Here is a study I started on The Book of Nahum awhile back:
The Book of Nahum-King James Version
COMING JUDGMENT ON NINEVEH
“The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 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. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor. Thus saith the Lord; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”
-Nahum 1 (KJV)
“The burden.’ In the prophets, a burden is a "heavy" message of weighty importance, heavy in the sense that it produces sorrow or grief.
“Nineveh.” The capital of the Assyrian Empire was Nineveh, the city that heard the preaching of Jonah a hundred years before and repented. Nahum will address a city that has slipped back into sin, and is again ripe for judgment.
Among other things, the Prophecy of Nahum shows us that God not only deals with individuals as individuals, He also deals with nations as nations.
"This is the prophecy which sets forth, more clearly than any other, the truth concerning the wrath of God, in its national application."
-JP. Morgan
Nations will be held to account by God.
Nineveh was an ancient, famous city. It was founded by the first world dictator, Nimrod as we see in The Book of Genesis:
“Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah.”
-Genesis 10:11 (KJV)
"From Nineveh's walls, temples, palaces, inscriptions, and reliefs, mute yet elaborate witness is given to a city that flourished up to its destruction in 612 B.C. Accordingly, the magnificent buildings, artistic designs, and water-supply projects of Nineveh have resulted in its being likened to ancient Versailles." (Major Cities of the Biblical World)
“The book of the vision.” This was more than a message communicated to Nahum in words or phrases from God. Because this is a vision, in some way Nahum saw it. When we see the vivid, descriptive way Nahum writes we understand that the book records what he saw in his vision.
The book of Isaiah says:
“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.”
-Isaiah 2:1 (KJV)
Isaiah saw a word, and in some sense Nahum also did.
“The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.”
“Nahum the Elkoshite.” We don't know anything else about Nahum or the city of Elkosh. The name Nahum is an abbreviated form of the name Nehemiah, which means "Comfort of Yahweh." It may be that Elkosh was in the region of Galilee, because the city of Capernaum was named after Nahum (Kephar-Nahum, "City of Nahum").
It is likely that Nahum was written during the height of Nineveh's power.
"It was concerned with Nineveh, and was delivered almost certainly when she was at the height of her power."
-JP Morgan
“The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.” Nahum begins his prophecy by considering the character of the God who brings judgment.
“God is jealous.” How can it be said that God is jealous?
"God's jealousy is love in action. He refuses to share the human heart with any rival, not because He is selfish and wants us all for Himself, but because He knows that upon that loyalty to Him depends our very moral life … God is not jealous of us: He is jealous for us."
-(Redpath in Law and Liberty)
“The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries.” Man needs to understand that he can't fight against God and hope to prevail. Everyone who sets themselves against God will end up receiving His vengeance.
“The Lord is slow to anger.” God is far more patient than man. Though there is a time and place where He does display His anger, it doesn't come quickly or capriciously.
"God's sword of justice is in its scabbard: not rusted in it - it can be easily withdrawn - but held there by that hand that presses it back into its sheath, crying, 'Sleep, O sword, sleep; for I will have mercy upon sinners, and will forgive their transgressions.'"
-C.S. Spurgeon
“And great in power:.”Knowing God's power should make us trust in His help (because He is able to help) and to fear His judgment (knowing that He judges with power).
“Will not at all acquit the wicked.” God is not like an unjust judge who simply lets the guilty go out of a false sense of compassion. We can't just figure that God will say, "Let's let bygones be bygones" when we get to heaven. Sin must be accounted for, because He “will not acquit the wicked.” Every sin will be paid for - either in hell or at the cross - but God will not acquit the wicked.
"Never once has he pardoned an unpunished sin; not in all the years of the Most High, not in all the days of his right hand, has he once blotted out sin without punishment." -C.S. Spurgeon
“The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm.” God's power is so great that it controls the mightiest forces known to man. A huge whirlwind or storm is nothing to God, because He “hath His way” in them.
“His fury is poured out like fire.” When God is resisted long enough and rejected strongly enough, eventually His judgment comes. He is slow to anger, but when it does come “His fury is poured out like fire.” Understanding this should make man quick to repent and wary of presuming on God's patience.
“The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble.” Those who love Him and trust Him see the goodness of God, and find protection in His stronghold - which is the Lord Himself.
"Remember that it is only a day; it is not a week, nor a month, and God will not permit the devil to add an extra hour to that day; it is a 'day of trouble.' There is an end to all our griefs."
-C.S. Spurgeon
“He knoweth them that trust in Him.” Not only does He know them in the sense of identification, but also in the sense of relationship. Trust implies relationship, and God “knoweth them that trust in Him.”
"Once more, dear friends, this word 'know' here means loving communion … God knows us; he knows our prayers and tears, he knows our wishes, he knows that we are not what we want to be, but he knows what we do desire to be. He knows our aspirations, our sighs, our groans, our secret longings, our own chastenings of spirit when we fail; he has entered into it all. He says, 'Yes, dear child, I know all about you; I have been with you when you thought you were alone. I have read what you could not read, the secrets of your own heart that you could not decipher I have known them all, and I still know them.'"
-C.S. Spurgeon
b. How important it is to know that the Lord is good!
- God is good in His very being - it is His very nature to be good
- God is good independently - no one must help Him be good
- God is eternally and unchangeably good
- God is good in each one of His Divine Persons
- God is good in all His acts of grace
- God is good in all His plans and purposes for our life
“With an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.” Taking into account the character of God, though His slow to anger and good, He cannot forever overlook the sin and rebellion of the Assyrians. Their end in judgment will come like “an overrunning flood.”
The “overrunning flood” was fulfilled both figuratively and literally.
"According to secular accounts, during the final siege of Nineveh by a rebel army of Persians, Medes, Arabians, and Babylonians, unusually heavy rains caused the rivers to flood and to undermine the city's walls, which then collapsed … the invading armies entered the city through this breach in its defenses."
-JC Boice
The “utter end of the place” was also literally fulfilled.
"Not only were these people lost from history, even the city was lost until it was discovered by archaeologists, beginning in the 1840's."
-JC Boice
"The author is not expressing some personal feeling of vindication over some hurt by the oppressor, nor even a nationalistic chauvinism that pagan nations must be punished. Rather, Yahweh is applying his universal standard against evil, no matter who is responsible."
-J. Baker
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