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So we're finishing up the book of Nahom, Nahom chapter 3. This is the conclusion of the matter. And so in Nahom chapter 3, obviously we know what Nahom is about. It's about the burden of Nineveh. And so in each chapter, actually Nineveh is brought up by name and it's going to be brought up again in this chapter. But the first thing that we see here in chapter 3 verse 1, it says, woe to the bloody city. It is full of lies and robbery. The prey departed not, the noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels and the prancing horses and of the jumping chariots. The horsemen lifted up both the bright sword and the glittering spear, and there is a multitude of slain and a great number of carcasses, and there is none end of their corpses. They stumble upon their corpses. So it's basically talking about the bloody city. Basically how they've slain a lot of people. They've killed a lot of people. And they've conquered a lot of people. And you can see this kind of attitude of Assyria when Assyria was trying to take out Judah with Hezekiah. And so go to Isaiah chapter 36. Now this account with Rabshiqui coming to the wall of Jerusalem and talking to the people on the wall and that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came up to try to take out Judah. This account is in 2 Kings, it's in 2 Chronicles, and it's in Isaiah 36. And so this is something that's brought up a lot. So you hear about Rabshiqui and Sennacherib a lot. And if you know, it actually happens in 2 Kings chapter 18. And if you remember 2 Kings chapter 17 is where the northern kingdom of Israel was completely decimated. So we already kind of went through that. I forget what sermon that was. We talked about how the northern kingdom of Israel was completely taken out by the Assyrians. And in chapter 18 they're trying to take out Judah. So they're coming, they went through the northern kingdom and they're basically coming to Judah. But I just want you to see their attitude on how they're talking to the king of Judah. And basically they're like a kingdom that to them can't be taken out. And they're just all powerful and no one can stand in their way. And that's basically what they're coming against Judah as. So in Isaiah 36 and verse 1, and I know this is a broad Bible but I just want you to see when you get to Nahum and you see this thing about them being a bloody city you can see why because they've conquered a lot of countries. And so in Isaiah 36 and verse 1 there it says, Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, the Sennacherib king of Assyria, came up against all the defense cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lakish to Jerusalem on the king Hezekiah with a great army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shibnah the scribe, and Joah Asaph's son the recorder. Now just to kind of give you in this, Eliakim is Jeremiah's dad. And so you kind of see after this Jeremiah comes into the picture with the kings after that. Verse 4, it says, And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? I say, sayest thou, but they are but vain words. I have counsel and strength for war, now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me? So thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed on Egypt, wherein if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. But if thou say to me, We trust in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah had taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? So I want to stop there for a second. This is a straw man, okay. Rabshakeh is saying, You say you trust in the Lord, well didn't Hezekiah take down all the high places, or the high places what the Lord wanted? And this is what people will do a lot of times is they'll say something like the fact that you're not doing something that they think is biblical, right? And like loving everybody and all this stuff and it's a straw man because they took down the high places because God was against that. And so he's basically, but he's trying to play these mind games like this is the Hezekiah that took down all the high places of your Lord, right? And so he's making this argument with them. Verse 8, Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. Isn't that a backhanded comment? He's saying, I'm going to give you all these horses even if you can't even find people to sit on these, I'm going to give you so many horses. And so you can just see the arrogance in this. In verse 9, How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land and destroy it. There's a lie. Verse 11, Then said Eliakim and Shibnah and Joah unto Raphshaki, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in Assyrian language, for we understand it, and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. But Raphshaki said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? Hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you? Then Raphshaki stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us. This city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and eat ye every one of his vine and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one of the waters of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware, lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sifarvayim, and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? So that's what Assyria is like. When you think of this bloody city that's about to be completely decimated by God, you think about the fact that this is the kind of country you're dealing with. A country that's basically saying, Who are your gods, and who is the Lord? And we obviously know the story about this, what happens later, how God basically takes care of this whole issue with Zanacharib and Rapshaki and all this stuff. And so, obviously, Jerusalem doesn't get taken out by the Assyrians. The Assyrians are going to be completely decimated by Nebuchadnezzar. And so Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, that's what takes over after the Assyrians. So I just wanted you to see that when you talk about the prancing horses and you talk about all the slain, the numbers of the carcasses, and it says that they stumble upon their corpses. So just think about their war record, so to speak, is high. So why are they called a bloody city? Well there's other reasons why they're called a bloody city. Go to Nahum chapter 3 and verse 4, because it goes on with that, about them being a bloody city. In verse 4 it says, Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms and families through her witchcrafts. Now this is very similar, what we're going to see is that this is pretty much just like reading Revelation chapter 17, the great horror of Babylon. And she's the well-favored harlot. And so the well-favored harlot is Nineveh, that bloody city. And what's interesting about this is when you think about how Nineveh dealt with Israel and Judah, go to Ezekiel chapter 23, because Israel and Judah basically, what's going on here is it's talking about how Nineveh was basically like this whore that sold nations and all this stuff, and Israel and Judah got sucked into it. And Ezekiel 23 is a very crass passage, okay, we're not going to read the whole thing. I've read all of Isaiah 36, but we're not going to read all this, but I do want to read just a little portion of the beginning of Ezekiel 23, if you want to read the whole thing later, you can see this. But this is what I believe when it's talking about the fact that this well-favored harlot and how she sold the nations through her whoredoms. And so a lot of times when you're dealing with whoredoms and stuff like that, you're dealing with idolatry. You're dealing with idol worship and worshiping other gods. And it's likening it onto adultery with a man and a woman, right? And so nations and all this stuff, it'll talk about cities being women and how they're whores, okay, but it's not talking about in a physical aspect like we would think of a whore that's a woman or a man that's a whoremonger and how that's a physical aspect, we're talking spiritually. But in Ezekiel 23 and verse 1 it says, the word of the Lord came again unto me saying, Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother, and they committed whoredoms in Egypt. They committed whoredoms in their youth. There were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teeth of their virginity, and the names of them were Ahala, the elder, and Ahalaba, her sister, and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Now you're like, what in the world is this talking about, Ahalaba, Ahala? In verse 4 here at the very end, it tells us what he's saying here, thus were their names, Samaria is Ahala and Jerusalem is Ahalaba. So when you're going down through this chapter and you see Ahala and Ahalaba, there's your key as far as who's that talking about. You're either talking about Samaria, which is the northern kingdom of Israel, or you're talking about Jerusalem, which is Judah. So those are the capital cities of those two countries, and again, remember, the cities are usually likened on the women, and so that's why it's talking about them being whores. Now verse 5, and notice what it says, and it says, Ahala played the harlot when she was mine, and she doted on her lovers and on the Assyrians, her neighbors, which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. Now when you're reading at the beginning of this chapter in Nahum, it talks about the prancing horses and jumping chariots and all this stuff, and then it goes straight into talking about the fact that she's the well-favored harlot, and isn't that exactly what we're dealing with in Ezekiel chapter 23, is all this stuff about Ahalaba, or Ahala, and that's obviously Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel, and how she doted upon her lovers and on the Assyrians, her neighbors, and it talks about how Judah did the same exact thing if you read down in that chapter. And so that's what we have going on here in the physical realm and exactly what this is talking about. So when you're looking at Nahum and you're thinking, okay, this is Nineveh, the physical city of Nineveh in Assyria, that's what it's talking about. It's talking about how she basically pulled in all these countries to worship other gods, and they doted upon them, and basically they were probably sucked in with all the nice things of Assyria. Assyria is pretty much like the America of our world at that time, and so they were sucked into all the lavish things of Assyria, all the things that they would be admiring and all that stuff, and so then they got sucked into worshiping their gods. And so that's the physical realm, but then obviously when we look at Nahum, we see the far future as far as end times, and we talked about this before in chapter two a little bit, but go to Revelation chapter 17. So she's called the well-favored harlot. It's interesting because harlots and whores are mentioned in Revelation chapter 17 when we're dealing with Babylon the Great. And so this is the well-favored harlot. Babylon in the end times is the mother of harlots. And so I just want to talk about this, and we've already talked about this before, about the seven heads of the dragon, and we talked about how Assyria is that second head that's being taken out. And so I just want to show you that here in Revelation chapter 17, starting there in verse one. It says, And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Sound familiar with the well-favored harlot and all her whoredoms and her witchcrafts? Verse three. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom, the seven heads or seven mountains on which the woman sitteth, and there are seven kings, five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come. When he cometh, he must continue a short space, and the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition. So we see a lot of information here, and this is really just, to me this really nails down that Nineveh, that Assyria is one of those heads. So remember we talked about the seven heads of this dragon. The seven heads, and it says there are seven kings, so when you talk about the seven heads of the dragon, what you're talking about is seven kingdoms throughout time. The ten horns are ten kings that are going to be in one period of time, at the very end. Those aren't throughout time, like those ten kings haven't come yet. Or if they are here, they're here right now, when that kingdom is going to be set up. But the seven heads, the reason that they have to be from time past, because it says that five are fallen and one is. When John was writing down these letters to the seven churches, this is what was going on. That's the time frame. When Rome was there, it says five are fallen, one is. Who's the one that is? Rome. And there's one yet to come. And so that gives us a marker, and we already went through this with Daniel. And so we saw that if the sixth one is Rome, that means the fifth one would be Greece, and the fourth one would be the Medo-Persians, and then the third one would be Babylon. So then you have two other ones, okay, well who's the two other? And we talked about how that was Egypt and Assyria, and what we're going to find out interesting is that Egypt's brought up in here in this passage. You may not even realize it, but I'm going to show that to you, that Egypt's actually brought up in here about how they were destroyed just like Nineveh's about to be destroyed. But this, to me, validates that whole, the theory of Assyria being one of those heads, that second head that's destroyed because there's so much linked to it. She's a well-favored harlot, she's the bloody city, and other things that are mentioned here about her with Revelation chapter 17, and the mother of harlots is what Babylon is called. So if you think about Babylon and how, Babylon's kind of like an all-encompassing term to mean all of these different kingdoms that have come throughout time here, and how Babylon the Great would be the mother of all these harlots. So you can think about Egypt was a harlot, Assyria's a harlot, the physical Babylon that was there was a harlot, and then all these are harlots, and then there's going to be the great mother whore, you know, so to speak, of Babylon the Great in the end times, where this beast that's going to be of the seven, he's going to be the eighth, and that kingdom is going to be the mother of harlots. And so, to me, and it says that the woman was drunken with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and what's the first thing said about this city? Woe to the bloody city. And so that's exactly, when you see Babylon in the end times, the big thing that's talking about how he's going to avenge their blood. Think of the fifth seal that's open, how long oh Lord, and he goes into that about avenging their blood. And so that definitely fits, but that's seven heads, the seven kings throughout time. But that's what I think is interesting in here, because Nineveh is going to be completely decimated, and it's very similar, I mean, the stuff that's said in here is just like what we see with Revelation 18, and I want to show you that, and then I'm going to show you how Egypt ties in with this, and so actually in this chapter you can kind of see those two heads, those first two heads before you get into Babylon. And so, in Nahum, and I know this is kind of deep, but stick with me, we're in a minor prophet and the minor prophets are going to be a little deeper, but back in Nahum chapter three, this is where he's really, he's pronouncing the judgment against Nineveh, so the first portion of this chapter is really kind of telling you who Nineveh is, who's this bloody city, what are they about? And so kind of just describing that city, once you get to verse five there, this is where God is coming in again, pronouncing his judgment. So in chapter two we saw a lot of God's pronouncement of judgment, remember chapter one was more about this is who God is, right? He's kind of pronouncing, I'm God, this is what I'm about. Chapter two is basically where he's saying, hey, I'm against you, and this is what's going to happen to you. Chapter three, we start off here where it's basically talking about what that city's like, what they're about, and then he's pronouncing judgment against them. Verse five, it says, behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame, and I will cast abominable filth upon thee and make thee vile, and I will set thee as a gazing stock, and it shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee and say, Nineveh is laid waste, who will bemoan her? Whence shall I seek comforters for thee? Now what's interesting is Zephaniah, Zephaniah actually covers this as well, talking about the desolation of Nineveh, and through studying this, it looks like to me that Egypt was taken out by Nebuchadnezzar, and I'm going to show you that, and then Assyria was soon after taken out by the Babylonians, so it's like the Babylonians took out those two heads because Egypt was kind of still lingering, and as you saw when we read in Isaiah 36, Egypt was not as strong as it used to be, because remember we were talking about how they were leaning on that broken reed, that bruised reed, it was saying in another place, but Egypt wasn't taken out by the Assyrians, so they were obviously still kind of independent from the Assyrians, but they weren't the power they used to be, and so Babylon's going to come in, we'll see after I get through this, and Babylon's going to come out and take out the Egyptians and he's going to take out the Assyrians, and then obviously Babylon's going to be that world power, and so when you get into Nahum here, it looks like the Egyptians have already been taken out, I'm going to get to that, but Zephaniah chapter 2, and the reason why I say this is because Nineveh hasn't been desolate yet, and Zephaniah is written during Josiah's time, so that's what's interesting about that, because Josiah is talking about Nineveh being laid waste, and it looks like in Zephaniah's day Egypt could have been already taken out, in Nahum's time it looks like Egypt was already taken out, and so in Zephaniah chapter 2 verse 13, and I'll do a recap on this, I know this is a lot of information, but I found some interesting information studying this out, Zephaniah 2 verse 13 it says, and he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness, and flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, and all the beasts of the nations, both the comrade and the bitter, shall lodge in the upper lentils of it, their voice shall sing in the windows, desolation shall be in the thresholds, for he shall uncover the cedar work, this is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me, how has she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in, everyone that passes by her shall hiss and wag his hand. Now this is almost like verbatim reading Revelation 18. Now there's a lot of stuff in here as far as, but this is obviously talking about the same desolation that Nahum chapter 3 is foretelling about, and so Zephaniah is laying down that same thing, and what we'll see is that when you read Revelation 18, go to Revelation 18, the language here is very, very similar, and the one thing that I always think about in Revelation 18 is about how Babylon is going to be fallen, but it's going to be given to every unclean and hateful bird, and that's what's brought up here is about the comrade and the bitter and shall lodge in the lentils and in the windows, but notice it says that in Zephaniah that he shall uncover the cedar work, remember that Nineveh was going to be made naked, we read in Nahum, and so when it's talking about being made naked, you're basically just stripping them of all their goods. It's kind of like they're spoiling them, right? If you took out, it'd be kind of like if someone was in here and they had a whole bunch of jewelry on, you just stripped them from that, it's kind of like you stripped them naked of all their goods, so to speak, and so that's what's going on with Nineveh, but it's also going to happen to the end times Babylon on how that's going to go down, and so as we read that with how it's going to become a wilderness, it's going to, you know, all these animals are going to come in, it's going to be basically like a ruin. It's going to be a ruined city where there's just going to be animals roaming around, and it's pretty much what it's saying, and then it talks about how this is the rejoicing city that dwelleth carelessly, that saith in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me. Now that sounds really familiar, now when we get into Revelation 18, so think about that. This city has said in her heart, I am and there is none beside me. They said carelessly. Chapter 18, Revelation chapter 18 verse 1, it says, and after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory, and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the Great has fallen, has fallen, and has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine and the wrath of her fornication and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues for her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works and the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her for she saith in her heart I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her and the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning standing afar off for the fear of her torment saying alas, alas the great city, that great city Babylon that mighty city for in one hour is thy judgment come. There's so many similarities that I won't even be able to get to as far as Nineveh and this city right here. But I mean you could see there where she says I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow and Zephaniah says about Nineveh it says that this is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly that said in her heart I am and there is none beside me. So it's very similar in the language that's being said there. Obviously the cage of every unclean and hateful bird and then Zephaniah is talking about the cormorant and the bitter and lodging there and all these beasts coming in there and so all this stuff fits like a glove. The fact is it's going to be desolate and you're not going to hear anymore. We talked about that last week and at the end of chapter 18 where it's like there's going to be no more grinding at the mill, there's going to be heard no more at all in the end, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride is going to be heard no more at all in the end. So all these things that are just exactly like Nineveh. And so we see that fits like a glove. To me this validates the fact that Nineveh is one of those heads, one of those heads that was destroyed, one of those five kings that have fallen is the king of Assyria. And Nahum covers it, Zephaniah covers it. And in most of those passages it's like reading Revelation chapter 17 and 18. And so they're very similar. Obviously they're two different nations so this actually happened to Nineveh in Assyria but it's going to happen again so it's a foreshadowing also of something in the future. Now I was talking about how Egypt is in here and this is where I kind of was figuring this out. When I read through, every time I read through Nahum, every time I hear it read, I always think about Populus No. Now Populus just means that it's populated but No is the name of the city. So in verse 8 there, verse 8 there, it says art thou better than Populus No that was situated among the rivers that had the waters round about it whose rampart was the sea and her wall was from the sea. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength and it was infinite. Put and Lubom were thy helpers yet was she carried away, she went into captivity, her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets and they cast lots for her honorable men and all her great men were bound in chains. So whoever this is got completely decimated and he's basically saying as he goes on with this in Nahum that you're going to be like that. Now who is No? What's the city of No? Well it's actually, I believe, the capital city of Egypt. So go to Ezekiel chapter 30 and this city is taken out by Nebuchadnezzar according to Ezekiel chapter 30. Now it's hard to look up this city because No is a very popular word in the Bible and you can't put in, like when you're in Esau, you can't put in No, the city, so that you flush out all the where it says No in the Bible. So you type in No it's going to be giving you a bunch of results. But what the Bible calls No is actually, if you were to look it up, this is the biblical term for the city called ancient Thebes and that's a Greek word so obviously when this was written Greek wasn't like their main speaking language and so it's kind of like if you were to look back in history about this city it's going to have a different name if you look it up but if you put in the ancient city of No it's going to take you to this ancient city of Thebes which actually they say is where Ramesses the second and all these people so this is actually probably the city that Moses and all the children of Israel were at when and then they obviously God poured down his judgment of the ten plagues and then they left there and went to the Red Sea. When you look at it on the map, basically notice that it says it's situated among the rivers and obviously we know that wherever Pharaoh was and Moses was by the Nile because they turned the Nile red with blood and it's actually right on the Nile but what they say is that this city was actually on both sides of the Nile and you see this all the time with cities how they'll basically have the city on either side of a river but then you have the Red Sea right to the right of it. So it makes sense that this would be the town but anyway all that to say is that the Bible says that No is of Egypt because it says it in Ezekiel when it's talking about the judgment that's coming upon it. Ezekiel chapter 30 and I know we're going through a lot of Bible but I want you to see this and so I'm trying to go pretty quick here to go through this but if you were to look at anything with this you know with this populous No is Ezekiel chapter 30 and then we'll get into and then Jeremiah 46 also talks about it and so the same thing with the judgment of Nebuchadnezzar. So that's why I was saying that I believe Nebuchadnezzar actually takes out both Egypt and then he takes out the Assyrians right after that because in this chapter in Nahum No is already taken out. That's what they're saying. They're basically saying were you better than populous No and then because it says they were taken out and they were carried away. Notice in verse 1 of Ezekiel chapter 30. Ezekiel chapter 30 and verse 1 it says the word of the Lord came again unto me saying son of man prophesy and say thus saith the Lord God how ye woe worth the day for the day is near even the day of the Lord is near a cloudy day it shall be the time of the heathen and the sword shall come upon Egypt and great pain shall be in Ethiopia when the slain shall fall in Egypt and they shall take away her multitude and her foundations shall be broken down Ethiopia and Libya and Lydia and all the mangled people and Chub and the men of the land that is in league shall fall with them by the sword. Now before we get down to No I forgot to mention this but when it talks about Lubem obviously we saw about how Ethiopia and Egypt were a strength but it talks about Lubem. Lubem is I looked this up and it's the plural of Libya. So if you want to know where Putt and Lubem are it's Libya. So Libya if you look at a map you have Egypt right here and Libya is right here and Ethiopia is down here. So that's what we're talking about so this whole area it has to this populous note has to be somewhere in there. But as we get down we'll see this. So verse 6 thus saith the Lord they also that uphold Egypt shall fall and the pride of her power shall come down from the tower of Saini shall they fall in it by the swords that the Lord God and they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted and they shall know that I am the Lord when I have set a fire in Egypt and when all her helpers shall be destroyed and that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid and great pain shall come upon them as in the day of Egypt for lo it cometh thus saith the Lord God I will also make the multitude of Egypt deceased by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and he and his people with him the terrible of the nations shall be brought to destroy the land and they shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain and I will make the rivers dry and sell the land into the hand of the wicked and I will make the land waste and all that is therein by the hand of strangers I the Lord have spoken it thus saith the Lord God I will also destroy the idols and I will cause their images to cease out of Noth and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt I will put a fear in the land of Egypt and I will make pathros desolate and will set fire in Zoan and will execute judgments in Noh and I will pour my fury upon sin the strength of Egypt and I will cut off the multitude of Noh and I will set fire in Egypt sin shall have great pain and Noh shall be rent asunder and Noth shall have distresses daily. So here's your populous Noh that's being taken out and it's in Egypt, okay, and so all these places but you also have the Ethiopians that are being taken out because they're helping them so when you see the Libyans and the Ethiopians and all this stuff talked about in Nahum that's why it's talking about that because all these guys were linked in because it says whoever Egypt whoever is upholding Egypt they're going to be taken out too and if you read through Ezekiel in the beginning chapters talking about Egypt it talks about how God was going to basically they're no longer going to be a power and this judgment was pronounced earlier in Ezekiel how they were going to no longer be a power and basically they'll still be a nation but it's never going to be like they were before. It's never going to be like the former years with Egypt and isn't that the case Egypt is not like a superpower today and so but also in Jeremiah we see the same thing. Go to Jeremiah chapter 46. So this happened in Nebuchadnezzar's day when Noh was taken out. And this also goes back to Pharaoh Nico. If you remember Josiah went to war against Pharaoh Nico of Egypt and obviously God told him not to do it and Zephaniah was written in that time as well during Josiah's time anyway but at the end of Josiah's time is when Pharaoh Nico when he went up to war against Pharaoh Nico. But in Jeremiah 46 verse 1 it says the word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles against Egypt against the army of Pharaoh Nico king of Egypt which was by the river Euphrates and Carchemesh which Nebuchadnezzar or Nebuchadrezzar as it says here king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. Notice in verse 25 verse 25 of Jeremiah 46 the Lord of hosts the God of Israel said behold I will punish the multitude of Noh and Pharaoh and Egypt with their gods and their kings even Pharaoh and all them that trust in him and I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants and afterwards it shall be inhabited as in the days of old said the Lord. So to me I see no doubt that Noh this populous city I believe it was the capital of Egypt and it was that great city that basically all the stuff happened with Moses and all that stuff and at this point they weren't that super power like they were back then like in Moses' day I believe Egypt was the super power that was around but as you see with how the Assyrians talked to Judah and how they were basically mocking Egypt how they were this broken reed so they weren't like they used to be but God is basically taking them out and he's using the king of Babylon to do it so Nebuchadrezzar Nebuchadnezzar you know they just sometimes there's an R sometimes there's an N in there depending on which book you're in he takes out a lot of people and so obviously that's why he's when you look at him as being the head of gold he doesn't have any adversaries he is the king of kings when it comes to this world at that point and when you have the Assyrians the Assyrians still kind of had Egypt there where they didn't rule everybody but Babylon they ruled everybody and as you go down on that the kingdoms became inferior if you remember that that that statue that he saw he was the head of gold and then you had the silver then you had the brass then you had the iron and he kept saying there's going to be an inferior kingdom so the Medo-Persians even though the Persians were a very great kingdom they still were inferior to Babylon they didn't control as much as Babylon Babylon was like that world power and that's why when you look at you know why is it Babylon the great in the end times because that's what it's picturing is that Babylon that ruled every single province of the world and so that world power that dominated every inch of the world and so I just wanted to show you that populace know they got the same punishment that Nineveh is about to get as we're reading this in the story so I believe Nahum chapter 3 actually shows us how that both those two heads of that that that seven-headed dragon were taken out by Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar was that third head and then obviously down the line the heads keep getting taken off by time you're at John's day five of those heads have been destroyed there's the sixth head that's there at the time the Roman Empire and then there's going to be a seventh head that comes up and the Antichrist is going to come out of that so but going back to Nahum here in Nahum here in chapter 3 verse 11 so I thought that was interesting you could study that on your own as far as but that's the only two places that I could find as far as in the Bible as far as the city of Noah so when you read that populace know you're like what is that talking about and so but when you read it in Jeremiah when it says you know I will punish the multitude of Noah and Pharaoh and Egypt with their gods you can kind of see how that's all linked together Noah is the city Pharaoh is the king and Egypt's the country and so he's punishing it all and so Noah is that great city that was situated among the rivers and I believe the Nile was in there when they were talking about that so and the rampart was the sea and the wall was the sea if you think about the the Red Sea was on its right and then above you had the Mediterranean Sea and so Egypt obviously has those two seas that are there so we kind of think that you know from sea to shining sea our ramparts are the Atlantic and the Pacific and we had the song you know talking about the ramparts you know that's what that's talking about so anyway verse 11 of Nahum chapter 3 this is really where it's just saying hey listen what happened to them that's happening to you okay so when it talks about it talked about their what was it saying about populace Noah it said that they were carried away captive and her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets they cast lots for the her honorable men and all her great men were bound in chains and in verse 11 is where it says thou also shall be drunken thou shall be hid thou also shall seek strength because of the enemy all thy stronghold shall be like fig trees when the first ripe figs with the first ripe figs for they if they are be shaken they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater and so it's basically like you're gonna be it's kind of like when I think about Daniel that sun's coming in isn't it I think about Daniel when they threw the people that accused him to Darius and it says that the lions ate him wherever they came down to the bottom of the pit or the den right and that's what I kind of think about here is that literally as soon as that fruit drops you're eating and so it's kind of like you're destroyed as soon as this happens and so there's no like waiting as far as your destruction it's kind of like Babylon's gonna be destroyed in one hour that's pretty quick and so but as we read on here verse 13 behold thy people in the midst of thee are women the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies the fire shall devour thy bars now so what does that mean when it says thy people in the midst of thee are like are it says are women that's not a compliment okay because what this is talking about is the fact that an army is coming in and your men are like women okay is what it's saying your your forces are like women and I you know the social justice warriors would lose their minds right about now but there is a difference between men and women women are the weaker vessel and when you're in a time of war and battle you want a bunch of burly men that are ready to take out the foes okay you don't want a bunch of women to fight the battle and so what this is saying is basically all the men they're as women okay now you'll see this in other places in the Bible and I didn't write it down but it talks about how that their young men will be like David and they'll be strong like lions and so you think about okay that's the man you want those are the you remember there's other places where it talks about their faces were as of lions you know you want that you want those those people that look so intimidating it looks like a lion's coming after you you don't want it looking like a bunch of delicate women are coming after you okay because it's kind of like when you read in Revelation about the locust that had the hair of women well what does that mean it means they're long hair okay it's not that complicated the hair of women means that it's long and if they're as women in a day of battle that's not a compliment and that's not a good thing I want the men that have the faces of lions okay all the men that are as men of David and so that's what this is talking about here is the fact that you know they basically pronouncing judgment and like it's pretty much like all the courage is taken away from the men and so that's how God a lot of times will allow his small forces like Gideon and stuff like that and Joshua and all them to take out certain countries is that he would put this fear in them and they would basically be they had no courage and they'd have no strength that's what that's talking about okay that's not politically correct but that's just what the Bible says so but in verse 14 this is kind of the callback to Joel where he's talking about saying you know come to call down your mighty men kind of thing and and you know beat your plow your plowshares into swords because in verse 14 says draw thee waters for the siege fortify thy strongholds go into clay and tread the mortar make strong the brick kiln there shall there shall the fire devour thee the sword shall cut thee off it shall eat thee up like the canker worm make thyself many as the canker worm make thyself many as the locust thou has multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven the canker worm spoileth and flyeth away thy crowned are as the locusts and thy captain captains as the great grasshoppers which camp in the hedges in the cold in the cold day but when the sun arises they flee away and their place is not known where they are so it's basically talking about how they spoiled a whole bunch of people but they're about to be spoiled okay it's coming back on them double it's kind of like we're talking about the the great whore and how you know how she's rewarded others reward under her double and fill up her cup double and of the wrath is going to come upon them so he's kind of pronouncing that judgment on them their merchants were above the stars of heaven and you think about the merchants that you automatically think of revelation chapter 18 with all the merchants and and how they were made rich off her delicacies and so all this stuff fits like a glove and so at the end of the chapter there and of Nahum and so I know we kind of covered a lot here but at the end of the chapter in verse 18 and the end of the book here I want to talk about this just for a second it says thy shepherds slumber O king of Assyria thy nobles shall dwell in the dust thy people are scattered upon the mountains and no man gather at them that phrase thy shepherd slumber is something that I'll probably preach on eventually like a whole sermon on this about shepherds because what's the synonym to shepherd pastor and we have a bunch of slumbering pastors in America today in our Nineveh or Babylon as far as slumbering and since they slumbered judgment came and you can get you apply this to the end times and how we're supposed to not sleep but be awake because we're children of the day we're not children of the night but we have a bunch of Christians that are slumbering we have a bunch of pastors and churches that are slumbering and that's what he's saying here with the slumbering shepherds but go to Jeremiah chapter 10 because this is something that Jeremiah brings up if you want to find the word pastor in the New Testament it's not you're not going to find it very often you're actually going to find bishop and elder a lot more than you'd find pastor but in Jeremiah you actually see the word pastor brought up a lot and so but this is what was what was basically rebuked to Judah and Jerusalem about their pastors and so why did Jerusalem get taken out by the Babylonians so there's a lot of similarities here about the pastors or the shepherds of Assyria and the pastors or the shepherds that were of Jerusalem or Judah when they got taken out and so in Jeremiah 10 and verse 20 and there's a lot of places on this but Jeremiah 10 and verse 20 says my tabernacle was spoiled and all my cords are broken my children are gone forth of me and they are not there is none to stretch forth my tent anymore and to set up my curtains for the pastors are become brutish and have not sought the Lord therefore they shall not prosper and all their flock shall be scattered sound familiar behold the noise of the brute is come and a great commotion out of the north country to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons oh Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps oh Lord correct me but but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing pour out thy fury upon the heathen that they that know thee not and upon the families that call not on thy name for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have made his habitation desolate what's interesting is Babylon takes out Egypt then they take out Assyria and then they take out Jerusalem they take out Judah and so this this all kind of you can see all the similarities between Egypt and Nineveh and how Jerusalem is taken out and we're not really getting into a lot about Jerusalem but the same kind of thing with these these shepherds or these pastors that are brutish that are slumbering and even talks about the brute now the brute is come now brute B R U I T is not like brutish okay when you think of a brute beast okay brute means dumb it means simple right brute B R U I T is another another way to say news okay the news about something okay so it's just a different way of saying so the brute of thee is come meaning that the news or the you know the message of what happened here right and so that's what that's talking about so when you're in Nahum chapter three at the very end of the book there actually I'll end with that before we get to that in Jeremiah chapter 23 a year in Jeremiah 10 Jeremiah 23 I just wanted to give you another passage on the pastors because it's very similar to what we saw there the sheep being scattered Jeremiah 23 and verse 1 it says woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture set the Lord therefore thus set the Lord God of Israel against the pastures that feed my people ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them behold I will visit upon you the evil of your doing set the Lord so there's a lot of the big condemnation on the pastors of Jerusalem and Judah and obviously he's kind of saying that with the shepherds of Assyria but the very last verse there this this sums up what happened to Nineveh that great city that that that bloody city that rejoicing city that said I am and there is none beside me and verse 19 it says there is no healing of thy bruise thy wound is grievous all that hear the brute of thee shall clap the hands over thee for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually and so when you see the brute of thee shall it says when they shall hear the brute of thee when they hear the news of what happened to you they're going to clap their hands remember they're going to hiss they're going to wag their hands when they see this it says in Zephaniah chapter 2 and so you can think about the fact of them just being like putting their hands in their mouth kind of thing like just imagine making some kind of noise of like what in the world just happened and so their wound it says that there is no healing of thy bruise thy wound is grievous and especially when you think about the fact that one of those heads is going to be wounded unto death but that deadly wound is healed see the similarities now the bible just fits like a glove when you're talking about the antichrist the beast that's going to come out and it says one of his head is wounded remember he's going to die he's going to go into the bottomless pit and he's going to be raised again and that deadly wound is healed he's of the seventh he's the eighth but he's of the seventh so that seventh head is going to be wounded but it's going to be healed and they're going to wander after the beast whose deadly wound was healed but with the Syria with Nineveh it says that this is how it ends it says there is no healing of thy bruise thy wound is grievous they're still coming back like it's not like the seventh head that's going to come back like the antichrist that ascends out of the bottomless pit they're done and so Egypt was done and this chapter is saying hey are you better than populous snow because you're going to have the same end as them and then they're taken out and then obviously Babylon becomes that power and then they take out Jerusalem and Judah so you can see all these similarities as far as what's going on with this all the whoredoms that were going on and then how God used the king of Babylon to take out all these people then he took then he took and used Darius the mead to take out the Babylonians then he used Cyrus you know Cyrus king of the king of the Persians then he used you know the Grecian so this is always going down the line these these heads that are being cut off so to speak and remember we were talking about how he's going to break the heads of leviathan and leviathan is that that serpent of the sea and we see that the dragon that came out of the sea that has seven heads and ten horns and Nineveh is one of those and Nahum is pronouncing that judgment against Nineveh that the burden of Nineveh is the book of Nahum and we see the first chapter this is who God is he's furious he revenge it he's a he's a jealous God but he's also a stronghold in a time of trouble and he know of them that trust in him and there's a lot to be said about he rebukes the sea and the wind then you get in chapter two where it's talking about the fact that hey the Lord's against Nineveh and he's going to take him out and this is all about Nineveh's judgment and what's going to happen to them chapter three we get a little more about who Nineveh is in the very beginning there but then more about how they're going to be judged and there's no healing of that bruise or that wound and their wound is grievous and so that's the end of Nineveh and so that that's what Nahum's about it's a short book but there isn't there a lot of information in there is there a lot of parallels isn't there a lot of callbacks that we see in Revelation they call back to Nahum and all that stuff there's so much in Nahum and it's just three chapters and so I enjoyed going through that book and and so all the minor prophets are deep but they're a little harder to study but I thought that was interesting about populous snow and just seeing the other references dealing with Egypt and obviously when you're dealing with those seven heads of Revelation so let's end with a word of prayer dear heavenly father Lord we thank you for this evening and pray that you'd be with us throughout this coming week and Lord just pray that you'd help us to to do our jobs rightly and just help us to provide for our families I pray that you be with those that aren't feeling well I pray to be with those that are looking for maybe better positions in their job and Lord we also pray for Pastor Boyle and just the situation at his church but Lord we just pray that you'd give us safety as we go home and Lord we pray that your name would be glorified and we pray all this in Jesus Christ's name Amen