Nahum 3:1-4

Can we, as a nation, stand before a holy God? We allowed a man to be a god. We allowed money and power to become our idols. Our laws allow us to kill people, in the womb, and in poverty. We are in deep spiritual trouble!

Only by the grace given in Christ Jesus do we stand a chance. He will separate the goats from the sheep!

The prophet uses this term as a divine threat. He is introducing a woe pronouncement. The Assyrians were known for their numerous atrocities. They took pride in their cruelty and shamelessly boasted of it. The Assyrian Annals contain records of their brutality. The Assyrians were notorious for their use of treachery and deceit. They would customarily lie and make false promises to cities under siege in an attempt to get them to surrender. Old Testament writers often use harlotry to figuratively refer to idolatry. God viewed idolatrous forms of divination as detestable. Faithlife Bible.

Nineveh was known throughout the Middle East as a city that excelled in violence and bloodshed. Horses and chariots were instruments of war. Verse 3 describes the horrors of the nation’s war machine, which resulted in countless corpses. Harlotries refers to paganism. Any worship of gods other than the God of Scripture is an act of spiritual prostitution. Nineveh was so adept at pagan practices that the city earned the descriptive title, the mistress of sorceries. Who could survive the Lord’s opposition? The Lord would publicly humiliate Nineveh. NKJ Bible.

Nahum 3:1-4

3 Woe to the bloody city!

It is all full of lies and robbery.

Its victim never departs.

2 The noise of a whip

And the noise of rattling wheels,

Of galloping horses,

Of clattering chariots!

3 Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear.

There is a multitude of slain,

A great number of bodies,

Countless corpses—

They stumble over the corpses—

4 Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot,

The mistress of sorceries,

Who sells nations through her harlotries,

And families through her sorceries.

5 “Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts;

“I will lift your skirts over your face,

I will show the nations your nakedness,

And the kingdoms your shame.

Isaiah 47:9 | But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: The loss of children, and widowhood.They shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries, for the great abundance of your enchantments.

Isaiah 47:10 | “For you have trusted in your wickedness; You have said, ‘No one sees me’; Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; and you have said in your heart,‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

Isaiah 47:11 | Therefore evil shall come upon you; you shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.

Isaiah 47:12 | “Stand now with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth—Perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you will prevail. 

Ezekiel 22:2 | “Now, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations!