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15

16

17

18

19

20

As in the days when he went forth out of the land

of Egypt,

I will shew unto him wonderful things.

The nations shall see, and shall be confounded because of all their might:

They shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf:

They shall lick the dust as the serpent;

As the creeping things of the earth, they shall tremble from their close places:

Because of Jehovah our God they shall stand in awe: and they shall fear because of thee.

Who is a God like unto thee, pardoning iniquity, And passing by transgression, in the residue of his heritage?

And who keepeth not his anger for ever,
Because he delighteth in mercy?

He will turn again, he will have compassion on
us, he will cover our iniquities.

Yea, thou wilt cast all our sins into the depth of the sea:
Thou wilt shew faithfulness unto Jacob, and

mercy unto Abraham;

Which thou swarest unto our fathers from the days of old.

15. he went forth] Houbigant reads ny: and Syr. Chald. translate "they went forth," "shew them;" and therefore may have read insy, people being understood. "A like change of persons is in v. 19, and Jer. xvi. 14, 15." Secker.

16. their ears] Sixteen MSS. and three editions read with Chald. Syr., and their ears.

If the expressions in v. 15, 16, 17, are thought too strong for the events which happened under the Maccabees, they may likewise have a reference to the times of the future restoration. 18. delighteth in mercy] thing 151. 6.

-passing by] "Passeth over." Secker.

19. He will turn again-] "He will again have compassion on us." Dr. Wheeler.

-cover] This is the Chaldee sense of was. Syr. reads

.colliget יכנוס

Thou wilt even cast] Syr. reads hwm and he will cast.
Tradam protervis in mare Creticum

Portare ventis. Hor.

-our sins] 66 Aμagrias nur. 6. Syr. Vulg." Secker.

e

.

THE BOOK OF

NAHU M.

I CONCLUDE, from c. ii. 2, that Nahum prophesied after the captivity of the ten tribes. Josephus places him in the reign of Jotham, and says that his predictions came to pass one hundred and fifteen years afterwards. Ant. ix. xi. 3. According to our best chronologers, this date would bring us to the year in which Samaria was taken. And I agree with those who think that Nahum uttered this prophecy in the reign of Hezekiah, and not long after the subversion of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser. The conduct and imagery of this prophetical poem are truly admirable.

The exordium grandly sets forth the justice and power of God, tempered by lenity and goodness: c. i. 2-8.

A sudden address to the Assyrians follows; and a prediction of their perplexity and overthrow, as devisers of evil against the true God: v. 9-11.

Jehovah himself then proclaims freedom to his people from the Assyrian yoke, and the destruction of the Assyrian idols: 12-14. Upon which the prophet, in a most lively manner, turns the attention of Judah to the approach of the messenger who brings such glad tidings; and bids her celebrate her festivals, and offer her thank-offerings, without fear of so powerful an adversary: v. 15.

C. II. In the next place, Nineveh is called on to prepare for the approach of her enemies, as instruments in the hand of Jehovah and the military array and muster of the Medes and Babylonians, their rapid approach to the city, the process of the siege, the capture of the place, the captivity, lamentation and flight of the inhabitants, the sacking of the wealthy city, and the consequent desolation and terror, are described in the true spirit of eastern poetry, and with many pathetic, vivid and sublime images: . 1-10.

A grand and animated allegory succeeds this description: v. 11, 12: which is explained, and applied to the city of Nineveh, in v. 13.

C. III. The prophet denounces a woe against Nineveh for her perfidy and violence; and strongly places before our eyes the number of her chariots and cavalry, her burnished arms and the

1 THE Prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book

of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

great and unrelenting slaughter which she spread around her:

v. 1-3.

He assigns her idolatrics as one cause of her ignominious and unpitied fall: v. 4-7.

He foretels that No-Ammon, her rival in populousness, confederacies and situation, should share a like fate with herself: v. 8, 9, 10, 11: and beautifully illustrates the ease with which her strong holds should be taken; v. 12; and her pusillanimity during the siege: v. 13.

He pronounces that all her preparations, v. 14, 15, her numbers, her opulence, her multitude of chief men, would be of no avail: v. 15-17.

He foretels that her tributaries would desert her: v. 18.

He concludes with a proper epiphonema; the topics of which are, the greatness and incurableness of her wound; and the just triumph of others over her, on account of her extensive oppressions: v. 19..

To sum up all with the decisive judgment of an eminent critic: "Ex omnibus Minoribus prophetis nemo videtur aquare sublimitatem, ardorem, & audaces spiritus Nahumi: adde quod ejus vaticinium integrum ac justum est poema; exordium magnificum est & plane augustum; apparatus ad excidium Ninivæ, ejusque excidii descriptio & amplificatio, ardentissimis coloribus exprimitur, & admirabilem habet evidentiam & pondus." Præl. Hebr. xxi. p. 282.

It must be further observed that this prophecy was highly interesting to the Jews: as the Assyrians had often ravaged their country, and, I suppose, had recently destroyed the kingdom' of Israel.

CHAP. I.

1. The prophecy] The word Nw has the general signification of prolatum, effatum, pronuncialum; from NW to take up, or, to utter. Ex. xx. 7. Deut. v. 11. 2 Kings xix. 4. It is equivalent to 7 words, Prov. xxxi. 1. where it may be translated prophecy, in the sense of speaking to edification: 1 Cor. xiv. 3. 2 Kings ix. 25, may be rendered, "Jehovali uttered this prophecy concerning him." Sc. that which follows, t. 26. Comp. v. 36.

It is translated burthen, as if it signified "gravem prophetiam, quæ dura pronunciat atque comminatur" See Capellus on liab.

2

Jehovah is a jealous and avenging God:
Jehovah avengeth, and is wrathful:

i. 1. And accordingly Chald. on Nah. i. 1, has "Onus calicis. maledictionis." But Pocock observes, on Mal. i. 1, that it rather signifies a message; and quotes Lam. ii. 14, where the flattering prophecies of false prophets are so called: and where the word may have the sense of effatum, as above.

Because 6. render the word by wda, 1 Chron. xv. 22, 27, Houbigant says Forte Nu indicat signum cantoribus datum, cum alte extollitur manus ad cantus moderandos." Perhaps we may infer from these places that prophecies were sometimes sung to musical instruments. See 2 Kings iii. 15. 1 Sam. x. 5.

Taylor interprets the phrases, to lift up a word, Amos v. 1. to lift up a proverb, or parable, Job. xxvii. 1, of speaking with an exerted voice, of pronouncing with spirit and earnestness. But, without including this circumstance in its definition, he thus explains un: "A prophecy, or burthen, containing things of eminence, weight and importance; taught by man, or revealed by God. The word is plainly ambiguous, and sometimes signifies a heavy judgment." Conc. voc. NW).

Bishop Chandler, defence &c. p. 10, quotes authority to shew that the word Sybilla comes from 0 to bear, dia tay Geopoplav : and adds, "So Nw to bear, or carry: Numb. xxiv. 3. xxiii, 7, 18; Jon. Targum to speak a parable. See Isai, xiv. 28. Prov. xxxi. 1. Lam. ii. 14. 2 Kings ix. 25. comp. with v. 36."

"Some commentators, particularly Drusius, are of opinion that in this chapter the prophet foretels first the destruction of Sennacherib's army, and then of Sennacherib himself. There seem to me to be so many allusions to the history of these events in this chapter that I am much inclined to subscribe to their opinion. Rabshekah had represented his master as invincible, nay as more powerful than the true God worshipped at Jerusalem. In answer to this the prophet asserts 2-6, the justice and irresist able power of God, and represents him as avenging himself of his enemies (whether Jew or Gentile) and thus insinuates that Sennacherib ought not to assume to himself, but ascribe to God, whose instrument only he was, the overthrow of the nations he had reduced-and as God had overthrown them, and had also afflicted for their sins his own people, so now he would have mercy on his own people v. 7. and punish the Assyrians. Compare v. 4, with Isai. xxxvii. 24, 25. and v. 9, and v. 11, with Isai. xxxvii. 23. He foretels the destruction of Sen nacherib's army, v. 8, 9, 10, 12; the immediate cause of it

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Jehovah avengeth his adversaries:.

And he reserveth indignation for his enemies.
Jehovah is slow to anger, yet great in power;
But Jehovah by no † means cleareth the guilty.
His way is in the whirlwind and in the storm;

+ Hebr. clearing will not clear.

11; and the consequence of it, latter part of v. 12, and 13. The fall of Sennacherib himself is foretold v. 14. The prophet then proceeds to announce the joy this should cause among the Jews and the utter destruction of the Assyrian empire that should speedily ensue." Dr. Forsayeth.

-Nineveh] Nimrod, the third in descent from Ham, went forth out of the land of Shinar into Assyria, to wage war against the descendents of Shem, and built Nineveh. For so I understand Gen. x, 10, 11, agreeably to our marginal rendering, and to Bochart Geogr. sacr. v. ii. p. 229. And therefore the land of Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, Mic. v. 6. He might assign this city to his son; and call it, from a son and m an habitation. Still we may allow that another Ninus made conquests throughout a great part of Asia, and in that sense founded the Assyrian empire, during the time of the Judges: as otherwise Herodotus's assertion cannot be trne, that the duration of the Assyrian monarchy was five hundred and twenty years. See Bishop Lowth's note on Isai. xxiii. 13.

Elkoshite] So called, says Jerom, from a village in Galilee, Vitringa, Es. p. 25, thinks the parts of this verse transposed. Secker.

2. jealous] occurs only here and Josh. xxiv. 19. Here eight MSS. and three editions omit the vau, and in Joshua fourteen MSS. omit it.

reserveth indignation for] See Lev. xix. 18. Or, observeth with an angry eye. The Arabic word signifies vidit, contemplatus est. See 1 Sam. xx. 20, where the substantive from this verb is rendered a mark.

The in this v. is twice transitive, like ns. See Hos. i. 6, x. 1. Zeph. i. 17. Jer, x. 18.

3. But Jehovah-] 6. divide thus. I find that this is also Dr. Wheeler's punctuation. See Ex, xx. 7. xxxiv. 7. Numb. xiv. 18. Jer. xxx. 11.

His way-] In the whirlwind and storm he displayeth his power or his vengeance: he treadeth on the clouds, as on the dust. Another Hebrew word for clouds is pr, which also de

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