This
chapter goes on with the burden of
Nineveh
, and concludes it. I. The sins of that great
city are charged upon it, murder (ver. 1), whoredom and witchcraft (ver. 4),
and a general extent of wickedness, ver. 19. II. Judgments are here
threatened against it, blood for blood (ver. 2, 3), and shame for shameful
sins, ver. 5-7. III. Instances are given of the like desolations brought
upon other places for the like sins, ver. 8-11. IV. The overthrow of all
those things which they depended upon, and put confidence in, is foretold,
ver. 12-19.
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The
Judgment of Nineveh.
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B.
C. 710.
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1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all
full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 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:
4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the
mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and
families through her witchcrafts. 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. 6 And I will
cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a
gazing-stock. 7 And it shall come to pass, that all they
that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste:
who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
Here is, I. Nineveh arraigned and indicted. It is a high charge that is here
drawn up against that great city, and neither her numbers nor her grandeur
shall secure her from prosecution. 1. It is a city of blood, in which
a great deal of innocent blood is shed by unrighteous war, or under colour
and pretence of public justice, or by suffering barbarous murders to go
unpunished; for this the righteous God will make inquisition. 2. It is
all full of lies; truth is banished from among them; there is no such
thing as honesty; one knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust. 3. It is
all full of robbery and rapine; no man cares what mischief he does,
nor to whom he does it: The prey departs not, that is, they never
know when they have got enough by spoil and oppression. They shed blood, and
told lies, in pursuit of the prey, that they might enrich themselves. 4.
There is a multitude of whoredoms in it, that is, idolatries,
spiritual whoredoms, by which she defiled herself, and to which she seduced
the neighbouring nations, as a well-favoured harlot, and sold and ruined nations
through her whoredoms. 5. She is a mistress of witchcrafts, and
by them she sells families, v. 4. That which Nineveh aimed at
was a universal monarchy, to be the metropolis of the world, and to have all
her neighbours under her feet; to compass this, she used not only arms, but
arts, compelling some, deluding others, into subjection to her, and
wheedling them as a harlot by her charms to lay their necks under her yoke,
suggesting to them that it would be for their advantage. She courted them to
join with her in her idolatrous rites, to tie them the faster to her
interests, and made use of her wealth, power, and greatness, to draw people
into alliances with her, by which she gained advantages over them, and made
a hand of them. These were her whoredoms, like those of Tyre, Isa. xxiii.
15, 17. These were her witchcrafts, with which she unaccountably gained
dominion. And for this that God has a quarrel with her who, having made
of one blood all nations of men, never designed one to be a nation of
tyrants and another of slaves, and who claims it as his own prerogative to
be universal Monarch.
II. Nineveh condemned to ruin upon this indictment. Woe to this bloody city!
v. 1. See what this woe is.
1. Nineveh had with her cruelties been a terror and destruction to others,
and therefore destruction and terror shall be brought upon her. Those that
are for overthrowing all that come in their way will, sooner or later, meet
with their match. (1.) Hear the alarm with which Nineveh shall be terrified,
v. 2. It is a formidable army that advances against it; you may hear
them at a distance, the noise of the whip, driving the chariot-horses
with fury; you may hear the noise of the rattling of the wheels, the
prancing horses, and the jumping chariots; the very noise is frightful,
but much more so when they know that all this force is coming with all this
speed against them, and they are not able to make head against it. (2.) See
the slaughter with which Nineveh shall be laid waste (v. 3), the
sword drawn with which execution shall be done, the bright sword lifted
up and the glittering spear, the dazzling brightness of which is very
terrible to those whom they are lifted up against. See what havoc these make
when they are commissioned to slay: There is a great number of carcases,
for the slain of the land shall be many; there is no end of their
corpses; there is such a multitude of slain that it is in vain to
go about to take the number of them; they lie so thick that passengers are
ready to stumble upon their corpses at every step. The destruction of
Sennacherib's army, which, in the morning, were all dead corpses, is
perhaps looked upon here as a figure of the like destruction that should
afterwards be in Nineveh; for those that will not take warning by judgments
at a distance shall have them come nearer.
2. Nineveh had with her whoredoms and witchcrafts drawn others to shameful
wickedness, and therefore God will load her with shame and contempt (v.
5-7): The Lord of hosts is against her, and then she shall be
exposed to the highest degree of disgrace and ignominy, shall not only lose
all her charms, but shall be made to appear very odious. When it shall be
seen that while she courted her neighbours it was with design to ruin their
liberty and property, when all her wicked artifices shall be brought to
light, then her shame is discovered to the nations. When her proud
pretensions are baffled, and her vain towering hopes of an absolute and
universal dominion brought to nought, and she appears not to have been so
strong and considerable as she would have been thought to be, then to see
the nakedness of the land do they come, and it appears ridiculous. Then
do they cast abominable filth upon her, as upon a carted strumpet,
and make her vile as the offscouring of all things; that great city,
which all nations had made court to and coveted an alliance with, has become
a gazing-stock, a laughing stock. Those that formerly looked upon her, and
fled to her, in hopes of protection from her, now look upon her and flee
from her, for fear of being ruined with her. Note, Those that abuse
their honour and interest will justly be disgraced and abandoned, and,
because miserable, will be made contemptible, and thereby be made more
miserable. When Nineveh is laid waste who will bemoan her? Her
trouble will be so great, and her sense of it so deep, as not to admit
relief from sympathy, or any comforting considerations; or, if it would,
none shall do any such good office: When shall I seek comforters for
thee? Note, Those that showed no pity in the day of their power can
expect to find no pity in the day of their fall. When those about Nineveh,
that had been deceived by her wiles, come to be undeceived in her ruin,
every one shall insult over her, and none bemoan her. This was Nineveh's
fate, when she was made a spectacle, or gazing-stock. Note, The greater
men's show was in the day of their abused prosperity the greater will their
shame be in the day of their deserved destruction. I will make thee an
example; so Drusus reads it. Note, When proud sinners are humbled and
brought down it is designed that others should take example by them not to
lift up themselves in security and insolence when they prosper in the world.
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The
Judgment of Nineveh.
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B.
C. 710.
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8 Art thou better than populous No, that was
situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose
rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the
sea? 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it
was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 10 Yet was
she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were
dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her
honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11
Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength
because of the enemy. 12 All thy strong holds shall be like
fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall
into the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, thy people in the midst
of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto
thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars. 14 Draw thee
waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the
mortar, make strong the brick-kiln. 15 There shall the fire
devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the
cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the
locusts. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars
of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. 17 Thy
crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great
grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the
sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in
the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man
gathereth them. 19 There is no healing of thy
bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap
the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed
continually?
Nineveh has been told that God is against her, and then none can be for her,
to stand her in any stead; yet she sets God himself at defiance, and his
power and justice, and says, I shall have peace. Threatened folks
live long; therefore here the prophet largely shows how vain her confidences
would prove and insufficient to ward off the judgment of God. To convince
them of this,
I. He shows them that other places, which had been as strong and as secure
as they, could not keep their ground against the judgments of God. Nineveh
shall fall unpitied and uncomforted (for miserable comforters will those
prove who speak peace to those on whom God will fasten trouble), and she
shall not be able to help herself: Art thou better than populous No? v.
8. He takes them off from their vain confidences by quoting precedents. The
city mentioned is No, a great city in the land of Egypt (Jer. xlvi.
25), No-Ammon, so some read it both there and here. We read of it,
Ezek. xxx. 14-16. Some think it was Diospolis, others Alexandria.
As God said to Jerusalem, Go, see what I did to Shiloh (Jer. vii.
12), so to Nineveh that great city, Go, see what I did to populous No.
Note, It will help to keep us in a holy fear of the judgments of God to
consider that we are not better than those that have fallen under those
judgments before us. We deserve them as much, and are as little able to
grapple with them. This also should help to reconcile us to afflictions. Are
we better than such and such, who were in like manner exercised? Nay, were
not they better than we, and less likely to be afflicted? Now, concerning
No, observe, 1. How firm her standing seemed to be, v. 8. She was
fortified both by nature and art, was situate among the rivers. Nile,
in several branches, not only watered her fields, but guarded her wall. Her
rampart was the sea, the lake of Mareotis, an Egyptian sea, like
the sea of Tiberias. Her wall was from the sea; it was fenced with a
wall which was thought to make the place impregnable. It was also supported
by its interests and alliances abroad, v. 9. Ethiopia, or
Arabia, was her strength, either by the wealth brought to her in a
way of trade or by the auxiliary forces furnished for military service. The
whole country of Egypt also contributed to the strength of this populous
city; so that it was infinite, and there was no end of it (so it
might be rendered); She set no bounds to her ambition and knew no end of her
wealth and strength; people flocked to her endlessly, and she thought there
never would be any end of it; but it is God's prerogative to be infinite. Put
and Lubim were thy helpers, two neighbouring countries of Africa,
Mauritania and Libya, that is, Libya Cyrenica, a country that Egypt had much
dependence upon. No, thus helped, seemed to sit as a queen, and was not
likely to see any sorrow. But, 2. See how fatal her fall proved to be (v.
10): Yet was she carried away, and her strength failed her; even she
that was so strong, so secure, yet went into captivity. This refers
to some destruction of that city which was then well-known, and probably
fresh in memory, though not recorded in history; for the destruction of it
by Nebuchadnezzar (if we should understand this prophetically) could not be
made an example to Nineveh; for the reducing of Nineveh was one of the first
of his victories and that of Egypt one of the last. The strength and
grandeur of that great city could not be its protection from military
execution. (1.) Not from that which was most barbarous; for her young
children had no compassion shown them, but were dashed in pieces at
the top of all the streets by the merciless conquerors. (2.) Not from
that which was most inglorious and disgraceful: They cast lots for her
honourable men that were made prisoners of war, who should have them for
their slaves. So many had they of them that they knew not what to do with
them, but they made sport with throwing dice for them; all her great men,
that used to be adorned on state-days with chains of gold, were now bound
in chains of iron; they were pinioned or handcuffed (so
the word properly signifies), not only as slaves, but as condemned
malefactors. What a mortification was this to populous No, to have
her honourable men and great men, that were her pride and confidence, thus
abused! Now hence he infers against Nineveh (v. 11), "Thou also
shalt be intoxicated, infatuated; thou also shalt reel and stagger, as drunk
with the cup of the Lord's fury, that shall be put into thy hand" (see
Jer. xxv. 17, 27); "Thou shalt fall and rise no more. The cup
shall go round, and come to thy turn, O Nineveh! to drink off at last, and
shall be to thee as the waters of jealousy."
II. He shows them that all those things which they reposed a confidence in
should fail them. 1. Did the men of
Nineveh
trust to their own magnanimity and bravery? Their hearts should sink and
fail them. They shall be hid, shall abscond for shame, being in
disgrace, abscond for fear, being in distress and danger, and not able to
face the enemies, because of whose strength and terror, having no strength
of their own, they shall seek strength, shall come sneaking to their
neighbours to beg their assistance in a time of need. Thus God can cut
off the spirit of princes, and take away their heart. 2. Did they
depend upon their barrier, the garrisons and strongholds they had, which
were regularly fortified and bravely manned? Those shall prove but
paper-walls, and like the first-ripe figs, which, if you give the
tree but a little shake, will fall into the mouth of the eater that
gapes for them; so easily will all their strongholds be made to surrender to
the advancing enemy, upon the first summons, v. 12. Note,
Strongholds, even the strongest, are no fence against the judgments of God,
when they come with commission. The rich man's wealth is his strong city,
and a high wall, but only in his own conceit, Prov. xviii. 10.
They are supposed to make their strongholds as strong as possible, and are
challenged to do their utmost to make them tenable, and serviceable to them
against the invader (v. 14): Draw thee water for the siege;
lay in great quantities of water, that that which is so necessary to the
support of human life may not be wanting; it is put here for all manner of
provision, with which Nineveh is ironically told to furnish herself, in
expectation of a siege. "Take ever so much care that thou mayest not be
starved out, and forced by famine to surrender, yet that shall not avail. Fortify
the strongholds, by adding out-works to them, or putting men and arms
into them," as with us by planting cannon upon them. "Go into
clay, and tread the mortar, and make strong the brick-kiln; take
all the pains thou canst in erecting new fortifications; but it shall be all
in vain, for (v. 15) there shall even the fire devour thee if
it be taken by storm." It is by fire and sword that in time of war the
great devastations are made. 3. Did they put confidence in the multitude of
their inhabitants? Were they, from their number and valour, reckoned their
strongest walls and fortifications? Alas! these shall stand them in no
stead; they shall but sink the sooner under the weight of their own numbers
(v. 13): Thy people in the midst of thee are women; they have
no wisdom, no courage; they shall be fickle, feeble, and faint-hearted, as
women commonly are in such times of danger and distress; they shall be at
their wits' end, adding to their griefs and fears by the power of their own
imagination, and utterly unable to do any thing for themselves; the valiant
men shall become cowards. O verè Phrygiæ, neque enim Phryges--Phrygian
dames, not Phrygian men. Though they make themselves many (v.
15), as the canker-worm and as the locust, that come in vast
swarms, though thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of
heaven, though thy exchange be thronged with wealthy traders, who,
having so much money to stand up in defence of and so much to lay out in the
means of their defence, should, one would think, give the enemy a warm
reception, yet their hearts shall fail them too; though they be numerous as
caterpillars, yet the fire and sword shall eat them up easily and
irresistibly as the canker-worm, v. 15. They are as numerous as those
wasting insects, but their enemies shall be mischievous like them. He adds (v.
16), The canker-worm spoils, or spreads herself, and flies away.
Both the merchants and the enemies were compared to canker-worms. The
enemies shall spoil Nineveh, and carry away the spoil, without opposition,
or any hope of recovering it. Or the rich merchants, who have come from
abroad to settle in Nineveh, and have raised vast estates there, out of
which it was hoped they would contribute largely for the defence of the
city, when they see the country invaded and the city likely to be besieged,
will send away their effects, and remove to some other place, will spread
their wings and fly away where they may be safe, and Nineveh
shall be never the better for them. Note, It is rare to find even those that
have shared with us in our joys willing to share with us in our griefs too.
The canker-worms will continue upon the field while there is any thing to be
had, but they are gone when all is gone. Those that men have got by they do
not care to lose by. Nineveh's merchants bid her farewell in her distress.
Riches themselves are as the canker-worms, which on a sudden fly away as
the eagle towards heaven, Prov. xxiii. 5. 4. Did they put a confidence
in the strength of their gates and bars? What fence will those be against
the force of the judgments of God? v. 13. The gates of thy land
shall be set wide open unto thy enemies, the gates of thy rivers (ch.
ii. 6), the flood-gates, or the passes and avenues, by which the enemy would
make his entrance into the country, or the gates of the cities; these,
though ever so strong and well-guarded, shall not answer their end: The
fire shall devour thy bars, the bars of thy gates, and then they shall
fly open. 5. Did they put a confidence in their king and princes? They
should do them no service (v. 17): Thy crowned heads are as the
locusts; those that had pomp and power, as crowned heads, were
enfeebled, and had no power to make resistance, when the enemy came in like
a flood. "Thy captains, that should lead thy forces into the
field, are great indeed, and look great, but they are as the great grasshoppers,
the maximum quod sic--the largest specimens of that species;
still they are but grasshoppers, worthless things, that can do no service. They
encamp in the hedges, in the cold day, the cold weather, but, when
the sun arises, they flee away, and are gone, nobody knows whither. So
these mercenary soldiers that lay slumbering about Nineveh, when any trouble
arises, flee away, and shift for their own safety. The hireling flees,
because he is a hireling." The king of Assyria is told, and
it is a shame he needs to be told it (who might observe it himself), that his
shepherds slumber; they have no life or spirit to appear for the flock,
and are very remiss in the discharge of the duty of their place and the
trust reposed in them: Thy nobles shall dwell in the dust, and be
buried in silence. 6. Did they hope that they should yet recover themselves
and rally again? In this also they should be disappointed; for, when the
shepherds are smitten, the sheep are scattered; the people are
dispersed upon the mountains and no man gathers them, nor will
they ever come together of themselves, but will wander endlessly, as
scattered sheep do. The judgment they are under is as a wound, and it is
incurable; there is no relief for it, "no healing of thy bruise,
no possibility that the wound, which is so grievous and painful to thee,
should be so much as skinned over; thy case is desperate (v. 19) and
thy neighbours, instead of lending a hand to help thee, shall clap their
hands over thee, and triumph in thy fall; and the reason is, because
thou hast been one way or other injurious to them all: Upon whom has not
thy wickedness passed continually? Thou hast been always doing mischief
to those about thee; there is none of them but what thou hast abused and
insulted; and therefore they shall be so far from pitying thee that they
shall be glad to see thee reckoned with." Note, Those that have been
abusive to their neighbours will, one time or another, find it come home to
them; they are but preparing enemies to themselves against their day comes
to fall: and those that dare not lay hands on them themselves will clap
their hands over them, and upbraid them with their former wickedness,
for which they are now well enough served and paid in their own coin. The
troublers shall be troubled will be the burden of many, as it is here the
burden of Nineveh.
