In his vision (see Nahum 1:1) Nahum is suddenly taken by the Lord to witness a terrifying invasion. But who is the invading army and what is the place being invaded? The one possibility is that Nahum is describing the way the fearsome Assyrian army invaded its enemy on countless occasions, bringing death and destruction. Nahum 3:2–3 would therefore form a continuation of Nahum 3:1 describing the wickedness of Nineveh and explaining why God’s judgment is coming.
But in his vision so far, especially in Nahum 2, the Lord has given Nahum a very clear and graphic vision of the Babylonian invasion that is to come. Nahum 3:2–3 seems to be a continuation of that vision of the coming battle. In the midst of Nahum explaining that the Lord’s judgment is coming to Nineveh because of her past cruelty to others, Nahum is suddenly swept back into the coming battle. This sudden change only serves to emphasize how certain and devastating the Lord’s judgment is going to be.
2 The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!