Nahum 1

Let us resume considering special truths in Nahum 1.

·        1:3b-6: God’s attributes are ALWAYS perfectly translated into His ways. 

o   We see this in this passage.  God is capable of being true and faithful to His character and word.  We should be able to see this in the powers of Creation in our fallen world, events such as the whirlwind and storms (Katrina? Harvey? etc. for people in the United States).

o   This connection of character and works is seen in that God is furious (v2) and will pour out His fury (v6).  Both words are the same Hebrew term, and it describes what we call God’s wrath and anger on fire.  It is a term whose heaviest use in the Old Testament are in Isaiah, Jeremiah and especially Ezekiel.  It describes God who finally, after great patience (He is slow to anger), pours out His hot anger on Israel.  A study of this term will show that God promised this in Lev. 26:28, Deut. 29:28 if Israel continued to grow in sin and rebellion against Him.

·        1:7-13: God is not only furious; He is good and His ways are good.    

o   This is the all-purpose Hebrew term for good, referring to moral goodness, kindness, beauty and so forth.  God is just good in all ways.

o   To demonstrate His promise of goodness God gave a sort of down payment in the days of Hezekiah, predicted in 1:9-13.  Nineveh (Assyria) had been God’s servant in dispersing the northern Ten Tribes.  Their army then proceeded south into Judah, wreaking havoc in various walled cities on the way to Jerusalem.  What happened there (read it in Isa. 36-37) is what Nahum predicted here (vs.9-13).  Vs.11 speaks of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, who, in the words of his military commander, arrogantly chided the people of Jerusalem for trusting in God.  The God would Israel, he told them, would no more be able to deliver them than the gods of any of the other great cities of the day.  Hezekiah and his army in no way could stand up to the Assyrians; the enemy was safe and likewise many.  But God could, and did.  He decimated the Assyrian army, and the king returned home only to be assassinated by two of his sons.  Eventually, like Israel, Judah would go into captivity at the hand of the Babylonians.  But the story of the Assyrian defeat at Jerusalem would be a reminder of what God could and would eventually do.  At the time it was a gospel (good tidings) proclamation to Judah to turn to God (1:15).

God is not the God of smoke and mirrors.  He is true in every way!  True to His promises of good, and true to His promises of fury.  His ways are consistent with His character.  And remember: the goodness of God leads you to repentance (Rom. 2:4).