Laye.rd in 1845, not only determined its site, but disclosed the dwellings, ornaments, liistory, manners, of the inh1tbitants of the old Assyrian metropolis. Now, in the yiropbecy which Nahum gives, we learn. that its destruction reveals several things. I. THE FiltTITJ,ESS~,ESS OF THE MOST STRl!:NUOUS EFFORTS OF REBISTANOE, "Keev, the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily ' (eh. ii. 1). This is supposed by some to be ironical, and to mean-Do your utmost to resist, concentrate all your forces, bring them into vigorous play, it will be utterly worthless. No doubt Nineveh, in her extremities, strove to the utmost to crush the invader an<l to preserve her own existence. But all efforts failed; its doom wo.s sealed, its time had come, it had filled up the measure of its iniquity. There is no resisting God's judgment when it comes. "There is no discharge in that warfare," We learn from this prophecy that its destruction revea.ls- II. THAT THE SAME VIOLENCE WITHWBICH IT DESTROYED OTHERS WAS NOW EMPLOYED FOR ITS OWN DESTRUCTION. Nineveh was a city of blood, full of lies and violence, the dwelling-place of ravenous lions, which had preyed upon other nations and ruined them. Now this violence is brought to bear upon them. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." See the description given of its conquerors ( eh. ii. 3; iii. 2, 3), " The shield of his mighty men is made red," the emblem of slaughter. "The chariots shall be with flaming torches," their wheels rolling with such velocity that they flash lightning from the stones. They" rage in the streets,'' jostle against each other, and "run like the lightnings," and there are the "noise of the whips," the " rattling of the wheels," the "prancing of the horses," the flashing of the swords and the glittering spears. Crowds are struck down, "a great number of carcases," there is "none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses," etc. The Bible is full of the doctrine of retributive justice ; it abounds with examples of sinners receiving back in punishment the very same evils that they have inflicted on others. "Every man shall be rewarded according to his works." How often it happens in the government of the world, that the de.ceiver is punished by deceit, the ambitious by ambition, the avaricious by avarice, the violent by violence I " His mischief shall return upon his own he.ad, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." 1 III. THE WORTHLESS1''ESS OF ITS CHIEF llETHOD OF DEFENCE. "The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved" (eh. ii. 6). "The river wall on the Tigris (the west defence of Nineveh) was 4530 yards long. On the north, south, and east sides there were large moats, capable of being easily filled with water from the Khos-ru. Traces of dams, gates, or sluices, for regulating the supply, are still visible, so that the whole city could !le surrounded with a water barrier. Besides, on the east, the weakest side, it was further protected by a lofty doublti rampart, with a moat two hundred feet wide between its two parts, cut in the rocky ground. The moats, or canals, flooded by the Ninevites before the siege to repel the foe, were made a dry bed to march into the city, by the foe turning the water into a different channel, as Cyrus did in the siege of Babylon" (Maurer). 'l'his, however, is not substantiated. "In the earlier capture of Nineveh by Arhaces the Mede and Belsis the Babylonian, Diodorus Siculus states that there was an old prophecy, th.at it should not be taken till the river became its enemy; so, in the third year of the siege, the river, by a flood, broke doWD the walls twenty:furlongs, and the king thereupon burnt himself and his palace and all his concubines and wealth together; and the enemy entered by the breach in the wall" (Fausset). It is often thus with the sinner, ~hat the very thi~gs on which he relies contribute to his ruin. It may be wealth, physical strength, genrns, morality, etc.; but when judgment comes, these, like the Tigris, "flee away." IV. THE INEVITAJILENEBB OF ITS 'OTTER RUIN. The reason of it was, "I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts" (eh. iii 5). "Art thou better _than populous No?" (eh. ill. 8--10}-the Egyptian name for Thebes, the pos~ess10~ of Ammo~. The populonsne88 of Thebes and its wonderful natural produ_ctions d1~ not sa~e _it fro~ ruin. Her" strength" was "infinite," yet 11be was" earned away rnto capt1v1ty;" 1f she could not resist, neither canst thou. "How vain," says a modern expositor, "a.re all the defences of sinners when the Lord is against them ! No-Ammon, or Thebes, 1 See a little volume entitled, 'The Retributive Justice of God commenciing in thiil
Life,' by Rev. J. Langley (Ha.tcbards and Co.). OR. II, 1-13.] TFJF, BOOK Oli' NA HUM. 3!l
was one of the grandest and most magnificent cities of the earliest ages. Yet her ram.pa.rt an<l sea-well, wlth her seemingly infinite strength, were of no avail to save her young children from being' dashed in pieces and all her great men from being bound in cha.ins. Such was to be the doom of Nineveh likewise. God acts on the R&me unchanging principle in all ages, and in the ca.se of all nations. U nrigbteousness towards tnan and impiety and idolatry towards God bear the same bitter fruits every- where, however for a time transgressors may seem to prosper. Let us as a nation remember that our safety consists, not in our fleets and armies, nor even in the • multipllcation of our merchants above the .stars of heaven' (eh. iii. 16). Riches, like the cankerworm or the grasshopper (ver. 17), certainly make themselves wings, they fly away (Prov. xxiil. 5) .. The strongholds (ver. 12) on which we rely would fall before the invader as easily as the ripe fruit into the month of the eater, if God were against us. The nobles and captains who are the glory of England would soon be abased in the dust (vers. 17, 18). Onr security therefore depends on our godliness. Wickedness persevered in continually (ver. 19) would bring on us a grievous wound, not to be healed, and the very nations now in alliance with us would clap their hands over us, exulting in the tidings of our fall. Let us therefore repent of our sins as a nation, as families, and as individuals, and' bring forth worthy fruits of repentance.'" -D.'l'.