Nahum Chapter 2 Treasures from the Book of Nahum

Nahum 2: [1] He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. [2] For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches. [3] The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. [4] The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. [5] He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make hast to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. [6] The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.

1) The Siege of Nineveh (1-6)

About 100 years have passed since Jonah preached and the Ninevites repented.

Yet the Ninevites strayed away, falling back into wickedness, and turning their back on GOD.

In Chapter 1, Nahum was given a vision from the LORD concerning the judgment of Nineveh.

For the disobedience, injustice and rebellion of the people, Nineveh will be destroyed.

Nahum writes some 50 years before this judgment of Assyria, the most powerful nation on earth.

Nahum foresaw the destruction of the armies of Assyria as 185,000 were killed in one night by the Lord.

Nahum foresaw the death of the King of Assyria in Nineveh as he was assassinated by his sons.

In Chapter 2, we move closer to Nineveh, after the destruction of her army and fall of her king.

Yet, Nineveh still lives in rejection of the Lord.

In verse 1, Nahum sees in his vision a mighty army invading Nineveh.

“He who dasheth in pieces is come up” is a reference to the Medes & Persians invasion of Nineveh.

Babylon is called in Jeremiah 50:23 “the hammer of the whole earth.”

GOD gives warning to Nineveh to prepare her defenses for she will be attacked.

The massive walls of Nineveh were 100 feet tall and so thick that chariots could pass upon it.

GOD warns Nineveh to “keep the munition” or secure the towers and guard the fortress.

GOD warns Nineveh to “watch the way” or set the guards to keep the watch.

GOD warns Nineveh to “make the loins strong” or to strengthen the soldiers and guard the flank.

GOD warns Nineveh to “fortify thy power” or prepare for battle. GOD does not attack without warning.

In verse 2, GOD reminds Nineveh that it was GOD who allowed Nineveh to take Israel & Judah captive.

“The emptiers have emptied them out” is a reminder of Assyria’s deportation of Israel.

Nineveh “marred their vine branches” is a reminder of Assyria forcing Judah to pay tribute.

2 Kings 18:11-15

[11] And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:
[12] Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.
[13] Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.
[14] And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
[15] And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house.

The Nation of Israel is said many times to be a vine, and remember Jesus is the “True Vine.”

Though Assyria and Nineveh had marred the vine branches, Assyria could not mar the Vine!

GOD is in control and He is going to restore Israel by destroying her Assyrian enemy.

In verse 3, Nahum sees in his vision the battle of Nineveh being fierce and bloody.

Nahum gives a detailed description of the battle of Nineveh some 50 years before it ever happened.

Nahum saw the red shields of the invaders and their attire.

The Medes & Persians used bronzed shields and the reflection of the sun made them appear as red.

They wore red so that the opposition could not see when they were wounded to strike fear into hearts.

The chariots of the Persians had sickles in the hub of the wheel to rip into anything that came alongside.

As the wheels turned the reflection of the sun made the chariots appear as “flaming torches.”

The approaching invasion by Babylon caused the fir trees of the forest to be shaken.

In verse 4, Nahum saw the warfare in the streets of that great city Nineveh, a city of 3 days journey.

The chariots are furiously driven and the attack is well under way.

This great city of Nineveh is partly set on fire with torches.

In verse 5, Nineveh makes a call to arms, as fear has grips the heart of Nineveh’s defense & it stumbles.

The mighty men run to the walls in duty and their defense is prepared but fear strikes their hearts.

In verse 6, “the gates of the river shall be opened.”

The enemy had built a series of dams on the Tigris River, which ran alongside the city of Nineveh.

GOD sent a terrible famine and the ground was hard, then GOD sent a mighty rain and the river flooded.

During this flood, (Nah 1:8) the enemy opened the flood gates and the force of the water shook the fir trees.

The power of the flooding waters forcefully hit the walls of Nineveh and caused the walls to cave in.

“The palace” was dissolved as the guards of Nineveh ran for their lives.

Nahum 2: [7] And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts. [8] But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. [9] Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
[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. [11] Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? [12] The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.

2) The Spoil of Nineveh (7-12)

Nahum not only saw the battle but he saw the outcome.

In verse 7, Huzzab the queen of Nineveh was led away captive by the enemy.

The queen will follow her household who have the voice of doves in their lament and mourning.

They will beat upon their breasts for sorrow and grief.

Just as Assyria had led so many nations away into captivity, so will Assyria be taken captive.

In verse 8, Nahum says that Nineveh is “like a pool of water.”

Nineveh has stood like a mighty oasis in the desert for hundreds of years, but now she is drained.

Thousands upon thousands of people dwelt in Nineveh.

The commanders’ call for courage and action but the soldiers run away like cowards.

The troops defending the city are likened unto a pool of water drained away, futile and useless.

In verse 9 and 10, Nahum saw the enemy plundering the treasuries of Nineveh.

All the silver and gold of Nineveh are now the spoils of war to the conquering enemy.

Nineveh had everything and lost it all. They thought they were secure and it is all taken away.

The luxury that Nineveh once had now is in the hands of her enemies.

Think of all that Assyria had plundered from other nations and now it is taken from them.

Nineveh is left “empty, and void, and waste.”

This invasion happened around 612 BC and the ruins of Nineveh were first discovered around 1842.

The city of Nineveh was buried in ruins for 2400 years and still today it lies buried and uninhabited.

There has never been any silver or gold or any treasure recovered at the site of Nineveh’s ruins.

In verses 11 and 12, GOD asks “where is the dwelling of the lions?”

The pack of lions is said to be “a pride.” Where is the pride of Nineveh now?

The lion was the symbol of Assyria, known for destroying their prey.

The lion is a beast of prey and is feared by all.

The lions are the powerful citizens of Assyria.

Nahum saw how the LORD brought the mighty city of Nineveh to lowliness and ruins.

Nineveh thought it was secure in its power, in its defense and in its financial means.

Yet in one eventful night the city is destroyed forever.

Nahum 2: [13] Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

3) The Silence of Nineveh

In verse 13 GOD says, “Behold, I am against thee saith the Lord of hosts.”

Romans 8:31

[31] If God be for us, who can be against us?

And if GOD is against you, then who can be for you?

Psalms 9:16

[16] The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.

[17] The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

The judgment of GOD has fallen on Sodom & Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon, Assyria, Babylon, and Edom.

Amazing that any nation would dare oppose GOD. GOD’s judgment is true (Ps 119:160 & Rev 20:11-15).

GOD will judge the wicked.

Nahum warns that GOD will destroy the strength and security of Nineveh in judgment for their sin.

The chariots will be burnt.

The young mighty soldiers will be slain.

The messengers of Assyria that caused the world to fear shall be silenced forever.

I think of the messengers that came to Hezekiah and how they blasphemed GOD.

2Kings 18:22

[22]But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our GOD: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away…?

2Kings 18:25

[25]Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me Go

up against this land and destroy it.

2Kings 18:30

[30]Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

2Kings 18:33

[33] Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all this land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Well glory to GOD! The LORD GOD gave Nahum a vision and a message for Assyria.

Assyria will be defeated and the capital city of Nineveh will be destroyed.

The messengers that lied, brought fear and blasphemed the LORD GOD shall no longer be heard.

The exceeding great city of Nineveh will cease to exist.

Some 40 to 50 years later it was destroyed.

In 612BC the Medes and the Persians attacked Nineveh and the city was looted, defeated and destroyed.

Again GOD will judge sin. Praise GOD our individual sin was paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.

We must stand firm on the Word of GOD. Isaiah 40:17 “All nations before him are as nothing.”

Our nation must turn to the LORD. He is our only hope.

The scoffers say “Where is the Promise of His coming?” (2Pet3:4)

The Lord is not slack concerning His Promise (2Pet 3:9) GOD will judge sin.