Nahum 2:2ff.

I'm not sure of the best way to describe our passage for today, Nahum 2. You could call it sarcastic, or mocking. You could call it a taunt. This chapter has the kind of bite you only find in people who have been badly hurt or offended by someone, and who anticipate getting to gloat over them when disaster strikes. Like if your spouse leaves you for someone else, and then gets cheated on. Or your boss fires you, and then gets fired. You may not let yourself voice the thoughts in your head... but the thoughts are right there. And it's for this reason that lots of Christians struggle with Nahum. They think that Nahum represents a less advanced ("evolved") form of religion. They think Jesus' words about loving your enemies, and praying for those who persecute you, are at odds with Nahum. Now, there are certainly psalms, where we have to wrestle with these questions. But Nahum, even though it's sarcastic, and mocking, and a taunt, is also something else-- Nahum tells us that these are Yahweh's words. And that should make us reconsider how we read it. Nahum is Scripture. It is God's word. The chapter begins, in verse 2, with Nahum sarcastically addressing Ninevah. He calls the city to ready itself for the defense of the city. Someone is coming up against them, and now is the time to prepare: Verse 2 (Hebrew numbering; pretty sure this is 2:1): (2) A scatterer has come up against you! Guard1 the fortification! Watch the road! Make strong the loins! Strengthen a great strength! My wife babysits a two year old during the day, and he LOVES legos. But he is a scatterer at heart. He will tear apart the houses my children work hard to build, and doesn't stop until they are in pieces. When the scatterer comes against you, you need to ready yourself. And we maybe smile about this, because we are talking about kids and legos. But imagine being Ninevah. You've worked very hard to become THE superpower. You are wealthy, and strong. You're determined to keep what you have. If you heard Nahum's words, and take them seriously... you'd heed his call here. Now is the time to prepare-- both from a military perspective, and from a mental/emotional perspective. It's time to psych yourself up for what's about to come. In verse 3, Nahum explains why the scatterer is coming: (3) For Yahweh has restored2 the pride/majesty of Jacob, as the pride/majesty of Israel. For ravagers3 have ravaged them, while their vine shoots4 they have ruined. The scatterer is coming against Ninevah, why? "Because Yahweh is working to restore the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel." What does this line mean? There was a time when "Israel" was a single, undivided kingdom. Under King David, and King Solomon, the nation was prosperous, and powerful. Regionally, at least, it was a force to be reckoned with. Right now, by contrast, the kingdom has been reduced to just "Jacob." And "Jacob" has had a rough time of it-- the nation has been ravaged. "Jacob" looks more like a country we've attacked-- Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan. In the last line of verse 3, we read this: "While their vine shoots they have ruined." "Vine shoots" are the new growth on a vine. You can tell if a plant is doing well, not by how big it is, but by how well it's growing. Vine shoots are evidence of health, and prosperity, and expansion. Ninevah has left Jacob without hope-- without any prospect for something good. But God is going to fix that. Starting in verse 4, Nahum gives a picture of the scatterer. He describes the assault, and siege, and capture of Ninevah. But this is not a dry historical account. It's poetic-- it's more like a series of pictures, being shown to you quickly, one after another. And you have to struggle to keep up-- it all happens really fast (which is maybe partly the point?). Rather than break these verses down slowly, and help you make sense of it, I'll leave explanations for the footnotes, and let you just get the force of it as a whole: (4) The small shield5 of his warriors is dyed red.6 Mighty men7 are clothed in crimson, as the fire of steel,8 the chariots [are/shall be] on the day he appoints9/prepares,10 while the horses11 quiver.12 (5) Through the streets they will act/drive like madmen;13 The chariots will rush to and fro in the open places; their appearance is like torches; like lightning they dart.14 (6) He (=the scatterer) remembers his nobles; they stumble in their marching; they rush to her wall, and the protective screen15 is put in place. (7) The gates of the rivers have been opened, while the palace has tottered16/despaired/melted,17 (8) and it is decreed, she has been exiled; she been led away,18 while her slave women are moaning like the sound of doves, beating on their heart, (9) while Ninevah is like a pool/cistern of water from her days, while (=but) they are fleeing. "Stand! Stand!", while there is no one turning back.19 (10) Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!, while there is no end to the supply.20 An abundance of every precious object; (11) Emptiness/desolation, and wasteland, and devastation, while the heart faints, while tottering/trembling, the knees [do], while shaking, in all their loins, while all their faces have grown pale. Nahum began by calling Ninevah to ready itself for a scatterer/invader. But it's hopeless. The city will be besieged, and conquered, and plundered. Assyria at this point had been a superpower for hundreds of years, and it showed in her vast wealth. Ninevah was a city without parallel-- no end to the gold, and silver, and precious objects. But the scatterer will take it all, leaving Ninevah like a wasteland.21 And Ninevah, no matter how hard it works to prepare itself mentally and emotionally for this battle, is going to end the battle unable to even stand. Their bodies will betray them, when they realize it's hopeless. All you can do is collapse, and accept your fate. In verses 12-13, Nahum raises sarcastic questions-- taunting questions-- to Ninevah: (12) Where is the den of lions, and the feeding place for the young lions? Where has the lion, the lioness gone? There is the cub of the lion, and there is no one making [them] afraid. (13) The lion tears apart as much as needed for his cubs, and he strangles for his lioness, and he fills up with prey, his holes, while his den [he fills with] torn flesh. In their own writings, the Assyrian kings boasted about how they were like lions. They bragged about their cruelty, and violence, and their domination of the nations. They were, truly, lions. Here, Nahum calls out-- where did the lions go? Everyone's used to tiptoeing around the lion, hoping not to provoke it, or end up as the next meal. But where are they? When we were at Yellowstone, there was a sign at the entrance to one of the trails. There was a deer carcass by one of the lakes, and a bear had been feeding on it over several days. The deer was HIS torn flesh, and the sign warned hikers to use caution. The bear was super protective of it. When you start your hike seeing a sign like that, you hike differently. You pick a different trail, but... still. You're not casually talking with your spouse or kids. You're searching the woods with your eyes; you're listening for noises not caused by the wind. You're... cautious? Scared? And when a biker comes flying around the corner at you without warning, you jump (but manage not to bear mace her). Now, when you go hiking somewhere where there is no bear, it's a completely different thing. You walk; you enjoy the sounds of nature; you enjoy the time spent with family. You can tell when the lion is gone. And you're happy about it. You're tired of living in fear; you're tired of turning into food. And so you stand on a rock, and you taunt, and you call out: "Where is the lion?" In verse 14, Nahum brings his oracle to its conclusion: (14) LOOK! I am against you --utterance of Yahweh of Armies, and I will burn with smoke, her chariots, while your strong lions, the sword shall devour, and I will cut off from the earth your prey, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. In the end, Ninevah's enemy is not human. Yahweh of Armies is the one opposing her. And so God himself calls to Ninevah, to get her attention. LOOK! SEE ME! SEE WHO IS FIGHTING YOU! -------------------------------------------- One of the classic arguments that's designed to "prove" that God doesn't exist, is the problem of evil. And really, this argument is designed to prove that a specific God doesn't exist-- the God of the Bible, the God who made heaven and earth, and who sits enthroned over all. Either, the argument goes, God is not the more powerful one, or God is not very loving. I'm not sure how bothered people really are by that argument. But when life gets hard, we find ourselves-- at an emotional level-- wrestling with it. When life gets hard, do you wonder if God really loves you? Do you wonder just how powerful God is, really? In the OT, at least, God's people tend to struggle more with the idea that God is really The More Powerful One. And my gut, is that this tends to be our struggle as well. When we are faced with an enemy-- whether that enemy is human, or Sin, or disease, or something (else) Satanic-- we doubt whether God is actually stronger than that enemy on a practical level. Abstractly, in a vacuum, we understand that God is powerful. But when it really matters, in the moment? This isn't something we talk about out loud. It's something half-spoken, in our hearts. We doubt God, because our enemy is too big, and too dangerous. We know that our enemy is far more powerful than we are. We are prey; we are what get's dragged into the lions' den, to feed the cubs. Any Israelite looking at Assyria would understand that this was the most impressive superpower the world had ever seen. You look at the nation, and her capital, and you know: This is "Mission Impossible." No one could possibly break through the defenses, and kill the king. This is a lion that can't be taken down. But Yahweh is about to do it. He's going to use some foreign army to do it, in part. But Yahweh himself is coming against her. And what does God want from Israel? He's not calling for Jerusalem to join in the attack. Israel has no role in what's about to happen. What God wants, is for Israel to understand what it's about to see. When 9/11 happened, millions of Americans across the country went to church that Sunday. Everyone wanted their pastor to explain where God was in those events. We knew what the terrorists were doing-- but what was God doing? What was his role? Why did it happen? And every pastor, as far as I know, couldn't say for sure. They were pastors, not prophets. And without a prophetic word, it's hard to know how to view some historical event. You can see what happened, but you need prophetic glasses, to understand what you're seeing. In Nahum, God is going to topple the Assyrian empire. And He's doing this to restore the majesty and glory of Israel. Israel is about to regain her freedom. But it's important to God, that his people understand why and how all of this is happening. When Ninevah falls, it's not going to be a fluke. It's not a lucky break. It's God. God is fighting for you, against your enemies. Now, God knows that his people struggle to trust in God's power. And so He (through Nahum) describes the assault, and siege, and fall, of Ninevah in (some) detail. Picture, in your heads, chariots racing through the town, cutting down everyone who stands on the streets. Picture the enemy sprinting to the walls, getting the protective covers in place. Picture the engineers opening up the gates of the rivers, creating (somehow) a weakness in the city walls. Picture the capture of the city, and the despair of all of Ninevah's citizens. In Nahum, this is what God is going to do. God is going to restore the majesty of his people. And that's what God did. God took down the lion. When we read these words, what should they do for us? Know that there is no impossible mission for God. God can take down every lion. And someday, He will take down our lions. He will free us from every enemy, and make us glorious. Let's close by reading 1 John 3:2-3: Beloved, now/already, children of God we are, and it hasn't yet been revealed, what we will be. We know that whenever he is revealed, like him we will be, because we will see him just as he is, and everyone having this hope in him, purifies himself, just as that one, pure, he is. Someday, God will give us a majesty and glory-- the likes of which, we can't imagine. Truly. We don't know what we will look like. We don't know what we will become. But in the meantime, we purify ourselves, and we wait in confidence, knowing that God loves us, and that God is the More Powerful One. God is the lion killer. Translation: (2) A scatterer has come up against you! Guard22 the fortification! Watch the road! Make strong the loins! Strengthen a great strength! (3) For Yahweh has restored23 the pride/majesty of Jacob, as the pride/majesty of Israel. For ravagers24 have ravaged them, while their vine shoots25 they have ruined. (4) The small shield26 of his warriors is dyed red.27 Mighty men28 are clothed in crimson, as the fire of steel,29 the chariots [are/shall be] on the day he appoints30/prepares,31 while the horses32 quiver.33 (5) Through the streets they will act/drive like madmen;34 The chariots will rush to and fro in the open places; their appearance is like torches; like lightning they dart.35 (6) He (=the scatterer) remembers his nobles; they stumble in their marching; they rush to her wall, and the protective screen36 is put in place. (7) The gates of the rivers have been opened, while the palace has tottered37/despaired/melted,38 (8) and it is decreed, she has been exiled; she been led away,39 while her slave women are moaning like the sound of doves, beating on their heart, (9) while Ninevah is like a pool/cistern of water from her days, while (=yet) they are fleeing. "Stand! Stand!", while there is no one turning back.40 (10) Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!, while there is no end to the supply.41 An abundance of every precious object; (11) Emptiness/desolation, and wasteland, and devastation, while the heart faints, while tottering/trembling, the knees [do], while shaking, in all their loins, while all their faces have grown pale. (12) Where is the den of lions, and the feeding place for the young lions? Where has the lion, the lioness gone? There is the cub of the lion, and there is no one making [them] afraid. (13) The lion tears apart as much as needed for his cubs, and he strangles for his lioness, and he fills up with prey, his holes, while his den [he fills with] torn flesh. (14) LOOK! I am against you --utterance of Yahweh of Armies, and I will burn with smoke, her chariots, while your strong lions, the sword shall devour, and I will cut off from the earth your prey, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. 1 Infinitive absolute, here used as an imperative. 2 prophetic perfect. Yahweh WILL do this, and the certainty of that is reflected in the verb. 3 HALOT: I בקק: Arb. bāqa(w) to ill-treat, → בוק; JArmg Syr. בְּקִיק rotten, Mnd. (MdD 68b) to rot. qal: pf. בַּקֹּתִי, בְּקָקוּם; pt. בּוֹקֵק, בֹּקְקִים; to lay waste country Is 24:1, vine Nah 2:3, design Jr 19:7. † nif: pf. נָֽבְקָה (BL 431t); impf. תִּבּוֹק (BL 435p), inf. הִבּוֹק: to be laid waste (country) Is 24:3, to be disturbed (spirit) 19:3. †3 4 DBL: זְמוֹרָה (zemô·rā(h)): n.[fem.]; ≡ Str 2156; TWOT 559b-1. LN 3.47-3.59 vine branch, relatively flexible and not woody part of a vine branch, (Nu 13:23; Isa 17:10; Na 2:3[EB 2]+); 24 5 DBL: 4482 I. מָגֵן (mā·ḡēn): n.masc. occasionally fem.; ≡ Str 4043; TWOT 367c-1. LN 6.29-6.40 small shield, i.e., a defensive weapon that protects from attack, made of a frame with leather cover (Jdg 5:8) note5 6 not blood. just a super well equipped army. No ragtags. 7 "men of strength/might." 8 Only place word occurs in OT. HALOT says usually taken from a similar sounding Persian loan word meaning "steel." So their chariots are like the fire of steel smelters, or the metal on the chariots flashes like fire in the sun. 9 Joshua 4:4. 10 Gen. 43:16. 11 LXX and several Hebrew manuscripts have "horses" here in place of the Hebrew "cypress trees." It involves changing בְּרוֹשׁ to פָּרָשׁ . 12 following DCH. This is the type of sentence the NRSV has a little footnote after: "Meaning of Hebrew uncertain." 13 HALOT: hitpo: pf. הִתְהוֹלָֽלוּ, impf. יִתְהוֹלֵל, יִתהוֹלְלוּ/לָֽלוּ, impv. הִתְהֹלְלוּ: -1. to pretend to be mad 1S 21:14; -2. to act like a madman Jr 25:16 50:38 51:7; to drive madly Jr 46:9 Nah 2:5. †13 14 DBL: רוּץ (polel) dart about, run to and fro (Na 2:5[EB 4]+)14 15 DCH: סֹכֵךְ 1 n.[m.] screen, siege works, perh. to protect besiegers, used against Nineveh, <SUBJ> כון ho. be set up Na 2:6. ► סכך I screen.15 16 Ps. 75:4. 17 Ex. 15:15; Josh. 2:9; Isa. 14:31. 18 Usually the two verbs when placed side by side work together, to create one meaning. Performative speech act qatals? 19 Officers exhorting their soldiers to stop running-- make a stand. But it's hopeless. 20 What makes precious objects-- art, gold, silver-- valuable is their scarcity. 21 only a super literalistic reading will have a problem with the contrast between "no end to the supply" and "a wasteland." 22 Infinitive absolute, here used as an imperative. 23 prophetic perfect. 24 HALOT: I בקק: Arb. bāqa(w) to ill-treat, → בוק; JArmg Syr. בְּקִיק rotten, Mnd. (MdD 68b) to rot. qal: pf. בַּקֹּתִי, בְּקָקוּם; pt. בּוֹקֵק, בֹּקְקִים; to lay waste country Is 24:1, vine Nah 2:3, design Jr 19:7. † nif: pf. נָֽבְקָה (BL 431t); impf. תִּבּוֹק (BL 435p), inf. הִבּוֹק: to be laid waste (country) Is 24:3, to be disturbed (spirit) 19:3. †24 25 DBL: זְמוֹרָה (zemô·rā(h)): n.[fem.]; ≡ Str 2156; TWOT 559b-1. LN 3.47-3.59 vine branch, relatively flexible and not woody part of a vine branch, (Nu 13:23; Isa 17:10; Na 2:3[EB 2]+); 225 26 DBL: 4482 I. מָגֵן (mā·ḡēn): n.masc. occasionally fem.; ≡ Str 4043; TWOT 367c-1. LN 6.29-6.40 small shield, i.e., a defensive weapon that protects from attack, made of a frame with leather cover (Jdg 5:8) note26 27 not blood. just a super well equipped army. No ragtags. 28 "men of strength/might." 29 Only place word occurs in OT. HALOT says usually taken from a similar sounding Persian loan word meaning "steel." So their chariots are like the fire of steel smelters, or the metal on the chariots flashes like fire in the sun. 30 Joshua 4:4. 31 Gen. 43:16. 32 LXX and several Hebrew manuscripts have "horses" here in place of the Hebrew "cypress trees." It involves changing בְּרוֹשׁ to פָּרָשׁ . 33 following DCH. This is the type of sentence the NRSV has a little footnote after: "Meaning of Hebrew uncertain." 34 HALOT: hitpo: pf. הִתְהוֹלָֽלוּ, impf. יִתְהוֹלֵל, יִתהוֹלְלוּ/לָֽלוּ, impv. הִתְהֹלְלוּ: -1. to pretend to be mad 1S 21:14; -2. to act like a madman Jr 25:16 50:38 51:7; to drive madly Jr 46:9 Nah 2:5. †34 35 DBL: רוּץ (polel) dart about, run to and fro (Na 2:5[EB 4]+)35 36 DCH: סֹכֵךְ 1 n.[m.] screen, siege works, perh. to protect besiegers, used against Nineveh, <SUBJ> כון ho. be set up Na 2:6. ► סכך I screen.36 37 Ps. 75:4. 38 Ex. 15:15; Josh. 2:9; Isa. 14:31. 39 Usually the two verbs when placed side by side work together, to create one meaning. Performative speech act qatals? 40 Officers exhorting their soldiers to stop running-- make a stand. But it's hopeless. 41 What makes precious objects-- art, gold, silver-- valuable is their scarcity. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 8