Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 198
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IMMERSE
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PROPHETS
says at the end that the city is “plundered, empty, and ruined,” he
begins with a short Hebrew word, adds a letter to make the next word,
and adds another letter for the third, thus using the lengthening sound
in each successive word to represent the spreading disaster.
The fourth oracle details the crimes for which Assyria has been judged
and punished. Like a “den filled with young lions,” it has been cruelly
violent. And like a prostitute or “mistress of deadly charms,” it has
“enticed the nations,” forcing subject peoples to worship its false gods.
The last oracle in the book, which probably comes from a time shortly
before Nineveh fell, warns the Assyrians not to be complacent and think
that their capital cannot be conquered. It reminds them that fifty years
earlier, their own emperor went all the way to Egypt and captured the
supposedly impregnable city of Thebes, which was “protected by the
river on all sides, walled in by water.”
This final oracle is a fitting ending to the book. It serves as a caution
to any other nation, including Judah, that might think it can never be
conquered. The implied warning is that only fidelity to the God of justice and mercy will keep a nation secure. The supposed strength of any
empire cannot stand when God’s judgment arrives.
