Nahum 2:11 - Meaning and Application

Here we see Nineveh’s ruin, and its neighbors now rejoice over it. They remember all the oppression and abuse of power that Nineveh was guilty of in its pride and wealth (Nahum 2:11, 12). They ask, “Where is the den of the lions? It is gone. There is no trace left.” They also ask about the place where the young lions fed and grew fat on their prey.

Nineveh’s princes had acted like lions, like wild beasts that live by killing others. Cruel rulers are even worse than lions, because they are human, and human kindness should have been expected from them. If they were truly like lions, they would not have preyed on their own kind. But these rulers had the cruelty of lions while wearing the form of men. They moved through Nineveh like a lion in the forest, and no one dared challenge them. No one loved them, but everyone feared them, and that was all they wanted. As the saying goes, “Let them hate, if only they fear.”

The king, along with every prince, worked to enrich himself and build up his family through violence and extortion. He tore apart enough to feed his cubs, and he strangled for his lioness. He killed all who came near him and seized what they had for his children, wives, and concubines. He filled his dens with prey and his hideouts with stolen goods, just as lions do. Many people excuse their greed and injustice by saying they must provide for their wives and children. But what is gained that way will never truly benefit them. Those who fear the Lord and gain what they have honestly will not lack what they need for themselves and their families. They will surely be fed, even when the young lions, though their dens are full of prey, go hungry (Psalm 34:10).

This judgment is also declared by the righteous Judge of heaven and earth. It is God’s doing, and the whole world must take notice (Nahum 2:13). “I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts. And what can armies do for Nineveh when the Lord of hosts is against it? The oppressors in Nineveh thought they had only made their neighbors their enemies, and those neighbors were no match for them. But in truth, they had set God against them. He is the one who defends what is right and avenges wrong.

Because God is against Nineveh’s princes, their military power will help them nothing. “I will burn your chariots in smoke.” He does not even say in fire, but in contempt for them, the very smoke of his anger will be enough to destroy their chariots. They will be consumed as soon as his anger begins to rise, while it is only smoking and has not yet burst into flame. Or the meaning may be that the drivers of the chariots will be choked and smothered by the smoke. Then the chariots that once displayed their glory will become the shame of their families (Isaiah 22:18).

Their children, the hope of their families, will also be cut off. “The sword shall devour the young lions,” those they had worked so hard to provide for by oppression and extortion. It is right for God to take away the children, or at least the comfort of children, from those who use sinful ways to make them rich. Some people, as has been said of some, ruin their own souls in order to make their sons gentlemen.

The wealth they gathered through fraud and violence will also be useless. “I will cut off your prey from the earth.” They will not enjoy it themselves, and no one else will benefit from it either. Some take this to mean that God will also stop them from plundering their neighbors any longer.

Even their messengers abroad will lose all honor and influence. “The voice of your messengers shall no more be heard.” Some think this refers to Rabshakeh, one of Nineveh’s messengers who blasphemed the living God. That evil was remembered against Nineveh long afterward. Those who have once spoken against God in shameful ways are not fit to be heard again.