God’s Mercy and Judgment
 

Chapter One
 

God’s Wrath on His Enemies
 

1 The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
2 God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies;
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way
In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, And dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, And the lower of Lebanon wilts.
5 The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.
6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him.
7 The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.
8 But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies.
9 What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
10 For while tangled like thorns, And while drunken like drunkards, They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.
11 From you comes forth one Who plots evil against the Lord, A wicked counsellor.
12 Thus says the Lord: “Though they are safe, and likewise many, Yet in this manner they will be cut down
When he passes through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more;
13 For now I will break off his yoke from you, And burst your bonds apart.”
14 The Lord has given a command concerning you: “Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave, For you are vile”.
15 Behold, on the mountains The feet of him who brings good tidings, Who proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, Perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; He is utterly cut off.

1 The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

Little is known about Nahum's personal history. His name means "comforter," and he was from the town of Alqosh (Nahum 1:1), which scholars have attempted to identify with several cities, including the modern Alqosh in northern Iraq and Capharnaum of northern Galilee. (The town of Nahum).

The prophecy of Nahum. One of twelve minor prophets was written in about 615 BC, before the downfall of Assyria.
Nahum had a vision. He saw what was to happen to Nineveh in vivid detail.

The subject of Nahum's prophecy is the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the great and at that time flourishing Assyrian empire. 
Ashurbanipal was at the height of his glory. Ashurbanipal was king of Assyria. He is only mentioned in the Bible in the book of Ezra. He was the one that deported and settled people into the city of Samaria from the Trans-Euphrates.

Nineveh was a city of vast extent, and was then the centre of the civilization and commerce of the world, according to Nahum a "bloody city all full of lies and robbery"

Nah 3:1  Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 
 

The discovery of the ruins of ancient Nineveh, now where the city of Mosul is, in Iraq revealed a site at Tell Nabī Yūnus, site of a shrine to Jonah, the biblical prophet who preached to Nineveh.
Jonah had preached repentance to Nineveh about a hundred to a hundred and fifty years earlier, which caused a full scale repentance to which God withdrew His wrath. However, we see here in the book of Nahum that Nineveh had become as evil as Nineveh had been a hundred and fifty years earlier.
This caused God to issue the threat of His wrath again, by the Prophet Nahum.

History tells us that the prophecy concerning Nineveh came to pass, it was destroyed apparently by fire around 612 BC, and the Assyrian empire came to an end, an event which changed the face of Asia.

Wikipedia report:
The greatness of Nineveh was short-lived. In around 627 BC, after the death of its last great king Ashurbanipal, the Neo-Assyrian empire began to unravel through a series of bitter civil wars between rival claimants for the throne, and in 616 BC Assyria was attacked by its own former vassals, the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians. In about 616 BC Kalhu was sacked, the allied forces eventually reached Nineveh, besieging and sacking the city in 612 BC, following bitter house-to-house fighting, after which it was razed. Most of the people in the city who could not escape to the last Assyrian strongholds in the north and west were either massacred or deported out of the city and into the countryside where they founded new settlements. Many unburied skeletons were found by the archaeologists at the site. The Assyrian empire then came to an end by 605 BC, the Medes and Babylonians dividing its colonies between themselves.

This amazing proof that the Prophet Nahum received his vision from God. There is no way that he could have known beforehand what was to befall Nineveh in such detail unless it had been by revelation.

Whilst one does not want to see others suffer because of revenge, yet one can understand the relief when a persecutor or bully is removed.
This destruction of Ninevah would have been an encouragement and a message of comfort for Israel, Judah, and others who had experienced the "endless cruelty" of the Assyrians."
 

Nah 3:19  Your injury has no healing, Your wound is severe. All who hear news of you Will clap their hands over you, For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

This would be a great relief and a time of rejoicing for the nation of Israel. It would have been seen as a blessing from God.

Nahum 1: 2 God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies;
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked.
 

Verses 1 and 2, reveals the nature of God. Whilst God is a loving God, a longsuffering God, He will not wink at sin.
God is a jealous God, jealous for His name, jealous for His precepts and jealous for His people. He will take vengeance on the wicked on those who are His enemies.
Whilst He is slow to anger and gives men plenty of time to repent, as He said in Genesis 6:3. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 

God’s jealousy cannot be judged by mans jealousy. God can express jealousy without suspending His other attributes like love, patience, kindness and mercy, etc.
Because God is without sin, God’s jealousy in response to idolatry and wickedness, is righteous and holy. God is jealous for his relationship with his people because he passionately loves them and does not want them to be destroyed by idolatry.

When men act in jealousy, they suspend their other attributes.
Jealousy and envy are interchangeable. This word is often seen in lists of sins to avoid. Romans 1:29 describes ungodly people, “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

It is similar to anger. There is anger and there is righteous anger.
God’s jealousy is a righteous jealousy born of love.

The Lord has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.

4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, And dries up all the rivers.
Bashan and Carmel wither, And the flower of Lebanon wilts.
5. The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.
 

God is the God of all, He created all things and all things are held together by His power.
He made it and He can destroy it. He has power over the weather, be it whirlwind, or storm.
We are told He commands the sea and the waves.

Proverbs 8:29 When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth,

Psalm 107:29 He calms the storm, So that its waves are still.

Everything is under His power, “Yes, the world and all who dwell in it”.
 

Nahum 1:6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him.
 

The Prophet is making it very clear that God is a powerful God and nothing and no one can stand against His wrath.
God repented over Nineveh in the time of Jonah, because they repented but they forgot God and God is not mocked and the evil, wicked Nineveh has vexed Him and He will not be vexed without consequence.

Yet were His own are concerned, we see a different side to Him.
 

Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.

God will stand for His people, those who trust Him can have confidence that in the day of trouble He will be there.

On the other hand:

8 But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies.
 

These are not empty threats for it is recorded in the scriptures for all to see. God was patient with the wickedness of man. However His patience grew thin and He destroyed the whole earth with a flood and saved only the righteous who trusted in Him. Genesis 7:10.
 

Nahum 1:9 What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
10 For while tangled like thorns, And while drunken like drunkards, They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.
11 From you comes forth one Who plots evil against the Lord, A wicked counsellor.
 

Men think they can escape the wrath of God. They have afflicted God’s people and the affliction that God will send to them will not need to be repeated for He will make utter destruction of them.
All through history we have seen the same thing concerning the Nation of Israel.

God said to Abraham, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee”.

Nahum 1: 12 Thus says the Lord: “Though they are safe, and likewise many, Yet in this manner they will be cut down, When he passes through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more;
13 For now I will break off his yoke from you, And burst your bonds apart.”
14 The Lord has given a command concerning you: “Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave,

For you are vile”

No one can touch the apple of God’s eye and get away with it.

Every nation that has come against Israel is no more. Where are the Caananites, the Jebusites, the Amalekites and all the other “ites”, they are gone but where are the Israelites? Exactly where God said they would be. In the land of promise.
Whether it was the Syrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Germans. Where are they all today? They are no more.

Whilst they all thought they could stand, “They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried”

Matthew Henry puts it like this:

There is a great deal plotted against the Lord by the gates of hell, and against his kingdom in the world; but it will prove in vain.
With some sinners God makes quick despatch; and one way or other, he will make an utter end of all his enemies.
Though they are quiet, and many very secure, and not in fear, they shall be cut down as grass and corn, when the destroying angel passes through. God would hereby work great deliverance for his own people. But those who make themselves vile by scandalous sins, God will make vile by shameful punishments.
The tidings of this great deliverance shall be welcomed with abundant joy.
These words are applied to the great redemption wrought out by our Lord Jesus and the everlasting gospel, Romans 10:15.
Christ's ministers are messengers of good tidings, that preach peace by Jesus Christ. How welcome to those who see their misery and danger by sin! And the promise they made in the day of trouble must be made good.
Let us be thankful for God's ordinances, and gladly attend them. Let us look forward with cheerful hope to a world where the wicked never can enter, and sin and temptation will no more be known.

God will always bless those who preach the gospel of peace.
Israel’s job was to be a beacon, a light to the Gentiles and God was calling for His people through the prophecy of Nahum to be that light.
 

15 Behold, on the mountains The feet of him who brings good tidings, Who proclaims peace!

This is one of those verses that shows that prophecy is cyclical.
The Prophets spoke for their own time, for the time of Christ and for the end times.

Nahum, a contempory of Isaiah.

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Nahum 1:15 Behold, on the mountains The feet of him who brings good tidings, Who proclaims peace!

And in the New Testament:
 

Romans 10:15, KJV: "And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, Perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; He is utterly cut off.

This next call from Nahum, is a lesson for Christians today.

God has given us a commission to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all men
We have surrendered to Him and made a vow to follow Him. God calls on us, just like He called on Israel by the Prophet Nahum, to perform our vows.
Just as God dealt with the enemies of Israel, He will one day deal with His enemies when Christ returns in power and glory.
Satan, the wicked one has been cut off. He is a defeated enemy, he just doesn’t know it yet.

1 John 4:4 Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
 

Chapter Two

The Destruction of Nineveh.
 

KJV Nah 2:1  He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. 

2  For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches. 

3  The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. 

4  The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. 

5  He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. 

We see here the unfolding of the vision.

In the vision of Nahum, he saw Nahum 1:1, he foresees an army coming against Nineveh. Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyaxares, or Ahasuerus, king of the Medes.
However even though an army is made up of men, it is God who is the one “He that dashes in pieces” KJV,  It is God “who scatters” NKJV.
 

2  For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches. 
 

It is suggested that a better translation is: For Jehovah restores the glory of Jacob, so that it is as the glory of [ancient] Israel,

The object here is that God will exact revenge for the mistreatment of Israel and in the process remove her enemy and restore her glory.

Nahum describes the approaching enemy, which must have looked fearful.

3.  The shield of his mighty men is made red,: This could mean already tainted with blood or made to look like that to intimidate the opposing army.

3b. the valiant men are in scarlet. This could mean the colour of their battle dress was coloured scarlet.  

According to Bensons commentary:

The eastern people were very fond of dressing themselves in scarlet, as we learn from Herodotus. Or, “As the preparation for battle is described, we may suppose,” says Bishop Newcome, that “it was customary among those who fought against Nineveh to carry red shields and to wear scarlet.

Their chariots speedily going forward like the speed of lightening, lit up with torches and banging against each other as they negotiate the streets. This would be a formidable sight.
 

5  He shall recount his worthies:

The Babylonian “worthies”. The king of Babylon’s choicest troops selected for the siege of it. So eager to take the city, that they will be stumbling to get there.

5b they shall stumble in their walk;

The Ninevites rushed around trying to defend the city.

they shall make haste to the wall thereof,
 

5c. “And the defense is prepared” – but…it is too late!

The invaders simply dammed up the river which would have been the Khoser, which ran through the city. Then the water were  released, which flooded the city and this dissolved the sun-dried mud bricks which were part of the wall and some of the buildings.

6  The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. 

7  And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts. 

This is foretelling the capture of the city and the taking prisoner of  Huzzab, the queen, who shall come quietly without resistance.
Even though Nineveh was a populous city they could not rally enough men to stand against the onslaught. Even though the call is to “stand, stand” and would flee like cowards, not even looking back.
 

8  But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. 

The invaders will take everything, from gold and silver and even the furniture.
 

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

There will be no opposition, for they will be full of fear, their hearts melt with fear, their knees are knocking together, thoroughly defeated.

 

10  She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins,

The words, Empty, Void and Waste, are the Prophets words showing the increasing wave of destruction on Nineveh.  Empty - Bukah, Void - umebukah, Waste - umebullakah .
She is void, empty, and waste, she is made desolate.
 

10b.  the faces of them all gather blackness. 

Adam Clark in his commentary says:

This marks the diseased state into which the people had been brought by reason of famine, etc.; for, as Mr. Ward justly remarks, "sickness makes a great change in the countenance of the Hindoos; so that a person who was rather fair when in health, becomes nearly black by sickness." This was a general case with the Asiatics.

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11  Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? 
 

Nahum is asking the question, Where is Nineveh now? Where is the place of the Assyrian gods? Where is the dwelling of Nergal, the god of war, who was depicted as a winged lion. Where is the den of the old and young lions, the place where they plundered from and never were afraid. The answer is gone, destroyed.

The kings of Assyria are compared to lions that hunt for their prey, and, having found it, tear it in pieces, and carry home a sufficiency for their whelps. 
 

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. 

They are brought to nothing. Why?
Because those that acquire what they have legally and honestly will be blessed.
However, those that take the violent course to better themselves, God has no part.

We may look at the evil and wicked men of the world and think, Why do they prosper?
That’s what it looks like to us sometimes. Wrong seems to be rewarded and the good seems to suffer and are despised.

However this is not case. God will have His day.
Whatever a man sows, so shall he reap.
There is going to be a judgement day and no one will escape the true justice that they shall reap.

What Nineveh had gained was by plunder and pillage and God is not for them.
 

13  Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard. 

Matthew Henry comments:
 

Those that fear the Lord, and get honestly what they have, shall not want for themselves and theirs. It is just with God to deprive those of children, or of comfort in them, who take sinful courses to enrich them. Those are not worthy to be heard again, that have spoken reproachfully of God. Let us then come to God upon his mercy-seat, that having peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ, we may know that he is for us, and that all things shall work together for our everlasting good.

 

Chapter Three.

 

Woe to Nineveh
 

Nah 3:1  Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 

Nah 3:2  The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. 

Nah 3:3  The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: 

Nah 3:4  Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. 

Nah 3:5  Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 

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

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? whence shall I seek comforters for thee? 

Nah 3:8  Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? 

Nah 3:9  Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 

Nah 3:10  Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 

Nah 3:11  Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 

Nah 3:12  All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 

Nah 3:13  Behold, thy 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 3:14  Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln. 

Nah 3:15  There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. 

Nah 3:16  Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. 

Nah 3:17  Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 

Nah 3:18  Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. 

Nah 3:19  There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? 

                                                .......................................................................
 

Nah 3:1  Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; 

Assyria was a very cruel nation. They didn’t just conquer other nations but were a sadistic nation that took pleasure in killing and maiming their captives.

This documented in history. When Assyiria was excavated things were found that showed that they gloried in torture and killing.

On some of the monuments found, these writings were displayed.

“I cut off their heads and formed them into pillars.”·
“Bubo, son of Buba, I flayed in the city of Arbela and I spread his skin upon the city wall.”·
“I flayed all the chief men who had revolted, and I covered the pillar with their skins.”·
“Many within the border of my own land I flayed, and spread their skins upon the walls.”·
“I cut off the limbs of the officers, the royal officers who had rebelled.”·
“3,000 captives I burned with fire.”·
“Their corpses I formed into pillars.”·
“From some I cut off their hands and their fingers, and from other I cut off their noses, their ears, and their fingers, of many I put out their eyes.”· “I made one pillar of the living, and another of heads, I bound their heads to posts round about the city.”

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No wonder this city was known as “the bloody city”.

In verse 4, we see more of their wickedness.

Nah 3:4  Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. 
 

Not only did they perform these wicked things but involved others in them as well.

Nahum gives graphic details of the fight in the city.
 

Nah 3:2  The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. 

Nah 3:3  The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: 

When the Medes and the Babylonian armies entered the city of Nineveh, there was slaughter, so much so that they were treading on corpses of the dead.

God had had enough of Assyria and her murderous ways. He hated her witchcraft and idolatry. He looked on her as filthy and was going to show her up for what she really was.

 

Nah 3:5  Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 

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

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? whence shall I seek comforters for thee? 

Nahum in very explicit words prophecies the scene of the destruction and display of nineveh’s evil ways.

I will lift thy skirt and show thy nakedness, the shame of thy works. All around will gaze on thee.

Reading this, my mind went to the time when Sadaam Hussain was captured in a hole in the ground. I remember seeing the leader of Iraq and thinking how he had been brought low. After all his wicked acts, after ruling with fear and murder, he had been brought low, hiding, filthy in a hole in the ground.

There have been many evil men and many wicked nations and not all have been dealt with in this manner but there is no escape for wickedness.

Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

God will not be mocked and there will be a judgement day when everyone will answer for what they have done.

Nahum points out that there is no one and no nation that can stand against God.
 

Nah 3:8  Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? 

This verse is referring to the destruction of a city called No Ammon, (Thebes).
God is saying, here was a city that was considered so strong that she could not be conquered, yet look at her demise.
Even though Thebes was strong and had allies Ethiopia and Egypt, Put and Lubim (Lybia).
 

Nah 3:9  Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 

Yet even with all her help, she was taken captive.
 

Nah 3:10  Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. 

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The stronger you are, the stronger you fall.
All through history this has happened. It is God that makes kings and it is God that brings them down.
Not only Assyria but Babylon, Persia, Greece, the Romans. All had their day.
 
Even in our lifetime, we have seen it. Germany and Russia and even the dissolution of the British Empire.

Who would have thought that a city as great as Nineveh would fall to its enemies.

Adam Clarke. Writing before the discovery of the ruins in Nineveh in 1840, quotes an author commenting on the disappearance of the city:
“What probability was there that the capital city of a great kingdom, a city which was sixty miles in compass, a city which contained so many thousand inhabitants, a city which had walls a hundred feet high… And yet so totally was it destroyed that the place is hardly known where it was situated… Great as it was formerly, so little of it is remaining, that authors are not agreed even about its situation.”

 

Nah 3:11  Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 

Nah 3:12  All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 

Nah 3:13  Behold, thy 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. 
 

It does not matter how great a man, a nation might consider themselves. The strength, power, the weaponry is nothing when God is their opponent.

The mighty Philistine Goliath of Gath stood before a small boy with a sling and a stone and was brought down.
Why and how? Because God was his strength.
 

Nah 3:14  Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln. 

Nah 3:15  There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. 

These words are saying, there is nowhere to hide, build up the broken walls, resist, fight back.
Nothing can save you, for you are fighting more than another powerful nation, you are fighting the living God.

 

Numbers do not matter. Even though Nineveh had a multitude of soldiers, they will not stand.
 

Nah 3:16  Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. 

Nah 3:17  Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 

Their number were like locusts and grasshoppers, yet they will flee. When they come up against the mighty God of Israel, they have no chance and no escape.
 

Exodus 15:3 The LORD is a man of war; The LORD is His name.

Utter destruction, utter devastation. This evil, wicked nation, who tormented others, especially the children of Israel, will come under the wrath of God. There will be no healing, no coming back from this.
 

Nah 3:18  Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. 

Nah 3:19  There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually? 

Thy wound is unto death and people will be glad, people will be relieved that the bully nation is no more.
They will clap their hands.

Who cannot, on reading the Prophet Nahum, see that Nahum could only have wrote down this vision before the event, in such graphic detail, because it had been given to him by divine revelation.
Nahum only saw the destruction of Nineveh.
However his vision and prophetic words have a greater relevance. For it is a foretaste of future events of God’s wrath being poured out on other nations.
The ultimate fulfilment is in the end times, when Christ will come to set up His kingdom.
Then God will pour out His wrath on all unbelieving nations.

 

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 

Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 

Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 

Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 

Rev 19:16  And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 

Rev 19:17  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 

Rev 19:18  That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 

Rev 19:19  And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 

Rev 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 

Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. 

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