Biblical Theology XXX: Nahum

The Book of Nahum is a victory poem written in the face of the Assyrian destruction and deportation of Israel. It exalts God in His wrath upon those who have abused their power to oppress God’s people, namely the Ninevites who have used their military power to oppress Israel. 

The book could be written during the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C., predicting destruction for the city as the outcome of the Assyrian civil war, or it could be written later as a warning to the Babylonian Empire, using Assyria as a proverb against it (language concerning the oracles against Babylon in Isaiah are used in Chapter 1). 

The book is a compilation of three poems (1. What will happen: A poem of God’s powerful nature and what this means to His enemies and His people alike, as He issues a decree that the city will be destroyed. 2. How it will happen: A poem about the invasion and destruction of Nineveh. 3. Why it happened: A poem listing the atrocities of the empire).

Theology: God is the most powerful destructive force the world has ever seen. The entire cosmos and everything it contains is destroyed the wake of His judgment. Even the greatest of powers cannot contend with him or escape His judgment. As powerful as a mighty empire may be, it simply isn’t as powerful as God.

God is not bringing about immediate judgment because He is slow to anger, but in no way does this mean that He will not punish the guilty. The text says that He will not let the guilty go unpunished. No one will escape. One person described God’s wrath as milk simmering on the stove and suddenly it boils over. 

God raises up nations and brings them back down. As such, it does not matter how rich, militarily powerful, etc. a nation or world leader may be, when it is time for God to judge it, it will be judged, and its judgment will be final.

Ethics: The terror of God has two effects upon people depending upon who they are: (1) The people of Nineveh, Israel’s enemies, have everything to fear for what they have done to God’s people. His terror, then, is meant to bring fear and anxiety to the people. However, (2) to the people of God His power is comforting.

The picture of God as the most terrifying force in the universe brings comfort to those who are threatened by lesser forces of chaos because if He is so powerful, then every lesser power is put in check by Him. Whereas most people might think the terror of God is something that would cause His people to flee from Him, therefore, it actually has the effect of giving them a sense of peace. This causes them to praise God for His holy character that streams forth in wrath, precisely, because what is a terror for the wicked is salvation and rest for the righteous.

This idea that the judgment of God brings relief to the righteous but terror to the wicked depends not upon the changing of God’s character, but upon the view of the person’s involved in either activity.

The fact that God tolerates even great sin for a time is not an indication of His ignoring it. This should bring about a great fear of sinning, since when He does judge people for their sins, it will be an absolute terror that befalls them, a nightmare from which they will never wake up. But this should bring great relief to those who are the object of the terrors of these sinners, since their judgment is salvation to God’s people as the removal of chaos is order to the created world.