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He that dasheth in pieces - Or scattereth. The Chaldeans and Medes.
Keep the munition - Guard the fenced places. From this to the end of the fifth verse, the preparations made at Nineveh to repel their enemies are described. The description is exceedingly picturesque.
Watch the way - By which the enemy is most likely to approach.
Make thy loins strong - Take courage.
Fortify thy power - Muster thy troops; call in all thy allies.
He that dasheth in pieces - Rather, “the Disperser,” the instrument of God, whereby he should “break her in pieces like a potter‘s vessel, or should scatter” her in all lands, is come up against thy face, O Nineveh, i. e., either, over against thee”, confronting her as it were, face to face, or directed against thee. From the description of the peace of Judah, the prophet turns suddenly to her oppressor, to whom, not to Judah, the rest of the prophecy is directed. Jacob and Israel are spoken of, not to. The destroyer of Nineveh “went up against the face of Nineveh,” not in the presence of Judah and Jacob, who were far away and knew nothing of it. “Keep the munition.” While all in Judah is now peace, all in Nineveh is tumult. God whom they had defied, saying that Hezekiah could not “turn away the face of one captain of the least of his servants” Isaiah 36:9, now bids them prepare to meet him whom He would send against them. “Gird up thy loins now, like a man” Job 40:7. Thou who wouldest lay waste others, now, if theft canst, keep thyself. The strength of the words is the measure of the irony. They had challenged God; He in turn challenges them to put forth all their might.
Fence thy defenses - we might say. Their strong walls, high though they were, unassailable by any then known skill of besiegers, would not be secure.
The prophet uses a kindred and allusive word, that their protection needed to be itself protected; and this, by one continued watchfulness. Watch, he adds, the way: spy out (as far as thou canst), the coming of the enemy; strengthen the loins, the seat of strength. Elsewhere they are said to be girded up for any exertion. “Fortify thy strength exceedingly.” The expression is rare: commonly it is said of some part of the human frame, knees, arms, or mind, or of man by God.
The same words are strong mockery to those who resist God, good counsel to those who trust in God. “Keep the munition, for He who keepeth thee will not sleep Psalm 121:3; watch the way,” by which the enemy may approach from afar, for Satan approacheth, sometimes suddenly, sometimes very stealthily and subtly, “transforming himself into an angel of light.” Jerome: “Watch also the way by which thou art to go, as it is said, ‹Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein;‘ Jeremiah 6:16, so that, having stood in many ways, we may come to that Way which saith, ‹I am the Way.‘” Then, “make thy loins strong,” as the Saviour commands His disciples, “Let your loins be girded about” Luke 12:35, and the Apostle says, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” Ephesians 6:14; for nothing so strengthens as the Truth. For Christ being the Truth, whose with his whole heart hath belived in Christ, is strong against himself, and hath power over the loins, the seat of the passions. Then, since this warfare is hard, he adds, be strong, “fortify thy power mightily;” resist not listlessly, but vehemently; and that, in His strength who hath strengthened our nature, taking it to Himself and uniting it with the Godhead. For without Him, strong though thou be, thou wilt avail nothing.