The Poetic Prophet

The Poetic Prophet 

(Nahum) 

Yearly Theme:  “Goodness is… Governing” 

Series Title:  “Goodness in G minor” 

June 2nd, 2024 

Something to think about: 
 

The prophecies of Nahum are found in a very small book in the Old Testament Minor Prophets.  It is often neglected by many scholars as a source of divine inspiration and is not found in lectionaries as a teaching component in annual readings.  Only three chapters long, the whole of Nahum’s message is about GOD’s sovereignty and Assyria’s doom.  Rather than warnings against GOD’s people, Nahum’s warnings are given solely towards Assyria and Nineveh (its capital city). 

The Assyrian Empire – for a time – was allowed by GOD to grow and thrive and ultimately overthrow the northern Kingdom of Israel as His means of judgment on His own people.  And the reason is clear:  GOD will tolerate sin and wickedness only so long before He takes action and deals once and for all.  Now it is time for GOD’s adversary, Assyria, to experience His wrath because of their great wickedness.   

We first experience Nineveh in Jonah’s prophecies some 150 years before Nahum when GOD gave a message of judgment to Jonah to relay to them.  Of course, we remember the story of Jonah’s running from this responsibility by boarding a ship headed for Tarshish (modern-day Spain), and ultimately being thrown overboard and swallowed by a large fish and spit back out onto dry ground not far from where he first started.  The following is how GOD’s first warning of judgment toward Nineveh transpired: 

Turn in your Bible to:  Jonah 1:1-2 and Jonah 3:4-10 

Now, flash forward 150 years and hear the words of GOD through the prophet Nahum against Nineveh/Assyria: 

Turn in your Bible to:  Nahum 1:14 – 2:2 

Key Point:  “GOD’s judgment on evil is always good news.” 

Since Nahum is – more importantly – a book about GOD, what can we learn about Him through Nahum’s prophecies?  Well, we can learn that… 

• GOD is  . 

Nahum 1:7 (NLT),  The Lord is good,  

a strong refuge when trouble comes.  

He is close to those who trust in him. 

• GOD is  to  . 

Nahum 1:3a (NL),  The Lord is slow to get angry… 

• GOD deals with His  . 

Nahum 1:2, 8-11 (NLT),  The Lord is a jealous God,  

filled with vengeance and rage.  

He takes revenge on all who oppose him  

and continues to rage against his enemies! … 

… He will sweep away his enemies1  

in an overwhelming flood.  

He will pursue his foes  

into the darkness of night.  

9 Why are you scheming against the Lord?  

He will destroy you with one blow;  

he won’t need to strike twice!  

10 His enemies, tangled like thornbushes  

and staggering like drunks,  

will be burned up like dry stubble in a field.  

11 Who is this wicked counselor of yours  

who plots evil against the Lord? 

Something to take home: 

GOD isn’t gleeful in His destruction of the wicked, but His justice reigns supreme over all wicked people and behavior.  A good GOD cannot be, or do, otherwise.  Love without justice is not love at all, but a perversion of love.  It is sin that makes us enemies of GOD, just like it did for Nineveh/Assyria, and even Israel and Judah.  But it is repentance and surrender to GOD that puts us into right relationship with GOD, just like it did for Nineveh during the time of Jonah.  When we live in right relationship with GOD (or live righteously) we do not have to fear judgment or punishment from GOD.  For it is our faith in Christ that sets us free from sin and death.  It is from this perspective that we can rejoice whenever the truth wins out.2 

We do well to remember the words of John in his first epistle to the church: 

1 John 4:16b-19 (NLT), God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.  17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.  So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.  

18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear.  If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.  19 We love each other3 because he loved us first. 4 

Key Point:  “GOD’s judgment on evil is always good news.”