Nahum 2

 

Nahum 2:1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

• He that dasheth =  A reference or type of the future destruction of Antichrist.
• Dasheth or, the breaker
• Hebrew. mephiz = battle-axe, or hammer
• Keep the munition =  keep the keeps, or fortify the fortress, or fence the defences.
• Make thy loins strong = be courageous.
• Fortify = strengthen "thee" with power mightily

2 For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

• The verse not "misplaced", as alleged.
• Hath turned away = restoreth, or is on the way to bring back.
• The excellency = pre-eminence.
• Used in good, or bad sense according to the context.
• Jacob = Put here for the natural seed, and Judah in contrast with Israel. They don't know who they are.
• As =  "He will restore" the excellency

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.

• Mighty men = mighty ones, or warriors.
• Made red = reddened "with blood".
• Are in scarlet = "are clad" in scarlet, as were the armies of the Persians.
• The chariots shall be . . . torches: or, with the flashing of steel the chariots "glitter".
• Fir trees = for the spears or lances made from them.

4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.

• Rage = rave "as though mad" Hebrew = halal.
• Justle = From Old French jouster, to tilt; from Low Latin =  juxtare, to approach (as in tilting).
• Jostle = to push against, a frequentative form; but the Hebrew (shakak) means to run to and fro
• They shall seem = their appearance is
• Run = rush, or flash = Hebrew = ruz.

5 He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.

• He = The king of Assyria
• Nahum 3:18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
• Shepherds = leaders, or rulers
• Assyria another name of Satan
• There's no leader to guide them
• Let God be your leader = not the ways of this world
Recount = bethink himself of.
Worthies = nobles, who may assemble their troops
In their walk = as they march.
The wall thereof = her wall =  the wall of Nineveh.
And = yet
The defence = the mantelet, or portable storming cover "of the besiegers".

6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.

• Gates = flood-gates, or sluices.
• The rivers = Nineveh lay on the east (or left) bank of the Tigris.
• The Khusur (a perennial stream) ran through it; also a canal from it to the Tigris ran through the city.
• Opened = by the enemy.
• Be dissolved = melt away "in fear", or was in dismay.

7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.

• Huzzab = The words which follow show that the queen or queen-mother is meant: or, Huzzab may be taken as a verb (dual of nazah), and the "and" as = though (like "but" in Nahum 2:8).
• In that case read: "though firmly established, she shall be dishonoured and taken captive"; the city being thus personified.
• Lead her = mourn for, or bemoaning.
• Tabering = drumming "with their fingers" incessantly. Hebrew. taphaph, from toph = a drum.
• Breasts = hearts. Some codices read "heart" (singular); but others, with eight early printed editions, read "hearts" (plural)

8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.

• But = Though, to answer to the "yet" of the next line.
• Is of old = Read "hath been from of old "filled with men" as a pool "is full" of water".
• They = the defenders.
• Flee away = Before their besiegers.
• They = the captains

9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.

• Take the spoil = for emphasis.
• None end  = "there are" treasures without end, "and" stores of all covetable vessels

10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.

• Empty = they are finish = nothing to stand for
• And = Is use the same way as in (Genesis 1)
• The faces of them all = Joel 2:6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
• Nahum 1:15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
• Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

• Where = for emphasis
• This is God's answer to Sennacherib's taunt, looking back after the fulfillment of this prophecy.
• 2 Kings 18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?
• 35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?
• Old lion = lioness

12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.

13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, 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.

• God said, I will do this = 7th vial = God's wrath
• These will know = there is only ONE God
• Saith the LORD of Hosts = "is" the oracle of God's Sabaioth.
• The LORD = Hebrew = God as in Nah 2:2 For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
• The full expression, "God of hosts", and in the corresponding member
• In the smoke = into smoke
• Messengers = ambassadors

• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.

 

•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

(Leviticus. 26: 28-46) God warned Israel that if they persisted in continually breaking His Laws, not only would curses come upon them.

He would punish them for seven times, (a time being 360 years, seven times would be 2520 years) and would banish them from the land of Palestine and scatter them among the heathens (like lost sheep)

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25