AM Bible Study Group; October 24, 2012
James 5:19-20
Theme: God’s faithfulness means that He is great in mercy—but just in judgment!
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
This morning, we begin a study of an often neglected but very important book—the prophecy of Nahum. It is found in the Old Testament in among the Minor Prophets; and is classified among the pre-exilic prophets (that is, the prophets who wrote and spoke before Israel’s 70-year exile into Babylon). It was probably written in or around 713 B.C.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
In a broad sense, this Old Testament prophetic book has to do with God’s judgment upon the brutal Assyrian empire. But it focuses on the chief of its cities—Nineveh. Nineveh was part of the empire founded by Nimrod. Genesis 10:10-12 tells us that “the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Ir, Calah and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principle city).”
Nineveh was one of the oldest and greatest cities of the ancient world. According to ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, it was of enormous size and strength. It was surrounded by walls 100 feet high—which were wide enough for three chariots to drive abreast on them. And it was defended by 1,500 towers, each around 200 feet tall. According to the Book of Jonah, it was “an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent” (Jonah 3:3). God Himself called it “that great city” (Jonah 1:2; 4:11), and said that it contained “more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left” (Jonah 4:11). This may elude to the young children within the city for which God had pity; and if it does, then the population of the city in the time of Jonah may have been anywhere between 600,000 (about the size of Portland, Oregon). It had probably grown to be much larger by the time of Nahum.
This was the ancient city to which Jonah had been sent to preach God’s warning of impending judgment in around 860 B.C. The Book of Jonah tells us that the entire city repented remarkably at his preaching (see Jonah 3:3-10)—so much so, in fact, that “God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them”. But sadly, its repentance was short-lived. By about a hundred and fifty years after Jonah’s ministry, the city had forgotten its repentance and had returned to its wickedness. In the times in which Nahum lived, the Assyrians had only recently conquered and carried away the Northern Kingdom of Israel (in 722 B.C.); and Sennacherib—the Assyrian ruler—went on afterwards to make threats against Israel and arrogantly defy God in the time of King Hezekiah (see Isaiah 36-37). The prophet Nahum spoke these words of renewed judgment upon Nineveh at about that same time (around 713 B.C.)—which shows something of the spiritual state the formerly-repentant Nineveh had declined to in a hundred-year’s time. (In fact, 2:11 may be speaking of Sennacherib himself!) After Sennacherib suffered a terrible judgment at the hand of God (when the Angel of the Lord slew 185,000 of his soldiers in the night), he returned to the city of Nineveh. And it was there in that great city—as he was worshiping his false god—that his two sons killed him with the sword (Isaiah 37:37-38). And about 100 years after the words of this prophecy were given, the Median King Cyaxares—aided by the Babylonians under King Nabopolassar—laid siege to the city and destroyed it. It was never rebuilt (see 1:9).
HUMAN AUTHOR:
The man who wrote this book is Nahum—whose name in Hebrew means “comfort”. If you look at the first verse of Isaiah 40 in Hebrew, you’d find that it says, “Nahum, nahum (“Comfort, comfort”) My people . . .” All of the background information that we know of him is what we find in the first verse—that he was “the Elkoshite”. Some historians believe that there was a city in Assyria by that name; and that Nahum lived in the very land that he prophesied against. One of the early church fathers, however, wrote that a guide once pointed out a city in Galilee that was said to be the birthplace of Nahum. Some even see the Galilean city Capernaum as his birthplace. (Note the name—kāpār (the Hebrew word for “village”) and naum.)
MAJOR THEMES:
Even though Nahum’s name means “comfort” or “consolation”; his message was not a message of comfort for all. Interestingly, the same Hebrew word, in other forms, can also be translated “sorrow” (or “repentance” in the sense of sorrowful regret). Nineveh was a very wicked and ungodly city in the midst of the profoundly brutal empire of the Assyrians. The reason that Jonah was so hesitant to go to them was because he knew that God would show mercy to them—and he didn’t want mercy to be shown to the wicked enemies of his people. God did show them mercy at that time; but they eventually forgot God and His mercy to them. The message of Nahum, then, is that when a people are shown God’s grace, but then choose to forget Him and return again to sin, sorrowful judgment must follow. Ours is a God who shows mercy—but who is also holy, and who must judge sin. Jonah (whose name in Hebrew means “dove”) represented God’s grace to Nineveh; but Nahum represented God’s judgment to them. It describes the dreadfulness of God’s judgment in horrific detail. In 3:7, God asks Nineveh, “Where shall I seek comforters (‘nahum’s) for you?”
And yet, the message of this book is also very truly one of “comfort” in that God knows those who belong to Him and will show them mercy. The theme of this book is found in Nahum 1:7-8;
The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble;
And He knows those who trust in Him.
But with an overflowing flood
He will make an utter end of its place,
And darkness will pursue His enemies.
These two themes—”comfort” for God’s people, and the certainty of judgment on the wicked—are themes that need very much to be heard today. They are reflected in Paul’s words to the persecuted Thessalonian believers in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; “. . . since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.”
A good application of the lesson to be learned from this book would be found in 2 Timothy 2:14; “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'”
BASIC OUTLINE:
INTRODUCTION (1:1)
I. THE GOD WHO JUDGES (1:1-15).
A. His nature (2-3).
B. His sovereignty (4-6).
C. His discernment (7-8).
D. His wrath (9-14).
E. His faithfulness (15).
II. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD (2:1-13).
A. Judgment foretold (1-2).
B. Judgment described (3-10).
C. Judgment complete (11-13).
III. THE JUSTNESS OF JUDGMENT (3:1-19).
A. Because of its murders (1-3).
B. Because of its immoralities (4-7).
C. Because of its pride (8-19).