Woe to Nineveh
July 4, 2021
Commentary
Today’s scripture passage has been called a “woe oracle” because it announces the doom of Nineveh in typical woe oracle fashion (see Isa. 5:18-23; Amos 5:18-20; 6:1-7; Micah 2:1-4). “Woe” can also be used to express grief, but that is not the case in this passage. No one was going to miss Nineveh, a city synonymous with blood, falsehood, stollen treasure, and slain victims (v. 1). Nahum described the battle from his vision (vv. 2-3). After describing the attacking force, he then focuses in on the dead bodies for four uncomfortable lines. Just as the plunder of Nineveh would be beyond count (2:9), so the number of dead Ninevites would be beyond count (v. 3).
Nineveh is compared to a prostitute and a sorcerer, “graceful and of deadly charm” (v. 4). The next line makes it clear that this is in reference to her political dealings with other nations. A favored tactic of the Assyrians was to draw in unsuspecting nations to eventually destroy them. The Assyrians claimed to have spiritual power over the future. They believed they could decide their own destiny as well as the fate of those they attacked. Nineveh may have been successful for a time, but the Lord was against them, and their days were numbered. The nations would see them for what they really were (v. 5). They would be shamed and hated by all (v. 6). No one would miss them (v. 7).
Application
As I watch the news, I see many warning signs for the United States. Would anyone miss us if we were destroyed tomorrow? We are so blessed to live in this country. How can we share that blessing with the world?
Nahum 3:1– 7 (NET)
1 Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed! She is full of lies; she is filled with plunder; she has hoarded her spoil!
2 The chariot drivers will crack their whips; the chariot wheels will shake the ground. The chariot horses will gallop; the war chariots will bolt forward!
3 The charioteers will charge ahead; their swords will flash and their spears will glimmer! There will be many people slain; there will be piles of the dead and countless casualties — so many that people will stumble over the corpses.
4 Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute — a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, who enslaves nations by her harlotry, and entices peoples by her sorcery —
5 “I am against you,” declares the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “I will strip off your clothes! I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
6 I will pelt you with filth; I will treat you with contempt; I will make you a public spectacle.
7 Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust; they will say, ‘Nineveh has been devastated! Who will lament for her?’ There will be no one to comfort you!”