The river gates
The phrase "the river gates" refers to the defensive structures that controlled the flow of water into the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Historically, Nineveh was situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and it had a complex system of canals and gates to manage water resources. The Hebrew word used here, "שַׁעֲרֵי" (sha'arei), implies a point of entry or control. In the context of Nahum's prophecy, the opening of these gates symbolizes a breach in the city's defenses, leading to its downfall. This imagery is both literal and metaphorical, indicating a divine intervention where God orchestrates the city's vulnerability to fulfill His judgment against Assyria's pride and cruelty.

are thrown open
The phrase "are thrown open" suggests an action that is both sudden and decisive. The Hebrew verb "נִפְתָּחוּ" (niphtachu) conveys the idea of being opened or released, often with force or authority. This action signifies the inevitability of Nineveh's fall, as if the very elements of nature are conspiring against it. From a theological perspective, this reflects the sovereignty of God over human affairs, where even the mightiest of empires cannot withstand His will. The opening of the gates is not merely a military failure but a divine decree being executed.

and the palace collapses
The collapse of the palace is a powerful image of the complete destruction of Nineveh's political and administrative center. The Hebrew word "הֵיכָל" (heikal) refers to a large building or temple, often associated with royal or divine presence. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, the palace was not only the king's residence but also a symbol of the empire's strength and stability. The verb "נָמוֹג" (namog) means to melt or dissolve, indicating a total disintegration. This collapse signifies the end of Assyrian dominance and serves as a reminder of the transient nature of human power. Spiritually, it underscores the theme of divine justice, where God humbles the proud and exalts the humble, fulfilling His promises to protect and vindicate His people.

(6) The gates of the rivers.--This verse is one of great importance. The account of Ctesias, preserved by Diodorus Siculus, tells us that for over two years the immense thickness of the walls of Nineveh baffled the engineering skill of the besiegers; but that "in the third year it happened that by reason of a continual discharge of great storms, the Euphrates (sic) being swollen, both inundated a part of the city and overthrew the wall to the extent of twenty stadia." The king saw in this the fulfilment of an oracle, which had declared that the city should fall when "the river became an enemy to the city." Determined not to fall into the hands of his foes, he shut himself up with all his treasures in the royal citadel, which he then set on fire. We believe that this account, though inaccurate in detail, may be regarded as based on a substratum of historical fact. So gigantic were the fortifications of Nineveh, that of those on the east, where the city was most open to attack, Mr. Layard writes: "The remains still existing . . . almost confirm the statements of Diodorus Siculus that the walls were a hundred feet high, and that three chariots could drive upon them abreast" (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 660). Against ramparts such as these the most elaborate testudo of ancient times may well have been comparatively powerless. On the other hand, the force of a swollen river has often proved suddenly fatal to the strongest modern masonry. It would be specially destructive where, as in the case of Nineveh, the walls inundated were of sun-dried brick or "clay-bat." Thus the fate of the city may well have been precipitated in accordance with the terse prediction of this verse. The "gates of the rivers" (i.e., the dams which fenced the Khausser, which ran through Nineveh, and the Tigris, which was outside it) are forced open by the swelling torrents, and lo, the fate of the city is sealed! ramparts against which the battering-ram might have plied in vain are sapped at the very foundation; palace walls are undermined, and literally "dissolve;" the besieger hastens to avail himself of the disaster, and (in the single word of Nahum 2:7) it-is-decided. It is unnecessary to identify the "palace" which thus succumbs. Neither is it a reasonable objection that the palaces of Khorsabad and Kouyunjik, lying near the Khausser, bear the marks of fire, not water. If Nahum must have in mind some particular palace, it may be fairly argued that water is not such a demonstrative agency as the sister element; and that nothing would so effectively conceal the damage done by the inundation as the subsequent conflagrations effected by the victorious besieger. The verb namog, "dissolved," we thus take in its literal signification of the dissolution of a solid substance by the action of water; not as Dr. Pusey, figuratively, of the "dissolution of the empire itself.

Verse 6. - All defence is vain. The prophet describes the last scene. The gates of the rivers shall be (are) opened. The simplest explanation of this much disputed clause is, according to Strauss and others, the following: The gates intended are those adjacent to the streams which encircled the city, and which were therefore the best defended and the hardest to capture. When these were carried, there was no way of escape for the besieged. But, as Rosenmuller remarks, it would have been an act of folly in the enemy to attack just that part of the city which was most strongly defended by nature and art. We are, therefore, induced to take "the gates of the rivers," not literally, but as a metaphorical expression (like "the windows of heaven," Genesis 7:1 l; Isaiah 24:18) for an overwhelming flood, and to see in this a reference to the fact mentioned by Diod. Sic. (2:27), that the capture of Nineveh was owing to a great and unprecedented inundation, which destroyed a large portion of the fortifications, and laid the city open to the enemy. "At the northwest angle of Nineveh," says Professor Rawlinson, "there was a sluice or flood gate, intended mainly to keep the water of the Khosr-su, which ordinarily filled the city moat, from flowing off too rapidly into the Tigris, but probably intended also to keep back the water of the Tigris, when that stream rose above its common level. A sudden and great rise in the Tigris would necessarily endanger this gate, and if it gave way beneath the pressure, a vast torrent of water would rush up the moat along and against the northern wall, which may have been undermined by its force, and have fallen in" (Rawlinson, 'Ancient Monarchies,' 2. p. 397, edit. 1871). The suggestion that the course of its rivers was diverted, and that the enemy entered the town through the dried channels, has no historical basis. Dr. Pusey explains the term to mean the gates by which the inhabitants had access to the rivers. But these would be well guarded, and the open. ing of them would not involve the capture of the city, which the expression in the text seems to imply. The LXX. gives, πόλεων διηνοίχθησαν, "The gates of the cities were opened." The palace shall be (is) dissolved; or, melteth away. Some take this to signify that the hearts of the in. habitants melt with fear, or the royal power vanishes in terror. That the clause is to be taken literally, to denote the destruction of the royal palace by the action of the waters, seems to be negatived by the fact that the Assyrian palaces were built on artificial mounds of some thirty or forty feet in elevation, composed of sun-dried bricks united into a solid mass, and were thus secured from the effects of an inundation (see Bosoms, 'Nineveh and its Discoveries,' p. 129, etc.). There is evidence, too, that fire played a great part in the destruction of the temples and palaces (see note on Nahum 3:13).

Parallel Commentaries ...


The river
הַנְּהָר֖וֹת (han·nə·hā·rō·wṯ)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5104: A stream, prosperity

gates
שַׁעֲרֵ֥י (ša·‘ă·rê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 8179: An opening, door, gate

are thrown open,
נִפְתָּ֑חוּ (nip̄·tā·ḥū)
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 6605: To open wide, to loosen, begin, plough, carve

and the palace
וְהַֽהֵיכָ֖ל (wə·ha·hê·ḵāl)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1964: A large public building, palace, temple

erodes away.
נָמֽוֹג׃ (nā·mō·wḡ)
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4127: To melt


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OT Prophets: Nahum 2:6 The gates of the rivers are opened (Nah. Na)