20160202 Tuesday, February 2 2016
Nahum 03: The Rise And Fall Of Nimrod's Nineveh

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the Earth ... the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh"

Nineveh was one of the earliest cities of humanity. It was founded by the line of Nimrod, a descendant of Noah's son Ham. Among those clans of Ham were a number of still-famous nations of people, including the Babylonians and the Egyptians (see Children Of Ham - The Origin Of Egypt And Iraq) and the lines of the Canaanites (see What Does The Bible Really Say About Canaanites? and The First Jews), including the Jebusites (see A History Of Jerusalem: Jebus Of Canaan).

"10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

10:7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 10:11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 10:12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

10:13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 10:14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.

10:15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 10:16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 10:17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 10:18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

10:19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations." (Genesis 10:6-20 KJV)

The city of Nineveh grew into the capital of a country, and then into an imperial capital of a powerful empire. Because the peak of Assyria's power coincided with the deepest depth of the Kingdom of Israel's corruption (see The Politics And Religion Of The Lost Ten Tribes), the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) appointed the Assyrian military to take down the incorrigibly-corrupt northern Kingdom of Israel (see Why Was Nineveh Saved From Destruction?).

"17:5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

17:7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 17:8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 17:9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 17:10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: 17:11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: 17:12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing." (2 Kings 17:5-12 KJV)

The LORD's love is not limited to the Israelites - nor is His Wrath. Nineveh was given its opportunity to repent, in the time of Jonah (see Their Right Hand And Their Left Hand) - to which the people of that generation did repent (the reason that the Messiah spoke favorably of that generation of Assyrians; see the Fact Finder question below). But when later generations de-generated back to the evil way, the LORD destroyed them, just as He did to the Israelites - for the very same reason. It was that destruction, and the fall of Nimrod's Nineveh, that happened in the time of the prophet Nahum. The city was reduced to rubble by the Babylonians (see The Empires Of Bible History And Prophecy) and has remained a ruin to this day.

"3:1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 3:2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. 3:3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: 3:4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

3:5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 3:6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. 3:7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

3:8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? 3:9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 3:10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 3:11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

3:12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 3:13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.

3:14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln. 3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. 3:16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. 3:17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

3:18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. 3:19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?" (Nahum 3:1-19 KJV)

Fact Finder: What did the Messiah say about the generation of Nineveh that repented in the time of Jonah?
See The Nineveh Prophecies