Nahum 2:2

For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Better, For Jehovah restores the glory of Jacob, so that it is as the glory of [ancient] Israel, though the plunderers plundered them and marred their vine shoots. The sacred nation is Jehovah’s vine, destined to send out its tendrils all over the earth. But Jehovah has allowed its hedge to be broken down. “All they that go by do pluck her . . .” (Psalm 80:12-13). In the punishment of one notoriously oppressive world-power the prophet sees a pledge that the branch of Jehovah shall be again “beautiful and glorious” (Isaiah 4:2). The construction in the first part of the verse is perplexing. It appears best to attach a special emphasis to the names “Jacob” and “Israel” in connection with their original signification. “Jacob” is the birth-name—the nation regarded apart from its religious privileges, the homeless exile, the downtrodden “worm (Isaiah 41:14), the younger son among nations. But “Israel” is the chosen of God; he who “had power over the angel and prevailed”; the “beloved son, called out of Egypt.” The name given by Jehovah is henceforth to have its full significance, as in the days of old. “Jacob,” the name which is so often used after the deportation of the ten tribes, is again to be indicated as “Israel,” the favoured people of God. Some commentators render, “For Jehovah restores alike the glory of Jacob and the glory of Israel,” &c., making “Jacob” the designation of the southern, “Israel” that of the northern kingdom. But the term “Jacob” nowhere else has this distinctive force.

Benson Commentary

Nahum 2:2-4. For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob — Jacob and Israel stood in a nearer relation to God than Nineveh; yet God hath punished them: much more will he punish Nineveh. By the excellency of Jacob, the wealth, the strength, the valiant men, all that Jacob gloried in is here meant. For the emptiers have emptied them out — This is spoken of the Assyrians having spoiled the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And marred their vine-branches — Ruined their towns and villages. Judah, or Israel, sometimes, is represented in the prophetic writings under the emblem of a vine, or vineyard; of consequence her towns and villages are her vine- branches. Some think, however, that the expression signifies here, their being bereaved of their children by the Assyrian conquerors. The shield of his mighty men is made red — Is stained with blood: this appears to be a description of the Chaldeans, or Medes, assaulting Nineveh. The valiant men are in scarlet — The eastern people were very fond of dressing themselves in scarlet, as we learn from Herodotus. Or, “As the preparation for battle is described, we may suppose,” says Bishop Newcome, that “it was customary among those who fought against Nineveh to carry red shields and to wear scarlet.” The chariots shall be with flaming torches — Rather, the chariots shall shine like the fire of torches, in the day that they prepare themselves — Namely, by the wheels continually striking fire against the stones and pavement by the quickness of the motion. And the fir-trees shall be terribly shaken — Namely, by the rattling of the chariot wheels, in running up and down. Or this may be interpreted of the pikes and lances used by the Chaldeans, and made of fir, and here called fir-trees on account of their length and largeness. The chariots shall rage in the streets — They shall drive furiously one against another. They shall seem like torches, &c. — See on the preceding verse. They run like the lightnings — Or, with the swiftness of lightning.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-10 Nineveh shall not put aside this judgment; there is no counsel or strength against the Lord. God looks upon proud cities, and brings them down. Particular account is given of the terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a queen, about to be led captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men with terror in an evil day; and what will treasures or glory do for us in times of distress, or in the day of wrath? Yet for such things how many lose their souls!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the Lord hath turned away - (rather restoreth) the excellency of Jacob Speaking of what should come, as already come. For Nineveh falls, because God restores His people, whom it had oppressed. The restoration of God's favor to His Church is the season of His punishment of their enemies; as, again, His displeasure against her enemies is a token of His favor to her. When Herod was smitten by God, "the word of God grew and multiplied" Acts 12:24. A long captivity was still before Judah, yet the destruction of the Assyrian was the earnest that every "oppressing city should cease" Isaiah 33:1.

The excellency of Jacob - The word, "excellency," is used in a good or bad sense; bad, if man takes the excellency to himself; good, as given by God. This is decisive against a modern popular rendering ; "has returned to the excellency of Jacob;" for Scripture knows of no "excellency of Jacob," except God Himself or grace from God. Jacob, if separated from God or left by Him, has no excellency, to which God could return.

As the excellency of Israel - Both the ten and the two tribes had suffered by the Assyrian. The ten had been carried captive by Shalmanezer, the two had been harassed by Sennacherib. After the captivity of the ten tribes, the name Jacob is used of Judah only. It may be then, that the restoration of God's favor is promised to each separately. Or , there may be an emphasis in the names themselves. Their forefather bore the name of Jacob in his troubled days of exile; that of Israel was given him on his return Genesis 32:28. It would then mean, the afflicted people (Jacob) shall be restored to its utmost glory as Israel. The sense is the same.

For the emptiers have emptied them out - Their chastisement is the channel of their restoration. Unlike the world, their emptiness is their fullness, as the fullness of the world is its emptiness. The world is cast down, not to arise, for "woe to him that is alone when he falleth: for he hath not another to help him up" Ecclesiastes 4:10. The Church falleth, but "to arise" Micah 7:8 : the people is restored, because it had borne chastening Ezekiel 36:3, Ezekiel 36:6-7; "for the Lord hath restored the excellency of Jacob, for the emptiers have emptied them. out and marred their vinebranches" (see Psalm 80:12-13), i. e., its fruit-bearing branches, that, as far as in them lay, it should not bear fruit unto God; but to cut the vine is, by God's grace, to make it shoot forth and bear fruit more abundantly.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob—that is, the time for Nineveh's overthrow is ripe, because Jacob (Judah) and Israel (the ten tribes) have been sufficiently chastised. The Assyrian rod of chastisement, having done its work, is to be thrown into the fire. If God chastised Jacob and Israel with all their "excellency" (Jerusalem and the temple, which was their pre-eminent excellency above all nations in God's eyes, Ps 47:4; 87:2; Eze 24:21; see on [1158]Am 6:8), how much more will He punish fatally Nineveh, an alien to Him, and idolatrous? Maurer, not so well, translates, "restores," or "will restore the excellency of Jacob."

emptiers—the Assyrian spoilers.

have emptied them out—have spoiled the Israelites and Jews (Ho 10:1). Compare Ps 80:8-16, on "vine branches," as applied to Israel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This confirms the prophet’s threat, either declaring that now, since God had sufficiently punished Jacob and Israel, he would next punish the proud Assyrian, as Isaiah 10:12; or else it is a confirmation by argument from the greater to the less; Israel and Jacob were more to God, yet he did punish them, much more will he punish Nineveh. Turned away; laid low, or captivated, as no doubt Sennacherib did when he took so many fenced cities, he did not slay all, he sent many into captivity, and threatened Jerusalem’s citizens with the like, Isaiah 36:17.

The excellency; the wealth, the valiant men, the wise men, all that Jacob could, (with any colour of reason,) and had (with sin more than enough) gloried in.

Of Jacob; the two tribes.

As the excellency of Israel; the ten tribes spoiled, conquered and captivated by Shalmaneser.

The emptiers; Assyrians, who invaded, plundered, and robbed them, both Israel and Jacob. Have emptied them out; quite exhausted them.

Marred; either corrupted them in religion and manners, as 2 Kings 17:24, &c.; or destroyed and cut up the race of Israel, to destroy them utterly.

Their vine branches: it may literally be meant that the Assyrians did cut up the vines to impoverish the vine-dressers, or else figuratively for the nation, which is often compared to a vine, so the branches are men and women.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For the Lord hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel,.... Or, "will render" a recompence for, or "revenge the pride of Jacob" (e); all that insolence, and those injuries done in a proud and haughty manner by Sennacherib king of Assyria to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; invading their land, taking their fenced cities, and besieging their metropolis; and in an audacious manner threatening them with utter destruction, unless they surrendered; and also by Shalmaneser, another king of Assyria, who had besieged and took Samaria the capital city of Israel or the ten tribes, and had carried them captive; and now Assyria, though it had been the rod of God's anger, and the instrument of his chastisement and correction of his people, must in its turn suffer and smart for all this:

for the emptiers have emptied them out: the Assyrians, partly by their exactions and tributes they demanded, and partly by their spoil and plunder, had stripped Israel and Judah of all, or the greatest part, of their substance, wealth, and treasure:

and marred their vine branches; their children, their sons and daughters, slaying them, or carrying them captive. Israel and Judah are often compared to a vine, and so their posterity to branches: or "corrupted" (f) them, with superstition and idolatry. The Targum interprets it of their renowned cities; these, and towns and villages, being to the land as branches to the vine; and which had been ransacked and pillaged by the Assyrians, and now they should be paid in their own coin.

(e) "ulciscitur enim Jehova adhibitam in Jacobaeos superbiam", Castalio; "reponit Deus Assyrio illam superbiam quam ipse in Jacobo et Israele exercuit", Grotius; "quia reddidit superbiam", &c. Tirinus. (f) "corruperunt", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, Burkius.

Geneva Study Bible

For the LORD hath {b} turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and {c} marred their vine branches.

(b) Seeing God has punished his own people Judah and Israel, he will now punish the enemies by whom he scourged them; read Isa 10:12.

(c) Signifying that the Israelites were utterly destroyed.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. hath turned away] Rather: restoreth the excellency, i.e. the former glory of the kingdom. This is Jehovah’s purpose in the destruction of Nineveh, the redemptive meaning of that event. The term “Jacob” must be used here of Judah, while “Israel” refers to the people of the North. Isaiah 46:3; Obadiah 1:18.

the emptiers] i.e. plunderers. The figure is the common one of the vine, cf. Jeremiah 5:10. Nahum 2:2 can hardly have stood originally between Nahum 2:1 and Nahum 2:3.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - This ruin shall fall on Nineveh because God is mindful of his chosen people, whom Assyria has oppressed. Hath turned away. It should be rendered, returneth to, or restoreth, bringeth back; reddidit (Vulgate); Isaiah 52:8; Hosea 6:11. The excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel. The Lord restores the glory and honour of Jacob, the nation in its political aspect, and the high privileges of the spiritual Israel, the chosen people of God (comp. Obadiah 1:18). For. Asshur is visited because Judah has had its full measure of punishment. The emptiers have emptied them out. The plunderers (the enemy) have plundered the Jews. And marred their vine branches. The heathen have cut off the members of Israel, the Lord's vineyard. (For the metaphor "vine," comp. Psalm 80:8, etc.; Isaiah 5; Jeremiah 41:10.) Not only from what is read in the Bible (e.g.. 2 Kings 15:19; 2 Kings 16:7, etc.; 2 Kings 17:3; 18:14), but from the details in the cuneiform inscriptions, we learn that the Assyrians were a constant danger and annoyance to Israel, and harassed continually both the southern and northern provinces. Nahum 2:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With Nahum 2:1 the prophecy turns to Nineveh. Nahum 2:1. "A dasher in pieces comes against thee. Keep thy fortress! Look out upon the way, fortify the loins, exert thy strength greatly! Nahum 2:2. For Jehovah returneth to the eminence of Jacob as to the eminence of Israel; for plunderers have plundered them, and their vines have they thrown to the ground." על־פּניך cannot be addressed to Judah, as in Nahum 1:15 (Chald., Rashi, etc.). It cannot indeed be objected that in Nahum 1:15 the destruction of Asshur has already been announced, since the prophet might nevertheless have returned to the time when Asshur had made war upon Judah, in order to depict its ruin with greater precision. But such an assumption does not agree with the second clause of the verse as compared with Nahum 2:2, and still less with the description of the approaching enemy which follows in Nahum 2:3, since this is unquestionably, according to Nahum 2:5, the power advancing against Nineveh, and destroying that city. We must therefore assume that we have here a sudden change in the person addressed, as in Nahum 1:11 and Nahum 1:12, Nahum 1:13 and Nahum 1:14. The enemy is called מפיץ, "a dasher in pieces;" not a war-hammer (cf. Proverbs 25:18), because עלה, the standing expression for the advance of a hostile army, does not agree with this. על־פּניך, against thy face, i.e., pitching his tent opposite to the city (there is no good reason for altering the suffix into פּניך, as Ewald and Hitzig propose). Against this enemy Nineveh is to bring all possible power of resistance. This is not irony, but simply a poetical turn given to the thought, that Nineveh will not be able to repulse this enemy any more. The inf. abs. nâtsōr stands emphatically for the imperative, as is frequently the case, and is continued in the imperative. Metsūrâh is the enclosure of a city, hence the wall or fortification. צפּה־דרך, looking watchfully upon the way by which the enemy comes, to repulse it or prevent it from entering the city. הזּק מ, make the loins strong, i.e., equip thyself with strength, the loins being the seat of strength. The last clause expresses the same thought, and is merely added to strengthen the meaning. The explanatory kı̄ in Nahum 2:2 (3) does not follow upon Nahum 2:1 in the sense of "summon up all thy strength, for it is God in whose strength the enemy fights" (Strauss), but to Nahum 2:1 or Nahum 1:15. The train of thought is the following: Asshur will be utterly destroyed by the enemy advancing against Nineveh, for Jehovah will re-establish the glory of Israel, which Asshur has destroyed. שׁב (perf. proph.) has not the force of the hiphil, reducere, restituere, either here or in Psalm 85:5 and Isaiah 52:8, and other passages, where the modern lexicons give it, but means to turn round, or return to a person, and is construed with the accusative, as in Numbers 10:36; Exodus 4:20, and Genesis 50:14, although in actual fact the return of Jehovah to the eminence of Jacob involves its restoration. גּאון יעקב, that of which Jacob is proud, i.e., the eminence and greatness or glory accruing to Israel by virtue of its election to be the nation of God, which the enemy into whose power it had been given up on account of its rebellion against God had taken away (see at Amos 6:8). Jacob does not stand for Judah, nor Israel for the ten tribes, for Nahum never refers to the ten tribes in distinction from Judah; and Obadiah 1:18, where Jacob is distinguished from the house of Joseph, is of a totally different character. Both names stand here for the whole of Israel (of the twelve tribes), and, as Cyril has shown, the distinction is this: Jacob is the natural name which the people inherited from their forefather, and Israel the spiritual name which they had received from God. Strauss gives the meaning correctly thus: Jehovah will so return to the eminence of His people, who are named after Jacob, that this eminence shall become the eminence of Israel, i.e., of the people of God; in other words, He will exalt the nation once more to the lofty eminence of its divine calling (כּ used in the same manner as in 1 Samuel 25:36). This will He do, because plunderers have plundered (bâqaq, evacuare) them (the Israelites), and destroyed their vines, cast them to the ground; that He may avenge the reproach cast upon His people. The plunderers are the heathen nations, especially the Assyrians. The vines are the Israelites; Israel as a people or kingdom is the vineyard (Isaiah 5:1; Jeremiah 12:10; Psalm 80:9.); the vines are the families, and the branches (zemōrı̄m from zemōrâh) the members.