Nahum 1 commentary

NAHUM 1 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
INTRODUCTION
JOSEPH BENSON, THE BOOK OF NAHUM. ARGUMENT.
NAHUM was a native of Elkoshai, or Elkosh, a little village of Galilee, the ruins of
which remained in the time of St. Jerome. It appears, from Nahum 2:2, that he
prophesied after the captivity of the ten tribes, which took place in the ninth year of
Hezekiah, and after the war of Sennacherib in Egypt, because he speaks of the
taking of No-ammon in that country as of an event past, Nahum 3:8. But it is
probable that the first chapter at least of this prophecy was delivered before the
invasion of Judah by Sennacherib, as in the latter part of it, namely, from Micah
7:8-15, he seems to predict that attempt, and the defeat thereof. “And probably,”
says Henry, “it was delivered a little before it, for the encouragement of God’s
people in that time of treading down and perplexity.” The other two chapters are
thought by some to have been delivered some years after, perhaps in the reign of
Manasseh; in which reign the Jewish chronologers generally place this prophet,
somewhat nearer the time when Nineveh was conquered. He must have prophesied,
however, before the captivity of the two tribes, as he supposes them to be still in
their own country, and there celebrating their festivals as usual.
The subject of this prophecy is, the destruction of Nineveh, and the overthrow of the
Assyrian empire, which Nahum describes in a manner so pathetic and picturesque,
and yet so plain, as is not to be exceeded by the greatest masters of oratory. And all
his predictions were exactly verified in the siege and taking of that city, by
Nabopolassar and Astyages, in the year of the world 3378, about 100 years after
they were uttered. “The conduct and imagery of this prophetical poem,” says
Archbishop Newcome, “are truly admirable. The exordium grandly sets forth the
justice and power of God, tempered by lenity and goodness, Nahum 1:2-8. A sudden
address to the Assyrians follows; and a prediction of their perplexity and overthrow,
as devisers of evil against the true God, Micah 7:9-11. Jehovah himself then
proclaims freedom to his people from the Assyrian yoke, and the destruction of the
Assyrian idols; upon which the prophet, in a most lively manner, turns the attention
of Judah to the approach of the messenger who brings such glad tidings; and bids
her celebrate her festivals, and offer her thank-offerings, without fear of so
powerful an adversary, Micah 7:12-15. In the next place, Nineveh is called on to
prepare for the approach of her enemies, as instruments in the hand of Jehovah;
and the military array and muster of the Medes and Babylonians, their rapid
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approach to the city, the process of the siege, the capture of the place, the captivity,
lamentation, and flight of the inhabitants, the sacking of the wealthy city, and the
consequent desolation and terror, are described in the true spirit of eastern poetry,
and with many pathetic, vivid, and sublime images, Nahum 2:1-10. A grand and
animated allegory succeeds this description, and is explained and applied to the city
of Nineveh, Micah 7:11-13. The prophet then denounces a wo against Nineveh for
her perfidy and violence; and strongly places before our eyes the number of her
chariots and cavalry, her burnished arms, and the great and unrelenting slaughter
which she spread around her, assigning her idolatries as one cause of her
ignominious and unpitied fall, Nahum 3:1-7.” To overthrow her false confidence in
her forces and alliances, he reminds her of the destruction of No-ammon, her rival
in populousness, confederacies, and situation, which had shared a fate like that
which awaited her; beautifully illustrating the ease with which her strong holds
should be taken, and her pusillanimity during the siege, Micah 7:8-13. “He
pronounces that all her preparations, her numbers, her opulence, her multitude of
chief men, would be of no avail, and that her tributaries would all desert her, Micah
7:14-18. He concludes with a proper epiphonema; the topics of which are, the
greatness and incurableness of her wound, and the just triumph of others over her,
on account of her extensive oppressions, Micah 7:19.” To sum up all with the
decisive judgment of an eminent critic: “None of the minor prophets seem to equal
Nahum, in boldness, ardour, and sublimity. His prophecy too forms a regular and
perfect poem; the exordium is not merely magnificent, it is truly majestic; the
preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its downfall and
desolation, are expressed in the most glowing colours, and are bold and luminous in
the highest degree.” Præl. Hebr. 21. p. 282.
PETER PETT, "A Commentary On Nahum the Prophet.
By Dr Peter Pett BA BD (Hons-London) DD
Nahum came from Elkosh which was possibly, but not certainly, in Judah. His
prophecy may be dated between 664 BC and 612 BC.
The reason that we can date it so accurately is because it mentions the capture of
No-amon (i.e. Thebes) (Nahum 3:8-10), as an indication that no city is too great to
declare itself invincible. But was clearly written before the destruction of Nineveh
itself in 612 BC.
The historical events behind the prophecy were the death of Ashurbanipal, the great
king of Assyria (c. 627 BC), who ruled a vast empire held together by force and
cruelty. This produced a situation where, within a year or so, Babylon, under
Nabopolassar, felt able to assert her independence. About ten years later Babylon
made an alliance with the Medes and attacked Assyria with a view to destroying all
its military might, systematically reducing all its major strongholds.
Assyria’s capital city, Ashur, fell in 614 BC, followed two years later, after bitter
fighting, by Nineveh itself.
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The world sighed with relief. Assyria’s cruelty was a byword among the nations who
had experienced it at first hand, and no one regretted their passing. The prophecy is
a timely warning that no matter how great and impregnable someone may seem, one
day their actions will catch up with them.
But why should we be interested in a book about the fate of Assyria? The answer is
because it is a book about us all, especially the nations that are at ease. We see in
this book a warning and foretaste of God’s judgment on all. It is delayed but it is
inevitable. Elsewhere the mercy of God is emphasised, although never overlooking
His moral attitude towards sin, but here it is His judgment that is emphasised.
This book is a reminder that however dark things may appear, however powerful
the enemies of God might seem, they are not so powerful that they will last for ever.
One day, sooner than any might think, they will crumble and collapse. But God will
go on for ever.
And this judgment comes on one who has offered false pleasures to a sinful world. It
has multiplied businessmen and accountants. It has offered sexual perversion and
sinful pleasures. It has grown great in trade, and accumulated power. But it has
forgotten God. And in that is its downfall.
This was one of the times when God’s judgment was revealed in its full
awesomeness on a nation which believed itself invulnerable, and the prophet spells it
out clearly and in some detail so that we might truly absorb it. God is love, but He is
also light, and where His love does not prevail only the consequences of His sin-
revealing light remains. And that, unless we repent, leads only to judgment.
The prophecy can be split into three sections.
· Chapter 1. Declaration of judgment on the great city, (on Nineveh).
· Chapter 2. The sack of the great city, (of Nineveh).
· Chapter 3. Why the great city (Nineveh) deserves its fate.
As we consider the prophecy, and consider Nahum’s feelings, we must remember
that Assyria had cruelly downtrodden Judah and Israel for long periods, and had
equally cruelly destroyed Samaria, the capital city of Israel (the Northern kingdom)
carrying away into captivity, with great harshness, the cream of the nation, as well
as crushing many other nations.
And the people shared with their king in his guilt. For they exulted in his conquests
and benefited from his spoils. Judah had been impoverished by the burden of its
demands, and the worship of YHWH had suffered because of the requirement to
honour Assyria’s gods. Neither had any cause to pity Assyria the Arrogant. Now the
Lord had determined an end to its cruel activities. It had run its course. Only
judgment remained.
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The prophecy is a warning to all despots and men of violence and great cities that
affect the world, that they will reap what they sow.
1 A prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of
the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
BARNES, "The burden - Jerome: “The word ‫משׂא‬ mas's'â', ‘burden’ is never placed
in the title, except when the vision is heavy and full of burden and toil.”
Of Nineveh - The prophecy of Nahum again is very stern and awful. Nineveh, after
having “repented at the preaching of Jonah,” again fell back into the sins whereof it had
repented, and added this, that, being employed by God to chasten Israel, it set itself, not
to inflict the measure of God’s displeasure, but to uproot the chosen people, in whom
was promised the birth of Christ . It was then an antichrist, and a type of him yet to
come. Jonah’s mission was a call to repentance, a type and forerunner of all God’s
messages to the world, while the day of grace and the world’s probation lasts. Nahum,
“the full of exceeding comfort,” as his name means, or “the comforter” is sent to Joh_
16:6, Joh_16:8. “reprove the world of judgment.” He is sent, prominently, to pronounce
on Nineveh its doom when its day of grace should be over, and in it, on the world, when
it and “all the works therein shall be burned up” 2Pe_3:10.
With few words he directly comforts the people of God Nah_1:15; elsewhere the
comfort even to her is indirect, in the destruction of her oppressor. Besides this, there is
nothing of mercy or call to repentance, or sorrow for their desolation (as in Jer_3:12;
Jer_8:18, Jer_8:21), but rather the pouring out of the vials of the wrath of God upon her
and on the evil world, which resists to the end all God’s calls and persecutes His people.
The Book of Jonah proclaims God, “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of
great kindness, who repents Him of the evil.” Nahum speaks of the same attributes, yet
closes with, “and will not at all acquit the wicked.” : “The Merciful Himself, who is by
Nature Merciful, the Holy Spirit, seemeth, speaking in the prophet, to laugh at their
calamity.” All is desolation, and death. The aggression against God is retorted upon the
aggressor; one reeling strife for life or death; then the silence of the graveyard. And so, in
its further meaning , “the prophecy belongs to the close of the world and the comfort of
the saints therein, so that whatsoever they see in the world, they may hold cheap, as
passing away and perishing and prepare themselves for the Day of Judgment, when the
Lord shall he the Avenger of the true Assyrian.”
So our Lord sets forth the end of the world as the comfort of the elect. “When these
things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption
draweth nigh” Luk_21:28. This is the highest fulfillment of the prophecy, for “then will
the wrath of God against the wicked be fully seen, who now patiently waiteth for them
for mercy.”
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The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite - o “He first defines the object of
the prophecy, whereto it looks; then states who spake it and whence it was;” the human
instrument which God employed. The fuller title, “The book of the vision of Nahum”
(which stands alone) probably expresses that it was not, like most prophecies, first
delivered orally, and then collected by the prophet, but was always (as it is so
remarkably) one whole. “The weight and pressure of this ‘burden.’ may be felt from the
very commencement of the book.”
CLARKE, "The burden of Nineveh - ‫משא‬ massa not only signifies a burden, but
also a thing lifted up, pronounced, or proclaimed; also a message. It is used by the
prophets to signify the revelation which they have received from God to deliver to any
particular people: the oracle - the prophecy. Here it signifies the declaration from God
relative to the overthrow of Nineveh, and the commission of the prophet to deliver it.
As the Assyrians under Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser, three of their kinds, had
been employed by a just God for the chastisement of his disobedient people; the end
being now accomplished by them, God is about to burn the rod wherewith he corrected
Israel; and Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, is to be destroyed. This
prediction appears to have been accomplished a short time after this by Nebuchadnezzar
and Cyaxares, the Ahasuerus of Scripture.
Nahum, ‫נחום‬ Nachum, signifies comforter. The name was very suitable, as he was sent
to comfort the people, by showing them that God was about to destroy their adversaries.
GILL, "The burden of Nineveh,.... Of the city of Nineveh, and the greatness of it; see
Gill on Jon_1:2; See Gill on Jon_3:3; Jonah was sent to this city to threaten it with ruin
for its sins; at that time the king and all his people humbled themselves and repented,
and the threatened destruction was averted; but they relapsing to their former iniquities,
this prophet foretells what would be their certain fate; very rightly therefore the Targum,
and some other Jewish writings (m), observe, that Jonah prophesied against this city of
old; and that Nahum prophesied after him a considerable time, perhaps at a hundred
years distance. This prophecy is called a burden; it was taken up by the prophet at the
command of the Lord, and was carried or sent by him to Nineveh; and was a hard,
heavy, grievous, and burdensome prophecy to that city, predicting its utter ruin and
desolation; and which, as Josephus (n) says, came to pass hundred fifteen years after
this prophecy; and which event is placed by the learned Usher (o) in the year of the
world 3378 A.M., and which was 626 B.C.; and by others (p) in the year of the world
3403 A.M., of the flood 1747, in 601 B.C.; but by Dean Prideaux (q) and Mr. Whiston (r),
in 612 B.C.;
the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite; no other prophecy is called, a
book but this, as Abarbinel observes; and gives this reason for it, because the other
prophets immediately declared their prophecies, as Jonah; but Nahum never went to the
Ninevites, but wrote his prophecy in a book, and sent it to them. It is called "the book of
the vision"; what it contains being made known to him by the Lord in a vision, as was
common; hence the prophets are called seers; and the prophet is described by the place
of his birth, an Elkoshite; though some think he is so called from his father, whose name
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was Helkesi, and said to be a prophet too, as Jerom relates; and with this agrees the
Targum, which calls him Nahum of the house or family of Koshi; but Jarchi says that
Elkosh was the name of his city; Aben Ezra and Kimchi are in doubt which to refer it to,
whether to his city, or to his ancestors; but there seems no reason to doubt but that he is
so called from his native place; since Jerom (s) says, that there was a village in Galilee
called Helkesi in his days, and which he had seen; though scarce any traces of the old
buildings could be discerned, it was so fallen to ruin, yet known, to the Jews; and was
shown him by one that went about with him; and which is, by Hesychius (t) the
presbyter, placed in the tribe of Simeon. This is another instance, besides that of Jonah,
disproving the assertion of the Jews, that no prophet rose out of Galilee, Joh_7:52.
HENRY, "This title directs us to consider, 1. The great city against which the word of
the Lord is here delivered; it is the burden of Nineveh, not only a prophecy, and a
weighty one, but a burdensome prophecy, a dead weight to Nineveh, a mill-stone hanged
about its neck. Nineveh was the place concerned, and the Assyrian monarchy, which that
was the royal seat of. About 100 years before this Jonah had, in God's name, foretold the
speedy overthrow of this great city; but then the Ninevites repented and were spared,
and that decree did not bring forth. The Ninevites then saw clearly how much it was to
their advantage to turn from their evil way; it was the saving of their city; and yet, soon
after, they returned to it again; it became worse than ever, a bloody city, and full of lies
and robbery. They repented of their repentance, returned with the dog to his vomit, and
at length grew worse than ever they had been. Then God sent them not this prophet, as
Jonah, but this prophecy, to read them their doom, which was now irreversible. Note,
The reprieve will not be continued if the repentance be not continued in. If men turn
from the good they began to do, they can expect no other than that God should turn
from the favour he began to show, Jer_18:10. 2. The poor prophet by whom the word of
the Lord is here delivered: It is the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. The
burden of Nineveh was what the prophet plainly foresaw, for it was his vision, and what
he left upon record (it is the book of the vision), that, when he was gone, the event might
be compared with the prediction and might confirm it. All the account we have of the
prophet himself is that he was an Elkoshite, of the town called Elkes, or Elcos, which,
Jerome says, was in Galilee. Some observe that the scripture ordinarily says little of the
prophets themselves, that our faith might not stand upon their authority, but upon that
of the blessed Spirit by whom their prophecies were indited.
JAMISON, "Nah_1:1-15. Jehovah’s attributes as a jealous judge of sin, yet merciful
to his trusting people, should inspire them with confidence. He will not allow the
Assyrians again to assail them, but will destroy the foe.
burden of Nineveh — the prophetic doom of Nineveh. Nahum prophesied against
that city a hundred fifty years after Jonah.
K&D, "The heading runs thus: “Burden concerning Nineveh; book of the prophecy of
Nahum of Elkosh.” The first sentence gives the substance and object, the second the
form and author, of the proclamation which follows. ‫א‬ ָ‫שּׂ‬ ַ‫מ‬ signifies a burden, from ‫א‬ ָ‫שׂ‬ָ‫,נ‬ to
lift up, to carry, to heave. This meaning has very properly been retained by Jonathan,
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Aquila, Jerome, Luther, and others, in the headings to the prophetic oracle. Jerome
observes on Hab_1:1 : “Massa never occurs in the title, except when it is evidently grave
and full of weight and labour.” On the other hand, the lxx have generally rendered it
λῆμμα in the headings to the oracles, or even ὅρασις, ὅραμα, ῥῆμα (Isaiah 13ff., Isa_30:6);
and most of the modern commentators since Cocceius and Vitringa, following this
example, have attributed to the word the meaning of “utterance,” and derived it from
‫א‬ ָ‫שׂ‬ָ‫,נ‬ effari. But ‫נשׂא‬ has no more this meaning than ‫קוֹל‬ ‫א‬ ָ‫שׂ‬ָ‫נ‬ can mean to utter the voice,
either in Exo_20:7 and Exo_23:1, to which Hupfeld appeals in support of it, or in 2Ki_
9:25, to which others appeal. The same may be said of ‫א‬ ָ‫שּׂ‬ ַ‫,מ‬ which never means effatum,
utterance, and is never placed before simple announcements of salvation, but only
before oracles of a threatening nature. Zec_9:1 and Zec_12:1 form no exception to this
rule. Delitzsch (on Isa_13:1) observes, with regard to the latter passage, that the promise
has at least a dark foil, and in Nahum 9:1ff. the heathen nations of the Persian and
Macedonian world-monarchy are threatened with a divine judgment which will break in
pieces their imperial glory, and through which they are to be brought to conversion to
Jehovah; “and it is just in this that the burden consists, which the word of God lays upon
these nations, that they may be brought to conversion through such a judgment from
God” (Kliefoth). Even in Pro_30:1 and Pro_31:1 Massâ' does not mean utterance. The
words of Agur in Pro_30:1 are a heavy burden, which is rolled upon the natural and
conceited reason; they are punitive in their character, reproving human forwardness in
the strongest terms; and in Pro_31:1 Massâ' is the discourse with which king Lemuel
reproved his mother. For the thorough vindication of this meaning of Massâ', by an
exposition of all the passages which have been adduced in support of the rendering
“utterance,” see Hengstenberg, Christology, on Zec_9:1, and O. Strauss on this passage.
For Nineveh, see the comm. on Jon_1:2. The burden, i.e., the threatening words,
concerning Nineveh are defined in the second clause as sēpher châzōn, book of the seeing
(or of the seen) of Nahum, i.e., of that which Nahum saw in spirit and prophesied
concerning Nineveh. The unusual combination of sēpher and châzōn, which only occurs
here, is probably intended to show that Nahum simply committed his prophecy
concerning Nineveh to writing, and did not first of all announce it orally before the
people. On hâ'elqōshı̄ (the Elkoshite), see the Introduction.
CALVIN, "Though a part of what is here delivered belongs to the Israelites and to
the Jews, he yet calls his Book by what it principally contains; he calls its the burden
of Nineveh Of this word ‫,משא‬ mesha, we have spoken elsewhere. Thus the Prophets
call their prediction, whenever they denounce any grievous and dreadful vengeance
of God: and as they often threatened the Jews, it hence happened, that they called,
by way of ridicule, all prophecies by this name ‫,משא‬ mesha, a burden. (206) But yet
the import of the word is suitable. It is the same thing as though Nahum had said
that he was sent by God as a herald, to proclaim war on the Ninevites for the sake of
the chosen people. The Israelites may have hence learnt how true and unchangeable
God was in his covenant; for he still manifested his care for them, though they had
by their vices alienated themselves from him.
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He afterwards adds, ‫חזון‬ ‫,ספר‬ sapher chezun, the book of the vision This clause
signifies, that he did not in vain denounce destruction on the Ninevites, because he
faithfully delivered what he had received from God. For if he had simply prefaced,
that he threatened ruin to the Assyrian,, some doubt might have been entertained as
to the event. But here he seeks to gain to himself authority by referring to God’s
name; for he openly affirms that he brought nothing of his own, but that this
burden had been made known to him by a celestial oracle: for ‫,חזה‬ cheze, means
properly to see, and hence in Hebrew a vision is called ‫,חזון‬ chezun,. But the
Prophets, when they speak of a vision, do not mean any fantasy or imagination, but
that kind of revelation which is mentioned in Numbers 14:0, where God says, that
he speaks to his Prophets either by vision or by dream. We hence see why this was
added — that the burden of Nineveh was a vision; it was, that the Israelites might
know that this testimony respecting God’s vengeance on their enemies was not
brought by a mortal man, and that there might be no doubt but that God was the
author of this prophecy.
Nahum calls himself an Elkoshite. Some think that it was the name of his family.
The Jews, after their manner, say, that it was the name of his father; and then they
add this their common gloss, that Elkos himself was a Prophet: for when the name
of a Prophet’s father is mentioned, they hold that he whose name is given was also a
Prophet. But these are mere trifles: and we have often seen how great is their
readiness to invent fables. Then the termination of the word leads us to think that it
was, on the contrary, the proper name of a place; and Jerome tells us that there was
in his time a small village of this name in the tribe of Simon. We must therefore
understand, that Nahum arose from that town, and was therefore called “the
Elkoshite.” (207) Let us now proceed —
COFFMAN, "The announcement of God as the executioner of his wrath upon
Assyria is made in Nahum 1:1-6. His wrath will not fall upon his own people, but
upon their enemies (Nahum 1:7-11). He will break the yoke of Asshur from off the
neck of his people, and destroy the Assyrians (Nahum 1:12-14). This prophecy is so
certain of fulfillment that a proleptic announcement of the good news, with
Messianic overtones, concludes the chapter (Nahum 1:15).
Nahum 1:1
"The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite."
"The burden of Nineveh ..." As used in the Holy Scriptures, this expression means
"the prophecy of the doom of Nineveh." The word "burden" carries with it the idea
of a heavy load; and the imagery is that Nineveh's sins have at last become such a
heavy load that God will no longer permit the city to stand. Their destruction had
long before been prophesied by Jonah; but the repentance of the people led to the
delay of the penalty. In the meanwhile, the sins of the people have returned
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overwhelmingly, plunging the whole nation into the utmost savagery of greed,
violence, and treachery. This time, there ,would be no repentance and no
commutation of the sentence of death upon them.
"Nineveh ..." (For a discussion of the nature, size, and fortifications of Nineveh see
in my commentary on the minor prophets, Vol. 1, pp. 280-282.) One of the greatest
cities of antiquity, it was situated upon the Tigris River at its junction with two
lesser streams, and for an extended period was the most powerful city on earth. Any
prophecy of the doom of such a city must have appeared to be sheer madness at the
time of Nahum's prophecy.
"The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite ..." By the book's designation here
as "the vision of Nahum," the origin of his message is indicated as being God
Himself. Nahum did not write merely his political and social judgments; and it must
be thought that his message appeared just as impossible of fulfillment in Nahum's
eyes as it must have appeared to others. (For notes on Elkosh, see the Introduction
to the Book of Nahum.)
This first verse has the utility of identifying the object of God's wrath so forcefully
mentioned. Without the expression, "the burden of Nineveh," we should not have
known until Nahum 2:8 the identity of the object of God's wrath.
CONSTABLE, "Verse 1
I. HEADING1:1
The writer introduced this book as an oracle concerning Nineveh. An oracle is a
message from Yahweh that usually announces judgment. It is sometimes called a
"burden" because it frequently contains a message that lay heavy on the prophet"s
heart and came across as a "heavy" message. In this case it is a "war-oracle." [Note:
Longman, pp771 , 786.] This book records the vision that Nahum the Elkoshite
received from the Lord.
"Having been founded by Nimrod ( Genesis 10:8-12), Nineveh had a long history. It
was located on the east bank of the Tigris River, which formed the western and
southern boundaries of the city. A wall extended for eight miles around the
northern and eastern boundaries. The section of the city within the walls was nearly
three miles in diameter at its greatest width, and it held a population that has been
estimated to have been as high as150 ,000. The three days" walk required to
traverse Nineveh (... Jonah 3:3) is no exaggeration." [Note: Charles H. Dyer, in The
Old Testament Explorer, p796.]
As noted above, the location of Elkosh is presently uncertain. The two most likely
general locations are Mesopotamia or Canaan. I tend to think that Elkosh was in
Judah since all the other Old Testament prophets were from Canaan, and Nahum
prophesied during the history of the surviving kingdom of Judah (ca650 B.C.).
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Nahum evidently used "Nineveh," the capital of the Assyrian Empire, to stand for
the whole empire in some places as well as for the city in others. In some texts the
city is definitely in view, as is obvious from the fulfillment of the prophecy, but in
others all of Assyria seems to be in view. It is common, especially in prophetical and
poetical parts of the Old Testament, for the writers to use the names of prominent
cities to represent their countries. The most frequent example is the use of
Jerusalem in place of Judah or even all Israel. This is an example of the common
figure of speech called metonymy in which a writer uses the name of one thing for
that of another associated with or suggested by it.
BENSON, "Nahum 1:1. The burden of Nineveh — Of Nineveh, see note on Jonah
3:3. When the prophets were sent to denounce judgments against a nation, or city,
their message, or prophecy, was usually called the burden of that people, or place:
see note on Isaiah 13:1. The book of the vision — As prophets were of old called
seers, so their prophecies were called visions: of Nahum — Nahum, according to St.
Jerome, signifies a comforter: for the ten tribes being carried away by the king of
Assyria, this vision was to comfort them in their captivity: nor was it less a
consolation to the other two tribes, who remained in the land, and had been
besieged by the same enemies, to hear that these conquerors would in time be
conquered themselves, their city taken, and their empire overthrown. — Bishop
Newton.
COKE, "Nahum 1:1. The burden of Nineveh— The sentence upon Nineveh. See the
Argument, and Isaiah 13:1. Bishop Newton observes, that if there be some difficulty
in discovering the persons by whom Nineveh was taken, there is more in
ascertaining the king of Assyria in whose name it was taken; and more still in fixing
the time when it was taken; scarcely any two chronologies agreeing in the same date.
But as these things are hardly possible to be known, so neither are they necessary to
be known with precision and exactness; and we may safely leave them among the
uncertainties of ancient history and chronology. It is sufficient for our purpose, that
Nineveh was taken and destroyed according to the predictions, and that Nahum
foretold not only the thing but also the manner of it.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, "Verses 1-15
THE VENGEANCE OF THE LORD
Nahum 1:1-15
THE prophet Nahum, as we have seen, arose probably in Judah, if not about the
same time as Zephaniah and Jeremiah, then a few years later. Whether he
prophesied before or after the great Reform of 621 we have no means of deciding.
His book does not reflect the inner history, character, or merits of his generation.
His sole interest is the fate of Nineveh. Zephaniah had also doomed the Assyrian
capital, yet he was much more concerned with Israel’s unworthiness of the
opportunity presented to them. The yoke of Asshur, he saw, was to be broken, but
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the same cloud which was bursting from the north upon Nineveh must overwhelm
the incorrigible people of Jehovah. For this Nahum has no thought. His heart, for all
its bigness, holds room only for the bitter memories, the baffled hopes, the
unappeased hatreds of a hundred years. And that is why we need not be anxious to
fix his date upon one or other of the shifting phases of Israel’s history during that
last quarter of the seventh century. For he represents no single movement of his
fickle people’s progress, but the passion of the whole epoch then drawing to a close.
Nahum’s book is one great At Last!
And, therefore, while Nahum is a worse prophet than Zephaniah, with less
conscience and less insight, he is a greater poet, pouring forth the exultation of a
people long enslaved, who see their tyrant ready for destruction. His language is
strong and brilliant; his rhythm rumbles and rolls, leaps and flashes, like the
horsemen and chariots he describes. It is a great pity the text is so corrupt. If the
original lay before us, and that full knowledge of the times which the excavation of
ancient Assyria may still yield to us, we might judge Nahum to be an even greater
poet than we do.
We have seen that there are some reasons for doubting whether he wrote the first
chapter of the book, but no one questions its fitness as an introduction to the
exultation over Nineveh’s fall in chapters 2 and 3. The chapter is theological,
affirming those general principles of Divine Providence, by which the overthrow of
the tyrant is certain and God’s own people are assured of deliverance. Let us place
ourselves among the people, who for so long a time had been thwarted, crushed, and
demoralized by the most brutal empire which was ever suffered to roll its force
across the world, and we shall sympathize with the author, who for the moment will
feel nothing about his God, save that He is a God of vengeance. Like the grief of a
bereaved man, the vengeance of an enslaved people has hours sacred to itself. And
this people had such a God! Jehovah must punish the tyrant, else were He untrue.
He had been patient, and patient, as a verse seems to hint, just because He was
omnipotent, but in the end He must rise to judgment. He was God of heaven and
earth, and it is the old physical proofs of His power, so often appealed to by the
peoples of the East, for they feel them as we cannot, which this hymn calls up as
Jehovah sweeps to the overthrow of the oppressor. "Before such power of wrath
who may stand? What think ye of Jehovah?" The God who works with such
ruthless, absolute force in nature will not relax in the fate He is preparing for
Nineveh. "He is one who maketh utter destruction," not needing to raise up His
forces a second time, and as stubble before fire so His foes go down before Him. No
half-measures are His, Whose are the storm, the drought, and the earthquake.
Such is the sheer religion of the Proem to the Book of Nahum-thoroughly Oriental
in its sense of God’s method and resources of destruction; very Jewish, and very
natural to that age of Jewish history, in the bursting of its long-pent hopes of
revenge. We of the West might express these hopes differently. We should not
attribute so much personal passion to the Avenger. With our keener sense of law, we
should emphasize the slowness of the process, and select for its illustration the forces
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of decay rather than those of sudden ruin. But we must remember the crashing
times in which the Jews lived. The world was breaking up. The elements were loose,
and all that God’s own people could hope for was the bursting of their yoke, with a
little shelter in the day of trouble. The elements were loose, but amidst the blind
crash the little people knew that Jehovah knew them.
"A God jealous and avenging is Jehovah; Jehovah is avenger and lord of wrath;
Vengeful is Jehovah towards His enemies, And implacable He to His foes."
"Jehovah is long-suffering and great in might, Yet He will not absolve. Jehovah! His
way is in storm and in hurricane, And clouds are the dust of His feet. He curbeth the
sea, and drieth it up; All the streams hath He parched. Withered be Bashan and
Carmel";
"The bloom of Lebanon is withered. Mountains have quaked before Him, And the
hills have rolled down. Earth heaved at His presence, The world and all its
inhabitants. Before His rage who may stand, Or who abide in the glow of His anger?
His wrath pours forth like fire, And rocks are rent before Him."
"Good is Jehovah to them that wait upon Him in the day of trouble, And He
knoweth them that trust Him. With an overwhelming flood He makes an end of His
rebels, And His foes He comes down on with darkness".
"What think ye of Jehovah? He is one that makes utter destruction; Not twice need
trouble arise. For though they be like plaited thorns, And sodden as They shall be
consumed like dry stubble".
"Came there not out of thee one to plan evil against Jehovah, A counselor of
mischief?"
"Thus saith Jehovah many waters, yet shall they be cut off and pass away, and I will
so humble thee that I need humble thee no more; and Jehovah hath ordered
concerning thee, that no more of thy seed be sown: from the house of thy God, I will
cut off graven and molten images. I will make thy sepulchre"
Disentangled from the above verses are three which plainly refer not to Assyria but
to Judah. How they came to be woven among the others we cannot tell. Some of
them appear applicable to the days of Josiah after the great Reform.
"And now will I break his yoke from upon thee, And burst thy bonds asunder."
"Lo, upon the mountains the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, That
publisheth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, fulfill thy vows:"
"For no more shall the wicked attempt to pass through thee; Cut off is the whole of
him. For Jehovah hath turned the pride of Jacob, Like to the pride of Israel For the
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plunderers plundered them, And destroyed their vine branches."
PARKER, "Verses 1-15
The Burden of Nineveh
Nahum 1
There is a sense in which every prophet must make a burden of his work. If he
himself had to do it all it would be nothing but burden. Instead of idealising the
word, making it poetical, bringing up before the eye of the mind some stalwart
pilgrim carrying his easy load upon his shoulder, think of it as a man whose heart is
sore because of the wickedness of the people, whose sleep is taken away from him
because night is turned into a day of wickedness and wrath. Think of a man who has
more to say than he can utter, whose tongue cannot keep pace with his heart
because his heart is full of the thunder and lightning of judgment, and full of the
music and pathos of gospel, and would utter itself incoherently, paradoxically, so
that men not versed in this species of eloquence would say, What doth this babbler
exclaim? for now he thunders, and now he whispers, and now he storms like a
whirlwind, and now he cries like a brokenhearted mother. What would he be at?
Yet through all this whirl and tumult and conflict must men come before they can
understand what the old prophets had to do in the name and strength of God.
Nahum writes a book. It was a curious thing to do in those days. It was a book of a
vision, and therefore likely to be quite misunderstood; for who has eyes that can see
visions of the shadowy aerial kind? Who but Moses could have seen the cloud,
histrionically treated, shaped into tabernacle and sanctuary and coming temple, as
the Lord took handfuls of cloud and scattered them about in apocalyptic vision, so
that the meek heart could see the new architecture? Only a visionist can read
visions. There are some men who ought never to attempt to read poetry, because
they kill it. They do not know that they are killing it, but their slaughter is none the
less complete. There are persons who ought not to read the lighter kinds of
literature, say even comedy itself, because they were born to live at the graveside,
and never have caught a laugh on the wing. Only those who have the inspired heart
can read the prophets, either major or minor, and understand what they are
about,—not understand what they are merely saying, but understand what they are
meaning. There is a common drift in all the prophecies, a set, a tendency in this
great biblical movement. Unless you comprehend that tendency or movement you
will be lost in the details of the dislocated parts. The Bible reveals God: now let all
the rest fall into proper adjustment under the influence of that dominant and
ennobling thought. How will Nahum talk about God? He will talk about God in his
own way. If every man would do that we should have a new and grand theology,
because we should have as many theologies as there are human beings reverently
engaged in the profound study of God. Every man sees his own aspect of the divine
Being; every man catches his own particular view of the Cross: hence a good deal of
the obstinacy that is found in theological controversy and religious disputation. A
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man cannot depersonalise himself, nor need he; what he wants to do is to
understand that every other man is also a student of the same mystery, and is also
blessed with some portion of the Spirit without whom there is no life, without whom
there can be no music in the soul. Hear Nahum:—
"God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the
Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his
enemies" ( Nahum 1:2).
That was true for the day. The prophecies of Nahum , however, do not consist of one
verse. The prophet will see another aspect presently, but he was true to the
revelation as it passed before him. It is poor preaching that harps upon the words,
"God is love"; because it does not take in the whole aspect of a manifold revelation.
Yet it does take in every aspect if we understood the meaning of the word "God,"
and the meaning of the word "love." Love is not softness, moral indifference,
spiritual turpitude, a sentiment that buys itself off from service by offering copious
tears; love is law, love is righteousness, love is anger. Love can be hot as
unquenchable fire. Our God is a consuming fire: God is love. Here is a man who
says, "God is jealous"; so he was at that moment. "The Lord revengeth"; so he was
doing when Nahum wrote. We want the real experience of men: What do you see of
God? How does the vision appear to you? Put it all down, day by day, for the bread
of the soul, as well as the bread of the body, is a daily donation of God. You need not
struggle to reconcile yesterday with to-day: the harmony of things does not lie under
your fingers; it is no trick wrought out by the cunning of man"s hand: the
solidarity, the unity, the music of the whole must be left to the sovereignty of the
sovereign God. You will not be out of harmony with your age if you write in your
book: God burns; God is an unquenchable fire; God scorches men. Put it down;
tomorrow you shall write otherwise.
Nahum did; said he: "The Lord is slow to anger." What, the same God that in the
second verse was jealous, furious, revenging, reserving wrath for his enemies? Yes.
Herein is the mystery of the total personality. "The Lord is slow to anger, and great
in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked." He does not drop into mere
sentiment. Nahum carries his law with him. Even when he says God is slow to anger
he admits the anger, and the slowness to it may be its assurance and its completeness
in the latter end. There are those who speak much of the God of nature. There are
now persons who are nature worshippers. They generally confine their services to a
particular condition of the atmosphere. Their worship is climatic and barometric.
They are great on sunny Sabbath mornings. When the churchgoer meets them and
says, "Where have you been this morning?" they say, "In the temple of nature,
hearing the lark or the thrush; watching the bees or the butterflies; inhaling the soft
health-laden breeze. A beautiful church is nature." All that is mere sound, not
worth the name of fury, yet joining the poet again when he says, "Like an idiot"s
tale." There is no such God of nature. The God of nature—he is described by the
prophet Nahum just as he is:—
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"The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the
dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers:
Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The
mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence,
yea, the world, and all that dwell therein" ( Nahum 1:3-5).
That is the God of nature. Where are his worshippers now? Do you find them
standing on the mountain-top, drenched with rain, worshipping in the beautiful
temple of Nature? Never. By arrangement and of set purpose they may have been
caught in a tempest, but they never braved it in order to worship the God of nature.
They love to hear morning worship the lark; evening worship the nightingale;
delightful service the south-blowing breeze, the fragrant air. Away with such
mockery if you call that the God of nature! He is God of nature also when he
thunders and lightens, and shakes the mountains and melts the rocks. Where are
you, then, you lovers of the lark, and devotees of the nightingale, where are you
then? You speak of the God of nature as if he were the leading florist of the
universe, as if he were the chief gardener who had laid out all his walls and terraces
and parterres for your benefit. The God of nature can be as furious as the God of
the Church, or the God of the inner and spiritual temple. The Lord writes his whole
signature upon the volume of nature. On that volume he has written: "It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Our God is a consuming fire: the
volcano is the inkhorn in which he dips his pen that he may write his fury, his
grandeur, and his sensitive majesty. We hold that the God of nature is the God of
the Bible, and that the God of nature properly and fully interpreted is just as many-
sided as is the God of revelation; and we protest against the squashy, useless,
pithless sentimentality that goes out on Sunday morning because the lark is singing,
and because the wind is in the south. That is the God of one side of nature; but the
God of nature is as complex as is the God of Nahum , set forth in the second and
third and following verses of his prophecy.
"Who can stand before his indignation?" One might imagine that all this is found
only in the Church; this is the ideal or poetic view of God; this is theology in blank
verse; this is the dream of a village mind; the high uplifting of one who has been
caught suddenly in a divine afflatus, and who speaks that which he does not
understand. Yet all that is in the Bible is written in nature, in germ, in hint, in
outline, in dim symbol, if we had the eye that could read such typology. And do
those who attend what is specifically called the Church care nothing for nature?
Contrariwise, they love it; it is the Christian poet that has made the flower blush
with subtlest, and just flattery; it is the Christian astronomer that has made night
blush by praising her reverently to her face. The Christian will find flowers where
atheism cannot find them. Christian prophecy has the faculty of causing stones to
rise up as children unto Abraham; Christian interpretation does not read things
into divine providence, but reads them out of it, saying always, We have not got the
whole secret of this root, there is more beauty in it, and with more sunshine we shall
get it all. History is the root out of which God grows flowers and wheat, great trees
and flowerets that little children may gather with their tiny hands. We protest
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against the division of the God of nature and the God of grace, the God of nature
and the God of Revelation , as if only atheists or agnostics had to do with the God of
nature, whilst Christians were worshipping some totally distinct being. Christians
claim both. Nature and revelation are God in two volumes. Is he a wise reader who,
having been entranced in the first volume of the drama, simply declines to read the
second? What shall we say of his entrancement when he flushes with the purple of
wonder, and expands under the enthusiasm of delighted gratitude, because he has
read the first volume, but says he will have nothing to do with the volume that
succeeds it? Such indifference to the succeeding volume throws suspicion upon the
reality of his admiration when he offers that mockery to volume one. In Nahum you
find the God of the book and the God of nature, the God of moral attributes and the
God of majestic Revelation , in the forms, the palpitations, and the changing colours
of this dissolving scene.
Nahum is strong in contrasts. Hear him: "The Lord is good"—what! the Lord who
is jealous?—"a stronghold in the day of trouble"—what! the God who is
"furious"?—Yes. Now the contrast: "But with an overrunning flood he will make
an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies." Then it is
a division of character. "He knoweth them that trust in him"; that is character:
"and darkness shall pursue his enemies"; that is character. It is character that is
elected, predestinated; it is character that is doomed from all eternity. It is one of
two things: a savour of life unto life, or a savour of death unto death; a trusting soul,
or a hostile spirit. In the one case the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of
trouble when nobody else wants you; in the other it is night sevenfold, following like
an infinite beast of prey, the enemy of righteousness and light, truth and love. We
have advanced nothing beyond this position taken up by the prophet The God of the
New Testament is as jealous as the God of the Old Testament, and the God revealed
by our blessed and only Saviour Christ Jesus is as loving in the Old Testament as in
the New. Hebrew seems better made for expressing tenderness than Greek; Hebrew
can fondle the reader, embrace him; Hebrew can whisper better than Greek can.
Greek has its own music, but not that rich, round, deep, mellow music that follows
the soul through the darkness, yea, through the valley of the shadow of
death:—"Like as a father pitieth"; "The Lord is my shepherd"; "The Lord is very
pitiful": these are Hebrew whispers, and there is nothing in New Testament music
other than in quality. The New Testament has its own accent and individualism, but
the New Testament represents the same God as the Old Testament; Nahum and
Paul discourse concerning the same attributes. If any man therefore shall be in the
seventh verse of Nahum he will be saying, The Lord is good; I know it; he has dried
my tears, he has directed my steps, he has held me up in all my goings; though I
have fallen I have not been utterly cast down. He is a stronghold in the day of
trouble; when my nearest, dearest friend did not know me the Lord received me,
and when my father and my mother forsook me, then the Lord took me up, and I
have had a habitation in his pavilion all my life. If another man should be in the
eighth verse he will discourse of the same God in other terms, calling him an
overrunning flood, calling him an infinite aggregation of darkness. The explanation
will not be found in the variety of poetic conception, but in the consistence of
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spiritual character. God is to us what we are to God; to the froward he will show
himself froward; to the humble he will come with that sweeping condescension as
graceful as it is noiseless, an insinuation not a patronage.
Then Nahum will not let the enemy alone. He says: "For while they be folden
together as thorns... they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." Here he is
referring to the intricacies of sin,—"folden together as thorns," so interwrapped
and intervolved that it is simply impossible to perform the task of unravelment. Will
the Lord pick with patient fingers all the intertwinings of these intricate
perplexities? No. What will he do with them? Burn them! We had not thought of
that: we had looked at the intricacy, the difficulty, the manifold perplexity, and said,
Surely God"s own patience cannot overtake this task; we wondered how God would
come out of a difficulty so obvious and so complete: we had forgotten the fire. There
could be no universe without fire; there could be no life without fire. Blood is fire;
life is fire—controlled, inspired, set to work by a sovereign agency. We had
forgotten hell. It is a poor ministry that has no perdition in it. It may be a popular
ministry. There have been persons who would not go to church because they would
not hear the minister pronouncing the punishment or wrath of God against
evildoing. They would go to hear the lark. That lark will ruin them. They have got
hold of the wrong meaning of that bird"s note. There is not a lark in the whole cage
of the firmament that is not praising God. But some persons can only take one view
of the singing bird. If that bird could break the harmonies of the universe, the
universe would soon find a grave for it Nothing that mars the music can live long;
only that which swells the infinite cadence is permitted to enjoy immortality. You
have laid cunning schemes; you have made the nights overlap one another; you have
doubled back on your own journey so that the detective shall not pursue you; you
have laid your plan so skilfully and subtly as to defy detection; you have made a
mark here and left a signature there, and you have overturned all natural
sequences, and so gone back upon yourself as to roll your life together into a
perplexity. Now, say you, what will God do with me? Burn you! You had better
know it. But there is one thing you can do which will prevent the burning; you can
turn and live—"Turn ye, turn ye! Why will ye die?" It is not God burning as an act
of vengeance; it is the universe taking up God"s purpose and applying it, and that
purpose is that all evil shall be burned. No house can do without its fire, and God"s
own voice cannot do without its flame—searching, penetrating, disinfecting,
everlasting. This is right, this is loving. It is not love that permits the pestilence to
wreak under the child"s throat; it is not love that says, The miasma is rising thickly,
and the dear child is in its chamber sleeping; open the window, let the miasma have
full play. I love my child, and therefore I cannot interfere with the play and scope of
this miasmatic vapour. Love says, Burn it, or the child may be killed.
Nahum represents what we have often forgotten, namely, that God controls and
directs all history.
"And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy
name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the
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molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile" ( Nahum 1:14).
That is how history is made. We wonder how certain houses have run to nothing.
God did it We have said, Where are the great and the mighty who ruled the
civilisation of gone ages? The Lord said, "No more of thy name shall be sown": that
seed is done, the crop must be changed. It is thus that God keeps the fields of life
going; it is thus that God intermixes the growths of civilisation and progress, so that
we belong to one another. The great man has a club foot. He did not want it. No: but
that connects him with a certain part of his ancestry that he ought not to forget. The
poor man is disabled and humiliated and racked with pain; true: but in intervals he
writes for immortality; his thoughts are birds that sing for evermore. He did not
want to have that ailing, aching, rheumatic, staggering frame; but God reminds him
that he is aristocratically descended by the mind. How often that lineage is
forgotten! Is a man descended from some duke who murdered men? Then his
remotest scion is supposed to be a gentleman. But is there no lineage coming down
from Isaiah and Ezekiel , from the poets, the thinkers, the leaders of the world"s
highest thought? On one side of your nature you are as plebeian as the clods you
plough; on the other, by your power of prayer you are taken into the masonry of the
angels, by your gift of thought you have a chief seat in the assembly of the
immortals, by a tender soothing sympathy you are invited to sit with Christ on his
throne. There are two lineages: the lineage of the bones, which may come to much or
nothing as the case may be; and the lineage of the soul, aristocratic as God. We
cannot be engrafted into the lower lineage, but, blessed be that Cross that makes
Calvary the pivot of the universe, blessed be that Cross that makes heaven possible
to the worst, each of us may be taken into the household of God, may be
enfranchised in the Jerusalem that is above, may be set among the stars that shall go
out no more for ever. To declare this is to preach the everlasting gospel.
NISBET, "NAHUM: A STUDY
‘The vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.’
Nahum 1:1
It may be affirmed, without fear of contradiction, that the Book of the prophet
Nahum is amongst the least known and studied of all the prophetical books of the
Old Testament. Why this should be the case it is not so easy to say, for as a poet
Nahum occupies a very high place in Hebrew literature. His style is clear, forcible,
and picturesque, his diction sonorous, rhythmical, and majestic; and the entire
prophecy, which is one connected whole, is thoroughly original, intensely
interesting, and indicative of great poetic talent.
Nothing is known of Nahum save what he himself tells us. His name means ‘rich in
mercy,’ or ‘rich in courtesy.’ He appears to have been a man of some distinction, as
the town of Capernaum is generally considered to have received its name from him.
The time when the prophecy was written is also matter of dispute. Internal evidence
points to the latter years of Hezekiah’s reign. The condition of Assyria in the time of
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Sennacherib corresponds with the state of things so graphically described in the
prophecy, and it is probable that this description was written by Nahum in or near
Jerusalem, where he might have seen with his own eyes the ‘valiant men in scarlet,’
the chariots flashing with steel,’ and the ‘spears shaken terribly.’
I. The picture which he presents to us is in striking accord with the Assyrian
sculptures and inscriptions.—The luxury and magnificence of the inhabitants of
Nineveh are noted, but also he exhibits the Assyrian as a nation delighting in war,
constantly engaged in a series of aggressions upon his neighbours. He shows us the
army divided into distinct corps, the most important of which are the chariots and
the horsemen. He speaks of the flashing sword and glittering spear as the chief
weapons, and mentions the movable forts, which we see depicted frequently on the
sculptured monuments by those artists who love to represent the favourite habits
and practices of the Assyrians.
II. The whole Book contains but one prophecy.—There is a unity of aim
throughout; and a beautiful sequence of thought is apparent from beginning to end,
with only three resting-places, well indicated by the division of chapters.
The prophet introduces his subject to us as a vision vouchsafed to him by the
Almighty, and he records what he has seen in the Spirit, for the comforting and
strengthening of his people in the midst of their heavy sorrow and deep distress.
What folly, what madness, to fight against the Lord! What plans canst thou, O
Assyrian, think out against Him? True, thou hast conquered many nations,
ruthlessly demolishing their chief cities, and the gods of these nations delivered them
not out of thine hand (Isaiah 37:12). But these were false gods. Now thou hast to
deal with the God of Israel, the very and true God, the only God. He ‘will make a
full end’ of thee. So utter will be the destruction that it will not be necessary to strike
a ‘second time.’ Thine armies shall be consumed like thorn-bushes gathered together
for burning. Even though they be ‘drenched, as it were, in their drink,’ they shall be
as stubble fully dry.
Hitherto the prophet had spoken in his own name; now he confirms his statement
by declaring that God Himself has so spoken: ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ The same
truths which the prophet declared are now repeated. Though Nineveh be in her full
strength, in the height of her power, boasting in her security from harm, trusting in
her vast resources and the countless multitudes of her inhabitants, yet she ‘shall
pass away,’ and this passing away shall be through the great affliction with which
Nineveh should be afflicted, so great that there should be no need for its repetition.
III. In the midst of judgment the Lord remembers mercy, and therefore turns away
for a brief moment from the Assyrian to address words of comfort and consolation
to Judah, to strengthen and encourage His oppressed people when the ruin now
threatened should become an accomplished fact.—He would make all things work
together for their good, if they would but put their trust in Him. Nineveh’s yoke had
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been a burden almost too heavy for Judah to bear.
IV. When he had spoken this word of encouragement to Israel, the prophet turns
again to Nineveh.—He gives the reason why she, who is addressed as ‘the wicked
one,’ shall no more ‘pass through’ Israel to disturb. She must look to her own
defences, she must prepare herself against the invader, for ‘he that dasheth in
pieces’ is even now at hand, his army drawn up in battle-array before her very face.
The prophet calls on Nineveh to ‘watch the way,’ ‘to fortify her power,’ but he
speaks ironically, knowing well that all her preparations should be in vain, because
the time for her destruction was at hand. How graphically does the prophet describe
the whole scene! All passes in vision before the eyes of his mind. He speaks as
though he were an eye-witness of the battle, the siege, and the final assault in which
Nineveh became the prey of all those horrors which usually befell in those days a
conquered city given over to plunder. He sees in vision the burnished bronze shields
reflecting the sun’s rays, the chariots flashing with steel, the spears shaken and
deftly hurled. In vain the Assyrian chariots rush to the rescue; in vain does the great
king rely on his ‘worthies’; in vain do the best of his warriors man the walls. They
can make no stand against the battering-rams of the enemy. The gates yield; the
Medes pour in through them; the palace is in the hands of the foe, the queen a
prisoner, the people fugitives. A few make a last desperate effort to retrieve the day
by throwing themselves in the way of those who had taken to flight. ‘Stand,’ say
they; ‘close up your ranks, citizens, soldiers of a country that has never been
conquered. Why yield now? why turn your backs?’ In vain. They cannot induce
them to return. The flight becomes general; the city is taken; the maidens are
carried away ‘mourning as with the voice of doves,’ beating their breasts in anguish.
As the prophet contemplates the ruins, he exclaims, ‘Where is the den of the lions,
and the feeding place of the young lions?’ The questions were asked in amazement,
so incredible did it seem that this great Assyrian capital, now in the full tide of her
glory and grandeur, the oppressor and corrupter of nations, should so soon become
a charred and blackened ruin. Nay, so complete should be the overthrow that the
very site would not be known. But Jehovah was against Nineveh. Her iniquities were
filled up. The time of her punishment was at hand.
V. The third chapter introduces the reader again into the very midst of the fight.—
The prophet repeats what he had said in the closing verses of the preceding chapter.
He states the cause of Nineveh’s downfall, and adds that her fall will be unpitied
and unlamented. Again we hear the solemn words, ‘Behold, I am against thee.’ But
there are new features added. As we read we seem to hear the sound of the whips
and the rattling of the wheels; we see the horses rushing on to battle, men mounting,
swords flashing, spears glittering, and the last decisive stand marked by the number
of the slain, the heaps of carcases, and the piled-up corpses. Oh, how vast was the
overthrow, and in her distress there were none to bemoan her, none to comfort her.
Nay, all that hear should ‘clap their hands,’ and all who look on her should say,
‘Nineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her?’
20

Then the author himself, giving expression to his own pitiless thoughts, says, ‘Did
not No-Amon perish without mercy and without one to comfort her?’ She, like
Nineveh, was built on the river’s bank, surrounded by water, protected by her very
position, the sea forming a rampart, and Ethiopia and Egypt, her allies, close at
hand to aid and assist, Put and Lubim likewise ready to help, but all in vain. Art
thou then better than No-Amon, which, notwithstanding her strength and the
apparently impregnable character of her position, miserably perished? No-Amon’s
fate is an illustration, a prophecy, of thine. Thy shepherds,—i.e. the princes and
captains of the people—slumber. They sleep at their posts. The sheep are scattered.
There is no hope. So deadly is the wound, there is ‘no assuaging of thy hurt.’ Instead
of this great overthrow exciting pity or causing sorrow, all rejoice. All had suffered,
all had been oppressed, for ‘upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed
continually?’ Therefore, all who hear the report of the catastrophe will ‘clap their
hands’ in joy, seeing in thy fall a just retribution of Heaven.
—Rev. J. J. Dillon.
Illustration
‘This is the doom of a city which was proud and overbearing and oppressive. It was
not merely with the Nineveh of Old Testament times, it is with cities and
communities to-day, that the God of righteousness takes to do. There is much in my
native land to fill me with satisfaction and joy. I am glad to be a citizen of Britain,
this royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, this happy breed of men, this little
world, this precious stone set in the silver sea. Surely, mine is the queen of
commonwealths and empires. But there is much, too, in my country to awaken in me
concern and penitence and misgiving, if I am a Christian man. The greed of gain,
the overweening self-reliance, the national sins which inflict so dark a stain, the
irreligiousness, the failure to ask in public affairs for the will and commandment of
Christ, the forgetfulness of all God’s benefits in the past and in the present: these
things should make me blush, and should send me to my knees in confession and
prayer. The Lord preserve Britain from the destruction which swept Nineveh away.
The Lord sanctify the social and political and commercial life of Britain, that she
may be free from Nineveh’s unbelief and evil.’
PETT, "Verse 1
Chapter 1. Declaration of Judgment on Assyria and Deliverance for God’s People.
‘The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.’
‘The burden of Nineveh’ - prophecy was not easy, it came as a burden on the
prophets as they had to speak of dreadful events. They carried the weight of God’s
wrath and men’s misdeeds on their shoulder. That is ever the lot of the true people
of God. The burden came by way of vision. In this case it concerned the destruction
of Nineveh, that great capital city of Assyria, which since the time of Sennacherib
had ruled the world. It had been extended and beautified through the suffering and
deaths of many thousands of slaves at work on its buildings. It was the consequence
of the ruination and devastation of many countries. It was based on a policy of
21

transferring of large numbers of peoples from their homelands to exist in foreign
countries which were strange to them, so as to keep them pacified. And it was a
result of draining the wealth of the nations.
The prophecy is said to have been specifically written in book form, and to consist of
a vision given by God to Nahum the Elkoshite. The name Nahum was fairly
common, and is born witness to extensively in North-Western Semitic languages and
probably means ‘full of comfort’. The message he brought was one of comfort to the
world in the light of what Assyria had been. We do not really know where Elkosh
was, but it was probably in Judah.
PULPIT, "Nahum 1:1
§ 1. The heading of the book. The book has a double title, the first giving the object
of the prophecy, which otherwise would not be evident; the second, its author,
added to give confidence in its contents. The burden; massa (Habakkuk 1:1)—a
term generally used of a weighty, threatening prophecy (Isaiah 13:1), though
translated by the LXX. λῆμμα here, and elsewhere ὄρασις, and ῥῆμα. Some prefer
to render it "utterance," or "oracle." The word is capable of either meaning. It
almost always (except, perhaps, in Zechariah 12:1) introduces a threat of judgment.
Of Nineveh. The denunciation of this city is the object of the prophecy. The effect of
Jonah's preaching had been only temporary; the reformation was partial and
superficial; and now God's long suffering was wearied out, and the time of
punishment was to come. (For an account of Nineveh, see note on Jonah 1:2.) Some
critics have deemed one part of the title an interpolation; but the connection of the
two portions is obvious, and without the former we should not know the object of
the prophet's denunciation till Nahum 2:8. The book of the vision. This is the second
title, in apposition with the former, and defining it more closely as the Book in
which was written the prophecy of Nahum. It is called a "vision," because what the
prophet foretold was presented to his mental sight, and stood plainly before him
(comp. Isaiah 1:1). The Elkoshite; i.e. native of Elkosh, for which, see Introduction,
§ II.
BI, "The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
Nahum’s book
Nahum writes a book. It was a curious thing to do in those days. It was a book of a
vision, and therefore likely to be quite misunderstood; for who has eyes that can see
visions of the shadowy, aerial kind? Only a visionist can read visions. There are some
men who ought never to attempt to read poetry, because they kill it. They do not know
that they are killing it, but their slaughter is none the less complete. There are persons
who ought not to read the lighter kinds of literature, say even comedy itself, because they
were born to live at the graveside, and never have caught a laugh on the wing. Only those
who have the inspired heart can read the prophets, either major or minor, and
understand what they are about,—not understand what they are merely saying, but
understand what they are meaning. There is a common drift in all the prophecies, a set, a
tendency in this great biblical movement. Unless you comprehend that tendency or
22

movement you will be lost in the details of the dislocated parts. The Bible reveals God;
now let all the rest fall into proper adjustment under the influence of that dominant and
ennobling thought. How will Nahum talk about God? He will talk about God in his own
way. If every man would do that we should have a new and grand theology, because we
should have as many theologies as there are human beings reverently engaged in the
profound study of God. Every man sees his own aspect of the Divine Being; every man
catches his own particular view of the Cross; hence a good deal of the obstinacy that is
found in theological controversy and religious disputation. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with
wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
and vents his wrath against his enemies.
BARNES, "God is jealous and the Lord revengeth - Rather (as the English
margin) God “very jealous and avenging is the Lord.” The Name of God, ‫יהוה‬ (YHVH),
“He who Is,” the Unchangeable, is thrice repeated, and thrice it is said of Him that He is
an Avenger. It shows both the certainty and greatness of the vengeance, and that He who
inflicts it, is the All-Holy Trinity, who have a care for the elect. God’s jealousy is twofold.
It is an intense love, not bearing imperfections or unfaithfulness in that which It loves,
and so chastening it; or not bearing the ill-dealings of those who would injure what It
loves, and so destroying them. To Israel He had revealed Himself as “a Exo_20:5-6
jealous God, visiting iniquity but shewing mercy;” here, as jealous for His people against
those who were purely His enemies and the enemies of His people (see Zec_1:14), and so
His jealousy burns to their destruction, in that there is in them no good to be refined,
but only evil to be consumed.
The titles of God rise in awe; first, “intensely jealous” and “an Avenger;” then, “an
Avenger and a Lord of wrath;” One who hath it laid up with Him, at His Command, and
the more terrible, because it is so; the Master of it, (not, as man, mastered by it; having
it, to withhold or to discharge; yet so discharging it, at last, the more irrevocably on the
23

finally impenitent. And this He says at the last, “an Avenger to His adversaries,”
(literally, “those who hem and narrow Him in”). The word “avenged” is almost
appropriated to God in the Old Testament, as to punishment which He inflicts, or at
least causes to be inflicted , whether on individuals Gen_4:15, Gen_4:24; 1Sa_24:12;
2Sa_4:8; 2Ki_9:7; Jer_11:20; Jer_15:15; Jer_20:12, or upon a people, (His own Lev_
26:25; Psa_99:8; Eze_24:8 or their enemies Deu_32:41, Deu_32:43; Psa_18:48; Isa_
34:8; Isa_35:4; Isa_47:3; Isa_59:17; Isa_61:2; Isa_63:4; Mic_5:14; Jer_46:10; Jer_
50:15, Jer_50:28; Jer_51:6, Jer_51:11, Jer_51:36; Eze_25:14, Eze_25:17, for their
misdeeds. In the main it is a defect . Personal vengeance is mentioned only in characters,
directly or indirectly censured, as Samson Jdg_15:7; Jdg_16:20 or Saul . It is forbidden
to man, punished in him, claimed by God as His own inalienable right. “Vengeance is
Mine and requital” (Deu_32:35, compare Psa_94:1). “Thou shalt not avenge nor keep up
against the children of My people” Lev_19:18. Yet it is spoken of, not as a mere act of
God, but as the expression of His Being. “Shall not My soul be avenged of such a nation
as this?” Jer_5:9, Jer_5:29; Jer_9:9.
And a Reserver of wrath for His enemies - The hardened and unbelieving who
hate God, and at last, when they had finally rejected God and were rejected by Him, the
object of His aversion. It is spoken after the manner of men, yet therefore is the more
terrible. There is that in God, to which the passions of man correspond; they are a false
imitation of something which in Him is good, a distortion of the true likeness of God, in
which God created us and whisk man by sin defaced. : “Pride doth imitate exaltedness:
whereas Thou Alone art God exalted over all. Ambition, what seeks it, but honors and
glory? Whereas Thou alone art to be honored above all and glorious for evermore. The
cruelty of the great would fain be feared; but who is to be feared but God alone, out of
whose power what can be wrested or withdrawn, when, or where, or whither, or by
whom? The tendernesses of the wanton would fain be counted love: yet is nothing more
tender than Thy charity; nor is aught loved more healthfully than that Thy truth, bright
and beautiful above all. Curiosity makes semblance of a desire of knowledge; whereas
Thou supremely knowest all. Yea, ignorance and foolishness itself is cloaked under the
name of simplicity and uninjuriousness: because nothing is found more single than
Thee; and what less injurious, since they are his own works which injure the sinner?
Yea, sloth would fain be at rest; but what stable rest beside the Lord? Luxury affects to
be called plenty and abundance; but Thou art the fullness and never-failing
plenteousness of incorruptible pleasures. Prodigality presents a shadow of liberality: but
Thou art the most overflowing Giver of all good. Covetousness would possess many
things; and Thou possessest all things. Envy disputes for excellency: what more excellent
than Thou? Anger seeks revenge: who revenges more justly than Thou? Fear startles at
things unaccustomed or sudden, which endanger things beloved, and takes forethought
for their safety; but to Thee what unaccustomed or sudden, or who separats from Thee
what Thou lovest? Or where but with Thee is unshaken safety? Grief pines away for
things lost, the delight of its desires; because it would have nothing taken from it, as
nothing can from Thee. Thus doth the soul seek without Thee what she finds not pure
and untainted, until she returns to Thee. Thus, all pervertedly imitate Thee, who remove
far from Thee, and lift themselves up against Thee. But even by thus imitating Thee, they
imply Thee to be the Creator of all nature; whence there is no place, whither altogether
to retire from Thee.” And so, in man, the same qualities are good or bad, as they have
God or self for their end. : “The joy of the world is a passion. Joy in the Holy Spirit or to
joy in the Lord is a virtue. The sorrow of the world is a passion. The sorrow according to
God which works salvation is a virtue. The fear of the world which hath torment, from
24

which a man is called fearful, is a passion. The holy tear of the Lord, which abides
forever, from which a man is called reverential, is a virtue. The hope of the world, when
one’s hope is in the world or the princes of the world, is a passion. Hope in God is a
virtue, as well as faith and charity. Though these four human passions are not in God,
there are four virtues, having the same names, which no one can have, save from God,
from the Spirit of God.” in man they are “passions,” because man is so far “passive” and
suffers under them, and, through original sin, cannot hinder having them, though by
God’s grace he may hold them in.
God, without passion and in perfect holiness, has qualities, which in man were
jealousy, wrath, vengeance, unforgivingness, a “rigor of perfect justice toward the
impenitent, which punishes so severely, as though God had fury;” only, in Him it is
righteous to punish man’s unrighteousness. Elsewhere it is said, “God keepeth not for
ever” Psa_103:9, or it is asked, “will He keep forever?” Jer_3:5, and He answers,
“Return, and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the
Lord, I will not keep for ever” Jer_3:12. Man’s misdeeds and God’s displeasure remain
with God, to be effaced on man’s repentance, or “by his hardness and impenitent heart
man treasureth up unto himself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the
righteous judgment of God, who will reward each according to his works” Rom_2:5-6.
CLARKE, "God is jealous - For his own glory.
And - revengeth - His justice; by the destruction of his enemies.
And is furious - So powerful in the manifestations of his judgments, that nothing
can stand before him.
He reserveth wrath - Though they seem to prosper for a time, and God appears to
have passed by their crimes without notice, yet he reserveth - treasureth up - wrath for
them, which shall burst forth in due time.
GILL, "God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth,.... He is jealous of his own honour
and glory, and for his own worship and ordinances; and will not give his glory to
another, nor his praise to graven images; and therefore will punish all idolaters, and
particularly the idolatrous Assyrians: he is jealous for his people, and cannot bear to see
them injured; and will avenge the affronts that are offered, and the indignities done unto
them:
the Lord revengeth, and is furious; or, is "master of wrath" (u); full of it, or has it at
his command; can restrain it, and let it out as he pleases, which man cannot do; a furious
and passionate man, who has no rule over his spirit. The Lord's revenging is repeated for
the confirmation of it; yea, it is a third time observed, as follows; which some of the
Jewish writers think has respect to the three times the king of Assyria carried the people
of Israel captive, and for which the Lord would be revenged on him, and punish him:
the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries; on all his adversaries;
particularly the Assyrians are here meant, who were both the enemies of him and of his
people. The Targum explains it,
"that hate his people:''
25

vengeance belongs to the Lord, and he will repay it sooner or later; if not immediately,
he will hereafter; for it follows:
and he reserveth wrath for his enemies: and them for that; if not in this world, yet
in the world to come; he lays it up among his treasures, and brings it forth at his
pleasure. The word "wrath" is not in the text; it is not said what he reserves for the
enemies of himself and church; it is inconceivable and inexpressible.
HENRY, "Nineveh knows not God, that God that contends with her, and therefore is
here told what a God he is; and it is good for us all to mix faith with that which is here
said concerning him, which speaks a great deal of terror to the wicked and comfort to
good people; for this glorious description of the Sovereign of the world, like the pillar of
cloud and fire, has a bright side towards Israel and a dark side towards the Egyptians.
Let each take his portion from it; let sinners read it and tremble; let saints read it and
triumph. The wrath of God is here revealed from heaven against him enemies, his favour
and mercy are here assured to his faithful loyal subjects, and his almighty power in both,
making his wrath very terrible and his favour very desirable.
I. He is a God of inflexible justice, a jealous God, and will take vengeance on his
enemies; let Nineveh know this, and tremble before him. Their idols are insignificant
things; there is nothing formidable in them. But the God of Israel is greatly to be feared;
for, 1. He resents the affronts and indignities done him by those that deny his being or
any of his perfections, that set up other gods in competition with him, that destroy his
laws, arraign his proceedings, ridicule his word, or are abusive to his people. Let such
know that Jehovah, the one only living and true God, is a jealous God, and a revenger;
he is jealous for the comfort of his worshippers, jealous for his land (Joe_2:18), and will
not have that injured. He is a revenger, and he is furious; he has fury (so the word is),
not as man has it, in whom it is an ungoverned passion (so he has said, Fury is not in
me, Isa_27:4), but he has it in such a way as becomes the righteous God, to put an edge
upon his justice, and to make it appear more terrible to those who otherwise would
stand in no awe of it. He is Lord of anger (so the Hebrew phrase is for that which we
read, he is furious); he has anger, but he has it at command and under government. Our
anger is often lord over us, as theirs that have no rule over their own spirits, but God is
always Lord of his anger and weighs a path to it, Psa_78:50. 2. He resolves to reckon
with those that put those affronts upon him. We are told here, not only that he is a
revenger, but that he will take vengeance; he has said he will, he has sworn it, Deu_
32:40, Deu_32:41. Whoever are his adversaries and enemies among men, he will make
them feel his resentments; and, though the sentence against his enemies is not executed
speedily, yet he reserves wrath for them and reserves them for it in the day of wrath.
Against his own people, who repent and humble themselves before him, he keeps not his
anger for ever, but against his enemies he will for ever let out his anger. He will not at
all acquit the wicked that sin, and stand to it, and do not repent, Nah_1:3. Those
wickedly depart from their God that depart, and never return (Psa_18:21), and these he
will not acquit. Humble supplicants will find him gracious, but scornful beggars will not
find him easy, or that the door of mercy will be opened to a loud, but late, Lord, Lord.
This revelation of the wrath of God against his enemies is applied to Nineveh (Nah_1:8),
and should be applied by all those to themselves who go on still in their trespasses: With
an over-running flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof. The army of the
Chaldeans shall overrun the country of the Assyrians, and lay it all waste. God's
26

judgments, when they come with commission, are like a deluge to any people, which
they cannot keep off nor make head against. Darkness shall pursue his enemies; terror
and trouble shall follow them, whitersoever they go, shall pursue them to utter darkness;
if they think to flee from the darkness which pursues them they will but fall into that
which is before them.
JAMISON, "jealous — In this there is sternness, yet tender affection. We are jealous
only of those we love: a husband, of a wife; a king, of his subjects’ loyalty. God is jealous
of men because He loves them. God will not bear a rival in His claims on them. His
burning jealousy for His own wounded honor and their love, as much as His justice,
accounts for all His fearful judgments: the flood, the destruction of Jerusalem, that of
Nineveh. His jealousy will not admit of His friends being oppressed, and their enemies
flourishing (compare Exo_20:5; 1Co_16:22; 2Co_11:2). Burning zeal enters into the
idea in “jealous” here (compare Num_25:11, Num_25:13; 1Ki_19:10).
the Lord revengeth ... Lord revengeth — The repetition of the incommunicable
name Jehovah, and of His revenging, gives an awful solemnity to the introduction.
furious — literally, “a master of fury.” So a master of the tongue, that is, “eloquent.”
“One who, if He pleases, can most readily give effect to His fury” [Grotius]. Nahum has
in view the provocation to fury given to God by the Assyrians, after having carried away
the ten tribes, now proceeding to invade Judea under Hezekiah.
reserveth wrath for his enemies — reserves it against His own appointed time
(2Pe_2:9). After long waiting for their repentance in vain, at length punishing them. A
wrong estimate of Jehovah is formed from His suspending punishment: it is not that He
is insensible or dilatory, but He reserves wrath for His own fit time. In the case of the
penitent, He does not reserve or retain His anger (Psa_103:9; Jer_3:5, Jer_3:12; Mic_
7:18).
K&D, "The description of the divine justice, and its judicial manifestation on the earth,
with which Nahum introduces his prophecy concerning Nineveh, has this double object:
first of all, to indicate the connection between the destruction of the capital of the
Assyrian empire, which is about to be predicted, and the divine purpose of salvation; and
secondly, to cut off at the very outset all doubt as to the realization of this judgment.
Nah_1:2. “A God jealous and taking vengeance is Jehovah; an avenger is Jehovah, and
Lord of wrathful fury; an avenger is Jehovah to His adversaries, and He is One
keeping wrath to His enemies. Nah_1:3. Jehovah is long-suffering and of great
strength, and He does not acquit of guilt. Jehovah, His way is in the storm and in the
tempest, and clouds are the dust of His feet.” The prophecy commences with the words
with which God expresses the energetic character of His holiness in the decalogue (Exo_
20:5, cf. Exo_34:14; Deu_4:24; Deu_5:9; and Jos_24:19), where we find the form ‫נּוֹא‬ ַ‫ק‬
for ‫א‬ָ‫נּ‬ ַ‫.ק‬ Jehovah is a jealous God, who turns the burning zeal of His wrath against them
that hate Him (Deu_6:15). His side of the energy of the divine zeal predominates here,
as the following predicate, the three-times repeated ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ֹק‬‫נ‬, clearly shows. The
strengthening of the idea of nōqēm involved in the repetition of it three times (cf. Jer_
7:4; Jer_22:29), is increased still further by the apposition ba'al chēmâh, possessor of the
wrathful heat, equivalent to the wrathful God (cf. Pro_29:22; Pro_22:24). The
27

vengeance applies to His adversaries, towards whom He bears ill-will. Nâtar, when
predicated of God, as in Lev_19:18 and Psa_103:9, signifies to keep or bear wrath. God
does not indeed punish immediately; He is long-suffering (‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ‫אַפּ‬ ְ‫ך‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫,א‬ Exo_34:6; Num_
14:18, etc.). His long-suffering is not weak indulgence, however, but an emanation from
His love and mercy; for He is ge
dōl-kōăch, great in strength (Num_14:17), and does not
leave unpunished (‫וגו‬ ‫ה‬ ֵ‫קּ‬ַ‫נ‬ after Exo_34:7 and Num_14:18; see at Exo_20:7). His great
might to punish sinners, He has preserved from of old; His way is in the storm and
tempest. With these words Nahum passes over to a description of the manifestations of
divine wrath upon sinners in great national judgments which shake the world (‫ה‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ as in
Job_9:17 = ‫ה‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫,ס‬ which is connected with ‫ה‬ ָ‫סוּפ‬ in Isa_29:6 and Psa_83:16). These and
similar descriptions are founded upon the revelations of God, when bringing Israel out
of Egypt, and at the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, when the Lord came down upon
the mountain in clouds, fire, and vapour of smoke (Exo_19:16-18). Clouds are the dust
of His feet. The Lord comes down from heaven in the clouds. As man goes upon the dust,
so Jehovah goes upon the clouds.
CALVIN, "Nahum begins with the nature of God, that what he afterwards subjoins
respecting the destruction of Nineveh might be more weighty, and produce a greater
impression on the hearers. The preface is general, but the Prophet afterwards
applies it to a special purpose. If he had only spoken of what God is, it would have
been frigid at least it would have been less efficacious; but when he connects both
together, then his doctrine carries its own force and power. We now apprehend the
design of the Prophet. He might indeed have spoken of the fall of the city Nineveh:
but if he had referred to this abruptly, profane men might have regarded him with
disdain; and even the Israelites would have been perhaps less affected. This is the
reason why he shows, in a general way, what sort of Being God is. And he takes his
words from Moses; and the Prophets are wont to borrow from him their doctrine:
(208) and it is from that most memorable vision, when God appeared to Moses after
the breaking of the tables. I have therefore no doubt but that Nahum had taken
from Exodus 34:0 what we read here: he does not, indeed, give literally what is
found there; but it is sufficiently evident that he paints, as it were, to the life, the
image of God, by which his nature may be seen.
He says first, that God is jealous; (amulus — emulous); for the verb ‫,קנא‬ kona,
means to irritate, and also to emulate, and to envy. When God is said to be ‫,קנוא‬
konua, the Greeks render it jealous, ‫,זחכשפחם‬ and the Latins, emulous,
(amulatorem) But it properly signifies, that God cannot bear injuries or wrongs.
Though God then for a time connives at the wickedness of men? he will yet be the
defender of his own glory. He calls him afterwards the avenger, and he repeats this
three times, Jehovah avengeth, Jehovah avengeth and possesseth wrath, he will
avenge. When he says that God keeps for his enemies, he means that vengeance is
28

reserved for the unbelieving and the despisers of God. There is the same mode of
speaking in use among us, Je lui garde, et il la garde a ses ennemis. This phrase, in
our language, shows what the Prophet means here by saying, that God keeps for his
enemies. And this awful description of God is to be applied to the present case, for
he says that he proclaims war against the Ninevites, because they had unjustly
distressed the Church of God: it is for this reason that he says, that God is jealous,
that God is an avenger; and he confirms this three times, that the Israelites might
feel assured that this calamity was seriously announced; for had not this
representation been set before them, they might have thus reasoned with
themselves, — “We are indeed cruelly harassed by our enemies; but who can think
that God cares any thing for our miseries, since he allows them so long to be
unavenged?” It was therefore necessary that the Prophet should obviate such
thoughts, as he does here. We now more fully understand why he begins in a
language so vehement, and calls God a jealous God, and an avenger.
He afterwards adds, that God possesses wrath I do not take ‫,חמה‬ cheme, simply for
wrath, but the passion or he it of wrath. We ought not indeed to suppose, as it has
been often observed, that our passions belong to God; for he remains ever like
himself. But yet God is said to be for a time angry, and for ever towards the
reprobate, for he is our and their Judge. Here, then, when the Prophet says, that
God is the Lord of wrath, or that he possesses wrath, he means that he is armed
with vengeance and that, though he connives at the sins of men, he is not yet
indifferent, nor even delays because he is without power, or because he is idle and
careless, but that he retains wraths as he afterwards repeats the same thing, He
keeps for his enemies (209) In short, by these forms of speaking the Prophet
intimates that God is not to be rashly judged of on account of his delay, when he
does not immediately execute His judgments; for he waits for the seasonable
opportunity. But, in the meantime there is no reason for us to think that he forgets
his office when he suspends punishment, or for a season spares the ungodly. When,
therefore, God does not hasten so very quickly, there is no ground for us to think
that he is indifferent, because he delays his wrath, or retains it, as we have already
said; for it is the same thing to retain wrath, as to be the Lord of wrath, and to
possess it. It follows —
A God jealous and an avenger is Jehovah;
Avenger is Jehovah, and one who has indignation:
Avenger is Jehovah on his adversaries,
And watch does he for his enemies.
God is said to be jealous in the second commandment, being one who will not allow
his own honor to be given to another. Avenger, ‫,נקם‬ is a vindicator of his own rights;
and he is said to have indignation, or hot wrath, or great displeasure; ‫חמה‬ ‫,בעל‬
possessor, holder, or keeper of indignation. His adversaries, ‫,צריו‬ rather, his
oppressors; the oppressors of his people were his own oppressors. ‫נוטר‬ means to
watch, rather than to keep. Its meaning here is to watch the opportunity to take
than to keep. Its meaning here is to watch the opportunity to take vengeance on his
29

enemies. The description here is remarkable, and exactly adapted to the oppressive
state of the Jews. The dishonor done to God’s people was done to him. He is jealous,
a defender of his own rights, full of indignation, and watches and waits for a
suitable time to execute vengeance, to vindicate his own honor. — Ed.
COFFMAN, "Verse 2
"Jehovah is a jealous God and avengeth and is full of wrath; Jehovah taketh
vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies."
For a generation of men who have largely rejected the idea that God is in any sense
wrathful, these words seem to have a harsh and unwelcome sound. Even some
commentators boldly criticize what they call "the religious inadequacy of his
teachings." Graham said, "Nahum provides an outstanding example of arrested
religious development!"[1]
THE WRATH OF GOD
A search of current sermonic literature reveals no single sermon devoted to "The
Wrath of God"; and in sermon topics in preachers' manuals and even the most
extensive commentaries, it is mentioned, if at all, in the most casual and incidental
manner. The usual run of titles that touch upon the question scale it down or
minimize it, as in, "God's Wrath Tempered by Mercy, God's Wrath Averted, etc."
There is also a noticeable opinion to the effect that any preaching on such a subject
derives from a mean and vicious spirit on the part of the preacher.
I. However, the greatest and best men of both the Old Testament and the New
Testament were the ones who most emphatically and sternly stressed God's wrath.
Isaiah, Paul, John, and our Lord Jesus Christ were among those who most clearly
and vigorously emphasized it; and they were precisely the ones in whom love was
most appealingly manifested. Therefore, preaching on the wrath of God is fully
compatible with the most gentle and loving attributes of the Christian life.
A. Isaiah, the great Messianic prophet, whose knowledge of God's love equals that
of any other in the Old Testament, said:
"Behold the day of the Lord cometh cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger to lay
the land desolate. And he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it ... Therefore I
will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of her place in the wrath of the
Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger" (Isaiah 13:9,13).
B. Hosea has been hailed as the greatest preacher of God's love in the Old
Testament, but read Hosea 9 for as terrible a denunciation as any to be found in the
Bible.
C. Paul's love knew no boundaries or limits; and he could say, "I could wish myself
anathema from Christ for my brethren according to the flesh" (Romans 9:3); but
30

he, more than any other apostle, thundered the message of the wrath of God.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18).
"But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will
render to every man according to his deeds" (Romans 2:5,6). "Because of these
things (the works of the flesh) the wrath of God cometh upon the children of
disobedience" (Ephesians 5:6).
D. John, whose writings abound with such admonitions as "love one another," and
who identified God Himself as love, also spoke most eloquently of God's wrath:
"And the kings of the earth, and the great men and the rich men, and the chief
captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid
themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains
and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath has come; and who
shall be able to stand?" (Revelation 6:16,17).
E. When we come to the words of Jesus, we must remember that he made love
perfect; he gave his life for all men; he loved us before we loved him. Yet he said:
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that obeyeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him. To the hypocrites he said,
O generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
(Matthew 23:7).
Thus, from the lives and messages of the great disciples of love in both testaments,
as well as from those of Life and Love incarnated, we have the solemn and eloquent
assurance that God's wrath will certainly and eventually break forth against the
wicked.
II. The object of God's wrath is sin. All sin is against God. When Joseph was
tempted to sin with the wife of Potiphar, he said, "How can I do this great
wickedness and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9). When the prodigal son came to
himself, he said, "I will arise and go to my father and say, I have sinned against
heaven and in thy sight" (Luke 15:18). This profound truth should temper the
indignation of men against the wrath of God. The righteousness of the universe, the
very justice that underlies creation and undergirds all things is the basic reason for
the wrath of God. God's holiness is utterly and eternally opposed to sin. God and sin
are as irreconcilable as light and darkness, truth and falsehood, good and evil; and
this is the basis of strong confidence on the part of men. All men of good will rejoice
that the time will come when God shall rise in righteous wrath and cast evil out of
his universe.
People become objects of God's wrath only when they reject the benign and peaceful
government of the Creator and choose to become servants of the Devil. That man is
capable of making such a choice derives from the inherent gift of God, the freedom
31

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