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Nah_3:8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, [that had] the waters round about it, whose rampart [was] the sea, [and] her wall [was] from the sea?
Ver. 8. Art thou better than populous No] Heb. No Amon, a great grain country, and therefore populous; for where victual and good trading is to be had thither people will repair apace. No (that is Alexandria) was the nursing mother of Egypt (Amon, i.e. Nutritia Alma mater), and Egypt was called the world’s barn or storehouse, horreum unde hauriatur, Gen_42:1. It is called, Jer_46:25, Amon de No; Eze_30:13, Hamon No; and Eze_30:14; Eze_30:16, No, without any addition. This was the old name of this city before it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God had given Egypt as his pay for his pains in taking Tyre. It was rebuilt by Alexander the Great, and he called it, after his own name, Alexandria. Amon it was called for the reasons above given. Though there be those who fetch that name of it from Ham, the son of Noah, Theodoret will have it so called from Jupiter Hammon, whose son Alexander desired to be held, and from whom the Egyptian husbandmen were called Ammonii, and their arable Ammonia, as Herodotus writes. Plutarch also telleth us that the Africans worship an unknown God by the name of Amon, that is (in their language) Heus, tu quis es? This city, therefore, is called No Amon, probably to distinguish it from other cities of the same name, as Alexandria of Egypt, Caesarea of Philippi, Augusta Vindclicorum, &c. Josephus saith that it abounded in people and wealth; being little less than Jerusalem in size (Lib. 2, de Bell. Jud., cap. 16). Thinkest thou now, O Nineveh (saith God here), that thou art in a better or safer condition than this city once was? but
“ Iam magnum infelix nil nisi nomen habet. ”
Let Nineveh go to Jerusalem, to Shiloh, Jer_7:12, and do as Scipio did when, beholding the downfall of Carthage, he foresaw and bewailed the like future destiny of Rome, his own country, Succurrat illud, mutato nomine de to fabula narratur.
That was situate among the rivers] Which is held the best situation for profit, pleasure, and strength.
That had the waters round about it] The river Nile surrounded it (saith Strabo), but could not mote it up from God’s fire. See Psa_33:17 Pro_21:30. {See Trapp on "Psa_33:17"} {See Trapp on "Pro_21:30"}
Whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?] She had the Egyptian sea on one side and the lake of Mareotis on the other, which the Hebrews called the sea.