God’s Word for You

Nahum 3:8-9 Better than Thebes

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, May 21, 2026

8 Are you better than Thebes that sat on the Nile,
with water all around her?
A sea was her defense,
the seas were her wall.
9 Cush was her strength, and Egypt too;
strength without limit!
Put and Libya were among her allies.

Nahum compares Nineveh with another great city that fell, and which also was standing on the banks of a great river. He chooses one the best-fortified cities of recent memory: Thebes on the Nile. It was so impressive, so massive, and so well-defended, that Egyptian records usually called it “The City” in the same way that they did not normally say “the Nile,” but just “the River.” It was about 280 miles south of the Nile Delta and 140 miles north of the first important waterfall (coming down from the south), known as the First Cataract. Even those distances (2/3 and 1/3 of the distance to the cataract) were considered special and ideal. Today it is the site of many impressive ruins: temples, obelisks, sphinxes, palaces, along with stone ramps and stairways that once served as quays and jetties when the Nile was in flood stage. The Greeks called it Διὸς πόλις, “The divine city.” It was a village for uncounted years back into antiquity, but during the eighteenth dynasty (beginning with Pharaoh Ahmose in 1550 BC) it was made the capital city of Egypt. It is likely that the Pharaohs would spend the hottest summer months (May to September) north in the cooler Delta, returning to Thebes in the winter when the floods began (we will need to discuss this once again when we talk about Moses and the Exodus). To summarize: Thebes was the greatest city of the Nile Valley.

The prophet uses the word “sea” instead of “river” in verse 8 to show the arrogance of the Egyptians about their Nile and how large it was. It was like the whole ocean to them—people who had seldom seen a real sea, and had never seen an ocean. And in addition to that, they felt that they had all the help they needed in the nations the surrounded them in the deserts to the south and west: Cush (south), Put (perhaps to the west) and Libya (directly west of Egypt). But why does he mention Egypt as if it would be an ally? There were many times when Egypt was divided, with one dynasty occupying the north and another to the south. Thebes ended up as the capital of the south on and off over the centuries. When the Assyrians attacked Thebes, it was under the control of Nubian (Cushite) rulers. In the north, a series of rulers (Ammeris, Tefnakht II, Nekauba, and Neco I) were in default control of at least portions of the Nile Delta and some of the trade there. The son of Neco I (Psamtik I) became Pharaoh of a united Egypt after the fall of Thebes.

I cannot summarize what happened at Thebes any better than Professor Laetsch: “Assyria… conquered her mighty rival for world supremacy, but only after bloody campaigns. Esarhaddon reached Memphis, about 300 miles north of Thebes (673 BC) but was defeated. Two years later Esarhaddon conquered the land as far south as Thebes, but the Nubian or Ethiopian king Tirhaka reoccupied the entire land by 669. On his next campaign, 668, Esarhaddon died. His son Ashurbanipal finally conquered Thebes and sacked it (663). The Lord draws a lesson for Nineveh from the fall of Thebes. If that happened to your powerful rival, are you immune from similar destruction?”

As we Christians read these verses, we will be bound to wonder about the Last Judgment as we hear about the sentence imposed upon the enemies of the church. “Did you think you would do any better than Thebes?” easily becomes, “Did you think you would do any better than the Gnostics?” How many sceptics have tried to twist the true doctrine of the Bible to suit their own opinions and desires? People like the ancient Gnostics tried to belittle the true Christians by claiming that they had a secret knowledge that the Bible does not reveal. Such ideas were already anticipated by Paul: “Guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith” (1 Timothy 6:20-21). The knowledge we need for salvation is the Bible: We must not even think that we can add to it, or that it would be all right to subtract from it. “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). Turning back to the sceptics and those who deny Christ, the Apostle warned: “Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:3).

Guarding one’s doctrine is never the easy path, but it is what God commands us to do (2 Timothy 1:14). If we followed the words of St. Paul “to maintain the pattern of sound words as well as the true doctrine itself, this would eliminate much useless wrangling and preserve the church from many offenses.” Our allies are not human opinions, great nations like Ethiopia and Libya, but rather Peter, Paul, Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. Our schoolmaster has been Dr. Martin Luther and our local pastors. Our true King is Christ Jesus himself, and he so rules over the universe that we have a moment to learn about him, a place to worship him, and a lifetime to share our faith in him. We are no better than Thebes or Nineveh or any other fallen fortress, but we have the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of Christ as our true protection. Trust in Jesus, and bear the crosses of arguments, harsh words, sad misunderstandings, and all of the other obstacles you face. The yoke of Christ is easy. His burden is light.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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