(11-13) The figure of the lion appears so frequently on the Assyrian monuments that we may perhaps suppose it to have been a national scutcheon. The metaphor of the ravening beast is well illustrated by the Assyrian records, wherein the most frequent theme is the levying of gold, silver, brass, oxen, &c., from tributary cities. The "messengers" of Nahum 2:13 are royal heralds and delegates, subordinate agents in this business of extortion.

Verse 11. - The prophet asks, as if in consternation at the complete collapse of the great city - Where is the site of Nineveh? Where is the dwelling (den) of the lions? The lion is a natural symbol of Assyria, both from that animal's cruel, predatory; ravenous habits, and from its use as the chief national emblem. Nergal, the war god, has a winged lion with a man's face as his emblem. See the figure in Rawlinson, 'Anc. Mon.,' 1:173, who adds (p. 308) that the lion is accepted as a true type of the people, blood, ravin, and robbery being their characteristics in the mind of the prophet. The feeding place of the young lions may mean the subject lands whence they took their prey. And the old lion; rather, the lioness. The lion is designated by different names, which may, perhaps, refer to the various satraps and chieftains of the Assyrian kingdom. There are the full-grown male lion, the lioness, the young lion able to seek its own food, and the whelp too young to find its own living. Instead of" the lioness." the LXX., Vulgate, and Syriac, reading differently, give, ταῦεἰσελθεῖν, ut ingrederetur, "that the lion's whelp should enter there." And none made them afraid. They lived in perfect security, without fear or care, irresistible in might (Leviticus 26:6; Micah 4:4; Zephaniah 3:13).

2:11-13 The kings of Assyria had long been terrible and cruel to their neighbours, but the Lord would destroy their power. Many plead as an excuse for rapine and fraud, that they have families to provide for; but what is thus obtained will never do them any good. Those that fear the Lord, and get honestly what they have, shall not want for themselves and theirs. It is just with God to deprive those of children, or of comfort in them, who take sinful courses to enrich them. Those are not worthy to be heard again, that have spoken reproachfully of God. Let us then come to God upon his mercy-seat, that having peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ, we may know that he is for us, and that all things shall work together for our everlasting good.Where is the dwelling of the lions?.... Of the kings of Assyria, comparable to lions for their strength, courage, and cruelty, tyranny, and oppression; such as Pul, Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser, and Sennacherib. So the Targum,

"where are the habitations of kings?''

these are the words, either of the prophet, or of the people that had seen this city in its glory, and now see it in its ruins; and so desolate and waste, as that it could scarcely be said where it once stood:

and the feedingplace of the young lions? the sons of the kings of Assyria, the princes of the blood, and who were of the same blood, temper, and disposition of their ancestors, and were born, brought up, and educated, in Nineveh the royal city. So the Targum,

"and the dwelling houses of the princes,''

or governors:

where the lion, even the old lion, walked: not Nebuchadnezzar, as Jerom, who entered into Nineveh the den of those lions, or seat of the Assyrians, and took it, and walked about in it, as the conqueror and possessor of it; but rather Nimrod, that old lion and tyrant, if he was the first founder of this city, as some say; though it does not seem so much to design any particular person, but the kings of Assyria in general, even the most cruel and savage, as the old lion is. So the Targum in the plural number,

"whither the kings went;''

and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid: there were none to resist their power, curb their insolence, and put a stop to their cruelty and oppression; or make them afraid of pursuing such methods. The Targum is,

"there they leave their children, even as a lion that continues in hunting with confidence, and there is none that terrifies.''