A Sequel

Reading:  Nahum 1-3
My Verse:  (1:3)  "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty.  The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm,and the clouds are the dust of His feet."

The book of Nahum is a sequel to the book of Jonah. It is a sad sequel.  In Jonah Nineveh repented of their sin and were spared judgement.  But this is 150 years later and they seem to have completely forgotten that history.  They have become dreadfully sinful. 

"Woe to the bloody city!  It is full of lies and booty and no end to the plunder! The cracking of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, and prancing horses and chariots rumbling and bounding.  Horsemen mounting and charging, the flashing sword, the gleaming spear, a multitude of slain and a great number of corpses, no end of corpses!  [The horsemen] stumble over the corpses!" (3:1-3)  The people of Nineveh have become hopelessly godless.  And here, Lord, You tell them, "Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts , and I will burn your chariots in the smoke and the sword shall devour your young lions.  And I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard." (2:13)  The punishment of Nineveh is complete, "He will make a full end [of Nineveh]." (1:9)  

And so, Nineveh was destroyed in 612 B.C., the Assyrians disappeared from history as was foretold by Nahum. 

What a sequel!  Lord God, You are indeed slow to anger but You, because You are Holy cannot "clear the guilty".  Thank you for this story, for this history.  It is sometimes hard to understand when evil people or evil nations seem to prevail.  But You are not blind to this. You have your own timing and purposes. 

"The MIGHTY One, God, the Lord, speaks and calls the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting." (Psalm 50:1)

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!