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Nahum.3:1. Oh, city of blood, all deceitful, full of lies. He called it the city of blood, because the Nineveh kings were very quick to commit murders and loved to shed blood; others among them were very warlike and tried to carry out unbridled attacks on those they opposed. He calls it deceitful because it is filled with idols, which mainly contain lies, which is beyond doubt; for falsely named and stealing the glory of deities, gods made with hands are “silver and gold,” according to what is written, “the work of human hands” (Ps. 113:12). And the wise Jeremiah somewhere called it “the land of the graven ones” (Jer. 50:38). It can also be called deceitful in another respect, when by falsehood we mean deceit and deceit, and delusion that is hated by God, obviously because injustice is added to them; for where there is deception and cunning, there will certainly be injustice. And Jerusalem, which killed the Lord, is truly a bloody and deceitful city. Let us remember the words of the Lord: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, beating the prophets and stoning those who were sent to” her (Matthew 23:37). And through the mouth of the prophets he said nowhere: “Woe to them, for they have jumped away from me: they are fearful, for they have treated me with dishonesty: but I have delivered, but these have spoken lies against me” (Hos. 7:13); for they slandered Christ, sometimes saying that He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, sometimes calling Him a wine drinker, and also a Samaritan, and something else that is much more shameful; It was only their daring tongues that were capable of uttering the words that they dared to speak. Nahum.3:1–3. The catch will not settle. The voice of the whips and the voice of the coward of the wheels, and the flowing horse, and the noisy chariots, and the riding cavalry, and the shining sword, and the shining weapons, and the multitude of ulcers and the grievous fall, and not the end of her tongue: and they will faint in their bodies from the multitude of fornication. Again the image of speech is borrowed from what usually happens. Throwing nets over densely growing bushes, bird catchers often catch birds hiding under them with their hands. This is their art. So, “they will not catch food yet,” he says, “that is, they will no longer hunt as before, or they will not steal for themselves what belongs to others. Nets and snares will not be set for the weakest, when they have other concerns in their souls, and when a struggle of life and death has begun. There will be a “voice of scourges” in it; and it seems to me that the Prophet again clearly talks about the military turmoil, which he seems to see with his own eyes. He sees the city, as if resounding with the tramp of horses, filled with the noise from the wheels of military chariots, and its devastators, shining from the brilliance of all kinds of weapons, sees countless dead people and houses destroyed in it, which is why he mentions the “heavy fall.” He expresses amazement at how innumerably large the multitude of peoples gathered in it is, but they are all cowardly, suffer from extreme weakness and are very prone to cowardice, and immediately indicates the reason for this, saying that “they will faint in their bodies from the multitude of fornication.” Since they became unclean and bad in their morals, and moreover, idolaters and shamelessly prone to error; therefore, they will rightly be weak and fearful and completely incapable of even understanding their retreat. Nahum.3:4. The harlot is kind and pleasant, the leader of sorcery, selling tongues in her fornication and nations in her sorceries. Praise for shameful deeds increases the significance of crimes, as if someone said about someone that he is a skillful thief and a brave robber and a skilled magician. So, although one can say about Nineveh: “the harlot is kind and pleasant,” this cannot in any way serve as praise for her; on the contrary, it should give rise to a more serious accusation against her; for women leading dissolute lives seem especially attractive when they are distinguished by pleasant and witty speeches. Such was Nineveh, skilled in atrocities, able to captivate cities and countries a lot and instill in them aspirations that were pleasing and pleasant to them; and these were sorceries, false prophecies, unclean sacred rites and idolatry. She reached such unreason that she considered such shameful deeds to be praiseworthy and doomed to the greatest glorification. It was her custom to sell peoples and countries to someone “in her sorceries.” How or in what way - we will explain this as much as possible. Usually the Assyrians, wanting to fight and arming themselves against others, tried to predict the future with the help of the art of the Magi. Seeking honors from the king, the magi proclaimed victory in every war and made false promises that they would weaken their opponents with their spells. Balak, king of Moab, wanted to do something similar. He bribed the criminal Balaam and took him to the mountain, saying: “Come curse” Israel for me (Numbers 22:11); for they thought that events themselves would be subject to the spells of the Magi. Fornication here refers to the magical art with the help of which the sages sold the tribes, who always promised victory to those who brought them gifts. Nahum.3:5–6. Behold, I am upon you, says the Lord God Almighty, and I will open your back to your face, and I will show your shame with my tongue, and your dishonor to the kingdoms: and I will bring abomination upon you because of your uncleanness, and I will make you a parable. Again she shows that she is not dealing with a man, but that the Lord of hosts is angry with her and is raising up the Persians and Medes against her; for God, who rules over everything and has dominion over the universe, who can prevent him if He wants to declare war against anyone? Then he says that I will open your back door to your face. Again the same thing happened to her as with the dissolute woman, who, as far as her face and external decoration are concerned, seems very attractive to those looking at her; but if she loses her robe, she will turn out to be very ugly, not discreetly showing the ugliness of her shame on her naked body. So, “I will reveal,” he says, “your backside,” that is, everything that is ugly in you and before others I will show you; for what else but this can the expression indicate to us: “to your face”? But he clearly says that her dishonor will be revealed to the nations and kings; for Nineveh, puffed up by the art of the Magi and appropriating authority and dominion over everyone, seemed beautiful and worthy of love. But after she was taken and fell, she seemed ugly and unpleasant to those who knew her, who finally began to consider her vile, fully realizing that she was considered an insignificance, relied more on the help of the Magi, and especially on evil tricks and deceptions. He claims that it will turn into a parable, so that if they ever talk about any destroyed city or country, they will say: devastated and fallen, just like pitiful Nineveh. The God of all, as I said, rebelled against the Jewish synagogue and for its iniquity against Christ subjected it to righteous punishment, revealing it naked and vile and completely devoid of the highest garment, and announced this through the mouth of Hosea, saying: “I will return and take away my wheat in its season, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my garments and my shrouds, so that the cold may not cover mine: and now I will reveal her uncleanness before her lusts, and no one will take her out of my hand” (Hosea 2:9-10). The church of the pagans will glorify, saying: let my soul rejoice in the Lord: “for he has clothed me with the robe of salvation and the robe of gladness” (Is. 61:10); this one, on the contrary, as I said, turns out to be naked, vile and ugly and devoid of the adornment of divine gifts; and she again turned into a parable and became very disgusting and suffering from every kind of worldly uncleanness. Nahum.3:7. And it will happen that everyone who sees you will come down from you and say: accursed Nineveh, who will groan for her? where will I seek consolation for her? If, he says, one of those who previously knew your power saw your fall and ruin, he would shed many tears and leave with fear, saying the following: “who will groan for her”? But since there is no one, or not even one person left, who could just look at it; then he says so. To this he wisely added: “Where will I seek consolation for her?” The meaning of these words is as follows. When war and battle befall a city or country, the inhabitants are partly exposed to disasters, and partly they are saved and run away from the victors, which is a consolation for the inhabitants; either the entire city is not burned and part of it remains undevastated, or some fell, but another significant part (of the inhabitants) remained unharmed. And who can give consolation to Nineveh? Or how can you encourage her? It was all destroyed, all devastated, and everyone in it died. The words: “who will groan over her”? It can also be understood differently, as if someone were saying: is there anyone so skilled in composing lamentable and funeral songs that he could say something completely worthy of these events and shed tears that are completely appropriate to the disasters. Nahum.3:8–10. Prepare a part, arrange a string, prepare a part for Ammon, who lives in the rivers: the water is around her, the sea began with her, and the water took her away: and Ethiopia is her fortress and Egypt, and there is no end to your flight... and Libyan was her helper: and this captive will go into exile, and her babies will be broken at the beginning of all her paths, and about all Lots will be cast for her glorious ones, and all her commanders will be bound in shackles. The meaning of the words being explained is very unclear; it can only be understood after a preliminary account of the historical events they contain. It was like this. When Israel turned away from God and began to serve idols and angered the God of all with an innumerable number of wicked deeds, then Nebuchadnezzar armed himself against Judea and Jerusalem, because divine wrath aroused him to this. Then the Israelites needed to abandon their present wickedness, refrain from the desire to worship other gods - to overthrow the altars, set the churches on fire and crush the cast images and by works of repentance to appease God and call on Him for help. However, they did not do this, unfortunate ones, but imagined that with the help of many people they would defeat the Babylonians and overcome their enemies, even if God did not want to save them. Therefore, they hired many from neighboring nations, sent ambassadors both to the Egyptians and to the so-called Og or Amon, which is now Alexandria; they promised to be allies and gave the Israelites reason to think that they could easily drive out the Babylonians and that, even if God did not help them, they were able to do it on their own, because they did not need anyone. When Nebuchadnezzar took Judea, because God helped him and subdued his enemies, then after that he went against Egypt (because divine wrath sent him), conquered all of it and Og or Amon (as I said, Alexandria was sometimes called), which, in comparison with other cities of Egypt, was especially famous, served as an inaccessible and safe refuge, because it is surrounded on all sides by waters: on the north side it has a sea, on the south side it is wide and long, like another sea, a lake, I say, Mareotis, and is surrounded by other rivers and swamps. He was also helped by the inhabitants of neighboring Libya, which extends to the land of the Ethiopians, to the west and south - those Garamantes who live behind the Afros. His allies in arms were also some of the Ethiopians living to the east and south, who built themselves the city of Meroe within the country and live in a wild and gloomy country. This is what history tells us. Let us now move on to explaining the meaning of the words read. “Prepare,” he says, “a portion”; by this he seems to be saying: O unhappy Nineveh! choose a fate for yourself similar to the fate of any of the countries that are devastated around you (while you thought highly of yourself and imagined that you would be completely impregnable, because you are surrounded by large walls and have an innumerable number of allies); although you, he says, have a very large amount of life supplies, so that you can be considered invincible and unapproachable. Set a chord, that is, you yourself be the subject of singing and music for cities and countries, because you suffered from the Persians and Medes the same thing that you yourself did to others. “Prepare a portion for Amon,” so that the fate and lot of Amon may befall you, he says; what you did to him, you must be subjected to the same. And what was Amon or “the one who lives in the rivers”? This means - very well protected by the sea and rivers, with the help of the Egyptians, proud of the arrows of the Ethiopians, and having at its disposal many very brave Libyans. But although she had such a position and power and external help, despite this, she was taken to a foreign land and became a captive and her babies were killed; Lots were cast about its famous people, the most famous became part of the victors and were bound with hand chains. So, just as you took Amon, who was invincible due to the help of allies and location (for God betrayed him), so you yourself will certainly be delivered into the hands of enemies, although you think a lot about yourself due to the multitude of warriors and your walls. Nahum.3:11. And you will become drunk and despised, and you yourself will seek help from your enemies. Just as, he says, Amon was in misery, having been subjected to the blows of your cruelty and the disasters of your invasion, so you yourself will be darkened and will be, as it were, intoxicated, without stability, that is, shaken and falling from your enemies and deprived of heavenly care. Yes, to whom God looks, He has mercy in every possible way and fulfills his prayers. And Jerusalem, resisting God and not possessing sobriety, was as if intoxicated because it did not want to be enlightened by the divine light and heed the words of Christ: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) and others: “until there is light, walk in the light, lest darkness have you” (John 12:35). By intoxication we can understand spiritual darkness and by night in the heart - ignorance of disaster and the complete impossibility of knowing the path of salvation. And that he is shocked and has no reason within himself to do good deeds - how and why can one doubt this? After all, he has moved from the Foundation of all things and does not have an unshakable foundation, that is, Christ; he is despised and betrayed to enemies, either to the Romans, or to those who incite all passionate movements, I say, to unclean spirits. So, Christ and faith in Him will deliver us from all evil and make us victorious over severe enemies and place us in the eyes of God; for He will never despise those who love Him. Nahum.3:12. All your strength is like that of a fig tree, a guardian: if they waver, they will fall into the mouth of one who eats. Ripe figs, if someone shakes the tree, fall without difficulty, as if they jump into the hand of the shaker, and are automatically taken by those who want to eat them. When Cyrus attacked Nineveh and besieged it and placed siege engines or battering rams against its walls, then its defenders guarded the fortifications. But the besiegers, shooting from their bows, easily knocked them to the ground. Therefore, he takes the comparison from what usually happens with ripe figs. That’s why he says that “all your hardness”, that is, the walls, “fig-shaped guards”, very easily fall into the hand of someone who wants to eat them, if only someone shakes the tree. So it will be with every soul that has lost help from above: it will easily be subject to robbery and captivity and will easily fall into the hands of the devouring Satan, for it is written that “his chosen foods” (Hab. 1:16). Nahum.3:13. Behold, your people are like wives in you: the gates of your land will be opened by your enemies, and the fire of your faith will be girded. Declares their hope in vain; for they thought that having gathered an innumerable multitude of helpers and living in a city surrounded by indestructible walls, they could never be conquered. But he clearly foretold that this would not bring them any benefit, saying that their defenders would reach such cowardice that they would be no different from weak women; that the gates will also be open, obviously when enemies invade, for there is no doubt that “unless the Lord preserves the city, it will be guarded in vain” (Ps. 127:1). So, we must have a higher protection: rely least on ourselves, but more on God who saves, do not exalt ourselves with human help and do not think that we can avoid anger when God is angry (against us); for no one can deliver from anxiety and troubles the one with whom the God of all is angry. And the divine David very wisely sings and says: “I do not trust in my bow, and my sword will not save me” (Ps. 43:7), “but I will create power in God,” according to his ancient saying (Ps. 107:14). Nahum.3:14. Admire the water of obsession for yourself. They say that when Cyrus and those who were with him devastated the countries neighboring Nineveh and cut off the possibility of any help from them; Then the Ninevites, already fearing that the city itself might be destroyed, crossed the area surrounding the city with many and long ditches and, connecting rivers with them with canals and filling them with water, made the area swampy and thus impassable for enemies. But the enemies, or rather the will of the God who abandoned them, triumphed over their undertakings. And they show that these efforts will not have any success by saying: “take the water of possession for yourself.” It seems to some that here the collected water can be understood as a collection or many peoples called to help. And the word understood in this way will not distract us from the goal, because many peoples are often called waters. Nahum.3:14. And strengthen your firmness: climb into the clay and rest on the chaff; strengthen it more than the plinth. God does not encourage them to do this, but, knowing the future perfectly, ridicules their support and through this, as I just said, shows that their efforts will be completely in vain. Since it turned out that the walls needed either fortifications or any other corrections (that’s why they worked bricks, obviously made of clay, but very strong, because fired brick is the most necessary item for work and they had very strong bricks), then “crossed over”, he says, in the chaff, work with bricks. Be even as strong and indestructible in battle as, without a doubt, the brick itself is hard; - and yet you will be easily taken and will by no means remain indestructible and will easily be defeated by those who are very skilled in this and are distinguished by the swiftness of your strongest firmness. Nahum.3:15. There the fire will burn you, the sword will consume you, you will be eaten like a pruz, and you will be aggravated like a moss. “Tamo” you can understand in the sense: at that time; for he takes this saying in relation to time, and not to place. If, he says, this happened, and you made bricks, then in that case you would be destroyed as if by fire, and the war would devastate you like locusts. You will be bound by inertia and as slow to flee as a heavy locust. They say that when hail and rain fall, the locust becomes difficult to fly because its wings are wet. So, to depict the slowness of the Ninevites in flight, he again takes the image from what happens to locusts. Nahum.3:16–17. Thou hast multiplied thy purchases more than the stars of heaven: the mosses rushed forth, and flowed near: they leapt up, like thy spring, like the locust that ascendeth upon the fence on a cold day: the sun rose, and flew away, and not knowing its place. It seems that by “purchases” here we mean not those that are made through money and for the acquisition of profits and increasing wealth, but rather those that are made for the assembly and concentration of peoples. After all, as I said, they hired neighboring nations, as if trading those who had to die and gathering into battle those who were soon to die. And there were a lot of them and an innumerable number; therefore they are likened to many stars. But if, he says, they all gathered and united, then even then they would be frightened by war and perish just like the moss and the spring. This is a species of small locust, which, when it encounters fences and garden walls during cold weather, as I said, and when rain falls, closes its eyes and remains motionless, being unable to fly due to the strong humidity. But when the sun rises and warms them with its rays, they quickly move away and fly away as usual. This, he says, is what your allies will do to you; they will fly away and retire back to their home, turning your trust in them into nothing. So, the word spoken through the mouth of the Prophet is immutable: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man” (Ps. 118:8). Nahum.3:17–18. Lute im. Your shepherds have fallen asleep, O king of Assyria, let your mighty ones sleep; your people have risen to the mountains, and have not fallen short of him who has received them. Expresses regret for the crowds of people who succumbed to such cowardice and fear that at the mere approach of war they became exhausted and ran to the tops of the mountains, and considered impassable places as a barrier from danger. Then, explaining the reason for such timidity, as an appropriate explanation he makes reference to the death of their commanders, as if saying decently that as a result they suffered ruin and death and turned out to be ignorant of the art of war. Using the expression: “resting”, indicates that those who possessed power and authority, the leaders of the people and those who achieved high and glorious honors, indulged in sleep (inaction). They were put to sleep by the king of the Assyrians, that is, descended from them; for Cyrus was a native and descended from Persian blood. But the prophetic word disposes us to cry or ridicule those who are easily succumbing to fear: “Your people were raised up,” he says, “on the mountains, and there was no one who received them,” that is, one who is distinguished by courage, suppresses the timidity of those running and can distract a powerless warrior who throws his shield from fear of the enemy from those who struck the first blows; since those capable of doing this and experts in the art of war perished first. But the words: “Be cruel to them. "Your shepherds, resting asleep, O king of Assyria, let your strong ones sleep" can be applied, quite rightly, to the Jewish crowd. Truly woe to those who killed the Savior and Redeemer of all and added the blood of the Lord himself to the blood of the saints. They had to experience this due to the fact that those called to rule over them and appointed to be shepherds, I say, scribes and Pharisees and crowned with the privileges of the priesthood, fell asleep greatly due to corruption, who were actually put to sleep by the Assyrian king, that is, Satan; for often the rulers of Babylon are taken to represent him. And that the shepherds and those in power fell asleep - how can one doubt this, when the inspired Scripture everywhere ascribes to them the destruction of the people? For it is written: “O shepherds, who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture” (Jer. 23:1) and again: “The priests do not ask, where is the Lord? and they that keep the law do not know me, and your shepherds dishonor me, and your prophets prophesy in Baal” (Jer. 2:8). And Isaiah also says: “Like a harlot, the faithful city of Zion is full of judgment, in which righteousness rests, but now... murderers: your money is untested, your innkeepers mix wine with water. Thy princes do not repent, they are in common, loving gifts, pursuing recompense, not judging the orphans, and not heeding the judgment of widows” (Is. 1:21-23). Nahum.3:19. There is no purpose for your contrition, your ulcer has flared up. You can endure the most severe disasters if they come gradually and do not extend beyond what is necessary; Those who have suffered have the comforting hope that they will still be able to recover (as if from an illness and be able to live in good health) and that they will again achieve well-being after the circumstances of their lives change for the better. But if events lead to the most miserable situation, then the disaster becomes completely inevitable, or better yet, completely irreparable. Since Nineveh experienced exactly this, she says that she was crushed and died, because at the same time the hope for the possibility of healing her was lost and because the ulcer seemed to have become in a state of severe inflammation and required the most severe dissection. Without contradicting the truth, we can say that Jerusalem, which killed the Lord, is in the same state. He was often struck when enemies attacked him, but after that medicine was also used, because God had compassion for him and softened the blow inflicted on him. When they brazenly acted against the Lord of all, he was crushed and fell, and there was no “goal”, according to the word of the Prophet, and the direction of the misfortunes that befell them remained unmitigated. Therefore, the blessed prophets said, likening Jerusalem to Babylon: “Babylon became the physician, and was not healed: let us leave her and go each on his way, for her judgment will ascend to the heavens, and rise even to the stars” (Jer. 51:9). His crime as high as heaven and his sin as high is that they, as I said, brazenly acted not just with any of the saints, but with the Lord of saints. Nahum.3:19. All who hear your news will clasp their hands for you: against whom will your anger always be found? That the divine sentence was just, condemning the state of Babylon to destruction, this is clearly evidenced by the fact that absolutely no one will express doubts about it; on the contrary, everyone will applaud and rejoice at this, and laugh at the fallen one because he subjected others to unbearable disasters and oppression, and forced them to experience many things that especially cause sorrow; for it was difficult and unbearable for everyone and made those who were far from it feel its cruelty. Would I say that the inventor of sin, that is, Satan, who spreads the nets of his malice everywhere, who has drawn the heavenly countries astray and entangled them in the nets of destruction, now struck by Christ and deprived of dominion over us, could justly listen (to the words of the Prophet): “All who hear your message will clasp their hands for you: on whom will your anger never be found”? You might be interested in: