We
now come closer to Nineveh, that great city; she took, not warning by the
destruction of her armies and the fall of her king, and therefore may
expect, since she persists in her enmity to God, that he will proceed in his
controversy with her. Here is foretold, I. The approach of the enemy that
should destroy
Nineveh, and the terror of his military
preparations, ver. 1-5. II. The taking of the city, ver. 6. III. The
captivity of the queen, the flight of the inhabitants, the seizing of all
its wealth, and the great consternation it should be in, ver. 7-10. IV. All
this is traced up to its true causes--their sinning against God and God's
appearing against them, ver. 11-13. All this was fulfilled when
Nebuchadnezzar, in the first year of his reign, in conjunction with Cyaxares,
or Ahasuerus, king of the Medes, conquered
Nineveh, and made himself master of the Assyrian
monarchy.
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The
Judgment of
Nineveh.
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B.
C. 710.
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1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before
thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong,
fortify thy power mightily. 2 For the LORD
hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of
Israel
: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine
branches. 3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the
valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming
torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly
shaken. 4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall
justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches,
they shall run like the lightnings. 5 He shall recount his
worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the
wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. 6 The gates of
the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. 7
And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids
shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their
breasts. 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. 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. 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.
Here is, I. An alarm of war sent to Nineveh, v. 1. The prophet speaks
of it as just at hand, for it is neither doubtful nor far distant:
"Look about thee, and see, he that dashes in pieces has come up
before thy face. Nebuchadnezzar, who is noted, and will be yet more so,
for dashing nations in pieces, begins with thee, and will dissipate and
disperse thee;" so some render the word. Babylon is called the hammer
of the whole earth, Jer. l. 23. The attempt of Nebuchadnezzar upon
Nineveh is public, bold, and daring: "He has come up before thy
face, avowing his design to ruin thee; and therefore stand to thy arms, O
Nineveh! keep the munition; secure thy towers and magazines: watch
the way; set guards upon all the avenues to the city; make thy loins
strong; encourage thy soldiers; animate thyself and them; fortify thy
power mightily, as cities do when an enemy is advancing against
them" (this is spoken ironically); "do the utmost thou canst, yet
thou shalt not be able to put by the stroke of this judgment, for there
is no counsel or strength against the Lord."
II. A manifesto published, showing the causes of the war (v. 2): The
Lord has turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel,
that is, 1. The Assyrians have been abusive to Jacob, the two tribes (have
humbled and mortified them), as well as to Israel, the ten tribes, have
emptied them, and marred their vine-branches. For this God will reckon
with them; though done long since, it shall come into the account now
against that kingdom, and Nineveh the head-city of it. God's quarrel with
them is for the violence done to Jacob. Or, (2.) God is now by
Nebuchadnezzar about to turn away the pride of Jacob by the captivity
of the two tribes, as he did the pride of Israel by their captivity; He has
determined to do it, to bring emptiers upon them, and the enemy that
is to do it must begin with Nineveh, and reduce that first, and humble the
pride of that. God is looking upon proud cities, and abasing them, even
those that are nearest to him. Samaria is humbled, and Jerusalem is to be
humbled, and their pride brought low; and shall not Nineveh, that proud
city, be brought down too? Emptiers have emptied the cities, and
marred the vine-branches in the country of Jacob and Israel; and must
not the excellency of Nineveh, that is so much her pride, be turned away
too?
III. A particular account given in of the terrors wherein the invading enemy
shall appear against Nineveh; every thing shall contribute to make him
formidable. 1. The shields of his mighty men are made red, and
probably their other arms and array, as if they were already tinctured with
the blood they had shed, or intended hereby to signify they would put all to
the sword; they hung out a red flag, in token that they would give no
quarter. 2. The valiant men are in scarlet; not only red clothes, to
intimate what bloody work they designed to make, but rich clothes, to
intimate the wealth of the army, and that is the sinews of war. 3. The
chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation;
when they are making their approaches, they shall fly as swiftly as
lightning; the wheels shall strike fire upon the stones, and those that
drive them shall drive furiously with a flaming indignation, as Jehu drove.
Or they carried flaming torches with them in the open chariots, when they
made their approach in the night, as Gideon's soldiers carried lamps in
their pitchers, to be both a guide to themselves and a terror to their
enemies, and with them to set all on fire wherever they went. 4. The
fir-trees shall be terribly shaken; the great men of Nineveh, that
overtop their neighbours, as the stately firs do the shrubs; or the very
standing trees shall be made to shake by the violent concussions of the
earth, which that great army shall cause. 5. The chariots of war shall be
very terrible (v. 4): They shall rage in the streets, that is,
those that drive them shall rage; you would think the chariots themselves
raged; they shall be so numerous, and drive with so much fury, that even in
the broad ways, where, one would think, there should be room enough,
they shall jostle one another; and these iron chariots shall be made
so bright that in the beams of the sun they shall seem like torches
in the night; they shall run like the lightnings, so swiftly, so
furiously. Nebuchadnezzar's commanders are here called his worthies,
his gallants (so the margin reads it), his heroes; those he
shall recount, and order them immediately and without fail to render
themselves at their respective posts, for he is entering upon action, is
resolved to take the field immediately, and to open the campaign with the
siege of Nineveh. His worthies shall remember (so some read it); they
shall be mindful of the duty of their place, and the charge they have
received, and shall thereby be made so intent upon their business that they shall
stumble in their walks, shall make more haste than good speed; they
stumble, but shall not fall; for they shall make haste to the wall
thereof, shall open the trenches; and the defence, or the covered way,
shall be prepared (something to shelter them from the darts of the
besieged), and they shall so closely carry on the siege, and with so much
vigour, that at length the gates of the rivers shall be opened (v.
6); those gates of Nineveh which open upon the river Tigris (on which
Nineveh was built) shall be first forced by, or betrayed to, the enemy, and
by those gates they shall enter. And then the palace shall be dissolved,
either the king's house or the house of Nisroch his god; the same word
signifies both a palace and a temple. When the God of heaven goes forth to
contend with a people, neither the palaces nor their kings, neither the
temples nor their gods, can protect and shelter them, but must all
inevitably fall with them.
IV. A prediction of the consequences of this; and it is easy to guess how
dismal those will be. 1. The queen shall fall into the hands of the enemy (v.
7): Huzzab shall be led away captive; she that was established
(so some read it), thought herself safe because she was concealed and shut
up in secret, shall be discovered (so the margin reads it) and shall
be led away captive, in greater disgrace than that of common
prisoners; she shall be brought up in a mock state, and her maids
of honour shall lead her, because she is weak and faint, not able to
bear such frights and hardships, which are doubly hard and frightful to
those that have not been used to them; they shall attend her, not to speak
cheerfully to her and to encourage her, but murmuring and moaning
themselves, as with the voice of doves, the doves of the valleys
(Ezek. vii. 16), noted for their mourning, Isa. xxxviii. 14; lix. 11.
They shall be tabering upon their breasts, beating their own breasts
in grief and vexation, as if they were drumming upon them, for so the
word signifies. 2. The inhabitants, though numerous, shall none of them be
able to make head against the invaders, or stand their ground (v. 8):
Nineveh is of old like a pool of water, replenished with people as a
pool with water (and waters signify multitudes, Rev. xvii.
15), or as those waters with fish; it was long ago a populous city; in
Jonah's time there were 120,000 little children in it (Jonah iv. 11), and,
ordinarily, cities and countries are increasing in their number every year;
but, though they have so many hands to be employed in the public service,
yet they shall not be able to inspire one another with courage, but they
shall flee away like cowards. Their commanders shall do what they can to
animate them; they shall cry, "Stand, stand, have a good heart
on it, and we shall do well enough;" but none shall so much as look
back; they shall not have the least spark of courage remaining, but
every one shall think it is his wisest course to make his best of the
opportunity to escape; they shall not so much as look back to see who calls
for them. Note, God can dispirit the strongest and boldest, in the day of
distress, so that they shall not be what one would expect from them, but like
a pool of water, the water whereof is dried up and gone. 3. The wealth
of the city shall become a prey, and all its rich furniture shall fall into
the hands of the victorious enemy (v. 9); they shall thus animate and
excite one another to plunder: Take the spoil of silver; take the spoil
of gold; thus the officers shall stir up the soldiers to improve their
opportunity; here are silver and gold enough for them, for there is no
end of the store of money and plate. Nineveh, having been of old like
a pool of water, has gathered a vast deal of mud; and abundance of glory
it has out of all the pleasant furniture, all the vessels of
desire, which they have gloried in and which shall now be a prey and a
pride to the conquerors. Note, Those who prepare raiment as the clay, and
heap up silver as the dust, know not who may put on the raiment and divide
the silver, Job xxvii. 16, 17. Thus this rich city is empty, and void, and
waste, v. 10. See the vanity of worldly wealth; instead of defending
its owners, it does but expose them, and enable their enemies to do them so
much the more mischief. 4. The soldiers and people shall have no heart to
appear for the defence of the city. Their spirits shall melt away
like wax before the fire; their knees shall smite together (as
Belshazzar's did, in his agony, Dan. v. 6), so that they shall not be able
to stand their ground, no, nor to make their escape; much pain shall
be in all loins, as is the case in extreme frights, so that they
shall not be able to hold up their backs. And the faces of them all shall
gather blackness, like that of a pot that is every day over the fire; so
the word signifies. Note, Guilt in the conscience will fill men with terror
in an evil day, and those who place their happiness in the wealth of this
world and set their hearts upon it think themselves undone when their
silver, and their gold, and their pleasant furniture are taken from them.
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The
Judgment of Nineveh.
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B.
C. 710.
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11 Where is the dwelling of the lions,
and the feeding-place 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.
Here we have
Nineveh
's ruin, 1. Triumphed in by its neighbours, who now remember against it all
the oppressions and abuse of power it had been guilty of in its pomp and
prosperity (v. 11, 12): Where is the dwelling of the lions? It
is gone; there appear no remnants, no footsteps, of it. Where is the
feeding place of the young lions, where they glutted themselves with
prey? The princes of Nineveh had been as lions, as beasts of prey; cruel
tyrants are no better, nay, in this respect much worse--that, being men,
humanity is expected from them; nay, if they were indeed lions, they would
not prey upon those of their own kind. Savis inter se convenit ursæ--Fierce
bears agree together. But in the shape of men they had the cruelty of
lions: they walked in Nineveh as a lion in the woods, and none made them
afraid; every one stood in awe of them, and they were under no
apprehensions of danger from any; though nobody loved them, every body
feared them, and that was all they desired. Oderint, dum metuant--Let
them hate, so that they do but fear. The king himself, as well as every
prince, made it his business, by all the arts of violence and extortion, to
enrich himself and raise his family; he did tear in pieces enough for his
whelps (and no little would be enough for them) and he strangled for
his lioness, killed all that came near him, and seized what they had for
his children, for his wives and concubines, and filled his holes with
prey and his dens with ravin, as lions are wont to do. Note, Many make
it an excuse for their rapine and injustice that they have wives and
children to provide for, whereas what is so got will never do them any good;
those that fear the Lord, and get what they have honestly, shall not
want a competency for themselves and theirs; verily they shall be fed,
when the young lions, though dens and holes were filled with prey
and ravin for them, shall lack, and suffer hunger, Ps. xxxiv. 10.
2. It is avowed by the righteous Judge of heaven and earth; it is his doing,
and let all the world take notice that it is so (v. 13): Behold, I
am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts. And what good can hosts do for
her in her defence, when the Lord of hosts is against her for her
destruction? The oppressors in Nineveh thought they only set their
neighbours against them, who were not a match for them, and whom they could
easily overpower; but it proved they set God against them, who is, and will
be, the asserter of right and the avenger of wrong. God is against the
princes of Nineveh, and then, (1.) These military preparations will stand
them in no stead: I will burn their chariots in the smoke; he does
not say in the fire, but, in contempt of them, the very smoke
of God's indignation shall serve to burn their chariots; they shall be
consumed as soon as the fire of his indignation is kindled, while as yet it
does but smoke, and not flame out. Or, The drivers of the chariots shall be
smothered and stifled with the smoke; then the chariots of their glory
shall be the shame of their families, Isa. xxii. 18. (2.) Their children,
the hopes of their families, shall be cut off: The sword shall devour the
young lions, whom they were so solicitous to provide for by oppression
and extortion. Note, It is just with God to deprive those of their children,
or (which is all one) of comfort in them, that take sinful courses to enrich
them, and (as has been said of some) damn their souls to make their sons
gentlemen. (3.) The wealth they have heaped up by fraud and violence shall
neither be enjoyed by them nor employed for them: I will cut off thy prey
from the earth; not only thou shalt not be the better for it, but no one
else shall. Some understand it of the disabling of them for the future to
prey upon their neighbours. (4.) Their agents abroad shall not have that
respect from their neighbours and that influence upon them which sometimes
they had had: The voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard, no
more be heeded, which some think refers to Rabshakeh, one of Nineveh's
messengers, that had blasphemed the living God, an iniquity which was
remembered against Nineveh long after. Those are not worthy to be heard
again that have once spoken reproachfully of God.
