Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers.
Nahum points Nineveh to Thebes, the Egyptian city ringed by water and backed by strong African allies. Verse 9 names that backing — Cush, Egypt, Put, the Libyans — and raises one question: can any alliance hold when God has decided against a city?
The names in the list
The names shift between translations: where ESV has Cush and Put, older versions read Ethiopia and Phut. One writer notes where these peoples appear elsewhere — first as helpers of Thebes, then in a scene still to come:
William KellyIn 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.
"Put" and "the Libyans" point to much the same land west of Egypt. A dictionary entry sets out the names and family ties:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe 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.
Strength "without limit"
"Without limit" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning "no end." The same phrase appears in Job, where Eliphaz says Job's sins had no end:
Morrish Bible Dictionaryen 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).
Helpers who could not help
Thebes was no small town on the edge of the map. It sat far up the Nile, and ancient records preserve what became of it:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe 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.
Why the example stung Nineveh
The comparison cut deep. Assyria had a personal history with the city Nahum now sets in front of her:
William KellyVerses 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.
Nineveh was proud, but pride did not make her a different case:
J. N. DarbyHowever 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.
Alliances and the judgment of God
One writer asks what such alliances have ever actually bought:
H. L. RossierIn 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.
Summary
- Helpers named. Cush, Egypt, Put and the Libyans stood behind Thebes. Scripture counts Put's people with the Ethiopians and calls them allies of Egypt.
- Helpers unlimited. The Hebrew behind "without limit" means "no end." Thebes had backing that seemed impossible to exhaust.
- Helpers useless. The strongest men of those nations defended her, yet nothing could turn aside her doom. She was carried into captivity.
- Helpers warned. Assyria had wrecked Thebes herself, so Nineveh had no answer when Nahum set that ruin in front of her. Her own strongholds would fall like figs at the first shake.
- Helpers today. Treaties and guarantees never delayed a judgment God had decreed. They blow away like chaff when the Lamb takes up God's plans for the world.