1A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies. 3Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 4He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel languish. The flower of Lebanon languishes. 5The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. 6Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him. 7Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him. 8But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. 9What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time. 10For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble. 11One has gone out of you who devises evil against Yahweh, who counsels wickedness.
12Yahweh says: “Though they are in full strength and likewise many, even so they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. 13Now I will break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart.”
14Yahweh has commanded concerning you: “No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, I will cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”
15Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.
The Assyrians’ in Nineveh who had once known God’s mercy now attacked the people of God. The belief in that day was that if you conquered the people you also conquered their god. The words of Nahum remind the people of Nineveh that the Lord God of Israel is unconquerable, do not be fooled by a temporary victory over his people, he is still God. In chapter one God reminds them of who he is, the one who makes the oceans dry up, the mountains quake and the earth tremble. When the Ninevites heard from Nahum about the God who controlled creation it may have made them recall the story of Jonah or remember an old tale that was once told about a storm and a big fish. They had prior knowledge of this divinity who had command over the earth. Now God was saying I am so much more, the holder of creation, and all people and history itself.
With every boundary they pushed they made the mistake of thinking they were getting away with murder (literally!) They mistook God’s patience for inability to intervene and so came the thought we are greater than God himself. Now God replies to their actions through the words to Nahum, I am the creator God, the almighty God and the eternal God. God is about to break the power of the mightiest nation around and they are powerless against his might.
When you think that God is silent and the enemy is winning, don’t mistake God’s patience with lack of action. Don’t be tempted to think that he is not there or he does not know your plight. When you think the lion of the enemy is about to devour you remember who God really is untameable, undefeatable, unconquerable, creator, almighty and eternal.