Against Nineveh

Nahum: another prophet of the good ole days that is often overlooked, like my boy Amos. As I mentioned in a former post, I love getting into the books of the prophet's because....they bring it, and for the most part they call out idolatry and social justice. It's awesome indeed.

With the canonical book of Nahum I got a different lesson (again, not that this lesson isn't in every other book, but it really hit me during the reading of this book). The focus: the character of God. So, Nahum 1:1 starts out with this, "The burden against Nineveh." Wow. Ok. That's direct. Most of you know about Nineveh, for those who don't, a quick mention that it was a city of the great Assyrian Empire that gave Israel, well, hell. God is unhappy with Nineveh, but not because it went up against Israel, but because of the lack of repentance (also see the book of Jonah) of its people.

Ok. Ok. I'll get to the point. Verse 2 of this initial chapter starts right in with the vengeance of God. Words like "furious", "jealous", "wrath", and "adversaries" are all used to describe God and His disposition towards Nineveh. But then, just like the God we all know, He comes up with this gem: "The Lord is slow to anger" (1:3). Amazing isn't it. Furthermore, the text then goes on to describe how the Lord has His way and that he "rebukes the sea" and how the "hills melt" before him and that the "rivers all dry up". He also says "Who can stand before His indignation?" (1:6) and that His fury is "poured out like fire". Then, another gem: The Lord is good (1:7).

So, admist all of this tough, righteous speech, the Lord still loves! Nineveh was obviously hurting the Lord and since He is righteous He had every reason to deliver them to their crap (like He could with us), yet He was still slow to anger. And even more, the lesson learned is that the Lord is very righteous indeed and very good. Thank you Father.