NAHUM 2 — THE ATTACK ON NINEVEH AND THE LION'S DEN LAID WASTE

Chapter 2 is the first of two chapters that describe the fall of Nineveh in vivid, almost cinematic terms. In Hebrew poetry, the prophet uses short, rapid sentences, vivid verbs, and images of speed, noise, color, and panic, so that the reader experiences the assault as it unfolds. In the Hebrew Bible, chapter 2 begins one verse earlier than in English Bibles (English 1:15 is Hebrew 2:1, so English 2:1 is Hebrew 2:2), and the verse numbers in this chapter differ by one throughout. This commentary follows the English numbering. The siege of Nineveh in 612 BC was carried out by a coalition of Babylonians under Nabopolassar and Medes under Cyaxares, after a period in which Assyria had been weakened by civil war and by revolts in its empire. The Babylonian Chronicle records that the city was taken in the month of Ab after a siege of three months, and that a great slaughter and plunder followed, with the Assyrian king Sin-shar-ishkun apparently dying in the fall of the city (the damaged tablet is not fully clear on this). Some interpreters think that Nahum was describing the fall of the city as a prediction before it occurred, with the vividness resulting from the prophet's inspired vision. Others suggest that the prophet had access to information about military preparations in the region, or that the poem was composed close to the time of the siege. This commentary views the book as a genuine prophecy delivered before the event, and acknowledges that the exact date of composition within the seventh century BC is uncertain. The lion imagery used throughout the chapter reflects the lion as the symbol of Assyrian kingship. Assyrian reliefs depict kings hunting lions as an expression of royal power, and the lion's den is a fitting image of the city itself.

The fall of Nineveh is among the best-documented events of the ancient Near East. The Babylonian Chronicle, a cuneiform tablet in the British Museum, records the campaign of 612 BC, stating that the Medes and Babylonians besieged the city for three months and then took it, inflicting heavy defeat and carrying off its plunder. The damaged tablet appears to indicate that the king of Assyria died in the fighting, and it describes how the Assyrians withdrew to Harran, where a remnant of the army made a last stand until 609 BC. The excavation of Nineveh, in the nineteenth century and later, has shown extensive evidence of destruction by fire in the palaces and temples, along with arrowheads, and bodies found near one of the city gates. The Khosr River and the system of canals constructed by Sennacherib to bring water to the city have also been traced, which confirms that the water system was a key feature of its defenses and a possible weakness. The use of lion imagery in the chapter is closely connected to Assyrian art. The reliefs from the palaces of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh include the famous lion-hunt scenes, in which the king kills lions released from cages. Lion statues and winged lions guarded palace entrances. The prophet's use of the lion as a symbol of Assyrian royal power shows familiarity with the culture of the empire and gives vivid force to the question about the lion's den. The remarkable speed of Assyria's collapse was a surprise to the ancient world: within about twenty years of the death of its last great king, Ashurbanipal, the empire had disappeared. The book's central claim, that a world power that seemed invincible would fall suddenly, is vindicated by the historical record.