Nahum 3:15

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.

Nahum 3:15 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 3:15

There shall the fire devour thee
In the strong holds, made ever so firm and secure; either the fire of divine wrath; or the fire of the enemy they should put into them; or the enemy himself, as Kimchi; and so the Targum,

``thither shall come upon thee people who are as strong as fire:''

the sword shall cut thee off; it shall eat thee up as the cankerworm:
that is, the sword of the Medes and Chaldeans shall utterly destroy thee, as the cankerworm is destroyed by rain or fire; or rather, as that creature destroys all herbs, plants, and trees it falls upon, and makes clear riddance of them, so should it be with Nineveh: make thyself many as the cankerworm; make thyself many as the
locust;
which go in swarms, innumerable, and make the air "heavy" in which they fly, and the earth on which they fall, as the word ^F25 signifies. The locust has one of its names, "arbah", in Hebrew, from the large numbers of them; so a multitude of men, and large armies, are often signified in Scripture to be like grasshoppers or locusts, for their numbers; see ( Judges 6:5 ) ( 7:12 ) ( Jeremiah 46:23 ) . So Sithalces king of Thrace is represented ^F26 as swearing, while he was sacrificing, that he would assist the Athenians, having an army that would come like locusts, that is, in such numbers; for so the Greek scholiast on the place says the word used signifies a sort of locusts: the sense is, gather together as many soldiers, and as large an army, as can be obtained to meet the enemy, or cause him to break up the siege: and so we find ^F1 the king of Assyria did; for, perceiving his kingdom in great danger, he sent into all his provinces to raise soldiers, and prepare everything for the siege; but all to no purpose, which is here ironically suggested. The word in the Misnic language, as Kimchi observes, has the signification of sweeping; and some render it, "sweep as the locust" ^F2; which sweeps away and consumes the fruits of the earth; so sweep with the besom of destruction, as Jarchi, either their enemies, sarcastically spoken, or be thou swept by them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (dbkth) "aggravate", Montanus; "onerate", Tigurine version; "gravem effice te", Burkius.
F26 Aristophan. in Acharnens. Act. 1. Scen. 1.
F1 Diodor. Sicul. l. 2. p. 113.
F2 So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 39. 1.

Nahum 3:15 In-Context

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.

14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.

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.

16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth , and flieth away .

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.