Nahum 3:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is the charge against Nineveh, the great city. Her size and power will not protect her from God’s judgment.

Nineveh is called a city of blood because much innocent blood was shed there. That happened through unjust war, through violence done under the cover of public justice, or by allowing cruel murders to go unpunished. The righteous God will call all of that to account. The city is also full of lies. Truth has been pushed out, and honesty is gone. No one can trust anyone else.

It is also full of robbery and plunder. People there did not care what harm they caused, or to whom they caused it. They never thought they had enough gain from spoil and oppression. They shed blood and told lies in order to get more wealth. There is also a great deal of spiritual unfaithfulness there, meaning idolatry, which is often described in Scripture as spiritual adultery. Nineveh also drew neighboring nations into the same sin, like a beautiful prostitute who seduces people and ruins them.

She is called a mistress of witchcrafts, because she used every kind of crafty scheme to gain power over others (Nahum 3:4). Nineveh wanted to rule the world and become the center of everything. To reach that goal, she used not only armies but also tricks and persuasion. She forced some nations and deceived others, luring them into submission as if by charm, and promising them that it would help them. She also invited them into her idol worship so they would be tied more closely to her interests. In that way she used her wealth, power, and greatness to draw people into alliances, then took advantage of them. These were her unfaithful acts, like those of Tyre (Isaiah 23:15, Isaiah 23:17). These were her witchcrafts, by which she strangely gained dominion. God has good reason to be against her, because he made all nations from one blood and never meant one nation to be tyrants and another to be slaves. Rule over all the earth belongs to him alone.

Now Nineveh is condemned to ruin on account of this indictment. “Woe to the bloody city” means judgment is coming on her (Nahum 3:1). She had terrified and destroyed others by her cruelty, so destruction and terror will come upon her in return. Those who try to crush everyone in their way will sooner or later meet someone who can crush them.

Hear the alarm of the army coming against Nineveh (Nahum 3:2). You can almost hear it from far away, the whip cracking as the horses are driven hard, the wheels rattling, the horses leaping, and the chariots bounding forward. The noise itself is frightening. It becomes even worse when the people inside the city know that this force is rushing toward them, and they have no strength to stop it.

See also the slaughter that will lay Nineveh waste (Nahum 3:3). The sword is drawn for execution, along with the bright sword and the flashing spear. Their shine is terrible to those against whom they are raised. There will be many dead bodies. The slain will be so many that no one can count them. Corpses will lie so thick that travelers will stumble over them at every step. This may look back to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, when they were all dead bodies by morning, as a picture of what would later happen in Nineveh. Those who will not learn from distant warnings will have judgment come close to them.

Nineveh also drew others into shameful sin through her unfaithfulness and deceit, so God will cover her with shame and contempt (Nahum 3:5-7). The Lord of hosts is against her, and that means she will be exposed to deep disgrace. She will lose all her beauty and be shown as disgusting. When it becomes clear that her friendly words were only a plan to ruin the freedom and property of her neighbors, and when her evil tricks are brought into the light, then her shame will be seen by the nations. When her proud claims collapse, and her empty hope of ruling everything comes to nothing, people will see that she was not as strong or great as she wanted them to think. Then the land that once seemed glorious will be seen as stripped bare, and the whole thing will look foolish.

People will heap filth on her, as they would on a carted prostitute, and make her despised like refuse. The great city that once drew the attention of all nations, and that many people tried to join themselves to, will become a public sight of disgrace and laughter. Those who once looked to her and ran to her for protection will now turn away, fearing they will be ruined with her. Those who misuse honor and power deserve to be disgraced and abandoned. Because they made others miserable, they will themselves become contemptible, and that will only deepen their misery.

When Nineveh is laid waste, who will mourn for her? Her suffering will be too great, and her sense of it too deep, for comfort to help. Even if comfort could help, no one will come to offer it: “Who will look for comforters for you?” Those who showed no pity when they had power can expect no pity when they fall. As the people around Nineveh discover that she had deceived them, each one will mock her instead of mourning her. That was Nineveh’s fate when she was made a public spectacle. The greater the show of pride in her time of false prosperity, the greater her shame will be in the day of her deserved ruin. “I will make you an example,” as Drusus reads it. When proud sinners are brought low, it is meant to warn others not to grow proud, secure, and insolent when they prosper in the world.