Skip to main content

Nahum 2

Image
By

Verses 1-13, “He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily. For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob Like the excellence of Israel, For the emptiers have emptied them out And ruined their vine branches. The shields of his mighty men are made red, The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches In the day of his preparation, And the spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets, They jostle one another in the broad roads; They seem like torches, They run like lightning. He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their walk; They make haste to her walls, And the defense is prepared. The gates of the rivers are opened, And the palace is dissolved. It is decreed: She shall be led away captive, She shall be brought up; And her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves, Beating their breasts. Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, Now they flee away. “Halt! Halt!” they cry; But no one turns back. Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of treasure, Or wealth of every desirable prize. She is empty, desolate, and waste! The heart melts, and the knees shake; Much pain is in every side, And all their faces are drained of color. Where is the dwelling of the lions, And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub, And no one made them afraid? The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, Killed for his lionesses, Filled his caves with prey, And his dens with flesh. “Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.”

Nineveh will be humbled in this battle and led away captive by their enemy, as part of God's judgement for their sin. In fact, God declares that He is against the nation of Assyria. And if God is against you, how can you stand? You cannot behave in a manner that is against God indefinitely...He will eventually bring justice.  Although they may have enjoyed a season of power among the other nations, maybe even being the greatest city in the world at one time, they would be brought low in front of all. The wicked do not go unpunished.  Proverbs 11:18‭-‬21, “The wicked man does deceptive work, But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward. As righteousness leads to life, So he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death. Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord, But the blameless in their ways are His delight. Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished; But the posterity of the righteous will be delivered.” 

We can conclude from this that the wicked will be punished, and only the righteous will be delivered from His wrath. It did not matter that Nineveh had a salvation experience at one point and repented. It mattered what they were doing presently. And the only way to be pleasing is by imitating Christ rather than the world.  Ephesians 5:1‭-‬7, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1 Corinthians 9

By
Paul feels the need to defend his calling and his position of authority among the Corinthians, due to the fact that he is being examined. Ironically, his decision to not take support from the church, which should have earned him even more respect, has done the opposite causing his legitimacy as an apostle to be called into question. He makes the point that those who labor spiritually for the Corinthians have the right to eat and drink at their expense, and should expect the same support for their believing wife if they choose to bring one along as part of their ministry.  Certainly if others have been supported by them, Paul has even more right, being their spiritual father so to speak. I Corinthians 9:12, "If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ." Paul does not want to be accused of fulfilling his duty out of financial obligation, and so to demon...
7 comments
Read more

1 Timothy 6

By
Those of us who are under authority should be respectful so that outsiders will not witness our behavior and blaspheme God or His word. Although slavery has been abolished in America, we still have employers, and our jobs should be done unto the Lord so that our hard work will be to the glory of God. Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Some Christians believe that they can relax on these standards if they work for a Christian boss, but actually the opposite is true. We should serve them even harder knowing that a brother or sister will be benefiting from our labors. Having been employed in ministry I was able to witness firsthand how others served their Christian bosses. Many would show up late, leave early, miss meetings, and produce mediocre to poor quality work as though it were acceptable to do so. If we bear the name of Jesus, we should stand out for our quality of performance and our et...
5 comments
Read more

2 Corinthians 2

By
The letter Paul has written was out of love for the Corinthians, but was anguishing for him to write.  Choosing to send a letter rather than return to visit them on his way back through from Macedonia, was to avoid another occurrence of the first visit.  We can assume that the first visit was troubling for Paul, being their spiritual father so to speak, to see the church in the state it was in, requiring him to rebuke them harshly for their errors.  Much the same as when we are grieved when someone close to us goes astray (like our children), causing the need for strong words and discipline. Paul had sorrow over those whom he wanted to have joy.  Verse 4, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears,  not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.” The intention of the letter was not to bring them grief, but to correct them in love and bring about a change of heart and...
5 comments
Read more