NAHUM CHAPTER 3 STUDY

Does NO represent New Orleans?

Nahum 3 

1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 

2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. 

3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: 

4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. 

5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 

6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? 

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 

10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 

12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 

13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars. 

14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln. 

15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. 

16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. 

17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 

18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. 

19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

After  hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast and New Orleans suffered horrible devastation, I thought of this verse in Nahum Chapter 3:

8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

This description of the city of No sounded so much like New Orleans.  Furthermore, the abbreviation of New Orleans (as shown on TV continuously) is NO.  So I decided to look at this chapter more closely.  If No does in fact represent New Orleans, then what other places is this passage talking about?  Most likely the other city will also be in America, and the nation would be the United States.

The first other place mentioned is Nineveh.  It calls Nineveh the "bloody city" full of lies and robbery.  It then tells of a "horseman" who lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses, because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.  This obviously is a city under severe judgment.

We know that the Lord sent Jonah to the city of Nineveh to warn the inhabitants that the city would be destroyed in 40 days unless the people repented and turned away from their wicked ways.  Nineveh of old did repent and God stayed His judgment.

Is there a city in America that has received a warning from the Lord?  I believe there is.  I think the warning came on 9/11 and the city is New York and also the rest of the country.  New York and America did not truly repent, they made a show of turning to God right after it happened, but did not repent and quickly returned to their wicked ways.   Therefore, we can expect  " a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses."  It is not clear what causes all these death from this passage, but the prophecies continue to be dire:  " Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
 and I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.   And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

I am not yet sure what countries the following are representative of, but perhaps we will come to understand later:

9  Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
10  Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

But the prophecied judgment continues on:

11  Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 

So the country has a strong enemy.  This part could be referring to the Islamic terrorists.

12  All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

This, I feel, refers to earthquakes, which will shake the nation and make it easier for our enemies (fall right into their mouths).

13  Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars. 

"Thy people in the midst of thee are women" shows that even the military and men are fearful.  "the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies" means that the country will be invaded by enemy forces.  "The fire shall devour thy bars" may mean that the "fire" is nuclear bombs.

14  Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
15  There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.

These verses say that although they should prepare, it will do them no good.  The fire will devour them, the enemy will win.

16  Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
17  Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

This is a prosperous country, commerce is thriving (many merchants), but all that wealth will be gone (most likely due to a crash of the stock market and resulting depression).  "Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers" means the nation has lots of powerful, important men, but they will all vanish.

18  Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

This verse speaks to the fact that the "shepherds" or religeous leaders of this nation slumber.  They do not preach the truth, they are not warning the people of God's coming judgment and are not calling them to repentance.

19  There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

There is no healing of this nation.  God's judment, therefore, must come!