SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/16/2026 9:32
AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
“The
Purpose of Judgment”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Nahum
2:1-2
Message of the verses: “The one who scatters has come up against
you. Guard the fortification, watch the
road; Strengthen your loins, instill your power with exceeding courage. For Yahweh will restore the majesty of Jacob
Like the majesty of Israel, Even though those who empty them have emptied them
to destruction and ruined their vine branches.”
“1 ¶ The scatterer has come up against you. Man the
ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength. 2 For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob
as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their
branches.” (ESV)
Now that I have most of my Online Bible on my laptop I
thought it would be good to quote from some different commentators as to what
they have written on this second chapter of Nahum, and I begin with a
commentator named Clarke.
“Nineveh
is now called upon to prepare for the approach of her enemies, the instruments
of Jehovah’s vengeance, 1; and the military array and muster, the very arms and
dress, of the Medes and Babylonians in the reigns of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar;
their rapid approach to the city; the process of the siege, and the inundation
of the river; the capture of the place; the captivity, lamentation, and flight
of the inhabitants; the sacking of this immense, wealthy, and exceedingly
populous city; and the consequent desolation and terror, are all described in
the pathetic, vivid, and sublime imagery of Hebrew poetry, 2-10. This
description is succeeded by a very beautiful and expressive allegory, 11-12; which
is immediately explained, and applied to the city of Nineveh, 13. It is thought
by some commentators that the metropolitan city of the Assyrian empire is also
intended by the tender and beautiful simile, in the seventh verse, of a great
princess led captive, with her maids of honor attending her, bewailing her and
their own condition, by beating their breasts, and by other expressions of
sorrow.”
“Nineveh’s
destruction foretold. {Na 2:1-10 } The true cause, their sinning against
God, and his appearing against them. {Na 2:11-13 }
“Na
2:1-10 Nineveh shall not thwart this judgment; there is no counsel or strength
against the Lord. God looks at proud cities, and brings them down.—Particular
account is given of the terrors wherein the invading enemy shall appear against
Nineveh. The empire of Assyria is represented as a queen, about to be led
captive to Babylon. Guilt in the conscience fills men with terror in an evil
day; and what will treasures or glory do for us in times of distress, or in the
day of wrath? Yet for such things how many lose their souls!” (Mathew Henry)
John MacArthur writes:
“Nahum introduced God’s prophetic description of Nineveh’s destruction
by putting the city on notice. He warned
the Ninevites that the one who scatters has come up against you. The one who scatters referred to the
Babylonian army, which implemented a strategy of attacking and decimating enemy
nations by sending their inhabitants into exile (cf. Genesis 11:4; Deut. 4:27;
cf. 2 Kings 25:1-21).”
(cf. Genesis 11:4; Deut. 4:27; cf. 2
Kings 25:1-21)
4 Then they said, "Come, let us build
ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a
name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.’”
“27 And the LORD will scatter you among the
peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD
will drive you.”
1 ¶ And in the ninth year of his reign, in the
tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came
with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built
siegeworks all around it. 2 So the city
was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the
famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the
land. 4 Then a breach was made in the
city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the
two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And
they went in the direction of the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king
and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.
6 Then they captured the king and
brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on
him. 7 They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah
before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and
took him to Babylon.
8 ¶ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the
month— that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—
Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon,
came to Jerusalem. 9 And he burned the
house of the LORD and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every
great house he burned down. 10 And all
the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down
the walls around Jerusalem. 11 And the
rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted
to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard carried into exile. 12 But the captain of the guard left some of the
poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen. 13 And the pillars of bronze that were in the
house of the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of
the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 And they took away the pots and the shovels
and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used
in the temple service, 15 the fire pans
also and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold,
and what was of silver, as silver. 16 As
for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the
house of the LORD, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. 17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen
cubits, and on it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits.
A latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And
the second pillar had the same, with the latticework. 18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the
chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the
threshold; 19 and from the city he took
an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and five men of the
king’s council who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander
of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people
of the land, who were found in the city. 20 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took
them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 And the king of Babylon struck them down and
put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into
exile out of its land.”
“Approximately
forty years before Babylon destroyed Assyria in 612 BC, the prophet Nahum
announced that the Babylonians would come up against Nineveh to destroy
the city and scatter its residents.”
Spiritual
Meaning for my life today: As one reads prophets like Nahum and other
prophets one can actually see history before it happens. Now I have been studying the Bible for over
50 years and have mentioned that prophecy is one of my favorite subjects in the
Word of God. As I look at the world
around me it seems to me that the Lord is getting things ready for what the
Bible calls The Tribulation period of time, a time that will last for seven
years, and will be the worst time on earth that will ever happen. God is using people around the world to get
things ready for this seven year period, but before that the Rapture of the
Church will happen when Jesus comes to the clouds above the earth to transform
His Church, both those who have died and those who are alive to be with Him in
the air, and so we will ever be with the Lord.
I can’t wait.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to continue to get things
ready for His return, and pray that it will be soon, just like the song “Soon
and Very Soon,” says.
From David
Jeremiah’s Words of wisdom: “Keep away
from people who belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that
you, too, can become great. (Mark Twain)
Therefore
Let us pursue the thing which make for peace and the things by which one may
edify another. (Romans 14:19)
1/16/2026
10:08 AM
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