Nahum 3:15 - Exposition

There . In the very place where thou hast taken all these precautions. Shall the fire devour thee. That fire played a great part in the destruction of Nineveh is asserted by historians and proved by the remains of the city discovered in modern times (see note on Nahum 3:13 : also Herod; 1.106; Diod. Sic; 2.25-28; Athen; 12.529). The fate of the last king, who burnt himself and his palace, is a well known story (see Justin, 'Hist.,' 1.3; Eusebius, 'Chronicles,' 1.9; 14.3; 15.7; Syncell; 'Chronicles,' 1.396, edit. Dind.) (Kuabenbauer). The sword shall cut thee off. While fire destroys the buildings, the sword shall devour the inhabitants of the city. The cankerworm; literally, the licker ( Joel 1:4 ). The locust in its earlier stage is thus described (see Nahum 3:16 ). The figure implies that the destruction of Nineveh should be sudden and complete, as that wrought on vegetation by an inroad of locusts. Make thyself many. Collect thine armies, gather hosts as innumerable as the locusts, it will be all in vain. The "cankerworm" represented the enemy; the "locusts" represent the Assyrians themselves.