Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
populous No—rather, as Hebrew, "No-ammon," the Egyptian name for Thebes in Upper Egypt; meaning the portion or possession of Ammon, the Egyptian Jupiter (whence the Greeks called the city Diospolis), who was especially worshipped there. The Egyptian inscriptions call the god Amon-re, that is, Amon the Sun; he is represented as a human figure with a ram's head, seated on a chair (Jeremiah 46:25; Ezekiel 30:14-16). The blow inflicted on No-ammon, described in Nahum 3:10, was probably by the Assyrian Sargon (see on Isaiah 18:1; Isaiah 20:1). As Thebes, with all her resources, was overcome by Assyria, so Assyrian Nineveh, notwithstanding all her might, in her turn, shall be overcome by Babylon. English Version, "populous," if correct, implies that No's large population did not save her from destruction.
situate among the rivers—probably the channels into which the Nile here divides (compare Isaiah 19:6-8). Thebes lay on both sides of the river. It was famed in HOMER'S time for its hundred gates [Iliad, 9.381]. Its ruins still describe a circumference of twenty-seven miles. Of them the temples of Luxor and Karnak, east of the river, are most famous. The colonnade of the former, and the grand hall of the latter, are of stupendous dimensions. One wall still represents the expedition of Shishak against Jerusalem under Rehoboam (I Kings 14:25; II Chronicles 12:2-9).
whose . . . wall was from the sea—that is, rose up "from the sea." MAURER translates, "whose wall consisted of the sea." But this would be a mere repetition of the former clause. The Nile is called a sea, from its appearance in the annual flood (Isaiah 19:5).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Nahum 3:8:
Job 41:31
Isaiah 19:25
Isaiah 20:4
Isaiah 33:21
Jeremiah 46:25
Ezekiel 29:14
Amos 6:2
Nahum 2:8
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