Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20091108.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Nahum: God's Comforting Judgment On His People's Cruel Foes
Part II: Comfort Over God's Judgment Of His People's Foes Who Oppose Their Trust In Him
(Nahum 1:9-14)
  1. Introduction
    1. A difficult trial we believers face today is the pressure from "new atheists" who try to draw us away from trusting in the Bible's God and in the truthfulness and divine authority of His Word.
    2. However, when someone acts this way, he actually counters the Lord Himself, for He is very jealous of His people's trust in Him, so it infuriates the Lord and leads to His severe punishment of the foe!
    3. This truth is illustrated in the prophecy expounded in Nahum 1:9-14, and it serves to comfort the afflicted:
  2. Comfort Over God's Judgment Of His People's Foes Who Oppose Their Trust In Him, Nah. 1:9-14.
    1. Ever since Sennacherib had plotted against Judah's God in Hezekiah's era, Nineveh had plotted ways to defeat Judah, and, in so doing, it had plotted against the Lord, Nah. 1:9a; Bib. Kno. Com., O. T. , p. 1498.
    2. Accordingly, God promised to bring a complete end to Nineveh, claiming she would not gain another opportunity to destroy Jerusalem as she had tried to do via her king, Sennacherib, Nahum 1:9b; Ibid.
    3. This fall of Nineveh is poetically described as being like an entanglement of thorns (Nahum 1:10a), a picture of the debilitating confusion the city experienced when it was attacked in 612 B. C., Ibid., p. 1499.
    4. The prediction that the men of Nineveh would be drunk (Nahum 1:10b) and thus easily consumed like dry stubble (Nahum 1:10c) was literally fulfilled: Diodorus Siculus (ca. 20 B. C.) reported that as the army was drunk and carousing, the attacking general, Arbakes, learning of this state from some<**> deserters, made a surprise night attack on Nineveh, Ibid., p. 1495, citing Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 4.
    5. Nineveh's plot against God had begun with Sennacherib in his attempt to defeat Jerusalem in Hezekiah's day, which fact was noted in Nahum 1:11 and is detailed for us in 2 Kings 19:9-13 as follows:
      1. When Sennacherib had laid siege to Jerusalem, and had been threatened by Egypt's advance while doing so, he needed to pressure "Judah to surrender" (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to 2 Kings 19:9), so he sent messengers to Judah's king Hezekiah to try to influence him to surrender to his army.
      2. Sennacherib knew that Hezekiah's trust in Judah's God [of the Bible] was his cause for not yielding to him, so he tried to weaken Hezekiah's faith in God in his message to Judah's king, 2 Kings 19:10-13:
        1. Assyria's king had his messengers tell Hezekiah not to be deceived by his God's promise that Jerusalem would not be delivered into Assyria's power, 2 Kings 19:9-10.
        2. Sennacherib's argument rested on his past victories: none of the gods of the lands he had taken had saved their people from him, so neither could Hezekiah's God deliver him, 2 Kings 19:11-13.
    6. Accordingly, Nahum 1:12-14 predicted the end of Sennacherib and of Nineveh (as follows):
      1. God predicted that though the Assyrian army had allies and were themselves numerous, they would be cut off and pass away, Nahum 1:12a. This prediction was fulfilled in part when God supernaturally slew 185,000 soldiers of Sennacherib's army that laid siege against Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35), and it was later fulfilled in full when Nineveh itself fell, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1495.
      2. God predicted that though He had let Assyria come against Judah, He would not let them do so again, but destroy the Assyrians, their descendants and their idols, Nah. 1:13-14. This prophecy was fulfilled:
        1. God slew 185,000 Assyrians as they laid siege to Jerusalem in Hezekiah's day, an event secular historian, Herodotus (ii 141) confirms, but with a mythical slant (Z. P. E. B., vol. Five, p. 341).
        2. Sennacherib was discouraged by this event, and returned home to Nineveh where he was slain by two of his sons while he worshiped his false god, 2 Kings 19:36-37.
        3. This tragic end of Sennacherib was a foretaste of what would later happen to Nineveh: its violent fall ended the history of the city, for it has never been rebuilt, and the statue of Nineveh's goddess, Ishtar, has been found lying headless in the debris of the city's ruins, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T.
Lesson: When Sennacherib and his army tried to intimidate God's people from trusting in Him and His promised protection, God destroyed his army and him, and terminated his city's and nation's history.

Application: May we trust God to deal effectively with those who try to pressure us from trusting in Him and in His Word, and so keep on trusting in Him like Hezekiah did in 2 Kings 19:14-21, 32-34.