נחום, פרק ב׳, פסוק ז׳

The final moments of a great city's fall are defined by the sudden collapse of its physical defenses and its center of power. As the invasion reaches its breaking point, the vital entryways associated with the surrounding waters are violently compromised. The primary approach among commentators is that these are the physical city gates facing or leading toward the rivers, which are breached and broken by enemy forces. However, others understand this event in a more literal sense involving water. The invading army might have intentionally broken down dams to trigger a massive flood [ביאור שטיינזלץ], or the Tigris river itself overflowed its banks to drown the city [מלבי״ם]. Another tradition interprets these compromised points as the bridges spanning the rivers [רד״ק].

Following this breach, the ultimate symbol of authority—the royal palace—is described as melting or dissolving, a concept understood as a powerful metaphor for total collapse [מצודת ציון]. Commentators debate whether this describes the physical structure of the building or the psychological state of its inhabitants. On a physical level, the royal palace is conquered and ruined by forces pouring in through the compromised river gates [אבן עזרא]. The massive structure physically shakes and trembles from the sheer force of catapult stones battering its walls [רש״י], or from the intense shockwaves of the blows striking the nearby gates [רד״ק]. Ultimately, the building is smashed and shattered by the invading army [מצודת דוד], or it simply crumbles and washes away under the overwhelming force of the floodwaters [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Conversely, this melting can be understood as the psychological collapse of the leadership inside the palace. Rather than the building itself, it is the king and his ministers who tremble and dissolve in absolute terror. Their panic is absolute because the king's sorcerers had previously predicted that the moment the river flooded the city, it would instantly fall into enemy hands [מלבי״ם].