In Part 5 of our series on the message of the Prophets, Richard Griffiths looks at the prophet Nahum.

The Bible, someone once said, is a tale of two cities - Babylon and Jerusalem. Even before either was founded, and again after Babylon fell, there was confrontation between the people of God (represented by Jerusalem) and the enemies of God (Babylon).

Assyria and its capital city Nineveh were the historical predecessors of the Babylonian empire, but the 'Babylon principle' was as evident in Nineveh as it ever was in Babylon and its successors, the empires of Greece and Rome and their structures to the present day.

Nahum's prophecy is "an oracle concerning Nineveh" written probably during the mid-7th Century BC, but it contains principles relevant to every place and age.

Ninevah's Pride and Arrogance

Ninevah was not only a pagan city, but one unsurpassed for its pride, arrogance and determination to rule the world. Already, during the course of its relentless advance, Assyria had overrun the 10 northern tribes of Israel and their capital Samaria. Some 50 years before Nahum's prophecy, its armies had laid siege to Jerusalem itself.

Predecessor of Babylon, Ninevah was unsurpassed for its pride, arrogance and determination to rule the world.

During those years, Assyria had learned something of the ways of the living God (Isa 37:4); indeed, a hundred years earlier they had turned to God in repentance, responding to Jonah's message.

Their repentance had not lasted, however, and God's next warning came with awesome power. The leaders of the besieging Assyrian army had dared to ridicule the living God (Isa 37:4) by making him out to be no better than the gods of the nations (Isa 36:18-20). Isaiah predicted the downfall of the army and its king. In a single night the Angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp (Isa 37:36).

Later, back in Nineveh, King Sennacherib of Assyria (who had dared to mock the true and living God at the walls of his temple) was brutally murdered while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch (Isa 37:38).

When God Draws Near, We Have a Choice

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a God who, from time to time, draws near. There are times when he is to be found and people should seek him; times when he is near and people should call upon him (Isa 55:6). At such times he comes in love and in judgment; to forgive or to destroy. At such times his prophets - Jonah, Isaiah, Nahum and others - may declare his judgment. Yet, whenever people turn to him in repentance, they find that he is a God who in wrath remembers mercy (Hab 3:2).

He has always been like that, from the day that he sorrowfully sought Adam and Eve in the cool of the day so soon after they had taken the forbidden fruit. Time and again his chosen people learnt this truth about their God when, even as they felt the first stirrings of his wrath, they turned to him - only to be enveloped in his love.

At the time of Jonah, the Assyrians tasted the consequences of repentance; at the time of Isaiah they experienced the inevitable results of defiance. They knew that the living God was not to be mocked (Gal 6:7), yet they still refused to honour him. Once again God spoke against Nineveh, and this time it was final.

At the time of Jonah, the Assyrians tasted the consequences of repentance; at the time of Isaiah they experienced the inevitable results of defiance.

Nahum: The Man

We know nothing of Nahum except what we can glean from the prophecy that bears his name, which means 'comforter'.

That a message of such stern judgment should come from a 'comforter' reminds us that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the message is both the comforter of believers and the one who convicts the unbelieving world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:7-11).

The object of his message, Nineveh, had a proud history. Even centuries after its ruin, its place may still be identified. By contrast, Nahum came from Elkosh. No-one can now identify the location of Elkosh, and no record remains of Nahum and his family - a nobody from nowhere, with a message concerning the downfall of the world's greatest superpower! Surely the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of man (1 Cor 1:25).

Nahum may have been a nobody, but his soul was aflame with the majesty of God. After the shortest of introductions his vision of God blazed from him (Nah 1:2-6). Here was a man whose mouth had been touched by coals from the altar (Isa 6:6-7).

The world, even though it will not acknowledge them, needs prophets; the need being particularly acute at times when God is 'drawing near' in judgment and mercy. We ourselves live in such times, yet sadly there are few leaders in whose hearts such prophetic fire burns. Could it be that we are so busy carving out our reputations and hurrying about God's business that we have no time left for the holy place?

Better a nobody walking in awe of God's majesty than any amount of human achievement and reputation. Nineveh had plenty of both, but Nahum feared God more than he feared Nineveh.

Better a nobody walking in awe of God's majesty than any amount of human achievement and reputation.

Nahum: The Message

Under Josiah, the people of Judah were once again returning to God and seeking him (2 Chron 34:3), and in fulfilment of his promises God returned to them (cf. Mal 3:7; Nah 1:15). In so doing he would overthrow their enemies. There was a confrontation between Nineveh and Jerusalem, but the outcome was determined by their response to God. It was Nahum's task to bring to both nations the revelation of God's burning holiness.

Nahum, however, perceived more than God's majesty. He saw, in vivid detail, the course and the consequence of God's judgment on Nineveh. Chapter two of his prophecy describes the Assyrians' hopeless attempts to save their city against the onslaught of the invading Medes.

With true insight Nahum sees that these adversaries are not the real enemy. Nineveh has defied God, and the Medes are merely the rod of his wrath. It is God who is against them (Nah 2:13). It is always the prophet's task to see beyond the superficialities of world events to the hand of God that orders them.

When God turns against a nation they are helpless. In the third chapter, Nahum introduces a note of panic. The aggressor has become the victim (Nah 3:1). The rhythm of the poetry changes to one of breathless fear through which again resounds the terrible declaration: "'I am against you', declares the Lord Almighty" (Nah 3:5).

A generation before, Assyria had taunted Jerusalem about its reliance on Egypt (Isa 36:6). Assyria was greater even than Egypt - why should not Jerusalem shelter under her protection (Isa 36:16,17)? Are you really better than Egypt? asks Nahum (Nah 3:8-9). It fell, and so will you, he says (3:10-11).

It is always the prophet's task to see beyond the superficialities of world events to the hand of God that orders them.

A People of Blazing Passion

Nahum stands in the great tradition of the Hebrew prophets: his prophetic word was born in the holy place. There was fire in his message - not the fire of oratory, nor even of poetry, but of the divine presence.

God is looking for men and women who are hungry for God; willing, like Nahum, to enter the holy place, and who out of that meeting with God, will have a blazing passion for him.

Standing in the holy place, he perceived the hand of God behind the events of history. He saw God's hand in the reforms of King Josiah and knew that the Lord was once again with his people. He saw the hand of God stretched out over Nineveh and knew that God had seen enough of the blood and the lies, the plunder and the victims (Nah 3:1). He did not hesitate to declare that God was against that wicked city.

Today, many of God's people are experiencing God's blessing in new ways, and are entering into a depth and reality of relationship with him such as they have never found before. What is to be the fruit of this?

As Christians respond to God's graciously drawing near today, I believe that he is wanting to raise up people who will be prophetic in our day, just as the leaders of revivals were in theirs. In meetings throughout Britain and in many other parts of the world, ordinary Christians are falling to the ground under the power of God's Spirit moving in their lives. One of my colleagues said at such a meeting, "It is not how you go down that matters, it is how you get up." Exactly so.

God is looking for men and women who are hungry for God; willing, like Nahum, to enter the holy place, and who out of that meeting with God, will have a blazing passion for him.

Today we talk of 'blessing,' but God is looking for more than that. He is looking for men and women who may be nobodies in the world's eyes, but who are hungry for God; willing, like Nahum, to enter into the holy place, and who, out of that meeting with God, will have a blazing passion for him, his purity and majesty. Given such people the church will once more be a prophetic voice calling the nations to repentance.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 11 No 1, January 1995.