Nahum - Judgment for Nineveh

LINK: Nahum 1-3

Please read the Introduction to the Prophetical Books if you have not already done so. 

BACKGROUND

Here is where Nahum fits within the historical narrative of the Bible:

-----------------722 ASSYRIAN CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL (NORTHERN KINGDOM)

2 Chr. 33:      697-640 (2 Kings 21)

                      739-681: ISAIAH 1-66

                      733-701: MICAH 1-7

                      650-620: NAHUM 1-3

Nahum was an Elkoshite which suggests he was from Elkosh, but the site of this city is unknown. His name means "consolation" or "comfort." The destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the mighty Assyrian empire, would have been a great comfort to Judah!

This is what we know about Nineveh from our study of Jonah:

Nineveh was about 500 miles northeast of Israel. It was on the east side of the Tigris River and the distance required for the journey would have taken more than a month (15-20 miles a day). Nineveh was in modern day Iraq opposite the modern-day town of Mosul.

It was a city surrounded by a 100-foot-high wall, guarded by 200 towers stretching upward another 100 feet. It was also protected by a moat that was 60 feet deep and 140 feet wide! It seemed like an invincible city.

One hundred years earlier, Jonah had preached to this great city to repent, and they turned from their evil ways. Generations later, evil reigned once again, and Nahum pronounced judgment. Nineveh is called a "city of blood" (3:1), a city of cruelty (3:19), and Assyria is judged as arrogant (1:11), idolatrous (1:14), murderous, liars, treacherous, and socially unjust (3:1-19). Nahum predicted their destruction, and it came within 50 years.

We can place Nahum's preaching somewhere between the fall of Thebes under Ashurbanipal in the years 664-663 B.C. and the fall of Nineveh to the Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians in August of 612 B.C. Nahum was a prophet during the reign of Manasseh, one of Judah's most wicked of kings. Judah was a vassal state of Assyria. Nahum was a contemporary of the prophet Zephaniah (640-621 B.C.).

ALL of Nahum's prophesies were fulfilled and are documented in Diodorus Sculus (ca. 20 B.C.), the Babylonian Chronicles (ancient tablets), A.T. Olmstead (History of the Persian Empire, 1948), and various archaeological discoveries. Here are a few facts based on extra-biblical sources:

• The siege took three years according to Diodorus (3:14).
• The Ninevites were destroyed while they were drunk according to Diodorus (1:10; 3:11).
• The city was destroyed by a flood according to archaeological evidence (1:8; 2:6).
• The city was destroyed by fire according to archaeological evidence because the alabaster slabs of the palace were nearly reduced to lime, which indicates intense heat (1:10; 2:13; 3:13, 15).

These are the key verses in Nahum:

The Lord is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble,

And He knows those who take refuge in Him.

But with an overflowing flood

He will make a complete end of its [Nineveh's] site,

And will pursue His enemies into darkness.

Whatever you devise against the LORD,  

He will make a complete end of it.  

Distress will not rise up twice. (Nahum 1:7-9)

REFLECTION

I find it amazing how all of these prophecies were fulfilled. God is true to His Word:

For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. (2 Corinthians 1:20) 

Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed. (Joshua 23:14)

I am not excited about the destruction of a city, but God had preached through Jonah once; and while it stuck for a while, they went back to their wicked ways. God is slow to anger (Nahum 1:3).

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

Sadly, Nineveh had not chosen repentance, and God will not leave the guilty unpunished (Nahum 1:3).

What can we learn from the fall of this ancient city more than 2,500 years ago?

1) God is true to His Word! He keeps His promises, even the negative ones. 

2) Arrogance and resistance to God's authority will lead to God's wrath. So, we need to be aligned with His will! 

3) God is in control of powerful people and nations, and we need not be afraid and put our confidence in God because He is the ruler of history, the earth, and all of us!

APPLICATION

Note the characteristics of God described in Nahum 1:2-11. It is a side of God many of us do not always understand. In the midst of verses about this side of God, there is a promise:

The LORD is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble,

And He knows those who take refuge in Him.

(Nahum 1:7) 

You were created to take refuge in Him. Do that today.

PRAYER

God, we humble ourselves beneath Your mighty, awesome, all-powerful hand today. Help us to be humble, contrite, and tremble at Your Word. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.