Minor Prophets: Nahum

Payback is the Lord’s

Nahum 1:1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh 2The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; The Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. 3The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.

Nahum’s name means comfort.

• Name in Hebrew is short for Nehemiah – comfort of God

• He prophesies God’s wrath and revenge on Nineveh/ Assyria 

There is a long arc of the judgment of God – just because he is slow to anger doesn’t mean judgment isn’t falling and falling hard.

• Sometimes we see the injustice that happens to us and get the impression that people are going to get away with it unless we teach them not to mess with us by getting them back.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria.

• The destruction of Nineveh and Assyria would be a message of consolation for the nations Assyria had oppressed.

  • Israel and Judah were two of those nations.

  • Israel had been destroyed in 722 BC by the Assyrians, but Judah was still around.

What the Assyrians were like. They burned cities, cut off heads, and stuck people on poles. We talk about taking a head count, the Assyrians really did it. They would pile the heads in the form of pyramids and leave them alone. You would approach a city, and instead of a city sign welcoming you. You would be greeted by all the family heads who lived there.

If you remember, Jonah prophesied to Nineveh about 150 years earlier. It is interesting to compare Jonah’s prophecy with Nahum’s.  

• Jonah: 800 B.C The Mercy of God  

  • Nahum: 650 B.C. The Judgment of God

• Jonah – Messenger – Deliverance from Water 

  • Nahum – Prophesies – Destruction by water, 60-year drought, god is a fish, Dagon.

• Jonah – See the Repentance of Nineveh 

Nahum – See the Rebellion of the city was destroyed so completely by the flood and the enemies that when Alexander the Great fought the battle of Arbela nearby in 331 BC, he did not know there had been a city there.

• Nineveh was never rebuilt, and this confirms Nahum’s prediction in 1:9 that “distress will not rise up twice.“

• It wasn’t until 1850 that Nineveh was discovered by archaeologists. 

  • It is interesting to read liberal commentaries from before 1850 because they had problems with believing the books of Jonah and Nahum. 

  • After all, there was no record of Nineveh to them because they would not consider the Bible as a historical authority. 

Theological “Both And” in tension: 

1. You can have two truths, not a dichotomy but a “both and”.

2. Loving and Just God – true love cannot exist with injustice 

3. Merciful and Wrathful God – Mercy cannot exist without the potential for wrath. 

4. Gracious and Judgemental God – Grace is received only because Judgement is a reality. 

   1. These two “Both-Ands” are brought together in the concept of atonement. 

   2. Where God’s justice is satisfied in the sacrificial death of a righteous man.

   3. And God’s wrath is poured out on His beloved son

   4. God’s judgment is vicarious (through another), substitutionary (in place of), and penal (punishment). 

   5. Atonement is not a covering of sin but redemption and complete payment of sin with conciliatory peace made between two parties. God and man. 

Core Themes in Nahum 1

• God’s Self-Revelation as a Jealous God, 

• A Vengeful God, 

• And a Wrathful God. 

Nahum opens not with Assyria’s sins, but with a striking portrait of God:

1. The Lord is a jealous and avenging God

• Did this become an attribute of God after the fall? 

• Has God always been a jealous God? 

• Imuutability of God? (God does not change.)

• “For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14).

• The Ten Commandments are not a job description for God’s slaves. They are the wedding vows that the peasant girl takes to forsake all others and to cleave to the king alone and to live in a way that brings no dishonor to his great name.

  • Not an insecure ruler but a covenant-keeping husband. 

  • On one hand, jealousy is a vice when it is driven by covetousness and lust, while on the other, it is a virtue when it is driven by compassion and love. 

  • God’s jealousy is a godly (virtuous) jealousy (2 Corinthians 11:2) For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

    • Think about this: All of the elements of the universe and heaven will melt with fire, and all that will remain are the redeemed and their song. 

      • The Bible never mentions the Lord being jealous for anything created beyond mankind. 

  • It is right that a husband or wife be bothered by someone flirting with their spouse. 

    • But there is also that which is not good. 

      • There is a different sort of jealousy that has a very different meaning. 

        • This jealousy involves insecurity, fear, inappropriate ownership over a person, control, and suspicion. 

        • It is an entirely different thing, and usually, it is what people refer to when they talk of being jealous. 

        • This kind of jealousy is the sinful desire of the flesh that sets itself against the work of the Spirit. 

          • Galatians 5 informs us that it is a work of the flesh,

          • And in James, we are taught that jealousy brings disorder and all sorts of evil(James 3:16).

    • Hate is a vice and a virtue: The distinction is alignment with God’s heart of compassion and love. 

      • When you hate sin, it’s a virtue; wickedness and evil, your hatred is righteousness; 

      • When you hate people, it’s a vice. 

    • Anger is a vice and virtue: There is such a thing as righteous indignation. 

  • God is not Jealous of you 

    • God is Jealous over you, or for you

    • This virtuous jealousy belongs to Him alone because He alone has redeemed you with His covenant relationship. 

  • The two main contexts in the scripture, in which God is described as a jealous God, are:

    • Exclusivity of worship, 

    • And second, in the defense of his people.

      • He loves us and is compassionate toward you and me and will defend us against those who threaten and oppress us. 

      • God is jealous for, and jealous over, you and me.

• Avenging and wrathful (committed to justice).

  • While God reserves his love for his people and friends, he reserves his wrath for their enemies, 

    • Who are in turn God’s enemies. 

  • We know this because when Saul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, 

    • Jesus did not ask him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting the Christians?” but instead asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”(Acts 9:4)

2. Why God Avenges:

• Out of zeal for His name and compassion for those harmed by evil.

  • The Zeal of the Lord Background

    • Creation narrative is a polemic against false Gods 

    • Tower of Babel – Fallen Angels ( “Bnei Elohim”) are set up to be Gods on Earth – Deuteronomy 32:8  When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders[a] of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.[b] 9But the Lord‘s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

    • The 10 Plagues were spiritual warfare on the world stage against false Gods

  • In the ancient Near East, pagan peoples used zeal to describe the jealous tension between rival gods. 

    • Worship and glory are the commodities of the spiritual realm. 

    • How much glory do you have when you have been removed from Glory? 

    • Jealous or Zeal: Israel applied the expression to define the Lord’s intense and fiery love, protective dedication, and everlasting loyalty toward His own people and to His divine purposes for them. 

  • Isaiah said that the zeal of the Lord would cause everything that he had foreseen in Israel’s future to happen. 

    • InIsaiah 9:1-7,“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign… with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this”(verses 6–7).

  • The zeal of the Lord assures us of God’s intense love, unstoppable devotion, and relentless commitment to accomplish His purpose in our lives.

This is why we leave vengeance, wrath, and jealous passion to God alone.  

Illustration: One of my favorite stories is Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. The whole book is repeated and somewhat plagiarized in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. 

• Anyway, Ahab loses his life and his ship in pursuit of a whale that caused him to lose his leg.

  • When plotting revenge, dig two graves, one for each of you. 

  • If we lived by an eye for an eye, the whole world would soon be blind. 

Intro: A man was bitten by a dog, and after being tested, the doctor told him, “Yes indeed, you do have rabies.” Upon hearing this, the man immediately pulled out a pad and pencil and began to write. Thinking the man was making out his will, the doctor said, “Listen, this doesn’t mean you’re going to die. There’s a cure for rabies.” “I know that,” the man said. “I’m making a list of people I’m gonna bite.”

1. Malice and Revenge have a way of backfiring on us and the ones we love. 

Illustration:  Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

• The luckless Wile E. comes up with increasingly elaborate and seemingly foolproof schemes to snag Road Runner, who, oblivious to the danger, always eludes the pathetic coyote’s plans.

• Do you remember how Wile E. always ordered the things he needed for his schemes from the Acme Company?

  • Here are some of the products he used: Anvils, Axle Grease, Bed springs, birdseed, Bombs, a Female Road Runner costume, a Giant mouse trap, Glue, Invisible Paint, Iron pellets, jet-propelled pogo sticks, Nitroglycerin, Roller skates, Roller skis, and TNT.

• And so, everything Wile E. Coyote tried to do to get Road Runner ended up backfiring and harming himself.

  • Bombs set for Road Runner didn’t go off until Wile E got there.

  • Anvils that were supposed to fall on Road Runner always fell on him.

  • So many times, he learned about gravity the hard way

2. Trying to get revenge usually ends up hurting you more than the person you are trying to hurt.

• All this reminds me of one of my favorite Proverbs.

  • Proverbs 26:27, “If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it; if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.” The Message has a simple rendering of that verse: “Malice backfires, spite boomerangs.”

• Shakespeare: Revenge is a dish best served cold.

1 Peter 2:19-25 For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. 20 If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 

First of all, let’s look at why it’s best not to seek revenge.

1. First, he says that refusing revenge is pleasing to God.

   1. Peter says that when that happens, when we suffer unjustly, if we refuse revenge, then it’s a “credit” to us and we have God’s “approval.” 

• The word “credit” there is karis, which also means “grace.”

• It’s a “grace” to refuse revenge.

2. Revenge might make us happy, but refusing revenge makes God happy.

Why does refusing revenge make God happy?

• Peter explains in the next verse, verse 21. It’s a “grace” because it helps us identify better with Jesus Christ.

• That’s the other reason why it’s best not to seek revenge, because we need all the grace that we can get.

  • Do you want more grace and favor?

If anyone deserved to act in revenge, it was Jesus.

• When you are treated unjustly, compare your treatment to Jesus.

  • Peter says in vs. 21…For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

• We get closer to Jesus than when we refuse to get revenge.

3. There’s no such thing as getting even.

• We can’t balance the scales perfectly.

• Our retaliation only prolongs the conflict.

 
Put ourselves in God’s hands.

The Bible says again and again that God is the God of justice.

• For example, Isaiah 42:4 says…[God] will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth…

4. Do something kind for the one who has hurt you.

In Romans 12:20, Paul quotes Proverbs (25:21) and says, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I think what he means is that we may have to take the first step toward reconciliation and forgiveness, and that may open a person’s heart to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. 

• Heaping hot coals – Background: Refers to an ancient Egyptian custom in which a person who wanted to show public contrition carried a pan of burning coals on his head. The coals represented the burning pain of his shame and guilt.

When believers lovingly help their enemies, it may open their hearts and minds to the burning conviction of the Holy Spirit.
 

But how do you get rid of that angry, painful, nagging feeling inside?

• How do you get your mind off seeking revenge?
  
  Try saying these three words to yourself: “I am forgiven.”

You may think, “Wait a minute. What do you mean?

• I don’t need to be forgiven! I didn’t do anything wrong! I’m the one who was hurt!”

• That may be true, but only when we come to grips with our own need for forgiveness can we forgive others.

Instead of focusing on the pain, remind yourself that you need forgiveness and God has graciously forgiven you.

• You can’t control what someone did in the past,

• So don’t let them hand you a script and be the starring role in a life of anger, bitterness, and resentment.

Remember that Jesus can understand your pain because he went through it too.

• And because I forgive, I am given more favor and grace.

• Injustice is God’s way of testing you for his favor and grace

“The best way to get even with anyone is to put them in the rearview mirror on your way to something better.