For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
Nahum has just said that the Lord will make a complete end of His enemy. Verse 10 shows why that end is certain. Three pictures — tangled thorns, drunken men, dry stubble — show how helpless Nineveh will be when the fire comes.
Three Pictures Of A Trapped Enemy
Each picture takes away a way out. One writer applies all three to the Assyrian when judgment arrives.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinVerse 10 then describes the Assyrian. They are entangled like thorns, so they will find no escape when the judgment overtakes them. Meanwhile they are drunk with wine at their parties. They will be devoured like dry stubble.
Drunk In More Than One Sense
Was the drunkenness only a picture, or real drinking? One writer answers: both.
William KellyEven the figure of drunkenness seems to have a literal side. In a figurative sense, the charge of drunkenness may well cover the false security Nineveh was lying in, as Babylon lay in it later. Yet it is also a known fact that Nineveh was caught by surprise during a religious festival of their gods. That may remind us of the shameful feast of Belshazzar on the very night Babylon was taken. So there was an unholy party, which gave godless honour to their false gods on one side, and godless dishonour to the true God on the other.
The same writer adds a difference. At Nineveh the surprise fell on the camp outside the walls, before the city itself fell. At Babylon the drunken feast came on the very night the city fell.
Reckless While The Fire Is Already Lit
One writer sets the enemy's false calm next to God's care for those who trust Him.
J. N. DarbyHe Himself is the sure refuge of all who trust in Him, and He knows every one of them. As for the glory of the enemy, it will be destroyed, wiped out, brought to nothing. They are reckless while they enjoy their pleasures, drunk and suspecting nothing. They will be devoured like stubble that is fully dry.
Why This Blow Is The Last One
Verse 10 backs up the promise just before it: trouble will not rise up a second time. Writers differ over who is being addressed. One sees a hint that a first blow had already fallen on Assyria, but he does not press it.
William KellyThere may perhaps be an allusion here to a blow which had already fallen on the Assyrian... But we must bear in mind that the Spirit of prophecy sees and declares things that are not as though they were. I have therefore said "perhaps"; for either way the believer need feel no difficulty.
Another writer hears the same words as comfort for God's own people, who doubted that God would act. He quotes verse 9 from an older translation.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinOn the ninth verse many expositors have erred in their interpretation. It is also addressed to Israel. "What do you imagine against the LORD?" Do you imagine that the Lord is not going to do it? Will He change His mind about His purpose of judgment? No! He who has spoken "will make an utter end," and to His people it is spoken "affliction shall not rise up the second time."
The Weight Behind The Sentence
Why does Nineveh burn so fast? She had already heard God once. The prophet Jonah warned the city, it turned, and the next generations went back to their old life.
W. W. FeredayGod gave Nineveh forty days of respite, and the results were good. But the people soon went back to their wicked ways... This was about 100 years after Jonah's visit, and even then God held back judgment for another century... The explanation is that God favoured Nineveh with a special message, and she submitted to it. But the generations that followed gained nothing from it. They went back to their old filth... Favour that God grants and people despise brings heavy judgment from Him.
A Pattern For The End
One writer says Nahum's picture reaches past Nineveh's fall.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIn the prophetic application we must look beyond the horizon of Nahum's time and the judgment of Nineveh. The day of the Lord brings the final overthrow of the proud world powers, and the remnant of His people will have in the Lord a refuge, while the judgment floods sweep over the earth.
Summary
- Cause — Nineveh was dry because she had light and despised it. She heard God's message, turned, then her descendants went back to the old ways.
- Condition — Thorns, drink, dry stubble. The three pictures leave the enemy no way out, no warning, and nothing that can resist fire.
- Confidence — The enemy is reckless and suspects nothing. The Lord is a sure refuge for all who trust Him.
- Completion — The end is total, so trouble will not rise up a second time. Writers differ over whether that word comforts Israel or looks back at an earlier blow on Assyria.
- Consequence — One proud city's fall shows the day when all proud world powers fall and God's people find their refuge in Him.