AM Bible Study Group; November 28, 2012
Nahum 3:1-3
Theme: God justly judges those who take—or take from—the life of others.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
The three chapters of this prophetic book give us its three main divisions. Chapter one gave us a picture of ‘The God Who Judges’. In it, we find a description of the mighty God of Israel who judges the Assyrian empire—and particularly its capital city Nineveh—that was oppressing His people. Chapter two gave us a picture of ‘The Judgment of God’. In it, we were given a description of the nature of the judgment that God brought upon them.
And now, as we come to chapter three, we are given a vivid picture of ‘The Justness of The Judgment’. In it, God gives us the reasons for His just judgment in three respects. First, it’s because of its murders (vv. 1-3). Second, it’s because of its immoralities (vv. 4-7). And finally, it’s because of its pride (vv. 8-19).
This morning, we consider the murderous character of this city. And there are two important things to note in what Nahum tells us. First, he shows us that when God makes a promise to bring judgment, it can be trusted that He will—because judgment fell upon Nineveh just as this prophecy said. And second, the fulfillment of this first prophecy shows that we can trust that this same God will bring justice upon all who act murderously upon those who are His.
I. THE LIFE-ROBBING THINGS THAT WERE IN NINEVEH (v. 1).
A. First, there was murder. Nahum writes, “Woe to the bloody city!” The ancient Assyrians were—without question—the most brutal and bloody people group of the ancient world. Its kings boasted horribly of the inhumane and sadistic manner in which they treated the peoples they conquered. Please forgive the following description; but a sampling from Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (cited in Walter A. Maier, The Book of Nahum, p. 291-2) shows that one of its kings Ashurnasirpal II (885-860 B.C.) took the time to boast, in several records, of how he would cut off the heads of his victims and form the severed heads into pillars. He spoke often of flaying his victims and spreading their skins upon the city wall; or of bounding or impaling his victims to stakes around a pillar; or of cutting off the limbs of the officers and royalty of conquered people. He boasted once of how, in a particular battle, he mercilessly burnt 3,000 captives with fire so as not to leave “a single one of them alive to serve as a hostage.” He would form the dead bodies of his victims into pillars. Sometimes, he would form a pillar out of living victims! Some living victims he would bound to tree trunks— sometimes by their heads. From some, he would cut off their hands and their fingers, from others their noses and ears, and from others he would put out their eyes. He would burn not only male soldiers but also the women and children of a conquered city. He once wrote, “In the midst of the mighty mountain I slaughtered them, with their blood I dyed the mountain red like wool, with the rest of them I darkened the gullies and precipices of the mountains.” No wonder God says “Woe to the bloody city!” It was accountable for an unspeakable amount of bloodshed and fiendish cruelty.
B. A second, there was deceit. “It is full of lies . . .” This speaks of the falsehood that the Assyrians would engage in—making promises of mercy to secure the submission of weaker nations, and then breaking their word as soon as submission was secured. We have an example of this in 2 Kings 18:28-35; where the representative of King Sennacherib promised the people that, if they would ignore the word of God and submit themselves to him, “every one of you eat of his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern”; and that he would bring them to a prosperous land. This was, of course, all a lie. He would have treated the people of Judah just like he treated every other conquered people group.
C. Third, there was theft. “It is full of . . . robbery.” Dr. Maier referred to Nineveh as “the robber citadel. It despoiled other nations, stripped enemy capitals, pillaged unnumbered towns . . . .” As 2:9 says, there was “no end of treasure, or wealth of every desirable prize”. This was because the Assyrians filled their land with the plunder of its victims. The annals of Ashurnasirpal II describe staggering riches received annually as tribute from conquered nations as “by-offs” Sadly, we even read of King Hezekiah surrendering to fear and giving the Assyrian king “three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold”—even stripping the gold from the temple and from the king’s house (2 Kings 18:13-16).
D. Finally, there were victims. “Its victim never departs.” In the Hebrew, the word that is used is “prey”; and it suggests the prey of a lion that is torn and rent—reminding us of how the Assyrians were characterized in 2:11-12. As the psalmist writes; “O LORD my God, in You I put my trust; save me from all those who persecute me; and deliver me, lest they tear me like a lion, rending me in pieces while there is none to deliver” (Psalm 7:1-2). As Dr. Maier notes this characterization of the constant presence of ‘the victim’ is no exaggeration; and that it gives us a one-sentence synopsis of Assyria’s history, “with a summary of the practically ceaseless pillaging and endless rapine which marked” some of it’s kings (p. 293).
II. THE JUST JUDGMENT GOD BROUGHT UPON NINEVEH (vv. 2-3).
A. Who then, could deny the justness of God in bringing life-robbing judgments upon that ancient capital city? First we see that, in the fall of the city some 100 years later, He would bring chariots of an enemy. With the terrible vividness of an eyewitness to the future, the prophet describes the coming of the Medes and the Babylonians upon them: “The noise of a whip and the noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of clattering chariots!” (vv. 2-3a). This is like the description given to us of the coming of the enemy into Nineveh that’s found in 2:4.
B. These war machines would not be alone. God would bring troops brandishing weapons. “Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear.” This too is like the description given of the troops of Medes and Babylonians that is given in 2:3.
C. And what, then, is the just due of this “bloody city”? God would fill it with an abundance of casualties. “There is a multitude of slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses—they stumble over the corpses—” (v. 3b). What a horrible description of the losses that occurred when Nineveh fell.
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Not only was this promise fulfilled to the letter; but it also assures us of the judgment God will one day bring on Babylon the Great—that future ‘harlot’ city described in Revelation 18. Judgment came; and “in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth” (Revelation 18:24).
This is a horrible portion of Scripture to read. But what would be even more horrible would be to think of the wicked murders of the Assyrians—along with all the brutalities and murders and acts of dehumanization that have occurred throughout the pages of history and that even occur today—and to have no hope that it would ever be brought to justice. What terrible, dark, dismal hopelessness we would be under, if it weren’t for our God who “will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). How important to confess our sins to Him now; and to trust in the atoning sacrifice of His Son Jesus for us before the day of judgment comes!