AS A GAZINGSTOCK

As we read through this chapter of judgement we are bound to recoil at the ferocity and carnage it details. We read of sword and spear, v. 3. The outcome is ‘a multitude of slain, and a great num­ber of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses’, v. 3. The nation of Assyria and, in particular, its capital city Nineveh is to suffer the judgement of God. But why?

There may be ample historical evidence of Assyrian atroci­ties but there is also plenty of material here that shows the judgement of God to be just and righteous. The city of Nineveh is a ‘bloody city’. The indelible stain of the blood that it has shed is recorded. It is ‘full of lies and robbery’, v. 1. It has feigned peace and treaties but reneged on them later to suit its own desires. It is a deceitful and deceiving city, v. 4. It has attracted others by its commerce, economic prosperity and culture only in order to ensnare and enslave. It has pursued the witchcrafts and sorceries so opposed to God as a means of determining its own actions and successes. The Assyrians were also renowned for the way in which they displayed the mutilated bodies of their defeated foes as well as parading their captives in ignominy and shame, vv. 5-10.

Now, however, ‘God was against her … and is against every nation, no matter how wealthy, powerful, or self-sufficient it may be, that disregards divine authority and tramples on human life’, E. E. Johnson. The message of scripture applies across every generation, ‘Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap’, Gal. 6. 7. As F. A. Tatford states, ‘There was no extenuation for her sin and He held out no compassion for her. she was to pay the price for her misdeeds… The sentence pronounced was an appropriate one’.

It must be remembered that when this prophecy was writ­ten Nineveh was still a magnificent city and the Assyrian empire still powerful. To accept the word of the Lord through Nahum was a significant step of faith. As we see the continu­ing prosperity of the ungodly, may we remember, ‘the day of the Lord will come’, 2 Pet. 3. 10.