Jonah 4: 11, that in Nineveh "there were more than six score thousand persons who could not discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle."* According to the common estimate this would give 600,000 for the entire population; the same number which Pliny attributes to Seleucia near Babylon. A city of the dimensions, which Diodorus gives to Nineveh, might easily contain more than 600,000 people, while there might be, at the same time, large vacant spaces for gardens, or for pasture, as is common in the cities of the East. Nineveh was situated very commodiously for the purposes of commerce. The Tigris, connected with the Euphrates by means of canals, opened a ready communication with the Persian gulf, southern Asia, and the shores of the Indian ocean. Nahum says 4: 16 that "her merchants were more numerous than the stars of heaven." The commerce, which was carried on between eastern and western Asia must have passed through Nineveh, as here was a common route, as well as a bridge over the Tigris, a convenience which existed in but few places. But as in other great and rich cities, so in Nineveh there prevailed extreme depravity of morals. This general corruption of manners is asserted in the book of Jonah, in the expressive declaration: "Their wickedness is come up before me." Of the period in which this prophet flourished we are not left in doubt. According to 2 K. 14: 35, he prophesied of the restoration of the coasts of Israel taken by the king of Syria, which was accomplished by Jeroboam II; and, therefore, Jonah must have lived before that time. Bishop Lloyd supposes that he prophesied at the latter end of Jehu's reign or at the beginning of the reign of Jehoahaz, when the kingdom of Israel was reduced very low, by the oppression of Hazael king of Syria. He might, however, have prophesied at the beginning of Jeroboam's reign, which was about 42 years before Menahem reigned, in whose time Pul, the first king of Assyria mentioned in the Scriptures, invaded the land of Israel. Jonah was, therefore, without doubt, sent to Nineveh at the time of the reign of one of the predecessors of Pul; but at what period particularly, we are unable to discover.t Comp. Deut. 1: 39, Your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, etc.; i. e. who had not come to the exercise of their reasoning powers. None of the Scripture narratives has been subjected to rougher The repentance of the people of Nineveh was probably not of long duration. Isaiah 10: 5 seq., denounces the judgments of God against them: 5. Wo to the Assyrian, the rod of mine anger! The staff in his hand is the instrument of my indignation. 6. Against a godless people I sent him, Against a people with whom I was angry I commissioned him; To tread down as the mire of the streets; 7. Yet he thought not so, His heart meant not thus, To destroy was in his thoughts, To cut off nations not a few. 8. For he said: "Are not my princes altogether kings? 9. Is not Calno as Carchemish, Or Hamath as Arpad, or Samaria as Damascus ? 10. As my hand hath found the idolatrous kingdoms, Whose idols were more in number than those at Jerusalem 11. Lo! thus as I have done to Samaria and to her idols, So will I do to Jerusalem and to her idols." 12. Now (when) the Lord hath fully accomplished his work on mount Zion and Jerusalem, Then will he punish the fruit of the haughtiness of the king of And his proud boasting. The prophecy of Nahum is entirely occupied in denunciations treatment at the hands of writers unfriendly to the inspiration of the Bible than the story of Jonah. The profane laugh has been raised at its expense, and serious attempts have been made to demonstrate the utter impossibility of many of the facts therein recorded. Eichhorn devotes twenty-five pages of his Einleitung in das alte Testament to the subject. See Vol. IV, p. 331 seq. 1834. Rosenmueller considers it to be a mythus, perhaps of Phenician origin; also in vogue among the Greeks in the form of Hercules swallowed by a sea-monster, but thrown out by him uninjured. But is it not much more probable that the Phenician and the Grecian story, along with various embellishments, was drawn from the scriptural narrative? Would our Saviour refer to a Phenician mythus? Is not his repeated reference to Jonah's narrative as a matter of fact decisive of the question? No one denies but that some of the facts recorded in Jonah are not in accordance with the ordinary laws of nature. But who will limit the omnipotence of God? against Nineveh, in descriptions of her pride and wickedness, and in predictions of her utter overthrow.* We here give a translation of this prophecy : [INSCRIPTION.] Oracle against Nineveh; book of the prophecy of Nahum, the Elkoshite. CHAP. I, 2-14. II, 1-14. Jehovah takes vengeance on Nineveh on account of the oppression which the children of Israel had suffered at her hands; she is given up to destruction] 2. God is angry, and Jehovah taketh vengeance; Jehovah taketh vengeance, and is full of wrath; Jehovah taketh vengeance on his enemies, And he retaineth his anger against those who hate him. 3. Jehovah is long-suffering, yet great in power, And he will by no means always pardon. Jehovah his is in the whirlwind, and in the storm, way The time in which this prophet flourished is a matter of doubt. There are some things in the prophecy itself which furnish room for conjecture. In his time it is clear that both the Israelitish and Jewish kingdoms had endured severe oppression at the hands of the Assyrians. According to chap. 2: 3, the splendor of both these kingdoms was on the wane. No-Ammon, or the Egyptian Thebais had been ravaged, and the Ethiopians and others who had brought succor to that territory had been carried captive by the conqueror. At what time these events occurred is not certain. The conjecture is not improbable that the Thebais was ravaged in the expedition undertaken against Egypt by Tartan, the general of Sargon, the Assyrian king, in the first part of the reign of Hezekiah. See Isaiah 20: 1. In the 14th year of Hezekiah, the Assyrian army was miraculously destroyed, and Sennacherib was assassinated by his sons. The remainder of Hezekiah's reign was quiet. Probably this was the period in which Nahum prophesied. See Rosenmueller Comment. on Nahum, and Eichhorn's Einleitung. There has been much controversy respecting the word No-Ammon of Nah. 3: 8. Jer. 46: 21 and Ezekiel. Mr. Wilkinson has lately solved the difficulty, for he has proved it to be the Egyptian name for the Thebais. The Septuagint has, indeed, trauslated it by Diospolis, the ancient name of Thebes among the Greeks. In fact the name Thebes, or Thebae, is supposed by Champollion to be the Egyptian word Tapé, the head or capital, in the Theban dialect. The Hebrew name No-Ammon, is purely Egyptian, and signifies the possession, or portion of the god Amon, by which the same version once renders it μερὶς Αμμον, Nah. 3: 8. And the clouds are the dust of his feet. The earth is lifted up at his presence, 6. Before his indignation — who can stand? And his burning anger who can abide? His wrath is poured out like fire, And the rocks are torn up before him. 7. Good is Jehovah, A refuge is he in the day of trouble, And he knoweth those who put their trust in him. 8. But with an overwhelming flood, He will utterly destroy her dwelling-place, [Nineveh], 9. What do ye [Assyrians] devise against Jehovah? Calamity shall not rise up the second time. 10. Like thorns are they woven together, And they are like those who have drunk deeply of wine; 11. From thee [Nineveh] goes forth He who devised evil against Jehovah, Who meditated destruction. 12. Thus saith Jehovah: though they be powerful and though they be many, Yet shall they be cut off, and shall perish; I have afflicted thee [Judah], I will afflict thee no more. 13. Yea now will I break his yoke from off thee, And thy bands I will sunder. 14. But in respect to thee [the king of Assyria], Jehovah com mandeth ; That no more of thy name be propagated; † From the house of thy gods, I will cut off the carved and the molten image, The prophet here seems to give the reason why in the preceding verse he had said that they should be cut off. They have become so entangled, (as if fallen among thorns), and intoxicated to such a degree, that they will soon be consumed like dry stubble. 4 dis qese car, That there be sown no more of thy name.' I will prepare thy grave, because thou art vile. II, 1. Behold on the mountains the feet of the messenger, who proclaimeth peace! Celebrate, O Judah, thy festivals, perform thy vows! For there shall no more pass through thee, the waster; 2. The destroyer comes up against thee, [Nineveh]; Look out on the way, strengthen the loins, * 3. For Jehovah will bring back the glory of Jacob, Though the plunderers have laid them waste, 4. Red is the shield of his mighty men,t Clothed in scarlet are his warriors, With the flashing of irons, the chariots glitter in the day of battle, And the cypress-spears wave to and fro. 5. In the streets, the chariots rage furiously, They run to and fro on the broad ways,‡ They run like the lightnings. 6. See! [the king of Nineveh] calls to his mighty ones, They stumble on their way, They hasten to her walls [Nineveh], The vinea is brought up, 7. The gates of the rivers are broken open,|| And the palace is dissolved and made to flow down ;¶ * Make every possible defence, yet it will all be in vain. That is of the armies marching against Nineveh. "Tanta est, inquit propheta, multitudo venientium, ut commixtum agmen sit in itinere, et discerni nequeat. Ipsae quoque quadrigae, dum viam non reperiunt, prae multitudine, inter se colliduntur in plateis." -Jerome. 10 part. from, covering, and hence shed, mantlet, vinea, used in besieging cities. Comp. the vinea and testudo of the Romans. "Apertae sunt portae Ninive, quae ad instar fluminum habebat civium multitudinem."-Jerome. Others suppose that the gates on the side of the Tigris are referred to; or that that river made a breach in the walls. ¶ after the Chaldee form, from 2, where the words may be |