John Trapp on Nahum 1:13-14

Verſe 13. For now will I break his yoke from off thee] Leſt the promiſed deliverance ſhould be any whit doubted of; the time when, and the miſery whence they ſhould be delivered is here laid open. God hath ſet the time of his peoples ſufferings, which ſhall be neither ſo little a while as they would; [illegible: 1 letter]or ſo long as the enemy would. Hold out faith and patience; deliverance is at next doore by.

and will burſt thy bonds in ſunder] By yoke and bonds here, underſtund thoſe Tributes which the Aſſyrians, called out by Ahaz, impoſed upon the kingdome of Judah, 2 King. 18. God promiſeth them here their ancient liberty; which was, ſoon after this, recovered under Hez[illegible: 1 letter]kiah, who truſting in God, and reforming religion, rebelled againſt the king of Aſſyria, and ſerved him no longer. Shortly after alſo, the Perſians deſtroyed Nineveh, dealt more gently with the captive Jews, and gave them good leave to return home again, as many as had a mind to it, Ezr. 1.4. 2 Chron. 36. Verſe 14 And the Lord hath given a commandement.] ſc. to his upper and lower forces (for he is Lord of Hoſts, Commander in Chief of all creatures.)

againſt thee] O Sennacherib devoted to deſtruction, for thine intolerable pride and cruelty. God reſiſteth the proud, Iam. 4.6. he ſetteth himſelf in battellarray againſt him, as the word ſignifieth, commanding all his creatures to fall on: [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and no wonder. For whereas all other vices flee from God, pride alone fleeth in his face: caſteth down the gauntlet of defiance, and maketh head againſt him. Hence his hatred of a proud perſon.

that no more of thy name be ſown] i. e. that no more children be born to thee; ſo Lyra expounds it: that thy poſterity periſh, ſo Gualther. This muſt needs bee grievous to proud and ambitious perſons, who promiſe themſelves a kind of immortality here in their poſterity: and that there ſhall be a perpetuall ſucceſſion of their name in this world. Their inward thought is, that their houſes ſhall continue for ever, they call their lands after their own names, Pſal. 49.11. But their lamp ſhall be put out in obſcure darkneſſe, Prov. 20.20. there ſhall be—Nullus, cui lampada tradant. Others ſenſe the Text thus. Thou ſhalt no more be talked of; but the memory of thy name ſhall bee utterly extinct. The face of the Lord is againſt them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth, Pſal. 34.16. See Eſay 10.12, 13, &c. Ier. 49.34. Sennacherib had done great exploits, till he lifted up his hand againſt heaven, he had been very victorious and famous; but now lies wrapt up in the ſheet of ſhame, and is made an inſtance of divine vengeance, even among the Heathen: For ſo Herodotus telleth us, that in Egypt there was Sennacheribs ſtatue erected, with his inſcription; Let whoſoever looketh upon me, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Hero. l 2. learn to fear God. He lifted up himſelf againſt his Creatour and Father: hee is therefore ſlain by his own children. He thought to overturn the true ſervice of God; he is therefore ſlain at his idoll-worſhip. He went about to deſtroy the houſe of God; he is therefore deſtroyed in the houſe of his god, Eſay 37.38.

Out of the houſe of thy gods will I cut off the graven image] This, thoſe ſuperſtitious Heathens held a great loſſe, a ſore affliction. It is reported of the people of the Eaſt-Indies, in the Iſle Zeylon, that having an Apes tooth got from them, which was a conſecrated thing by them, they offered an incredible maſſe of treaſure to recover it. What a noiſe made Micah after his Ephod and images, Judg. 18.24? and Laban after his Teraphim? Gen. 31. and the men of Ophrah, for their altar and grove? And what a price ſet Papifts on their pictures and trinkets.Judg. 6.30.

I will make thy grave] ſc. Of thine idoll-temple, polluted by thy ſlaughter therein, and ſo converted into a ſepulchre for thee. There is a ſtory (but of no great authority) that Sennacherib, after his ſhamefull return out of Judea, demanding of ſome about him, what might bee the reaſon that the unreſiſtable God of heaven ſo favoured the Jewiſh nation, as he had found by ſad experience? Anſwer was given him, that Abraham from whom they deſcended, ſacrificed unto him his onely ſonne, which purchaſed this protection to his progeny. If that will win him, ſaith he, I will ſpare him two of my ſonnes, to procure him to be on my ſide. Which Sharezzer and Adrammelech his ſonnes hearing of, prevented their own deaths by ſlaying him. It is more likely that they laid wicked hands upon their father,Caſtal. Annot. either out of ambition, or diſcontent for the loſſe of the Army. Howſoever, God made uſe of their cruelty, for the juſt puniſhment of Sennacherib: and is here therefore ſaid to have commanded it. After this, cruell warre aroſe among Sennacheribs ſonnes, which were the utter overthrow of that nation,In Cyropad. and laid them open as a prey to the kings of Babylou, as Xenophon writeth.

for thou art vile] Worthleſſe, and weightleſſe. All wicked men are ſo, be they never ſo great, Pſal. 15.4. Dan. 11.21. In his eſtate ſhall ſtand up a vile perſon, that is, Antiochus Epiphanes, the great king of Syria, whom the Samaritans in flattery ſtiled, The mighty god. 'Tis vertue onely that enobles. Them that honour God, he will honour: but they that deſpiſe him, ſhall be lightly eſteemed, 1 Sam. 2.30. Contempt ſhall be their portion, and with ignominy, repreach, Prov. 18.3. Here then the Prophet threateneth the ſame that Joel had done, chap. 2.20. His ſtink ſhall come up, and the ill ſavour ſhall come up, becaue be hath done great things, i.e, he hath attempted to do them, but was hindered from heaven. God put a hook in his noſe, and a bridle in his lips, and turned him back to Nineveh: where, within leſſe then fifty dayes after, he was ſlain by his two ſonnes, Tob. 1.23. and although his third ſonne Aſar-haddon reigned in his ſtead,: yet hee ſoon after loſt both his life and his kingdome, which was devolved to the Babylonians, and all the royall race of Aſſyria was rooted out.