We move into Nahum, and for those like Jonah who are upset that God didn’t destroy the Ninevites, Nineveh’s destruction happens 200 years later.

When Jonah preached repentance on the streets of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the people responded and were spared. A century later, sometime between 663 and 612 B.C., Nahum preached in a time when Nineveh would not repent. Nineveh, which had destroyed Israel’s northern kingdom in 722, itself fell to Babylon in 612—just a few years after Nahum’s warning. The Assyrians were notorious for the brutality of their treatment of other nations. Nahum declared, however, that God is sovereign: he punishes whom he will, and they are powerless to stop him. Much of Nahum’s prophecy was directed to the people of Judah, who could rejoice at the good news (1:15) of Nineveh’s impending fall. – Introduction to Nahum from the ESV

The main message is right there in the first three verses:

An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1.1 – 3, ESV)

In the middle of “death and bodily destruction,” it’s easy to forget that one of my favorite memory verses is there:

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. (Nahum 1.7, ESV)

“He knows those who take refuge in him.” By contrast:

But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. What do you plot against the LORD? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time. For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried. From you came one who plotted evil against the LORD, a worthless counselor. (Nahum 1.8 – 11, ESV)

And here’s another nugget buried in chapter one:

Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! (Nahum 1.15, ESV)

Compare Isaiah 52.7, quoted in Romans 10:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

We’ll continue Nahum’s prophecy of Nineveh’s destruction after Veteran’s Day. Stay tuned.