A prophet's prediction that became a historical reality...

This week we are looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Nahum. Yesterday, we looked on as Nahum began his letter of judicial sentence against the Assyrian Empire by proclaiming the character of the Lord. Nahum proclaimed that the Lord, in His very nature and character, is righteous and avenges those who have been wronged as a result of wrongdoing and injustice. Nahum proclaimed that the Lord, in His very nature and character, is both longsuffering and all-powerful. Nahum proclaimed that the Lord, in His very nature and character, is just and executes justice.

Nahum proclaimed that the Lord, in His very nature and character, is morally good. Nahum proclaimed that the Lord, in His very nature and character, is a stronghold of strength in the face of trouble and difficulty for those who trust and take refuge in Him. Nahum proclaimed that the Lord, in His very nature and character, is knows and cares for those who trust and take refuge in Him. By contrast, for those who place themselves in opposition to the Lord, the Lord will overwhelm them with a flood of justice and judgment.  Nahum proclaimed that the Lord, in His very nature and character, is able to destroy the plans of those who oppose Him in rebellion against Him.

After proclaiming the nature and character of the Lord, Nahum proceeded to proclaim the Lord’s judicial sentence against the Assyrian Empire in Nahum 1:12-15:

Thus says the LORD, "Though they are at full strength and likewise many, Even so, they will be cut off and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no longer. ¹³ "So now, I will break his yoke bar from upon you, And I will tear off your shackles." ¹⁴ The LORD has issued a command concerning you: "Your name will no longer be perpetuated. I will cut off idol and image From the house of your gods. I will prepare your grave, For you are contemptible." ¹⁵ Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; Pay your vows. For never again will the wicked one pass through you; He is cut off completely.

Even though the Assyrian Empire was at its height of power and prominence, the Lord was about to act in a way that would remove them from the world stage. Even though the Lord had used the Assyrian Empire to execute His right and just response to the wrongdoing and rebellion of the Jewish people, the Jewish people would no longer experience their affliction.

Instead, the Lord would remove the bondage of the rule of the Assyrian Empire from the Southern Kingdom of Judea. The Lord would act to execute justice and judgment against the Assyrian Empire for the wrongdoing and injustice that flowed from their rebellion against the Lord. And in His justice and judgment, the Assyrian Empire would spread forth no longer. Instead, the temple of the Assyrian Empire would be destroyed.

When Nahum proclaims “Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace!” this phrase was announcing to the Jewish people of Judea that the Lord would deliver them from the Assyrian Empire and bring peace. Nahum then proceeded to predict and proclaim how the Lord’s judicial sentence against the Assyrian Empire would unfold. And what we are about to read is viewed by many historians as being the most vivid description of a siege that is found in ancient literature. So let’s look at this description of a military siege together, beginning in Nahum 2:1:

The one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road; Strengthen your back, summon all your strength. ² For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel, Even though devastators have devastated them And destroyed their vine branches.

When Nahum refers to the one who scatters, he is referring to the Babylonian Empire. Nahum here is proclaiming to the Assyrian Empire that the Lord was about to use the Babylonian Empire to exercise His justice and judgment against them for the wrongdoing and injustice that they had committed against the Jewish people. Nahum then describes in detail the siege that the Assyrian Empire would experience at the hands of the Babylonian Empire in the future in verse 3-13:

 The shields of his mighty men are colored red, The warriors are dressed in scarlet, The chariots are enveloped in flashing steel When he is prepared to march, And the cypress spears are brandished. ⁴ The chariots race madly in the streets, They rush wildly in the squares, Their appearance is like torches, They dash to and fro like lightning flashes. ⁵ He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their march, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up. ⁶ The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace is dissolved. ⁷ It is fixed: She is stripped, she is carried away, And her handmaids are moaning like the sound of doves, Beating on their breasts. ⁸ Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, Now they are fleeing; "Stop, stop," But no one turns back. ⁹ Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! For there is no limit to the treasure-- Wealth from every kind of desirable object. ¹⁰ She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body And all their faces are grown pale! ¹¹ Where is the den of the lions And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion, lioness and lion's cub prowled, With nothing to disturb them? ¹² The lion tore enough for his cubs, Killed enough for his lionesses, And filled his lairs with prey And his dens with torn flesh. ¹³ "Behold, I am against you," declares the LORD of hosts. "I will burn up her chariots in smoke, a sword will devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard."

What is so fascinating about the description of this siege is that Nahum made this prediction and proclamation between 650-642 B.C. And in 612 B.C. the Babylonian Empire laid siege to Nineveh. As part of that siege, the Assyrian Empire closed the floodgates that controlled the Khoser River in order to back up their waters in a reservoir for drinking water. Upon breaking through the siege, the Babylonian Empire opened the floodgates, which sent a flood of water which destroyed the palace of the king of the Assyrian Empire, which Nahum predicted and proclaimed some thirty years earlier in verse 6. Like a lion that was once fierce, the Assyrian Empire would by captured and conquered. Nahum then continued to proclaim the Lord’s justice and judgment in chapter 3:1:

Woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage; Her prey never departs.

Here Nahum describes the reputation that the Assyrian Empire had rightly received for the cruel atrocities that were committed upon those who they conquered, which the Jewish nation had experienced firsthand. After providing evidence for the Lord’s justice and judgment, Nahum continues to describe the siege and destruction that they would experience at the hands of the Babylonian Empire in verse 2-7:

The noise of the whip, The noise of the rattling of the wheel, Galloping horses And bounding chariots! ³ Horsemen charging, Swords flashing, spears gleaming, Many slain, a mass of corpses, And countless dead bodies-- They stumble over the dead bodies! ⁴ All because of the many harlotries of the harlot, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations by her harlotries And families by her sorceries. ⁵ "Behold, I am against you," declares the LORD of hosts; "And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show to the nations your nakedness And to the kingdoms your disgrace. ⁶ "I will throw filth on you And make you vile, And set you up as a spectacle. ⁷ "And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, 'Nineveh is devastated! Who will grieve for her?' Where will I seek comforters for you?"

The Lord would respond to the cruelty of the Assyrian Empire that flowed from their willingness to commit spiritual adultery by worshipping false gods instead of the One True God by bringing death and destruction on a massive scale. The destruction would be so severe that the Empire would become a spectacle to those who observed its demise and destruction. The cruelty and moral corruption of the Empire would be exposed for the rest of the world to see.

And in response, the rest of the world would flee from the Assyrian Empire so that no one would be left to grieve for its destruction. Nahum then pointed the Assyrian Empire to another nation that experienced invasion and destruction that they would be very familiar with to hammer the Lord’s point home.

Friday, we will look at this event from history together...