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Nahum.1:15, 2:1. Died and erupted. Come up and breathe into your face, take away from the insult. Since the destruction of Nineveh must inevitably and certainly follow, He says that it has “passed away,” indicating through this that it has already, as it were, undergone destruction, and also: “erupted,” that is, completely destroyed and completely destroyed. About Cyrus he says very well: “he went up,” expressively, in my opinion, expressing something similar to what the prophet Jeremiah said about him, foreshadowing what would one day happen to Nineveh: “the lion rose up from his bed, and destroyed the tongues, and rose up, and went out from his place, so that he would lay your land in the wilderness, and your cities would be ruined, left without inhabitants” ( Jer.4:7); for, like a wild beast, he attacked Nineveh and devoured those living in it. But being for those a terrible, merciless and inexorable enemy, for the Israelites he turned out to be “breathing into the face and taking away the insult,” that is, freeing them from extraordinary slavery, freeing captives from their bonds, gaining their favor with the command to return to their homeland and restore the divine church for them. The expression: “breathe into your face” is used according to Jewish tradition and custom. We will find some reminder of this in divine scripture. For example, the Jews thought that it was necessary to tear clothes when blaspheming God. When Christ the Savior said that He was the Son of God, Caiaphas tore his clothes and exclaimed, saying: “blasphemy of the verb” (Matthew 26:65). The divine disciples Paul and Barnabas did the same while in Lycaonia. When they healed one sick person and those who saw this event were struck with amazement, the priests wanted to make sacrifices to them (the apostles), as if they were gods, and said: “The God, becoming like a man, came down to us. And Naritzah became Barnabas Dia, and Paul Hermias: for he was the leader of the word” (Acts 14:8-12). And since what they did was a kind of blasphemy, they, following Jewish traditions and unwritten customs, tore their clothes. But as not following the law and completely useless, this custom is condemned. Therefore, to the Jews who observed it, but were moving away from true piety, the God of all said: “Turn to me with all your heart... and rend your hearts, and not your garments” (Joel 2:12-13). As some had the custom of tearing their clothes when someone slandered; This was the custom - to blow into the faces of those suffering from some disease. This was done especially and very strangely by those who usually performed spells and pretended that they were freeing those suffering from unclean spirits and diseases with zealous refrains (magical ones). It is from this custom peculiar to them that he takes the image and says: “Blow up and breathe into your face,” obviously Cyrus, and “take away from insult,” for, as I said, some imagined that they could do this by blowing into the face of others. It would be in accordance with wisdom and truth to say that the power of the devil and sin, which tyrannized over us, is constrained, and death is, as it were, taken captive and corruption is completely destroyed; for Christ ascended from hell and rose again, “breathing into the face” of the holy apostles and saying: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). Thus, we have freed ourselves from all evil, and, having become partakers of the Holy Spirit, we return to the ancient beauty of nature and are spiritually transformed into the first image; for with the assistance of the Spirit our Lord Jesus Christ is imagined in him. Nahum.2:1–2. Consider the way, strengthen your loins, grow strong in strength: before the Lord turns away the reproach of Jacob, as the reproach of Israel. As those who will very soon go to Judea and return home, he considers it necessary to say that they already need to explore the path and strengthen their loins, that is, to be ready and capable of the difficulties of travel, to overcome all inertia and, having stocked up with tireless zeal, willingly travel long distances. The most obvious sign of this is that their loins seem to be well-prepared and girded. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ said to the holy apostles, or rather to all who believe in Him: “Let your loins be girded” (Luke 12:35). This is necessary for travelers and especially suitable for preachers of the divine Gospel and those who have legs very ready for this. Therefore, he says: “strengthen your loins,” instead of: be ready and, as it were, gather strength for a fast run; for “turn away”, he says, “The Lord will turn away the reproach of Jacob, as the reproach of Israel.” Here again it is necessary to notice the distinction used; for by Jacob he calls those who dwelt in Samaria, that is, the ten tribes over which reigned the kings from the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, who was born of Jacob. Israel refers to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, whom God protected around this time and because of whom God, by the hand of an angel, destroyed the Assyrian. Cyrus released not only the captives from Samaria, who were taken to Nineveh, but also the captives from Jerusalem. That is why the prophet says, “For the Lord will turn away the reproach of Jacob, as the reproach of Israel.” He calls slavery, or wage work, a reproach. And that God will free everyone, without depriving anyone of his protection and leaving anyone to endure suffering, he teaches this, saying this: the reproach of Jacob will be averted just as the reproach of Israel is averted; for all, as I said, having been delivered from the burden of captivity, returned to Judea. But I say, and quite rightly, that even those redeemed in Christ must conduct their lives not without caution; on the contrary, one should seek a life pleasing to God, follow a good path, and strengthen the loins, that is, conquer the belly and passion for pleasures “and do not indulge in the desires of the flesh” (Rom. 13:14), and fight strongly against passions and all negligence; for in this way they will enter the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, there they will offer spiritual sacrifices and, casting off the yoke of ancient slavery, will lead a glorious, free and completely holy life. Nahum.2:2–4. I shook their vines with the shaking force. Having corrupted 5 the weapons of their strength from men, the mighty men playing with the fires: the riffles of their chariots in the day of its preparation, and the cavalry will be troubled on the roads, and the chariots will be confused, and entangled on the stacks: their appearance is like candles of fire, and like flowing lightning. When the omniscient God revealed to the holy apostles or prophets events that would once take place; then, in fulfillment of His will, they had to foretell them and very often contemplated the events themselves. At this they were amazed, and as if seeing with their own eyes the events taking place, they described them in words. Apparently, the Prophet experienced something similar now in relation to the inhabitants of Nineveh and the cavalry of Cyrus, because “I shook their vines.” The figure of speech is borrowed from what usually happens with vines; for the bunch of grapes is torn off and the berries are plucked, or when a strong wind rushes at them, or the heat burns them, or some other harm is done to them, so that the branch itself, along with the fruits, is deprived of its freshness. So they too were shaken off like grapevines. Their weapons, that is, their power, were also destroyed; for weapons sometimes mean power. And the terrible horsemen and those who have the art of fighting in chariots will come, he says, into terrible fear, so that they will take flight, mingle among themselves, with strong pressure they will crush each other and think that they are being hit in this way by troops of the enemy, so that they will in no way yield to the lamps or, like lightning, will shine with fast and uncontrollable flight. Nahum.2:5. And their elders will remember, and will flee in the day, and will be exhausted in their journey, and will strive for his guard, and will prepare his first watch. During the severe disasters of war, the most powerful, together with others, will remember, he says, how they acted during the conquest of Judea and what inappropriate and obscene words they uttered and with their insolent speeches, they, pathetic, seemed to humiliate the glory of God. But remembering this, they will finally understand that they have armed God against themselves and that He is throwing them (now) under the feet of their enemies, although they were once very powerful and inflicted irresistible defeat on everyone against whom they rushed (in war). But if they, finding their situation hopeless, take flight; then, exhausted during the journey, they will come to other intentions: they will take care of the walls and put guards on them. This shows that they are completely confused and do not know at all what they need to do due to the darkness of their mind. And intoxicated by severe disasters, as if from wine, they mourn the impossibility of salvation, and, easily changing in everything, they hesitate, move from one decision to another, from another to another, and enduring all this without any benefit. And when he says: “and they will flee during the day”: then, I think, he indicates the following. Being powerful, as I said, invincible, stern, they will finally reach such cowardice that they will decide to openly flee and do so without hiding, although previously they were afraid that they would be accused of this on the basis of empty assumptions alone. And the evil forces are defeated by the greatness of Christ and cannot resist His divine commands, obviously for us. They were struck with horror and, having no safe shelter, they really gave in to flight. For when God punishes someone, who can escape from Him? Or what remedy can save those who have offended God? Nahum.2:6–7. The gates of the city were opened, and the kingdoms fell, and the estate was opened. This one ascended, and was led by her slaves, like doves cooing in their hearts. So, the nobles, he says, finding escape impossible, will hasten to the walls and post guards to them. But their foresight will be useless, because God opens the gates of the cities to the enemies, and gives them the “royal”, that is, the houses of the kings, and reveals what is hidden in them and offers their contents for plunder. Contents refers to wealth collected, obviously, through robbery and oppression of others. Then again, as if contemplating what is about to happen, he sees those drawn into captivity, sees the royal city, I say, Nineveh, and those subordinate to her and those around her, and calls them slaves, because perhaps because they bore her yoke, were subordinate to her and served her. “They cooed,” he says, “like doves in their hearts,” that is, not openly, but secretly: for a bird usually hides its sorrow in its heart during some severe and unbearable suffering. There is nothing incredible in the fact that something similar happened to those who fell into the hands of enemies and were finally dragged into captivity; for they mourn their misfortune, as if suppressing their own tears; because the freedom to even cry has been taken away from them. Nahum.2:8–9. And Nineveh, like a font of water, its waters, and it is not fleeing, nor is it without looking. I plundered the silver, I plundered the gold, and it was not until the end of her possessions that she was burdened more than all the vessels she desired. He compares Nineveh to a reservoir that is filled and overflowing, because it has a very large population living in it and an innumerable number of peoples flowing to its aid. He is amazed, or better yet, laughs at those fleeing, because they, being very numerous, gave in to cowardice, whereas before, in the form of a large army, they boldly opposed every enemy and raised their eyebrows high towards themselves. But the God of everyone put timidity into their souls and led them to cowardice and weakened their warlike spirit: for there is no doubt that “a king is not saved by much strength, and a giant is not saved by the abundance of his strength” (Ps. 32:16); on the contrary, the Lord of all saves those whom He wants - and without the slightest difficulty. Then what does the Prophet say? “I will plunder the silver, I will plunder the gold.” And this was property: “and not until the end of her property.” It seems that here he is talking about Indian stones, with which, he says, she was primarily burdened, although she had a cowardly attachment to other things. It was the custom of the Assyrians or Ninevites to make a large and expensive collection of precious stones and adorn themselves with them, like girls, so that even during battles they apparently competed with each other in the splendor of beauty. Here the Prophet very often and expediently speaks and depicts them either falling, sometimes colliding with each other, sometimes not knowing where to run, sometimes setting up guards in vain, sometimes being plundered, thereby reducing the grief of those in captivity, and skillfully comforting them with the prediction of these events, and bringing them into a bright mood with very pleasant stories. And Satan was plundered, first through the Savior Christ, then after Him through the holy apostles, about whom the prophet Habakkuk also said somewhere, “for suddenly those who gnaw at him will rise up: and your accusers will take courage, and you will be spoiled by them” (Hab. 2:7). Christ introduced this very idea, as if in the form of a parable, into the Gospel narrative, saying: or “how can anyone enter into the house of a strong man and plunder his vessels, unless he first binds the strong one...: and then he will plunder his vessels”? (Matthew 12 and Mark 3:27) For those who worship Satan, who were chosen and precious vessels for him, turned to faith when the Savior of us all, Christ, led them to the worship of the (true) God, and when the holy Apostles themselves convinced them to come here. Nahum.2:10. Shaking and trembling, and boiling, and contrition of hearts, and weakening of the knees, and pain in all the loins, and the face of all, like the scorching of a cauldron. He says that she will be crushed with contrition of every kind; for shaking and shaking and boiling, what else can point us to if not this? After all, what is shaken and shaken scatters in all directions. Then, he says, “contrition of hearts” will follow, obviously because God will make them timid. And “weakness of the knees,” that is, weakness and exhaustion of the body, and, moreover, illness, obviously, of the members; for how could those who strived for everything that usually causes grief to God not be subjected to such suffering? In addition, he claims that “the face of everyone” will be “like the scorching of a cauldron”; since during times of sorrow, people’s faces always darken and the onset of terrible events quickly destroys the shine of their eyes. A similar thing, we can rightly say, happened with Satan himself, who tyrannized over us, and together with the evil forces subordinate to him; for after they were deprived of that ancient honor and glory, shouldn’t they certainly have been subjected to the same thing? Nahum.2:11–12. Where is the habitat of lions and the pasture of the lions? Came the lion, who could climb into the lioness's ranks, and was no more frightening. The lion is delighted with his lioness, and strangle his lionesses, and fill his nest with catches, and his vitals with theft. He calls Nineveh a den of lions, because Puah, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib and, finally, Nebuchadnezzar who once reigned there lived and made it a glorious, admirable residence and safe royal palace. It was they who conquered Judea. The expression: “where is”, I think, does not mean a question, because, it seems to me, we need to beware of literalism. On the contrary, through this it ridicules and shows that she was completely destroyed, so that not a trace of her remained anywhere; for “he died and was cast out,” as he himself says. And so where is “the habitat of lions,” he says, that is, Nineveh? And where is “the pasture that is the lioness’s nest”? He calls lionesses, as I think, those under the control of the greatest king and subordinates to him and who consider it an honor to be in good standing with him, I mean, satraps and military leaders; “pasture” he calls those subordinate to them, subjugated by them and paying taxes, and collecting property; for “the pastures of the rich are miserable,” according to what is written (Sir. 13:23). And so, when Nineveh had already been completely destroyed and the entire neighboring country was devastated, then he said: where is the dwelling of the lions? Where to pasture the lionesses? And that Nineveh was strong, as it were, a concentration of the military forces of the kings who were once in it, he showed, saying: “As soon as a lion went to climb in, there was a lioness of a lion, and there was no more terrifying one”; for the wall built with extraordinary splendor around the city was impregnable. When Nebuchadnezzar had laid waste all Samaria, and Judea itself, and the holy city, I say, Jerusalem, and took the descendants of Israel into his land; Then he treated those who fell under his power in such a way that he kept some for himself and kept them in chains, while others he gave as gifts and sold, and filled his country and city with prisoners of war. Therefore, he says: “The lion is pleased with his lionesses, and strangles his lionesses, and fill his nest with catches, and his vitals with theft.” Again the turn of phrase is taken from what usually happens; for wild animals, having stolen the prey they came across and having eaten enough, leave the rest to the lion cubs, leaving them with the fruits of their labors. Again, the same can be said about Satan himself after Christ completely destroyed him and his works and took away his prey on earth: “he broke the limbs of lions,” according to the psalmist (Ps. 57:7). Nahum.2:13. Behold, I am against you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will burn up your multitude with smoke, and your lions will girdle their weapons: and I will consume your catch from the earth, and no one will hear your deeds. God reveals Himself as their enemy and personally rebels against them, driving them to despair in their salvation; for when God wants to bring misfortune, who can deliver from it? Or who can restrain the Lord of hosts, who wants to cause devastation? “Who can turn away a high hand”? as written. He says that “it will burn a multitude with smoke,” so that we again have this image in our minds: beekeepers at a certain time, when they want to remove honeycombs from the hives, make a fire and drive away the bees with smoke so that they, flying in multitudes around, do not resist this and do not injure them with their stings. Something similar happened to the allies called by Nineveh during its dangerous situation; for they withdrew and fled (like bees) from the smoke when the war began, which made them timid and brought unbearable fear upon them. He calls the strongest among them and the brave ones who perhaps dared to resist, but became victims of the sword of Cyrus, as lions. Since the word reminded us of lions: then their prey, he says, will be destroyed, so that they will have nothing to rely on. For they usually attacked cities and countries, pounced like wild beasts on whomever they wanted, and caused innumerable disasters, so that the disasters of the victims were for many the subject of mournful song and lamentation. Their prey, he says, will be completely destroyed; for how could they still take others captive, when the military detachments became afraid and fled as if from smoke, and the bravest of them, attacking their enemies like lions, fell? The God of all rebelled against the Jews, who killed the Lord, so that many ordinary citizens were scattered to all the winds, and the most famous of them, along with many others, perished like wild beasts; for they committed intolerable wickedness in relation to the Savior of all, Christ. In glory and LXX. it reads: “and I corrupted their vines. Their weapons of strength come from man..." You might be interested in: