Not a book we read very often…

The Assyrian Empire (as a dominating force in the ancient Middle East), had been in existence since the the reign of Solomon. About halfway through, Yahweh sent the prophet Jonah to them with a warning: repent or in 40 days, I will destroy you. They repented. But, like Israel, it didn’t stick. About 150 years after Jonah’s visit to the Assyrian capital of Niniveh, Yahweh sends them a final warning of their own impending destruction through the prophet Nahum. That’s what this book is all about.

No, it’s not about judgement on modern America, and no, Nahum 2:4 is not about cars on a freeway.

MEET NAHUM…

The prophet tells us almost nothing about himself. There is no “son of so-and-so” or “during the reign of king so-and-so.” He calls himself “the Elkoshite” which would mean someone from Elkosh but no one knows for sure where on earth that was. The early church father, Jerome, said it was a village in Galilee. Some think that the Galilean town of Capernaum was the site of Elkosh because the name K’phar Nahum (Capernaum) means “village of Nahum.” Other proposed locations include a village in southern Judah or even a town called Alqosh near the Tigris River north of where Nineveh was. If that is the case, I suppose he could’ve been an exiled Israelite. There is a site in Alqosh, Iraq today revered as The Tomb of Nahum. We just don’t know.

I usually hear his name pronounced like nay-hum or nay-hoom, or nayum. He would’ve pronounced it nakh-oom. It comes from the Hebrew word nacham…

Very quickly, the letters mean:

• Nun/Nachash – shiny life
• Hey – human, breath, life
• Mem – waters, lift up

Life, breath, lift up.

Take a deep breath. Feel your breath cause your core of life to lift up. That is nacham.

We can “sigh” for a lot of reasons. Who doesn’t let out a sigh of comfort when you relax into a comfortable bed after a long day? But we also tend to sigh (in resignation) just before facing something unpleasant.

MEET NINEVEH…

The name Nakhoom hints at both unpleasantness and comfort in God’s dealing with Assyria. Yahweh takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ez. 33:11) so the destruction of Nineveh is unpleasant, but it must be done. Remember, these are the sadists who have been ripping out tongues and flaying their captors alive (among other tortures).

They have subjugated many nations (including Israel and Judah) and put them under slavish taxes and tribute. Their destruction will avenging the innocents who have suffered at their hands and it will be a comfort.

The city built upon the ruins of Nineveh is Mosul, Iraq. That name will ring loudly to those old enough to remember the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was the sight of many urban battles. It was captured by ISIS in 2014 and 500,000 residents fled as the Islamic militants destroyed priceless antiquities including a site known as the Tomb of Jonah. The city was eventually liberated in July 2017 by a U.S. led coalition of Iraqi Security Forces, U.S. military, special units from France and the U.K., with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and local Shiite and Christian militia units.

THE SETTING…

We don’t know exactly when Nahum gave this prophecy but it had to be sometime between 663 and 612 BC because Nahum 3:8-10 refers to the destruction of Thebes (KJV: “No”) by the Assyrians. That happened in 663 BC. Nineveh fell to the Babylonians in 612 BC. The kings of Judah during that time period were Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah.

THE MESSAGE – PART 1…

Yahweh is patient, but there comes a point…

The opening of the prophecy includes a reference back to the NAME of the LORD as revealed to Moses on Sinai. Compare:

“The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”
‭‭Nahum‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We must needs always keep these two aspects of the Almighty’s character in focus and in balance.

If we fixate on the fact that He is “slow to anger,” “merciful and gracious” to the exclusion of the fact that He does not clear (excuse) the guilty, at bare minimum we misunderstand Him. We do not really know Him. At worst, it may cost the very souls of men if they have no fear of God and no motive for which to trust in the atoning work of Christ and come into the obedience of faith.

Conversely, to prioritize God’s judgment while ignoring or even minimizing His patience and mercy, is to invite despair. It opens wide the door to legalism, spiritual bondage, self-righteousness, arrogant pride and an empty religious system of oneupmanship in an attempt to prove that we are better than others. “They are guilty and deserve punishment but I’m better than them.” Or perhaps, “I can never be good enough. I’m worthless.”

Chapter 1 of Nahum is a message of God’s wrath that does not exclude His patience. Yahweh has put up with a lot; has given them years to repent and do the right thing. But there comes a point when the chances are over and the patience is ended.

Nations (and individuals) greatly err to their own destruction when they interpret Yahweh’s long-suffering as apathy.

You may want to sit on that for a sec. 🪑

And it matters not one wit to the Most High that Assyria is the most powerful empire on earth, and Nineveh potentially the largest city on earth at the time. Ha! Here’s a reminder of what earth looks like to God:

Assyria was a speck on a speck.

If you cup your ear and listen VERY closely you might hear tiny squeaks coming from that speck. Those are the boasts of all the mightiest nations and the richest, most powerful people.

The world leaders you might be worried about, (perhaps your own government), that seem to be unstoppable… They are nothing.

“Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Humans tend to get ludicrously over-inflated ideas of our own power.

Stop worrying. Seriously. Just stop. It’s an insult to the LORD when we worry. If you are worried about geopolitics, that’s a sign that your theology needs more work. You have yet to figure out how BIG God is. He is BOTH merciful and patient AND He will wipe an empire off the globe in one swipe.

And by the way – it generally doesn’t look like supernatural, fire 🔥 & brimstone ☄️ from heaven when God judges and destroys a nation. As uncomfortable as this is to sit with, what we have seen so far in scripture is that God uses one nation as his weapon to destroy another. In the case of Assyria it was Babylon. He had used Assyria to punish His own people. He will use Babylon in the same way. Then He will use Persia to punish Babylon. I do not believe that they are “scripted” by God to do this, but that He guides and allows the course of human decisions to accomplish His ultimate purpose. Just because God allowed Assyria to be the instrument of punishment for the sins of Israel does not make Assyria innocent. They are still fully responsible for their own wickedness.

THE MESSAGE – PART 2…

Yahweh not only declares what He is about to do to Nineveh, He declares why He is going to do it.

“For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.”
‭‭Nahum‬ ‭2‬:‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Remember how we’ve read through the Kings and Chronicles how Assyria first turned the northern kingdom into a vassal state, then laid siege to Samaria and took the whole nation into captivity? Remember how after that they attacked Lachish and Jerusalem? It was only because Hezekiah and Isaiah interceded for the city that God stepped in and supernaturally spared them.

Assyria has been like a lion and the surrounding nations have been its prey. Just as Assyria has ruthlessly plundered the nations, so they will be ruthlessly plundered.

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Or as people used to say when I was a kid, “What goes around comes around.”

THE MESSAGE – PART 3…

Yahweh describes the destruction of Nineveh before it comes to pass. It’s going to be a nightmare of charging armies and dead bodies. What they did to Thebes is going to come back to haunt them.

K, the art above was actually hanging on the walls of the palace when Nahum announced the downfall of Nineveh. We don’t know if he went there personally like Jonah, but it seems likely. You don’t just send a message of doom from the Creator through the mail and hope for the best. Perhaps Nahum was led down the corridor and saw this very depiction. What a courageous man! He was bearding the lion in its own den!

Most of chapter 3 describes two things:

• Prepare all you want, it won’t help, v14-15
• Your help will cower or run away, you’ll be left defenseless, v12-13, 16-19

Both Jonah and Nahum end with questions:

“And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know right from left, plus many animals?””
‭‭Jonah‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬ ‭LEB‬‬

“There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you will clap their hands for joy concerning you, For who has not suffered at the hands of your endless cruelty?”
‭‭Nahum‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬ ‭LEB‬‬

The first is a question is to Jonah concerning God’s mercy. The second is to the city of Nineveh itself and concerns His justice.

Mercy (Grace, Love, Kindness) and Justice (Righteousness, Truth, Judgement) aren’t just balanced in Yahweh and His Son. They are joined together inseparably and in perfect harmony.

“Graciousness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm‬ ‭85‬:‭10‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

(Read all of Psalm 85 for its wonderful context)

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Jonah and Nahum work in tandem to show us that our God is both gracious Savior and righteous Judge.