THE
FALL OF NINEVEH
NAHUM CHAPTER 3
INTRODUCTION
As we begin this book it is important to know why and at whom God is
so angry. this prophecy is directed against the city of Nineveh to whom
God sent the prophet Jonah. When Jonah preached in Nineveh, the city repented
in sackcloth and ashes. God's anger was withheld from the city and he spared
it, because from the king on down to the lowest citizen, they turned to
God and repented of their sins.
The book of Nahum comes some one hundred years after the prophecy of Jonah. During this time, Nineveh had repented of its repentance, and had begun to do the same things again.
The sins of the city called for the threat of judgment that had been preached by the prophet Jonah.
The prophet Nahum was sent to minister to the southern kingdom of Judah
at the time of the invasion of the Assyrian king
Sennacherib.
King Sennacherib came from the capital city of Syria, Nineveh.
Sennacherib invaded Israel at the time of the prophet
Isaiah. From this great city in the north the armies of
the Syrians frequently came against the land of Judah and of
Israel. But God moved to protect his people and met and destroyed these
enemies of the king overnight.
Nineveh is a doomed city and there will be no mercy from God.
The reason for the terrible destruction is clearly given. This last chapter gives the burden of Nineveh.
Nahum 1:1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not.
The sins of that great city are given, murder is seen by the city called a bloody city. The society was guilty of making human life cheap. Sometimes when we think of the murders, rapes and violence even against the unborn we fear America is a blood Nation.
Victims were seen all over the city just as in any city in America.
The sounds of the invading horsemen and armies could be heard on the distance coming to destroy this city.
The prophet foretold of the chariots that would vanquish the great city of Nineveh.
Nahum 3:2-3 The noise of the whip, and the noise of the
rattling of wheels, and prancing
horses, and bounding chariots, the horseman mounting, and the flashing
sword, and the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great
heap of
corpses, and there is no end of the bodies; they stumble upon their bodies;
The death and destruction would be overwhelming. The Assyrians were noted as ruthless and merciless to their enemies. The sins had risen to a boiling point with God.
The carnage and the destruction of Nineveh was just on the horizon and getting closer each passing day.
The scene of death would be horrible and bodies would be strewn on top of each other.
The Babylonian army is formidable as it advances against Nineveh. They likely could may hear them at a great distance, the noise of the whip, driving the chariot-horses with fury. Those in the city may hear the noise of the rattling of the iron wheels, the charging horses, and the jumping chariots. The noise would be frightful. They knew that all this force was coming against them. They are not able to stop the attackers this time.
The Assyrians had seduced Israel to idolatry and caused spiritual whoredom to run rampant in Israel.
Nahum 3:4 because of the multitude of the whoredoms of
the well-favored harlot, the
mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and
families through her witchcrafts.
Sometimes I am reminded how Christians seek to fall for every change and human philosophy that some seducing false teacher presents.
The church is constantly courted by liberals and hobbiest that turn her from the purity of truth.
Whoredom and witchcraft was a charge Nahum leveled against Nineveh. For this as well as her bloody violence she would fall.
Nineveh is a city of blood, in which a great deal of innocent blood is shed by unrighteous war. Nineveh had thwarted justice, and allowed barbarous murders to go unpunished.
In America we are shocked how cheap life has become. We are shocked
at the judicial system that allows murders to go free.
Nineveh was full of lies. Truth was banished from among them;
there is no such thing as honesty.
The city was ripe with robbery and crime. The city was built on the possessions and spoils of the weak and defenseless.
The Assyrians had shed blood, told lies, and pursued the weak, that they might enrich themselves
The prophet pictures Nineveh in a war with God. The creator of the universe was standing against the wickedness of this nation and city. Nothing can withstand the power of God.
A sobering thought is that we can make God our enemy.
James 4:4 Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God?
Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy
of God.
Many today are fighting the hopeless battle of life against God.
THE TERRIBLE PUNISHMENT OF GOD
God reveals his charges against Nineveh. The city that once repented in sack-cloth and ashes now reveled in her sins.
The time of retribution and the justice of God would soon arrive.
The Lord will uncover her shame and make her a naked spectacle before all the people of the world.
Nahum 3:4 because of the multitude of the whoredoms of
the well-favored harlot, the
mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and
families through her witchcrafts.
The prophet describes the way God will utterly humiliate and destroy the wicked city of Nineveh.
Nahum 3:5-7 Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah
of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts
upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms
thy
shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile,
and will
set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that
look upon
thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan
her?
whence shall I seek comforters for thee
God would avenge the blood of the innocent that had been shed by the Ninevites. Jehovah would annihilate the seducer of his people. When the Babylonians broke Nineveh they were instruments of God.
The people of Nineveh and Assyria would pay blood for blood. God would require that they would die shamefully.
Those that showed no pity in the day of their power can expect to find no pity in the day of their fall.
Judgments are pronounced against the great city. These were not idle threats but promises of God.
Heb. 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it is
impossible for God to lie, we may have
a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope
set before us:
Every Christian and every American should study how God deals with wickedness
in men and nations.
OTHERS HAD FALLEN AND SO WOULD NINEVEH
Instances are given of the like desolations brought upon other people and nations for the like sins.
Nahum 3:8–11 Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate
among the rivers, that had
the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was
of the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and iwas
infinite; Put and
Lubi were thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity;
her
young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets;
and they
cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
Thou also shalt be drunken; thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a stronghold
because of the enemy.
Assyria was going to be destroyed as No-Amon was broken and ruined.
Assyria had crushed without mercy No-Amon of (Thebes) in Egypt.
Nahum 3:8 Art thou better than No-amon, that was
situate among the rivers, that had
the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was
of the sea?
No-Amon despite her strength, was defeated and carried away into captivity.
Nahum 3:9-10 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
and it was infinite; Put and Lubi were
thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young
children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and
they
cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
Nineveh will fare no better than No-Amon.
So it will be with the great sinful city of Nineveh.
No-Amon had been a great city in the land of Egypt.
Jer. 46:25 Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saith:
Behold, I will punish Amon of No,
and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and
them that trust in him:
Ezek. 30:14–16 And I will make Pathros desolate,
and will set a fire in Zoan, and
will execute judgments upon No. And I will pour my wrath upon
Sin, the stronghold of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.
And I will set a fire in Egypt: Sin shall be in great anguish, and No shall
be broken up; and Memphis shall have adversaries in the day-time.
No-Amon had been fortified both by nature and art, and sit among the
river Nile. The river watered her fields, guarded her wall.
Her wall was from the sea; it was fenced with a wall which was thought
to make the place impregnable. It was
also supported by its interests and alliances abroad.
Ethiopia, or Arabia, was her strength, either by the wealth brought to her in trade or by forces furnished for military service. The whole country of Egypt also contributed to the strength of the city.
No-Amon had ambition and great wealth and strength. People flocked to her there seem to be no end of it.
Put and Lubim were the city helpers, two neighboring countries of Africa.
As powerful as she seemed she fell and was destroyed. No-Amon was carried away, her strength failed and she went into captivity.
Nahum 3:10-11 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity;
her young children also were
dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for
her honorable
men, and all her great men were bound in chains. Thou also shalt be drunken;
thou
shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a stronghold because of the enemy.
Nineveh and the nation of Assyria was to ground to dust in the same
way. No mercy would be shown or given.
THINGS
NINEVEH TRUSTED IN TO BE DESTROYED
The overthrow of all those things which the city depended upon, and put confidence in, is foretold.
Nahum 3:12–14 All thy fortresses shall be like fig-trees with
the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken,
they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst
of thee are
women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the
fire hath
devoured thy bars. Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy
fortresses; go
into the clay, and tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln
The walls of Nineveh, her great army, and all her generals would not be able to save the wicked city
Nahum 3:14-19 Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses;
go into the clay, and
tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln. There shall the fire devour
thee;
the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm:
make thyself
many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust. Thou hast multiplied
thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and
fleeth away.
Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers,
which
encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee
away, and their
place is not known where they are. Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria;
thy
nobles are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there
is none to
gather them. There is no assuaging of thy hurt: thy wound is grievous:
all that hear the
report of thee clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness
passed
continually?
When Jehovah comes in judgment all defenses fall.
Her strength and wealth cannot save her. Her strongholds will fail.
Nahum 3:12-13 All thy fortresses shall be like fig-trees
with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken,
they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, thy people in the midst
of thee are
women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the
fire hath
devoured thy bars.
All her efforts, her wealth, her army, will be futile. Everything America trusts in except God cannot save her.
Nahum 3:14-17 Draw thee water for the siege; strengthen
thy fortresses; go into the clay, and
tread the mortar; make strong the brickkiln. There shall the fire devour
thee;
the sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee like the canker-worm:
make thyself
many as the canker-worm; make thyself many as the locust. Thou hast multiplied
thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the canker-worm ravageth, and
fleeth away.
Thy princes are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers,
which
encamp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee
away, and their
place is not known where they are.
THE END OF NINEVEH
The destruction of Nineveh was so complete that until recently the enemies
of God thought Nineveh was a fictional city.
Until the spade of the archeologist discovered Nineveh , the skeptics
of the Bible denied the city ever existed!
Nineveh would have her leaders killed and slaughtered. The inhabitants would be enslaved and scattered.
Nahum 3:18-19 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria;
thy nobles are at rest; thy people are
scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them. There
is no assuaging
of thy hurt: thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee clap
their hands over
thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
The ruthless Assyrians were defeated and all the people they conquered and mistreated could rejoice.
Nahum 3:19 There is no assuaging of thy hurt: thy wound is grievous:
all that hear the report of thee
clap their hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed
continually?
The author brought consoling words to the enemies of Nineveh. The wicked city would fall and be no more.
That God of heaven would avenge the innocent victims that had been brought down by the Assyrians. God is a fortress in time of trouble.
God in this book shows he avenges the afflicted. Every evil doer should read Nahum and be afraid.
The Lord may be merciful and slow to anger, but the day of judgment does finally come!
CONCLUSION
Repent and turn from sin, Acts 3:19
Confess Christ with the mouth, Romans 10:10
Be baptized for the remission of sins, Acts 2:38
Live faithful unto death, Revelation 2:10
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