Charles Spurgeon Commentary Nahum 2

You will remember how Mr. Layard took out of the ruins at Nineveh those immense lions that now stand in the British Museum.

They were the very symbol of this great empire, that boasted of its lion-like strength and ferocity. So the prophet cries, "Where is the lair of the lion?"

They were always destroying, and plundering, and carrying home the spoil, so that everyone was fattened with the plunder of the nations.

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.

It is time that they were stopped. You remember in what foul-mouthed language Rabshakeh addressed king Hezekiah; and God now declares that there will be no more such letters as his. God may allow evil to lord it over his people for a while; but he puts a hook in the mouth of the leviathan eventually. He who restrains the sea and its waves, Jehovah is his name, and he restrains the wickedness of men.

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts,

And whenever that is the case, a person does not need any other adversary. If God is against you, O my dear hearer, what will become of you? Though you have all the power of the world, and possess robust health, abundant riches, and keen wit, what can you do against God? I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts. He throws down the gauntlet to Nineveh.