God’s Word for You
Nahum 2:1 One who scatters is coming
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, May 11, 2026
In the second chapter, Nahum pictures Nineveh and the Assyrians as being under siege from an enemy. Even the voices and words of enemy soldiers are described as if they are picking through the ruins to plunder whatever they can. Then beginning with verse 11 the city’s destruction is compared with her former glory.
2:1 One who scatters is advancing against you.
Guard the rampart, watch the road.
Brace yourselves, get ready with all your strength!
Nahum turns the eyes of the Assyrians, and Nineveh the great city itself, toward the approach of their attacker. Who will it be? “One who scatters” is the hint that the prophet gives. In the Prophets of the Bible, the only one who ever truly scatters the nations is the Lord God. “I will scatter them in Jacob” he says to Simeon and Levi on account of their sins (Genesis 49:7). “I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you” he says even to all of Israel if they disobey his commands about the Sabbath (Leviticus 26:33). “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations” (Nehemiah 1:8). And on account of the sin of the Gentiles, “he will ruin the face of the earth and scatter its inhabitants” (Isaiah 24:1). With the relentless movement of a predator in the brush, the One who scatters is on his way toward Nineveh…
“Guard the ramparts.” Ramparts are positions on top of a wall where warriors can be both on the offensive (above an enemy) and on the defensive (with barriers to avoid slung stones, darts, and arrows). The Hebrew verb “guard” and the noun “rampart” are similar words (not really cognates, but similar in sound), saying in effect, “Guard what you’re supposed to be guarding,” but it won’t matter. The One who scatters is coming…
“Watch the road.” Any good military commander sets lookouts before he does anything else, even before he lets his troops rest for a moment. When a post is established, those scouts and lookouts have more permanent postings. When this military base becomes a city, and an important city like Nineveh, then the lookouts are kept on the roads and pathways of every approach; those posts have still more lookouts. But it won’t matter, O Nineveh. The One who scatters is on his way, and he doesn’t need a road…
“Brace yourselves” is the old phrase, “Gird your loins.” That’s a reference to being sure your cloak was tucked in so that you could run or fight without your robes getting in the way (Isaiah 22:21). This was Elisha’s command to his servant before sending him off on an errand (2 Kings 4:29), and God telling Job to get ready to defend himself like a man (Job 38:3, 40:7), and the Lord telling Jeremiah to be ready for whatever response the wicked sinners of Judah and Jerusalem would do when he proclaimed God’s word to them (Jeremiah 1:17). Some commentators want to take this phrase to mean “make your loins strong,” saying (as Keil does), “make the loins strong, i.e. equip thyself with strength, the loins being the seat of strength” (Twelve Minor Prophets, Nahum-Malachi, p. 19). But the piel of hazeq with “loins” means to “gird” as we have seen, and only means to “make strong” with the arm or shoulder (Ezekiel 30:24; Hosea 7:15). Girded loins or not, strong or ready to run, it won’t matter, O Nineveh. The One who scatters is on his way.
“Get ready with all your strength” uses a verb from what Luther called the “second conjugation” of Hebrew (the piel), the verb amats, as in Isaiah 35:3, “make the shaky knees steady.” The phrase “and all your strength” recalls the great Creed of the Old Testament, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). But the people of Nineveh, who should have been taught that creed by Jonah through their parents and grandparents, have missed its meaning. They have been relying on their own strength for battle and success instead of relying on God, trusting in him “with all their strength,” for all of their needs. This is the root of believing in God. Do you trust in him for everything? For all good things, for every good thing, and for help in every time of need? But Nineveh, if you do not trust in the true God anymore, who can you turn to for help? The One who scatters is coming, and no one can stop him.
For us, there is a very practical and useful application for this verse. Worshiping the one true God as we do, we do not fear any other. There is no conflict with Zeus, or Baal, or Allah, or any of the million Hindu gods. If our God blesses us, no other god can ever curse us. Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). But if God turns against someone, as he did with the Assyrians when they fell back into idolatry after Jonah preached the Gospel to them, then “there is no one who can rescue them from his hand” (Job 10:7). There is no appeal to any higher god, nor any equal god or pantheon of gods and goddesses. There is no one besides him (Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 47:10).
It is God, the LORD God alone, whom we must worship. There is no one else we need to or should turn to for help and salvation. Since God has forgiven my sins (Mark 3:28; Acts 26:18), why should I pray to anyone else for forgiveness? Since God is the source of all good things (Deuteronomy 26:11), why should I pray to anyone else for any good thing? Since God is the only source of help in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16; Nahum 1:7), why pray to anyone else for help? Jesus said in one of his prayers, “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:3-4). We trust in God, and he will not scatter us at all, not ever, but he will gather us together and bring us safely home to heaven.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.