John Trapp on Nahum 2:1

CHAP. II.

Verſe 1. HE that daſheth in pieces is come up before thy face] Nebuchadnezzar the elder, that maul of the whole earth, Jer. 50.23. that brake and diſperſed the Nations, as a Maul or great Hammer doth the hardeſt ſtones. See how like a right Pyrgopolynicis he vaunteth of his valour, and victories, Eſay 10.8, 9, 10, 11, &c. So Demetrius was ſirnamed Poliorcletes, the Deſtroyer of cities; Attilas called himſelf Orbis flagellum, the ſcourge of the World. Julius Caeſar was Fulmen belli, The thunderbolt of warre: he had taken in his time a thouſand Towns., conquered three hundred Nations, took priſoner one million of men, and ſlain as many. Theſe were Dtſſipatores indeed, and daſhers in pieces, rods of Gods wrath; and this they took to be a main piece of theit ſilly glory. How much more honour was it to Auguſtine, M. Cottons pref to Hilder. on Joh. 4. to be ſtiled Haereticorum malleus, the hammer of Heretikes? and to Mr. Hilderſam, to bee Schiſmaticorum malleus, the maul of Schiſmatikes? and laſtly, to Luther, that he could thus ſay of himſelf: Peſtis eram vivus, moriens ero mors tua Papa? I living, ſtopt Romes breath, And dead, will be Romes death?

Is come up before thy face] Nineveh lay high; and thoſe that went thither, were ſaid to go up, Hoſ. 8.9. Nebuchadnezzar is ſaid here, to be come up to it, long before he did, (which ſets forth Gods omniſcience: Known to him are all his works from the beginning of the world: Act. 15.18. Pſal. 139.2. and preſent to him are all things, both paſt and future) and to come up before Nineveh's face; who thought none durſt have been ſo bold as to look her in the face. But though ſhe had been a terrour, yet now ſhee is a ſcorn: as was likewiſe Ephraim, when he offended in Baal, Hoſ. 13.1. See the Note there.

Keep the munition, watch the way, &c.] Ironicè omnia, q.d. Do all this, if you think it will do any good. But 'tis all to no purpoſe; you are an undone people, your enemies are above fear, and you below hope; you have hitherto delighted in warre, you ſhall now have enough of it; you have troubled the world with your armes, and Armies; now you ſhall meet with your match, a people terrible from the beginning. Up therefore, and do your utmoſt: Neglect nothing that may ſerve for your neceſſary defence; but it will not be: for except the Lord keep the city, the watch-man waketh but in vain, Pſal. 127.1.