The LORD has given commandment about you: “No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”
God has just comforted His people. Now He turns and passes sentence on Assyria: the name ends, the idols fall, and God digs the grave. Older translations read "no more of your name be sown," and several writers below use that older wording.
Two hearers addressed in turn
The word "you" in these verses points to two different hearers. One writer sorts out which is which.
William KellyThe destruction of Nineveh is a picture of the final judgment of the great Assyrian in the last days, the king of the north... Now He turns to the Assyrian, and addresses him: "The LORD has given a command concerning you, that no more of your name be sown"... I think that "you" in verse 12 means Israel, and in verse 13 means the Assyrian. So the LORD is represented as addressing each one in turn.
Jonah's mercy, Nahum's verdict
God let Assyria punish His own people first. One writer follows that thought to its end, and sets God's two messengers to Nineveh side by side.
J. N. DarbyHe permits the world, as the one who carries out His judgments, to lay waste His people for their good. Judgment begins at the house of God. But if the worldliness and sin of His people have been corrected by the stronger worldliness and sin of the world, what will the end of that world be? We have, then, two prophets whose witness concerns Nineveh only. One is Jonah, the last witness given to the world in the mercy of God — a witness that there was the greatest and quickest mercy for the world itself before God. The other is Nahum, a witness of the final judgment... Here there was nothing but pride against the LORD: and who shall stand in the day of His wrath?
Why the city never rose again
The sentence falls on the city, not on the whole nation. One writer marks that difference, and asks why Nineveh's ruin is final when Sodom's is not.
W. W. FeredayNineveh will never rise again, but in contrast with this, Sodom and her neighbouring cities are to be restored by God for blessing in the Millennium (Ezek. 16:55). The explanation is that Nineveh was favoured with a special message from God and submitted to it. But the generations that followed gained nothing by it, and returned to their old ways... Favour granted by God but despised brings heavy judgement from God... Assyria — the nation — is to be blessed. But to the once favoured city of Nineveh God has said: "The LORD has given commandment that no more of your seed be sown." Deeply solemn words! Truly "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).
"For you are vile" — the reason given
The verse ends by giving the reason. One writer ties that reason back to God's character, declared at the start of this message.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe fourteenth verse gives the judgment commandment as to Assyria and Nineveh. They are vile, and the God who declared His character at the beginning of this message is going to act accordingly.
The word used for "grave"
God says He will make a grave. One writer separates the Hebrew word used here, qeber, from another Hebrew word, sheol.
A. J. PollockQeber can be dug or made. "In my grave which I have dug for me" (Gen. 50:5); "I will make your grave" (Nah. 1:14). Sheol is never said to be dug or made.
A sentence carried out in history
God said it, and the ruins of the city show the result. One writer points to what excavation has uncovered.
H. H. SnellModern excavations prove the magnificence of the past and fallen greatness of Nineveh. For all her worldly and royal splendour, the LORD said, "I will make your grave, for you are vile." He also said, "Nineveh is laid waste, who will grieve for her… they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains." (Nahum 1 and 3.)
Writers differ on how far the verse reaches. Some see it fulfilled in the ruined city. Kelly sees in it a picture of a judgment still to come.
Summary
- Commandment — God issues a formal order against a named enemy. The sentence rests on His own declared character: He "is going to act accordingly."
- Name — The first stroke ends the future: no more of his name sown, no line, no revival of the city.
- Gods — The second stroke reaches into the temple. God cuts off the carved and cast images kept there.
- Grave — The third stroke is a grave God Himself prepares. The word means a grave that is dug or made, not sheol.
- Why — The reason is moral, not political: "for you are vile." Jonah brought the city mercy; it went back to its old ways. So the next prophet came with the final verdict.