Nahum 3:3 - Exposition

The horseman lifteth up. The Hebrew is more vivid, the words standing in pairs, as if describing the successive onsets of the enemy. So Pusey. It is best to render, "horsemen making to rear;" or as Septuagint. ἱππέως ἀναβαίνοντος , "horseman mounting;" so the Vulgate; Henderson. Horsemen are seen in the most ancient sculptures of Nimroud, and in the bas-reliefs of Kouyunjik (comp. Judith 2:15; Ezekiel 23:6 ; Layard, ' Nineveh,' 2.356). Both the bright sword; better, and the flaming sword ( Genesis 3:24 ); literally, the flame of the sword. And the glittering spear; literally, the lightning flash of the spear ( Habakkuk 3:11 ). These are the arms of the foot soldiers. A multitude of slain. The effect of the assault is described. So numerous are the corpses that one cannot help stumbling over them; the invaders themselves are impeded by the heaps of dead bodies which they have to mount. The LXX . connects this verse with the following, thus. "They shall grow weak in their bodies by reason of the multitude of their fornications."