Nahum continues to prophesy about judgment coming to an ancient enemy of Judah.
Nahum 2:1-3, A destroyer comes
An attacker advances against you, [Nineveh].
Guard the fortress,
watch the road,
brace yourselves,
marshal all your strength!
The LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.
Nahum continues to prophesy about judgment coming to an ancient enemy. Longman calls this a "taunt song" -- the enemy is told to brace themselves for an attack, an attack that will be successful regardless of the defense.
Nahum 2:3-6, Red and scarlet
The shields of his soldiers are red;
the warriors are clad in scarlet.
The metal on the chariots flashes on the day they are made ready;
the spears of pine are brandished.
The chariots storm through the streets,
rushing back and forth through the squares.
They look like flaming torches;
they dart about like lightning.
He summons his picked troops,
yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
the protective shield is put in place.
The river gates are thrown open
and the palace collapses.
The enemy approaches the foreign city dressed in uniforms of blood. The enemy is invincible, racing through the city, destroying the defenders. The king of the city sends soldiers to the city walls but they are destroyed and the invaders search in. River gates are opened to flood the city and the palace collapses. (Apparently during the Battle of Nineveh in 612 BC, the Tigris River flooded the city.)
The Hebrew of verse 4 is a typical example of chiasmus. A literal translation is
in the streets
rage the chariotsthey jostle one another
in the broad [roads]they seem
like torcheslike lightning
they run.
Nahum 2:7-10, Nineveh is drained
It is decreed that [the city] be exiled and carried away.
Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts.
Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away.
"Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one turns back.
Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
the wealth from all its treasures!
She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
Hearts melt, knees give way,
bodies tremble, every face grows pale.
The enemy city is finally identified as Nineveh in verse 8. Slave girls moan and lament; the city empties like a breached pool. The enemy rushes in to plunder the terrified populace.
The NIV "pillaged, plundered, stripped" is an attempt to echo the Hebrew alliteration
bū·qāh ū·mə·ḇū·qāh ū·mə·ḇul·lā·qāh;
that begins verse 10. Similarly the NRSV for verse 10 begins
Devastation, desolation, and destruction!
Nahum 2:11-12, A lions' den
Where now is the lions' den,
the place where they fed their young,
where the lion and lioness went,
and the cubs, with nothing to fear?
The lion killed enough for his cubs
and strangled the prey for his mate,
filling his lairs with the kill
and his dens with the prey.
The devastation of Nineveh is likened to the destruction of animals by lions, who drag their prey into their den and feed them to their young.
Nahum 2:13, Burning chariots and dead lions
"I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty.
"I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard."
The chariots of Nineveh will be burned and the people killed. An animal metaphor switches -- here now Assyria is the lion and this time the lions will be destroyed. YHWH declares his attention to the judgment on the lion of Assyria.
First published July 22, 2025; updated July 22, 2025
No comments:
Post a Comment