Nahum 2

Nahum 2:1 (ESV)

“The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength.”

A mocking warning… a message delivered to Judah, but aimed at Ninevah. Nahum doesn’t really mean for Ninevah to be prepared to withstand the attack thats coming. He’s taunting or mocking them with the warning that destruction is coming.

Nahum 2:2 (ESV)

2 For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.

The comfort of Judah is in the promise that God makes. Even though the wording is future oriented, the people of Israel took the future promise of the Lord as if it had already happened. The word of the Lord is sure and true, and in the midst of Gods declaration of destruction for Ninevah, there is comfort for Israel.

The same is true for us related to the end of death and sin through Christ. Our future promise and hope in Christ sustains us like this verse comforted Judah.

Nahum 2:3–5 (ESV)

3 The shield of his mighty men is red; his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them; the cypress spears are brandished. 4 The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning. 5 He remembers his officers; they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is set up.

The city’s attackers wore red uniforms and carried red shields. The two words for red are different, as indicated in the NIV. Both the Medes and the Babylonians were associated with red (Ezek 23:14). Whether the shields looked red because they were covered with dyed leather or because the shields were made of copper and reflected the sun is unknown. The point is that the attackers looked powerful and invincible. Nahum probably foretold of the attack by using images that were known by the people of Judah. In their minds they could see the attackers besieging the city of Nineveh and finally overcoming the Assyrians. Nahum wanted to convey the certainty of God’s deliverance to the people of Judah. (NAC)

Nahum wanted the people to know that God had the power on hand to ensure the end of Nineveh. By vividly describing the attackers, the prophet assured the people that God would do just as he had said. “For the prophet the armies are also the forces of the Lord who appear as chariots of fire, coming with the force of the storm and with the devastation of the earthquake. They work within the processes of history. But they are also the armies of the great day of judgment which subdue the chaotic powers of evil (cp. Ps 68:17; Josh 5:13–15; Joel 2:1–11).” (NAC)

Nahum 2:6–10 (ESV)

6 The river gates are opened; the palace melts away; 7 its mistress is stripped; she is carried off, her slave girls lamenting, moaning like doves and beating their breasts. 8 Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away. “Halt! Halt!” they cry, but none turns back. 9 Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of the treasure or of the wealth of all precious things. 10 Desolate! Desolation and ruin. Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale!

Nahum 2:6 (Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (NAC)): Any attacker would be forced to contend with the Tigris River. Nineveh was situated on the east bank of the Tigris River, and the river Husur (Khosr) ran through the city. Rivers provided natural protection for Nineveh but also proved to be the downfall of the city. Any conqueror would be defeated partly by the river or would harness the river’s power to undermine the city of Nineveh. But now “her very means of protection have become the instruments of her destruction.”

Nahum 2:6 (Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (NAC)): of two possibilities is plausible. The attackers may have captured the river gates, thus controlling the flow of the water and allowing the attackers to move closer to the walls of the city. Or the river gates may have been used to flood the city. The NIV implies the latter idea by describing the palace as having collapsed. The Hebrew text pictures the palace as “melting away” or “being dissolved,” which may be a reference to the effects of flooding in the city.

A Greek story attributes the fall of Nineveh to floodwaters that destroyed part of the defenses, but the Babylonian Chronicle (NAC)

Nahum sought to portray the effects of God’s fighting against the city of Nineveh. The destruction would be complete. No thing and no one could withstand the onslaught of the attacking forces. The palace would collapse under the attack, and the leaders of Nineveh would go into exile in humiliation.

Nahum 2:8 (Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (NAC)): Those who first heard or read these words could not help but become excited at the thoughts of God’s deliverance. They would clap their hands at the announcement of the defeat of Assyria (3:19).

Nahum 2:8 (Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (NAC)): Did Nahum mean that the waters protecting the city (2:7) had been drained away? If so, the prophet may here have meant that as the enemies drained away the water, so the people also would flee.

Nineveh is described as a leaking pool whose major resource—water—is leaking away, leaving the pool empty. “The mighty waters of Assyria are no longer a threat to anyone. The tide has turned, Assyria’s hosts have fled, and Nineveh is left high and dry.” As people flee in panic, authorities cry for them to stop, but no one pays attention

Even though Ninevah has a calm (like a calm pool) existence because of their might, they will now flee at the hands of the Lord.

For 200 years the kings of Ninevah bragged about the wealth they took from the conquests, and now they are the ones being plundered.

Through the conquest of Assyria God reminds us that ultimately all the wealth in the world is His to do as He pleases.

The strong and mighty capital city of Assyria is depicted as fearful and trembling under the weight of the Lord’s attack.

The enemy of Ninevah is not the attackers who come, but the Lord who is orchestrating the events.

This message brings hope, strength, and peace to the people of Judah. The nation of Assyria that has intimidated and struck fear in the

Nahum 2:11–12 (ESV)

11 Where is the lions’ den, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and lioness went, where his cubs were, with none to disturb? 12 The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.

There is a hint of sarcasm in these verses. Nahum is speaking of Ninevah as if it is already fallen and gone. Assyria had referred to itself a lion, and with this Nahum asks the question where would the lion bring its prey if the city was destroyed?

This is the equivalent of the phrase, How the mighty have fallen!

The lions den represents Ninevah, a place of safety that is safe no more.

Nahum 2:13 (ESV)

13 Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

God is the one who is against Ninevah and the nation of Assyria. This verse could easily be a part of chapter 3.

This verse depicts God as Lord over all and the one who is mighty- the Lord of hosts. The declaration of God is that He is going to destroy Ninevah and take away everything that makes them strong. There will be nothing left of this once proud nation to boast of.

Big Picture:

1. The God of Israel reigns over history with the rise of fall of every nation.

2. The Lord is a mighty warrior who is slow to anger and abounding in mercy.

Again we can trust in the Lord’s ways as righteous, and we can trust in His ways as good.

He is the God who delivered Israel from Egypt by His might right hand. He is the source of our strength.

"The strength of the general in other hosts lies in his troops . . . but in the army of saints, the strength of every saint, yea, of the whole host of saints, lies in the Lord of hosts" (Puritan William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour, p. 18).

God’s fight against His enemies continues through Christ and the Gospel.

Through the Gospel Jesus thwarts the enemy by converting his foes into His family. He makes His enemies His friends.

God’s kindness and patience are purposed for our repentance.

Romans 2:3–4 (ESV)

3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Instead of wondering why God is slow to anger, we need to thank God that He is slow to anger. His patience originates in His love, and it results in our salvation.

3. God delivers His people for the glory of His name.

The work of God to deliver and save His people is for the establishment of His name.

Isaiah 43:1–12 (ESV)

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. 6 I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” 8 Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears! 9 All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true. 10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. 11 I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior. 12 I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.

Isaiah 43 clearly depicts the redemptive purpose of Gas the glory of His name.

Through Christ God has redeemed us and united the Jews and the Gentiles into one body for the same purpose as Israel. He has redeemed the church for the glory of His name.

1 Corinthians 1:26–31 (ESV)

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Instead of a nation or ethnicity God has established the church.

God’s redeeming work gives glory to His name in the humbling of the one who was saved and through the praise of the one who was saved.

You cannot boast in your redemption, you can only boast in the Lord. Boasting in the Lord is act of glorifying God for who He is and what He has done. In fact, even those who witness your redemption must boast in what God has done. This is also true when God redeemed Israel. The nations around them ascribed the salvation of Israel to their God, and not to their might.

When God redeems and saves Judah from Ninevah He aims us at the coming work of Christ. God redeemed Judah according to His might and power, not their own. And, He did it so that they would glorify God for their redemption and also so that the nations around them would do the same.

The redeeming work of Christ is for our good, but it is for His glory. Therefore we are called to live our lives boasting in the name of the Lord.

What does that look like?

Boasting in the name of the Lord requires

1. Recognize and admit your desire to boast (kids, family, accomplishments, teams, etc)

This all reveals that we have an innate desire to boast in something… and that something is supposed to be the Lord. Does this mean you cannot be a proud parent, grandparent, team supporter etc… It depends on where all of those things and people fit in your heart and your relationship with the Lord.

2. Agree with Scripture that God is supreme over everything and everyone else.

3. Remind yourself how God deals with pride

4. Remember who God chooses

God chooses the foolish… in the OT He chose Israel because He loved them, not because they were the greatest. He chose them because through them He would receive glory.

5. Take action by boasting in the Lord with your words and your actions (1:29, 31; Galatians 6:14)