CHAPTER 3

(713 B.C.)

NINEVEHS CRIMES AND WARS: THE REASON FOR HER DOOM

¹Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departs not (Nineveh is described here by the Holy Spirit in three words, bloodshed, deceit, and violence);

²The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. (Verses 2 and 3 describe the Babylonian army advancing to the attack upon Nineveh, with the cracking of the whips urging on the chariot horses, and with the noise of the chariot wheels.)

³The horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcas ses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses (the number of the dead was so great that the invaders themselves are impeded by the heaps of dead bodies which they have to climb over, fulfilling the Passage, they stumble upon their corpses):

⁴Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. (The word whoredoms actually refers to idolatries. The well-favored harlot refers to being idolatrous. Idolatry and its accompaniments of oppression and violence caused the ruin of Nineveh.

The mistress of witchcrafts, pertained to the Assyrians conquering nations and then erecting symbols of their [Assyrian] deities and compelling conquered nations to receive them and pay them divine honor. The phrase, That sells nations through her whoredoms, literally means that nations were bought and sold by idolatry.)

JUDGMENT FROM GOD

⁵Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of Hosts; and I will discover your skirts upon your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. (Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of Hosts, places the Assyrian Empire, for all its might, in an untenable position. And I will discover your skirts upon your face, pertains to her being unable to defend herself as the mighty Babylonian army approached. And I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame, spoke of her utter defeat, with her great city being ransacked, her leaders killed, and her gods destroyed as helpless!)

⁶And I will cast abominable filth upon you, and make you vile, and will set you as a gazingstock. (The custom of the ancients was to strip a debauched woman, exposing her to the public, and then to spatter her with all kinds of filth. Ninevehs character and doom are here so pictured.)

⁷And it shall come to pass, that all they who look upon you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for you? (The idea of Assyria being defeated, especially at this particular time, was preposterous, at least in the minds of the wise men of the world. As well, to be defeated to this degree, that all they who look upon you shall flee from you, was unthinkable!

Nineveh is laid waste, was a statement which not a single person in the world believed, except those who believed God. The last phrase concerns the world of that day being pleased that this empire of great cruelty had now received her just dues.)

THE RIGHTNESS OF DIVINE JUDGMENT

⁸Are you better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? (Populous No means No-Ammon, i.e., Thebes. This great city, like Nineveh, was so fortified by the Nile and its canals as to be deemed impregnable; yet was it captured by the Assyrians. Its stupendous ruins excite even today the astonishment of the world.

The Prophet here asks Nineveh, Are you better or more strongly situated than Thebes, Egypt?)

⁹Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were your helpers. (And it was infinite, concerning the strength of Ethiopia and Egypt, respects them as being thought to be so strong that they were impregnable. But yet, and as the Holy Spirit calls to attention, Assyria defeated these mighty empires.)

¹⁰Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. (Yet was she carried away, refers to the destruction of Thebes [No], despite her strong position and infinite resources. Likewise, Nineveh would fare no better!)

¹¹You also shall be drunk: you shall be hid, you also shall seek strength because of the en emy. (The word drunk means to be drunk with the cup of Gods Wrath. You shall be hid, means to be covered up with the sands of the desert, which she was after her terrible defeat by the Babylonians. In fact, she was so effectually hidden that her very site was discovered only in the last 100 or so years.

You also shall seek strength because of the enemy, actually means that they would seek to leave the city and find another stronghold of defense; however, history records that the effort to retreat from Nineveh during the siege was unsuccessful.)

¹²All your strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. (The Holy Spirit forecasts here, about 100 years before it happened, the actual thoughts that would come into the minds of the defenders of Nineveh, of endeavoring to retreat to a second line of defense. He is telling them here through the Prophet that such would be useless.)

¹³Behold, your people in the midst of you are women: the gates of your land shall be set wide open unto your enemies: the fire shall devour your bars. (Behold, your people in the midst of you are women, denotes the fighting ability of the Assyrians being so diminished that they were incapable of defense. The phrase, The gates of your land shall be set wide open unto your enemies, refers to the part of the wall that was swept away by the flood, leaving gaping holes. The fire shall devour your bars, actually pertains to the gates of the city that were set on fire after the Babylonians had gained access to the city because of the flood.)

¹⁴Draw you waters for the siege, fortify your strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln. (In effect, the Lord is saying that irrespective of what is done, Assyria is going to go down, and nothing can stop it.)

¹⁵There shall the fire devour you; the sword shall cut you off, it shall eat you up like the cankerworm: make yourself many as the cankerworm, make yourself many as the locusts. (The argument of Verses 15 through 17 is: though the soldiers of Nineveh were as countless as the locusts, and her merchants more in number than the stars, yet should they perish as the locusts that flee from the rising sun.)

¹⁶You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoils, and flees away. (The first phrase pertains to the extensive trading carried on by Nineveh, which was really, at that time, the hub of commerce for much of the world. The last phrase has to do with the city spreading herself everywhere, and now is gone, as if disappeared.)

¹⁷Your crowned are as the locusts, and your captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. (This Verse proclaims the fabric of this vast number of world leaders and empire builders coming apart like rotten cloth.)

¹⁸Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: your nobles shall dwell in the dust: your people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathers them. (Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, refers to their military generals sleeping the sleep of death. Your people is scattered upon the mountains, concerns their terrible defeat at the hands of the Babylonians, with the people being leaderless as a result of the decapitation of its leadership. No man gathers them, means that there will be no leaders left to rally them, hence the empire would go into oblivion.)

¹⁹There is no healing of your bruise; your wound is grievous: all who hear the bruit of you shall clap the hands over you: for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually? (There is no healing of your bruise, means that there was no remedy for the coming destruction. Your wound is grievous points to the fact that the leaders of Assyria had passed the point of no return. The phrase, All who hear the bruit of you shall clap the hands over you, concerns the nations of the world who hear the tidings [bruit] of Assyrias defeat and rejoice greatly!)