Nahum 1
AS in Isaiah 13 to 23, the “burdens” of Babylon, Moab, etc., are given, so here we have the “burden” (prophecy of judgment) of Nineveh, the capital city of the great kingdom of Assyria. Nahum is believed to have prophesied late in Isaiah’s long life., about the time when Sennacherib first invaded Judea (2 Kings. 18:13-16), which may be set down as roughly 120 years after Jonah went to Nineveh. Elkosh, Nahum’s city, is supposed to have been in Galilee, the region where Jonah had lived; if this conclusion is well founded, the Pharisees were doubly wrong when they declared that no prophets had come out of Galilee (John 7:5252They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. (John 7:52)).
The destruction of Nineveh, which Nahum foretold, occurred about a century later at the hands of the Medes, aided by the Babylonians who shortly after took the supremacy in the first empire, that of Nebuchadnezzar. But Nahum’s prophecy, like the prophecies of other Old Testament writers, is not to be limited to the prospect then near at hand; it looks forward to scenes of judgment in which another Assyrian will have a part, when Israel shall be in the land of their fathers in far greater number than today.
When Jonah went to Nineveh, there was widespread repentance, but the hearers of his message, and all their children too, we may well suppose were now dead, and the lesson of that day was almost forgotten. Verses 2 to 6 therefore set forth God as judge, jealous and avenging and full of fury. He is slow to anger, great in power and doth not at all clear the guilty. Why then do not sinners flee for refuge to Him?
Who can stand before His indignation? who can abide in the fierceness of His anger (verse 6)? Let us remember that what we have here is not eternal judgment, but the punishment of living enemies on earth. Eternal judgment is but little referred to in the Old Testament, and this is true also of eternal blessing, of eternity itself. Nevertheless, the judgment of the living as here portrayed gives a clear picture of the awful character of the judgment of the great white throne which will follow (Revelation 20:10-1510And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:10‑15)).
How precious to the believer is the note of praise and of the confidence of faith in verse 7! “A stronghold in the day of trouble” our God has been for His tried saints in all generations, and comforting thought, “He knoweth them that trust in Him!” Not one is forgotten by Him, not one overlooked for a moment.
“The place thereof,” in verse 8 is Nineveh; it was to perish, though those who trusted in Jehovah there would be spared in the day of its destruction. Verse 11 speaks of the Assyrian of the future day, as well as Sennacherib, the wicked counselor of Hezekiah’s time. Verse 12 has been translated,
“Though they be complete in number, and many as they be, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away (referring to the Assyrian), and though I have afflicted thee (Judah), I will afflict thee no more.” (N.T.)
Verse 13 is addressed to Judah, and 11 to the Assyrian, while verse 15 tells of the joy that will be felt when that enemy is cut off shortly after the Lord has come to the world to establish His throne as Son of David (Isaiah 10:5-27,5O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 8For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? 10As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? 12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: 14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. 15Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. 16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. 17And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; 18And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. 19And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. 20And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. 22For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 23For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land. 24Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. 25For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. 26And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. 27And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. (Isaiah 10:5‑27) etc.)
ML 05/09/1937