CRITICAL NOTES.]
Nahum 1:12-14.] Repeat the truths of Nahum 1:9-11. Good to Judah, and evil to Assyria, predicted. Quiet] In tranquil security; or complete with unbroken ranks and number, with everything necessary for a successful siege. “The word may also be designed to convey the idea of mental completeness, i.e. in this connexion, security, martial courage” [Hend.]. Cut] Mown down like the harvest (2 Kings 19:35; Isaiah 37:36-37). Give historical facts.
Nahum 1:13. Yoke] The tribute to Assyria (cf. Isaiah 10:27; Jeremiah 2:20).
Nahum 1:14.] The name and power of Assyria to become extinct. Sown] The seed or race to be for ever destroyed, at destruction of Nineveh the dynasty would not be perpetuated. Gods] Every kind of images (Deuteronomy 27:15). (See Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains, on Idol, of Assyria.) House] The palace considered sacred. Make] i.e. the house of thy gods, thy grave. Sennacherib slain during worship (2 Kings 19:37). Vile] Because when weighed according to moral standards worthless (Job 31:6), found light (Daniel 5:27).
Nahum 1:15.] This verse joined to ch. 2 in Heb. text, and nearly like (Isaiah 52:7). Here deliverance from Assyria, not Babylon. Tidings] Overthrow of Sennacherib. Mountains] No longer covered with hostile camps to prevent keeping feasts. Peace] and deliverance, i.e. great yearly feasts of thanksgiving. Wicked] Lit. Belial (Nahum 1:11), marg. = Sennacherib. This is a wonderful type of Gospel events; salvation through Christ, victory over sin, death, and hell.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMY, AND THE REDEMPTION OF GOD’S PEOPLE.—Nahum 1:12-15
Here good is predicted to Judah, and evil to the enemy. One shall be purified and restored, the other utterly annihilated.
I. The destruction of the enemy. The Prophet notices their present condition, and contrasts it with future ruin.
1. They are unbroken in strength. “Though they be quiet.” If they be entire, sound and unharmed, perfect in warlike preparations, that will not avail them.
2. They are undiminished in number. “And likewise many.” Their numbers were unimpaired and great. Hezekiah thus exhorted the people: “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him” (2 Chronicles 32:7).
3. They are secure in tranquillity. “Quiet,” that is, without fear, and perfectly safe. They were free from attacks, and securely fortified, but not against God. They pictured an easy march and a splendid victory in the land, “When he shall pass through;” but the vast host was swept away in a single night. Notice their future.
1. Idolatry will be destroyed. “Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image.” Their gods in the temple, graven and molten, would not help them, nor be spared by the enemy. God has a controversy with all kinds of idols. The fate of a nation is often bound up with the fate of its God.
2. The dynasty would be extinguished. “No more of thy name be sown.” If not immediately, yet eventually the Assyrian line would cease. God commanded this, and it was certain to happen. Their splendid renown would fade away and their name be cut off. The race would be cut down without chance of springing again. “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”
3. The palace would be turned into a grave. “I will make (the house of thy gods) thy grave.” The temple was polluted by slaughter, and converted into a sepulchre (Isaiah 37:38; 2 Kings 19:37). Men perish in the things in which they seek refuge. The Assyrian power was destroyed. God made a grave for its idols and its people. All were vile and light; found wanting when weighed in the balance (Daniel 5:27). Whatever honour man set upon them, they were lightly esteemed by God. Wickedness in religious and political life brings contempt and ruin upon a nation. “The seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned.”
“God needs no indirect nor lawless course
To cut off those who have offended Him” [Shakespeare].
II. The redemption of God’s people. Deliverance from the enemy would be followed by restoration of worship and peace. All sorrow would end, and every cause of fear be overcome.
1. Deliverance would be enjoyed. The news would be proclaimed and welcomed throughout the kingdom. If to Sophocles the hands and feet of any one who went on errands of mercy were beautiful, how much more should the heralds of the gospel be received by all who hear them.
(1) Deliverance from affliction. “Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.” The bitter potion will not be repeated, unless there be real necessity. God doth not afflict willingly, and former trials should not hinder faith in present good.
(2) Deliverance from the enemy. Servitude no longer. (a) From the yoke of the enemy. A victorious army shall no longer tax and oppress. “Now will I break his yoke from off thee.” (b) From the fear of the enemy. He shall be completely subdued, and no trace of his steps left behind. He will be cut off in spirit, number, and existence. “The wicked shall no more pass through thee.”
2. Worship would be restored. Solemn feasts would be kept. The free use and thorough enjoyment of religious ordinances would be restored. Vows would be performed, and gratitude continually abound. The ransomed of the Lord would return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. It is our privilege to behold the feet of those who publish peace with God and salvation through Christ. If we believe we may keep our feasts in gladness, and anticipate the glory of that temple into which the wicked never enter.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Nahum 1:12. Cut down like grass in a field. The completeness of the destruction, and the ease with which it is done. Greatness and number nothing with God.
Nahum 1:13. The affliction of the Church. “Yoke.” The method of deliverance. “Break his yoke.” The agent who works it. “I will break.” “By the strength of my hand I have done it” (Isaiah 10:13). The time in which it is done. “God, lest his own should despair, does not put them off altogether to a distant day, but saith now” [Pusey].
Nahum 1:14. It is sufficient ground of assurance for the coming to pass of greatest things, that the Lord hath determined they should be; for, this is given as a sure ground of Assyria’s ruin, that the Lord hath given a commandment, or purposed their destruction, his purpose concluding as effectually the concurring of all means to bring it about, as if they were especially commanded. Name. “The Lord doth justly root out the memory of such persons or states, as make it their only work to get a name on earth, and to be eminent and terrible; for such is Assyria’s doom: no more of thy name shall be sown” [Hutcheson].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Nahum 1:15. Peace, newly granted by the grace of God, was to be celebrated by a new consecration of the people. This has special reference to the king of Nineveh and Assyria, and the promise must have been very precious to contemporaries oppressed by Assyria. But to us the fundamental truth is far more important, that to the people of God a perfect deliverance is near at hand, and has already appeared in Christ, by which the Belial, from whom every wicked spirit proceeds, is for ever cast out [Lange].
“Come, and begin Thy reign
Of everlasting peace;
Come, take the kingdom to Thyself,
Great King of Righteousness” [Bonar]