Nahum Lays it On with Nineveh

newton3005 said:

Many are at least vaguely familiar with the Book of Jonah in the OT. The short of it is that God has Jonah warn the Ninevens that they will perish because of their sinfulness, and the Ninevens do all they can to save themselves by repenting of their sins. God sees their repentance and He spares them.

Along comes the Book of Nahum, also in the OT, which can serve as a primer of God’s Wrath if the Ninevens didn’t repent. So Nahum is kind of a Book that says, ‘This is what would have happened to the Ninevens if they didn’t repent.’ One can almost picture Nahum dancing through the streets of Nineveh saying to the people, ‘Hah! See what would have happened to a you!’

What’s interesting is there are other passages in the Bible, nearly all of them who don’t go into the detail that Nahum does when God cuts people down. It is dryly reported in the OT. For example, Exodus 14:26-28 dryly reports the waters of the Red Sea ‘covering’ the chariots and horses who pursued the Hebrews. Nothing about the fright and the panic the Pharaoh's army must’ve felt as they were drowning...at least not until Moses sings about it in the following Chapter.

There are at least four Verses in the Bible, in both Testaments, that refer to God as a “consuming fire.” But you might observe that God in Exodus 14:26-28 can be a consuming water as well. The “consuming” part in any case refers to God taking His Vengeance out on those who would go against whoever loves Him. God is our sword and shield, as told in Deuteronomy 33:29. God’s enemies are our enemies and vice versa. Those who love God are entitled to the inheritance left by Abraham to his heirs as it says in Galatians 3:29. The rest are subject to His Wrath.

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newton3005 said:

Here's a summation of the whole story in the Book of Jonah..

Jonah was a prophet who found himself in the belly of a great fish. How did he get in there? The Lord asked him to warn the Ninevens that because of their evil behavior He was going to destroy their city. Jonah did not believe that God would destroy a whole city and every man, woman and child in it. Not sure if Jonah knew about Sodom and Gomorrah, but there you have it.

So, Jonah, not believing the Lord will follow through on His Warning, chose to run away instead of bringing the message to Nineveh. As part of his journey he was on board a ship. The Lord, in his anger at Jonah’s refusal, caused turbulence which threatened the ship and all on board. Jonah, knowing this was the Lord’s doing, and to spare the ship and all aboard, went overboard into the sea where a great fish swallowed him up.

After being in its belly for few days, Jonah told the Lord he will convey His Message. The Lord then made the fish spit out Jonah and Jonah ended up on dry land. He went to Nineveh to warn the Ninevens. The King and the people there showed their repentance for their evil for a few days, and the Lord relented and spared them.

In the end of the Book, Jonah, feeling mortified and used for issuing a warning that didn't come to pass, making him look like an idiot, sits wallowing in his misery under a fig tree to shade himself from the sun. The fig tree dries out, and Jonah calls up to God, having pity for it. God says to him, “You would have pity for a little fig tree...then why is it hard to understand that I would have pity for a people who repented of their evil?” At first glance, in the context of the Book, it seems an inconsequential statement since Jonah already strongly felt that God wouldn’t go through with His Warning. Perhaps this last part was added on as an afterthought for the benefit of those who would read this Book.

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