Nahum 2

0:00Welcome to Bible chapter every day. I'm Matthew. Our chapter today is Nehum too. Let's go to God in prayer. Great God, you are powerful. You are in control. When you are against a city, that city has no chance, no matter how powerful they seem before. We do radially fear you. We know that you are just, that you will judge, that you are patient, but that you will not wait forever. We trust in you, not in the physical things, to keep us safe, amen. Nehum too. One who shatters has come up against you, guard the fortification. Watch the road, gird your loins, muster all your strength.

1:01For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob, like the majesty of Israel. For ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their branches. The shields of his warriors are dyed red. The powerful men are dressed in scarlet. The metal of the chariots shines like fire on the day of battle, and their spears quiver. The chariots race madly through the streets. They rush back and forth in the public squares. Their appearance, like lightning bolts, they dart about like flashes of lightning. He calls his officers. They stumble as they march. They rush to her wall. They set the covering in place. The gates of the river are opened. The palace trembles. Her goddess is taken out and taken into exile. Her maid servants moan like doves, they beat on their breasts. Nineveh is like a pool of water, without its water.

2:03As they flee, she cries, stop, stop! But there is no one who turns back. Plunder the silver, plunder the gold. There is no end to the spoils and abundance of everything one could want. Emptiness and plundering and devastation. Their hearts faint, and their knees tremble. All their loins shake, and all their faces turn pale. Where now is the den of the lions, and the cave of the fierce lions? There the lioness, the cub, and the lion once prowled, and no one disturbed them. The lion tore apart enough prey for his cubs. He strangled prey for his lioness. He filled his lair with prey, and his den with mangled carcass. Look, I am against you, declares ye a'hwe of hosts. I will burn her chariots with fire.

3:03The sword will devour fierce lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth. The voice of your messengers will no longer be heard. Well, that's the reading. Let's dig in. We're reading about the destruction of Nineveh, which, at the time, was the capital city of Assyria. This book was probably written about a hundred years after Jonah preached to Nineveh, and they had repented at that time. In Chapter 1 we read about how God is angry, and he's coming to judge. Nineveh is against God, so God will punish Nineveh. But God will free Israel. Now in this chapter we read a poetic description of the destruction of Nineveh. This chapter starts, saying that an enemy has arrived, time to call everyone to their military posts. And this destruction of Nineveh is connected with God restoring Israel. It's perhaps saying that Assyria is being punished for what they did to Israel.

4:06Then we get a description of the army with red shields. It isn't clear which army is being described, the Assyrian army or the attackers. The attackers we learned from history were Babylon, the Meeds, and the Scythians. But we get a poetic picture of all of the army decked out and dashing about. It may be the Assyrians dashing about in their chariots, in the city as they rush back and forth to protect different parts of the city, or it could be the attackers. It mentions the gates of the river. Historians tell us that at the time of the attack on Nineveh there was a lot of rainfall that swelled the river going through Nineveh, which caused some of the wall to collapse and made it easier for the attackers to enter the city. Then we have the people of Nineveh mourning at the destruction. And the people run away. The enemy enjoys the plunder of gold and silver and other precious things. And then we have Nineveh, poetically described as a lion's den.

5:07Nineveh was plenty of prey brought there by the lion to feed his family. But no more, because Yahweh is against Nineveh, so they will be destroyed. And now for a deeper dive. Nineveh appeared to be impossible to take. It was powerful and rich. They had terrorized the nations around them and gathered all the wealth. They had massive walls. They had a powerful army. And yet when Yahweh is against them, they will fall. We get a hint here that maybe Yahweh played a part by sending a flood to weaken the city. But of course, the truth is, he was involved in the whole thing, bringing the enemy against Nineveh in the first place. So we look at things today. And now I'm living in a powerful country at this time. The United States has been for many years able to control many things in the world to

6:11the benefit of the United States. And that will last until God changes things. If God is against us, it will all come crashing down. Unfortunately, most of the people in the United States don't see it that way. They trust in the physical and the diplomatic power, the economic power. But it's one thing to see it in nations. It's also true in our lives individually. If God is against us, personally, we are in big trouble. Everything we have comes from God. My job, my health, my family, my friends, they're all gifts from God that He can take away any time He chooses. We should fear God. We should not want to make Him angry at us. But we can also remember in chapter 1 that God was also described as slow to anger.

7:13We don't have to be afraid that if we make one mistake, God will crush us. But we also should not want to test the limits of God's patience. Equations are from the Lexum English Bible, Copyright 2012, Logos Bible Software. Lexum is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.