Nahum 1 Commentary
Nahum brings to the fore a couple of contrasting elements of God’s nature. “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God.” Then, “The LORD is slow to anger but great in power.” And, “the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.”
Nineveh, the imperial capital of Assyria, experienced both sides of the LORD’s character. You want to remember the story of Jonah. It was nothing but “slow to anger”. Too slow for the prophet Jonah! But here we are with Nahum, probably with more than a century in between. Nineveh’s sin has exhausted the patience of Heaven!
You probably understand. How can the LORD be good without confronting evil? So Nineveh would be destroyed. Forget Nineveh’s military prowess and her many allies. The LORD’s decree ignores all human efforts. It stays, rigidly fixed both in time and space.
The fall of Nineveh is good news to Judah. It is good news to the saint! It is the fall of evil. The fall of evil elevates the LORD’s righteousness. The New Testament quotes this celebration of the fall of evil as an elevation of righteousness. It comes with the good news of the LORD Jesus Christ.
Christianity cannot exist without this good news – the fall of Nineveh, the fall of evil. No one believer can claim to have crossed the line without the fall of evil in his life. Of course, it isn’t a highlight of personal victory as a consequence of personal effort. Read the story again. The LORD God brings down Nineveh, not Israel, an individual, or a stronger nation.
The saint may ponder the thought that holiness is the work of the LORD and the Spirit brings down Nineveh in the saint’s life.
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