JLi 5 Zh LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON. N. J. Presented by Division.^jOLZj..\\ ^ Section.X]rr...Li ^ f1 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/bookofnahum148klei \ A COMMEI^TAEY %.,,,., ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES: CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL. WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MINISTERS AND STUDENTS JOHK PETEE LAISTGE, D. D., OmDINABT PBOnSSOB OP THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITT OP BONK, or aownvnoK wmt a numbbb of khinkht kcropkah Divunu TRANSLATED, ENLARGED, AND EDITED PHILIP SOHAFF, D. D., PBOFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. NEW YOBK, IB oomniCTioM with americax soholars or various bvanoelical denomihatiovs. 70^n(M£ XIV. 0¥ THE OLD TESTAMENT: CONTAINING THE MINOR PROPHETB^ KEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 1899 THt MINOR PROPHETS KXEGETICALLY, THEOLOGICALLY. AliD HOMILETICALLy EXPOUNDED PAUL KLEINERT, OTTO vSCHMOLLEB, GEORGE R. BLISS, TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, CHARLES ELLICTT. JOHN FORSYTH, J. FREDERICK Mc CURDY, AND JOSEPH PACKARD. EDITED BY PHILIP SCHAFF, D. D. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, lb99 BBterad according to Act of Congress, in the vear 1874, «r ScHiBNER, Armstrong, akd Company, IB tlie Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washuutuw. Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, 205-213 F.ast X'ztk St., NEW YORK. PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR The volume on the Minor Prophets is partly in advance of the German original, which has not yet reached the three post-exilian Prophets. The commentaries on the nine earb'er Prophets by Professors Kleinert and Schmoller appeared in separate numheri some time ago ^ ; but for Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, Dr. Lange has not, to this date, been able to secure a suitable co-laborer. '^ With his cordial approval I deem it better to complete the volume by original commentaries than indefinitely to postpone the publication. They were prepared by sound and able scholars, in confonnity with the plan of the whole work. The volume accordingly contains the following parts, each one being paged separately : — 1. A General Introduction to the Prophets, especially the Minor Prophets, by Rev. Charles Elliott, D. D., Professor of Biblical Exegesis in Chicago, Illinois. The general introductions of Kleinert and Schmoller are too brief and incomplete for our purpose, and therefore I requested Dr. Elliott to prepare an independent essay on the subject. 2. Hosea. By Rev. Dr. Otto Schmoller. Translated from the German and en- larged by James Frederick McCtjrdy, M. A., of Princeton. N. J. 3. Joel. By Otto Schmoller. Translated and enlarged by Rev. John Forstth, D. D., LL. D., Chaplain and Professor of Ethics and Law in the United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y. 4. Amos. By Otto Schmoller. Translated and enlarged by Rev. Talbot W Chambers, D. D., Pastor of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church, New York. 5. Obadiah. By Rev. Paul Kleinert, Professor of Old Testament Theology in the University of Berlin. Translated and enlarged by Rev. George R Bliss, D. D., Professor in the University of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. 6. Jonah. By Prof. Paul Kleinert, of the University of Berlin. Translated and en- larged by Rev. Charles Elliott, Professor of Biblical Exegesis in Chicago.' 7. Micah. By Prof. Paul Kleinert, of Berlin, and Prof. George R. Bliss, of Lein»* burg. 8. Nahum. By Prof. Paul Kleinert, of Berlin, and Prof. Charles Elliott, of Chicago. 9. Habakkuk. By Professors Kleinert and Elliott. 1 Obadjah, Jonah, Mieha, Nahum, Habakuh, Zephanja/i. Wissenshqfilich undfOr den Gebraueh der Eirthe aiugtUgt ««• Paul KuaKBaT, Pfaner zu St. Gertraud und a. Professor an der Univtrsitdt zu Berlin. Bielefeld n. Leipzig, 1868. — DU Propheten Hoxea, Joel und Amos. Theologiseh-homiletisch bearbeitet von Otio Sohmolub, Lietnt. der Theologie, Diaeonui m Urach. Bielef. und Leipzig, 1872. a Tlie eommentary of Rev. W. Pkbssel on these three Propheta (Die naehexOisehen Propheten, Qotha, 1870) wa* originally prepared for Lange's Biblt'work, but was rejected by Dr. Lange mainly on account of Pressel's riews on th« genuineness and integrity of Zechariah. It was, however, independently published, and waa made use of, like oth« eommentaries, by the authors of the respective sections in this volume. « Dr. Elliott desires to render his acknowledgments to the Rev. Reuben Dederick, of Chicago, and the Rev. Jaeok liOtke, of Faribault, Minnesota, for valuable assistance in translating some diflloolt paasages in Kleinert^ OmnmentenM •n Jonah, Nahum, and Habakkuk. PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDIT(»R. 10. Zephaniah. By Professors Kleinert and Elliott. 11. £[aggai. By James Frederick McCurdy, M. A., Princeton, N. J. 12. ZECHARL4.H By Rev. Talbot W. Chambers, D. D., New York. (See special preface.) 18. Malachi, By Rev. Joseph Packard, D. D., Professor of Biblical Literature in the Theological Semiimry at Alexandria, Virginia. The contributors to this volume were directed carefully to consult the entire ancient and modern literature on the Minor Prophets and to enrich it with the latest results of Grerman and Anglo-American scholarship. The remaining parts of the Old Testament are all under way, and will be published aa fast as the nature of the work will permit. PHILIP SCHAFF. Dmon TiaoLoawM Skxwa'w, Nrw Yoxa. .%r,uary, 1874. THE BOOK OF NAHFM. EXPOimDED / PAUL KLEIJSTEET, VinOB AT ffl. OKKTRAUB, AND PROFESSOR OP OLD TESTABdnfT THaOLOGT DT ONIVBRSITY OF BKRLIN TRANSLATED AND ENLARGED CHARLES ELLIOTT, D. D., rmairMmom or bibuoai< utbraturb ur tbk prksbttkbiait thsoumioai. luinrXBT at ohioaoo, iL:k NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Atend according to Act of Congress, in the year 187^ \tf ScRiBNER, Armstrong, and Compast, k til* Office of the Librarirn of Congress, at WaahiogtM* NAHUM. INTRODUCTION. I. Contents and Form. The prophecy of Nahum announces the destruction of Nineveh, beheld in vision (^iTJl, i. 1), in strains of a lofty, impetuous epinicion. This triumphal song is addressed partly, 80 far as it is consolatory and animating, to his countrymen ; but chiefly, in its menacing character, to the powerful enemy. That Nineveh is the enemy is expressly declared in the course of the prophecy, chap. ii. 9 (8) compared with chap. iii. 18. In chap. i. 8, where it is first referred to, the allusion is intelligible, only as a retrospect to the statement in the title, i. 1, which, consequently, must be considered as an integrant part of the whole. Nineveh was to be destroyed, plundered, and entirely laid waste by a hostile army, and by the unfettering of the elements ; and all those that were oppressed bv her were to have rest from that time forth. The whole book is one connected prophecy. The transitions from one train of thought 10 another are interwoven into one another ; they are often so joined by close antithesis, or verbal correspondence, that the conclusion of that which precedes is inseparably connected v/ith the beginning of that which follows. The prophetic effusion flows on continually from beginning to end, without distinct sections, pauses, or divisions into strophes. Yet there is no defect in the internal arrangement. In the exordium (i. 1-6), the prophet sets out, not from a pn^sent historical event, nor even from the event seen by him in vision ; but with a lemma borrowed from the Torah : " God is a jealous God and an avenger ; " which he works into a grand description of God's glory as a judge (comp. i. 4). Connected with this by the immediately annexed intermediate thought (ver. 7), that the avenging Jehovah is good to them ihat trust in Him, is the announcement, by way of inference, of the destruction of Nineveh, (i. 8-16), which finally ends in a sentence of judgment, delivered prophetically in the stricter se^ise (vers. 12-14). With this is connected, passing over another intermediate thought (ii. 1), relating to Israel, the description of the catastrophe (ii. 2-11) ; differing from the announce- ment by the fact that while the latter is expressed throughout in the future (ntCl?^, "'^tt^S, cii'S), now the whole scene, viewed as real and present before the eyes of the prophet, is described by preterits and participles (nbr, D"*tt?3, !1!J2"~). He sees the besieging army before the city, the armor glittering in the light of the sun (vers. 2-4) ; in the city he beholds wild confusion (vers. 5, 6) ; he sees the flood break in with its overflowing waters (7-9 a), the city abandoned and laid waste (9 b-ll). To the description is directly added, as it were, an elegy over the ruins, lamenting, of course, less in sympathy with Nineveh, than over the wickedness which caused such ruin. An alternating surge of motives, and of further descriptions of the catastrophe and its con sequences follows from ii. 12-iii. 19. ii. 12-14 gives mainly the fundamental thoughts of this epilogue : (a.) Nineveh was a robber ; (b.) She is destroyed hy God from the earfii. Both these thoughts are thereujjon farther carried out : (a.) in iii. 1-4 ; (b.) in iii. 5-7 ; (c.) iii. 8-12 presents a new motive ; its destruction is certain, and resistance hopeless; even the powerful No Anion fell. And as it is hopeless, so also (d.), it is helpless, 12, 13- This thought is carried out in a two-fold form, vers. 14, 15, a, b ; let Nineveh arm herself aa ehe may, still she must be destroyed, 15 c-17; however unnumbered her troops may be, yet they must vanish away. To this is joined the epilogue, vers. 18, 19, which comprises the fun 4 NAHUM. damcntal thoughts of the ^^llole : Nineveh, the oppressor, is irrecoverably destroyed; and the oppressed do not mourn, but are comforted. Even from the summary of the contents we might arrive at the conclusion that the diction would be stirring and vivacious. Indeed, Nahum of all the prophets has the most impassioned style; and in none is found the change of numbers, of persons addressed, and of sutHx-rela- tions, with such frequency and immediateness as in him. At the same time his language has wonderful energy and picturesque beauty. The painting does not embrace merely single rhythms (ii. 5) and groups of words (ii. 11), but whole series (iii. 2, 3 ; ii. 10, and a number of other places) ; and in connecting his thoughts he shows, with all his vehemence, great and varied skill. Consider the beautiful double parallelisms (comp. iii. 4) ; the rhythmical prom- inence of a single definitive word, or of a quite small group of words, i. 10 (^b2S),14: (nibp *''3), ii. 1 ; iii. 17 (D*M) J the fuller statement of two fundamental thoughts briefly premised (i. 7, 8 ; rri'2, ^rstr, carried out, vers. 9, 10 ; i. 12-14 : Pj-lta, "'San, carried out, iii. 1 ff., 5 fF., etc.) Lowth says with propriety : " Ex omnibus minoribus prophetis nemo videtur cequare sublimitatem nrdorum et audaces spiritus Nahumi. Adde quod ejus vaticinium integrum ac justiim est poema. Exordium magnijicum est et plane augustum ; apparatus ad excidium Ninivce ejusque excidit descriptio et amplijicatio ardentissimis coloribus exprimitur et mirabilem habet evidentiam et pondus." It has been here and there the custom, from a somewhat docetic view of the Scriptures, to esteem lightly the attention bestowed upon the form adopted by the sacred writers as something superfluous, relatively useless. We are not to reason about an opinion that is based upon a natural defect, and whoever has in general a sense of method, will not allow himself to be robbed of the enjoyment he finds in contemplating the forms of God's Word. (Comp. Prov. XXV. 11.) However, he who would like to copy after a good exemplar, can refer, not merely to the beauty of Luther's translation of the Bible, but also to the ex- press model of the Reformer, whom certainly no one will accuse of humanizing the Scrip- tures. Compare, for example, his remark on Hab. i. 8 : " Here we see how elegantly and accurately the prophets can speak, how briefly and yet amply they express a thing. For what another would have said in bare words, thus : The Babylonians will come and destroy Jerusalem : Habakkuk says with many words, and beautifies everything, and adorns it with similes," etc. 2. Author and Date. The title, of whose genuineness, as we have seen, there can be no doubt, designates Na- hum the Elkoshite, as the author of this prophecy (D^Ri is an intensive form like Q^im ^12n, and signifies compassionate, benevolent ; also consolatory). Of this prophet, apart from the title, we have no trustworthy accounts. The traditions concerning his birth and ministry, which O. Strauss has compiled from Pseudo-Dorotheus, Pseudo-Epiphanius, and Isodorus Hispalensis, show, by their many contradictions, and, in part, by their fantastic character, that their inventors had no more certain sources of information than ourselves, t. e., the title with the name and place of birth, and the prophecy itself; and that they were not even in a condition to turn the latter to good account. If we first seek to establish from the prophecy the situation (time and place) of the com- position, it is evident : — 1. From the address to Judah, ii. 1, that Samaria was already destroyed, and that, when he speaks of the injury to the Holy Land, only Judah appears exposed to danger. Indeed, Samaria had been destroyed long ago : it had already passed from memory. We will con- sequently tike no notice of the statement of the Chronicon Paschale (Olymp. iii. 2-4), accord- ing to which Nahum prophesied in the 8-10 year of Jotham, one hundred and forty-four yeara before the destruction ; in the same way we will treat that of Josephus, according to which his prophecy falls in the last year of Jotham (one hundred and fifteen years, according to the reckoning of Josephus, before the catastrophe ; Ant., ix. 11, 3 ; comp. Niebuhr, p. 117) ; in the same way, that of Eusebius (in Chron.), which places it in the sixth year of Hezekiah. We are shut up to a period, when Samaria had been for a long time destroyed, and Judah had already been exhausted and disheartened by the keen blows of Assyria. 2. The same statement also compels us to go beyond the time of Sennacherib, in which Vitringa, Nagelsbach, Keil, and many others, misplace the prophecy. For the op- pressor has already passed once, or several times, over the land, ii. 1 ; i. 12 (comp. i. 9 •fith this passage) ; and just i ^w he is not there, not even approaching ; but new humilia INTRODUCTION tions impend (i. 12), if Nineveh continues to be spared, on account of which Judah shrinks from solemnizing her feasts (ii. 1). Moreover the strain of the prophecy is sucli as supposes a continual happy success to Assyria, but not a catastrophe like that of Sennacherib. Had it oriLjinated at the approach of that monarch, the remote destruction ofNinev",h would have furnished no special consolation for the existing generation of the Jews. 3. But at the same time it is -manifest, in reference to the terminus ad quern, that Nahum iloes not see the end of Nineveh as immediately imminent. The city is still strong and powerful, full of ])eople (i. 12), and its subjects are widi'ly spread (iii. K). Thr Egyptian Necho is not yet in the plan; for it was (mly about foir years before the des; •uc'^ion ox Nineveh, that he began to overrun and plunder Western Asia, and annihilated the povier ot Josiah. Had he been arming, or on the way, then ii. 1 would be without complete sense. Neither is it a detailed description of the present reality that Nahum gives ; he does not speak of two armies, which are approaching (see below, 4), but of a disperser (ii. 2). He does not start from the fact, but derives tlie necessity of it from tlie certainty of God's Word contained in the Law (i. 1 ff. ; comp. Ps. xciv) ; and thus the tenor of the whole description is such as it was opened to the eye of the prophet, according to its ideally necessary course, tc which also the divine intervention belongs (ii. 7 if. ; comp. Judges v. 20). Hence we are di- rected to the times before the oppression of Assyria by the Medes and Scythians ; and the fixins of the date under Jehoiakim (Cocceius) and Zedekiah (Clemens Alex), comes to nothing. 4. On the other hanS* au e'iTrrjs oirov ttot ■^v. (^EirKTKoirovvTe'i, i- 292.) Compare Nah. iii. 17. The emperor Heraclius gained, a. d. 627, the great victory over Rhazates on the field of its ruins. (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xlvi.) Benjamin of Tudela found again, A. D. 1170, on its site, many villages and castles. But about A. D. 1300 it is again asserted that Nineveh is entirely destroyed. Thus it remained long forgotten. Bochart (Phaleg., vi. 20, p. 284) states that the learned endeavor in vain to determine its situation. "■ Immensa urbs ac fere imuperaUlin per multa secula diruta jacet ; imperii olim amplisslmi munimenta, splen- doris regiique apparatus domicilia hodierno die diffudit aratrum, aut seduli accolce, qui vias per medias ruinas sequuntur, conculcant. Verno tempore nunc aggeres graminibus se vestiunt omniaqui collium ah ipsa natura perfectorum jnyo tarn similia sunt, ul Niebuhrius quce munimenta tranS' gressus esset, Mossulce demum acceperit." (Tuch, p. 55 f.) The spirit of inquiry, during the last decades, has reanimated the dust of the past for a witness of the truth of God's Word. " Qui viderit ruinas Nineves et positam earn, omnibus in exemplum, expavescet et mirabi- tur. Hieronymus, Ad Nah. iii. 7. That the siege and conquest described above are predicted by Nahum cannot be doubted The strange hypothesis of Kalinsky that Nahum foretells two conquests : the one, chap, ii., re- lated by Ktesias-Diodorus; the other, chap, iii., by Herodotus, scarcely requires mention. More difficult, however, is the fixing of the time when the conquest took place. It was for R time considered settled that it should be placed in the year 606. f Clin.ton, Fasti Hellenici, J I 12 NAHUM. ,. 269; Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, 273; O. Strauss, p. Ixxv. ; Duncker, p, 803.) We onsider this date the most probable, even after the antagonistic opinion of Keil. In favor of this first of all is the synchronism of the Biblical statements. If in the time of Josiah a king of Assyria is still mentioned (2 Kings xxiii. 29), it foliows that Nineveh could not have been destroyed before Josiah's death in 609. If Jeremiah (ch. xxv.) enumerates, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the kingdoms of the world which were still to be destroyed, and does not mention Assyria among them, then its destruction cannot fall after 605. Further, the more authentic sources of Jewish literature are in favor of this date. Tobias becomes blind in the year 710 (Clinton), and lives still after this one hundred years (ch. xiv. gr.) ; and yet Nineveh was not destroyed until after his death. The Seder 01am Rabba states (ch. xxiv. comp. the parallels from other Rabbinical writings in Meyer's Observa- tions on the Seder, p. 1131), that Nebuchadnezzar in his first year [consequently (comp. Jer. xxv. 1), immediately before the date of the passage from Jeremiah mentioned above] de Ktroyed Nineveh. Finally, the chronology of profane writers also favors this date. "' According to Herodo- tus the conquest falls after the Lydian war of Cyaxares (i. 106). This war was terminateil after the tenth of September, 610, by a treaty of peace. The armies of the allies, therefore, could not appear before Nineveh before the spring of 609. In the third year of the siege the city was taken (Diodorus, ii. 27) ; the capture was facilitated by the overflowino- of the river, and must consequently have taken place in the spring. When the capture took place, Nabopolassar was still living, and took possession of the Assyrian territory situated on this side of the Tigris (Alex. Polyh. in Syncellus, p. 396 ed. Dind.). But Nabopolassar died in January 604, according to the Astronomical Canon. It can, therefore, be only a matter of doubt whether the capture occurred in 606 or 605. Since, however, Nebuchadnezzar, in the year 605, defeated Necho at Carchemish and pursued him as far as Syria, where he was in- formed, first that his father was sick, and then that he was dead (Jos., Ant., x. 11, 1), the capture of the city must have already taken place in 606." (Duncker.) This last reason Keil has attacked. Both his arguments against it, which he has drawn from the state of affairs, are unimportant. That Cyaxares, soon after the termination of the Lydian war, set out against Nineveh, has, according to our representation of circumstances given above, nothing surprising ; but on the contrary it was quite natural. Nabopolassar had brought about a peace, in order to bring the Mede into the field against Nineveh as soon as possible ; for to him delay was dangerous. Nor is it at all improbable, that soon after the fall of Nineveh, the son of Nabopolassar, eager for war, led his troops elated with victory against the Egyptian Necho, vanquished him and pursued him a great distance. The third objection is of greater importance. An eclipse of the sun, which, according to the statement of Herodotus, was the occasion of terminating the Lydian war, cannot be established on the 30th of September, 610, but only on the 8th of May, 622, or on the 28th of May, 585. The last date cannot come into consideration ; therefore that treaty of peace may be transferred to the year 622, and the capture of Nineveh may fall nearer to this date than to 605. How- ever the eclipse of the sun of September 30, 610, according to Oltmanus for those countries con- cerned, was not quite total, yet nearly so : only a fiftieth part of the disk of the sun remained uneclipsed. (Ideler, ChronoL, i. 209 ff.) And even if the computation of certain English astronomers should be correct, that the eclipse of the sun of that date did not touch Hither Asia, but went further to the east (Nieb , p. 48), it would only compel us to seek the battle- field eastward from Asia Minor. And considering the ambiguity of the expression of Herod- otus (" the day was turned to night,") the possibility is not at all excluded, that instead of an eclipse of the sun, the reference is to one of those sudden obscurations of the atmosphere, which often occur in those countries. (Dio Cass., Ixvi. 22 ff. ; Plin., Ep., vi. 20. Also iu Matt, xxvii. 45, the statement does not refer to an eclipse of the sun ; for the Passover fell at the time of the full moon.) At all events the argument, which would put in the place of an accord cf so many consistencies, a sum of as many difficulties and contradictions, is neither evident en 'ugh nor at all adequate to overthrow the synchronism of Biblical and profane writers given above. The date computed by Seyffarth for 626 (in the appendix to the Ger man translation of Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, p. 476), entirely fails. [Texts from Nahum quoted by Kawlinson, and illustrated by profane history and recent ducoveries : — INTRODUCTION. 113 Chap. i. 8, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 391 Chap. ii. 5, 6, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 391 Chap. ii. 6, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 328 Chap. ii. 7, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 462 Chap. iii. 3, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 25 Chap. iii. 8, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 150 Chap. iii. 8, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. iii. p. 33 Chap. iii. 13, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 328 Chap. iii. 13, Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 391 Chap. iii. 18, 19 Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 392 Chap. iii. 18, 19 Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 409. Much illustrative matter on the arts, costume, miUtary system, private life, and re- igion of the Assyrians, is found in Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, to which the reader 's referred. C. E.] 5. Literature. Separate Commentaries. — Th. Bibliander, Propheta Nahum Juxta Veritatem Hebroi- cam, Tig., 1534, 12mo. Lud. Crocii, Comm. in Nah. Proph., Brem., 1620, 12mo. I. H. Ursinus, Hypomnemata in Ohadjam et Nahum, Francf, 1652. Abarbanel, Comm. in Nah. Rabb. et Lat., ed. Sprecher, Helmst., 1 703. I. G. Kalinski, Vaticinia (Habacuci et) Nahumi, itemque nonnulla Jesajoe, etc., illustrata, Vratisl., 1748, 4to. Lessing, Observatt. in Vatl. {Jonce et) Nahumi, Chemn., 1780. C. F. Sfaudlin, (Hosed) Nahum (et Hab.), neu iibersetzt und erldutert [newly translated and explained], Stuttg., 1786. E. J. Greve, Vatt. Nah. et Hab., ed. metrica, Amst., 1793, 4to. Eb. Kreenen, Nah. Vaticinium Philologice et Critice Expositum, Hardervici, 1808, 4to. C. W. Justi, Nah. neu iibersetz und erldutert [Nah. newly translated and explained], Lpz., 1820. H. Middeldorpif, Nahum, aus dem Hebr. iibersetzt, mit Vorwort und Anm. v. Gurlitt [Nahum translated from the Hebrew, with prefece and annotations by Gurlitt], Hamb., 1808. A. G. Hoelemann, Nahumi Oraculum, etc., illustravit, Lips., 1842. O. Strauss, Nahumi de Nino Vaticinium, Berol., 1853. Separate Treatises. — Ch. M. Fraehn, Curarum Exegetico-criticarum in Nah. Proph' ttam Specimen, Rostock, 1806. O. Strauss, Nineveh und das Wort Gottes [Nineveh and the Word of God], Berl., 1855. Vance Smith, The Prophecies relating to Nineveh and the Assyrians, London, 1S57. Mich. Breiteneicher, Nineveh und Nahum, Miinchen, 1861. L. Reinke, Kritik der dltern Versionen des Proph. Nah. [Critique of the Older \ «rsions of the Prophet Nahum], Miinster, 1867. Devotional. — .T. Quistorp, Kriegspredigten oder Erkldrung dcs Propheten Nahum [Waf Sermons, or Eluciilation of the Prophet Nahum], Rost., 1628, 4to. D. Heini-ici, Nahumus Pacijicus, h. e. de Pace (2, 1), Lips., 1650. The Literature on Nineveh, see above, Introd. pp. 8, 9. [Matt. HalTenrefFeri, Comm. in Nahum et Habacuc, Stutgardias, 1663, 4to, Vat. Nahumi Observatt. Phil, illustratum ; Diss. praBS. M. C. M. Agrell, resp. N. S. Col- iander, Upsalae, 1788, 4to. Translations with expositions by S. F. Giinth. Wahl, in his Mag. 7<>0 ; H. A. Grimm, 1790; Moses Neumann, Breslau, 1808. — C. E.] NAHUM. CHAPTER I. A Sublime Description of the Attributes and Operations of Jehovah, with a View to inspire his People with Confidence in his Protection (vers. 2-8). The Assyr- ians addressed and described (vers. 9-11). Their Destruction together with thi Deliverance of the Jews connected with that Event (vers. 12-15). 1 The Burden ^ of Nineveh. The book of the Vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2 A Oor! jealous and avenging is Jehovah ; Avenging is Jehovah and a Lord ^ of burning wrath Avenging is Jehovah to his adversaries ; And He keeps anger against his enemies. 3 Jehovah is slow to anger and of great strength, And acquitting He will not acquit [the guilty]. Jehovah — his way is in the whirlwind and in the tempeat | And clouds are the dust of his feet. 4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry ; And all the rivers he drieth up : Bashan and Carmel languish ; And the flower of Lebanon droopeth. 5 MouuUiius tremble because of Him, And the hills melt av\ ay ; The earth heaves ^ before Him, AuJ the' ^lobc aiul all the inhabitants upon it. 6 Before his anger who shall stand ? And who shall endure in the heat of his wrath? His fui-y is poured out like fire ; And the rocks are shattered by Him. 7 Good is Jehovah, a fortress in the day of trouble, And He knoweth those, who trust in Him. 8 And with an overflowing flood He will make an end of her place. And pursue his enemies with darkness.* 9 What devise ye against Jehovah ? He is about to make an end : Distress shall not arise twice. LtJ NAHUM. 10 For thougli tliey are interwoven like® thorns, And soaked with their wine, They shall be devoured like stubble fully dry. 11 From thee came forth One meditating evil against Jehovah, Counseling wickedness. 12 Thus saith Jehovah : Thougli they are complete and so very numerouSy Yet even so are they mown down, And he has passed away. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. 13 And now I will break his yoke from off thee, And bieak thy fetters. 1 4 And Jehovah has given commandment concerning thee : No more of thy name shall be sown ; From the house of thy gods I will cut off the graven and the molten iniaga , I will make thy grave, because thou art despised. TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL. [1 Ver. 1. — NI&X5 ' LXX., ATju^a; Vulgate, Onus, is derived from '^^^j '" "*** "Pi *" 'if* *V, to raise, and aignk ieB BomethiDg uttered. As it is often found in the inscriptions of threatening oracles or denunciations, Jerome, Luther the English version, and others, have rendered it burden, meaning a threatening oracle. Hengstenberg contends ( Chrit- tology of the O. T , vol. iii. pp. 380-384, on Zech. ix. 1 ; and vol. iv p. 60, on Zech. xii. 1. Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark, 1858), that it always signifies burden, and occurs only in the superscription of prophecies announcing adversity. Qeseniul thinks that it is used also for the annunciation of good. Lexicon, sub St^D* [2 Ver. 2. — n?2n V^3, lord, master, or possessor, of burning wrath. P Vet.b. — '^^i^n Mtt^ril, the earth heaves; LXX., Kai dvex. XX. 7 ; Is. xlii. 2, that the radical word Wtt7J caa signify also, by the ellipsis of vip (properly Sti'2 vip, to raise the voice), to utter forth," to call," then one will have sure ground to hold \vith Hup- feld (on Ps. xv. 3) and Deliuscu (on Is. xiii. I), that declaration, or sentence, i^ the common, and in all places naturally [ohne Zwang] the proper sig- nification of the word ; the more, as this signifi- cation, both for the verb and noun, undoubtedly lies on the face of 2 Kings ix. 27 [25]. Moreover, in passages like 1 Chron. xv. 27, with the signifi cation of burden and without supplying ^^P, one could arrive at no meaning ; and finally as in Jer. xxiii. S-" ff., the ambiguity, wliieh wis attached to the word, by giving it the meaning of burden, it stigmatized as impious, and consequently rejected. Concerning Nineveh, see the introduction CHAPTER I. The title is connected witli the prophecy as an in- tegrant part, as the reference of the suffix in ver. 7 ihows, and is accordingly lo be ascribed to the prophet himself. Of course also the following sec- ond title : Book of the Vision of Nahum the Elkoshite ; as also the expression : Book, Writing, refers to a redaction of this prophecy already given to the public before the compilation of the Canon. ll^n is, as in Is. i. 1. the noinen aci* of rTTH, the t«rm employed to express prophetical vision (comp. on Hab. i. 1 ) : that which Nahum, the Elkoshite (3omp. the Introd.) saw. [The first part of the title "gives the substance «nd object " of the book ; " the second the form and author." " The noun ^ y^'^, in the superscriptions of the prophecies, has been from ancient times inter- preted in two different ways. According to the one interpretation it means burden. According to the other it means declaration, prophecy." For a discussion of these different meanings, see Hengsten berg's Christology on Zech. ix. 1 (vol. iii. pp. 380-384. Edinburgh': T. & T. Clark, 1858). Where he strenuously advocates the meaning of i'urden. See also Keil on Nahum i. 1. On Nineveh refer to (besides the Introduction), the Com. on Jonah i. 2. — C. E.] Vers. 2-6. The Exordium. The prophet begins his announcement in the manner of a psalm, and that of the psalms of degrees, with a concatenated etructure of members formed by repetition of words (compare l)eli:zsch, Psalter, 1867, p. 692), forming the way, as it were, from the general Btatementb concerning God's holy wrath and right- eous jealousy to the special, approaching manifes- tation [of God's righteous judgment and wrath. — C.E.] Ver. 2. A God jealous and taking vengeance Is Jehovah. The general statements Nahum takes from the book of the Covenant, and that from its sore, the Decalogue, Ex. xx. 5. [Compare also Ex. xxxiv. 14 ; Deut. iv. 24 ; v. 9. — C. E.] For the secondary form Si3|2, instead of S3|2, compare Josh. xxiv. 19. The jealousy of God arises from his love to his people. He is jealous of his peo- ple, lest they should serve any other god, lest they should acknowledge any man as their lord (Ex. xxxiv. 14 ; Deut. iv. 24) ; and he is jealous for his pcopi^, lest any should approach them with malicious intention, or for their injury (Deut. xxxii. 43). He avenges both ; and hence his coming is not merely (in the first case) an object tif fear, but also (in the second case) an object of longing hope on the part of his people. So Ps. xciv. 1, and here. The vengeance of God is more strictly defined as furious : An avenger is Jehovah and a mas- ter of fury ( = furious, possidens iram, Calv., Gen. xxxvii. 19) ; further, as aimed at his adver- Baries : An avenger is Jehovah with respect to his adversaries ; finally, as inevitably realized ; that can be deferred, but not arrested : and one, who keeps wrath to his enemies (Ley. xix. 18.) The three statements are complementary to one F^nother (He can be provoked. He kindles into an- aer, and keeps it, Hitzig), and the threefold repe- tition of the word avenger, contributes to the emphatic prominence of the central thought, as in Is. vi. 3. The reference of it by Tarnov and \Iich. to the Trinity is forced. It would seem natural, according to the analogv of !^p3, and in allusion to 2 d, to translate also 3 a, in strict conformity with the caiginal meaning ot the word : He is long in wrath, (. e.. He is angry for a long while. This, however, would be agains't the constant usage of the language, according ta which the combination SS fD^QS T[~ts] desig nates the slowness with which his anger disiihargcs itself. He is slow to anger, long suffi'ring, as He had proved himself in the present instance by a hundred years' endurance of the wickedness of the Assyrians. The connection with ver. 2 is anti- thetic : the whole verse is a reproduction of the Mosaic declarations concerning the nature of God (Ex. xxxiv. 6 f.). But we must not think that this delay arises from weakness ; for He is of great power. And just as little should we think that it is a remission of punishment, for He does not clear the guilty (Ex. xx. 7; xx.xiv 7). He is a just judge ; and his sentence is fact. Calmly looking on He ])ermlts the vast, restrained powei of his wrath to be accomplished, until the measure is filled up and runs over. There follows (3 b-6) a description of this actuality of God's judging, in the general features of the Theophany, i. e.. of an appearance of Jehovah in judgment cop nected with powerful signs in nature. These de scriptions, borrowed from Ex. xix. occur in Judge* v., and run through the whole book of Psalms ■ Ps. xviii., 1., Ixviii., xcvii. Ver. 3 b, first of all describes his coming, as in Micah i., under the image of a thunder-storm approaching with tero pest speed, whose whirling clouds swecji over the earth (comp. Ps. Ixxxiii. 16). Jehovah, in the storm and in the whirlwind is his way. He moves along quickly and with power (Is. iv. 4)' And clouds are the dust of his feet ; He contm ues in his approach a concealed God (Ps. Ixxvii 20(19)). From this image [of a storm] v^r. 4 changes t« that of a scorching heat (comp. Joel i. 18 ff. ; Ps Ixxxiii. 15), in allusion to the glow of wrath, ver 2 : He threatens the sea and makes it dry. Th« memory of the historical fact (Ex. xiv. 15) is woven into the description of the judgment ; hence the imp. attractum ; although the miraculous de- liverance on that occasion acquires another mean- ing in the coming to judgment (•1'^t??ri^^^Vl; comp. Ges., sec. 69, obs. 6). And He drieth up all the rivers, and with them the fountains of the land : Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossom of Lebanon withers. These three extreme points, in East, West, and North, are used here, as they are frequently, for the whole land. That Canaan is designated, although the judgment was to fall upon Assyria, proves, that we have to take it n^ n typical, that is to say, as an abstract desci'iption of the judgment, not surely as prophetic details. The same conclusion follows from the interchange of the images, for the differ- ent features [ground-lines] of the separate theoph- anies described by the Psalms and propliets grad- ually meet. To the two first he joins th". third, viz , that of an earthquake accompanied with violent rains. Ver. 5. The mountains quake (Am. viii. 8) and the hills melt away (comp. on Mic. i. 4); and the earth heaves, with violent commotions, at his presence, the manifestation of his clory (1133, Ctt.', TyS7^)) which is revealed for the destructiot of the wicked (Ps. xxxv. 5 ; Is. xxx. 27 ff.) ; and the circle of ihe earth (the nliabitcd land, Jot 1» NAHUM. xxxvii. 1 2 ; . S trauss ) with all that dwell thereon. Kt&3 is intransitive, as in Hos. xiii. 1 ; Hab. i. 3 ( Abarb., Cocc, Hitz.) , The signification, to shriek, (O. Strauss) is possible, and would not eren here be unmeaning, but it does not suit the tigure. It is natural that all things should tremble, for the judgment is irresistible, before which everything must fall. Ver. 6 : Before his fury who can stand ? irapf. potent., comp. Ps. xv. 1. And who can endure the fierceness of his anger? (Jer. x. 10.) His fury pours itself out like fire and the rocks are shattered (the syllable ^-^ is repeated onomato- poetically) before Him. With storm and dark ;Iouds, with sultriness and reeling of the eartli, the thunder-storm bursts forth ; the last catastrophe is the fiery eruption ; and it is at hand. [Vers. 2-6. " The description of the divine jus- tice, and its judicial manifestation on the earth, with which Nahum introduces his prophecy con- cerning Nineveh, has this double object: first of all, to indicate the connection between the destruc- tion of the capital of the Assyrian empire, which is about to be predicted, and the divine purpose of salvation; and secondly, to cut off at the ''•ery outset all doubt as to the realization of this judg- ment." Keil and Delitzsch. — C. E.] Vers. 7-14. The Announcement. The transition to the impending confirmation of the avenging zeal of God. It is introduced by a reference to the goodness of God to those who trust in Him ; on the one hand that his wrath may enter into more striking contrast with it ; and on the other hand, that the ethical ground of this wrath in the nature of God may not be mistaken. This double turn governs the whole announcement, so that it con- stantly fluctuates between threatening and conso- lation, between Nineveh and Judah. Good is Jehovah, not unfavorably disposed, but full of tender inclination of heart (Ts. Ixxxvi. 5 ; cxiiii. 10), a refuge in the time of trouble ; ;^>i^ is not to be construed with Ti^^?; good for a ref- uge ; which would be a Germanism ; but both are coordinate predicates. But He is not good to all (Ps. Ixxiii. 1 ) : He knows them that trust in Him. -""T^ stands emphatically for the knowledge, with which God fosteis and provides for his elect, and which is experienced by them (Hos. xiii. 5). Therefore it is no contradiction, when ver. 8 adds : But with an overflowing flood He will make an end of her place: not with an unjust destruction, but with the divine justice overwhelming the wicked (Is. TL.'i'l f). Calvin: cum inundations transiens, 1 [Calvin : " By inundation, then, he, in passing, wilt make a consummation in hn place ; that is, God will sud- lenly overwhelm the Assyrians as though a deluge should rise to cover the whole earth. Ue intimates, that Uod would not punish the Assyrians by degrees, as men some- times do, who proceed step by step to avenge themselves, but suddenly. Ood, be says, will of a sudden thunder against the Assyrians, as when a deluge comes over a land. Hence this passing of Ood is opposed to long or slow prog- ress ; as though he said, < As soon as God's wrath shall break forth or come upon the Assyrians, it will be all over, for a consummation will immediately follow : by inunda- tion, lie, passing through, will make a consummation in her place.' By place he means the ground ; as though be aad said, that God would not only destroy the face of the land, but would also destroy the very ground, and utterly lemoLish it. A feminine pronoun is here added, because he -peakF of the kingdom or nation, as it is usual in Hebrew. Bat y oujfht espeiially to be noticed, that the Prophet because the word ^I0tt7 may be designated ai feminine by the suffix attached to HDIptt. But this suffix refers to Nineveh (Hitz., Strauss), to which, withdrawing his mind from the considerap tion of the divine wrath and zealous love, the prophet now turns with energetic change of ad- dress. The completeness of the destruction is expressed by H^S, finishing stroke, utter ruin (the construction is here that of the double ace), but still more by the fact, that not merely the city itself, but even its place is mentioned as the object of the same destruction. Concerning the special reason, which the prophet had for employing, to describe this destruction, the image of a flood, evi- dently borrowed from Amos ix. 5, compare the In- troduction, 4, p. 11 and the Com. on. ii. 7. And he will pursue his enemies with [into] darkness. [Henderson and Newcome render it : " And darkness shall pursue his enemies." So alsc the LXX and the A'"ulgate. Luther and Kleinert ; Und Seine Feinde verfoU/t Er mit Finsterniss. — C. E.] Light is the emblem of good and salvatioii (comp. Num. vi. 2.5) ; darkness, of wrath and de- struction (Ps. Ixxxviii. 1 9 ; comp. also the Introd. 4, p. 11). And resistance is useless. Ver. 9 What devise ye against Jehovah? Eosenm., Strauss, Keil : - " What think ye against Jehovah ? " This, however, is feeble. " vS fr©. quently, moreover, takes the place of 'V, and in relation to Jehovah the scheme of the enemies is of a character hostile to Him." Hitzig. Compare also Hos. vii. 15. The prophet imagines, as ad- dressed, all who doubt the announcement; not only the external Jews (Strauss, Keil), whose doubt, moreover, was, in the estimation of the prophet, a thouglit against Jehovah (Is. vii. 10 ff.) ; but also the enemies, who still imagined that they would, by means of preparation for dcri^n^e, be able to escape from the hand of God (ii. 2). It is in vain : He makes an utter ruin. The part, ex- presses the absolute fixedness of the decree. For the affliction shall not arise twice, namely, the affliction mentioned ver. 7, the affliction, which his people should suffer from Assyria, in which they took refuge in Him. It is too coniidently as- serted that an argument is found in the verse foi placing the composition [of this huuk] immediately after the catastrophe of Sennacherib. His inva- sion was not the first trouble that Judah experi- enced from Assyria, but already the second or third. (2 Chron. xxviii. 20 f. mentions a siege by Tig- lath-Pileser ; and even if one would not ascritw to it the origin of the imposition of tribute upon Hez- threatens the Assyrians, that God would entirely subverl them, that He would not only demolish the surface, a» when fire or waters destroy houses, but that the Lord would reduce to nothing the laud itself, even the very ground." — C. E.] •2 [Keil's view requires : What think ye of Jehovah ? H« says : " The question in 9 a is not addressed to the enemy, viz., the Assyrians, as very many commentators suppose- ' What do ye meditate against .Ichovah ? ' For although Chasabk 'el is used in Hos. vii. 16 for a hostile device in regard to Jehovah, the supposition that V/ is used here for 'a/, according to a later usage of the language, is precluded by the fact that vl7 3U17n is actually used in this fenM in ver. 11." The LXX. have eVl rbi' Kupioi' ; the Vulgate ha« ContTs Dominum. Lather; Was gedenket ih wider den Herrn T - 0. K] CHAPTER 1. 19 ekiah, we must still admit that there was an op- pression by Sargon, the conqueror of Samaria, which is highly probable, taking into considera- tion his enterprises against Egypt.) The prophecy has principally to do with the affliction experienced from the hand of Assyria, Conformable to the same view is the translation of Marck, Strauss, and others : the enemy, to wit, Nineveh, will not arise twice. However this is, on account of the m!J in ver. 7, not very probable. Ver. 10. But with a single stroke the trouble ends : in thorns they are entangled [TV as in Is. xxxvii. 3, in the place from which one cannot extricate himself, in which one is fettered], so that they find no escape, at the time of the manifesta- tion of the divine wrath (comp. Mic. vii. 4), but they are burned with the thorns (Eccl. vii. 6) ; and while they are drowned in their carousing. CSDD is not, as the commentators think, a sub- stantive, but the infinitive of the same verb SDD (Is. Ivi. 12), whose passive participle follows; and 2 is temporal, as in Is. xviii. 4 f ] i. e., they are swallowed by the flood (ver. 8), they are consumed by the fire (Is v. 24), hke stubble fully dry. S7"!2 is an adverb modifying ^^'^ (comp. Evr., 279 a ; Mic. ii. 't). Diodorus Siculus, ii. 26, following Ctesias (comp. the Introd. 4, p. 11), describes the di-unkenness, in which the last king of Nineveh was surprised by destruction. [Ewald, and also Hitzig with a few changes, introduce an antithesis into the three members. Even should they be like wicker-work of twisted thorns, and as moist as their wine itself, yet shall they be consumed by the fire like dry stubble. Similarly also, Keil. The an- tithesis between b and c would be striking, and at the same time, as Hitzig remarks, witty ; but be- tween a and c none exists ; and the irony, which exists in our wording, is more earnest, perhaps also more becoming the prophet.] The change and the apparent inconsistency of the accumulated images are accounted for, on the one hand, by the inwoven hint at the reality (comp. on ii. 17) ; on the other hand, by the -xdvacity of the prophet's language (Introd. i.), which manifests itself directly again (ver. 11) in the shifting of the person addressed. From thee, Nineveh, has he gone out [not out of thee, viz., Jerusalem, has He gone out hence, retreated (Holemann, Strauss) : the formula S!i^ 1^ has a fixed meaning (Mic. v. 2 ; Gen. xvii. 6 and above) ], who meditated evil against Jeho- vah, who advised worthlessness. It is difiicult to tliink of a definite person (according to the old nterpreters, Rabshakeh), but, like ver. 9, we must understand it of the constant hostility of the kings of Nineveh against the kingdom of God, which is typically expressed in the name Nimrod, Mic. v. 5. So then finally the discourse, ver. 12 ff., culminates in the Divine Sentence of annihilation : Thus speaks Jehovah ; however complete and nu- merous they are : however numerous they are, they shaU be cut oflF: subito et tanquam falce memoria abscinduntur. Kreenen. And he passes iway, who went out with mischief (Is. xxix. 5). But the sentence has two sides : a terrible one for Nineveh, a consoling one for God's people, ver. 7 : knd though I have afOicted thee, I will aflUct *hee no more. For the sense, compare 9c; for the construction, Micah vii. 8. Ver. 13. But now (to the prophet's mind) in the nearest present ^Micah iv. 9), — all prophetic visions have the iv raxet in themselves (Rev. x. 1) — I wiU break his yoke from off thee and will burst thy bonds : the day has come, which I have long ago announced to thee (Is. x. 24, 27). But the discourse, ver. 14, turns again to Nin eveh: concerning thee, Jehovah has given a command : no more shall there be seed of thy name ; literally, it shall no more be sown of thy name. As from •TT'S, house, comes the Niph. denom. H^S^, a house, i. e., offspring, is raised for me [literally, I shall be built — C. E.] ; so from 2?"1T, seed, comes the Niphal ^^^-T"), seed springs up [literally, shall be sown — C. E.]. The race is to be destroyed forever. From the house of thy God I will destroy the graven image ; in the fate of the national god is represented the fate of the nation (Is. xxxvi. 18). Yes, thy molten image will I make thy grave. Thy temple shall fall over thee, so that thou shalt perish, where thou seekest refuge : an- tithesis to ver. 7 (comp. Is. xxxvii. 38). Such ia the connection pointed out by the accents, and Grot., Drus., Rosenm., Botticher, and others fol- low them. [On the other hand, Hitzig, Strauss, and Keil connect rtDDQ with what precedes, and trans- late T'l^p D'^tt7S "I will prepare thy grave,"] For thou art found light. Compare Dan. v. 27. [Keil : " To confirm the threat expressed in vers. 8-11, Nahum explains the divine purposa more fully. Jehovah hath spoken : the complete- ness and strength of her army will be of no help to Nineveh ; vers. 12-14. " It is not the King of Assyria who is here ad dressed, but the Assyrian power personified as a single man, as we may see ft-om what follows, ac- cording to which the idols are to be rooted out along with the seed from the house of God, i. e. out of the idol temples (cf Is. xxxvii. 38, xliv. 13) Pesel and massekhdh are combined, as in Deut. xxvii. 1.5, to denote every kind of idolatrous image For the idolatry of Assyria, see Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, ii. p. 439 seq. '^TT'^P D^tt'S can- not mean, " I make the temple of thy god into a grave," although this meaning has already been expressed in the Chaldee and Syriac; and the Masoretic accentuation, which connects the words with what precedes, is also founded upon this view. If an object had to be supplied to Dice's from the context, it must be pesel umassekhdh ; but there would be no sense in " I make thine idol into a grave." There is no other course left, there- fore, than to take ^T??!? as the nearest and only object of C'li^M, " I lay, i. e., prepare thy grave." nlvp "^3, because, when weighed according to thy moral worth (Job xxxi. 6), thou hast been been found light (cf Dan. v. 27). Hence the widespread opinion, that the murder of Sennach- erib (Is. xxxvii. .38 ; 2 Kings xix. 37) is pre- dicted here, must be rejected as erroneous and irreconcilable with the words, and not even so far correct as that Nahum makes any allusion to that event. He simply announces the utter destruction of the Assyrian power, together with its idolatry, upon which that rested. Jehovah has prepared a grave tor the people and their idols, because they have been found light when weighed in the balance! of righteousness." 20 NAHUM. Henderson's translation is: "From the house of tliy jrods I will cut off the graven and the molten iinajre ; I will make it thv grave, because thou art worthless." He applies Uie threat to the Assyrian monarch, who was slain by his sons, while he was worsiiippinf;: in the house of Nisroch his god, 2 Kin<^s xix. 37. " The Mcdes bein;^ threat enemies to idolatry, those of them who composed the army of Cvaxares would take singular pleas- ure in destroying the idols which they found in the chief temple at Nineveh." Newcome understands the language, " there shall not be sown of thy name any more," to refer to colonies: ''That no more of thy colonies be transplanted to other countries." — C. E] DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1 The matter in question in prophecy is not the foretelling of single facts, but the exposition of the laws and dispensations of the Divine government of the world, which result from the holy nature of God, and from the fact that He governs the world with a view to his Kingdom. Therefore the proph- et Nahum also, who more than others might be suspected of having, like the heathen diviners, but one catastrophe of the future in view, begins his prediction, by causing the light of God to shine, in which He would have his prophecy viewed and understood. It treats of the destruction of an enemy of God, and of such a one, as is found too light on the just and infallible balances of God. He articulates the judgment of Nineveh into the joint connection of the one Divine judgment of the world, which began with the destruction of the Egyptians in the Hed Sea (along with his rev- elation to his people), and which shall end in the final judgment of all those who are disobe- dient (Micah V. 14). God's essence is light, warming and blessing those who love Him and trust in Him (comp. Ps. cxxxix- 11 wir.b ver. 7); but consuming to his adversaries. Both meet in the zeal of God, which includes in it potentially all the warmth of love and all the heat of wrath (Cant. viii. 6) ; even the ardor of his wrath springs from love (Ex. xxxiv. 14; xx. 5). But if God reserves his wrath for the wicked, He does not do so out of any feeling of grudge, as a revengeful man might picture God in his imagination, but because of His righteousness, which by forgetting would de- stroy itself. The unjust verdict of man originates in forgetfulncss (Ps. ciii. 2). God reserves wrath, not because He is angry, but because He is slow to anger, and allows much to be accumulated, before He resolves upon judgment. He knows that his judgment is terrible. The reserving of his wrath has the same root as the knowledge of his own. He is pure Spirit, hence pure under- Btandi.ig, pure wisdom, and also pure memory. Forgiving and forgetting belong to the self-for- bearance of God (Is. xliii. 25). If a man, or a nation, should succee<0' to pour; and, then connecting the word to the end of the preceding verse, reads thus : 3"n 3i!32 /STin, the palace is dissolved and made to flow down. Keil makes it the hophal of 2^3, which, in the kipliil, signifies to establish, to determine (Deut. xxxii. 8 ; Ps. Ixxiv. 17 ; and Chald., Dan. H. 45 ; vi. 13), and translates it, it Is established, i. e., determined, sc. by God. Kleinert renders it : Vndfest ist^s. The LXX. read Kal 17 un-ocrraa-iy a7rf(caXu<|)9>]. [6 Ver. 9. — S^n ^Q"'Q an example of a noun in the construct before the fiiU form of the pronotm. See Green'i Heb. Gram., sec. 220, i. a, p. 219. Since the days of her, i. e. since the time that she has existed. (See Keil and Hen- ierson.) Kleinert renders it : Nineveh aber, u'ie ein Wa.ut (hoc est, a longo tempore) fiiit. r» Ver. 10. —Kleinert renders HD^Dn, woknungen, dwellings. Comp. Job xxiii. 3 and Ezek. xllii. 11. *- T . ' [7 Ver. 11. "1^'~!S5 ^"2p, withdraw their ruddiness, or brightness, of countenance, i. «., oecomes pale with terror. -C.E.] thing, designates the author [the concrete — C. E.] as in 2 Sam. xxiii. 6. H v3, he taken collectively, 1. e. his whole people (i. 12) ; the orthography (ii for ^n—) as in Hab. i. 9. The concluding sentence shows the same abbreviation as that in i. 14, a form of energetic expression frequent in EXEGETICAL. As the announcement i. 7 ff. clo.ses the delinea- tion of the catastrophe, by immediately introdu- cing the Divine sentence i. 12 ff., so the description itself [ii. 1-11] begins with a consolatory address, a ray of light for the people of God, in the midst of the approaching night of judgment against : prophecy. In a genuine prophetic manner, the Nineveh. Behold on the mountains which separ- 1 result, tlie joy of Judah, is mentioned first ; after ate Nineveh from .Jerusalem, and to which the de- j which, in the address directed against Nineveh, iected look of the des])airing should raise itself (Ps. 1 ver. 2 ff., follows tlie real prophecy, the description cxxi. 1), the feet — and not simply these ; but they | of the catastrophe, assigning the reason [of tha are mentioned as that, which is specially valued in a i judgment. — C. E.] messenger : he hastens, because ho brings good tid- j Comp. Is. ii. 10 ff. This is intimately and plainly incs — of the messenger of joy. "^ID^O is not a ! connected with the course of the work of destmc- 1 ^ •. • J- -J 11... r,„ , ji^„hV<>i,r „u-^ tion. The dasher in pieces comes up against definite individual, but every one ( ilectively, who ,, ,,-,. , -^ ■^ 1 ..1 ^^ " ueuuiLo luuinuuai, uiit ^ j- ^u. tlise (Ninevch was situated on the upper course of hrintra thf> f.ifiino-.o. Who annoimces neace. l2iVlL fVii^ TiVvis^ wVinm Cinc\ p.mnlnvfid for disnersinc brings the tidings. "Who announces peace is the accusative, denoting the thing proclaimed, as in Hab. i. 2. The messenger of joy (comp. Is. lii. 7 ) begins his address with the salutation of peace, T^b DivL&j and continues: Keep thy feasts, J'udah, for no more will the battle-cry of the dis- turber sound in thee (Is. xvi. 9) ; pay thy vows, which thou didst promise in anguish, when thou desiredst to be delivered from the oppressor (Gen. xxviii. 20 flf.). For the worthless shall no more pass through thee ; for he is wholly destroyed. *?"* /H (i. 11), according to the otvmoii of the the Tigris), whom God emploj'ed for dispersing the world-power rallied against Him (comp. Jer. Ii. 20), as He had done on a former occasion (Gren. xi. 8). The prophet fixes (H /V and the sing. Y""2!3) his eye especially upon the King of Baby Ion (comp. above Introd. 4). He comes up against thee, — literally against thy face, — before whom the earth was once dumb with fear (Is. v. 25). Nineveh arms itself against him, forsooth in vain : Guard the fortress I infinitive absolute for the imperative (Ges., sec. 131,4b); the imperative form has, as it often does in the prophetical style CHAPTER II. 25 the meaning of sarcastic description (coniip. iii. 15 b). Look to tlie way, on which the enemies approach, in order to barricade it against them. Strengthen the loins! corap. Is. v. 27. Exert thy strength greatly. fKeil aTid Delitzsch : Ty^3^"72? cannot be ad- dressed to Judali, as in i. 15 (Chald., Kashi, etc.). It cannot indeed be objected that in chap. i. 15, the destruction of Asshur has already been an- nounced, since the prophet might nevertheless have returned to the time when Asshur had made war upon Judah, in order to depict its ruin with greater precision. But such an assumption does not agree with the second clause of the verse as compared with ver. 2, and still less with the de- scription of the approaching enemy which follows in ver. 3, since this is unquestionably, according to ver. 5, the power advancing against Nineveh, and destroying that city. We must therefore as- sume that we have here a sudden change in the person addressed, as in chap. i. 11 and 12, 13 and 14. Henderson thinks that the words are addressed to Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. — C. E.] "\'er. 3. For He who is with this enemy, is none less than Jehovah. He restores (comp. Is. iv. 2) the glory of Jacob, at present humbled, yet on the way to grace, so that it becomes again as the glory of Israel, the favored [people], once in a glorious condition, called forever to grace (comp. Gen. xxxii. 28). The ? does not indicate comparison ; but designates the standard [or rule], according to which the restoration is to result. Also elsewhere, though not regularly, the prophets observe this mode of speech conformed to the Torah, of desig- nating by the name Jacob, given at his birth, the people standing in need of grace ; and by the name Israel, bestowed by God, the people that have become partakers of grace. ( Compare the expressions, "worm Jacob" and " Holy One of Israel," in Is. xl. flf.). Cyril: Tb (jLty 'IokcuiS inrh Tuv iraTfpwv ireBrt t^ 'laKwfi, rh Se 'Icpa^A inrh Tor 0€oC, afXtpOTfpaiy Se ovo/xdrcov nfTfKex^" " *^ 'Itt/c&)/3 \a6s- The distinction of the iSouthern kingdom and of the Northern kingdom by these two names, is scarcely to be thought of; and it would in nowise assist in obtaining a meaning for the passage. That 3^tt^ has the causative signifi- cation to restore, which following Hcngstenberg {Contributions, ii. 104, on Deut. xxx. 3), Keil and Strauss deny also in this passage, is not to be doubted in the constant mode of expression — ^i^ rfOXD (and no where n^lStt? 7^), in which to take n^SJL'' as ace. loc, is a mere artifice. [Comp. on Mic. iv. 10. Of the parallels cited by Keil, Ex. IT. 20 and Gen. 1. 14 have H local; and Num. X. 36 is poetic] In this passage the signification, " to turn himself back to," is not possible, not merely on account of the i^M, but also on account of the following ^S3D ; moreover, Jacob at pres- ent has no glory, to which God could return, and the expression, " God will turn again to the glory of Jacob," would be too insipid in the mouth of Nahum for that which he evidently intended to [Keil and Delitzsch: 2ti7 (perf proph.) has not Ae force of the hiphil, reducer e, restituere, either here or in Ps. Ixxxv. 5 and Is. Iii. 8, ami other passages, where the modern lexicons give it, but means to turn round, or return to a person, and is construed with the accusative, as in Num. x. 36 ; Ex. iv. 20, and Gen. 1. 14, although in actual fact the return of Jehovah to the eminence of Jacob involves its restoration. ^P^^ P^?» that o< which Jacob is proud, i. e. the eminence and great- ness or glory accruing to Israel by virtue of its election to be the nation of God, which the enemy into whose power it had been given up on accoun of its rebellion against God had taken away (see at Amos vi. 8). Jacob does not stand for Judah, nor Israel for the ten tribes, for Nahum never refers to the ten tribes, in distinction from Judah ; and Ob. 18, where Jacob is distinguished from the house of Joseph, is of a totally different character Both names stand here for the whole of Israel. — C. E.] The expression ^5^3 is used by the oldest proph- ets in a bad sense {pride, haughtiness of Israel, Am. vi. 8 ; Hos. v. 5 ; vii. 10) ; but in Is. iv. 2 in a good one. The glory i.s restored, for plunderers (Is. xxiv. 1), chastisers who abused their power, have plundered them — the I^r^elites ; and their vines (comp. Ps. Ixxx. 9 ff.) they have outrageously de- stroyed. Hence it is that the approaching distress, (ver. 4,) comes in His power : the shield of His [It is the opinion of Keil and Kleinert that the suffix in ^n^SS reters to Jehovah (ver. 3), and not to V"*?^' '^■ei'- 2. Henderson refers it to the latter, viz., Cyaxares. — C. E.] heroes, the executors of the punitive sentence, commissioned by Him (comp. Is. xiii. 3 ; Ob. 2), is red, the valiant men are clothed in brilliant scarlet ; the chariots blaze with their iron equipments in the day of his preparation. In the closing words the subject is the disposition of the troo])s in battle array before the fight ; hence the shields could not be made red with blooil (Abarb., Grot.). But their redness, together with that of their uniform and of the metal ornaments of their chariots, is the color, first, of the joyous splendor of the host of divine warriors (comp. 2 Kings vi. 17) ; then it is the color of [those who execute — C. E.] the judgment (Zech. i. 8; Rev. vi. 4). That this red light from the shields could proceed from their copper covering (Hitz. accord- ing to Jos., Ant., xiii. 12, 5), is possible, without being necessary to the interpretation. Gosse (^ss., p. 279) says (comp. 1 Kings x. 16 f ) : From the eagerness with which these shields (on a wall sculpture in Khorsnlirtd) were snatched away, we may suppose that they were made of gold ; and this suits just as well and perhaps still better the asso- ciation of ideas of the prophet, who had no intention of giving us a dissertation upon arms, but a descrip- tion of the flashing and glittering army. The bright red {W^V^n^, part, denom. von - ''i^', purple worm), on the men of power, the select heroes of the army, is most correctly understood with Strauss and others, of their dress. Red was not the favorite color of the Medes only (Xeno- phon states that the Persians obtained from them ■Kop