Nahum 3 Devotional
by Pastor Mark Hudson
The note of judgment does not cease in Nahum 3. O. Palmer Robertson calls this chapter The Surety of Nineveh’s judgment. A rhetorical question enforces the certainty of what to come in each of the three major sections of the chapter:
Where shall I seek comforters for you? Verse 7
Are you better than Thebes or No-Amon? Verse 8
For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil? Verse 19
Robertson divides this chapter as follows:
1-7 Sure Because of their sin
8-13 Sure just as No-Amon (Thebes)
14-19 Sure Despite Their Strength (O. Palmer Robertson, The Book of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. P. 99)
Nineveh was a violent city. The Assyrians were known for their violence. “3,000 of their [the people of the city of Tela] warriors. I put to the sword . . . . Many captives from among them I burned with fire. From some I cut off their hands and their fingers, and from others I cut off their noses, their ears, and their fingers, of many I put out the eyes. I made one pillar of the living, and another of heads, and I bound their heads to posts (tree trunks) round about the city” (Walter A. Maier, The Book of Nahum quoting from Daniel D Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1926), vol. 1, pp. 142ff. The Assyrians were known to flay victims while they were still living and spread their skin on city walls. Gruesome.
Verses 2-3 is either the way the Assyrians attacked their enemies or the staccato like cadence of how Nineveh will be attacked. Nineveh is like a deceitful prostitute. Then in verse 4 Nineveh is full of witchcraft and sorcery which may sound harmless to some, but her witchcraft is deadly. So God says, “Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of Hosts.” If anyone would be against me, I would not want the One who has unlimited power, authority, strength, and the will to complete the task.
God will uncover all their terrible dealings in verse 5 and all the nations will understand how the Assyrians have double crossed everyone. He will throw filth at them and mock them like fools. God will make them look like a spectacle which is what they did to others. Ashurbanipal once said this about his former enemy, “I put him (Daite) into a kennel with jackals and dogs. I tied him up and made him guard the gate in Nineveh) (Pritchard. Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Pp. 298, 300). To end this section, Nineveh is reminded that no one will comfort you when you fall. In fact, in verse 19, at the end of the chapter, all who hear of your demise will rejoice over you.
Rhetorically, God asks Nineveh, do you think you will escape if Thebes did not escape? This next section covers vs. 8-14. Thebes thought they were impregnable. Thebes used water to its advantage (having falling walls of water) and was impressively built to withstand any invader. Nineveh has a day coming and they will not escape. They were not as well suited to withstand an attacker. Yet, in vs 10, Thebes went into exile and her infants were dashed into pieces and the honored men, the leading citizens were treated as slaves bound in chains.
In vs. 11-13, Nineveh will be helpless against the invaders. They will hide as people used to hide from them. They will be as easy to destroy as picking ripe fruit. One must just touch the ripe fig and is falls into one’s mouth. Their troops are compared to people untrained for war (women) and their gates and bars are wide open and the bars are devoured by fire.
In vs. 14-19, the city will be taken despite its strength. Quoting Robertson on p. 120, “It is most likely that this little-known figure named Nahum prophesied at the precise time when Nineveh achieved its zenith of glory under Ashurbanipal (669-627). Entering Thebes, a second time after a brief revolt by the Egyptians, the Assyrians carried away “booty heaven and beyond counting” (Roux, Ancient Iraq, p. 300). Tyre was strangled from the mainland and forced to surrender. To the east, Babylon as subdued, and Susa the capital of Elam was plundered in about 639. As Roux has appropriately noted: “Never had the Assyrian empire looked so strong, the Assyrian might so invincible.” (Ibid, 304).
This next section can be further divided up to preparations will do no good (vv. 14-15a); numbers will do no good (vv. 15b-16); Officialdom will do not good (vv. 17-18). In v. 14, draw water for the siege (but you will never have enough). Strengthen your forts, be immersed in clay and mortar but it will all be to no avail. God’s judgment is inevitable and there will be no escape. Next in vs. 15b-16, even if you have more warriors or more merchants to fund your armies, it will be to no avail. Then in vs. 17-18, the princess, scribes, shepherds, and nobles are all useless against the One most powerful God in the universe.
The last verse holds the final question: Who have you not hurt with your unceasing evil? Now it will come back to you. God will repay you for your sins and there is nothing to hold back His wrath.
Father, Your wrath is something to fear. You are to be greatly feared. Your wrath is real and will be unleashed like a pent-up dam. And when that dam burst, it will be awful for your enemies. Most of us do not think deeply or carefully about Your wrath. But Nahum did and every godly prophet, apostle, minister, and Christian does. Lord, remind me of how awful it was for the Lord Jesus to receive the full measure of Your wrath. Yet, how glorious for us to see this great exchange for us to give you the worst of us and the get the best of Your Son. Open our eyes to see how just, wise, and perfect is Your wrath. Thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit that brings the power of the gospel to our lives. In Christ’s name. Amen.