Nahum

[wolfpurplemoon]

I think God is really angry, it's OK though because he's slow to get angry so the people he's furious at must have been really bad for a really long time to annoy a powerful eternal being that much.

Comments

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

And now you're gonna get it. Boy, are you ever gonna get it. Wait 'til your Father gets home!

[zteccc.livejournal.com]

Nahum preached during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah, sometime between 640 and 620BC. This was just prior to the fall of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire. At this time, Judah was paying tribute to Assyria (Assyria had already defeated Israel). King Josiah was a king to returned to the covenant, and God responded to this.

God is just and punishes those whose crimes require punishment. God protects those who trust him. God will free Judah from the bonds of Assyria.

Nineveh will fall to an invading enemy. The Assyrians, and specifically Nineveh, were the strongest power in the region at the time. Nineveh had massive walls to keep out invaders, so this was a pretty bold prophecy.

Nineveh was a city that encouraged tortuous treatment of its captives (including Israel). Although Jonah had prevailed on the Ninevites to turn away from their practices, generations had passed and Nineveh had once again turned to evil actions. Nineveh is compared to Thebes in Egypt which had fallen to an invading army even though it had strong fortifications just like Nineveh. Nahum says that Nineveh will fall to fire.

Nahum's prophecies were fulfilled when the Medes and Babylonians conquered Nineveh in 625BC with fire and later razed it to the ground in 612BC. Archaeologists discovered a layer of ash verifying the fire.

Much of the detail of the destruction of Nineveh is supported by archaeological evidence. The fire, Ninevite guards deserting (recorded in Babylonian records), The army being drunk prior to the invasion (deserting guards, captured by the Babylonians reported this). Nahum's prophecy came before the fall of Nineveh, and he couldn't have possibly been this accurate without a divine source.