The Demise of a City

Nahum is three chapters long but full of descriptive prophecy of the demise of Nineveh. The third chapter offers no glimmer of hope for this city as the prophet reveals vivid imagery of an inescapable judgment to come. 

Nahum 3:1–4 (ESV) Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder— no end to the prey! 2 The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! 3 Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over the bodies! 4 And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.

Look notably at verse 4. The Lord describes the city as a prostitute. This is common imagery in judgment oracles throughout the prophets. Isaiah referred to Israel in the same way. So did Ezekiel. It is an important image for believers that we might understand the nature of a city. A city will seduce you. It will offer you fame, fortune, pleasure, and power all for a price - that of your soul. 

It is not to suggest that believers cannot live in a city. Many notable men of God did. It is to make one aware of the potential traps in a city. A city is full of people, people whom God loves. But they are there oftentimes, for reasons other than the Lord. To know this is to understand the spiritual nature of the war for men and women in the cities.

Nahum 3:5–7 (ESV) Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame. 6 I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. 7 And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, “Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?” Where shall I seek comforters for you?

Another picture of the city as a whore is presented here in verse 7. For though the city will fall, there will be none to grieve for her or comfort her. Why is that? Because at the end of the day, the economic nature of a city is "what can I get out of you?" And the moment that answer is nothing, the person is done with that city. This is the heart of satan and sin. It's all about what I can get and become through using you. It is the ultimate posture of selfish intent. This is why God's judgment on a city is really a city's own selfish desires coming to roost on them. When there is no concern for others, no neighborliness, no love, no compassion, no shared fellowship of man, a city is going to consume itself. It is not so much as God bringing judgment as God allowing the sins of the people to have full effect on them. 

In the following verses, we see how that transpires:

Nahum 3:11–13 (ESV) You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. 12 All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs— if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.

First, there is a city-wide drunkenness, a sort of intoxication of the atmosphere where the people are dulled and diluted. Then there is an overcoming weakness in the city. What once protected them is shaken and made powerless. 

Even the leadership weakens and flees:

Nahum 3:17 (ESV) Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts settling on the fences in a day of cold— when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they are.

Nahum 3:18 (ESV) Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them.

When a city is consumed by sin, the inevitable result of sin will encircle it, and that city will be conquered. But long before enemies destroyed it, the city destroyed itself. In the end, no man has an excuse before the Lord. To depart from the Lord is to be consumed by evil. History has exhibited this trend time and again, and for the Christian, we learn well from the prophets to see the city with clear eyes, pure hearts, and bring the Gospel to save those whom the Lord will call to Himself.