Introduction to Nahum 3

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/24/2016 10:18 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Nahum 3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Nahum 3:1-19

Message of the verses:  In today’s SD we will look at the introduction to Nahum chapter three a section in which Warren Wiersbe entitles his third point from the book of Nahum:  “God Is Just:  Why Nineveh Will Fall.”  We will look at several introductions from different Bible commentators in this SD.

“In this chapter is contained the prophecy of the destruction of Nineveh, and with it the whole  Assyrian empire; the causes of which, besides those before mentioned, were the murders, lies, and robberies it was full of, #Na 3:1 for which it should be swiftly and cruelly destroyed, #Na 3:2,3 as also its whoredoms and witchcrafts, or idolatry, by which nations and families were seduced, #Na 3:4 and hence she should be treated as a harlot, her nakedness exposed, and she cast out with contempt, and mocked at by all, #Na 3:5-7 and all those things she placed her confidence in are shown to be of no avail; as her situation and fortresses, as she might learn from the case of No Amon, #Na 3:8-12 nor the number of her inhabitants, which were weak as women; nor even her merchants, captains, nobles, and king himself, #Na 3:13-18 nor the people she was in alliance with, who would now mock at her, her case being irrecoverable and incurable, #Na 3:19.”  (John Gill)

“The prophet denounces a woe against Nineveh for her perfidy and violence. He musters up before our eyes the number of her chariots and cavalry; points to her burnished arms, and to the great and unrelenting slaughter which she spreads around her, 1-3. Because Nineveh is a city wholly given up to the grossest superstition, and is an instructress of other nations in her abominable rites, therefore she shall come to a most ignominious and unpitied end, 3-7. Her final ruin shall be similar to that of No, a famous city of Egypt, 8-11. The prophet then beautifully describes the great ease with which the strong holds of Nineveh should be taken, 12, and her judicial pusillanimity during the siege, 13; declares that all her preparation, her numbers, opulence, and chieftains, would be of no avail in the day of the Lord’s vengeance, 14-17; and that her tributaries would desert her, 18. The whole concludes with stating the incurableness of her malady, and the dreadful destruction consequently awaiting her; and with introducing the nations which she had oppressed as exulting at her fall, 19.”

“John MacArthur writes the following in his study Bible:  “The prophet Nahum, asserting that the destruction of Nineveh was justly deserved, makes 3 charges against her (vv. 1, 4, 8, 10), followed by the consequences (vv. 2, 3 5-7, 11-19).”

Warren Wiersbe writes “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ (Genesis 18:25) God is long-suffering, but there comes a time when His hand of judgment falls.  ‘You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name forever and ever’ (Ps. 9:5 NKJV).  Nahum gives three reasons why Nineveh deserved to be judged.”  We will begin to look at these three reasons from Wiersbe’s outline in our next SD.

1/24/2016 10:32 PM