Minor Prophets — Nahum
“The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum…Nineveh is laid waste” (Nahum 1:1; 3:7).
Nahum prophesies the final doom and destruction of wicked Ninevah which took place somewhere between 120 and 150 years after the preaching of Jonah, the repentance of the whole city, and the judgment spared at that time.
Though God spared a generation in the days of Jonah, yet we learn that when judgment is pronounced, God is serious, and while He may delay it for a time in His mercy and grace, yet it will fall eventually according to His timetable. This is a solemn warning to any scoffer who would dare to say, “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (1 Peter 3:4).
Although Nahum’s prophecy initially had its fulfillment in the invasion of Sennacherib, yet there is a future aspect when the King of the North will be finally judged, never to rise in rebellion against the Lord and His people again. In the meantime we can enjoy the verse that says, “The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him” (Nahum 1:7).
