Key Verse: Verse 13 - “Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard."
Key Words: Behold, I am against thee
The fall of Nineveh came in 607 B.C. (within 20 years after Nahum's prediction) when an army of Babylonians and Medes closed in on Nineveh. After 2 years of siege a sudden rise of the river washed away part of the walls. Nahum had predicted that the “river gates would be opened” for the destroying army (2:6). Through the breach thus made, the attacking Babylonians and Medes swept in to do their work of destruction: prancing horses, cracking whips, rattling wheels, bounding, raging chariots, flashing swords, leaving great heaps of dead bodies (2:3-4; 3:1-7). It all came to pass exactly as Nahum had pictured it; and the bloody vile city passed into oblivion.
Albert Barnes writes in regard to the wrath of God:
“It is clear that when we think of the word ‘wrath’ as applicable to God, it must be divested of everything that is like human passion, and especially the passion of revenge. It is one of the most obvious rules of interpretation that we are not to apply to God passions and feelings which, among us, have their origin in evil. [God’s wrath] is the opposition of the divine character against sin; and the determination of the divine mind to express that opposition in a proper way, by excluding the offender from the favors which He bestows on the righteous.
“We admire the character of a father who is opposed to disorder, vice, and disobedience in his family, and who expresses his opposition in a proper way. We admire the character of a ruler who is opposed to all crime in the community, and who expresses those feelings in the law. Why shall we not be equally pleased with God, who is opposed to all crime in all parts of the universe, and who determines to express His opposition in the proper way for the sake of preserving order and promoting peace?”
What to do:
✞ Understand that he who does not lovingly discipline wrong opens the door for all wrong to engulf him.
