1.  Introduction

     a.  Last Week 1

     b.  Poetic Justice 2

     c.  The Scripture Reading

2.  Effects of Nineveh's Fall

     a.  Her Complacency Shattered – 8a

     b.  Her Soldiers Desert – 8b

     c.  Her Riches Plundered – 9 3

     d.  Her Place Desolated – 10a

     e.  Her People Devastated – 10b 4

3.  The Lion's Pride Wiped Out

     a.  The Picture Painted

     b.  The Lion's Den Demolished – 11

     c.  The Lion's Actions that Brought Destruction – 12

4.  God Strikes Four Blows – 13

     a.  God Speaks

     b.  Against Her Armoury

     c.  Against Her Army 5

     d.  Against Her Preying Practices

     e.  Against Her Extortionate Ambassadors

5.  Conclusion

     a.  The History

     b.  The Present 6

1 Nahum 2:8-13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  The Plunderer Plundered

 

1.  Introduction

     a.  Last Week

          i.   we looked at the first seven verses of this chapter

                (1) in those verses is described the conquest of Nineveh, the capital city of the “Evil Empire” of Assyria

                (2) it is full of action and various details of Nineveh's fall

          ii.  thus it is clear that

                (1) God knew to the smallest detail what He would do to Nineveh

                (2) and this He made known to His prophet Nahum in the vision

 

     b.  Poetic Justice

          i.   part of the conscience that the Creator God has placed in man, is a sense of justice

                (1) this is evident in the laws of even the most primitive societies

                (2) and the reaction of young children against unjust accusations

                (3) be they against themselves or even their friends

          ii.  so that most of us are pleased by what we perceive to be poetic justice

                (1) that is, the wrong-doer directly suffering by His own wrong-doing

                (2) this song in Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta, the Mikado, voices this:

My object all sublime

I shall achieve in time

To make the punishment fit the crime

The punishment fit the crime …

                (3) or, again near the end of the third Act of Shakespeare's Hamlet:

“For 'tis the sport to have the engineer

Hoist with his own petar; …” 2

                     (a) which put into modern English is, “It is delightful when the bomb-thrower is blown up by his own bomb.”

                (4) and this idea is a theme in the plots of many tales

          iii.  this same attitude against evil-doers is to be found in Scripture, as e.g.

                (1) Psalm 7;14-16, “Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief, and brings forth falsehood. He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate.”

                (2) or Psalm 35:7-8, “For without cause they hid their net for me; Without cause they dug a pit for my soul. Let destruction come upon him unawares; And let the net which he hid catch himself; Into that very destruction let him fall.”

          iv. today's verses in Nahum show God acting this way towards Nineveh

 

     c.  Scripture, NKJV

          i.   ⁸ Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, Now they flee away. “Halt! Halt!” they cry; But no one turns back. ⁹ Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of treasure, Or wealth of every desirable prize. ¹⁰ She is empty, desolate, and waste! The heart melts, and the knees shake; Much pain is in every side, And all their faces are drained of colour.

          ii.  [The Hebrew is much more abrupt] Pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees buckle, bodies shake, faces pale.

          iii.  ¹¹ Where is the dwelling of the lions, And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub, And no one made them afraid? ¹² The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, Killed for his lionesses, Filled his caves with prey, And his dens with flesh. ¹³ “Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.”

 

2.  Effects of Nineveh's Fall – 8-10

     a.  Her Complacency Shattered – 8a

          i.   “Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, …”

          ii.  an appropriate picture of this city which had sat so long in its place of safety beside and within the waters of the Tigris River

                (1) she was situated on alluvial land, washed there over the centuries by the rivers' actions, just a little higher than the river itself

                (2) and planted with parks and trees; settled in her place

          iii.  but now the waters of this pool have as it were been stirred to their very depths, and the peace of Nineveh replaced by storm and tempest

          iv. as she had shattered the peace and comfort of so many other cities, it is now hers that is shattered

 

     b.  Her Soldiers Desert – 8b

          i.   “… Now they are fleeing; “Stop, stop,” But no one turns back.”

          ii.  Assyria, in common with other conquering nations of those days, had taken slaves of the peoples and armies she had conquered

                (1) over time such were taken into her foot soldiers to defend her

                (2) and others hired as mercenaries to fight for her

                (3) but now the commands from Nineveh's leaders are ignored

                (4) there is no real loyalty to her

          iii.  and they flee – no one even glances back to pay attention to the commands given to them

 

     c.  Her Riches Plundered – 9

          i.   “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! For there is no limit to the treasure — Wealth from every kind of desirable object.”

          ii.  from every nation round about she had built up her treasuries

                (1) by way of example, from God's people themselves

                (2) over the years the tribes on the east bank, then the northernmost tribes around Galilee had been conquered, its people in captivity

                (3) then Samaria taken with all its wealth along with its people and its fertile land repopulated with subject people from the nations

                (4) even Judah had been forced at times to pay her tribute

          iii.  on these riches Nineveh depended for the comfort of her people, for the purchase of her desires and needs

          iv. now all that treasure was being removed

                (1) there seems to be no end of it in quantity, quality; gold & silver; valuable objects of every kind

                (2) and the command of God is obeyed and it is taken away

                (3) this is the disappointed end of those who “fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches” (1 Timothy 6:17)

 

     d.  Her Place Desolated – 10a

          i.   “She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! …”

          ii.  the words here, as we pointed out in the Scripture reading, are short and abrupt in the Hebrew: they are harsh, beginning with short then lengthening rhyming words: buqah', um ^ebuqah', um ^ebulaqah' – thus is Nineveh's desolation: the sound like ravens may be deliberate

          iii.  the central city Nineveh had grown to cover 1780 acres

                (1) its buildings and walls erected and strengthened by the people taken as slaves from the conquered nations

                (2) the wealth of such nations had been used to furnish its palaces and temples

                (3) but now it is nothing but a big, rambling ruin – emptied of its wealth and its people

                (4) as Sennacherib had emptied some 47 cities in Judah, not to speak of more in many other places, so Nineveh has now been emptied

          iv. as they regard all that has happened, …

 

     e.  Her People Devastated – 10b

          i.   “… Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body, And all their faces are grown pale!”

          ii.  finally the Assyrians who had lived so splendidly in that capital city are described; again in short, graphic phrases

                (1) hearts melting describes the hopelessness they feel, even as did those in Jericho when Joshua and God's army approached

                (2) knees knocking takes us forward to the time when Belshazzar in Babylon had the same experience with the writing on the wall: “Then the king’s face grew pale, and his thoughts alarmed him; and his hip joints went slack, and his knees began knocking together.” (Daniel 5:6)

                (3) the anguish here is that descriptive of a woman in labour, with pain wracking the body

                (4) and all colour has been gathered out of the face, leaving it pale or even black with apprehension

          iii.  they who had so many times rejoiced at the downfall of other nations bringing them riches and comfort now experience the same suffering themselves

 

3.  The Lion's Pride Wiped Out – 11-12

     a.  The Picture Painted

          i.   Ontario is facing a problem with wild boars, originally imported into North America to bring a hardier strain into pig raising

                (1) but these animals are large and strong, very aggressive, given to doing damage, and as one farmer has put it, great escape artists

                (2) recently a herd of 14 was seen near Pickering and people sent by the government to effect their capture

                (3) as well, farmers and under certain conditions, hunters, have been given the right to shoot these interlopers which are an invasive species of the Eurasian wild boar

          ii.  of old the same thing would take places with wild prides of lions as with other wild beasts

                (1) as long as they didn't do any wide spread damage then they were left alone as it was too dangerous to hunt them down

                (2) but when they became a menace to an area or a village then a large group of armed men would be sent against them to destroy them utterly, from oldest to the youngest, male and female

                (3) that is the picture of what Nineveh and her Kings had become, and against whom God has sent his armies, led by Cambyses the Mede and Nabopolassar the Babylonian 3

 

     b.  The Lion's Den Demolished – 11

          i.   “Where is the den of the lions And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion, lioness, and lion’s cub prowled, With nothing to disturb them?”

          ii.  this is the question that is raised once that army had done its work

          iii.  Nineveh was that place where these “lions” had roamed, preyed, and multiplied without any hindrance

                (1) there are a number of words used here for lions

                (2) they cover both sexes and well as ages from very old beasts right down to newborn cubs

                (3) the young lions being trained to follow the ways of the older

                (4) primarily they refer to the king and other rulers of Assyria but they also refer to the captains and heroes of his army

                (5) Nineveh was their place of safety where they roamed free

          iv. but now that den has been destroyed and the nations delivered from their presence in the lands

 

     c.  The Lion's Actions that Brought Destruction – 12

          i.   “The lion tore enough for his cubs, Killed enough for his lionesses, And filled his lairs with prey And his dens with torn flesh.”

          ii.  the picture of the wanton destruction of the lions of Assyria turns to what they had done which brought upon them the wrath of God

                (1) first came the natural seeking enough prey to meet the needs

                (2) but that gave this lion a taste for blood, and not satisfied with merely meeting the needs, he seeks more and more prey, never satiated but seeking ever more to fill his dens and lairs

          iii.  this was why it was time for God to send his armies to end the menace of the king of Assyria and demolish his city, Nineveh

 

4.  God Strikes Four Blows – 13

     a.  God Speaks Here

          i.   the prophet has described his vision of the burden of the destruction of the city of Nineveh

          ii.  now the Lord of hosts Himself confirms His prophets' words

          iii.  “Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of hosts. “I will burn up her chariots in smoke, a sword will devour your young lions, I will cut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”

          iv. this is not simply to be the result of the Babylonians and the Medes on their own idea coming against Nineveh

          v.  this is the direct result of the Sovereign Lord, the Lord of armies, sending earthly forces against her in accord with His heavenly will

 

     b.  Against Her Armoury – “I will burn up her chariots in smoke”

          i.   the armoury of the King of Assyria in Nineveh covered some 40 acres

          ii.  and symbolic of that armoury was her chariots

          iii.  when God had finished, nothing is left of them but smoke, drifting away in the air; and so the rest of her weapons

 

     c.  Against Her Army – “a sword will devour your young lions”

          i.   the picture of the lions is now carried over into this verse showing that as we stated they were representing the rulers and armed forces of this city

          ii.  so that her cruel, lion-like armies, who swallowed the people of the lands she vanquished, are now swallowed in the same way

          iii.  and so is given the evidence of the truth of Jesus' words in Matthew 26:52, “for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.”

 

     d.  Against Her Preying Practices – “I will cut off your prey from the land”

          i.   at first reading it sounds as though God is going to destroy the peoples who were Assyria's prey

          ii.  but a moment's thought makes evident that those peoples are now cut off from her predatory incursions into their lands and cities

          iii.  no longer will she swoop down upon these helpless ones like a wolf upon a flock of sheep

 

     e.  Against Her Extortionate Ambassadors – “and no longer will the voice of your messengers by heard.”

          i.   the Rabshakeh's and such like will no longer exist

          ii.  coming against smaller nations with demands for tribute

          iii.  and thus are Judah and the people of God given an assurance that these oppressors have been removed from the picture

 

5.  Conclusion

     a.  The History

          i.   Assyria was one of the major national enemies of God's nation, Israel

          ii.  but there would follow Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome even as prophesied in the book of Daniel

          iii.  God used these nations to reprimand and to cleanse His own nation

          iv. but the greater enemy of Israel-Judah was repeatedly found within themselves: the reluctance of the leaders and people to follow God

 

     b.  The Present

          i.   the Lord has preserved His Church through the millennia against all the forces of the world that have ranged themselves against her

          ii.  this is indeed His promise to us: “for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,'” (Hebrews 13:5)

          iii.  though we should not underestimate the danger from the world, it seems that the Church today is in grave peril from false teachers and leaders in it who disparage the word of God and its instruction

          iv. may we continue to seek revival from God and our prayer be, “Let it begin in me!”

Outline Notes