Nahum 3:5 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Nahum 3:5

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To have Lord of hosts against us is to be truly in a desperate position. What cannot he do to us, who is all powerful? Nineveh had existed for years, and had got away with its atrocities towards the other nations and no one had stood in her way, and nothing had had happened to stop her. God was always against her, but now he says so, because he is going to act; her time of licence has come to an end.Nineveh is to be exposed like a woman whose skirts are lifted up to cover her face instead of her private parts. Of course this is a metaphor. Nineveh stands for the whole Assyrian nation. It means that everything that she would wish to keep hidden from the world will be exposed. All her secret acts which she has carefully concealed out of shame, will be made known: all her brutality and her coercive methods which she wishes to keep out of sight in order to present a favourable image. Her deceit and scheming by which she has gained wealth for herself will be revealed, so that everyone sees how they have been cheated by her. Her weaknesses, her untrustworthiness, and her vanity which she kept out of sight in order to present herself as powerful and glorious will be visible, so that it is clear to all that she is not what she pretended to be. She wanted to be seen as an irresistible force, and in spite of her cruelties, she wanted to be admired and praised. But now there is nothing left to admire her for. The nations will see her nakedness. They will realise that they were dealing with a skilfully constructed artifice, a facade that hid the real character of the entity behind it. Were they deceived? In part, yes. There was, for a time, no one outside of her who could see what she really was. But now God has stripped her bare and shown her nakedness to the world; the show is over. The kingdoms trembled at her, and grudgingly submitted to her power, but now they will ask themselves why they ever did that. All the time there was really great weakness in her if only they had known it. The greatest of powers has that which it is ashamed of, which is not part of the image which it wishes to show to the world.Assyria will become a gazingstock, a spectacle, something to be stared at, not just with a brief glance, but with a prolonged stare in order to fully take it in, and to learn the lessons which it teaches. These are lessons about deception, and how easy it is to be taken in. Her transformation will be a source of wonder. How could anything so corrupt appear to be so noble? How could anything so worthless appear so magnificent? Once the mask is stripped bare, she will no longer be seen as a refuge. Instead, those who previously came to her for protection will flee from her. She once offered them some safety – but at a terrible price; now, as they stare at her, they see one that is laid waste. There are no tears to spare for her, who showed no pity to any; she commands no affection. It was all about force and threat, and they are glad she is gone.

Application

So will it be with this world at the end, once its mask is stripped away. The fall of Assyria is a prophecy of the fall of the world, which teaches us many of the characteristics of the final collapse of godless society. The Scripture has already done this before the day comes, but few have listened. It has called her a beast and a great harlot, but men did not pay attention or want to hear these things while they still thought they could benefit from her. The flaws in this world will be laid bare by God before the final end comes; the end will not come before she has started to decay openly. Those who looked to her for protection, enrichment, strength, will before that day comes see her begin to wane, and to collapse utterly. She and all her institutions will fail visibly in a way that cannot be denied. That will be to the shame of the world which always pretended that it was something that it was not. It boasted constantly of its progress, its ability to solve all its problems, its marvellous education systems, its technological advance, even its moral standards put in place of God’s standards. It constantly talked up its achievements, and tried hard not to speak of its failures, or if it did so, it put them firmly in the past. At every new disaster it said we must never allow this to happen again, as if it had any power to carry out reform or to change its essential nature.

It is true of individuals also. How they will be reduced on the Day of Judgment! The great ones of the world, before whom men cringed, will be without power, and with defence, and their mouths will be speechless in the presence of God. Satan himself will be exposed, and his antichrist: ‘Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. ¹⁰ All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? ¹¹ Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. ¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!’ (Isaiah 14:9-12).

How different is the character of God’s true people! Though they are in the process of being sanctified and that work is not yet complete, they have much that is genuine and worthy about them. The half is not known. Their good character is not a contrivance, but something solid – they are Israelites in whom is no guile. They have a humility which the world cannot imitate or understand. They good character is beyond the reach of those who hate the Lord, and their failed attempts to practice it leave them only bitter and angry. But God will glorify his people. He will exalt those who have humbled themselves, and who the world did not know and was not worthy of.

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Nahum 3:5 Commentary and Bible Study

The meaning of Nahum 3:5 explained