Nahum 2-3
Dear RTB’ers,
I noted yesterday that the book of Nahum is all about Nineveh and its judgment and destruction. That’s what today’s reading is all about, that final destruction. It gets confusing as to whether some of the text is referring to the advancing armies or to defenders in Nineveh itself. See especially Nahum 2:3-4. Beyond that, most of the text is clear; it’s not hard to imagine oneself in the middle of the city as it is being ravaged by invaders, and as officials, leaders, and traders flee before the onslaught.
Finally, Nahum leaves no doubt but that the Lord is responsible for the destruction of Nineveh: Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, “Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?” Where shall I seek comforters for you? (vv. 3:5-7)
Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC and never built again. According to my Study Bible, archeologists finally began to uncover her ruins in 1845.
Blessings!
So, what is the point of all this talk about the destruction of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire? Are we simply to learn that maybe we shouldn’t be quite so brutal as they in warfare? Is that the lesson? Or might there be more for us to see? Should we maybe come to understand that the LORD God Almighty is, well, Almighty — and that we are not? Should we as a nation perhaps learn to trust not in military might but in God? And what about for each one of us individually? Where do we find security?