For the LORD will restore the excellence of Jacob, as the excellence of Israel: for the plunderers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.
All Commentaries on Nahum 2:2 Go To Nahum 2
Cyril of Alexandria
AD 444
Keep watch on the road, gird your loins, summon your strength to the utmost, because the Lord has turned aside the abuse of Jacob, like the abuse of Israel. As though speaking to people on their way to Judea and due to reach home, he necessarily states the need now to have an eye to the road and gird their loins, that is, to be equipped and ready for the hardship of traveling, to overcome all lethargy, and to prove superior to long delays by applying irrepressible enthusiasm. Having one’s loins girt and, so to speak, decent is a sign of readiness; our Lord Jesus Christ, for instance, says to the holy apostles, or rather also to all who believe in him, “Take your place with loins girt.” It is in fact the right and proper way to travel for those preaching the divine Gospel and being ready to proceed in that direction. He therefore says, gird your loins, meaning, “be ready and equipped for departure,” for the Lord has turned aside the abuse of Jacob, like the abuse of Israel. Note once again the distinction necessarily drawn here: by Jacob he refers to the inhabitants of Samaria, that is, the ten tribes ruled over by kings from the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh, descendants of Joseph, who was son of Jacob, whereas by Israel he refers to those in Jerusalem, namely, Judah and Benjamin. Since at the devastation of Samaria by Sennacherib Jerusalem was not captured, thanks to God’s protecting them and destroying the Assyrian by the hand of an angel, and since Cyrus released not only the captives from Samaria deported to Nineveh but also those from Jerusalem as a result of Nebuchadnezzar’s capture of the country, the prophet consequently says, because the Lord has turned aside the abuse of Jacob, like the abuse of Israel, meaning by abuse enslavement or service. Now, the fact that God will release everyone, not protecting some and leaving others to be consumed by hardship, he conveys by saying, he has turned aside the abuse of Jacob as that of Israel will be turned aside; all returned to Judea, as we said, escaping from the toll taken by captivity. Now, in my view there is also a very urgent need for those redeemed by Christ to be wanting no longer to live a heedless life; rather, they should be attentive to following the straight and narrow path of a way of life pleasing to God, and gird their loins, that is, rise above bodily indulgence and pleasure and “make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires,” and prevail over passions and all lethargy. This is the way, in fact, they will come to the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, and there offer God spiritual sacrifices, having shaken off the yoke of the former servitude, and they will live a glorious and free life that is rid of all depravity.
