Nahum

Few sections of the Old Testament have fewer underlines, wrinkles, and notes in the Bibles of most Christians than the “Minor Prophets”. Among these it is likely that Nahum receives the least airtime. After all, the book starts with “The oracle of Nineveh.” This alone causes many to skip to something “more applicable” for “New Testament” Christians, for what can we learn from a book describing the destruction of Nineveh?

As it turns out, a great deal! Upon closer inspection, Nahum strengthens Paul’s assertion that “whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rom 15.4) Specifically, Nahum reveals to us in vivid and sobering language the awesome judgment of God. Twice in Nahum God declares “Behold, I am against you” (2.13; 3.5), and this book records the devastating results of God’s opposition.

Written by “Nahum the Elkoshite” (1.1), Hailey dates the book of Nahum to the period between the fall of No-Amon (city of Amon, or Thebes, Jer. 46.25) in 633 BC to the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal and the fall of Nineveh to the Medes & Chaldeans in 612 BC.[1] The name “Nahum” translates to “Consolation” or “Consoler”, which is ironic as there is absolutely no consolation nor comfort afforded the city of Nineveh!

Outline:

• 1.2-8: God’s Power and Wrath Against His Foes
• 1.9-15: Nineveh is Condemned, While Judah is Comforted
• 2.1-13: The Overthrow of Nineveh
• 3.1-7: Nineveh’s Disgrace and Devastation for Her Sins
• 3.8-15: As They Had Done to Thebes, So Shall be Done to Them
• 3.16-19: The Aftermath of God’s Fury

From Nahum, we learn that God’s Judgment is…

1. Characteristic

God has always been described as a God of vengeance, one who is “slow to anger” (1.3; Ex. 34.6; Num. 14.18) and yet punishes the guilty (Ex. 34.7; Ps. 99.8). Even the cry of Nahum to “Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news” is a familiar one. (comp. Isa. 40.9-10; 52.7) Nahum also describes the Creator as shaking His creation upon arrival. (ex. 2 Sam. 22.8; Judg. 5.5) God’s momentous arrival and response to wickedness in Nahum is consistent with the rest of scripture. The Hebrew writer echoes Nahum’s emphasis on power and judgment: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10.31)

Many balk at Nahum’s depiction of God and His response to wickedness, especially if one suggests (as the scriptures teach) that similarly severe sanctions await all those who defy Him today. “Surely a God of love would not destroy sinners!” they would claim. For God to respond to human wickedness in any other fashion would be catastrophic, for it would signal a change in His changeless character: “For I, the LORD, do not change” (Mal. 3.6a). From Sinai to Nineveh to current day, God is consistently and characteristically a God who judges the wicked and rewards the righteous. Nahum reminds us that though our culture’s palate for the judgment of God may have changed, the flavor of divine vengeance against the wicked has not.

2. Catastrophic

Hyperbole is nigh-impossible when describing the outcome of the Creator’s fury. The questions of Nahum 1.6 rightly stand unanswerable: “Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger?” In truth none have nor can. God’s judgment against Nineveh was “overflowing” (1.8), “a complete end” (1.9), without relief (3.19), and “incurable” (3.19). If mighty Nineveh could not resist God, what city or nation could stand against His unfathomable fury? Amid the Lovecraftian depiction of the Leviathan in Job 41, God asks Job a similar rhetorical question: “None is so fierce that he dares to arouse him; Who then is he that can stand before Me?” (v.10).

The final judgment awaiting the wicked is likewise catastrophic. The God who dissolves the hills at His arrival (1.5) will one day dissolve all creation prior to final judgment (2 Pet. 3.11 ESV). He who pursues His enemies into “darkness” (1.8) has promised to cast all who defy Him into “outer darkness” (Mt. 8.12; 22.13; 25.30) to weep and gnash their teeth for all eternity. “Incurable” and “without relief” are apt descriptions of the punishment that await all who reject the Gospel of Christ and shake their feeble fists against the Creator. Nahum calls us to remember and resume our reverent fear of He who can destroy both body and soul in Hell (Matt. 10.28).

3. Comforting

How can this “Comforter” comfort Israel with devastating language against Nineveh? Who would be soothed by words of wrath? Remember: Captives are comforted at the calamity of their captors. The fall of Berlin was no doubt welcome news to those imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps! To the Jews languishing under the brutal yoke of Assyria, Nineveh’s obliteration was cause for celebration and renewed commitment to obedience (1.15b). Though Nineveh was at “full strength” (1.12), they would no longer be cause for concern, for God would break them once and for all. The oracle concludes with all who hear of Nineveh’s downfall clapping their hands, relieved that her “unceasing evil” (3.19 ESV) has finally been snuffed out.

While God’s people must never draw pleasure from the deaths of the wicked (Eze. 18.31; 33.11), we anticipate God’s judgment of all evil at the return of Jesus. On that day the yoke of our ultimate enemy will be broken: “The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” (1 Cor. 15.26) Indeed, the only time the words “comfort one another” occur in the New American Standard Bible refer to the return of Jesus (1 Th. 4.18), which precedes the final judgment of God. All we captives to the brutality of sickness, tragedy, and death in this world ache for the final trumpet to sound! Nahum comforts those who serve God in anticipation of His deliverance.

4. Certain

Once God’s sentence against the wicked has been decreed, no amount of fortification or fighting spirit suffices for victory. Note in 2.1 that God instructs Nineveh to prepare for the inevitable: “Man the ramparts, watch the road, dress for battle, collect all your strength.” Furthermore, Nineveh is told to collect supplies and build up their walls (3.14). None of this would have any consequence other than glorifying God, for He is only glorified further when His enemies do all they can to thwart His will. As in Psalm 2, when the nations rage and take counsel together against God and His anointed, “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the LORD scoffs at them.” (v.4). Ultimate destruction is the sole result for all who refuse to repent.

This aspect of God’s judgment motivates us to make peace with Him! In Luke 12.57-59 Jesus taught His disciples to reach an agreement with their accuser before going before the judge, lest the judge condemn them and “you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.” (v.59 ESV). Once judgment begins and the books have been opened (Rev. 20.12), the time to repent and make things right with God will have passed. The wicked will be left as Nineveh in Nahum: Looking directly down the barrel of the wrath of God, where there is no escape, quarter, pardon nor parole. Nahum warns us that once the gavel of God’s judgment falls, there is no going back.

5. Correct

From Jonah we learn that previously Nineveh repented upon hearing of their pending demise (Jonah 3.10). Irwin Himmel describes the date for Jonah’s writing as “in the range between 780 & 750 BC.”[2] So what happened between 750 and 633-612 BC? In short Nineveh repented, but they did not remain repentant. When they thanklessly regressed, they returned to “worthless” rulers, and became a harlot to the nations (like Judah: Eze. 16.15-16). Nineveh’s earlier repentance was not a “Get out of Jail Free” card against judgment for future wickedness. This is consistent with God’s justice, which always depends on one’s current spiritual state, not one’s history: “When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die.” (Eze. 18.26)

Nineveh’s fall serves as a warning to all who have once walked in God’s way. Their destruction is tragic in that their experience of God’s mercy did not lead them toward continued faithfulness. The same sort of judgment is promised against those who “go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth” (Heb. 10.26). Indeed, their state “has become worse for them than the first” (2 Pet. 2.20). Whether we remain true to God or abandon His way, “He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2.13). As Christians who have repented and committed to serving God faithfully, Nahum stands as a stark reminder that continuing in that commitment is of utmost importance.

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the NASB, 1995 Update.

Sources

Hailey, Homer. A Commentary on the Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1972.

Himmel, Irvin. Truth Commentaries. Minor Prophets II. “Nahum”

[1] Hailey, Homer. “A Commentary on the Minor Prophets” pg. 248

[2] Truth Commentaries “Minor Prophets I” pg. 672