Biblion Bible Commentary
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Where Is the Den of the Lions?
Nahum 2:11-13
11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked with the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid? · WEB
Assyria's own favorite image for itself is turned into a taunt, and then God says plainly that he is the one against it.
The question is asked of an empty place: where is the den of the lions, where the lion and lioness walked with the cubs and nothing frightened them? Assyrian kings hunted lions ceremonially and lined their palace walls with the carvings. The lion was the state's emblem of itself, and Nahum asks where it went.
Verse 12 keeps the picture and makes it ugly: the lion tore enough for his cubs and filled his caves with the kill — predation as a domestic economy, never questioned because it worked. Then verse 13 breaks the metaphor with a verdict that runs through the prophets: behold, I am against you, says Yahweh of Armies. The chariots burn, and the voice of the messengers is heard no more. Those messengers had once made a speech beneath Jerusalem's wall 2 Kings 18:35.
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