This image of a powerful attacker is reinforced in the way Nahum describes the chariots. In Nahum’s day chariots were the most feared machinery of warfare. The metal of the chariots in the Babylonian army flashed in the sunlight and the long cypress spears of the fighting men were being held ready for battle as the troops were gathered for battle.
3 The shield of his mighty men is red; his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them; the cypress spears are brandished.