Are you better than Thebes
The rhetorical question posed here is directed at Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, challenging its sense of invincibility. Thebes, known in Hebrew as "No-Amon," was a prominent and powerful city in ancient Egypt, renowned for its grandeur and strength. The question implies that if Thebes, with all its might and resources, could fall, so too could Nineveh. This serves as a humbling reminder of the transient nature of earthly power and the sovereignty of God over nations.

situated by the Nile
Thebes was strategically located along the Nile River, which was the lifeblood of Egypt. The river provided sustenance, trade routes, and natural defense. In the same way, Nineveh was situated by the Tigris River, which also offered similar advantages. The mention of the Nile highlights the natural advantages that Thebes had, yet these were not enough to save it from destruction. This underscores the futility of relying solely on natural resources and geography for security, rather than on God.

with water around her
Thebes was surrounded by canals and tributaries of the Nile, which acted as natural fortifications. This imagery of water encircling the city symbolizes protection and abundance. However, the verse suggests that even such formidable defenses are insufficient without divine favor. It serves as a metaphor for the false sense of security that can come from relying on worldly defenses rather than spiritual ones.

whose rampart was the sea
The term "rampart" refers to a defensive wall or barrier. In the context of Thebes, the "sea" likely refers to the vast expanse of the Nile and its associated waterways, which provided a formidable natural defense. This phrase emphasizes the strength and security that Thebes enjoyed, yet it was still vulnerable to God's judgment. It is a reminder that no human-made or natural defense can stand against the will of God.

whose wall was the water
This phrase reiterates the idea of water as a protective barrier for Thebes. The imagery of water as a wall suggests an impregnable defense, yet history shows that Thebes fell to invaders. This serves as a powerful illustration of the limitations of human defenses and the ultimate authority of God over all creation. It calls believers to place their trust in God rather than in earthly fortifications.

(8) Populous No.--Better, No Amon. Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt, was known to the Hebrews as "No Amon" (perhaps, "house of the god Amon;" similarly the Greeks called it ?????????). Assyria herself had reduced the power of Thebes. (1) Sargon, the father of Sennacherib, had defeated Shebah, the Egyptian Tar-dan, at Rapikh, cir. B.C. 716. (2) Esar-haddon, Sennacherib's son, had routed the forces of Tirhakah, subjugated the whole of the Nile valley, and taken the city where Tirhakah held his court, probably Thebes, cir. B.C. 670. (3) Asshur-bani-pal invaded Egypt in the year of his accession, B.C. 668, and reinstated certain rulers of his father's appointment, whom Tirhakah had driven out. In B.C. 665, another revolt brought this king again into Egypt. On this occasion Thebes was certainly sacked, and a large booty, including "gold, silver, precious stones, dyed garments, captives (male and female), tame animals brought up in the palace, obelisks, &c., was carried off, and conveyed to Nineveh" {Five Great Monarchies, ii. 203). The present passage may refer either to this event or to Esar-haddon's previous capture of Thebes. The fall of the city was certainly a thing of the past when Nahum wrote. The allusion, therefore, helps us to assign the date of the composition (see Introduction). To mere human reasoning the downfall of Thebes testified to the power of Assyria, its conqueror. But to the inspired vision of Nahum, the ruin of the one world-power is an earnest of the ruin of the other. Both had been full of luxury and oppression, both were hated of mankind and opposed to God. If No-Amon has fallen, the city of the hundred gates, the metropolis of the Pharaohs, the conqueror whose countless captives reared the pyramids, why shall Nineveh stand? If Nineveh is protected by rivers--the Tigris and the Khausser--had not Thebes a rampart in the Nile, that "sea" of waters (comp. Isaiah 19:5), and its numerous canals? If Nineveh relies on subordinate or friendly states--Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Syria--had not Thebes all the resources of Africa--Ethiopia in the south, the Egypts in the north, her Libyan allies, Put and the Lubim, in the north-west? Yet what was the fate of No Amon? Her youth carried off in the slave-gangs of Assyria; her infants dashed to pieces at the street-corner (2Kings 8:12), as unprofitable to the captor; her senators reserved to grace a triumph, and assigned to the Assyrian generals by lot (Obadiah 1:11).

Verses 8-13. - § 2. The ruin of Nineveh can be averted no more than was that of No-Amon. Verse 8. - Art thou better than populous No? "Better" probably means here more prosperous. "Populous No" ought to be rendered, No-Amon, i.e. No of the solar god Amon. This is the celebrated Thebes, in Upper Egypt, called in Egyptian Pa-Amun, "the House of Amun," and in the inscriptions Ni, which is the same word as No. The name Amon is attached because that god was particularly worshipped there. The LXX. has μερίδα Ἀμμών ("a portion of or for Ammon"), translating the word "No." St. Jerome, misled by his Hebrew teacher, renders, "Alexandria populorum," as if Thebes stood on the site of the much later city of Alexandria; whereas we see from Assurbanipal's annals that he was forty days marching from Memphis, where he defeated Rudammon, to Thebes (see G. Smith, 'Assurbanipal,' p. 55). On the grandeur and magnificence of this city, Denon (quoted by Rawlinson, 'Ancient Monarchies,' 1:309, note 7), writes, "On est fatigue d'ecrire, on est fatigue de lire, on est epouvante de la pensee d'une telle conception; on ne peut croire, meme apres l'avoir vu, a la realite de l'existence de tant de constructions reunies sur un meme point, a leurs dimensions, a la constance obstinee qu'a exigee leur fabrication, aux depenses incalculables de taut de somptuosite" ('Egypte,' 2:226). "In the long and rich valley of the Lower Nile, which extends above five hundred miles from Syene to Memphis, almost any situation might furnish a site for a great city, since, except at Silsilis and at the Gebelein, the valley is never less than two miles wide, the soil is always fertile, good quarries are always at hand, and lavish Nature is so bounteous with her gifts that abundant sustenance can at any point be obtained for a large population. But in this wealth of eligible sites, there are still degrees of eligibility - spots which Nature has distinguished by special favour, and, as it were, marked out for greatness and celebrity. Such a position is that which the traveller reaches when, passing through the gorge of the Gebelein, he emerges upon the magnificent plain, at least ten miles in width, through which the river flows with a course from southwest to northeast for a distance of some forty miles between Erment and Qobt. Here, for the first time since quitting the Nubian desert, does the Nile enter upon a wide and ample space. On either side the hills recede, and a broad green plain, an alluvium of the richest description, spreads itself out on both banks of the stream, dotted with dom and date palms, sometimes growing singly, sometimes collected into clumps or groves. Here, too, there open out on either side, to the east and to the west, lines of route offering great advantages for trade, on the one hand with the Lesser Oasis and so with the tribes of the African interior, on the other with the western coast of the Red Sea and the spice region of the opposite shore. In the valley of Hammamat, down which passed the ancient route to the coast, are abundant supplies of breccia verde and of other valuable and rare kinds of stone, while at no great distance to the right and left of the route lie mines of gold, silver, and lead, anciently prolific, though exhausted now for many ages. Somewhat more remote, yet readily accessible by a frequented route, was the emerald region of Gebel Zabara, where the mines are still worked" (Rawlinson, 'Ancient Egypt,' 2:124, etc.). Thebes was situated on both banks of the Nile, the principal portion lying on the east; the Necropolis and Memnonia were on the west. It seems never to have been surrounded with a wall (notwithstanding its "hundred gates"), the river and canals forming a sufficient defence. At the present time the ruins are some twenty-seven miles in circuit, including Luxor and the remains of the great temple at Karnak. The sea. The Nile formed its rampart. Great rivers are called seas in the poetical books. Thus Isaiah 19:5; Isaiah 27:1; Jeremiah 51:36. Her wall was from the sea; or, of the sea. The sea was her wall. Septuagint, ὅδωρ τὰ τείχη αὐτῆς, "water her walls."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Are you better
הֲתֵֽיטְבִי֙ (hă·ṯê·ṭə·ḇî)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 3190: To be good, well, glad, or pleasing

than Thebes,
מִנֹּ֣א (min·nō)
Preposition-m | Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4996: Thebes -- an Egyptian city

situated
הַיֹּֽשְׁבָה֙ (hay·yō·šə·ḇāh)
Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - feminine singular
Strong's 3427: To sit down, to dwell, to remain, to settle, to marry

by the Nile
בַּיְאֹרִ֔ים (bay·’ō·rîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2975: Nile -- a channel, a fosse, canal, shaft, the Nile, the Tigris

with water
מַ֖יִם (ma·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

around her,
סָבִ֣יב (sā·ḇîḇ)
Adverb
Strong's 5439: A circle, neighbour, environs, around

whose
אֲשֶׁר־ (’ă·šer-)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

rampart
חֵ֣יל (ḥêl)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 2426: An army, an intrenchment

was the sea,
יָ֔ם (yām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3220: A sea, the Mediterranean Sea, large river, an artifical basin

whose wall
חוֹמָתָֽהּ׃ (ḥō·w·mā·ṯāh)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 2346: A wall of protection

was the water?
מִיָּ֖ם (mî·yām)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3220: A sea, the Mediterranean Sea, large river, an artifical basin


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OT Prophets: Nahum 3:8 Are you better than No-Amon who was (Nah. Na)