Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20091122.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Nahum: God's Comforting Judgment On His People's Cruel Foes
Part III: The Comforting Report Of God's Vengeance On His People's Foes
(Nahum 1:15-2:13)
  1. Introduction
    1. Humanly unavoidable, cruel injustice by others is a very difficult trial for one to bear, but, thankfully, in the plan of God, He has His limits on how far such foes of His people can proceed before He judges them.
    2. Nahum 1:15-2:13 predicts the details of Nineveh's coming fall, and it is supplied as a comfort to Judah in prophesying the end of their Assyrian foes' capacity to afflict her, and it offers edifying application for us:
  2. The Comforting Report Of God's Vengeance On His People's Foes, Nahum 1:15-2:13.
    1. God's prophetic announcement of the fall of Nineveh, Judah's wicked, feared foe, is given in Nahum 1:15:
      1. A runner is spotted by the watchman to be running on the far-off mountains toward Judah to tell the good news of peace that Nineveh has fallen, Nah. 1:15a! (Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Nah. 1:15)
      2. Accordingly, Judah is told to celebrate her religious festivals and fulfill her vows to the Lord, for no more would the Assyrians invade the land, but would be totally destroyed, Nahum 1:15b.
    2. Indeed, God's prophet Nahum predicted that the attacking army led by Cyaxares the Mede and Nabopolassar the Babylonian would advance against Nineveh, that the soldiers of Nineveh would have to prepare themselves in great alarm for the attack, Nahum 2:1! (Ibid., ftn. to Nahum 2:1)
    3. This conquest of Nineveh would be God's comforting way of restoring the splendor of God's people though the Assyrians of Nineveh had laid their cities waste and ruined their vineyards, Nahum 2:2 NIV.
    4. The description of the attack is detailed in Nahum 2:3-10, revealing God will subject Nineveh to the alarming cruelty she had so heartlessly administered against other nations, including His own people:
      1. The shields of the Medes and Babylonians were reddened "by painting them or overlaying them with copper (Ezek. 23:14): their tunics were scarlet; their chariots flashed with steel ( with flaming torches) because they attached scythes at right angles to the axles; they also used fir trees (cypress spears)." Ibid., ftn. to Nahum 2:3. This reveals the mere appearance of their attackers would terrify Nineveh.
      2. These viciously mauling chariots would rush through the city streets of Nineveh, giving the appearance of flaming torches as they slaughtered all the helpless people who got in their way, Nahum 2:4.
      3. In response, Nineveh's king would summon his troops, set up a protective shield against the attackers' missiles, and rush to the city wall to defend Nineveh, Nahum 2:5; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1500.
      4. However, the Khosr River sluice gates would be thrown open, causing the palace on the north of the city to collapse, Nahum 2:6; Ibid., p. 1500-1501 Apparently, the enemy army had closed these gates upstream until the reservoir there was full of water, and then released them suddenly, sending a wall of crashing water down upon the exposed city wall, destroying the part beneath the palace, Ibid., p. 1501.
      5. Consequently, God decreed that the people of Nineveh would be exiled as prisoners, and its wealth plundered, grieving and demoralizing the people of Nineveh, Nahum 2:7-10. This treatment would mirror the treatment Nineveh had administered against other nations, Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Nahum 2:9.
    5. Lions in various forms are found in Assyrian sculptures (Ibid., ftn. to Nah. 2:11-12), so God descriptively asked through His prophet, Nahum, where then would be the lion's den (the city of Nineveh) where the lions (Assyrian soldiers) had fearlessly fed their cubs (the people of people), Nahum 2:11.
    6. The way lions mistreat their prey is likened to the treatment of the men of Nineveh against other nations; thus, God said He would burn Nineveh's chariots, devour their young lions (men) with the sword and cut off their prey (other nations), and that her messengers would not be heard again, Nahum 2:12-13. [These messengers were probably the evil commanders who acted as Sennacherib's messengers like the one who blasphemed God in Hezekiah's day, 2 Kings 19:8-13, 20-22.]
Lesson: God promised to use the Medes and Babylonians to administer just judgment against Nineveh for all its mistreatment of other nations, including its mistreatment of Judah and of His Name!

Application: If oppressed by evil foes, may we rest in the message of Nahum 1:15-2:13 that God is the God of just vengeance, that we might trust in Him and not take vengeance ourselves, Romans 12:19.