Nahum 3:1-6
Nahum 3:1
(KJB)
Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and
robbery; the prey departeth not;
The “woe” is pronounced which means that total judgment
and great calamities are coming.
Nineveh was the chief city of Assyria and it is where the king and the rulers
along with the military rulers lived and planned the destruction of neighboring
countries thus shedding much blood in the attacks and conquests.
The city was full of lies, that is, everyone lied to each other or to the
courts and even in trade with other countries.
When they attacked a country, they stole everything they could from them
and brought it back to Assyria.
They had a consistent policy of raping countries of their wealth and that policy
never ceased as they continued to plunder whoever and wherever they could.
Nahum 3:2
(KJB)
The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the
wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
Nahum now changes his prophecy from the crimes of Nineveh
to its defeat. The noise of a whip
would be that of the chariot drivers that would come into Nineveh and the
rattling of the wheels would be made by means of the fast moving of the horses
pulling the chariots through the streets.
The pransing horses are those which move through the streets springing as
of a high spirited horse. The
chariots of the Chaldeans will be so swift that it will look like the chariots
are actually leaving the ground and flying through the air.
Nahum 3:3
(KJB)
The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the
glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of
carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their
corpses:
The Chaldeans will come at the Assyrians with every
weapon available their soldiers can carry and that would include the sword and
the spear which has a glittering metal point ready to kill or wound any Assyrian
soldier who tries to stop them. The
killing will be so much that it will seem like there is no end to the amount of
corpses that will be piling up during and after the slaughter.
In fact, there will be so many bodies that people will actually be
tripping over them making it almost impossible to be swift in trying to escape.
No one will know the actual number of the slain.
Nahum 3:4
(KJB)
Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the
wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through
her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
God uses the word “because” letting us know that Nineveh
deserved what she was now getting because of the way she has been.
The whoredoms could be the spiritual idolatry the people of Nineveh
followed and multiplying idol worship by the thousands would constitute
spiritual whoredoms. It can also
refer to the many sins beside idolatry that have come up before God including
their evil behavior toward other nations.
The well-favored harlot is a description of the kingdom of Assyria
referring to is strength and power which the Lord allowed them to obtain.
The mistress of witchcrafts might refer to actual occult activity rampant
throughout pagan empires like Assyria.
It may also refer to its bewitching policies toward other nations.
They may have gone to them as friends in the early stages and then
without warning they would plunder that nation.
To bewitch someone or a nation is to please them to such a high degree it
removes all opposition and then they would attack and win.
Then when they would plunder the nations, they would then take the people
of them, even families, and sell them as slaves to the people of Assyria or to
the highest bidder. They also
seemed to use witchcraft to appease families thus removing any and all
resistance. This way they could
gain the favor of wealthy and influential families which would quell any
resistance.
Nahum 3:5
(KJB)
Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I
will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy
nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
The Lord once again states that he is against Assyria for
all their sins which they have committed.
To discover their skirts upon their face is a euphemism which speaks
about exposing their private parts in shame.
What is in view here is that the world is going to see their shame as
they are defeated by the Chaldeans.
Assyria was once an indelible empire but they will brought down to nothing and
they will be shamed in front of the entire world.
The nations and kingdoms which once feared Assyria will now see that the
idea of invincibility is just a false concept.
Nahum 3:6
(KJB)
And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee
vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.