Attributed commentary excerpt
Barnes' Notes on Nahum 2:13
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Notes on the Whole Bible
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Behold I, Myself, am against thee - (Literally, “toward thee”). God, in His long-suffering, had, as it were, looked away from him; now He looked toward (as in Psalms 37:20) him, and in His sight what wicked one should stand? “Saith the Lord of hosts,” whose power is infinite and He changes not, and all the armies of heaven, the truly angels and evil spirits and men are in His Hand, whereto He directs or overrules them. “And I will burn her chariots in the smoke.” The Assyrian sculptures attest how greatly their pride and strength lay in their chariots. They exhibit the minute embellishment of the chariots and horses . Almost inconceivably light for speed, they are pictured as whirled onward by the two or, more often, three powerful steeds with eye of fire , the bodies of the slain (or, in peace, the lion ) under their feet, the mailed warriors, with bows stretched to the utmost, shooting at the more distant foe. Sennacherib gives a terrific picture of the fierceness of their onslaught. “The armor, the arms, taken in my attacks, swam in the blood of my enemies as in a river; the war-chariots, which destroy man and beast, had, in their course, crushed the bloody bodies and limbs” . All this their warlike pride should be but fuel for fire, and vanish in smoke, an emblem of pride, swelling, mounting like a column toward heaven, disappearing. Not a brand shall then be saved out of the burning; nothing half-consumed; but the fire shall burn, until there be nothing left to consume, as, in Sodom and Gomorrah, “the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And the sword of the vengeance of God shall devour the young lions” Genesis 19:28, his hope for the time to come, the flower of his youth; “and I will cut off thy prey,” what thou hast robbed, and so that thou shouldest rob no more, but that thy spoil should utterly cease from “the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall be no more heard,” such as Rabshakeh, whereby they insulted and terrified the nations and blasphemed God. In the spiritual sense, Nineveh being an image of the world, the prophecy speaks of the inroad made upon it through the Gospel, its resistance, capture, desolation, destruction. First, He that “ruleth with a rod of iron,” came and denounced “woe to it because of offenses;” then His mighty ones in His Name. Their shield is red, “the shield of faith,” kindled and glowing with love. Their raiment too is red, because they wash it in the Blood of the Lamb, and conquer through the Blood of the Lamb, and many shed their own blood “for a witness to them.” “The day of His preparation” is the whole period, until the end of the world, in which the Gospel is preached, of which the prophets and apostles speak, as the day of salvation Isa 49:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2; to the believing world a day of salvation; to the unbelieving, of preparation for judgment. All which is done, judgments, mercy, preaching, miracles, patience of the saints, martyrdom, all which is spoken, done, suffered, is part of the one preparation for the final judgment. The chariots, flashing with light as they pass, are “the chariots of salvation” Habakkuk 3:8, bearing the brightness of the doctrine of Christ and the glory of His truth throughout the world, enlightening while they wound; the “spears” are the word of God, slaying to make alive. On the other hand, in resisting, the world clashes with itself. It would oppose the Gospel, yet knows not how; is “maddened with rage, and gnashes its teeth,…
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