Nahum 3:18

3:8-19 Strong-holds, even the strongest, are no defence against the judgments of God. They shall be unable to do any thing for themselves. The Chaldeans and Medes would devour the land like canker-worms. The Assyrians also would be eaten up by their own numerous hired troops, which seem to be meant by the word rendered merchants. Those that have done evil to their neighbours, will find it come home to them. Nineveh, and many other cities, states, and empires, have been ruined, and should be a warning to us. Are we better, except as there are some true Christians amongst us, who are a greater security, and a stronger defence, than all the advantages of situation or strength? When the Lord shows himself against a people, every thing they trust in must fail, or prove a disadvantage; but he continues good to Israel. He is a strong-hold for every believer in time of trouble, that cannot be stormed or taken; and he knoweth those that trust in Him.

Nahum 3:18-19 . Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria — Thy rulers and counsellors are remiss, heartless, or dead. Thy nobles — Or valiant ones, shall dwell in the dust — These words are not in the Hebrew, but are supplied by our translators. The strict rendering of the Hebrew would rather be, Have lain down, as Grotius renders it; that is, have indulged themselves in ease, and not concerned themselves about the public affairs. The Vulgate, however, renders this former part of the verse, Thy shepherds have slept, thy princes shall be buried: understanding it, probably, of their being slain in battle, or having died through famine or pestilence during the siege. Thy people is scattered upon the mountains — Thy people, or common soldiers, for want of commanders, are scattered about, and there is no chief officer, or head commander, to collect them together. There is no healing of thy bruise — Or binding up of thy wound. Thy destruction is inevitable. The state of thy affairs is so bad, that there is no hope of recovering them. All that hear the bruit of thee — That is, the report of thee; (as the obsolete word bruit signifies;) all to whom the account of thy fall shall come; shall clap the hands over thee — Namely, for joy. For upon whom hath not thy wickedness, &c. — To whom hast thou not been injurious?

Thus it is evident, upon the whole of this prophecy of Nahum, that the entire desolation and complete destruction of Nineveh were most expressly and particularly foretold therein: yet one can hardly imagine any event more improbable than this was, at the time when Nahum predicted it. Surely there was no probability that the capital of a great kingdom, a city which was sixty miles in compass, a city which contained so many myriads of inhabitants, which had walls one hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast upon them, and which had one thousand five hundred towers of two hundred feet in height; surely there was no probability that such a city should ever be totally destroyed; and yet so totally was it destroyed, that authors are not agreed about its situation. From the general suffrage, indeed, of ancient historians and geographers, it seems to have been situated upon the Tigris; but yet no less authors than Ctesias and Diodorus Siculus represent it as situated upon the river Euphrates. Nay, authors differ, not only from one another, but also from themselves. For the learned Bochart hath shown, that Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Ammianus Marcellinus, all three speak differently of it, sometimes as if it was situated upon the river Tigris, and sometimes as if upon the river Euphrates.

(18) Shepherds — i.e. , chief officers, as in Micah 5:2 and passim. Their sheep are “scattered upon the mountains and none attempts to gather them.” So Micaiah announces to Ahab, “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd” ( 1Kings 22:17 ). Thy nobles shall dwell.—Better, thy mighty men are lying still.

Thy shepherds, subordinate magistrates, rulers, and counsellors, or officers set over the kingdom, slumber; are remiss, or mistake, or are heartless or dead, they cannot or will not mind the public concerns. O king of Assyria; his name I meet not with; Asaradinus, or, as the Scripture calls him, Esarhaddon, may possibly be the name and man intended. Thy nobles, the brave, valiant, and famous men, shall dwell in the dust; either be buried as dead, or lie in the dust as faint and weary, or be trampled on as worthless and useless. Thy people, thy citizens and subjects in their great numbers, is scattered, partly through fear, shame, and astonishment, partly by violence of the invading enemy, upon the mountains, where is neither safety, nor provision against danger and want. No man gathereth them; no one that will concern himself to preserve thy dispersed ones; so thou and they are left hopeless and ruined, for the shepherds are some dead and cannot, the rest slumber and will not, lay to heart their condition.

18 . Thy shepherds slumber ] i.e. the leaders and rulers. It is most suitable to the connexion to take slumber (which is the ordinary word for sleep) to mean, are sunk in death— Psalm 13:3 , “Lest I sleep the sleep of death.” Psalm 76:5 ; Jeremiah 51:39 ; Jeremiah 51:57 . shall dwell in the dust] dwell , R.V. are at rest. The text reads dwell , but change of one letter gives lie down , i.e. sleep; 1 Kings 1:21 ; Isaiah 14:18 . So Sept., followed by Wellhausen. The leaders are fallen, and the people scattered upon the mountains. This is more natural than to suppose that “slumber” and “sleep” refer to slothful inactivity on the part of the Assyrian leaders. Nineveh was defended for two years against the Medes.

18. Thy shepherds—that is, Thy leaders. slumber—are carelessly secure [Maurer]. Rather, "lie in death's sleep, having been slain" [Jerome] (Ex 15:16; Ps 76:6). shall dwell in the dust—(Ps 7:5; 94:17). thy people is scattered—the necessary consequence of their leaders being laid low (1Ki 22:17).

Verse 18. - Thy shepherds. The princes and counsellors, on whom the safety of the state depends. Slumber . Sleep the sleep of death - slain in the war ( Psalm 76:6 ). O King of Assyria. The power and evil of Nineveh personified, not any particular king. Shall dwell in the dust; are lying , or are at rest , in death; Septuagint, Ἐκοίμισε τοὺς δυνάστας σου , "Put to sleep thy mighty men" (comp. Euripides, 'Hec.,' 473, where κοιμίζειν is used in the sense of "to slay"): Vulgate, sepelientur. Is scattered upon the mountains. Their shepherds being dead, the flock, the herd of common people, is scattered abroad and perishes, because no man gathereth them - there is no one to collect them. "The mountains" referred to are those which shut in Assyria on the north. Nahum 3:18