The Book of Nahum: Expository Commentary from Sermons by Dr Peter Masters

Bible Commentary on Nahum

by Dr Peter Masters, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London (adapted from sermons)

The Book of Nahum is all about having God as a friend or as a judge. It is principally about the judgment of Nineveh, which occurred in 612 BC, but it goes far beyond that. God would not give us a book in the Old Testament, a prophet, concentrating on one theme, just for the sake of history, ancient history. So this book is not just about the destruction of Nineveh, it is a prophecy, and it is a prophecy not only of Nineveh, but it is a prophecy of how God will deal with the whole world in similar manner. It is something which has a message for us today.

Israel had fallen to Sargon II, king of Assyria in 722 BC, and the people had been carried away into exile and replaced with others brought from Babylon who populated the cities of Samaria (2 Kings 17:23-24); it no longer existed as a nation. Nahum prophesied to Judah in the south, sometime between 660 and 612 BC. We know that because, as Jensen tells us in his Survey of the Old Testament, the fall of Thebes mentioned in Nahum 3:10 took place in 663 BC, and the fall of Nineveh was still in the future when he wrote.

We know nothing whatever about him, apart from the fact that he was a prophet, and under the inspiration of God, he gave us this book. His name means consolation. Now the names of the prophets are not necessarily that significant in relation to their books, but it is very interesting in this case, because it is a book of consolation. Although it is a book of fiery judgment, it is a book the principal purpose of which is to assure the people of God in all times that God has everything in hand. And so it is a book of consolation.

Nahum speaks to Judah, of course he would do that, because Israel, the ten northern tribes, have already gone into captivity as he speaks. So although he addresses his remarks to all of Israel, he speaks specifically to Judah. Nineveh is going to be destroyed. This is often regarded as the most poetic book of the Old Testament, and certainly it is very rich and forceful, even dynamic poetry, and much of that comes right through in the English translation. At least, it comes through in the Authorised Version, perhaps better than it does in any modern translation – the vigour and the strength and the rhythm of the poetry in which the book is largely cast.

Nineveh is to be destroyed. Why is Nineveh so significant? If the destruction of Nineveh speaks in turn of the judgment of God in general upon all societies, all ages, and supremely in the final day of judgment, why pick Nineveh? Other cities are also chosen as a type, an illustration, a picture of final judgment. Babylon is chosen, for example. Is there anything specific about Nineveh, or is it just another city with the same message? No, there is a great deal which is significant about Nineveh. In roughly the year 760 BC, the prophet Jonah went to Nineveh, and the outcome was a tremendous spiritual awakening, a revival, if you like, on a massive scale, and the city – from the humblest of the people right up to the king – was moved by the Spirit of God, and saw its need of repentance, and fell on its knees before Almighty God, and the people, undoubtedly, were converted in great numbers. So there was revival.

Now, none of this appears as yet in any Assyrian inscription, but the Assyrian inscriptions have been excavated since 1840 with the excavation of Nineveh by Sir Henry Layard. These inscriptions come to light constantly, and indeed, some of them that have been held in the West even for over a hundred years are still untranslated. So surprises constantly happen. And in the last 30 years there have been so many amazing surprises at the things which have turned up in Assyrian inscriptions that have confirmed the biblical record. Maybe in the next few years we will have inscription evidence outside the Bible of this great spiritual awakening in Nineveh. There is a tiny bit of evidence, because there is evidence that around that time the Ninevites became quite monotheistic for a period, but it's not hard evidence. But there was that mighty revival in the year 760.

But then, in 722, the Assyrian armies took Samaria, and the ten northern kingdoms, Israel, went into captivity, and Samaria, the capital of the north, was sacked and destroyed. That is, 38 years after the revival the Assyrians were on the march again, with all their venom and hostility and hatred directed towards Israel and ultimately toward Judah; they would attempt to take Judah also. In contemporary terms that would mean that there was awakening in 1960 on such a scale that the entire nation broke down before the Lord, and by 1998 tremendous antagonism had again developed towards the church of Jesus Christ. One generation replaces another, and in a single generation this had happened.

Here's the significance of this. Those people knew the word of God. They had been ‘evangelized’. They had seen their parents and their grandparents worshipping God. And yet, all this venom and hostility arises. The Assyrian nation, of which Nineveh was the capital city, did not just happen to sweep down towards Judah while they were taking other nations. There was a special hatred for Judah. There was a special detestation for Jerusalem because in Nineveh so many people had succumbed to the message of Jerusalem, and their parents and forebears had repented, and the new generation couldn't stand it. The new generation wanted to make an open rejection of the things of God. They wanted to strike down the people of God in all their hostility. That is why the destruction of Nineveh is a particularly good picture of the judgment of God upon a lost world at the end of time. Because the world will not be viewed by God as a world which just happens to be lost. The world will be viewed by God in the end as a world which is deliberately lost, wilfully against him, often in the full light of spiritual day, but certainly in the light of conscience, in the light of creation evidence, in the light of the message of the gospel heard far and wide in every land. But there is tremendous human antagonism. And so this is why Nineveh is such a good picture.

God is now rejected. Assyria rules the world: a very boastful empire, very savage. As they record their victories over different nations, they always make a point of saying that there wasn't enough space to store the corpses, and they would pile the heads taken from their victims in gruesome pyramids everywhere; they were terrifying. They represent, however, the spirit of a world against God. Not in the sense that there is constant warfare and hostility, but because in this world, the human spirit, the Assyrian empire spirit as it were, the celebration of man and human beings, is everything. Human power, human accomplishment. And so there is a tremendous parallel between the spirit of Assyria and the spirit of society against Almighty God.

Nahum wrote around 630 BC. This was in the reign of Josiah. Hezekiah earlier than him, who was a good king, had a son, Menasseh, who nevertheless was a very evil king. Menasseh reigned for 55 years and his own son, who was evil, reigned for a further two years. During that 57 years, all the good that King Hezekiah had ever done was undone, and all the reforms were overturned and great evil came into the land of Judah, and Baal worship returned and just about everything went wrong that could possibly have gone wrong to anger the Lord. Because of this, the land of Judah was finally condemned. It was condemned to be destroyed and Jerusalem, and the people taken away into captivity. That would happen in the not-too-distant future.

But before it happened, there was the reign of Josiah, who was a good king, who reformed the land. But in spite of the tremendous reforms of Josiah and the re-establishment of true worship, and the complete restoration of the temple and wonderful things taking place, the long period, the dismal and wicked period under Menasseh had brought the land into judgement. Why then did God bring about a period of outstanding reform under Josiah? Because while the people were away in captivity in Babylon, a remnant must be preserved. There must always be a remnant, a proportion among the Jewish people who truly loved the Lord and walked closely with him and upheld the standards. And after 57 years of evil, no doubt that remnant was in danger of being completely wiped out and the testimony lost and this nation had to be preserved because the promised seed, the Messiah, would come from this nation. So Josiah’s reform preserved a converted remnant for the time of captivity.

Josiah's reforms were wonderful on the surface when you read about them, yet only a remnant of people were genuine even through that period. We read passages from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah who ministered at exactly that period, the last part of that reign, and he speaks of the tremendous hypocrisy of the people and God's judgement would continue upon them. So astonishingly, all Josiah's reforms – and he was a good man and a sincere man, who no doubt brought great blessing and many were truly brought to the Lord and were very earnest – still left the majority of the people of Judah in rebellion, and there was much secret Baal worship. It was no longer in the public places, the public shrines, for false gods were destroyed, but it was obviously in their homes and things were bad. And at the same time, Nahum ministers and so does Zephaniah.