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THE MINOR PROPHETS

 

The Prophet Nahum

Nineveh Is Laid Waste

Lesson #8

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.     The book of Nahum is the seventh Minor Prophet.

 

B.      It consists of 3 chapters and 47 verses.

 

C.     Its author is only known because of this prophecy.

 

D.     The book is not quoted in the New Testament.

 

E.      Yet, it is a vital book, especially for those who are interested in the nature of God.

1.       In Romans 11:22, Paul opens with these words:  “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God…”

2.       In Nahum 1:3, we are told:  “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked…”

a.       God wants to manifest His goodness to all men.

b.      However, when man persists in his sins, God’s vengeance will ultimately be poured out upon those who are evil.

 

F.      There are some interesting passages in Nahum that deserve some deeper study.

1.       “God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies” (Nah. 1:2).

2.       “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not acquit the wicked…” (Nah. 1:3).

3.       “Who can stand before his indignation?  and who can abide the fierceness of his anger?” (Nah. 1:6).

4.       “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him” (Nah. 1:7).

5.       “He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face…” (Nah. 2:1).

6.       “Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts…” (Nah. 2:13; 3:5).

7.       “Woe to the bloody city!...” (Nah. 3:1).

8.       “There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound in grievous…” (Nah. 3:19).

 

G.     Let’s look at this short book and leave impressed by the goodness and severity of God.

 

I.                    THE WRITER

 

A.     Nahum 1:1 introduces us to the writer of the book.

 

…The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

 

1.       His name was Nahum.

a.       His name means “comforter” or “one full of comfort.”

b.      His messages was one of comfort to Judah (Nah. 1:15).

 

Behold upon the mountains of them that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!  O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows:  for the wicked shall not more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

 

B.   He is called an Elkoshite.

1.    He was from the town of Elkosh.

2.    There have been four different locations suggested.

3.    The most agreed upon is a town located in Judah which eventually was named Elcesi.

 

C.   Note:  This is called “a vision.”

1.    Visions were one of the means God communicated His message to His prophets.

2.    Again, we are impressed that these are not the words of Nahum.  They are the words of God.

D.   LESSON:  We again learn that God uses obscure, unknown people who are loyal and talented to do His will.

 

II.           THE RECIPIENTS OF THE BOOK

 

A.   Nahum 1:1 seems to make the recipients those of the city of Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria.

 

The burden of Nineveh.

 

1.    The name Nineveh is found three times in the book (Nah. 1:1; 2:8; 3:7).

2.    The name Assyria is used once in the book (Nah. 3:8).

3.    The lion was the symbol of Assyria.  In Nahum 2:11, the prophet refers to “the dwelling of the lions.”

 

B.   They are the subject of the book, but the recipients of the book are those in the southern Kingdom.

1.    At this time, Assyria had overthrown the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

2.    Too, they had invaded Judah, but were not successful in subjugating the nation under them.

3.    This prophecy was “a breath of fresh air” to Judah who lived in fear under this violent and evil world power.

 

III.         THE DATE OF THE BOOK

 

A.   Most date the book about 654 B.C.

1.    The book makes mention of the destruction of the city of “No,” or Thebes which fell in 661 B.C.

2.    Ten years later, Thebes was rebuilt, but Nahum makes no mention of its restoration.

3.    Thus, it appears is as written between 661 B.C. and 651 B.C.

 

B.   It had to be written before 612 B.C. for that is the date of the destruction of Assyria.

 

C.   If it were written around 654 B.C. it was written during the reign of the wicked king, Manasseh. 

 

IV.         THE THEME OF THE BOOK

 

A.   The theme is very stern and awful:  “Nineveh is laid waste!” (Nah. 3:7).

And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee, shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste:  who will bemoan her?...

 

 

B.   Nineveh was a great city.

1.    The walls of the city:

a.    100 feet high

b.    3 chariots could ride abreast on the top of the wall

2.    There were multitudes of towers built on the wall that rose 150 feet above the wall itself.

3.    The moat that surrounded the city:

a.    It was 150 feet wide.

b.    It was 60 feet deep.

4.    “Nineveh appeared impregnable and could withstand a twenty-year siege (Wilkinson, 268).

 

 

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C.   This is the same Nineveh to whom Jonah preached about 100 years before (760 B.C.) and found great success (Jonah 3:5).

 

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

 

1.    In 722 B.C., God used this nation to carry the Northern Kingdom into captivity due to their disobedience.

2.    By 654 B.C., they had once again become evil, violent, and involved in idol worship.  They made themselves the enemies of God and of God’s people.

a.    They worshipped idols (Nah. 1:14).

b.    It was a bloody city (Nah. 3:1).

c.    It was full of lies and robbery (Nah. 3:1).

d.    It was involved in the practice of whoredoms (Nah. 3:4).

e.    It practiced witchcraft (Nah. 3:4).

3.    LESSONS

a.    It is possible for people to apostatized, that is, leave God after accepting Him.

b.    Every generation needs to be thoroughly converted.  If not, apostasy is possible.

c.    Luke 12:48

 

…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…

 

D.   Because of their sins, God was going to utterly destroy Nineveh.

1.    The book begins with these words:  “The burden of Nineveh” (Nah. 1:1).

a.    Burden

1)    Strong (4853):  an utterance (chiefly a doom)

2)    BDB:  a load, a bearing, a burden

b.    “The word…’burden’ is never placed in the title, except when the vision is heavy and full of burden and toil” (Jerome as quoted by Barnes, e-sword).

c.    “Besides this, there is nothing of mercy or call to repentance or sorrow for their desolation” (Barnes, e-sword).

2.    “Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts…” (Nah. 2:13; 3:5).

3.    In Nahum 1:2-6, the prophet uses seven words to express the anger of God:  jealousy, vengeance, wrath, anger, indignation, fierceness, and fury.

4.    Three times the word “utter” or “utterly” is used to describe Nineveh’s destruction.

a.    “…he will make an utter end of the place thereof…” (Nah. 1:8).  (NOTE:  The ASV uses the words:  “a full end.”

b.    “…he will make an utter end…” (Nah. 1:9).

c.    “…he is utterly cut off” (Nah. 1:15).

5.    Nahum 2:10

 

She is empty, and void, and waste:  and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain in in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.

 

6.    There is a vivid description in the book of what God was going to do to Nineveh.

a.    “But with an overwhelming flood he will make an utter end…” (Nah. 1:8).

b.    “…they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry” (Nah. 1:10).

c.    “…yet they shall be cut down…” (Nah. 1:12).

d.    “…out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image…” (Nah. 1:14).

e.    “…I will make thy grave; for thou art vile” (Nah. 1:14).

f.     “…and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour they young lions:  and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard” (Nah. 2:13).

g.    “…and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses” (Nah. 3:3b).

h.    “…and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame” (Nah. 3:5).

i.     “And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock” (Nah. 3:6).

j.     “All they strongholds shall be like fig trees with firstripe figs:  if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater” (Nah. 3:12).

k.    Behold, they people in the midst of thee are women:  the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies:  the fire shall devour thy bars” (Nah. 3:13).

l.     “There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm…” (Nah. 3:15).

7.    In Nahum 2:3-8, we can almost see and hear the battle take place as the enemy enters into the streets of Nineveh to battle against her. 

8.    In Nahum 3:16-18, the merchants, the crowned, the captains, the shepherds, and the nobles are spoiled, flee away, and dwell in the dust.

9.    In Nahum 2:9, the people are exhorted to take the spoils of the city.

 

Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold:  for there is none end of the store and glory out of the pleasant furniture.

 

E.   “Nahum’s very specific details include:  Nineveh destroyed by a flood (1:8; 2:6) and by fire (1:10; 2:13; 3:13, 15); the profaning of Nineveh’s temples and images (1:14); the city never to be rebuilt (1:14; 2:11, 13); the leaders will flee (2:9; 3:17); the easy capture of the fortresses around the city (3:12); the destruction of the gates (3:13); and the lengthy siege and frantic efforts to strengthen its defenses (3:14).  All these events have been authenticated in archaeological finds and historical accounts” (Wilkinson and Boa, 269).

 

F.    The destruction was so complete that the site was soon forgotten.

1.    When Xenophon and his 10,000 men passed by 200 years later, he thought the mounds were the ruins of another city.

2.    When Alexander the Great fought a famous battle near the site in 331 B.C., he did not know a city had been there.

3.    In 1845, Sir A.H. Layard identified the mounds as the site of Nineveh. 

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   Two verses:

1.    Proverbs 16:12

 

It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness:  for the throne is established by righteousness.

 

2.    Psalm 9:17

 

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

 

B.   Two thoughts:

1.    In Nahum, we see “the justice of God in dealing with evil and the goodness of God in the eyes of the righteous” (A Popular Survey of the Old Testament, Geisler, 255). 

2.    “We must trust him as our Avenger over all wrong doers and the sole source of security and peace to those who love him” (Dunn, 363).

 

 

 

 

 

Do we believe

 

 

 

this Scripture?

 

 

 

 

 

Favor is deceitful,

and beauty is vain:

but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised

(Proverbs 31:30).