Nahum 1



Nahum 1
 
Nahum 1:1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
  • Burden = Isaiah 13:1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
  • Isaiah 27:13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
  • A prophetic oracle: or, the prophetic doom of Nineveh, written about ninety (603-514 = B.C.) years before Nineveh's doom; and while the Assyrian Empire was at its height.
  • The doom of Nineveh came therefore 176 years after Jonah's mission.
  • The prophecy was addressed to Nahum's own People, but as a menace to Nineveh.
  • Nineveh, This heading is not "undoubtedly by a later hand", as alleged.
  • The words "the place thereof" would be unintelligible without it.
  • Nahum 1:8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
  • Nineveh is not mentioned again until; and is only hinted at elsewhere.
  • Nahum 2:8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
  • The Structure below is the best commentary.
  • Nahum 3:1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;
  • Nahum 3:18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
  • Vision = Like Isaiah, always one whole. Not written before or separately from, its deliverance.
  • Nahum = the compassionate, or consoler.
  • The name refers back to God's compassion connected with Jonah's mission eighty-seven years before.
  • Nothing is known of Nahum beyond his book.
  • Elkoshite = Hebrew. "Elkoshi. A village of this name exists today, twenty four miles north of Nineveh (now Konyunjik).
2 God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
  • God wrath for his enemies
3 The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

7 The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
  • The day of trouble = Satan's tribution
  • Revelation 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
  • 5th trump or 1st woe to the earth, Satan fallen into the earth with his angels
  • Pit of lies by Satan, his seed and his angles
  • Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhibiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
  • Revelation 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
  • Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
  • 2 Corinthians 11:13-4 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
  • Transformed = to transfigure or disguise
  • Luke 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
    • Revelation 12:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
  • The structure shows that three things from the subject of the 5th trump:
  • The fallen angels are here on earth, their power and their continuance of 5 months.
  • The fallen star = Satan
  • The pit of the abyss appears to be the abode of demons with lies
  • The Abyss (The key and the opening)
  • Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
    2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
    3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
    • Revelation12:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
  • Note it said, "AS" the scorpions of the earth have power,
  • Luke 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
    19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
  • Smoke is the Greek word NT:2586 means of uncertain affinity; smoke
  • The smoke came from the bottomless pit, with lies, confusion, uncertain
  • The Locusts are men. The fallen angels upon the earth, their power and their continuance of 5 months.
  • Verse 7... their faces were as men
  • Revelation 12:4 And it was commanded them (Satan and his angels) that they should not hurt the grass (flesh) of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
  • We know now that these are not locusts, because God told them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, and this is what locusts eat.
  • Verse 7... their faces were as men
  • Grass = flesh
  • 1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
  • God said touch not the people with the seal of God in there forehead.
  • What was spoken of on Pentecost Day? 
  • Acts 2:16 This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.
  • Joel talks about the four stages of the locusts.
  • Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
  • He knoweth them that trust in him.
8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

9 What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor.

12 Thus saith the Lord; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

13 For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

14 And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
 
• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.
 
•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

(Leviticus. 26: 28-46) God warned Israel that if they persisted in continually breaking His Laws, not only would curses come upon them.

He would punish them for seven times, (a time being 360 years, seven times would be 2520 years) and would banish them from the land of Palestine and scatter them among the heathens (like lost sheep)

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25
 
                                                                 Nahum 1