Questions for thought:
1. Many times people want to hear of only God’s longsuffering. How does Nahum chapter 1 demonstrate that eventually God’s longsuffering ends?
2. Much earlier we saw how Israel would at times obey God and at times fail to do so. Now we see how Nineveh which had repented when Jonah preached to them allowed herself to slip back into ways not pleasing to God. How often do we see the same happening to people today? Why do we let that happen?
3. What will be the end result for people today who fail to serve God? Will it necessarily be in this life or may it wait till eternity?
At this point we have looked at the prophecies that came before the fall of Samaria. Now we will look at four prophets who prophesied after the fall of the northern tribes but before the fall of Judah. That will leave us with those prophets who prophesied during the captivity and during the return of the remnant to Jerusalem.
Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah were the prophets who prophesied after the fall of Samaria. In this blog we will look at Nahum.
The book of Nahum begins with a prophecy against Nineveh. Remember in the book of Jonah how God was preparing to destroy Nineveh and Jonah preached to the people. They repented and God did not destroy them. Now here in Nahum, about 100 years later, they seemed to have forgotten their revival and were again about to become the target of God’s wrath.
Nahum begins with the prophet saying in verse 2 God is jealous and He revenges or takes vengeance on His adversaries and enemies. In verse 3, Nahum said the Lord is slow to anger and great in power and He will not let the wicked off the hook. Then he went on in the rest of the chapter to describe how the Lord would take vengeance. He talks about mountains quaking, fury being poured out like fire, and darkness pursing the Lord’s enemies.
Keep in mind we looked earlier in Isaiah 37 where Sennacherib king of Assyria threatened Judah and God took care of the problem for King Hezekiah. In Isaiah 37:37 Sennacherib left off from trying to take Judah and returned to Nineveh. Now here in Nahum 1:9-15 God tells Judah He will totally destroy Nineveh and they will no longer be a threat to Judah.
In chapter 2 this destruction of Nineveh is given in greater detail. Then in chapter 3 God revealed the reason for the destruction of the city was its great and continued sinfulness. Again, complete destruction was promised upon the city. In 3:19 God said there was no healing for their bruise and their wound was grievous. According to historians, Nahum probably prophesied somewhere between 621 and 612 BC and most likely in 614. In 612 BC the downfall came just as prophesied and God’s word was again proven true.
Next time, we will concentrate upon the words from the prophet Zephaniah.
Christian Women's Responsibility in Sharing God's Word 