Editor's Note
We’re also going to take a brief pause from our summer books (1 & 2 Chronicles) to read from some of the minor prophets that are either directly mentioned in 1 & 2 Chronicles or that lived and prophesied within the time frames of those books.
These short prophetical books help us understand what God’s people would have been hearing (and feeling) as they lived through some tumultuous times and help add color to the historical books we’re reading over the next couple of months!
Read Nahum 2
Nineveh to Fall
2 An attacker advances against you, Nineveh.
Guard the fortress,
watch the road,
brace yourselves,
marshal all your strength!
2 The Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob
like the splendor of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste
and have ruined their vines.
3 The shields of the soldiers are red;
the warriors are clad in scarlet.
The metal on the chariots flashes
on the day they are made ready;
the spears of juniper are brandished.
4 The chariots storm through the streets,
rushing back and forth through the squares.
They look like flaming torches;
they dart about like lightning.
5 Nineveh summons her picked troops,
yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
the protective shield is put in place.
6 The river gates are thrown open
and the palace collapses.
7 It is decreed that Nineveh
be exiled and carried away.
Her female slaves moan like doves
and beat on their breasts.
8 Nineveh is like a pool
whose water is draining away.
“Stop! Stop!” they cry,
but no one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
the wealth from all its treasures!
10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
Hearts melt, knees give way,
bodies tremble, every face grows pale.
11 Where now is the lions’ den,
the place where they fed their young,
where the lion and lioness went,
and the cubs, with nothing to fear?
12 The lion killed enough for his cubs
and strangled the prey for his mate,
filling his lairs with the kill
and his dens with the prey.
13 “I am against you,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
“I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers
will no longer be heard.”
Go Deeper
Nahum 2 is a continuation of the previous chapter as Nahum, the prophet, tells of the vision God gave him. The people of Nineveh had returned to their wicked ways and they faced judgment. This prophecy from Nahum is graphic as it foretells impending doom and destruction. Reading it feels dark; hearing it in person must have felt even more ominous. As we read this today, it’s fair to wonder what we are supposed to do with Nahum 2.
There are two contrasting pictures painted by Nahum in this chapter: we see that “the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel” (v. 2) and that Nineveh is facing a crushing defeat, with God opposing the Ninevites (v. 13). This is a reversal of fortunes for the people of God who have faced opposition and resistance. They would experience a restoration and would be lifted up by God. Think of the hope they must have felt hearing those words for the first time!
For the Ninevites, however, the opposite was in store for them. Pastor and commentator David Guzik said this in his Enduring Word commentary:
“What a terrible thing to hear from God! The principle of Romans 8:31 is true for the believer: ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ Accordingly, the opposite is also true – if God is against you, then who can be for you?”
This passage is a reminder God was and still is in the process of reconciling the world to Himself. Nineveh was a broken place overrun with idolatry and evildoers and God promised His people that He would restore them and punish evil all at the same time, even though it seemed like a dark and hopeless place.
Fast forward seven centuries (and 400 years of silence!) and God sent His son into a dark world with the promise that He was going to save the World through Jesus. Even though the circumstances seemed less than ideal at the time, God had a plan and knew what He was doing. Today, let’s cling to the hope that we have been given through Jesus and trust that God is still in the process of restoring our broken world.
Questions
- What stuck out to you in your first read through this passage? Why?
- Can you think of a time you saw God restore a situation that seemed hopeless? What did you learn from watching that?
- How is God asking you to be light in a dark world today?
Keep Digging
Wondering why God judged Nineveh so harshly? Check out this article from GotQuestions.org.
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3 thoughts on “Nahum 2”
God is fully aware of all we think, say, and all actions. Every action has a consequence good or bad. Jonah fleeing, he thinks from God, to not go to Nineveh, but he does eventually get there. He tells them about God, they ALL turn to God and then go back to their evil ways. BUT GOD needs/has to show them that He is God, good or bad there are consequences. We/they must follow His ways, if we did our lives will be so much easier. This freedom of will thing just gets me into trouble. We/I need to be obsessed by our entire being to God. Acts 17:28 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I don’t know about you but I want to be on God’s side. I want to be so in love with Him that He is my first thought when anything good or bad happens!!!
God thank You for the opportunity and availability to be Your daughter. God my hearts desire is to do right things and make right choices with YOU always in the forefront of my mind. Please help me to accomplish that today, now, in this moment. I can’t change yesterday but I can live for You today with all my might in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!
Having so recently studied the people of Nineveh through book of Jonah, we know God spared them once as they repented after hearing Jonah’s message. Now years later they are right back where they were steeped in sin, but this time they would be destroyed. There was no turning back and Nineveh would come to a bitter end. God’s wrath feel on those who did evil and oppressed his people, past and present. The Amplified version of the Bible explains it this way in Galatians 6:7:
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap.”
I read, through the words of Nahum, the result of Nineveh’s fall was pride. Verses 11 & 12 exposed their pride before the Lord declares, v13 “I am against you,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
I’m studying also in Jeremiah, and it reminded me of a passage found in Chapter 12: 8 “My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.
9 Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?“
Judah’s pride was her destruction, as we read here also today.
To have so much pride that God despises you, is not where I want to be.