MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/10/2026
10:09 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Vengeance
for Savage Brutality”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Nahum 3:1-3
Message of the verses: “1 ¶ Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and
plunder— no end to the prey! 2 The crack
of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! 3 Horsemen charging, flashing sword and
glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end—
they stumble over the bodies!” (ESV)
We begin this morning with the first sub-point from
John MacArthur’s commentary on Nahum, and will do as I have been doing in Nahum
by quoting from MacArthur’s commentary, adding comments of my own and looking
up all of the verses that he mentions in his commentary.
“With a cry of lament, ‘Woe,’ Nahum
signals Gods vengeance upon Nineveh. The
term expresses the emotion of intense disapproval and condemnation. Nineveh, as a city of bloodshed, had
become an object of the wrath of God.
The Hebrew word for bloodshed, occurring first in the context of Able’s
murder (cf. Gen. 4:10, was a euphemism for vicious murder and violent death.”
(cf. Gen. 4:10
“10 And the LORD said, "What have you done?
The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”
“Nineveh
was characterized by savage brutality, as illustrated by the words of one of
its kings, Shalmaneser III:
“I slew
their warriors with the sword, descending upon them like Adad when he makes a
rainstorm pour down. In the moat (of the
town) I piled them up, I covered the wide plain with the corpses of their
fighting men, I dyed the mountains with their blood like red wool. I took away from him many chariots (and) horses
broken to the yoke. I erected pillars of
skulls in front of his town, destroyed his (other) towns, tore down (their
walls) and burnt (them) down.”
This quote comes from “Pritchard, ed.,
The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 277 Baker,
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 220.
“Nahum continued by noting that
Nineveh was completely full of deception and pillage. Deception fundamentally means ‘empty’ (cf.
Job16:8), describing Nineveh’s political trickery as they made deceitful
promises to achieve political objectives (cf. 2 Kings 18:31-32).”
(cf. Job16:8)
8 And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness
against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.”
(cf. 2 Kings 18:31-32)
“31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the
king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of
you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of
you will drink the water of his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you away to a land like
your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land
of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to
Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, "The LORD will deliver us.’”
“After
deceiving other nations through treachery, the Ninevites would pillage their
lands, stripping away property and resources by violence. When Nineveh conquered other nations, they
looted homes, storehouses, treasuries, places, and every kind of depository,
plundering everything of value.
“Every level of Ninevite society
celebrated its culture of cruelty and covetousness, so that the city was completely
full of such depravity. Because
Assyria captured city after city, the supply of riches and resources was seemingly
endless. Thus, Nahum observed of Nineveh
that her prey never departs. With
the word prey, used earlier to describe Assyrian’s enemies (cf. Nahum
2:12), Nahum once again employed animal imagery to convey the relentless
brutality of Assyria’s military tactics (cf. Num. 23:24; Isaiah 5:29). For Nineveh, violence and indulgence were a
way of life.”
(cf. Nahum 2:12)
“12 The lion tore enough for his cubs and
strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens
with torn flesh.’
(cf. Num. 23:24; Isaiah 5:29)
“24 Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up and
as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
and drunk the blood of the slain.’”
“29 Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions
they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can
rescue.”
“But God would hold the city accountable for its
sins. Nineveh would be overcome with the
sound of the whip, and the sound of the rumbling of the wheel, galloping
horses, and bounding chariots! The
city that once cruelly whipped and enslaved its captives would itself be filled
with the sound of the whip as Assyrian riders would drive their horses
to meet the enemy. The city whose
chariots once intimidated other nations would now reverberate with the sound
of rumbling of the wheel as its chariots desperately raced into the battle
(cf. Nah. 2:4). The city whose cavalry had
previously overrun opposing armies would hear the clamor of galloping horses
and bounding chariots frantically rushing through the streets. The sound of Nineveh’s own
destruction. With such resounding reversals,
God would inflict judgment on Assyria for its atrocities.”
The more that I read about the
history of Nineveh the more I can understand how MacArthur states that this is
a picture of what will happen in the end times, only because of the technology
that the world has now it will be brutally worse.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Paul wrote to the Galatians “7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for
whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”
I believe this speaks of nations along with individuals who think
that they can get away with something.
Nineveh certainly fits into this category.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to learn from mistakes I have made
in the past and remember that by learning contentment it will make things
easier to not make mistakes.
From Dr.
David Jeremiah: “Fear knocked, faith
answered. No one was there.” (Author Unknown)
“For
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound
mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7).
2/10/2026
10:53 AM
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