Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile with water around her? The river was her defense, the waters her wall. – Nahum 3:8

Today's Scripture Reading (April 29, 2023): Nahum 3

In 667, the Assyrians attacked Egypt. At that time, Taharqa, the Pharaoh of Egypt, abandoned Lower Egypt and took refuge in Thebes. Taharqa stayed in Thebes until his death three years later. His relative Tantamani replaced Egypt's Pharaoh, likely a nephew of Taharqa, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kush in Northern Sudan. While Tantamani would rule over Kush for another decade, his reign in Thebes would be short-lived. The Assyrian army would move against Thebes in the months following the death of Taharqa. When the Assyrians arrived at the city, Tantamani had already fled south. The Assyrians sacked the city, an event not mentioned in the Egyptian annals but is prominent in the Assyrian histories. They defeated the city and installed Psamtik I as the new Pharaoh of Egypt, ending the rule of the Kushite Kings over the African nation. Psamtik was a ruler who, at least in the early years, was willing to be subservient to the Assyrian rulers. As the years passed and Assyria became less powerful, Psamtik reunited Egypt as a nation and increased his authority over the country. But Thebes would never again regain its position of influence.

Nahum points to Thebes as an example for the Assyrians. Writing in the years immediately following the Sack of Thebes, Nahum reminds his readers that there was a time when the city of Thebes was thought to be impenetrable. No one believed that the Egyptian city could be defeated. In fact, Thebes was so secure that Egyptian Pharaohs like Taharqa ran to it as a place of safety. And then, one day, it wasn't. The Assyrians defeated the city and heavily plundered it, removing from the city both its wealth and its significance.

And so, Naham asks the Assyrians if they really think what happened to Thebes couldn't happen to them. And he points to the Assyrians to make his point. Do you believe that what you did to Thebes someone can't do to you? Because if you do, you are fools. You did what the world thought was impossible in Thebes. And someday, someone will accomplish the impossible and defeat Nineveh.

Thebes fell in 663 B.C.E. Nahum penned his prophecy a few years later when Assyria's decline began to become apparent. Nineveh, the largest city in the world, was sacked and defeated in 612 B.C.E., barely fifty years after the fall of Thebes, Nineveh was overthrown by a coalition of former subservient nations. And like Thebes, Nineveh lost its importance after the city was sacked, and that significance was never regained.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 21