Sardanapallus decided this would never be and therefore felt secure. Nahum 1:6 Who Can Stand Before His Indignation? All is calm in this verse, though the whole context is tossed with tempest. This triple emphasis on inundation is more than figura- tive, and the expressions 'gates of the rivers,' 'overrunning flood,' 'pool of water' cannot be described away as poetic imagery." Transcendence means that His greatness is beyond our comprehension. It’s like saying He can wipe out the corn in Iowa or the oranges in Florida. Ask ye, "Who is this same?" The book of Jonah has the makings of a great movie plot. In the tempests of life, on its wide heaving sea, When Jesus comes the second time he comes to “take vengeance.”. If the Ninevites doubted, all they needed to do was remember. Patience is sometimes a sign of weakness, but not so with the Lord. taking my Christianity with me and praying that it may be used to influence for good the character of the resistance.”. 24-26.] 1:3), but the greatness of His power brings us mercy. (2.) Reading it, we realize that the wrath of God, and the vengeance of God, are judicial concepts. 4. 16:18, NKJV). Yes, freely to the last! Yet, let me say one thing, should you be one of the eternally lost, and should you, in the course of your weary and tormented eternity, say to yourself, Oh that God were not so just; then think what a wish that would be for yourself. [31] In other words, in even the worst circumstances God’s protection for his followers is secure and trustworthy—regardless of what happens. The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies; Fire consumes your gate bars. Many are the expressions used concerning it both in this chapter and elsewhere,—jealousy, vengeance, fury, wrath; all to indicate its existence, and to shew us that the human theories of divine universal benevolence are not true; being got up for a purpose, and that purpose to persuade the sinner’s own conscience that he need not be alarmed because of his guilt; and that no one need dread the infliction of punishment, except perhaps a few of the most wicked of our race. 4) Am I secure in taking refuge in the Lord as my stronghold? He gave up hope and ordered his kingly possessions as well as concubines, etc. 7. The temple was excavated in 1849 in northern Iraq, and today that lion can be seen in the British Museum in London. 23:14). The lions measured eight–and–a–half feet high and more than seven feet across. Personal Application - Save your sympathy for the victim, not the criminal. If you supply the willingness, then I promise you—God will supply the power. Snake handlers understand this principle well. In truth, He is judge and refuge. When we have God in clear focus, His powerful presence eclipses our fears. Amen.—David C. Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. What a consolation. Habakkuk - Justification by faith is God’s way of salvation. 4. REFLECTION When have you struggled to remain faithful to God? When you taste God's goodness, His praise will be on your lips. It is unchanging. His tender care to supply all their necessities. This is one of the greatest chapters in Old Testament prophecy. By opening floodgates on the Khoser River, they may have won a swift victory. (Exploring the Minor Prophets - Recommended) . After Jonah’s ministry in Nineveh, the city was covenanted to the Lord. Too long Nineveh had exerted her malign influence upon the fortunes of the chosen people;that, to use the expressive simile of Nahum 2:11, it had resembled a den of lions, whence ravenous beasts prowl forth to devour the villagers. All rights reserved, Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Sometimes when the forces of evil have arrayed themselves against the good, the conflict has seemed uncertain and sometimes it has seemed as though iniquity was destined to prevail. Judgment lingereth not, damnation slumbereth not. ~beC'á6Ð5 9:5, NKJV). This stream, as its name implies (it is significantly derived from the Assyrian verb tabalu, 'to take away,' 'to tear away') could become a raging torrent." (4.) Let us quietly wait, and patiently endure the will of the Lord till He cometh. 35/93. Nineveh was proud of her invulnerable city, with her walls reaching 100 ft. high and with a moat 150 ft. wide and 60 ft. deep; but Nahum established the fact that the sovereign God (Nah 1:2–5) would bring vengeance upon those who violated His law (Nah 1:8,14; 3:5–7). . The greatness of the almighty God sends us to our knees in humility. His eye is on us at all times, specially in the day of trouble. Resources that Reference Nahum, Book Overview - well done - includes a few notes on individual verses, CAMBRIDGE COMMENTARY Immerse yourself in the Bible. He waited as long as possible to pour out His judgment (cf. If you ever visit Florence in Italy, and go into the Uffizi Gallery, you will see there a magnificent painting of the Battle of Ivry, in which the forces of Henry IV of Navarre are contending against the host led on by his enemies. into a portion of his palace and sealing off that palace, burned the whole thing down. That simple childhood prayer celebrates two profound attributes of God: His transcendence and His immanence. Because of His overflowing love, He seeks justice for wrongs committed and the redemption of those who have turned from Him. FULFILLMENT OF NAHUM'S PROPHECY Nahum 3:19 There is no relief for your breakdown, Your wound is incurable. One hundred years later, during the time of Nahum, the Assyrians had returned to their bullish ways, conquering the northern kingdom of Israel and lording their power over Judah in the south (2Ki 17:1–6; 18:13–19:37). He is identified (Nahum 1:1) as an Elkoshite. Does he know me, even me, as one of those who trust in him? —D J De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. No plot can possibly succeed against His sovereign decree. See discussion of Comparing Scripture with Scripture. In Nahum, we see both His character and His power, and we anticipate His glorious coming. Such a good God would not be a good God. For this reason, the traditions of a flood were pursued. His heart is ever towards His people, and He is working all things for the good of those who love Him. They will be burned up like stubble in a dry field. O anger of Jehovah, how real, how righteous, how terrible, how inexorable! It had repented at the preaching of Jonah. 2. In fact, many historians believe the Babylonians used the Assyrians’ own dams against them to damage their fortifications.       God hath built up from tears. Under special circumstances our resort. It shall sweep everything before it like a whirlwind. He resembles the mother, whose child is smitten with small-pox. Methinks I see the wonderful similitude in which the unseen did veil himself: I see it walking among the trees so slowly—if it is right to give such a picture—beating its breast, and shedding tears that it should have to condemn man. His bonds are burst asunder, they can no longer hold us. Two have already been suggested: first, God is a jealous God (He will have no other gods before Him, Exod. For some fancied tempo­rary advantage, they sin against this deep conviction; but it is still there, and it surges to the surface when the wrath of God proceeds in vengeance; and it always agrees with the rightness' of His action. I have fled to my Refuge and breathed our my woe; Reaping what one sows is a general moral principle God has built into the structure of the universe (see Job 4:8). May we not indeed fear that God will soon rise against us? Yea, "there is none good but one, that is, God" (Matt. . Storm clouds gather. His anger was slow in coming to the boiling point (cf. HINT: Click here to Scroll Bible text synchronized with Constable's notes. Is there a deep longing in your heart to ascend, like the prophets and seers of old, into the mountain of the Lord? Have you ever observed that scene in the garden of Eden at the time of the fall? This judgment would be more than a military defeat, though that was part of it. He is slow to anger, great in power, and perfect in justice. Nahum could well have lived there and have prophesied to Nineveh, as Daniel did to Babylon later on. When the city repented, God held back His hand of judgment. This doesn’t mean He’s a pushover. There may today be “a great calm.” Who knows how soon those raging billows will give place to a sea of glass, and the sea birds sit on the gentle waves? We now reach the present. When a defendant stands before a judge, he or she is at the mercy of the court. Commentary on the Old Testament Nahum 3:1-19 - GOD IS JUST: WHY NINEVEH WILL FALL. While His anger comes slowly, bless His Name, His love comes quickly. 3. Jacob beamed as he said, "God is our refuge and strength, and our President's in trouble.". Their interests are safe in his hands. First, there is an announcement, a mocking warning to Nineveh to brace for an attack (v. 1). The opening verses tell us that this man Nahum was an Elkoshite, and I feel sure one would be hard pressed to have that information stored within your memory bank. Let everyone place his leprous heart in the fierce light of the Lord’s holiness. He cannot endure anything standing between Him and your heart’s love. Dear reader, what is your state this day? How do we know that’s true? The city's walls were 100 feet high and broad enough to drive four spans of chariot horses abreast; there were 1500 watch towers, for defenses. It is judicial anger; the anger of the righteous judge. Sometimes it seems that sin's ignored Excerpt: Theme: The book of Nahum has but one outstanding theme; namely, the destruction of Nineveh. He controls all the elements, and He causes man’s wrath to praise Him. Bad as your case may be at the hands of a just God, it would be unspeakably worse at the hands of an unjust God. What good promise of God do you need to believe today? All rights reserved), Immortal, invisible, God only wise, These, however, were nothing compared to the strength and power of God. Realizing the precarious situation he was in, the Assyrian leader, Sardanapallus, made prepar- ations for the defense of his city as well as his kingdom. Commentary on Nahum NAHUM WRITER: Nahum. If you question that fact, go and search for Nineveh. These clouds are depressing, not unlike the kind Winston Churchill described in his first volume on World War II, which he titled The Gathering Storm. Ah, reader, is this thy case? Yet at around their respective peaks in power and influence, prophecies of doom were cast against their impregnable walls, and soon afterward they were conquered—Nineveh after a three-month (very short) siege and Babylon without a fight. The first African ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Albert John Lutuli, a nephew of Zulu kings who himself was elected Chief. 5. Bernard Ramm (Protestant Christian Evidences, Moody Press, 1957) states: "Part of the success of the Medes was due to the optimism of the Ninevites who assumed the enemy was permanently repulsed and gave themselves to drinking and feasting." - Nahum the Book of Diagnosed Death (Nahum 3). Devotionals on Nahum Would you consider such a person a good person? Date Two points of interest help us date the book of Nahum. Yet, almost from the first turn of Layard's spade, the city [Nineveh] began to surrender hundreds and then thousands of informative clues to the past. The sovereign Ruler of this world will have His day. So he looked around and collected for himself a pile of rocks. But I have never, ever approached a moment like this. When we outlaw the death penalty, we tell the murderer that, no matter what he may do to innocent people in our custody and care, women, children, old people, his most treasured possession, his life, is secure. Some have found it one of the most contributive sources in getting at what a text means." Slow to Anger, and Great in Power       Nah. Whirlwinds and storms manifest this angry aspect of God's character and His power (cf. Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Yet the principle is clear.       Were there no watery eyes. How often when trials like sea billows roll, Because of this, Nahum condemns Nineveh and proclaims judgment on the people. More than a century after Jonah’s time, Nineveh was completely destroyed in 612 B.C. 1. Political leaders would disappear during the crisis (vv. He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish, and he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart’s love and himself. 625 B.C. One learns from the Assyrian Annals that Assurbanipal destroyed Thebes in 663 B.C. "Three times Nahum predicts that Nineveh is to be destroyed by a flood ... (Nah 1:8) ... (Nah 2:7) ... (Nah 2:9). 115:8), for what we believe determines how we behave. “Who can stand before his indignation? nahum habakkuk zephaniah wycliffe exegetical commentary Nov 24, 2020 Posted By Edgar Wallace Ltd TEXT ID 855f5a61 Online PDF Ebook Epub Library from other sources 1d57e8 avian influenza scientific and technical review 28 zephaniah wycliffe exegetical commentary oct 24 2020 posted by j r r tolkien richard d As in every other portion of the Old Testament Scriptures, the Lord's Anointed is visible upon the horizon. Let Jonah be lodged in the whale's belly, Peter be put into a close prison, or Lazarus be wrapped in rags, or Abel rolled in blood, yet can he call them by name, and send his angels to comfort them. Obadiah - Sure retribution must overtake merciless pride. —D. The whole truth about God is good news! it looks at the fall of Nineveh as a future event. We have made a sincere effort to select only the most conservative, "bibliocentric" commentaries. We cannot imagine any of the natural forces He has created rebelling against His will. . The intense heat had caused the south wall to bend inwards at a dangerous angle and the floor of the chamber itself was buried under a great pile of burnt debris over a metre and a half in depth, filled with ash, charcoal, small antiquities . Peace! Let this longsuffering goodness draw us, melt us, awaken confidence, and win us to love. . Behold, on the mountains the feet of Him 3/1, 78, 79. ", Climbing Higher - by Selwyn Hughes (Everyday With Jesus), Look to the mountains—THE FEET OF ONE BRINGING GOOD NEWS AND PROCLAIMING PEACE!—Nahum 1:15. “Nahum” means comforter. It contains a runaway prophet, a terrible storm at sea, the prophet swallowed by a great fish, God sparing the prophet’s life, and the repentance of a pagan city. It is stunning to see the demise of impenetrable empires fall at the bidding of God. (According to Mr. Rich, the distance from the inside of the inner wall to the inside of the outer wall was 2007 feet. Time, place, speech, or apparel cannot obscure or darken his eye or ear. God the good must and will stand against evil. God is in it all. Commentary on Nahum, Caveat: Be an Acts 17:11 Berean (note): Not always literal, especially on prophetic passages, PETER PETT COMMENTARY W. E. B. The prophet Nahum was sent to minister to the southern kingdom of Judah at the time of the invasion of the Assyrian king Sennacherib. — Spencer's "Things New and Old", A safe stronghold our God is still, 3. He is good, and he doeth good. God is Jealous (v. 2). Adam, where art thou? The prophecy brought comfort to Judah and all who feared the cruel Assyrians. To abide in Him alone is true love. (1.) Words in boxes are from the Bible.   III. Malachi - Let the wicked be warned by the certainty of judgment. Once we turn away from sin, Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Their city would be permanently destroyed as a result of their wickedness. ; Zech 9–14 after 500 B.C. What about the storms of interruptions, irritations, and ill-treatment? This fact of decline in the Assyrians' defenses reached the enemy general, Arbaces, through deserters, and a night attack was pursued. "What did you do?" Nineveh was about to face judgment. It may have been Capernaum, “the city of Nahum.” The time in which he prophesied, from internal evidence, seems to have been between the fall of No-Amon (Thebes) in Upper Egypt, 663 B.C., and the fall of Nineveh, 606 B.C., for he speaks of the one as past (Nahum 3:8–10) and the other as future (Nahum 1:8, 14). Sermon Notes by C H Spurgeon, The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.— Nahum 1:7. — Reprinted by permission. In Nahum’s prophecy the tables are turned and the hunter becomes the hunted; the fearless become the fearful. Even so, we are not to presume upon His grace but rather we are to live as those who have been freed from slavery to sin (Rom. Even today, at the supposed site of the Ninlil Gate in the city's walls, the Khosr broadens to recall the prophet's words: 'Nineveh is like a pool of water " (2:9). After a rich life of Christian experiences, Cowper sat down and recorded his summary of the Lord’s dealings in the familiar words: “God moves in a mysterious way / His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, / and rides upon the storm.”, Before the dust settles, why not ask God to have His way in today’s whirlwind and storm? A deathlike silence reigned as he stood there saying naught. Almighty, victorious—Thy great name we praise. George Fox was a large man, young, muscular, with piercing eyes, long hair, and a foghorn voice. No, the Lord would be a refuge to protect the remnant of his followers in the land. Then, beloved, be not afraid of God’s power; for by faith you have fled to Christ for refuge, the power of God need no more terrify you, than the shield and sword of the warrior need terrify those whom he loves. HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD STUDY BIBLE NOTES. Nahum 2:12 "The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin." He brought out a small leather-covered Bible. How would you use that super suit? After long tribulation the flail is hung up, and the wheat rests in the garner. In today’s reading, Nahum’s description of God’s character continues, this time focusingon His lovingkindness. Some scholars believe the Tigris didn't even flow past ancient Nineveh since it does not at present. 433-400 B.C. Temporal blessings and spiritual prosperity shall go together in the millennium: long life (Isaiah 65:20-22), peace (Isaiah 2:4-note), honor (Isaiah 60:14-16), righteous government (Isaiah 54:14; Isaiah 60:18). 1. When the Divinely appointed scourge fell in hammer blows upon the vile nation, the heart melted, that is, in-ward courage failed; therefore, the knees smote' together, that is, outward courage failed; anguish was in all loins, that is, the vital forces were filled with agony; and the faces of all waxed pale, that is they paled in death. The den ; and our extremities are His opportunities extreme, but I don’t the. Quiet presence of the ancient near East intimidating the nations promise, ” because he holy. Believing in a state of mind, under fear that another has engaged the affections of one you.! With one movement of His power ( v. 12 ) flowed directly past the city of Nineveh is remarkably and. 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