Nahum 2:12

12 The lion tore up meat for his cubs and strangled prey for his mate. He filled his den with prey, his caverns with his plunder.

Nahum 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 2:12

The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps
The metaphor is still continued; and the kings of Assyria are compared to lions that hunt for their prey, and, having found it, tear it in pieces, and carry home a sufficiency for their whelps. It is a notion that is advanced by some writers, as Herodotus ^F16, that the lioness, the strongest and boldest creature, brings forth but once in its life, and then but one; which Gellius ^F17 confutes by the testimonies of Homer and Aristotle; and it appears from the prophet here to be a false one, as well as from ( Ezekiel 19:2 Ezekiel 19:3 ) thus the Assyrians made war on other nations, and pillaged and plundered them, to enlarge their dominions, provide for their posterity, and enrich their children: and strangled for his lionesses;
that is, strangled other beasts, as the lion first does, when it seizes a creature, and then tears it in pieces, and brings it to the she lion in the den with its whelps. These "lionesses" design the wives and concubines of the kings of Assyria, among whom they parted the spoils of their neighbours. So the Targum,

``kings bring rapine to their wives, and a prey to their children;''

that is, riches, which they have taken from others by force and rapine: thus Cicero ^F18 observes of the kings of Persia and Syria, that they had many wives, and gave cities to them after this manner; this city for their headdress, this for the neck, and the other for the hair; the expenses of them: and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravine;
as the lion fills his dens and lurking holes with the prey he has seized and ravened; so the kings of Assyria filled their palaces, treasures, magazines, towers, cities, and towns, with the wealth and riches they took by force from other nations; as the Targum,

``and they filled their treasuries with rapine, and their palaces with spoil.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Thalia, sive l. 3. c. 108.
F17 Noctes Atticae, l. 13. c. 7.
F18 Orat. 8. in Verrem, l. 3. p. 509.

Nahum 2:12 In-Context

10 Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined. Hearts melt and knees shake. The people stand aghast, their faces pale and trembling.

11 Where now is that great Nineveh, that den filled with young lions? It was a place where people—like lions and their cubs— walked freely and without fear.

12 The lion tore up meat for his cubs and strangled prey for his mate. He filled his den with prey, his caverns with his plunder.

13 “I am your enemy!” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Your chariots will soon go up in smoke. Your young men will be killed in battle. Never again will you plunder conquered nations. The voices of your proud messengers will be heard no more.”