad, 9.381]. Its ruins still describe a circumference of twenty-seven miles. Of them the temples of Luxor and Karnak, east of the river, are most famous. The colonnade of the former, and the grand hall of the latter, are of stupendous dimensions. One wall still represents the expedition of Shishak against Jerusalem under Rehoboam

(1Ki 14:25; 2Ch 12:2-9).

whose . . . wall was from the sea--that is, rose up "from the sea." MAURER translates, "whose wall consisted of the sea." But this would be a mere repetition of the former clause. The Nile is called a sea, from its appearance in the annual flood

(Isa 19:5).