Nahum 3:8 - Meaning and Application

Nineveh had been told that God was against her, and then no one could stand for her or help her. Yet she still defied God himself, and his power and justice, and said, “I shall have peace.” People under warning often live on a long time, so the prophet shows how useless her confidence would be and how it could not turn away God’s judgment.

To prove this, he first shows that other places, just as strong and secure as Nineveh, could not stand against God’s judgments. Nineveh would fall without pity or comfort, for those who speak peace to people whom God is about to trouble become poor comforters. She would not be able to help herself. “Are you better than populous No?” (Nahum 3:8). He weakens their false hope by pointing to earlier examples.

The city here is No, a great city in Egypt (Jeremiah 46:25), also called No-Ammon in some translations. We read about it in Ezekiel 30:14-16. Some think it was Diospolis, others Alexandria. As God said to Jerusalem, “Go and see what I did to Shiloh” (Jeremiah 7:12), so he says to Nineveh, “Go and see what I did to populous No.” It helps us fear God’s judgments when we remember that we are no better than those who fell before us. We deserve the same judgments and are just as unable to fight them off.

This also should help us accept hardship. Are we better than such and such people, who were tested in the same way? Or were they perhaps better than we are, and less likely to suffer? About No, notice first how safe it seemed (Nahum 3:8). It was fortified by both nature and human skill. It stood among rivers. The Nile, in several branches, not only watered its fields, but also guarded its walls. Its defense was like a sea, the lake of Mareotis, an Egyptian lake like the Sea of Tiberias. Its wall came from the sea, and people thought its defenses made it impossible to conquer.

It also had support from its interests and alliances abroad (Nahum 3:9). Ethiopia, or Arabia, was its strength, either through trade wealth or through soldiers sent to help in war. The whole land of Egypt also helped this crowded city, so that its strength seemed endless. It set no limits to its ambition and knew no end to its wealth and power. People kept coming to it, and it seemed as if nothing would ever stop that growth. But it is God alone who is truly endless.

Put and Lubim were its helpers, two nearby regions in Africa, Mauritania and Libya, or Libya Cyrenica, both of which Egypt depended on greatly. So No, with all these supports, seemed to sit like a queen and expect no sorrow. But look at how complete its fall was (verse 10). It was carried away, and its strength failed. The city that had been so strong and secure still went into captivity. This points to a destruction of that city that was well known then, though it may not have been recorded in history. If this is read as a prophecy about Nebuchadnezzar, it could not serve as an example to Nineveh, because the fall of Nineveh was among his first victories and Egypt’s defeat among his last.

The greatness of that city could not protect it from military ruin. It was not spared from the worst kind of cruelty, because its young children were shown no pity. They were dashed to pieces at the street corners by merciless conquerors. It was also not spared from humiliation and disgrace. They cast lots for its honorable men who had been taken prisoner, as if they were objects to be divided among slaves. There were so many captives that the conquerors treated them like dice in a game. All the great men who had once worn gold chains on feast days were now bound in iron chains. The word means they were put in bonds like condemned criminals, not just slaves. What shame this brought on populous No, when its honored and powerful men, the very people it trusted in, were abused like that!

From this he draws the warning for Nineveh (Nahum 3:11). “You also will become drunk and confused. You will reel and stagger as if drunk with the cup of the Lord’s fury, which will be given to you” (see Jeremiah 25:17, Jeremiah 25:27). “You will fall and rise no more. The cup will come around to you, O Nineveh, and you will have to drink it at last.”

Second, he shows that everything Nineveh trusted in would fail her. Did the men of Nineveh trust their own courage and boldness? Their hearts would fail them. They would hide themselves, partly from shame because they were disgraced, and partly from fear because they were in danger. They would not be able to face the enemy. With no strength of their own, they would go to their neighbors, begging for help in their time of need. In this way God can break the spirit of princes and take away their courage.

Did they depend on their defenses, their garrisons and strongholds, which were carefully built and well manned? Those would prove like paper walls. They would be as easy to take as first-ripe figs, which fall into the mouth of anyone who shakes the tree a little. So easily would all their strong places surrender to the advancing enemy at the first demand (Nahum 3:12). Strongholds, even the strongest, are no defense against God’s judgments when he sends them. “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall,” but only in his own mind (Proverbs 18:10).

They are told to make their strongholds as secure as possible, and to do their best to hold out against the invader (Nahum 3:14). “Draw water for the siege,” that is, store up plenty of supplies so they will not be starved out. Here water stands for all needed provisions. “Strengthen the fortresses,” by adding outer defenses or putting more men and weapons in them, as people might place cannon on them. “Go into clay and tread the mortar, and make the brick kiln strong.” In other words, take every possible step to build new defenses. But all of it would be useless, for there, if the city were taken by storm, fire would destroy it (Nahum 3:15). In war, fire and sword do the greatest damage.

Did they trust in the large number of people in the city? Did they think their many soldiers made them as safe as strong walls and defenses? That hope would help them no more than anything else, because their own size would only make their fall greater (Nahum 3:13). Their people would lose heart and act without wisdom or courage. In time of danger and distress, they would be fearful, weak, and confused, and even the brave men would become cowards.

Did they trust in their great numbers? They had multiplied themselves like the cankerworm and the locust, which come in huge swarms (Nahum 3:15). They had also increased their merchants beyond the stars of heaven. Their city was full of wealthy traders, and people might have thought such men would help defend it, since they had money to spend on protection. But even their hearts would fail. Though they were as many as caterpillars, fire and sword would destroy them as easily and surely as a cankerworm.

The same image is used again here. The cankerworm spoils and then flies away. In the same way, the enemies would strip Nineveh and carry off its wealth without resistance, and there would be little hope of getting it back. Or the merchants themselves, who had come from other lands and built up great estates in Nineveh, would see danger coming and leave quickly. They would spread their wings and fly away to safety, and Nineveh would be no better for them. It is common for people to share our joy, but rare for them to share our trouble. Those who stay while there is something to gain are often gone when everything is lost. Riches themselves are like cankerworms, because they can suddenly fly away, as quickly as an eagle rises toward the sky (Proverbs 23:5).

Did they trust in the strength of their gates and bars? What good would that defense be against the judgments of God (Nahum 3:13)? The gates of the land would be thrown open to the enemy. This includes the river gates, the floodgates, and the passes and roads by which invaders would enter, as well as the city gates themselves (Nahum 2:6). Even if these gates were strong and well guarded, they would not accomplish anything. Fire would consume the bars of the gates, and then the gates would swing open.

Did they trust in their king and princes? These too would fail them (Nahum 3:17). Their crowned leaders, who had power and dignity, would be as helpless as locusts when the enemy came like a flood. Their captains, who should have led the army, were impressive in appearance, but they were only like large grasshoppers, useless in battle. They camped in the hedges in cold weather, but when the sun rose, they flew away and were gone. So it was with these hired soldiers in Nineveh. When trouble came, they would flee and look only to save themselves. The hired worker runs away because he is hired. The king of Assyria should have known this, and it was a shame that he needed to be told. His shepherds, that is, his rulers and officers, were asleep. They had no energy or courage to protect the people, and they were careless in the duty given to them. Their nobles would lie in the dust and be buried in silence.

Did they hope to recover and gather themselves again? That hope would also fail. When the shepherds are struck down, the sheep scatter. So the people would be dispersed over the mountains, and no one would gather them. They would not come together again by themselves, but would keep wandering like scattered sheep. Their judgment is pictured as a wound that cannot be healed. There is no cure for it, no way even to cover the injury. Their case is hopeless (Nahum 3:19). Their neighbors would not comfort them. Instead, they would clap their hands over Nineveh and rejoice at its fall, because Nineveh had hurt them all in one way or another. It had always done harm to those around it, and there was no one it had not abused or insulted. So they would feel no pity, only satisfaction that Nineveh was now receiving the same kind of treatment it had given others.

Those who mistreat their neighbors will one day find that harm comes back to them. In time, they make enemies for themselves against the day of their own downfall. Even those who do not attack them with their own hands may still clap their hands over them and remind them of their former wickedness, now paid back in full. The one who causes trouble will be troubled, and that is the burden spoken against Nineveh here.