AM Bible Study Group; November 21, 2012
Nahum 1:9-15
Theme: The details that are given in this chapter show the dreadfulness of the judgment of God against the oppressors of His people.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
In the first chapter of this prophecy, we were given a picture of the awesome God of Israel who judges the oppressors of His people. In the immediate context, the oppressors where among the most dreadful that—humanly speaking—God’s people could have ever faced. It was the Assyrian empire—represented in this prophecy by its capital city Ninevah. But it can also be taken as representative of every wicked force that sought—or that ever will seek—to oppress God’s people.
And now, in the second chapter, we are given a picture of the judgment this awesome God administers against Ninevah. And again, His judgment of Ninevah is representative of His judgment against all other oppressors. Truly—as this chapter clearly shows us—it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31)!
I. THE JUDGMENT IS FORETOLD (1-2).
A. This chapter begins by affirming, “He who scatters has come up before your face” (v. 1). As we stated in the previous study, we must pay attention to who is being spoken to; and here, the one being spoken to is the mighty city of Ninevah. This prophecy looks ahead nearly 100 years to how the Midean king Cyaxares—in association with Babylon—would come against the Assyrian capital and destroy it. God advises Ninevah in mock—”Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily” (v. 1). But it is all for not.
B. The promise is, “For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob like the excellence of Israel . . .” (v. 2). The “excellence” of Jacob and Israel was their land (see Psalm 47:4). What had been taken from them would need to be restored; “for the emptiers [that is, the Assyrians] have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches.” The reference to vine branches reflects Israel’s appeal in Psalm 80:7-19 to restore His vineyard; and this appeal would by answered by God in great judgment against the “emptiers” of His vineyard.
II. THE JUDGMENT IS DESCRIBED (3-10).
A. The description of God’s judgments against Ninevah in this chapter is one of the most vivid of its kind in Scripture. First, God describes the onset of the Medes and the Babylonians against the city. God’s word says, “The shields of his mighty men are made red, the valiant men are in scarlet” (v. 3a); and this would clearly be a picture of the Median and Babylonian troops—characterized by their red shields and uniforms (see Ezekiel 23:14). Their weapons were dreadful—”The chariots come with flaming torches in the day of his preparation” (describing their scythed chariots with blades revolving on the axles of the wheels—among the most bloodiest war machines ever made), “and the spears are brandished” (as a visible expression of the intention to kill). “The chariots rage in the streets, they jostle one another in the broad roads; they seem like torches, they run like lightning.” (v. 4). You can almost hear the noise and visualize the chaos in the streets of Ninevah!
B. Then, the prophecy goes on to describe the utter distress God lays upon the formerly fearsome and wicked city. “He remembers his nobles; they stumble in their walk; they make haste to her walls, and the defense is prepared” (v. 5). They attempt to defend themselves, but it’s to no avail. In a remarkably accurate prophecy, God declares, “The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved” (v. 6). The ancient historian Diodorus Siculus told that there was an old prophecy that Nineveh would not be taken until “the river became an enemy of the city”. In the third year of the siege of the city, the rains caused the Tigris River to overflow; compromising the defensive wall of the city. It literally “dissolved”; and the city was easily taken. “It is decreed” (or “It is established”): she shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up; and her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves, beating their breasts” (v. 7). This happened just as God promised!
C. And look at what dread God brought upon this once proud and arrogant city. “Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water” (sitting as it did by the defense borders of the river), “now they flee away. ‘Halt! Halt!’ they cry; but no one turns back” (v. 8). The astonishing wealth that the Assyrian empire had collected from its conquests now became ‘easy-pickin’s’: “Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of treasure, or wealth of every desirable prize” (v. 9). The way God describes her destruction is remarkable: “She is empty, desolate, and waste!” In Hebrew, this is buqah, mebhuqah, mebhullagah. Dr. Charles Feinberg (The Minor Prophets [Chicago: Moody Press, 1990], p. 196) typified this as the sound of a bottle with the contents being poured out. “The heart melts, and the knees shake; much pain is in every side, and all their faces are drained of color” (v. 10).
III. THE JUDGMENT IS COMPLETE (11-13).
A. And now, look at the results! “Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub, and no one made them afraid?” (v. 11). The lion with a man’s head is the symbol often found on Assyrian inscriptions. And just as the king of Assyria once mockingly asked “where” the gods were of the nations he conquered (2 Kings 18:34), now God asks where the dwelling of the lions is to be found. Even to this day, it is gone.
B. The dreadful brutality of the Assyrians is pictured in verse 12. “The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, killed for his lionesses, filled his caves with prey, and his dens with flesh” (v. 12). This was hardly an exaggeration! The brutality of the Assyrians against the people they conquered is almost unparalleled in ancient history. “‘Behold, I am against you,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more'” (v. 13). The capital city was completely destroyed. Even the king of Assyria himself, when he saw the Medes and Babylonians coming and knew that there was no hope, burned his palace, his concubines and eunuchs, his treasure, and even himself to the ground.
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God is dreadful in His judgment against the oppressors of His people. But this same God is the hope of His people. This dreadful chapter is an eloquent illustration of what Paul wrote in Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”