Nahum 3:8–10

This is the Scripture name of THEBES, a noted city in Egypt, built on both sides of the river Nile, with a hundred gates... Nahum 3:8-10 points to its position. There 'the sea' means the Nile, and 'the rivers' mean the canals. Instead of 'populous No,' read 'No of Amon,' which refers to the Egyptian god Amon.

Verses 8-10 set out, as a warning to Nineveh, the terrible desolation of the famous No-Amon. This was neither Alexandria nor Egypt, but Thebes with its hundred gates. The point was all the sharper because the Assyrians themselves ravaged it, both before the prophet's day and later. In the end Cambyses made her drink the cup of Persian insolence down to the last drop.

There was an immense temple there in honour of the god of No. The building had great facades and columns and covered a large space. The ruins that are left are still most wonderful to look at... On the other side of the river was the city of the dead, the Necropolis. It had a long line of temples for the worship of former Pharaohs. Behind these temples were thousands of tombs, and explorers have dug up many of them.

There was 'no end' to the strength of Ethiopia and Egypt in supporting the city No. Yet it was carried away. In the same way God's judgements would fall on Nineveh.

Chapter 3:8-10 mentions the destruction of No of Amon (Thebes), capital of Upper Egypt. Ashurbanipal, king of the Assyrians, destroyed it in 663 BC. The Medes under Cyaxares and the Babylonians under Nabopolassar destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC. Nahum's time of work would lie between these two events.

Nineveh is the proud glory of the world, which recognises nothing but its own importance. It is the world as the open enemy of God's people, simply through its pride. She shall be judged like all the rest, and disappear for ever under the judgment of the Almighty.

From verse 11 the prophet addresses Nineveh once more, and declares that she must fare no better... Nineveh should fall even more easily, as verses 12 and 13 tell them. "All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs — if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars."

In Nahum 3:9 we see Phut and the Lubim as helpers of No-Amon (the god Amon of No, or Thebes of Upper Egypt). Cush and Mizraim (Ethiopia and Egypt) could not save that city, and the prophet sets its ruins before Nineveh as a warning. Looking on to what is still future, we are told that when the last king of the north conquers and plunders Egypt, the Lubim and Cush will follow at his heels, while Edom and Moab and the leading people of Ammon will escape his hand.

The part of Africa west of Egypt, and the inhabitants of the same. Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 38:5; Daniel 11:43; Acts 2:10. The Hebrew is Phut. Nahum 3:9 calls the same district LUBIM, and 2 Chronicles 12:3 and 16:8 call its people LUBIMS. They are thought to be descendants of Phut, the son of Ham. They are counted with the Ethiopians, and they were allies of Egypt.

en qets means "no end." Eliphaz, who understood nothing of Job's case, said there was "no end" to his sins (Job 22:5). There was "no end" to the strength of Ethiopia and Egypt in supporting the city of No; yet No was carried away. God's judgements would fall on Nineveh in the same way (Nahum 3:8-9).

The city stood on the upper Nile, about four hundred miles from Cairo, built along the river front… The cuneiform monuments tell the fate of Thebes. The strong men of Ethiopia, Egypt, Phut and the Libyans defended her, yet nothing could turn aside her doom. She was carried into captivity, and her young children were dashed to pieces.

Verses 8-10 hold up the terrible ruin of the famous No-Amon as a warning to Nineveh. This was not Alexandria, and not Egypt as a whole, but Thebes with its hundred gates. The point went home all the harder because the Assyrians themselves had wrecked that city, both before the prophet's day and later, until Cambyses of Persia made it suffer Persian arrogance to the very end.

However great the pride of Nineveh, she was no better than others whose ruin she had probably brought about herself (Assyria and Egypt had long been rivals). The strongholds of the Assyrians would be like figs that fall at the first shake, and their people would have no strength left and would be like women.

In the end, what was the use of all the politics and the hunt for alliances and protection, turning first to Assyria, then to Egypt? Did any of it delay the decreed judgment for one moment? And it is the same in our own day, is it not? Nations still try to get guarantees from one another. All of it will blow away like chaff in the wind when "the Lamb that was slain" steps forward. He will take the book of God's plans and ways toward the world, and He will carry them out.

Chapter 3:8-10 mentions the destruction of No of Amon (Thebes), capital of Upper Egypt. This happened in 663 BC under Assurbanipal, king of the Assyrians. The Medes under Cyaxares and the Babylonians under Nabopolassar destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC. Nahum's time of work would lie between these two events.

Verses 8-10 set forth as a warning to Nineveh the awful desolation of the famous No-Amon. This was not Alexandria, and not Egypt as a whole, but Thebes with its hundred gates. The warning was all the sharper because the Assyrians themselves ravaged the city, both before the prophet's days and later, until Cambyses made it suffer the full measure of Persian arrogance.

The strong men of Ethiopia, Egypt, Phut and Libya defended her, yet nothing could prevent her doom. She was carried into captivity, and her young children were dashed in pieces... Could Nineveh then hope to escape? The fate of No-Amon was a prophecy of Nineveh's fate. She was even more wicked than the Egyptian city.

Merchants, princes, governors, deputies, nobles, people — all would vanish, except those left behind only to sink beyond recovery.

Then from verse 11 the prophet addresses Nineveh once more, and declares that she must fare no better... Indeed Nineveh would fall even more easily, as verses 12 and 13 tell them.

Look, for instance, at one of the finest cities the world ever knew, and one that existed very early after the flood — Nineveh. The modern excavations prove the magnificence of the past and the fallen greatness of Nineveh.

The repentance in the day of Jonah, like the Reformation in the Christian world, secured nothing. It did not prepare Nineveh for glory, or for a place in the kingdom of God. It may have left some moral fruit in a few people even in this distant day of Nahum. But Nineveh, as a city or kingdom, had gone back, like a washed pig to the mud, and had ripened herself for being cut off from the land.