John Calvin Commentary Nahum 2:10

"She is empty, and void, and waste; and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale." — Nahum 2:10 (ASV)

The Prophet here confirms what the last verse contains; for he shows why he had called the Chaldeans to take away the spoil—because it was to be so. He did not indeed (as I have already said) command the Chaldeans in such a way that their obedience to God was praiseworthy; but the Prophet speaks here only of His secret counsel.

Though the Chaldeans did not know that it was God’s decree, yet the Prophet reminds the faithful that the Ninevites, when made naked, suffered punishment for their cruelty, especially for having conducted themselves so hostilely towards the Jews. Therefore he declares that Nineveh is emptied, is emptied, and made naked.

By repeating the same word, he intimates the certainty of the event. Emptied, emptied, he says, as when one says in our language, vidée et revidée. We therefore see that by this repetition what the Prophet meant is more distinctly expressed so that the faithful might not doubt the event; and then for the same purpose he adds, she is made naked.

We now perceive the Prophet’s design. As in the last verse he shows that he had power given him from above to send armies against Nineveh, and to give up the city to them to be spoiled and plundered, so he now shows that he had not commanded the Chaldeans in such a way that they were the legitimate servants of God, and could pretend that they rendered service to Him.

He therefore points out for what purpose he had commanded the Chaldeans to plunder Nineveh; and that was because God had so decreed. He had so decreed and commanded because He would not bear the many wrongs done to His people whom He had taken under His protection.

Since Nineveh had so cruelly treated God’s chosen people, it was necessary that the reward she deserved should be repaid to her. But the repetition, which I have noticed, ought to be especially observed, for it teaches us that God’s power is connected with His word, so that He declares nothing inconsiderately or in vain.

He then adds that knees smite together; that every heart is dissolved or melted; and also that all loins tremble.

We therefore learn that there is no courage in men, except as far as God supplies them with vigor. As soon as He withdraws His Spirit, those who were before the most valiant become faint-hearted, and those who breathed great ferocity are made soft and effeminate; for by the word heart is meant inward boldness or courage, and by the knees and loins the strength of the body is to be understood.

There is indeed no doubt that the Assyrians, while they ruled, were a very courageous people, as power always generates boldness; and it is also probable that they were a warlike people, since all their neighbors had been brought under their power. But the Prophet now shows that there would be no vigor in their hearts, and no strength in their loins or in any part of their body.

The heart, then, he says, is melted. And therefore we learn how foolishly men boast of their courage while they seem to be like lions; for God can in a moment so melt their hearts that they entirely lose all firmness.

Then as to external vigor, we see that it is in God’s hand; there will be, he says, a confriction, or the knees will knock one against another, as they do when they tremble.

And he says afterwards, And trembling shall be in all loins. He at last adds, And the faces of all shall gather blackness.

The word פארור, parur, some derive from פאר, par; and so the rendering would be, “all faces shall draw in or withdraw their beauty.” And so also they explain Joel 2:6, for the sentence there is the same.

But those who disapprove of this meaning say that קבף, kobets, cannot mean to draw in or to withdraw; and so they render the noun as blackness. But this is a strained explanation.

פארור, parur, they say, does not mean a black color but a pot; when, therefore, a cauldron or a kettle contracts blackness from smoke, it is then called פארור, parur. But in this place these interpreters are constrained to take it metaphorically for that color, which is, as I have said, strained and far-fetched.

I am therefore inclined to adopt the opinion of those who render the sentence, “all faces shall withdraw their beauty, or their brightness”; but as to the import of the passage, there is little or no difference; let then everyone have his free choice.

With regard to the Prophet’s design, he evidently means that the faces of all would be sad, for the Lord would fill their minds and thoughts with dread. The withdrawing of beauty then signifies an outward appearance of sorrow, or paleness, or whatever may appear in the countenance of men when dejected with grief.

In short, the Prophet means that however much the Assyrians might have until now raised their crests on high, breathed great swelling words, and conducted themselves insolently, they would now be dejected. For the Lord would prostrate their courage and melt their strength; He would, by casting down their high spirits, constrain them to undergo shame. This is the import of the whole.