나 2:8-13 사자, 니느웨의 멸망

8  bNineveh is like a pool

whose waters run away.5

“Halt! Halt!” they cry,

but cnone turns back.

9  Plunder the silver,

plunder the gold!

There is no end of the treasure

or of the wealth of all precious things.

10  dDesolate! Desolation and ruin!

eHearts melt and fknees tremble;

ganguish is in all loins;

hall faces grow pale!

11  Where is the lions’ den,

the feeding place of ithe young lions,

where the lion and lioness went,

where his cubs were, with jnone to disturb?

12  kThe lion tore enough for his cubs

and lstrangled prey for his lionesses;

he filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

13 mBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and nI will burn your6 chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and othe voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

b See ch. 1:1

5 Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

c Jer. 46:5

d See Zeph. 2:13–15

e Ps. 22:14; Isa. 13:7

f Dan. 5:6

g Isa. 21:3

h Joel 2:6

i Isa. 5:29; Jer. 2:15

j See Isa. 17:2

k [Ezek. 19:3]

l [ver. 9; ch. 3:1]

m ch. 3:5; [Zeph. 2:5]; See Ezek. 13:8

n [Ps. 46:9]

6 Hebrew her

o [2 Kgs. 19:9, 23]

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 나 2:8–13.

 

8 ◎니느웨는 예로부터 물이 모인 못 같더니 이제 모두 도망하니 서라 서라 하나 돌아보는 자가 없도다

9 은을 노략하라 금을 노략하라 그 저축한 것이 무한하고 아름다운 기구가 풍부함이니라

10 니느웨가 공허하였고 황폐하였도다 주민이 낙담하여 그 무릎이 서로 부딪히며 모든 허리가 아프게 되며 모든 낯이 빛을 잃도다

11 이제 사자의 굴이 어디냐 젊은 사자가 먹을 곳이 어디냐 전에는 수사자 암사자가 그 새끼 사자와 함께 거기서 다니되 그것들을 두렵게 할 자가 없었으며

12 수사자가 그 새끼를 위하여 먹이를 충분히 찢고 그의 암사자들을 위하여 움켜 사냥한 것으로 그 굴을 채웠고 찢은 것으로 그 구멍을 채웠었도다

13 만군의 여호와의 말씀에 내가 네 대적이 되어 네 병거들을 불살라 연기가 되게 하고 네 젊은 사자들을 칼로 멸할 것이며 내가 또 네 노략한 것을 땅에서 끊으리니 네 파견자의 목소리가 다시는 들리지 아니하리라 하셨느니라

 The Holy Bible: New Korean Revised Version, electronic ed. (South Korea, n.d.), 나 2:8–13.

 

 

8-10절) 약탈 당하는 니느웨

앞서 니느웨가 명시된 적은 없다. 여기에 니느웨가 처음 언급된다. 앞서 6절에서 강들의 수문이 열린 것이 언급되는데 니느웨는 티그리스 강 서쪽 둑에 세워진 도시로 중앙에는 코서 강이 흘렀다. 물이 니느웨를 번성하게 했지만 이제 물로 인해서 심판과 멸망이 임하는 것이다. 

니느웨는 물이 가득한 연못과 같았는데 이제 그 물이 빠져 나가고 있다. 줄줄 새는 연못이 된 것이다.  성안의 사람들이 연합군의 공격으로 인해 모두 도망가는데 ‘서라 서라’라고 외치지만 이를 돌아보는 자가 없다. 본문에서 ‘서라’고 말하는 사람이 침략자들인지 아니면 성을 방어하기 위해서 애쓰는 장교인지 알 수 없다. 이들은 지금 공포에 사로잡혀서 뒤도 돌아보지 않고 도망가고 있는 것이다. 니느웨는 지난 200여년 동안 근동지역의 패권자로 주변 나라들을 침략하여 약탈과 만행을 저질렀다. 이웃 나라들이 가지고 있던 수많은 보물들과 재화들을 약탈했고 또한 그들에게 엄청난 양의 조공을 바치게 하여서 수많은 금과 은, 보물들을 가지고 있었다. 그런데 이제 그 모든 것들을 약탈 당하고 있는 것이다. 풍요롭던 니느웨가 이제 공허하고 황폐하게 되었다. 그곳의 주민들의 상황은 이렇게 묘사된다. ‘떨리는 가슴, 후들거리는 무릎, 끊어질 것 같이 아픈 허리, 그리고 하얗게 질린 얼굴’, 이제까지 주위의 많은 이들의 피눈물을 흘리게 했던 이들이 당하는 고통이다. 위대하던 앗수르는 이제 완전히 무너져 내린 것이다. 

 

10절의 처음 ‘니느웨가 공허하였고 황폐하였도다’라는 표현은 히브리어로 비슷한 발음으로 표현된다. 이를 GNB는 이렇게 번역했다. ’Nineveh is destoryed, deserted, desolate!'

-  “Pillaged, plundered, and stripped” all sound alike in Hebrew and have similar meanings (bûqâ ûmĕbûqâ ûmĕbullāqâ).64 Though different translations attempt to duplicate the paronomasia into English (e.g., GNB uses “Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate!”), the power of Nahum’s message comes through without the duplication of the Hebrew verse. Nahum’s pictorial language vividly describes the fear of the people of Nineveh. “The sight would send such a shudder through the strongest people that uncontrollable trembling would seize the entire body and their faces blanch. The portrayal is one of abject terror, painted again in synecdoche and picturesque brevity: melting hearts, knees knocking together, bodies writhing, faces made colorless with fright.”65 Nineveh’s reign of terror would end. In Nineveh the people faint before the sure end of Assyria’s dominance.

64 Robertson notes the rhythmic effect of Nahum’s language. “Each successive word is slightly longer than the former, so that a rhythmic buildup reinforces the message. The first two terms occur only here in the OT, and the third appears elsewhere only in Isa 24:1, where it is connected again with the verb bāqaq” (Robertson, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 94).

GNB Good News Bible

65 Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 64.

 Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 210.

 

11-12절) 사자는 힘과 민첩성, 주권을 상징하는 짐승으로 동물의 왕으로 불리운다. 이 강력한 포식자가 잡아 먹히는 짐승들에게는 두려움의 표상이었다. 전통적으로 앗수르는 자신들을 사자와 연관시켰다. 앗수를 왕들은 자신들을 사자로 묘사했고, 그들의 수호신 이스타르가 암사자로, 혹은 사자를 타고 있는 모습으로 자주 등장한다. 

선지자는 ‘사자의 굴이 어디 있느냐?’, ‘젊은 사가가 먹을 곳이 어디 있느냐’라고 묻는다. 이전에는 수사자 암사자가 그 새끼 사자와 함께 거기서 다닐 때 그것들을 두렵게 할 자가 없었다는 것이다. 그곳에서 수사자가 그 새끼를 위해서 먹이를 충분히 찢고 그의 암사자를 위해서 움켜 사냥한 것으로 그 굴을 채웠고 찢은 것으로 그 구멍을 채웠었다. 

그런데 이제 그 굴이 없어졌다는 것이다. 12절은 이전 앗수르가 얼마나 포악하게 주변을 침략하여 빼앗고 약탈했는지를 보여준다. 그들은 자신들의 배를 치우고 자신들의 자녀들을 위해서 남들을 무자비하게 착취하였다. 이제 그 사자의 굴이 없어져 버린 것이다. 

 

-  Assyrian chronicles and sculpture repeatedly referred to the lion. Assyrian kings often presented themselves in terms that resembled the behavior of lions,71 and the Assyrians boasted of their cruelty toward their enemies. Ishtar, the Assyrian goddess, was often represented as a lioness or as mounted on a lion’s back.72 Nahum thus mocked Assyria’s tactics and its success. To the people of Judah the effect was: How the mighty have fallen!

Nahum asked two rhetorical questions. The effect was to ask, Where now was the lion’s den where he fed his cubs and dwelt in safety? What had happened to mighty Nineveh? God’s judgment had come even to the lion’s den—to Nineveh. The people of Judah no longer would fear the savagery of the lion of Assyria. Coggins and Re’emi point out that on another level “Yahweh himself can be alluded to in the prophetic tradition as a lion (cf. the picture of his roaring in Amos 1:2 and the direct comparison made in Amos 3:8), and that tradition appears to have been in our prophet’s mind in this poem.” They recognize, however, that the more prominent reference here is to the Assyrian rulers as lions.73

Nahum used several words meaning lion, thus driving home the point of Nineveh’s demise.74 In a sense Nahum spoke of the entire Assyrian society. Kings, queens, and princes manifested the beastly traits of lions. All suffered the fate of ruin. They no longer could enjoy the spoil of the nations. They no longer could dwell in safety. Most importantly, they no longer could command fear from the peoples of the world.

The “lion’s den” is a metaphor for Nineveh, a place of safety and rejoicing over the prey. “The place where they fed their young” usually refers to a pasture in Hebrew but may here be understood as “feeding place.”75 The place “where the lion and lioness went” is another metaphor for Nineveh.76 In this place the lion, lioness, and the whelps could roam in safety, oblivious to the dangers of the outside world. All such safety ended for Nineveh.

71 Robertson, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 95.

72 J. D. W. Watts, “Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah,” 114.

73 Coggins and Re’emi, Israel among the Nations, 44. See Isa 5:29.

74 Nahum spoke of the full-grown male lion (אַריֵה), the lioness or possibly Asiatic lion (לָבִיא), the young lion (כְפִיר), and the whelp (גוּר).

75 BHS suggests transposing two Hb. letters, resulting in “cave” rather than “pasture” or “feeding place.” While the transposition better fits the parallelism, the sense of the passage is not unduly affected by “feeding place,” and no manuscript or versional evidence exists to strengthen the transposition. Maier (The Book of Nahum, 278–79) says the emphasis is not on a pasture as a locality but on the food provided by the pasture. Thus he translates “fodder,” which he sees as a figure for “booty.” Patterson (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 77) argues that the term refers to “open country” and “may intend simply the district where the lion’s cave was found.”

76 The LXX uses εἰσελθεῖν, “to enter,” which in Hb. (לָבוֹא) would be only slightly different from lioness (לָבִיא). Those who follow the LXX understand this as a reference to the lion’s return to his den after hunting.

 Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 212–213.

 

13절) 사자처럼 호령하던 앗수르가 이렇게 갑자기 무너져버린 이유는 무엇인가? 바로 여호와 하나님이 그들의 대적이 되셨기 때문이다. 하나님께서는 이처럼 무자비하게 다른 이들을 억압하여 풍요로움을 누리는 것을 용납하지 않으시고 그들을 심판하신 것이다. 

만군의 여호와께서 앗수르의 대적이 되셔서 그들의 병거를 불살라 연기가 되게 하고 젊은 사자들을 칼로 멸한 것이며 당에서 네가 노략한 것을 끊을 것이며 또한 더이상 너의 파견자의 목소리가 들리지 않을 것이다라고 말씀하셨다. 

 

만군의 여호와께서 우리편이 되시면 대적할 자들이 없다. 반대로 하나님께서 우리의 반대편, 대적이 되시면 이에 견딜 자가 없다. 앗수르는 하나님의 대적이 되어 병거들이 불타없어지고, 젊은 사자들, 젊은이들을 멸하심으로 그들의 미래가 없어지게 하셨다. 또한 모든 노략한 것을 빼았겼고 도움을 청하기 위해서 달려가는 파견자들의 목소리가 들리지 않게 하셨다. 결국 완전한 멸망을 당함으로 다시는 회복되지 못할 것임을 말하는 것이다. 

 

병거, 젊은 사자, 노략한 것, 파견자는 모두 앗수르의 강력함을 상징하는 것들이다. 그런데 하나님께서 이 모든 것들을 파하실 것임을 말하고 있는 것이다. 

 

앞서 3-4절의 병거는 불타고, 젊은 사자는 죽임을 당한다. 1장 15절에서 이스라엘에 화평을 전하는 자의 소리는 들리겠지만 앗수르의 메신저의 소리를 다시 들리지 않게 될 것이다. 

-  2:13 I am against you. This divine pronouncement says it all. The final verse of ch. 2 recalls earlier images in the chapter: chariots (vv. 3–4), now up in smoke; young lions (vv. 11–12), now themselves prey to the sword; and messengers, now “no longer … heard” (v. 1 in the Hebrew text [1:15 in the English text]). The Lord’s vengeance (righteous judgment; see note on 1:2), when it comes, is irresistible and final.

ch. chapter

vv. verses in the chapter being commented on

vv. verses in the chapter being commented on

v. verse in the chapter being commented on

 D. A. Carson, ed., NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 1608.

 

-  “Chariots,” “lions,” “prey,” and “messengers” referred to the strength of the Assyrians. The Lord himself intended to reduce Nineveh’s strength to rubble. Chariots intimidated opposing warriors. At times the chariot contained three soldiers: a driver, a shield bearer, and a warrior. The swift movement of the chariot with the power of its horses and the ferocity of the warrior struck terror in ancient people.86 Again the Lord used Nineveh’s methods to punish them. Nineveh used the chariot to intimidate and to destroy. The warriors of Nineveh left the ruins of its enemies in smoke. God would use the same means to bring an end to Nineveh and to deliver the people of Judah.

The “young lions” connects this verse with the preceding verses, where the lions referred to the power of Nineveh. Though the phrase does not mean much to people unaccustomed to warfare using the sword, the Hebrew text expresses the horror of the sword, “And your young lions will be eaten with the sword.”

The picture of the young lions continues in the next clause: “I will leave you no prey on the earth” (lit., “I will cut off from the earth your prey”). Nineveh had prospered at the expense of its subjugated people. If Nineveh’s armies could not bring back its prey, Nineveh itself would suffer and ultimately fall prey to a greater force.

Nineveh sent its messengers87 and envoys throughout its sphere of influence. Now “the haughty city will have no more representative heralds, for no nation remains to be represented.”88 In Rabshakeh’s negotiations with Hezekiah’s messengers, Rabshakeh’s messengers spoke with the authority of the king and sought to undermine the resistance of the besieged peoples (1 Kgs 18:19–21, 26–27). This shows that “messengers from the Assyrian king were not simply bringers of information; rather, they symbolized the threat that failure to conform to the demand implicit in their message would bring swift and disastrous punishment from the great king of Assyria.”89 Now such messengers were silenced. No one faced their demands anymore. God had spoken the final word.

Verse 13 contains four evidences of the coming end of Nineveh. Because the awesome Lord of the universe is against Nineveh, (1) Nineveh’s chariots would be burned, (2) the sword would devour its soldiers, (3) no prey would be brought back to Nineveh, and (4) the voice of its messengers would be stilled. With vivid words and powerful metaphors, Nahum described the coming destruction of Nineveh as if it had already taken place. The Lord reigns. No nation can long endure that turns its back on God. Israel’s apostasy and Nineveh’s arrogance would both be punished.

Thus “this verse draws together the major motifs and vocabulary of Nahum’s prophecy: the Lord’s inexorable opposition to Nineveh; the destruction of its military resources; the role of ‘sword’ and ‘fire’ that ‘consume’ the enemy; the cutting off of Nineveh and its ‘prey’; the termination of its cruelty, symbolized by the ‘young lions’; and the reversal of fortunes that awaits Assyria and Judah, exemplified in the fate of the ‘heralds.’ ”90

Through these verses the Lord showed himself to be the Lord of the universe, working through history to accomplish his righteous purpose in the world. Nahum declared the Lord’s compassion for Judah by indicating the Lord’s removal of the oppressor.

86 The Hb. text seems strange at this point, reading lit., “I will burn in the smoke her chariot.” The remainder of the verse uses “your” to refer to the Assyrians, and the entire verse is a direct address of the Lord to the Assyrians. For these reasons many translations follow the LXX, which declares God’s intention to burn πλῆθός σου, “your multitude.” BHS proposes “your chariot,” which is followed by the NIV. Other proposals in BHS include “your resting place” and “your thicket.” Each of the proposals has some merit, but the point is clear in all of the ideas: the Lord is against Nineveh and will destroy the power of Nineveh.

87 For “your messengers” the MT has מַלְאָכֵֽכֵה, a “wholly abnormal” form for the second person suffix. GKC (§ 91l) suggests this is a case of dittography with the following ה and recommends reading מַלְאָכַיִךְ.

88 Maier, The Book of Nahum, 286.

89 Coggins and Re’emi, Israel among the Nations, 46.

90 Armerding, “Habakkuk,” 7:479.

 Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 215–216.