Kommentar zu Nachum 2:17

pay your vows—that you vowed to the Holy One, blessed be He, if He would save you from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria - for now you are saved.

for... shall no longer continue to pass through you—that wicked one.

he has been completely cut off—he and his descendants.

The scatterer who came up before you is besieged by a siege—The scatterer, who came up upon the land of Judah before you during the time of Hezekiah, is now besieged by the siege of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who has besieged him.

1 Arise: Now, returning to speak to Nineveh.

Watch the way—You men of Judah, watch the crossroads and see those going to besiege him [Sennacherib] and strengthen your loins and fortify your power mightily.

2 And the shatterer: this is Nevuchadnetzar.

3

as the pride of Israel—As it was already.

the emptiers have emptied them out—They have plundered them and emptied them. The expression of בְּקִיקָה is appropriate for a vine.

The shields of his mighty men—The mighty of Nebuchadnezzar, who lay siege to Assyria.

are dyed red—They are dyed red, and the men of their army are in crimson, dressed in crimson.

the chariots are in the fire of torches on the day of his preparation Heb. פְּלָדֹת. On the day that he [Nebuchadnezzar] is prepared to go out in the army, he polishes his iron chariots, but I do not know what פְּלָדֹת means. I say that it is a material that polishes iron well. And some interpret פְּלָדֹת as an expression of a fiery torch (לַפִּיד), by transposing the letters.

and the cypresses are enwrapped—Jonathan renders: And the heads of the [Babylonian] camps are enwrapped in colored garments.

are enwrapped Heb. הַרְעָלוּ, enwrapped. Similar is (Isa. 3:19) “The necklaces and the bracelets and the shawls (הָרְעָלוֹת).” In the language of the Mishnah we learned “shawled (רְעוּלוֹת) Arabian women” in tractate Shabbath (65a).

shall dash about madly—They shall behave madly.

they shall clatter Heb. יִשְׁתַּקְשְׁקוּן. Jonathan renders: The sound of the clattering of their weapons is heard. And that is from the expression (Joel 2:24) “And the vats shall roar (וְהֵשִׁיקוּ),” and (Isa. 33:4) “Like the roaring (כְּמַשַק) of the cisterns.” It is an expression of making a sound heard.

they shatter—They shatter their listeners like these lightnings, which agitate the creatures. So did Jonathan render it.

He shall remember—The king of Assyria shall remember his mighty men and his heroes, and he shall contemplate going forth and waging war, but [he and his men] shall stumble in their walk.

they shall hasten to its wall—to flee to run to the wall of the city. Any word requiring a “lammed” in its beginning has a “hey” at its end.

and the protector is armed Heb. הַסֹּכֵךְ. Jonathan renders: They shall build towers. We can also explain וְהֻכַן הַסֹּכֵךְ: and the king shall be armed with his weapons, as in (Ezek.28:14) “who shelters over a great distance (מִמְשַׁח הַסֹּכֵךְ),” an expression of ruling.

The gates of the river—The gates of the cities, which are on the sides of the rivers.

and the palace has dissolved—It has quaked and trembled because of the stones of the catapult hurled against its walls, called bombe.

And the queen Heb. וְהֻצַּב. She is the queen who stands to the right of the king, as is stated (Ps. 45:10): “The queen stands to your right.”

has been exposed and taken away—In the open, she has gone into captivity and has been taken away from the city.

moan like the voice of doves—They moan with a lamentation like the voice of lamenting doves. moan Heb. מְנַהֲגוֹת, gemissant in French.

beating their breasts Striking their hand on their heart like the beating of a drum.

And Nineveh is like a pool of water - it is since days of yore—Since the day it was founded, it has been sitting tranquilly with no one disturbing it, like a pool of gathered water that does not move from its place.

and they—Now, out of their stress, they have learned to flee and are fleeing.

Halt! Halt!—They say to them, but no one turns his heart to listen and halt.

Plunder silver! Plunder gold!—You who come upon Nineveh.

And there is no end—There is no count.

to the treasures Heb. לְתְּכוּנָה, to their treasures. [It is called תְּכוּנָה] because the silver and gold placed in the treasury is placed there with a count, as you say (II Kings 12:12): “The counted (הַמְתֻכּן) money.” [following Jonathan]

to sweep out [Nineveh] of all precious vessels Heb. כָּבֹד, an expression of sweeping, as in (below, 3:15) “You shall be swept out (הִתְכַּבְדִי) like the nibbling locust,” an expression of sweeping the house; escovant, to sweep them out of all their precious vessels. And so did Jonathan render it: All precious vessels have ended. כָּבֹד is like זָכוֹר, to remember, and שָמוֹר, to observe.

Empty Heb. בּוּקָה.

yea, emptied out Heb. וּמְבוּקָה, and emptied out through emptiers.

and breached Heb. וּמְבֻלָּקָה, breached in its walls: espartide in O.F.

the knees stumble Heb. וּפִק, the stumbling of the knees, as, in (I Sam. 25:31) “As a stumbling block and a remorse.”

have gathered blackness Heb. פָארוּר, blackness like a pot.

Where is the lions’ den?—This is a lamentation over Nineveh, which was the dwellings of kings, hard and strong as lions.

where the grown lion and the old lion went—The place where the kings would go and leave their children there, like a lion that dwelt securely.

The grown lion tore enough for his whelps—As Jonathan renders it: The kings would bring much plunder, until there was enough for the members of their households.

and strangled—beasts, for the necessity of his lionesses; i.e., he would increase his treasures for his children (sic). for his lionesses—for his wives.

and he filled his caves with prey—And they filled their treasuries with plunder.

her chariots—The multiplicity of the chariots therein; caraijedic in O.F. -army of chariots. The additional “hey” converts the language to mean many chariots. Simliarly, there is (Ezek 24:6) “The pot in which there is filth (חֶלְאָתָה),” much filth.

the voice of your ambassadors Heb. מַלְאָכֵכֵה. The voice of your ambassadors, as Rabshakeh and his colleagues, the ambassadors of Assyria, had already done, “And called in a loud voice in Judean” (Isa. 36:13).