THE STRONGHOLDS ARE SHAKEN – Nahum 3:8-13

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on December 12, 2012 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group; December 12, 2012

Nahum 3:8-13

Theme: Military strength gives no defense from the just judgment of God.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

We have been considering the third chapter of the prophecy of Nahum. It’s focus has been on the justness of the judgment of God upon ancient Assyria’s ungodly capital city Nineveh. In verses 1-3, we considered the justness of God’s judgment upon it’s murder and cruelty; and in verses 4-7, upon its spiritual unfaithfulness and occultism. And in verses 8-19, we take up the subject of the justness of God’s judgment upon its pride. Its pride can be considered in two respects: verses 14-19 highlights its materialistic pride; but we concentrate today on how verses 8-13 highlight its militaristic pride.

Assyria—the mightiest empire on earth at that time—prided itself in its military strength. Any time that even the mightiest king heard the news that Assyrian forces were coming, it struck terror in their hearts. And this was for good reason. Assyria had become “the rod” of God’s anger. It had been made mighty because God was using it to punish other nations. But when it became prideful (Isaiah 10:5-11), God had determined that after Assyria had served the purpose He had set for it, He would punish it.

God’s words through Nahum serve notice to human forces that boast in their military power to oppress His people—a power that only God Himself can permit them to have. Notice that God gives Nineveh . . .

I.    AN EXAMPLE TO CONSIDER (vv. 8-10).

A.  God speaks to proud, militarily strong Nineveh and asks, “Are you better than No Amon that was situated by the River, that had the waters around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the sea?” (v. 8). This city is also known as the ancient city of Thebes—the great capital of Upper Egypt. (It was named after the chief god of the Egyptians—Amon. God’s judgment of this false ‘god’ is spoken of in Jeremiah 46:25; and His judgment of the city that identified itself with this false god is foretold in Ezekiel 30:14-16.) Dr. Charles Feinberg (The Minor Prophets, Moody Press, 1990) writes; “Students of Egyptian history consider [No Amon] the first great city of the Near East, describing its ruins as the most magnificent of any ancient civilization anywhere in the world. It was the capital city of the Pharaohs of the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties, and boasted such architecture as the Greeks and Romans admired. The Greeks called it Diospolis, because the Egyptian counterpart of Jupiter was worshiped there” (p. 199). It had a unique advantage militarily because of its location. “It is located on both banks of the river Nile. On the eastern bank were the famous temples of Karnak and Luxor. Homor, the Greek poet, spoke of it as having one hundred gates. Its ruins cover an area of some twenty-seven miles. . . . No-Amon was situated favorably among the canals of the Nile with the Nile itself as a protection. The Nile appears as a sea when it overflows its banks annually” (Feinberg, pp. 199-      200).

B.  Not only did it have an advantage because of its location, but it also had an advantage through its alliances. “Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was boundless; Put and Lubim were your helpers”—or, as some texts have it, “her helpers”. Dr. Feinburg writes; “The Lubim are the Libyans of North Africa. Some have tried to identify Put with the Libyans, but they are evidently distinguished in this verse. Present opinion relates Put to Punt, the present Somaliland in Africa” (p. 200). 2 Kings 12:2-3 suggest that the combination of Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Lubim constituted a terribly formidable force.

C.  But none of this saved No Amon. As God says through Nahum, “Yet she was carried away, she went into captivity . . .” (v. 10a). It’s significant to note that it was the Assyrians themselves that God used to bring No Amon down.  Historians consider the fall that ancient city to have occurred between 668 to 662 B.C.—depending on how the records of the conquering Assyrian King Ashurbanipal are interpreted. Dr. Maier summarizes the story told in these records: “After several delays, Ashurbanipal set out for Egypt on a punitive expedition. He swept over the delta cities, leaving a horrifying trail of fire, ruin, and death. In many cases those who refused to acknowledge his overloardship were flayed alive and their skins bleached on the city walls, while large numbers of others were impaled. At Memphis the deltic overloards acknowledged his sovereignty, with the exception of perfidious Tanut-Amen. Driven relentlessly from one refuge to another, Tanut-Amen reached Thebes; yet instead of making a stand within its well-protected fortifications, the fear of Assyrian vengeance gripping his heart, he abandoned the city to its doom and fled into the almost inaccessible hideouts of Ethiopia. Descending in swift marches, Ashurbanipal’s armies soon gathered before Thebes. Resistance was futile, and the proud city, whose victorious armies had spread wide consternation, fell victim to the terror of the revenge-crazed Assyrians . . . Convinced that he could not properly govern a city with the dimensions and traditions of Thebes from a capital as far removed as Nineveh, Ashurbanipal resorted to well-          planned savagery. He made the razing of Thebes so complete and terrifying that the very recollection of hid dealings with the perfidious city would help prevent further uprisings. His procedure, then, was that implied by Nahum. The city leveled with the ground, the people of No-Amon went into exile. They were not merely deported—they were made captive” (p. 324-5). Nahum describes their fall at the brutal hands of the Assyrians in dreadful terms—”Her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of every street; they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains” (v. 10b).

II.   A PROMISE OF JUDGMENT (vv. 11-13).

A.  No Amon was a great city that prided itself in its military strength. But it fell at the hands of the Assyrians—of which Nineveh was the capital. And now; God let’s the prideful and overly-confident city of Nineveh know; “You also will be drunk; you will be hidden; you also will seek refuge from the enemy” (v. 11). The allusion to ‘drunkenness’ is often thought to refer to how the city of Nineveh was conquered easily while its leaders were in a state of literal drunkenness. But this is more likely meant to be understood as a figure of the hysterical fear that comes as a result of drinking of the cup of God’s wrath (see Isaiah 51:17, 21-23; Jeremiah 25:15-28; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 23:33-34; Obediah 16; Habakkuk 2:16). They will hide—like others hid from them; and they will seek refuge from the enemy—as others sought refuge from them.

B.  Nineveh trusted in its strongholds as a part of its military strength. But God presents those strongholds under a different image: “All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs: If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater” (v. 12). The enemy simply comes; and they fall before him as if ripe for the taking—just as No Amon was ripe to be taken by the Assyrians.

C.  What a contrast to military strength it is that’s presented to us in verse 13!—”Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; fire shall devour the bars of your gates.” The allusion to “women” may be a figure for the vulnerableness and fear that the ‘mighty’ Ninevites exhibited to the Medes and Babylonians that conquered them. But it may also have been an allusion to the effeminate debauchery that characterized the rulers of the Assyrians as it is depicted on some ancient art. They were utterly vulnerable—as if the doors of the city had been opened by an unseen Hand unto its enemies. Indeed, the bars of the city gates themselves were weak and frail—as if devoured by fire.

* * * * * * * * * *

Human security and military might cannot defend anyone from the just judgment of God. That’s not where trust should be placed. True security is found in fearing Someone who is above all human power. As the psalmist writes; “No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine” (Psalm 33:16-19)