Nahum 3

10. Notwithstanding all her might, she was overcome.
cast lots for her honourable men--They divided them among themselves by lot, as slaves ( Joel 3:3 ).

11. drunken--made to drink of the cup of Jehovah's wrath ( Isaiah 51:17 Isaiah 51:21 , Jeremiah 25:15 ).
hid--covered out of sight: a prediction remarkably verified in the state in which the ruins of Nineveh have been found [G. V. SMITH]. But as "hid" precedes "seek strength," &c., it rather refers to Nineveh's state when attacked by her foe: "Thou who now so vauntest thyself, shalt be compelled to seek a hiding-place from the foe" [CALVIN]; or, shalt be neglected and slighted by all [MAURER].
seek strength because of the enemy--Thou too, like Thebes ( Nahum 3:9 ), shalt have recourse to other nations for help against thy Medo-Babylonian enemy.

12. thy strongholds--on the borders of Assyria, protecting the approaches to Nineveh: "the gates of thy land" ( Nahum 3:13 ).
fig trees with the first ripe figs--expressing the rapidity and ease of the capture of Nineveh (compare Isaiah 28:4 , Revelation 6:13 ).

13. thy people--thy soldiers.
women--unable to fight for thee ( Isaiah 19:16 , Jeremiah 50:37 , 51:30 ).
gates on thy land--the fortified passes or entrances to the region of Nineveh (compare Jeremiah 15:7 ). Northeast of Nineveh there were hills affording a natural barrier against an invader; the guarded passes through these are probably "the gates of the land" meant.
fire shall devour thy bars--the "bars" of the fortresses at the passes into Assyria. So in Assyrian remains the Assyrians themselves are represented as setting fire to the gates of a city [BONOMI, Nineveh, pp. 194, 197].

14. Ironical exhortation to Nineveh to defend herself.
Draw . . . waters--so as not to be without water for drinking, in the event of being cut off by the besiegers from the fountains.
make strong the brick-kiln--or "repair" so as to have a supply of bricks formed of kiln-burnt clay, to repair breaches in the ramparts, or to build new fortifications inside when the outer ones are taken by the foe.

15. There--in the very scene of thy great preparations for defense; and where thou now art so secure.
fire--even as at the former destruction; Sardanapalus (Pul?) perished with all his household in the conflagration of his palace, having in despair set it on fire, the traces of which are still remaining.
cankerworm--"the licking locust" [HENDERSON].
make thyself many as the locusts--"the swarming locusts" [HENDERSON]; that is, however "many" be thy forces, like those of "the swarming locusts," or the "licking locusts," yet the foe shall consume thee as the "licking locust" licks up all before it.

16. multiplied thy merchants--( Ezekiel 27:23 Ezekiel 27:24 ). Nineveh, by large canals, had easy access to Babylon; and it was one of the great routes for the people of the west and northwest to that city; lying on the Tigris it had access to the sea. The Phoenicians carried its wares everywhere. Hence its merchandise is so much spoken of.
the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away--that is, spoiled thy merchants. The "cankerworm," or licking locust, answers to the Medo-Babylonian invaders of Nineveh [G. V. SMITH]. CALVIN explains less probably, "Thy merchants spoiled many regions; but the same shall befall them as befalls locusts, they in a moment shall be scattered and flee away." MAURER, somewhat similarly, "The licking locust puts off (the envelope in which his wings had been folded), and teeth away" ( Nahum 2:9 ; compare Joel 1:4 ). The Hebrew has ten different names for the locust, so destructive was it.

17. Thy crowned--Thy princes ( Revelation 9:7 ). The king's nobles and officers wore the tiara, as well as the king; hence they are called here "thy crowned ones."
as the locusts--as many as the swarming locusts.
thy captains--Tiphsar, an Assyrian word; found also in Jeremiah 51:27 , meaning satraps [MICHAELIS]; or rather, "military leaders" [MAURER]. The last syllable, sar means a "prince," and is found in Belshaz-zar, Nabopolas-sar, Nebuchadnez-zar.
as the great grasshoppers--literally, "as the locust of locusts," that is, the largest locust. MAURER translates, "as many as locusts upon locusts," that is, swarms of locusts. Hebrew idiom favors English Version.
in the hedges in the cold--Cold deprives the locust of the power of flight; so they alight in cold weather and at night, but when warmed by the sun soon "flee away." So shall the Assyrian multitudes suddenly disappear, not leaving a trace behind (compare PLINY, Natural History, 11.29).

18. Thy shepherds--that is, Thy leaders.
slumber--are carelessly secure [MAURER]. Rather, "lie in death's sleep, having been slain" [JEROME] ( Exodus 15:16 , Psalms 76:6 ).
shall dwell in the dust--( Psalms 7:5 , 94:17 ).
thy people is scattered--the necessary consequence of their leaders being laid low ( 1 Kings 22:17 ).

19. bruit--the report.
clap the hands--with joy at thy fall. The sole descendants of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians in the whole country are the Nestorian Christians, who speak a Chaldean language [LAYARD].
upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?--implying God's long forbearance, and the consequent enormity of Assyria's guilt, rendering her case one that admitted no hope of restoration.