Nahum 3
Woe to Nineveh
Today’s scripture passage has been called a “woe oracle†because it announces the doom of Nineveh in typical woe oracle fashion (see Isa. 5:18-23; Amos 5:18-20; 6:1-7; Micah 2:1-4). “Woe†can also be used to express grief, but that is not the case in this passage. No one was going to miss …
Nineveh’s Comeuppance
The prophet declares that Nineveh’s fate is as certain at that of the Egyptian city of Thebes, which Assyria had conquered in 663 B.C. Both cities depended on their rivers: Thebes had the Nile, and Nineveh had the Tigris. Unlike Nineveh, Thebes had many allies: (1) Cush refers to Southern …
Conclusion
For the last time, Nahum gives his advice to the Ninevites. Make sure you have enough water! Strengthen the defenses! Make more bricks! (v. 14). All their preparations, however, would be in vain. They would be devoured by fire and cut by the sword (v. 15a). Nahum next uses locusts to …