Image: "Comfort", 2020, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna, Va.
Nahum 3:4–5 Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries. 5 “Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of hosts; “I will lift your skirts over your face, I will show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame.
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"Nahum" means "comfort" and believe it or not, that is what this short prophetic book was designed to bring to God's people. We may find this passing strange in light of Nahum's resounding description of Nineveh's future. God does not mince words. Nahum 3:18–19 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, And no one gathers them. 19 Your injury has no healing, Your wound is severe. All who hear news of you Will clap their hands over you, For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually? Nineveh will fall and her destruction will be total because "I am against you, says the LORD of hosts." This is Nahum's comforting words to Judah.
He states it plainly. This is good news: Nahum 1:15 Behold, on the mountains The feet of him who brings good tidings, Who proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, Perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; He is utterly cut off. We cannot mistake the clear parallel with Isaiah's similar prophecy regarding John the Baptist. But here it is not the coming Messiah that constitutes the glad tidings. It is that Nineveh will face her doom. We need to understand this more clearly.
It is the historical context that makes it clear. By the time Nahum came on the scene, Assyria's unquestioned dominance of not only the region but the known world at the time was over a century old. As a nation or people, the Assyrian history goes back even further and had always been characterized as vicious and cruel. Assyrian religion was bloodthirsty and perverted. This was a civilization built on the most wicked of human pride and arrogance and they did not hesitate to cruelly treat those nations under their power. Among these was Judah.
So, the people of Judah were facing despair. How could they ever hope to prosper or even survive when they had to pay heavy indemnities to Nineveh. The Assyrians had previously insisted that king Manasseh introduce vile pagan worship into the very precincts of God's Temple (2 Kings 21). Judah was being led into ruin and there appeared to be no way to prevent it.
Then Nahum's words must have rung out in this gloomy atmosphere. Perhaps it was his message that inspired good king Josiah to his reforms. All we can know for sure is that Nahum's message was Gospel indeed. Nahum 1:3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked.... God is slow to anger but we must not take that as a weakness. His power is great and that power will, in His time, be directed in full force at the wicked. God has sworn eternal judgment against the "mistress of harlotries" (3:4), the same dark power and principality that John saw in Rev. 14ff. The "Harlot" of harlots is the sin-deep desire in fallen human beings to cast off God's restraint on their evil desires that register in the building up of great governments dedicated to promoting man's glory and hunger for evil. This is the enmity that will be forever characteristic of human history until the Lord, at last, says "enough." God is tolerating these sinful endeavors by pride soaked human beings but He will only do so for so long.
Nahum lays it out plainly: Nahum 1:7–8 The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him. 8 But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies. God knows that during this time when He is tolerating the wickedness of man to build up, as He did with Assyria, that His people will be sorely pressed. They will long for justice expressed in vindication of their own hope and trust in God and full retribution demanded of those who have oppressed them. Nahum's good news is that this outcome is absolutely guaranteed. God will not waver nor depart from His plan. He will have His Day of judgment and those who trust in Him will shine like stars in the heavens, while those who have loved wickedness will, indeed, receive full payment for their sin.
So, Christian, this is how our God will prove that He is both just and the justifier of all those who have faith in Christ Jesus. It is Good News that requires perseverance but it is Good News. This is our comfort and our hope.
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