Nahum 2:8

But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) We prefer to adopt the slight change of reading favoured by the LXX. (mêymeyhâ for mîmêy hî, and to render, And Nineveh, like a pool of water are her waters, and they [her inhabitants] are fleeing away. The waters which formerly flowed in river-courses and dykes are now one vast expanse of inundation. A panic thereupon seizes the inhabitants. If the present text be maintained, the rendering of the Authorised Version will stand. We may then suppose the heterogeneous population of Nineveh to be compared to “countless drops, full, untroubled, with no ebb or flow, fenced in from the days that she hath been, yet even therefore stagnant and corrupted; not ‘a fountain of living waters’” (Pusey). But this appears to us a farfetched comparison.

The pregnant terseness of the last part of the verse will give the English reader a good idea of Nahum’s style and the difficulties therewith connected.

Benson Commentary

Nahum 2:8. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water — “Id est, supra modum populosa, nam aquæ populi.” That is, above measure populous, for waters signify people. — Grotius. Yet they shall flee away — But they shall all flee for fear of the enemy, and run away like water: compare Psalm 58:7. Stand, stand, shall they cry, but none shall look back — Their commanders shall call out to them to stand, but none shall pay any regard to them, or cease to flee. The Hebrew is peculiarly animated, and highly poetical. It is literally, Nineveh is as a pool of water: waters is she, and they run away: Stand, stand, but none looketh back. As if he had said, Their commanders might as easily stop the flowing waters by bidding them stand, as cause the Ninevites to stand to their arms and resist the enemy. The words allude to what was foretold Nahum 1:8, where see the note.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-10 Nineveh shall not put aside this judgment; there is no counsel or strength against the Lord. God looks upon proud cities, and brings them down. Particular account is given of the terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a queen, about to be led captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men with terror in an evil day; and what will treasures or glory do for us in times of distress, or in the day of wrath? Yet for such things how many lose their souls!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water - that is, of many peoples Revelation 17:1, gathered from all quarters and settled there, her multitudes being like the countless drops, full, untroubled, with no ebb or flow, fenced in, "from the days that she hath been," yet even therefore stagnant and corrupted (see Jeremiah 48:11), not "a fountain of living waters," during 600 years of unbroken empire; even lately it had been assailed in vain ; now its hour was come, the sluices were broken; the waters poured out. It was full not of citizens only, but of other nations poured into it. An old historian says , "The chief and most powerful of those whom Ninus settled there, were the Assyrians, but also, of other nations, whoever willed." Thus, the pool was filled; but at the rebuke of the Lord they flee. "Stand, stand," the prophet speaks in the name of the widowed city; "shut the gates, go up on the walls, resist the enemy, gather yourselves together, form a band to withstand," "but none shalt look back" to the mother-city which calls them; all is forgotten, except their fear; parents, wives, children, the wealth which is plundered, home, worldly repute. So will men leave all things, for the life of this world. "All that a man hath, will he give for his life" Job 2:4. Why not for the life to come?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. But—rather, "Though" [G. V. Smith].

of old—rather, "from the days that she hath been"; from the earliest period of her existence. Alluding to Nineveh's antiquity (Ge 10:11). "Though Nineveh has been of old defended by water surrounding her, yet her inhabitants shall flee away." Grotius, less probably (compare Na 3:8-12), interprets, the "waters" of her numerous population (Isa 8:7; Jer 51:13; Re 17:15).

Stand, stand, shall they cry—that is, the few patriotic citizens shall cry to their fleeing countrymen; "but none looketh back," much less stops in flight, so panic-stricken are they.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Nineveh is of old; a very ancient city, of great renown and strength.

Like a pool of water; very populous, like a pool of water which hath been long breeding of fish, and is full of them.

Yet they, yet these multitudes, shall not be a safety or protection to Nineveh, they shall flee away discomfited and terrified.

Stand, stand; as officers call to fleeing soldiers, and it is doubled to show the earnestness of the commanders desiring the soldier to stand and fight.

Shall they cry; the chieftains, and most valiant among the Ninevites. But none shall look back; a panic fear shall so possess them, that none of them shall dare to turn again, nor to look back upon the enemy.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water,.... This was a very ancient city, built by Nimrod, as some say; or rather by Ashur, as appears from Genesis 10:10 and it was like fish pool, full of people, as it was in the times of Jonah, who for their number may be compared both to water and to fish; and likewise full of wealth and riches, which for their instability may be signified by water also; and moreover, like a pool of standing water, had never been liable to any commotions and disturbances, but had remained from the beginning in a tranquil and prosperous state; besides, some regard may be had in a literal sense to its situation, being watered by the river Tigris, and which was for its profit and defence: so some copies of the Septuagint read the words,

"Nineveh is like a pool of water, the waters are her walls:''

and the Syriac version is,

"Nineveh is as a lake of water, and is among the waters;''

see Nahum 1:6,

yet they shall flee away; the waters out of the pool, the sluices being opened, or the banks broken down; or the people out of the city, breaches being made in its walls, or its gates opened, and the enemy entering; when everyone would flee for his life, and make his escape in the best manner he could:

stand, stand, shall they cry; either the generals and officers of the king of Assyria's army, to the soldiers running away; or the more courageous inhabitants of the city, to those that were timorous and seized with a panic, fleeing in the utmost consternation; or the enemy, as Kimchi, who shall call to them to stop, promising to spare their lives upon a surrender of them to them:

but none shall look back; and stand to hear what is said unto them, but make the best of their way, and flee with all their might and main.

Geneva Study Bible

But Nineveh is of {g} old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.

(g) The Assyrians will flatter themselves and say that Nineveh is so ancient that it can never perish, and is as a fishpool, whose waters cannot be touched by those that walk on the banks. But they will be scattered, and will not look back, even if men call them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. But Nineveh … a pool of water] And Nineveh was like a pool of water from her beginning, lit. from the days she was, during all her history.

shall flee away] but they flee away. The vast population of Nineveh, drawn from all quarters, is compared to a mass of waters; these break asunder and flee away. The figure of waters “fleeing,” Psalm 104:7. The text is not beyond suspicion in the first clause of the verse. The prophet vividly realises the scene. Nothing will arrest the precipitate flight. The cry, Stand! is unheard, none looks back. Cf. Jeremiah 46:21.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - The prophet compares the past and present condition of Nineveh. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water; and (or, though) Nineveh hath been like a pool of water all her days. Others, altering the points in accordance with the Septuagint and Vulgate, translate, "But as for Nineveh, her waters are like a pool of water." This is what she has come to, for "her waters" represent herself. She is compared to a pool or reservoir (Nehemiah 2:15; Nehemiah 3:15) from the multitude of her inhabitants gathered from all parts of the world, and streaming unto her, both as tributary and for commercial purposes (comp. Jeremiah 51:13; Revelation 17:1, 15). Yet they shall flee away. In spite of their numbers, the multitudes represented by "the waters" fly before the enemy. In vain the captains cry, Stand, stand. They pay no attention. None shall look back. No one of the fugitives turns rounder gives a thought to anything but his own safety. Nahum 2:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

At the conquest of Nineveh the numerous inhabitants flee, and the rich city is plundered. Nahum 2:8. "And Nineveh like a water-pond all her days. And they flee! Stand ye, O stand! and no one turns round. Nahum 2:9. Take silver as booty, take ye gold! And no end to the furnishing with immense quantity of all kinds of ornamental vessels. Nahum 2:10. Emptying and devastation! and the heart has melted, and trembling of the knees, and labour pain in all loins, and the countenance of every one withdraws its ruddiness." Nineveh is compared to a pool, not merely with reference to the multitude of men who had gathered together there, but, as water is everywhere an element of life, also with reference to the wealth and prosperity which accrued to this imperial city out of the streaming together of so many men and so many different peoples. Compare Jeremiah 51:13, where Babel is addressed as "Thou that dwellest on many waters, art rich in many treasures." מימי היא, since the days that she exists. היא equals אשׁר היא, the relation being indicated by the construct state; מן הוא in Isaiah 18:2 is different. But they flee. The subject to נסים is not the waters, although nūs is applied to water in Psalm 104:7, but, as what follows shows, the masses of men who are represented as water. These flee away without being stopped by the cry "Stand ye" (i.e., remain), or even paying any attention to it. Hiphnâh, lit., "to turn the back" (‛ōreph, Jeremiah 48:39), to flee, but when applied to a person already fleeing, to turn round (cf. Jeremiah 46:5). In Nahum 2:9 the conquerors are summoned to plunder, not by their generals, but by God, who speaks through the prophet. The fact is hereby indicated, "that this does not happen by chance, but because God determines to avenge the injuries inflicted upon His people" (Calvin). With ואין קצה the prophecy passes into a simple description. There is no end lattekhūnâh, to the furnishing with treasures. Tekhūnâh, from kūn, not from tâkhan, lit., the setting up, the erection of a building (Ezekiel 43:11); here the furnishing of Nineveh as the dwelling-place of the rulers of the world, whilst in Job 23:3 it is applied to the place where the throne of God has been established. In כּבד the ל might be thought of as still continuing in force (Ewald, Hitzig), but it answers better to the liveliness of the description to take כּבד as beginning a fresh sentence. כּבד written defectively, as in Genesis 31:1 : glory, equivalent to the great amount of the wealth, as in Genesis (l.c.). Kelē chendâh, gold and silver vessels and jewels, as in Hosea 13:15. That there were immense treasures of the precious metals and of costly vessels treasured up in Nineveh, may be inferred with certainty from the accounts of ancient writers, which border on the fabulous.

(Note: For proofs, see Layard's Nineveh, ii. 415ff., and Movers, Phnizier (iii. 1, pp. 40, 41). After quoting the statements of Ctesias, the latter observes that "these numbers are indeed fabulous; but they have their historical side, inasmuch as in the time of Ctesias the riches of Nineveh were estimated at an infinitely greater amount than the enormous treasures accumulated in the treasuries of the Persian empire. That the latter is quite in accordance with truth, may be inferred from the fact that the conquerors of Nineveh, the Medes and Chaldaeans, of whose immense booty, in the shape of gold, silver, and other treasures, even the prophet Nahum speaks, furnished Ecbatana and Babylon with gold and silver from the booty of Nineveh to an extent unparalleled in all history.")

Of all these treasures nothing was left but desolate emptiness. This is expressed by the combination of three synonymous words. Būqâh and mebhūqâh are substantive formations from būq equals bâqaq, to empty out, and are combined to strengthen the idea, like similar combinations in Zephaniah 1:15; Ezekiel 33:29, and Isaiah 29:2. Mebhullâqâh is a synonymous noun formed from the participle pual, and signifying devastation (cf. Isaiah 24:1, where even bâlaq is combined with bâqaq). In Nahum 2:11 the horror of the vanquished at the total devastation of Nineveh is described, also in short substantive clauses: "melted heart" (nâmēs is a participle), i.e., perfect despondency (see Isaiah 13:7; Joshua 7:5); trembling of the knees, so that from terror men can hardly keep upon their feet (pı̄q for pūq; it only occurs here). Chalchâlâh formed by reduplication from chı̄l: spasmodic pains in all loins, like the labour pains of women in childbirth (cf. Isaiah 21:3). Lastly, the faces of all turning pale (see at Joel 2:6).