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Nahum
T H E B U Z Z E R S O U N D S , signaling the end of the basketball game.
This is the time for the winning coach to say something kind and gracious, and the winning players to congratulate the losers on a game
well played. But tonight it is different. The winning team immediately
begins to ridicule the losers, pounces on them, beats them up, and in
every way possible shows their superiority—arrogantly and viciously.
What you will be
Ancient warfare was not a basketball game,
reading about
nor were winners prone to congratulating the
losers on a war well fought. But the manner in
1:1- 8
God’s patience and power
which winners handled victory was a barometer of their stature and character. Many ancient
1:9 -15
kings and military leaders treated their captives
God will rescue Judah from
Assyria
humanely. Years later, Daniel and his friends
would even find a place in their conquerors’
2:1 – 3:19
Nineveh will fall
governing system. Nehemiah was kindly treated
by the Persian king whom he served. Many years
before, Pharaoh of Egypt treated Joseph the prisoner kindly, making him governor of all the land. But not the Assyrians. Their vicious treatment of captives
was legendary. Assyrian reliefs depict the harsh, brutal torture of prisoners.
These were very wicked, cruel people.
Nahum’s book is devoted to one subject: God’s coming judgment on the
Assyrians and their capital city of Nineveh. More than one hundred years
before Nahum’s ministry, Jonah’s words to this wicked city had caused revival
and repentance. God’s judgment had been deferred but not averted. Now the
city and the nation it represented had sunk to new depths of wickedness.
At the time, this prophecy of Assyria’s downfall seemed unlikely, but
within half a century it had happened just as predicted by Nahum. A just
and holy God brought an end to an empire devoted to idolatry, arrogance,
and oppression.
What message is found in Nahum for Christians today? Why should we be
interested in a book devoted to the coming destruction of Assyria when that
destruction happened over 2,500 years ago? What hope do we see in a book
that many have called harsh and vengeful?
A simple ray of hope shines through the brittle language of Nahum. God
is a just God who hates evil and evildoers, and he will ultimately judge them
for their wickedness. For the people of Israel, who had already felt the sting
of Assyria’s cruel treatment, there was hope that this wickedness would not
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