The Pulpit Commentary — Nahum — Section 30

the besieged, 'ET011icl11011111 -r,h wpot/>111'.a.Hlli, e. solid ma.ea, ancl were thlll! secured from the ail-r&lv, "'l'hey shall prepare their defences/' effects of an inundation (see Bonomi Vet, 6.-All defence is vain. The prophet 'Nineveh and ita Discoveries,' p. 129, etc.)'. deeoribes the Inst ecene. The gates of the There is evidence, too, the.t fire played e. riven shall be (are) opened. The simplest great part in the destruction of the templee expla.Dfltion of thle much-disputed clause is, and palaces (see note on eh. iii. 13). o.coording to Strause and others, the follow- Ver. 7.-And Huaab. The Anglican ing: The gates intended a.re those adjacent rendering (which, has the authority of the to the etrea.me which encircled the city, and Jewish commentators, and is endorsed by which were therefore the best defended and Ewald and Riickert) takes Huzzab as an the hardest to capture. When these were appellative, either the no.me of the Queen ca.rried, there was no way of escape for the of Nineveh, or e. symbolical name for Nineveh besieged. But1 as Roeenmiiller remarks, itself, ae Sheshach, Pekod, e.nd Merathaim it would have been an act of folly in the were for Babylon (see Jer. xxv. 26; I. 21; enemy to attack jnet that part of the city Ii. 41; Ezek. xriii. 23), which was formed which we.a most strongly defended by nature or adopted by Nahum for the purpose of and a.rt. We are, therefore, induced to ta.ke describing its character. Huzzah may mean "the gates of the rivers," not literally, hut ae " established," "set firm" (Gen. ][J[viii. 12), a. metaphorical expression (like "tbewindows and confident in its strength; pual from of heaven," Gen. vii. 11 ; lea. ][J[iV. 18) for an natsab, " to set," " to tix" (Wordsworth). We overwhelming- flood, and to see in this a me.y dismiss the idea. that Hu,zza,b is the name reference to the fa.et mentioned by Diod. of the queen. Such a personage is unknown Sic. (ii. 27), that the capture of Nineveh wae to history: and there is no rea&>n why she owing to e. great and 1IDprecedented inunda- should be mentioned rather than the king ; tion, which destroyed e. large portion of the and persons are not introduced by name in fortifications, and lo.id the city open to the prophecy except for some very special reason, enemy. " At the north-west angle of as Cyrus (Isa. xliv. 28). The alternative Nineveh," so.ye Professor Re.wlinson, "there rendering, "it is decreed," adopted by Keil, was e. sluice or flood-ge.te, intended mainly Pusey, and many modem commentators, is to keep the water of the, Khosr-su, which unexampled, and comes in baldly, and not ordinarily filled the city moat, from flowing at all according to the prophet's manner. off too rapidly into the Tigris, but probably Henderson joins the clause with the pre- intended also to keep back the water of the ceding, thus : "The palace is dissolved, Tigris, when that stream rose above its though firmly established." The Septuagint common level. A sudden and great 'rise in gives, 'H inro11Ta.11u l,,,re,ca.1'.6</>lhi," The hidden the Tigris would necessarily endanger this treasures are revealed,'' or, " The foundation gate, and if it gave way beneath the pressure, is exposed: " V n.lgste, MiT.es captivus. ah- a vast torrent of water would rush up the ductw est. U seems beet to take Huzzab as moat along and against the northern wall, au appellative representing either Nineveh which me,y have been undermined by its or Assyria, as the country between the Upper fo!'ce, and - hnvo fallen in " (Rawlinson, and Lower Ze.b (Rawlinson, in • Dictionary 'Ancient Monarchies,' ii. p. 397, edit. 1871). of the Bible'), or ae meaning " firm,'' The suggestion the.t the course of its rivers "bold." Thus Egypt is called Rahab, was diverted, and that the enemy entered "arrogant" (Isa. xxx.. 7) ; the King of the town through the dried channels, has no Assyria, Jareb, "contentions" (Hos. v. 13); historical be.sis. Dr. Pusey explains the Jerusalem, Ariel, '' God's lion" (Isa, xxix. term to mean the gates Ly which the in- 1). She.ll be led away captive; better, is habitants had e.ocese t-o the rivers. Bnt laid bare. She, the queen of nations, is these would be well guarded, and the open- stripped of her adornments and igno- ing of them would not involve the ce.pture miniously treated. She shall be brought of the city, which the expression in the text up. She is carried away into captivity. seems to imply. The LXX. gives, Il~A.a, -row "Brought up" may mean brought up to w61'.ec.,v li,11volx61111a.v, "The gates l'f the judgment, as oh. iii. 5; Isa. xlvii. 2, 3 cities were opened." The po.laoe ahe.ll be (Pusey). Ker maids ah.all lead her; rather, (is) dissolved ; or, meltet11 away. Some take h6r handmaids moan. The inhabitants of this to signify that the hearts of the in- Nineveh, personified as a qneen, or the habitants melt with fear, or the royal power lesser cities of her empire, follow theu ve.nishes in terror. - That the olause is to be mistress mourning. Aa with the voioa of taken literally, to denote the destruction of doves (comp. Isa. :u:xviii. U: lix.11; Ezek. the royal pe.lo.oe by the action of the waters, vii. 16). They shall not only show the out- seems to be negatived by the fact the.t the ward tokens of sorrow, but shall mourn in• Assyrian palaces were built on artificial wardly in their hearts, as the LXX. renders mounds of some thirty or forty feet in eleva- the whole clause, 1<a.9rlos wep,tTTepQI .p8eyyo- tion, COIDJ?OSed of sun-dried bricks united into 1m"u ,., ,capalcus c&l,r&iiv, "as doves moaning  28 THE BOOK OF NAHUM,