Nahum 1:5-8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Nahum 1:2-8

Nineveh knows not God, that God that contends with her, and therefore is here told what a God he is; and it is good for us all to mix faith with that which is here said concerning him, which speaks a great deal of terror to the wicked and comfort to good people; for this glorious description of the Sovereign of the world, like the pillar of cloud and fire, has a bright side towards Israel and a dark side towards the Egyptians. Let each take his portion from it; let sinners read it and tremble;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nahum 1:5

The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt ,.... As Sinai of old did, when the Lord descended on it, Exodus 19:18 . Mountains figuratively signify kings and princes; and hills large countries, as Jarchi and Abarbinel observe, and the inhabitants of them; particularly the kingdoms and nations belonging to the Assyrian empire, which would tremble and quake, and their hearts melt with fear, when they should hear of the destruction of Nineveh their chief city; and of the devastation made... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nahum 1:6

Who can stand before his indignation ?.... No creature whatever; no man nor body of men; not Nineveh, and the inhabitants of it; nor the whole Assyrian empire: and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger ? not the great men of the earth; not kings or generals of armies; not kingdoms and nations, ever so numerous and powerful; but all must be consumed by him, who is a consuming fire; see Jeremiah 10:10 ; his fury is poured out like fire ; or like metal that is melted by fire,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nahum 1:7

The Lord is good ,.... To Israel, as the Targum adds; to Hezekiah and his, people, that betook themselves to him, and put their trust in him; whom he defended and preserved from the king of Assyria, to whom he was dreadful and terrible, destroying his army in one night by an angel; and so delivered the king of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from that terror that had seized them, and that danger they were exposed unto; and so the Lord is good in himself, in the perfections of his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nahum 1:8

But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof ,.... Of Nineveh, against whom this prophecy was, and upon whom it lay as a burden, Nahum 1:1 ; and now though the Lord was good to them that trust in him, and a strong hold to them in a time of trouble; yet he was determined to destroy their enemies the Assyrians, and Nineveh their chief city; and that by the means of a powerful army, which, like a flood or inundation of water breaking in, overruns and carries... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Nahum 1:7

The Lord is good - In the midst of judgment he remembers mercy; and among the most dreadful denunciations of wrath he mingles promises of mercy. None that trust in him need be alarmed at these dreadful threatenings; they shall be discriminated in the day of wrath, for the Lord knoweth them that trust in him. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Nahum 1:8

But with an overrunning flood - Bishop Newcome thinks this may refer to the manner in which Nineveh was taken. The Euphrates overflowed its banks, deluged a part of the city, and overturned twenty stadia of the wall; in consequence of which the desponding king burnt himself, and his palace, with his treasures. - Diodor. Sic., Edit. Wessel., p. 140, lib. ii., s. 27. Darkness shall pursue - Calamity. All kinds of calamity shall pursue them till they are destroyed. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Nahum 1:5

Verse 5 Nahum continues still on the same subject, — that when God ascended his tribunal and appeared as the Judge of the world, he would not only shake all the elements, but would also constrain them to change their nature. For what can be less consonant to nature than for mountains to tremble, and for hills to be dissolved or to melt? This is more strange than what we can comprehend. But the Prophet intimates that the mountains cannot continue in their own strength, but as far as they are... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Nahum 1:6

Verse 6 The Prophet shows here why he gave in the part noticed in the last lecture, such an awful description of God; it was that men might know, that when they shall come before his tribunal, no one will be able to stand unless supported by his favor. Of the Prophet’s main object we have sufficiently spoken, nor is it necessary to repeat here what has been stated. It is enough to bear this in mind, — that as the enemies of the Church relied on their power; and daringly and immoderately raged... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Nahum 1:7

Verse 7 The Prophet expresses more clearly here what we referred to in our last lecture, — that God is hard and severe toward refractory men, and that he is merciful and kind to the teachable and the obedient, — not that God changes his nature, or that like Proteus he puts on various forms; but because he treats men according to their disposition. (214) As then the Prophet has hitherto taught us, that God’s wrath cannot be sustained by mortals; so now, that no one might complain of extreme... read more

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