The river gates are thrown openThis phrase refers to the strategic military action during the siege of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Historically, the Tigris River played a crucial role in the city's defense. The "river gates" likely refer to the floodgates or sluice gates that controlled the water flow into the city. During the Babylonian and Median attack on Nineveh, it is believed that heavy rains caused the river to flood, weakening the city's defenses and allowing the invaders to breach the walls. This event fulfills Nahum's prophecy of Nineveh's downfall, demonstrating God's judgment against the city for its wickedness and cruelty. The opening of the river gates symbolizes the removal of divine protection, allowing the enemies to enter.
and the palace collapses
The collapse of the palace signifies the destruction of the Assyrian royal authority and the end of its oppressive reign. The palace was not only a symbol of political power but also a center of cultural and religious life. Its fall represents the complete overthrow of the Assyrian Empire, as prophesied by Nahum. This event is a vivid illustration of God's sovereignty and justice, as He brings down the proud and mighty. The imagery of a collapsing palace can also be seen as a type of the ultimate judgment against all earthly powers that oppose God, pointing forward to the final victory of Christ over all kingdoms of the world.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
NinevehThe capital city of the Assyrian Empire, known for its great wealth and power, but also for its wickedness and cruelty. Nahum prophesies its downfall.
2.
The River GatesRefers to the gates controlling the flow of the Tigris River, which ran through Nineveh. Their opening symbolizes the city's vulnerability and impending destruction.
3.
The PalaceRepresents the seat of Assyrian power and authority. Its collapse signifies the end of Assyrian dominance and the fulfillment of God's judgment.
4.
NahumA prophet who delivered God's message of judgment against Nineveh, emphasizing God's sovereignty and justice.
5.
The Assyrian EmpireA dominant force in the ancient Near East, known for its military prowess and oppressive rule over conquered peoples.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty Over NationsGod controls the rise and fall of empires. No power is beyond His reach or judgment.
The Consequences of SinPersistent sin and rebellion against God lead to destruction. Nineveh's fate serves as a warning to all nations and individuals.
The Certainty of God's JudgmentGod's promises of judgment are sure. Just as Nineveh fell, so will all who oppose God's righteousness.
The Importance of Genuine RepentanceTemporary repentance, as seen in Nineveh's history, is insufficient. True repentance involves a lasting change of heart and behavior.
Hope for the OppressedGod's judgment on oppressive powers brings hope and deliverance to those who suffer under their rule.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Nahum 2:6?
2.How does Nahum 2:6 illustrate God's judgment against Nineveh's defenses?
3.What lessons can we learn about God's sovereignty from Nahum 2:6?
4.How does Nahum 2:6 connect to God's justice seen in other scriptures?
5.In what ways can Nahum 2:6 inspire trust in God's ultimate justice today?
6.How can understanding Nahum 2:6 impact our view of divine intervention in history?
7.What historical event does Nahum 2:6 refer to regarding Nineveh's destruction?
8.How does Nahum 2:6 demonstrate God's judgment and justice?
9.What archaeological evidence supports the events described in Nahum 2:6?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Nahum 2?
11.What caused the destruction of Nineveh?
12.What defines Christian archaeology?
13.Does the scale of Solomon's building program described in 2 Chronicles 8:1-6 align with known timelines and resources from that era?
14.How does the forced labor mentioned in 2 Chronicles 8:7-8 reconcile with biblical portrayals of Solomon's wisdom and godly leadership?What Does Nahum 2:6 Mean
The river gates are thrown open• Nahum pictures the moment God sovereignly removes Nineveh’s defenses. The city’s system of canals and sluice gates—designed to divert the Khosr River and protect the walls—will be flung wide, no longer restraining the torrent.
• The phrase fulfillsNahum 1:8, “With an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh”, showing that what God earlier promised now strikes.
• Such sudden exposure mirrors earlier judgments: the Lord “opened the windows of the heavens” in the flood (Genesis 7:11-12) and caused the Jordan to “stand still” for Israel’s passage (Joshua 3:14-17). In every case, He rules the waters.
• Assyria once boasted of conquering nations “whose rivers were full of water” (Isaiah 37:25), but now the Almighty turns that boast against them, reminding us that “the LORD is against you” (Nahum 2:13).
• The opened gates also symbolize spiritual vulnerability. When God removes His restraining hand, no human fortification or strategy can stand (Psalm 127:1).
and the palace collapses• As floodwaters surge, the royal residence—the proud heart of Assyrian power—crumbles. Archaeology confirms that parts of Nineveh’s palace complex were built with sun-dried bricks that easily dissolved when water breached the foundations.
• The scene echoesPsalm 46:6, “Kingdoms totter…,” emphasizing that earthly thrones are fragile before the King of kings.
•Zephaniah 2:13-15 foretells the same downfall: Nineveh will become “a desolation, dry as a desert” after her palaces lie wrecked and empty.
• The collapse is total and irreversible, answering centuries of violence and cruelty (Nahum 3:19). God’s justice vindicates the oppressed, just as He toppled Pharaoh’s house into the Red Sea (Exodus 14:27-28) and Belshazzar’s kingdom in one night (Daniel 5:30-31).
• For believers, the sight warns against misplaced confidence. Jesus’ parable of the two builders (Matthew 7:24-27) shows that only lives founded on His word remain when storms rise.
summaryNahum 2:6 vividly portrays God opening Nineveh’s river defenses and leveling her palace, proving His word true, His power unmatched, and His justice certain. What human pride erected, divine sovereignty sweeps away, urging every heart to build on the Rock that cannot collapse.
(6)
The gates of the rivers.--This verse is one of great importance. The account of Ctesias, preserved by Diodorus Siculus, tells us that for over two years the immense thickness of the walls of Nineveh baffled the engineering skill of the besiegers; but that "in the third year it happened that by reason of a continual discharge of great storms, the Euphrates (
sic) being swollen, both inundated a part of the city and overthrew the wall to the extent of twenty stadia." The king saw in this the fulfilment of an oracle, which had declared that the city should fall when "the river became an enemy to the city." Determined not to fall into the hands of his foes, he shut himself up with all his treasures in the royal citadel, which he then set on fire. We believe that this account, though inaccurate in detail, may be regarded as based on a substratum of historical fact. So gigantic were the fortifications of Nineveh, that of those on the east, where the city was most open to attack, Mr. Layard writes: "The remains still existing . . . almost confirm the statements of Diodorus Siculus that the walls were a hundred feet high, and that three chariots could drive upon them abreast" (
Nineveh and Babylon, p. 660). Against ramparts such as these the most elaborate testudo of ancient times may well have been comparatively powerless. On the other hand, the force of a swollen river has often proved suddenly fatal to the strongest modern masonry. It would be specially destructive where, as in the case of Nineveh, the walls inundated were of sun-dried brick or "clay-bat." Thus the fate of the city may well have been precipitated in accordance with the terse prediction of this verse. The "gates of the rivers" (
i.e., the dams which fenced the Khausser, which ran through Nineveh, and the Tigris, which was outside it) are forced open by the swelling torrents, and lo, the fate of the city is sealed! ramparts against which the battering-ram might have plied in vain are sapped at the very foundation; palace walls are undermined, and literally "dissolve;" the besieger hastens to avail himself of the disaster, and (in the single word of
Nahum 2:7)
it-is-decided. It is unnecessary to identify the "palace" which thus succumbs. Neither is it a reasonable objection that the palaces of Khorsabad and Kouyunjik, lying near the Khausser, bear the marks of fire, not water. If Nahum must have in mind some particular palace, it may be fairly argued that water is not such a demonstrative agency as the sister element; and that nothing would so effectively conceal the damage done by the inundation as the subsequent conflagrations effected by the victorious besieger. The verb
namog,"dissolved," we thus take in its literal signification of the dissolution of a solid substance by the action of water; not as Dr. Pusey, figuratively, of the "dissolution of the empire itself.
Verse 6. - All defence is vain. The prophet describes the last scene.
The gates of the rivers shall be (
are)
opened. The simplest explanation of this much disputed clause is, according to Strauss and others, the following: The gates intended are those adjacent to the streams which encircled the city, and which were therefore the best defended and the hardest to capture. When these were carried, there was no way of escape for the besieged. But, as Rosenmuller remarks, it would have been an act of folly in the enemy to attack just that part of the city which was most strongly defended by nature and art. We are, therefore, induced to take "the gates of the rivers," not literally, but as a metaphorical expression (like "the windows of heaven,"
Genesis 7:1 l;
Isaiah 24:18) for an overwhelming flood, and to see in this a reference to the fact mentioned by Diod. Sic. (2:27), that the capture of Nineveh was owing to a great and unprecedented inundation, which destroyed a large portion of the fortifications, and laid the city open to the enemy. "At the northwest angle of Nineveh," says Professor Rawlinson, "there was a sluice or flood gate, intended mainly to keep the water of the Khosr-su, which ordinarily filled the city moat, from flowing off too rapidly into the Tigris, but probably intended also to keep back the water of the Tigris, when that stream rose above its common level. A sudden and great rise in the Tigris would necessarily endanger this gate, and if it gave way beneath the pressure, a vast torrent of water would rush up the moat along and against the northern wall, which may have been undermined by its force, and have fallen in" (Rawlinson, 'Ancient Monarchies,' 2. p. 397, edit. 1871). The suggestion that the course of its rivers was diverted, and that the enemy entered the town through the dried channels, has no historical basis. Dr. Pusey explains the term to mean the gates by which the inhabitants had access to the rivers. But these would be well guarded, and the open. ing of them would not involve the capture of the city, which the expression in the text seems to imply. The LXX. gives,
πόλεων διηνοίχθησαν, "The gates of the cities were opened."
The palace shall be (is)
dissolved; or,
melteth away. Some take this to signify that the hearts of the in. habitants melt with fear, or the royal power vanishes in terror. That the clause is to be taken literally, to denote the destruction of the royal palace by the action of the waters, seems to be negatived by the fact that the Assyrian palaces were built on artificial mounds of some thirty or forty feet in elevation, composed of sun-dried bricks united into a solid mass, and were thus secured from the effects of an inundation (see Bosoms, 'Nineveh and its Discoveries,' p. 129, etc.). There is evidence, too, that fire played a great part in the destruction of the temples and palaces (see note on Nahum 3:13).
Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew
The riverהַנְּהָר֖וֹת(han·nə·hā·rō·wṯ)Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5104:A stream, prosperitygatesשַׁעֲרֵ֥י(ša·‘ă·rê)Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 8179:An opening, door, gateare thrown open,נִפְתָּ֑חוּ(nip̄·tā·ḥū)Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 6605:To open wide, to loosen, begin, plough, carveand the palaceוְהַֽהֵיכָ֖ל(wə·ha·hê·ḵāl)Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1964:A large public building, palace, templeerodes away.נָמֽוֹג׃(nā·mō·wḡ)Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4127:To melt
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OT Prophets: Nahum 2:6 The gates of the rivers are opened (Nah. Na) 
