Slices
Prepare
Imagine the relief Judah (1:15) must have felt when its people realised their enemy was going to be defeated. Ask God to burst through the walls that imprison you.
Bible passage
Nineveh to fall
2 An attacker advances against you, Nineveh.
Guard the fortress,
watch the road,
brace yourselves,
marshal all your strength!
2 The Lord will restore the splendour of Jacob
like the splendour of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste
and have ruined their vines.
3 The shields of the soldiers are red;
the warriors are clad in scarlet.
The metal on the chariots flashes
on the day they are made ready;
the spears of juniper are brandished.
4 The chariots storm through the streets,
rushing back and forth through the squares.
They look like flaming torches;
they dart about like lightning.
5 Nineveh summons her picked troops,
yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
the protective shield is put in place.
6 The river gates are thrown open
and the palace collapses.
7 It is decreed that Nineveh
be exiled and carried away.
Her female slaves moan like doves
and beat on their breasts.
8 Nineveh is like a pool
whose water is draining away.
‘Stop! Stop!’ they cry,
but no one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
the wealth from all its treasures!
10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
Hearts melt, knees give way,
bodies tremble, every face grows pale.
11 Where now is the lions’ den,
the place where they fed their young,
where the lion and lioness went,
and the cubs, with nothing to fear?
12 The lion killed enough for his cubs
and strangled the prey for his mate,
filling his lairs with the kill
and his dens with the prey.
13 ‘I am against you,’
declares the Lord Almighty.
‘I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers
will no longer be heard.’
Explore
Nahum warns that attack is coming and the people of Nineveh need to act. But now God will be the lion hunter (vs 11–13). His words are short and sharp (v 1). In times of distress there is no place for long words.
Attacks on people can take many forms. My husband has Alzheimer’s. Sometimes it’s hard to see God in this. We – Norman particularly – are living in a kind of exile. A lot of life that we took for granted has been, pretty much without warning, swallowed up in our new roles of cared for and carer. But with a lot of support, professional and personal, we brace ourselves and marshal all our strength (v 1).
So many of us live with things in our lives beyond our control. We all have to do whatever we can, with whatever we have, whatever our circumstances. God may seem distant sometimes but we know he is there – he is in control – and has the power to restore us (v 2). Nineveh, Judah’s enemy, would be destroyed.
Respond
‘Thank you, Lord, for the land you have given me to inhabit. It may not seem like a land of milk and honey, but it is the furrow you have called me to plough. You are with me through thick and thin. Amen
Deeper Bible study
‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.’1 What thoughts and feelings does the prospect of Christ’s triumphant return evoke?
Nahum’s opening verse may sound like an alarm – ‘An attacker advances against you’ – and a call to defensive action (v 1). Unlike in Jonah’s time, however, when Nineveh received a 40-day grace period within which to repent,2 now the gavel comes down hard, with a note of finality, as God’s judgement is pronounced in favour of Judah (v 2) and against Nineveh (v 7). The prophet envisions the executioners storming the city (vs 3,4) to carry out God’s sentence (vs 5–13).
The Assyrian king Sennacherib ‘boasted of his military fury by saying, “Like a lion I raged”’.3 Assyria was the fierce and feared hunter of the ancient Near East; the nations were its terrified prey; and Nineveh was its ‘den’ (v 11) – stronghold of the Assyrian army, a safe place for its people, the storehouse for its plundered treasures – but when the ‘Lord Almighty’ intervenes (v 13) this lion king will fall prey to the wrath of the King of kings! A taunting song mocks Nineveh: ‘Where now is the lions’ den?’ (v 11). The tables will be turned as the oppressor is overthrown, the hunter hunted down, the predator preyed upon. With their sophisticated machinery of war (‘chariots’) and skilled warriors (‘young lions’) destroyed, Assyria will no longer ‘prey’ on the nations and its ‘messengers’ will be silenced (v 13): there will be no more threats of war, no more victory shouts, no more demands for taxes and tributes. The theme of bad news/good news continues: no news (from Assyria) is indeed good news (for Judah)! As post-resurrection believers, we have received the best news of all: the Lamb has been slain; the Lion has roared; and we now await his return!
‘Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, / At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, / When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, / And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.’4
1 Rev 5:5 2 Jonah 3:4 3 Walvoord and Zuck (eds), Bible Knowledge Commentary, Victor Books, 1983 4 CS Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, HarperCollins, 2002, p146
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Samuel 29–31; 1 Corinthians 2
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for the workers of Local Mission Partner CICS: Chris, Joan, Nancy, Sarah and Sophie; for students they mentor who are sitting important exams; for the Trust as they seek, through consultation with schools, and in partnership with other local Christian organisations, to discern God’s way forward in Calderdale schools.
