Charles Ellicott Commentary Nahum 3
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Nahum 3
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Nahum 3
"Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not." — Nahum 3:1 (ASV)
Woe to the bloody city!—Better, O bloody city! She is altogether deceit, filled with crime: she does not cease from plunder.
"The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses, and bounding chariots," — Nahum 3:2 (ASV)
The noise of ...—Better, Hark to the whip, and hark to the rattling of the wheel, and the horse galloping, and the chariot bounding. The entry of the victorious besiegers is here described.
"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;-" — Nahum 3:3 (ASV)
The horseman lifteth up.—Better, There is the rearing horseman and the flaming sword, and the glittering lance, and a multitude of wounded, and a mass of corpses ...
"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. 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." — Nahum 3:4-6 (ASV)
Because of the multitude.— In the idolatry and superstition of Nineveh the prophet finds the cause of her destruction. Perversion of religious instinct is frequently denounced under the same figure in Scripture. Here, however, a more literal interpretation is possible, since there is reason to believe the religious rites of Assyria were characterized, like those of Babylon, by gross sensuality. According to Herodotus, 1.199, the Babylonian worship of Beltis or Mylitta was connected with a system of female prostitution, which was deemed “most shameful” even by the pagan historian.
Compare also the Apocryphal Book of Baruch 6:43. The same deity was worshipped in Assyria. Professor Rawlinson writes: “It would seem to follow almost as a matter of course that the worship of the same identical goddess in the adjoining country included a similar usage. It may be to this practice that the prophet Nahum alludes when he denounces Nineveh as a well-favoured harlot, the multitude of whose harlotries was notorious” (Five Great Monarchies, vol. 2, p. 41).
"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?" — Nahum 3:7 (ASV)
Shall flee from you.—As in the case of the destruction of Korah, men flee from the stricken city lest they share her punishment. Nor is she an object of compassion whose cruelties have been as extensive as her empire. Hers is the fate of the fallen tyrant—left to
... “vainly groan.
With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.”
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