We close out Nahum and the destruction of Nineveh today. Chapter 2 contains a verse many people see as a prediction of automobiles!

The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning. (Nahum 2.4, ESV)

When I was a kid, I saw more than one car painted with Nahum 2.4, declaring itself to be a sign of the end times. We know, however, that the exact fulfillment would have been when Assyria and its chariots were attacked. Nahum 2.4 is war in the streets. Anything else is fun speculation.

Unlike some of the other prophets, who predicted punishment for Israel while ending on an upbeat note for the “last days,” there is no such end for Nineveh in Nahum:

Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil? (Nahum 3.18, 19, ESV)

Nahum simply confirms Isaiah’s message:

The LORD of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder.” This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? (Isaiah 14.24 – 27, ESV)