What is the meaning of Nahum 3:15? There the fire will devour you • Nahum points to a literal blaze that will break out “there”—inside Nineveh’s walls—just as Babylon’s forces set cities aflame elsewhere (see Jeremiah 50:32). • Earlier, the LORD promised, “I will consume you with fire” (Nahum 1:6; 2:13), and history records Nineveh burning in 612 BC. • Fire is also the picture of divine wrath that no fortress can resist; Isaiah 33:11–12 pictures nations “burned up as quickly as thorns cut down.” the sword will cut you down • God adds the sword to the flame, underscoring a two-fold judgment: siege fire outside, hand-to-hand slaughter inside (compare Jeremiah 46:10). • The phrase echoes the covenant warning that rejecting the LORD brings “the sword” (Leviticus 26:25). • Assyria once boasted in its own swords (Isaiah 10:13-14); now the same weapon meets them. and consume you like a young locust • Young locusts (the hoppers) are eaten by birds and fire because they cannot fly; so Nineveh, though numerous, will be helpless. • Joel 1:4 speaks of successive locust waves stripping the land—here the image flips: the city itself becomes the stripped prey. • The consumption is total, leaving nothing behind, as Psalm 83:14-15 pleads God would “consume them with fire… pursue them with Your tempest.” Make yourself many like the young locust • The taunt invites Nineveh to gather endless recruits—yet numbers cannot outmatch divine decree (Psalm 33:16-17). • Assyria’s armies once swarmed over nations (Isaiah 36:1-2); now they are told to try it again if they dare. • The sarcasm reflects Psalm 2:1-4: nations may assemble, but the LORD “laughs” because their end is certain. make yourself many like the swarming locust • Even full-grown, winged locusts eventually blow away with the wind; so Assyria’s mightiest will scatter (Nahum 3:17). • Judges 7:12 compared Midian’s host to locusts—yet God cut them down with Gideon’s 300; sheer volume offers no safety. • Revelation 19:17-18 pictures birds summoned to feast on the fallen armies of the earth, a parallel finale for every God-defying power. summary Nahum 3:15 layers fire, sword, and locust imagery to promise Assyria’s total, literal destruction. Neither fortifications nor vast numbers can shield a nation when God’s righteous wrath is unleashed. The verse reminds us that the Lord keeps His word, judges arrogance, and stands sovereign over every empire—then and now. |
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