"The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, but ... he will pursue his foes into darkness." (Nah. 1:7­8)
Nahum had one distinct advantage over most biblical prophets: he was addressing an enemy. The nation of Assyria had just obliterated the Northern Kingdom of Israel and, except for God's miraculous intervention in Hezekiah's day, would have done the same to Nahum's homeland of Judah.
Assyria was an easy enemy to hate - something along the line of Hitler's Germany. Its soldiers decimated cities, led captives away with hooks in their noses, and plowed salt into fertile ground. In fact, Assyria's very obnoxiousness lay at the heart of what Nahum had to say.
A question nagged at Judah's citizens, who had experienced the full force of Assyria's "endless cruelty." Assyria had trampled a huge path of destruction from the region of modern-day Turkey down the Persian Gulf all the way to Egypt. Judah, in contrast, was a tiny vassal state barely clinging to existence. Why would God hold Judah accountable but allow Assyria to go unpunished?
Nahum brashly predicted that even mighty Assyria would meet its end. Its people had repented once, in Jonah's day, but had reverted to old patterns that would bring on God's judgment. Undoubtedly, the people of Judah applauded Nahum's prophecies - but who could believe them? Assyria, the most powerful empire in the world for two hundred years, would not simply disappear.
Nahum delivered these prophecies sometime around 700 B.C. In 612 B.C., Nineveh, the last Assyrian stronghold, fell to the Babylonians and Persians. Over time a carpet of grass covered the pile of rubble marking what had been the greatest city of its time.
Like all the biblical prophets, Nahum saw beyond the intimidating forces of history. He knew that behind the rise and fall of empires an even greater force was at work, determining the ultimate outcome. Though God's justice may seem slow, nothing can finally escape it.
Life Question: What modern-day injustices seem to be going unpunished?
