Nahum

Dr. Michael Browder, Pastor
January 18, 2009

As you know, the week before last, I was on a mission trip to Belize. The purpose of this mission was to train pastors. There is no seminary in Belize, and so a handful of us scholars go and offer courses for a certificate. It is similar to, but requires more hours than, our UM Lay Pastors’ School which meets at Duke each summer. The Belize pastors go three times a year, and take three different courses each time. They need 24 courses to graduate.

I try to teach in this school once a year. I feel that God has blessed me by allowing me to have a degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Duke. If I can give back some of my theological education to those who have none,

I feel that I am doing something worthwhile. Ironically, this school was started by the Baptists, and nearly all of the pastors, who are students, are Baptists. But, hey! Who needs to learn things any more than the Baptists do?!

This year, I received some very good feedback from my teaching. One of my students emailed that they are now reading my sermons on our First United Methodist Church web site. Another one of my new students said that, after studying the prophets with me, she realized something she had never realized before, and that was how much God loved Israel, and kept trying to save his people, even when they sinned.

One of the student’s from my World Religions course last year, who has now graduated, said that the nation of Belize is for the first time experiencing an influx of people from non-Christian religions. As a school principle and teacher, he said that they realize they are going to have to start teaching some information about other religions in the schools. He said that, after taking my course, he was the best qualified teacher of World Religions in the entire country of Belize! If you are a teacher, you know what it is like to get this kind of feedback from your students.

When I was teaching my course on the prophets, a couple of weeks ago in Belize, I challenged my students learn these prophets, especially the ones they did not know very well, and to preach on one that they had never discussed before. Today, I am going to set the example for them. I am going to preach on the prophet Nahum. Have you ever heard of him before?

Nahum is one of the books of the Bible. He is one of the so-called Twelve Minor Prophets, near the end of the Old Testament. If you like, you can take out your Bible now and find it with me.

The name Nahum means “comfort.” But, on first look, that name seems ironic. The book of Nahum is about the judgment and wrath of God. This prophesy of judgment is directed at the city of Nineveh. Look at 1:1 and 2:13.

The first few verses of Nahum are an acrostic. I need to explain this literary device, because it is sometimes used by the prophets. An acrostic is when the first letters of one thing are used to spell out another thing. For instance, Mothers against Drunk Driving comes to be called MADD, m.a.d.d. In Nahum, each of the verses starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It would be like saying the first verse starts with a, the second with b etc.

Next point: Notice that Nahum calls his prophecy a “burden.” We see this terminology used by several of the prophets. The prophet cannot hold it in any longer. He has to proclaim this prophecy and get it off his chest.

Next, we see that the whole book of Nahum, an entire book of the Bible, is a prophecy of judgment directed against the city of Nineveh. What did Nineveh ever do to incur such wrath from God?

Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrians. What do we know about the Assyrians from the Bible, and from history? Starting around 900 B.C. the Assyrians established one of the first great empires in the Middle East, lasting 300 years. How did they accomplish this feat?

They were fierce warriors. When the Assyrians went up against a city, if the city refused to surrender, the Assyrians would slaughter every person in that city, and then they would pile all their skulls up in a huge mound, to be a warning to other cities. Then they would take all the people from that country and move them to a different part of the empire. And then they would take people from far away and move them into the vacated areas.

This is what Assyria did to Israel. Do you remember your Bible that after the death of Solomon, the nation was divided into 2 kingdoms: The 10 tribes in the north became the Kingdom of Israel, with the capital in Samaria. And the 2 tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin, became the Kingdom of Judah, and they retained the capital in Jerusalem.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel was continually wicked, worshipping false gods and turning away from the Lord. And so God used the Assyrians to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel. B the people of Judah, because of their faith, were spared (this time). When I say that Israel was destroyed, I mean that the Assyrians completely did away with them. They were never heard from again. That’s why they are sometimes called, “the Ten Lost Tribes.”

Now, do you think that the people who were left in Judah hated Assyria? You bet they did! They hated them right down to their capital in Nineveh. When you think about this, you also begin to understand the book of Jonah and his story. The Book of Nahum helps you to better understand the Book of Jonah.

Where did God tell Jonah to go and preach?... Nineveh! Did he want to go there? Did he want to preach to them? No! Why? Because everyone hated Nineveh, because of what they, the Assyrians had done to Israel.

Jonah went the opposite direction from where God told him. The Lord sent a whale to swallow him up. Only then, did Jonah go and preach where God told him. And when he preached to the Assyrians, they repented and God saved Nineveh, (at least for a time). Was Jonah happy that God spared Nineveh? No! Why? Because he hated Nineveh, and he wanted God to destroy them.

Now, finally, years later, the repentance is long gone. In Nahum, Nineveh is going to get what Jonah hoped for. God is going to destroy Nineveh. The Book of Nahum is about God’s wrath and vengeance. In the Bible, God sends down judgment sometimes. In the Old Testament, we learn 2 things about God and wicked nations.

In the first place, God used wicked nations to punish his people when then sinned. Secondly, God always punished the wicked nation in the end.

But, in the New Testament, what are we to make of the saying in Romans 12:19 which quotes Deuteronomy 32:35? “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord, “I will repay.” As I see it, this verse has three implications: First, God ultimately brings judgment on people who are wicked. Second, God ultimately brings judgment on nations that are wicked.

And then, there is the third point. God is the one responsible for bringing judgment and vengeance. That is not our job. Jonah lost sight of this fact. In Romans the Bible says not to repay evil for evil. Not to take vengeance.

Jesus takes it a step further when he says, “Love your enemies.” And “Do good to those who hate you.” This is a long way from wishing God’s judgment on people. Jonah should have learned this lesson. God sometimes brings down his judgment. Sometimes it even falls on us. But we don’t wish it on ourselves or on others.

Now, I want to call your attention to two last verses in the Book of Nahum. 1:7 and 1:15. [ ] What do we see here? It is a word of hope. In the middle of all this wrath and vengeance, there is a word of hope.

This is an important lesson that we learn from the prophets. No much how much wrath we see. No matter how much vengeance. No matter how much judgment, there is always a word of hope. In every prophet, we see it. A ray of light. A word of hope.

Take, for instance, our final hymn today. The title words, “Great is thy Faithfulness,” are taken from the Book of Lamentations. Lamentations is the most depressing book in the Bible. It is a lament, a dirge about God’s people when they are captive in Babylon. But even in the midst of this depressing lament, the prophet Jeremiah gives a word of hope. He says, “Great is thy faithfulness.” And, “Thy joys are fresh every morning.”

Likewise, we see right here in Nahum, one of the most wrathful books of the Bible: A word of hope. This is a great message for us. We need hope. Sometimes, we see a lot of troubles around us. Sometimes, we really struggle. But in the midst of it all, the Lord always gives us hope.

The Psalmist says, “My hope is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” As Christians, we know that our hope is in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Even in the most difficult times, we can find hope and strength in him.