Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Jonah, for the First Time | Part 3: Exemplary Pagans | Part 4: A Psalm | Part 5: More Exemplary Pagans | Part 6: Jonah v. God | Part 7: Who Will Judge Nineveh? | Part 8: How Will He Judge Nineveh?
Now that Nahum has declared the certainty and extent of Nineveh’s destruction, he explains in more detail why it is coming—what noted British expositor G. Campbell Morgan called “the vindication of vengeance.”
Chapter 3 begins with “Woe!” This word (hoy in Hebrew) is most commonly used to introduce a pronouncement of judgment: “Hey! Pay attention! Look at me when I talk to you!”
Nineveh Is Thoroughly Evil
Nahum 3.1 lists 3 reasons for the judgment:
- The city is “bloody”; it engages routinely in violence. As we’ve noted, the historical record is filled with testimony to this practice.
- It is “full of lies and robbery.” This would include, I think, the concept of idolatry, which is the worship of false gods—as we’ll see in a moment.
- It is predatory; the Assyrians are always after somebody.
The next two paragraphs expand on the last two of these reasons:
- Remember the “montage” from chapter 2? Now Nahum recalls it (Na 3.2-3) as evidence that “the prey departeth not” (Na 3.1).
- And he specifies the “lies and robbery” (Na 3.1) as manifested in idolatry (Na 3.4). God regularly sees Israel’s idolatry as adultery, leaving a covenant relationship with the true God for a cheap relationship with mere idols (e.g. Hosea). Here he makes it clear that even for other nations, who do not share in the Abrahamic Covenant, idolatry is violation of a covenant. I think I see a basis for this in Romans 1.18-23, where God asserts that Creation itself is sufficient evidence for the worship of the true God. The rest of this paragraph (Na 3.5-7) describes the appropriate judgment for spiritual adultery—shame, contempt, and revulsion—in horrifying detail.
God Is Thoroughly Just
I’ve just said that the form of judgment, as violent and horrifying as it is, is appropriate. How can I say that?
Because God does right. He will cleanse his creation of the chaos and pain brought by evil actors through their evil actions.
Nahum begins by noting that God has done this before. He gives the specific example of Thebes (ESV; NASB “No-Amon,” KJV “No”) in Egypt (Na 3.8). Thebes, what we now call Karnak/Luxor, was the capital of Upper (Southern) Egypt, and a wonder of power, wealth, and architecture. In many ways it was even more impressive than Nineveh. And unlike Nineveh, which had engendered fear but not loyalty among the surrounding, conquered nations, Thebes had formed alliances—sort of a NATO—among its neighbors Cush (Ethiopia), Egypt, Put (Somalia), and Libya (Na 3.9). But in 663 BC God had destroyed it through an invading army.
Which army? Well, funny you should ask.
The Assyrian army.
If God could use Nineveh to destroy Thebes in recent memory (Na 3.10), what was to prevent him from using some other earthly power to destroy Nineveh?
So there. Q.E.D.
Nineveh, then, will be similarly destroyed.
What will she look like when the enemy invades?
- She will be disoriented and ineffectual, as though drunk (Na 3.11).
- She will recognize her weakness and look for a place to hide (Na 3.11).
- She will fall easily into the hand of the invader (Na 3.12).
- Her soldiers will be weak (Na 3.13).
- Her fortifications will crumble (Na 3.13).
- No matter what she does to prepare—store up water, make bricks, expand military forces (Na 3.14-15)—she will be defeated.
- Her riches will be plundered (Na 3.16).
- Her leaders will abandon her (Na 3.17).
- Her leaders are apathetic—or perhaps dead (Na 3.18).
- When she’s gone, nobody will care (Na 3.19).
And there the book ends.
Yikes.
What a laundry list. What a reversal. What a judgment.
So, what’s Nahum’s point? How should we think about our enemies?
Do you think that a perfectly just, infinitely powerful God can’t deal with your enemies better than you can?
I’m not suggesting that we should savor anticipating our enemies’ destruction; we’ve already noted that God loves our enemies as much as he loves us, and we should too. We should desire their repentance and faith in God, so that he will graciously forgive them, just as he has forgiven us despite the depravity and depth of our own sins.
But I am suggesting that our own efforts to harm our enemies are doomed to be incomplete, foolish, and feckless. This a job for the Creator of heaven and earth, the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Our God.
Next time: one more prophet.
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