Final chapter in this tragic little book. Jonah warned them. They repented. They returned to their vile ways and turned those ways on God's people. I'm guessing this doesn't end well.
Woe to the bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder—
no end to the prey! Nahum 3:1
The opening "woe" sets the scene: Nineveh.
And then the details of the scene unfurl in a blur:
- Chariots charging- whips flying wheels rattling
- horsemen charging
- swords and spears flying
- mass corpses
We know, looking back on history, that this will be the horses of the Medes and Babylonians.
And in verse 4 we learn the why:
- Harlotries of the harlot
- the charming one- the mistress of sorceries
- who sells nations and families by her harlotries and socerceries
In verse 5, He says it plainly:
Behold, I am against you,
declares the Lord of hosts,
and will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at your nakedness
and kingdoms at your shame. Nahum 3:5
Not just defeat you, but humiliate you. That's quite a promise from the Lord.
He goes on to say that He will throw filth on them and make them vile, setting them up as a spectacle. People will shrink back at the thought of Nineveh and no one will grieve for her.
In Case Nineveh wasn't listening, God provided some food for thought. He calls to mind No-amon, also known as Thebes, a great city on the Nile, Like Nineveh, protected by the sea on one side, water surrounding her, and yet the Assyrians sacked her. She called on her vassals for help, but they did nothing, just as God predicts for Assyria. I guess when you are king of the hill, it's truly hard to imagine losing--as we heard from the Assyrian emissary when he was taunting the people walled up in Jerusalem.
In verse 11 He promises they will be hidden, which was true. Nineveh wasn't discovered until 1842.
It's tragic, but poetic. Read this promised prophesy of the Lord:
All your fortresses are like fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater. Nahum 3:12
Like the beauty of the sunrise and sunset show His artist character, these passages show He is the Writer of writers, Author of authors.
He goes on to describe the coming judgement:
- your gates are open to your enemies
- fire consumes your gate
- draw water and shore up your fortifications
- you will suffer by fire and sword like locust
- your guardsmen will flee like bugs
Verse 18 promises that the political leaders and nobles will die and the people will scatter, never to be regathered.
The final verse, verse 19, promises that there will be no relief and this wound is incurable. And then He ends by announcing how much joy this end will bring to all who hear about it because of all of the evil that the cruel and bloodthirsty Assyria has poured out on everyone.
It's a quick and bloody end to a nation who deceived and destroyed so many.
Take head those who think their cruelty and violence is going unpunished.