John Calvin Commentary Nahum 3:1

"Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not." — Nahum 3:1 (ASV)

The Prophet, as I have said, expresses more clearly here the reason why God's vengeance would be so severe on the Ninevites: it was because they had completely given themselves over to barbarous cruelty. For this reason, he calls it the bloody city. Bloody city! he says. The exclamation is emphatic.

Although הו (eu) sometimes means "Woe," it is used here as if the Prophet would have compelled Nineveh to undergo its punishment. O sanguinary city, then, the whole of it is full of כחש (cachesh). This word means leanness, and the Prophet undoubtedly joins two words here which seem very different, yet they mean the same thing.

For פרק (perek) means to set aside, and כחש (cachesh) is understood as a lie or vanity, when there is nothing solid in what is said. But the Prophet, I do not doubt, means by both words the spoils of the city Nineveh. It was then full of leanness because it had consumed all others; it was also full of spoils, because it had filled itself.

But the Prophet's meaning is not at all doubtful, for finally he adds, Depart shall not the prey. That is, as some think, it will not be withdrawn from the hands of conquerors. Others, however, more correctly think that a continuous freedom in plundering is meant, signifying that the Assyrians were constantly engaged in pillaging and kept within no bounds.

Thus we see that the Prophet now shows why God says that He would be an adversary to the Ninevites: because He could not endure their unjust cruelty. Indeed, He bore with them for a time, for He did not immediately execute His judgment. Yet He never forgot His own people.

Since, then, God once declared by the mouth of His Prophet that He would be the avenger of the cruelty which the Assyrians had exercised, let us know that He still retains His own nature. Whatever freedom He may grant for a time to tyrants and savage wild beasts, He nevertheless continues to be a just avenger.

It is our duty to bear injuries calmly and to groan to Him. As He promises to be our helper in the end, we ought to flee to Him and ask Him to help us. In this way, seeing His Church oppressed and tyrants exercising their power without restraint, He may hasten the time to restrain them.

If, then, we were always to continue thus resigned under God’s protection, there is no doubt that He would be ready even today to execute a similar judgment to that which the city Nineveh and its people had to endure.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we have now heard of such dreadful punishments denounced on all tyrants and plunderers, this warning may keep us within the bounds of justice. May none of us abuse our power to oppress the innocent, but instead, may we strive to benefit one another and completely regulate ourselves according to the rule of equity. May we therefore also receive comfort whenever the ungodly harass and trouble us, and not doubt that we are under Your protection. May we trust that You are armed with sufficient power to defend us, so that we may patiently bear injuries until at length the ripe time comes for You to help us and to put forth Your power for our preservation. Nor let us cease to bear our sufferings with patience as long as it may be Your will to test us in our present warfare, until, having gone through all our troubles, we come to that blessed rest which has been provided for us in heaven by Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.