SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/17/2016
9:06 PM
My Worship Time
Focus:
PT-2 Introduction to Nahum
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Nahum
Message of the SD: In today’s
SD I wanted to quote from a couple of different commentaries, one I have in my
Online Bible Program and another from the pen of Warren Wiersbe. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown is where this
first quote comes from: “NAHUM means
"consolation" and "vengeance"; symbolizing the
"consolation" in the book for God’s people, and the
"vengeance" coming on their enemies. In the first chapter the two
themes alternate; but as the prophet advances, vengeance on the capital of the
Assyrian foe is the predominant topic. He is called "the Elkoshite"
(#Na 1:1), from Elkosh, or Elkesi, a village of Galilee, pointed out to JEROME
[Preface in Nahum] as a place of note among the Jews, having traces of ancient
buildings. The name Capernaum, that is, "village of Nahum," seems to
take its name from Nahum having resided in it, though born in Elkosh in the
neighborhood. There is another Elkosh east of the Tigris, and north of Mosul,
believed by Jewish pilgrims to be the birthplace and burial place of the
prophet. But the book of Nahum in its allusions shows a particularity of
acquaintance with Palestine (#Na 1:4), and only a more general knowledge as to
Nineveh (#Na 2:4-6 3:2,3).
“His
graphic description of Sennacherib and his army (#Na 1:9-12) makes it not
unlikely that he was in or near Jerusalem at the time: hence the number of
phrases corresponding to those of Isaiah (compare #Na 1:8,9, with #Isa 8:8
10:23; #Na 2:10, with #Isa 24:1 21:3; #Na 1:15, with #Isa 52:7). The prophecy
in #Na 1:14 probably refers to the murder of Sennacherib twenty years after his
return from Palestine (#Isa 37:38). The date of his prophecies, thus, seems to
be about the former years of Hezekiah. So JEROME thinks. He plainly writes
while the Assyrian power was yet unbroken (#Na 1:12 2:11-13 #Na 3:15-17). The
correspondence between the sentiments of Nahum and those of Isaiah and
Hezekiah, as recorded in Second Kings and Isaiah, proves the likelihood of Nahum’s
prophecies belonging to the time when Sennacherib was demanding the surrender
of Jerusalem, and had not yet raised the siege (compare #Na 1:2, etc., with
#2Ki 19:14,15; #Na 1:7, with #2Ki 18:22 19:19,31 2Ch 32:7,8; #Na 1:9,11, with
#2Ki 19:22,27,28; #Na 1:14, with #2Ki 19:6,7; #Na 1:15 2:1,2, with #2Ki
19:32,33; #Na 2:13, with #2Ki 19:22,23). The historical data in the book itself
are the humiliation of Israel and Judah by Assyria (#Na 2:2); the invasion of
Judah (#Na 1:9,11); and the conquest of No-ammon, or Thebes, in Upper Egypt
(#Na 3:8-10). Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser had carried away Israel. The Jews
were harassed by the Syrians, and impoverished by Ahaz’ payments to
Tiglath-pileser (#2Ch 28:1-27 Isa 7:9). Sargon, Shalmaneser’s successor, after
the reduction of Phoenicia by the latter, fearing lest Egypt should join
Palestine against him, undertook an expedition to Africa (#Isa 20:1-6), and
took Thebes; the latter fact we know only from Nahum, but the success of the
expedition in general is corroborated in #Isa 20:1-6. Sennacherib, Sargon’s
successor, made the last Assyrian attempt against Judea, ending in the
destruction of his army in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (713-710 B.C.). As
Nahum refers to this in part prophetically, in part as matter of history (#Na
1:9-13 2:13), he must have lived about 720-714 B.C., that is, almost a hundred
years before the event foretold, namely, the overthrow of Nineveh by the joint
forces of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar in the reign of Chyniladanus, 625 or 603 B.C.
“The prophecy is remarkable for its unity of aim.
Nahum’s object was to inspire his countrymen, the Jews, with the assurance
that, however alarming their position might seem, exposed to the attacks of the
mighty Assyrian, who had already carried away the ten tribes, yet that not only
should the Assyrian (Sennacherib) fail in his attack on Jerusalem, but Nineveh,
his own capital, be taken and his empire overthrown; and this, not by an
arbitrary exercise of Jehovah’s power, but for the iniquities of the city and
its people. His position in the canon is seventh of the minor prophets in both
the Hebrew and Greek arrangement. He is seventh in point of date.
“His style
is clear, elegant, and forcible. Its most striking characteristic is the power
of representing several phases of an idea in the briefest sentences, as in the
majestic description of God in the commencement, the conquest of Nineveh, and
the destruction of No-ammon [EICHORN]. DE WETTE calls attention to his variety
of manner in presenting ideas, as marking great poetic talent. "Here there
is something sonorous in his language there something murmuring; with both
these alternates something that is soft, delicate, and melting, as the subject
demands." Excepting two alleged Assyrian words (#Na 3:17), English
Version, "crowned," or princes, and English Version,
"captains," or satraps (used by #Jer 51:27), the language is pure.
These two, doubtless, came to be known in Judea from the intercourse with
Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.” He mentions Jerome in the beginning of his
quote and so I wanted to make clear who he is talking about. “Saint Jerome (/dʒəˈroʊm/;
Latin:
Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; Greek:
Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; c. 347 – 30 September
420) was a Catholic priest, confessor, theologian and historian, who also became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of
Eusebius, born at Stridon, a village near Emona on the border
of Dalmatia and Pannonia, then
part of northeastern Italy.[1][2][3] He is best known for
his translation of most of the Bible into Latin (the translation that became known as the Vulgate), and
his commentaries on the Gospels. His list of writings is extensive.[4] The protégé of Pope
Damasus I, who died in December of 384, Jerome was known for his teachings
on Christian moral life, especially to those living in cosmopolitan centers
such as Rome. In many cases, he focused his attention to the lives of women and
identified how a woman devoted to Jesus
Christ should live her life. This focus stemmed from his close patron
relationships with several prominent female ascetics who were members of
affluent senatorial families.” (Wikipedia)
Now we will look at what Dr.
Warren Wiersbe has to say in his commentary as he introduces the book and
prophet Nahum. Next SD on Nahum we will
begin to follow the outline of Dr. Wiersbe as we move through the three chapters
in the book of Nahum.
“Nahum in His Time: Little is known about Nahum except that he
came from the town of Elkosh (whose location we can’t identify with certainty)
and that he was a prophet of God who announced the fall of Nineveh, capital
city of the Assyrian empire. He mentions
the capture of the Egyptian city of Thebes, which occurred in 663 BC and he
predicted the fall of Nineveh, which took place in 612 BC; so these dates place
him in Judah during the reigns of Manasseh (695-642) and Josiah (640-609). His contemporaries would have been Jeremiah,
Zephaniah, and Habakkuk.” (Notice not
all commentaries agree with the date of Nahum’s life span.
“His name means ‘comfort’ or ‘compassion,’
and his message of Assyrian’s doom would certainly have comforted the people of
Judah, who had suffered because of Assyria.
The Assyrians had taken the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 and
dispersed the people, and then they tried to take Judah in the days of Hezekiah
(7-1), but they were defeated by the angel of the Lord (Isa. 37). Assyria was always looming over the tiny
kingdom of Judah, and having these ruthless people out of the way would have
greatly bettered Judah’s situation.
“Jonah had announced Nineveh’s
doom over a century before, but God had relented because the people had
repented. The Lord was certainly
long-suffering to spare the city that long, especially since the Assyrians had
returned to their evil ways. While Nahum’s
message was directed especially to the Assyrians, he was careful to encourage
the people of Judah as well.”
1/17/2016 9:30 PM
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