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.
Those who managed to escape is likened to water of an over
flowing puddle, running off a hill and no one looks back because there is
nothing to look back to. Nineveh as prophesied will have been utterly destroyed
(1:9).
The Stones Tanak says this mean, “Her officers try to stop
their fleeing troops, but to no avail.”
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.
The Babylonians are encouraged here by the prophet to raze the
city and spoil it utterly until there is no booty left. Clean them out, it’s
left for the taking and so, to the conquers goes the spoils as they say. The
Ninevites valuables are virtually endless!
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.
The Ninevites see that they are picked clean and as vultures
with carrion, the city is nothing but a pile of bones. The blood drains from
the Ninevite faces, their stomach churns, their knees knock and they faint from
fear and despair.
Isa. 13:7-8 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every
man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take
hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be
amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
11 Where is
the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace of the young lions, where the
lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them
afraid? 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.
The tables have turned. “The Assyrians had mercilessly
plundered other nations as a lion kills its prey. They had had no compassion or
mercy for other people. Now they themselves would be plundered and killed
(v.10) Jesus Articulates this principle when He said, “All they that take the
sword shall perish with the sword.” (Matt. 26:52; cf. Rev. 13:10).” – Full Life
Study Bible
THE JUSTIFICATION… as if God needed any.
Nahum 3:1
Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth
not;
Literally it’s “city of bloods.” Blood is plural, speaking of
all the many people Nineveh have killed unjustly.
Ezk. 24:6, 9-10 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the
bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out
of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it… Therefore thus
saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire
great. Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and
let the bones be burned.
Hab. 2:12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and
stablisheth a city by iniquity!
2 The noise
of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing
horses, and of the jumping chariots. 3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright
sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great
number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon
their corpses:
This poetically describes Assyria’s utter domination of the
battle field and all the dead, piles of dead they leave in their wake, so may
that their cavalry stumbles over the multitude of Bodies.
It could be said they were the Nazi War Machine of their day.
Assyrians did such things as skin their prisoners alive, rip out tongues and
gouge out eyes, the ones they spared were led away with hooks in their mouths.
They as a nation had already taken the House of Israel away captive.
4 Because
of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of
witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through
her witchcrafts.
Nineveh being a capital city by the river, they were powerful
in trade and commerce, a Mardi Gras type of city where there was no end to its
immorality; hedonistic, pleasure seeking, witchcraft, and cult prostitution
among other wickedness.
Rashi tells us, “The Assyrians would seduce nations into
making pacts with them, and them dishonor the treaty and conquer their
unsuspecting allies.”
5 Behold, I
am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon
thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy
shame.
This verse speaks of taking full advantage of the nations
they either seduced or conquered by military force.
The Illustrated Dictionary of Bible Life and Times helps shed
a little bit of light on this odd use of the word skirt.
“Because they covered nakedness, skirts are associated with
sin and harlotry. In Lamentations, the “uncleanness” of Jerusalem lies “in her
skirts” (Lam. 1:9). In Jeremiah, God threatens to “lift up” the skirts of
Jerusalem, exposing the city’s corruption (Jer. 13:26).”
Maybe it’s the ancient way of saying that someone was caught
with their pants down. In other words, Assyria, especially Nineveh will be
uncovered to all the word and exposed for all its blackmail, taking advantage
of other nations and milking them for all their worth. What they used to do in
intimate secrecy, behind closed doors, will be revealed to the entire world.
Like two lovers or more like a man and his mistress being walked in on by
another. The skirt over the face describes how Assyria will become very
vulnerable. When your head is covered by your skirt, not only is your nakedness
exposed, but you are blind to attack and getting your head pummeled.
“Because of Nineveh’s great sin, God Himself would personally
expose the depravity of its residents and destroy them. No power on earth can
protect a nation that God has determined to oppose. When sin reaches a certain
level in a society, God will expose the people to shame by bringing down all
their means of security; such a society will collapse.” – The Full Life Study
Bible
There comes a time when everything that happens in Vegas
won’t stay in Vegas.
