Nahum 2: Nineveh Faces The Judgment

God had once had in mind to overthrow wicked Nineveh.  But, in His mercy, He sent Jonah to warn the city by way of whale*.  To the prophet's own exquisite displeasure, Jonah's ministry succeeded and the Ninevites of his day repented.  Their city was saved.  But in Nahum's day, there would be no such escape for the empire this time.

The second chapter of this book describes the judgment that befalls the corrupt city.  Scholars differ on whether Nahum was written in advance of Nineveh's fall in 612 B.C. or shortly thereafter as a description.  Of course, those who doubt any prophecy being definitionally feasible tend to be skeptical of a date prior to the actual destruction of Nineveh.  However, those who believe that anything is possible with God can appreciate the miraculous possibility of a prophet receiving revelation in advance of the fact.

When Nineveh finally faces its judgment, the picture is brutal.  The gates are opened and the city is plundered (vs. 6 and 9).  The one who sent other nations into exile is now sentenced to exile herself: "It is decreed that the city be exiled, its slave women led away, moaning like doves and beating their breasts" (vs. 7).  [Maybe this is where the artist formerly known as Prince got his lyrical image of "when doves cry?"]

The fall of Nineveh induces noticeable physical effects upon its citizens.  "Devastation, desolation, and destruction!  Hearts faint and knees tremble, all loins quake, all faces grow pale!" (vs. 10).  

The prophet goes on to describe the city as lions struck down by the sword, a reference to the lions that stood as a symbol for Assyria (vs. 11-13).  Perhaps the occasion of its fall is to make way for the coming Lion of the tribe of Judah?

*Actual species of sea creature unknown.