TEXT [Commentary]

  E.   The Defenseless Citadel (3:8-19)

1.   A comparison of Nineveh and Thebes (3:8-13)

8 Are you any better than the city of Thebes,[*]

situated on the Nile River, surrounded by water?

She was protected by the river on all sides,

walled in by water.

9 Ethiopia[*] and the land of Egypt

gave unlimited assistance.

The nations of Put and Libya

were among her allies.

10 Yet Thebes fell,

and her people were led away as captives.

Her babies were dashed to death

against the stones of the streets.

Soldiers threw dice[*] to get Egyptian officers as servants.

All their leaders were bound in chains.

11 And you, Nineveh, will also stagger like a drunkard.

You will hide for fear of the attacking enemy.

12 All your fortresses will fall.

They will be devoured like the ripe figs

that fall into the mouths

of those who shake the trees.

13 Your troops will be as weak

and helpless as women.

The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy

and set on fire and burned.

NOTES

3:8 Thebes. Heb. no’ ’amon [TH4996A, ZH5531]. The Assyrians knew the city as ni’u (Amarna ni), and the Greeks called it Dios Polis (Divine City). In Egypt itself it was known as n’iwt rst (Southern City) or as simply n’iwt (the City). Accordingly, Ezekiel (Ezek 30:14-16) can also call it just no’ [TH4996, ZH5530]. ’amon is a reference to the god Amun, who rose to prominence in Egypt’s twelfth dynasty and, after subsequently being assimilated with the sun-god Re, became the principal national deity Amun-Re, patron deity during the New Kingdom era (c. 1570–1085 BC).

protected by the river on all sides. Thebes counted heavily on its watery position for its defense—the waters serving virtually as the city’s protective walls.

3:9 Put. The exact location of this land is uncertain (see the note on the fall of Thebes in 3:10), despite its close association with Ethiopia and Egypt elsewhere (Gen 10:6; in Ezek 27:10; 30:5; 38:5, NLT identifies Put with Libya). Jeremiah (Jer 46:9-10) likewise prophesied that Egypt’s allies—Cush, Put, and Lydia—would be no deterrent to its defeat in the day of the Lord’s judgment against Egypt.

were among her allies. Lit., “were your helpers.” The Hebrew phrase is wide ranging and includes all sorts of supporting resources, not just military aid.

3:10 Thebes fell. The city fell to the Assyrians under King Ashurbanipal in 663 BC. Before Ashurbanipal’s victory, Thebes had seemed unconquerable. Surrounded by a strong defensive wall and a water system that included lakes, moats, canals, and the Nile, Thebes had been able to boast of the help of not only all Egypt but also its seventh-century allies: Sudanese Cush, Put (perhaps the fabled land of Punt in coastal Somaliland), and Libya. None of these, however, was to prove effective in protecting Thebes.

dashed to death. The practice of exterminating infants is recorded elsewhere in the Scriptures (2 Kgs 8:12; Ps 137:9; Isa 13:16, 18; Hos 10:14; 13:16; cf. Matt 2:16-18). The perpetration of barbaric acts of cruelty against captive cities is abundantly attested in the Assyrian annals. Ashurbanipal reports that in the Elamite campaign against Bit-Imbi, “The people dwelling therein, who had not come forth and had not greeted my majesty, I slew. Their heads I cut off. [Of others] I pierced the lips [and] took them to Assyria as a spectacle for the people of my land” (Luckenbill 1926:306).

threw dice. This practice is noted elsewhere in the OT (cf. Joel 3:3; Obad 1:11). It is also documented in extrabiblical literature, as is the binding in chains of captured nobility (cf. 2 Kgs 25:7; Isa 45:14; Jer 40:1, 4).

3:11 And you . . . also. The flavoring connective particle gam [TH1571, ZH1685] is employed twice in this verse and twice in the previous verse. Its recurrence has the effect of the clarion peal of a bell dolefully sounding out the awful truth that Nineveh, too, must surely reenact the tragic experience of Thebes.

stagger like a drunkard. Several scholars suggest an emendation here so as to read “you will hire yourself out,” that is, as a prostitute, echoing the familiar example of wartime conditions described in the KRT epic of Ugarit (lines 97-98; for the text, see Gordon 1965:250). Although the Ugaritic parallel is interesting, the pointing of the Hebrew verb makes sense as it stands and is appropriate to the desperate conditions described here. Moreover, Nahum has mentioned the image of drunkenness earlier in another connection (in 1:10).

3:12 fortresses. The underlying Hebrew noun is generally associated with a root meaning “restrain/cut off,” hence “fortify.” Cathcart (1973a:138-139) relates the Hebrew root to Cyrus Gordon’s suggestion for the Ugaritic verb bsr (soar). The idea behind the word “fortress” would then be derived from the act of “raising defenses higher.” Parrot (1955:279) understands the fortresses here to refer to Nineveh’s supporting towns of Ashur and Tarbisu, which fell in 614 BC, two years before Nineveh itself was captured.

ripe figs. For the image of early ripe figs taken into the mouth of the eater, see Isa 28:4. Robertson (1990:119) calls attention to the use of this motif to depict the coming cataclysms in Rev 6:13-17.

3:13 Your troops. The particle with which this verse begins (hinneh [TH2009, ZH2180]; cf. 1:15; 2:13) once again is used toward the end of a literary unit. The word translated “troops” is normally rendered “people” (cf. KJV). The military situation involved here, however, has led several commentators (e.g., Cathcart, R. L. Smith) and modern versions (e.g., NIV, NRSV) to abandon the traditional understanding of the word. Nahum’s taunt concerning Nineveh’s warriors being like women is illuminated by Hillers’ reminder (1964:66-68) of Near Eastern treaty curses in which warriors are compared to women, especially in the treaty between Ashurnirari V of Assyria and Mati‘ilu of Arpad, where the curse of warriors becoming women is juxtaposed with that of Mati‘ilu’s wives becoming prostitutes.

COMMENTARY [Text]

With his woeful description of Nineveh’s destruction completed, Nahum once again uses a taunt song to depict Nineveh’s dire plight. The section (3:8-19) flows in two movements. The first, opening with a rhetorical question, reminds Nineveh that she is no more secure than once-proud Thebes, which also fell. Rather, her allegedly impregnable defenses will fall as easily as ripe figs the eater shakes from the tree, and her most virile champions will prove to be little more than helpless women. In the second portion the prophet ironically ridicules Nineveh’s defenders, urging them to make all necessary preparations. It will be to no avail, for her protectors will be shown to be inept at best, deserters at worst. In the end, the message of her fall will be rehearsed to a rejoicing mankind (3:14-19).

Both halves of the taunt, like the taunt song in 2:11-13, are splendid examples of satire: Both contain a specific object of satirical attack—Assyria/Nineveh; both provide a rhetorical vehicle for carrying forward the satire—portraiture, irony, simile, and metaphor; both have a satirical tone—Juvenalian attack and sarcasm; and both reveal a distinct trait that merits correction—Nineveh’s pride as seen in her trust in her vaunted defenses and Nineveh’s haughtiness as evidenced in her disdainful cruelty toward others.

Nahum first cites the example of Thebes, whose fate Assyria knew from firsthand experience. Thebes was the illustrious and time-honored capital of Egypt. Situated on both sides of the Nile in Upper Egypt, it achieved its greatest fame as the political, religious, and cultural center of Egypt’s great New Kingdom dynasties. Thebes was still a thriving metropolis in the waning days of Egypt’s Twenty-fifth (Nubian) Dynasty (c. 751–656 BC), even though the dynastic capital appears to have been situated farther north in Memphis. After Esarhaddon of Assyria defeated Pharaoh Taharqa (690–664 BC) at Memphis in 671 BC, the final king of the dynasty, Tanwetamani (664–656 BC), eventually abandoned Egypt in the face of the advance of Ashurbanipal. This Assyrian king conquered Thebes in 663 BC, taking vast plunder and leaving behind a client kingdom that would ultimately develop into Egypt’s last great kingdom, the Twenty-sixth (Saite) Dynasty.

Verses 12-13 depict the hopelessness of Nineveh’s defensive measures. Nahum blends simile and metaphor to point out that the city’s massive fortifications would crumble as readily before the eager attackers as first ripe figs fall into the mouths of those who shake the trees. Further, its famed defenders would prove to be no more successful in protecting the city than would untrained and weak women. Neither defenses nor defenders would be effective in the face of the coming onslaught.

The reminder to Nineveh that it would prove to be no more invulnerable than the once impregnable Thebes emphasizes the fact that no human institution or fortification is invincible. When confronted by forces controlled by God, all human effort and preparations are useless. For God is head over all the nations (Pss 22:28; 47:7; 99:1-2). He sees to their successes and defeats (Ps 46:6). An omniscient and omnipotent God, he sovereignly deals with individuals in similar fashion (Job 34:21-27).

How blessed, then, is the nation whose God is the Lord, for he alone is their sure defense (Ps 33:12-22). Similarly, believers may take strength and solace that they belong to the sovereign God of the universe who is their sure defense (Ps 27:1-3) and shelter amid the vicissitudes of life (Pss 18:1-6; 31:19-20).