Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of the treasure or of the wealth of all precious things.
Nineveh lies open, and the order goes out to the invaders: help yourselves. The call to strip the silver and gold raises the question the whole book presses. What happens to everything a violent power has gathered when God says the time is up?
The hoard becomes the conqueror's
The treasure is not simply lost. It changes hands. One commentator takes the endless store of precious things as everything that fed pride and self-indulgence, and sees the same pattern far beyond one city:
William KellyThe whole vast store that feeds the pride of life, everything that served selfish enjoyment and vanity, was now shown to be simply laid up for the conquerors. It was gathered together for total destruction, unless the captors carried it away. Such, indeed, is the usual history of man.
Taken by the sword, lost by the sword
The treasure the invaders carry off was never earned. Nineveh had taken it from other nations by war, and she treated her captives cruelly. So the scene is a reversal: the collector is collected from.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe spoil taken in many wars was great, but it would now make others rich… The lions, the strangling, and the dens filled with torn prey possibly point to the cruelties the Assyrians inflicted on their prisoners, which they pictured on their own monuments. Truly, as Nahum 3 says, it was a "bloody city." The following verses, and Nahum 2:3-4, show that this was a warlike nation. It was always seeking to enrich itself with the spoil of other nations, and Israel and Judah were among them.
Plunder follows panic
The looting is not the first thing to happen; it comes after the collapse of nerve. The people have already run, and the city stands open. One writer traces the order of events across these verses — the wealth goes out, and then the courage goes out of those left behind.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinSilver and gold are taken away. There seems to be no end of all the glorious things heaped together in Nineveh. The city is emptied; hearts melt, courage is gone; there are shaking knees and pale faces.
Judgment that started closer to home
Judgment had already reached God's own people — Jacob, the nation of Israel. One commentator argues from that starting point out to the nations:
J. N. DarbyIf God allowed Jacob to be completely devastated and ruined, it was because the time of judgment had come — a judgment that would not stop there. He began at His own house, no doubt, but would He stop there? No. So what would be the end of the enemies of God's people, if He no longer put up with evil in His own people?… Nineveh's pride was great, but she was no better than the other nations He ruined — and she had probably been the instrument of their ruin herself.
The ruins agree with the prophecy
Diggers have uncovered the site of Nineveh. What they found matches what the prophet said about water, fire and stolen wealth.
Morrish Bible DictionaryA destruction like that would agree with scripture. Scripture speaks of the water, and it also says the place would be plundered of its gold and silver… Those who have examined the mounds in recent years confirm that fire destroyed it. They have found carved alabaster statues burnt and split by heat, along with charcoal and charred wood, buried in bricks and earth.
Beyond the fall of the city
The same commentator holds that the fall of Nineveh did not exhaust the prophecy:
J. N. DarbyNo doubt, this had a historical fulfilment in the fall of Nineveh. But its complete accomplishment will take place when the Assyrian returns — I do not say with respect to this city itself, which has been destroyed, but the power that will hold the territory and inherit the pride of the land of Nimrod.
Summary
- Gathered. Nineveh's silver and gold came from many wars. She stripped other nations to get it, Israel and Judah among them.
- Guarded. Nineveh's pride and her armies seemed to keep the hoard safe. But God had already begun judgment with His own people, and Assyria stood next in line.
- Given away. The order to strip the treasure shows the store was never hers. She had stacked it up for whoever would come and take it.
- Gone. The wealth leaves first, then the courage: an emptied city, melting hearts, faces drained of colour.
- General. Nineveh's story is man's story. What is hoarded for self ends up with someone else, or destroyed.