John Calvin Commentary Nahum 2:9

"Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture." — Nahum 2:9 (ASV)

Here the Prophet, as it were, by the command and authority of God, gives up Nineveh to the will of its enemies, so that they might spoil and plunder it. Some think that this address is made in the name of a general encouraging his soldiers. However, we know that the Prophets assume the person of God when they command anything with such authority; and it is a very emphatic mode of speaking.

This approach is taken so that we may know that the Prophets do not pour forth an empty sound when they speak, but truly testify to what God has determined to do here, and what He will execute in due time. Since we know that this manner of speaking is common to the Prophets, there is no reason to apply this to the person of Nebuchadnezzar or any other. God, therefore, shows here that Nineveh was given up to ruin and delivered it into the hands of its enemies.

It is indeed certain that the Babylonians, in plundering the city, did not obey God’s command; yet it is true that they punished the Assyrians through the secret influence of God, for it was His purpose to visit the Ninevites for the cruelty and avarice for which they had long been notorious, and especially for having exercised unexampled barbarity toward the Jews.

This is the reason why God now gives them up to the Babylonians and exposes them to plunder. But as I have spoken at length elsewhere of the secret judgments of God, I will only briefly observe here that God does not command the Babylonians and Chaldeans in order to make them excusable, but shows by His prophet that Nineveh was to be destroyed by her enemies, not by chance, but because it was His will to avenge the wrongs done to His people.

At the same time, we must bear in mind what we have said elsewhere: that the Prophets speak this way when the execution is already prepared. For God does not terrify men in vain or without reason, but He afterwards makes it manifest by its effect: as He created the world from nothing by His word, so also by His word He executes and fulfills His judgments.

It is then no wonder that the Prophet here, as though he ruled the Chaldeans according to his will, addresses them thus: Take ye away, take ye away. But this must be viewed as having a reference to the faithful, for the Babylonians, in plundering the city of Nineveh, did not think that they were obeying God, nor did they give God the praise due for the victory.

Instead, the faithful were thus reminded that all this was done through the secret providence of God. It was also a clear and, as it were, visible evidence of God’s paternal love towards His Church, when He thus deigned to undertake the cause of His distressed people.

It then follows: There is no end of preparations. Some render תכונה (techune) as treasure or hidden wealth, deriving it from כון (cun), which means to prepare. However, תכונה (tacune) is almost always understood as a measure.

תכנות (tacanut), from תכון (tacun), means a sum, for תכש (tacan) means to number or to count; and this meaning suits the passage. But there is no need to labor much about this word.

If we take it simply as 'place,' the meaning would be that there was no plot of ground in that city that was not, as it were, a filled-up gulf, for it had amassed all the wealth of the nations. This sense would harmonize well with the Prophet's subject—that the soldiers were to plunder until they were satisfied, because the place was, as it were, a deep abyss.

He afterwards adds: There is glory from every desirable vessel. Those who think מ (mem) is a particle of comparison in this place are much mistaken and misapply the Prophet's meaning. Their rendering is, 'In comparison with every desirable vessel'; but this, as all must see, is very weak.

The Prophet, I have no doubt, declares that the wealth of Nineveh consisted of every desirable vessel, for they had for a long time heaped together immense wealth of every kind. The Hebrews call what is precious a 'desirable thing,' and their 'vessels' we would include under the term 'furniture.' We now perceive what the Prophet means.

Some take כבד (cabed) as a participle and give this version: 'It is burdened' or 'adorned' (for it means both) 'with every desirable vessel.' But the simpler way of speaking is what we have explained: that its glory was from every desirable vessel.

And here the Prophet condemns what the Assyrians had done in heaping together so much wealth from all quarters, for they had committed indiscriminate plunder and gathered for themselves all the riches of the nations. They had indeed plundered all their neighbors, yes, and wholly stripped them. The Prophet now shows, in order to expose them to ridicule, that other robbers, whom the Lord would raise up against them, would be made rich.

The same is said by Isaiah: O thou plunderer, shalt not thou also be exposed to plunder? (Isaiah 33).

So also the Prophet shows in this passage that men foolishly burn with such avidity for money and with such anxiety heap together great wealth, for God will find some who in their turn will plunder those who have plundered. It follows—