Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nahum 1:2
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.
2. God is jealous ] The original order of words being retained:
A jealous God and vengeful is Jehovah,
Jehovah is vengeful and wrathful;
Jehovah is vengeful upon His adversaries,
And retaineth wrath against His enemies.
“Jealousy” is the reaction of injured self-consciousness, it is God’s resentful self-assertion when He Himself, or that which is His, as His people or land, is too nearly touched; Deu 4:23-24; Jos 24:19; Exo 20:5; Exo 34:14. Here His “jealousy” is awakened by the long-continued injuries inflicted on His people. The form of spelling the Heb. word “jealous” occurs again Jos 24:19; the more usual form, Exo 20:5. “Wrathful” is lit. the possessor, cherisher, of wrath; the phrase again, Pro 29:22, cf. Pro 22:24. On the “vengeance” of God, comp. Isa 63:4 “the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come”; Isa 34:8; Isa 61:2. After “retaineth” wrath is understood, Jer 3:5; Psa 103:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2 6. An introduction on the attributes of Jehovah, God of Israel
The introduction, Nah 1:2-6, leads up to Jehovah’s interposition against Nineveh: (1) Nah 1:2-3 a His moral attributes; (2) Nah 1:3 b Nah 1:6 the activity of these attributes when He reveals Himself in the Theophany of the tempest.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
God is jealous and the Lord revengeth – Rather (as the English margin) God very jealous and avenging is the Lord. The Name of God, (YHVH), He who Is, the Unchangeable, is thrice repeated, and thrice it is said of Him that He is an Avenger. It shows both the certainty and greatness of the vengeance, and that He who inflicts it, is the All-Holy Trinity, who have a care for the elect. Gods jealousy is twofold. It is an intense love, not bearing imperfections or unfaithfulness in that which It loves, and so chastening it; or not bearing the ill-dealings of those who would injure what It loves, and so destroying them. To Israel He had revealed Himself as a Exo 20:5-6 jealous God, visiting iniquity but shewing mercy; here, as jealous for His people against those who were purely His enemies and the enemies of His people (see Zec 1:14), and so His jealousy burns to their destruction, in that there is in them no good to be refined, but only evil to be consumed.
The titles of God rise in awe; first, intensely jealous and an Avenger; then, an Avenger and a Lord of wrath; One who hath it laid up with Him, at His Command, and the more terrible, because it is so; the Master of it, (not, as man, mastered by it; having it, to withhold or to discharge; yet so discharging it, at last, the more irrevocably on the finally impenitent. And this He says at the last, an Avenger to His adversaries, (literally, those who hem and narrow Him in). The word avenged is almost appropriated to God in the Old Testament, as to punishment which He inflicts, or at least causes to be inflicted , whether on individuals Gen 4:15, Gen 4:24; 1Sa 24:12; 2Sa 4:8; 2Ki 9:7; Jer 11:20; Jer 15:15; Jer 20:12, or upon a people, (His own Lev 26:25; Psa 99:8; Eze 24:8 or their enemies Deu 32:41, Deu 32:43; Psa 18:48; Isa 34:8; Isa 35:4; Isa 47:3; Isa 59:17; Isa 61:2; Isa 63:4; Mic 5:14; Jer 46:10; Jer 50:15, Jer 50:28; Jer 51:6, Jer 51:11, Jer 51:36; Eze 25:14, Eze 25:17, for their misdeeds. In the main it is a defect . Personal vengeance is mentioned only in characters, directly or indirectly censured, as Samson Jdg 15:7; Jdg 16:20 or Saul . It is forbidden to man, punished in him, claimed by God as His own inalienable right. Vengeance is Mine and requital (Deu 32:35, compare Psa 94:1). Thou shalt not avenge nor keep up against the children of My people Lev 19:18. Yet it is spoken of, not as a mere act of God, but as the expression of His Being. Shall not My soul be avenged of such a nation as this? Jer 5:9, Jer 5:29; Jer 9:9.
And a Reserver of wrath for His enemies – The hardened and unbelieving who hate God, and at last, when they had finally rejected God and were rejected by Him, the object of His aversion. It is spoken after the manner of men, yet therefore is the more terrible. There is that in God, to which the passions of man correspond; they are a false imitation of something which in Him is good, a distortion of the true likeness of God, in which God created us and whisk man by sin defaced. : Pride doth imitate exaltedness: whereas Thou Alone art God exalted over all. Ambition, what seeks it, but honors and glory? Whereas Thou alone art to be honored above all and glorious for evermore. The cruelty of the great would fain be feared; but who is to be feared but God alone, out of whose power what can be wrested or withdrawn, when, or where, or whither, or by whom? The tendernesses of the wanton would fain be counted love: yet is nothing more tender than Thy charity; nor is aught loved more healthfully than that Thy truth, bright and beautiful above all. Curiosity makes semblance of a desire of knowledge; whereas Thou supremely knowest all. Yea, ignorance and foolishness itself is cloaked under the name of simplicity and uninjuriousness: because nothing is found more single than Thee; and what less injurious, since they are his own works which injure the sinner?
Yea, sloth would fain be at rest; but what stable rest beside the Lord? Luxury affects to be called plenty and abundance; but Thou art the fullness and never-failing plenteousness of incorruptible pleasures. Prodigality presents a shadow of liberality: but Thou art the most overflowing Giver of all good. Covetousness would possess many things; and Thou possessest all things. Envy disputes for excellency: what more excellent than Thou? Anger seeks revenge: who revenges more justly than Thou? Fear startles at things unaccustomed or sudden, which endanger things beloved, and takes forethought for their safety; but to Thee what unaccustomed or sudden, or who separats from Thee what Thou lovest? Or where but with Thee is unshaken safety? Grief pines away for things lost, the delight of its desires; because it would have nothing taken from it, as nothing can from Thee. Thus doth the soul seek without Thee what she finds not pure and untainted, until she returns to Thee. Thus, all pervertedly imitate Thee, who remove far from Thee, and lift themselves up against Thee. But even by thus imitating Thee, they imply Thee to be the Creator of all nature; whence there is no place, whither altogether to retire from Thee. And so, in man, the same qualities are good or bad, as they have God or self for their end. : The joy of the world is a passion. Joy in the Holy Spirit or to joy in the Lord is a virtue. The sorrow of the world is a passion. The sorrow according to God which works salvation is a virtue. The fear of the world which hath torment, from which a man is called fearful, is a passion. The holy tear of the Lord, which abides forever, from which a man is called reverential, is a virtue. The hope of the world, when ones hope is in the world or the princes of the world, is a passion. Hope in God is a virtue, as well as faith and charity. Though these four human passions are not in God, there are four virtues, having the same names, which no one can have, save from God, from the Spirit of God. in man they are passions, because man is so far passive and suffers under them, and, through original sin, cannot hinder having them, though by Gods grace he may hold them in.
God, without passion and in perfect holiness, has qualities, which in man were jealousy, wrath, vengeance, unforgivingness, a rigor of perfect justice toward the impenitent, which punishes so severely, as though God had fury; only, in Him it is righteous to punish mans unrighteousness. Elsewhere it is said, God keepeth not for ever Psa 103:9, or it is asked, will He keep forever? Jer 3:5, and He answers, Return, and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, I will not keep for ever Jer 3:12. Mans misdeeds and Gods displeasure remain with God, to be effaced on mans repentance, or by his hardness and impenitent heart man treasureth up unto himself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will reward each according to his works Rom 2:5-6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Nah 1:2
God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth.
The jealous God
There is in man a selfishness that is Divine. It is a singular fact, in our moral constitution, that often the tenderest feelings of our nature should also be the most selfish. Love, even apparently in its highest moods, is sometimes also most exacting and difficult of satisfaction. I have known a mother most jealous of the departure of a daughters heart to its natural home and rest. When I have seen this, I have thought of the selfishness of God. God is infinitely selfish, for we may appropriately use that term. For selfishness may be celestial, and an attribute of benevolence. We do not, indeed, think much of love that cannot, in circumstances, be jealous; such is but a cold, indifferent, impoverished affection. How can it be other than that the best natures of the universe must he most selfish? Jealousy is not necessarily an infirmity. It may be a Divine emotion. The apostle speaks of a godly jealousy. No doubt all our love is |infirmity. The best, what we call the most purely unselfish, has its infirmity: I call that rove of the highest which most intensely desires the well-being of its objects! this is me selfishness of love. Jealousy is a passion that depends for its character upon the fuel that gives its flame. It is the sorrowing and pitying passion which would save, if it could, from the perdition and the doom, and unable to do so, or even seeking to do so, moves all its powers, takes all the minor emotions, faculties, and casts them into the flames of its love, bidding all blue. This is the apostles godly jealousy. And God is jealous. Do not think of Him as beneath the influence of that passion which sometimes, as envy, spite, and malice, disturbs our rest; still think of Him as, in a lofty sense, the jealous God. There are many terms applied to Him in Scripture which seem to anthropomorphise His character. Angry, repenting, foreseeing. Whenever such terms are used, think of them as steps of Divine descent. We may be sure they do represent some qualities of the Divine nature on which it is important that we should reflect, and of which we should stand in awe. The meaning of words assists to the conception of things. Jealous is the same word as zealous, and both are derived from the Greek word zeal, fire; zeal is enthusiasm–moral fire; and jealousy,–what is jealousy but love on fire? Is not this the representation we constantly have of God? I do believe in the mercy, and gentleness, and goodness of God. I do believe that He who knows our frame does save His children from the alienation of eternity, even when the heart has so vehemently loved in time the children of time. But then you must take the consequences here of that too vehement love. God is jealous of sin, of all aberrations from Himself. He is jealous of love, of power, of knowledge. See how He is constantly reminding man of his weakness as He incarnates his strength; and God is constantly absorbing mans knowledge, power, and love to Himself. Divine love on fire, God is jealous! There is no love where there is no fire, but let it burn with the white, not with the red heat. Imagine no evil against God from this declaration of His Book. God is jealous, His love is on fire, the Holy Spirit is love on fire,–hell is love on fire. The one by gentle persuasion entreats; the other, by forcible compulsion, guards His holy ones. Thus His fire folds inward and outward; inward to bless, outward to punish–so a calm breath of holy life, a stormy fire of doom. (Paxton Hood.)
The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries.
Great sins bringing great ruin
I. That the great sins of a people must ever bring upon them great ruin. The population of Nineveh was pre-eminently wicked. It is represented in the Scriptures as a bloody city, a city full of lies and robberies; the Hebrew prophets dwell upon its impious haughtiness and ruthless fierceness (Isa 10:7-8). Great sins bring great ruin. It was so with the antediluvians, with the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. The principle of moral causation and the Eternal Justice of the universe demand that wherever there is sin there shall be suffering, and in proportion to the amount of sin shall be the amount of suffering.
II. The great ruin that comes presents God to the vision of man as terribly indignant. The passions of man are here ascribed to God. It is only when terrible anguish comes upon the sinner that God appears to the observer as indignant. (Homilist.)
National punishments part of Gods moral government
I. The certainty that sin will not remain unpunished.
1. The inevitable working of natural laws secures this. Physical, social, and spiritual evils follow sin.
2. The declared character of God secures it. He is a jealous God.
II. There is no resisting the judgments of God. His power is seen in nature. The rolling whirlwind, the dark tempest, the desolating storm are symbols of His wrath and of His might.
III. Yet in wrath God remembers mercy.
1. There is a refuge for those who turn and repent.
2. No sins preclude hope.
3. Salvation is full and certain to the truly penitent.
4. Though the godly suffer trouble, they will be delivered from it. Their trials are only a discipline, if used aright. (C. Cunningham Geikie, D. D.)
Gods judgments will be fulfilled
As you stood some stormy day upon a sea cliff and marked the giant billow rise from the deep to rush on with foaming crest, and throw itself thundering on the trembling shore, did you ever fancy that you could stay its course and hurl it back to the depths of the ocean? Did you ever stand beneath the leaden, lowering cloud, and mark the lightnings leap as it shot and flashed, and think that you could grasp the bole and change its path? Still more foolish and vain his thought who fancies that he can arrest and turn aside the purpose of God. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. God is jealous] For his own glory.
And – revengeth] His justice; by the destruction of his enemies.
And is furious] So powerful in the manifestations of his judgments, that nothing can stand before him.
He reserveth wrath] Though they seem to prosper for a time, and God appears to have passed by their crimes without notice, yet he reserveth – treasureth up – wrath for them, which shall burst forth in due time.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God; the mighty God, so the French version, and the Hebrew implieth it.
Is jealous; his love is fervent for his people, his displeasure hot against his and their enemies, whose idolatries he will not long bear against himself, nor their cruelties and rage against his people; but, as jealous for his peoples good, and for his own glory, he will appear and act: so Isa 42:13; Eze 39:25; Zec 1:14; 8:2.
The Lord; Jehovah, the everlasting and unchangeable God, the same always towards his people. Revengeth; as supreme Governor, who by office is, and accounts himself, bound to right the oppressed, and to punish the oppressor; so vengeance is the Lords, and he will repay.
The Lord revengeth; it is repeated for confirming the truth, and to affect the wicked with terror, and to awaken them to a timely repentance; to affect Gods own people with joy and hope, that they may wait on him till they see the vengeance from God, mighty, judge, zealous, unchangeable, and eternal.
Is furious, Heb. is Lord or Master of fury; not like furious men, who cannot command or govern their anger, but grow suddenly furious, and as suddenly pour it forth, whether seasonably or unseasonably they regard not; but God, who here threatens enemies, and comforts his friends, is as much Lord of his anger, as he is Lord of power and wisdom to execute his displeasure in fittest time.
Will take vengeance; when it is most seasonable he should do it he most certainly will do it.
He reserveth wrath: this explains the former phrase,
Lord of fury; God restrains and keeps in his own anger, which grows greater by the sufferings of his people and sins of his enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. jealousIn this there issternness, yet tender affection. We are jealous only of those welove: a husband, of a wife; a king, of his subjects’ loyalty. God isjealous of men because He loves them. God will not bear a rival inHis claims on them. His burning jealousy for His own wounded honorand their love, as much as His justice, accounts for all His fearfuljudgments: the flood, the destruction of Jerusalem, that of Nineveh.His jealousy will not admit of His friends being oppressed, and theirenemies flourishing (compare Exo 20:5;1Co 16:22; 2Co 11:2).Burning zeal enters into the idea in “jealous” here(compare Num 25:11; Num 25:13;1Ki 19:10).
the Lord revengeth . . . LordrevengethThe repetition of the incommunicable name JEHOVAH,and of His revenging, gives an awful solemnity to theintroduction.
furiousliterally, “amaster of fury.” So a master of the tongue, that is,”eloquent.” “One who, if He pleases, can most readilygive effect to His fury” [GROTIUS].Nahum has in view the provocation to fury given to God by theAssyrians, after having carried away the ten tribes, now proceedingto invade Judea under Hezekiah.
reserveth wrath for hisenemiesreserves it against His own appointed time (2Pe2:9). After long waiting for their repentance in vain, at lengthpunishing them. A wrong estimate of Jehovah is formed from Hissuspending punishment: it is not that He is insensible or dilatory,but He reserves wrath for His own fit time. In the case of thepenitent, He does not reserve or retain His anger (Psa 103:9;Jer 3:5; Jer 3:12;Mic 7:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
God [is] jealous, and the Lord revengeth,…. He is jealous of his own honour and glory, and for his own worship and ordinances; and will not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven images; and therefore will punish all idolaters, and particularly the idolatrous Assyrians: he is jealous for his people, and cannot bear to see them injured; and will avenge the affronts that are offered, and the indignities done unto them:
the Lord revengeth, and [is] furious; or, is “master of wrath” u; full of it, or has it at his command; can restrain it, and let it out as he pleases, which man cannot do; a furious and passionate man, who has no rule over his spirit. The Lord’s revenging is repeated for the confirmation of it; yea, it is a third time observed, as follows; which some of the Jewish writers think has respect to the three times the king of Assyria carried the people of Israel captive, and for which the Lord would be revenged on him, and punish him:
the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries; on all his adversaries; particularly the Assyrians are here meant, who were both the enemies of him and of his people. The Targum explains it,
“that hate his people:”
vengeance belongs to the Lord, and he will repay it sooner or later; if not immediately, he will hereafter; for it follows:
and he reserveth [wrath] for his enemies: and them for that; if not in this world, yet in the world to come; he lays it up among his treasures, and brings it forth at his pleasure. The word “wrath” is not in the text; it is not said what he reserves for the enemies of himself and church; it is inconceivable and inexpressible.
u “dominus irae”, Calvin, Vatablus, Grotius; “dominus excandescentiae”, Piscator, Tarnovius; “dominus irae aestuantis, [sive] fervoris”, Burkius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The description of the divine justice, and its judicial manifestation on the earth, with which Nahum introduces his prophecy concerning Nineveh, has this double object: first of all, to indicate the connection between the destruction of the capital of the Assyrian empire, which is about to be predicted, and the divine purpose of salvation; and secondly, to cut off at the very outset all doubt as to the realization of this judgment. Nah 1:2. “A God jealous and taking vengeance is Jehovah; an avenger is Jehovah, and Lord of wrathful fury; an avenger is Jehovah to His adversaries, and He is One keeping wrath to His enemies. Nah 1:3. Jehovah is long-suffering and of great strength, and He does not acquit of guilt. Jehovah, His way is in the storm and in the tempest, and clouds are the dust of His feet.” The prophecy commences with the words with which God expresses the energetic character of His holiness in the decalogue (Exo 20:5, cf. Exo 34:14; Deu 4:24; Deu 5:9; and Jos 24:19), where we find the form for . Jehovah is a jealous God, who turns the burning zeal of His wrath against them that hate Him (Deu 6:15). His side of the energy of the divine zeal predominates here, as the following predicate, the three-times repeated , clearly shows. The strengthening of the idea of noqem involved in the repetition of it three times (cf. Jer 7:4; Jer 22:29), is increased still further by the apposition ba’al chemah , possessor of the wrathful heat, equivalent to the wrathful God (cf. Pro 29:22; Pro 22:24). The vengeance applies to His adversaries, towards whom He bears ill-will. Natar , when predicated of God, as in Lev 19:18 and Psa 103:9, signifies to keep or bear wrath. God does not indeed punish immediately; He is long-suffering ( , Exo 34:6; Num 14:18, etc.). His long-suffering is not weak indulgence, however, but an emanation from His love and mercy; for He is g e dol – koach , great in strength (Num 14:17), and does not leave unpunished ( after Exo 34:7 and Num 14:18; see at Exo 20:7). His great might to punish sinners, He has preserved from of old; His way is in the storm and tempest. With these words Nahum passes over to a description of the manifestations of divine wrath upon sinners in great national judgments which shake the world ( as in Job 9:17 = , which is connected with in Isa 29:6 and Psa 83:16). These and similar descriptions are founded upon the revelations of God, when bringing Israel out of Egypt, and at the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, when the Lord came down upon the mountain in clouds, fire, and vapour of smoke (Exo 19:16-18). Clouds are the dust of His feet. The Lord comes down from heaven in the clouds. As man goes upon the dust, so Jehovah goes upon the clouds.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Judgment of Nineveh; The Awful Power of God. | B. C. 710. |
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. 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. 8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
Nineveh knows not God, that God that contends with her, and therefore is here told what a God he is; and it is good for us all to mix faith with that which is here said concerning him, which speaks a great deal of terror to the wicked and comfort to good people; for this glorious description of the Sovereign of the world, like the pillar of cloud and fire, has a bright side towards Israel and a dark side towards the Egyptians. Let each take his portion from it; let sinners read it and tremble; let saints read it and triumph. The wrath of God is here revealed from heaven against him enemies, his favour and mercy are here assured to his faithful loyal subjects, and his almighty power in both, making his wrath very terrible and his favour very desirable.
I. He is a God of inflexible justice, a jealous God, and will take vengeance on his enemies; let Nineveh know this, and tremble before him. Their idols are insignificant things; there is nothing formidable in them. But the God of Israel is greatly to be feared; for, 1. He resents the affronts and indignities done him by those that deny his being or any of his perfections, that set up other gods in competition with him, that destroy his laws, arraign his proceedings, ridicule his word, or are abusive to his people. Let such know that Jehovah, the one only living and true God, is a jealous God, and a revenger; he is jealous for the comfort of his worshippers, jealous for his land (Joel ii. 18), and will not have that injured. He is a revenger, and he is furious; he has fury (so the word is), not as man has it, in whom it is an ungoverned passion (so he has said, Fury is not in me, Isa. xxvii. 4), but he has it in such a way as becomes the righteous God, to put an edge upon his justice, and to make it appear more terrible to those who otherwise would stand in no awe of it. He is Lord of anger (so the Hebrew phrase is for that which we read, he is furious); he has anger, but he has it at command and under government. Our anger is often lord over us, as theirs that have no rule over their own spirits, but God is always Lord of his anger and weighs a path to it, Ps. lxxviii. 50. 2. He resolves to reckon with those that put those affronts upon him. We are told here, not only that he is a revenger, but that he will take vengeance; he has said he will, he has sworn it, Deu 32:40; Deu 32:41. Whoever are his adversaries and enemies among men, he will make them feel his resentments; and, though the sentence against his enemies is not executed speedily, yet he reserves wrath for them and reserves them for it in the day of wrath. Against his own people, who repent and humble themselves before him, he keeps not his anger for ever, but against his enemies he will for ever let out his anger. He will not at all acquit the wicked that sin, and stand to it, and do not repent, v. 3. Those wickedly depart from their God that depart, and never return (Ps. xviii. 21), and these he will not acquit. Humble supplicants will find him gracious, but scornful beggars will not find him easy, or that the door of mercy will be opened to a loud, but late, Lord, Lord. This revelation of the wrath of God against his enemies is applied to Nineveh (v. 8), and should be applied by all those to themselves who go on still in their trespasses: With an over-running flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof. The army of the Chaldeans shall overrun the country of the Assyrians, and lay it all waste. God’s judgments, when they come with commission, are like a deluge to any people, which they cannot keep off nor make head against. Darkness shall pursue his enemies; terror and trouble shall follow them, whithersoever they go, shall pursue them to utter darkness; if they think to flee from the darkness which pursues them they will but fall into that which is before them.
II. He is a God of irresistible power, and is able to deal with his enemies, be they ever so many, ever so mighty, ever so hardy. He is great in power (v. 3), and therefore it is good having him our friend and bad having him our enemy. Now here,
1. The power of God is asserted and proved by divers instances of it in the kingdom of nature, where we always find its visible effects in the ordinary course of nature, and sometimes in the surprising alterations of that course. (1.) If we look up into the regions of the air, there we shall find proofs of his power, for he has his ways in the whirlwind and the storm. Which way soever God goes he carries a whirlwind and a storm along with him, for the terror of his enemies, Ps. xviii. 9, c. And, wherever there is a whirlwind and a storm, God has the command of it, the control of it, makes his way through it, goes on his way in it, and serves his own purposes by it. He spoke to Job out of the whirlwind, and even stormy winds fulfil his word. He has his way in the whirlwind, that is, he goes on undiscerned, and the methods of his providence are to us unaccountable as it is said, His way is in the sea. The clouds are the dust of his feet; he treads on them, walks on them, raises them when he pleases, as a man with his feet raises a cloud of dust. It is but by permission, or usurpation rather, that the devil is the prince of the power of the air, for that power is in God’s hand. (2.) If we cast our eye upon the great deeps, there we find that the sea is his, for he made it; for, when he pleases, he rebukes the sea and makes it dry, by drying up all the rivers with which it is continually supplied. He gave those proofs of his power when he divided the Red Sea and Jordan, and can do the same again whenever he pleases. (3.) If we look round us on this earth, we find proofs of his power, when, either by the extreme heat and drought of summer or the cold and frost of winter, Bashan languishes, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languishes, the choicest and strongest flower languishes. His power is often seen in earthquakes, which shake the mountains (v. 5), melt the hills, and melt them down, and level them with the plains. When he pleases the earth is burnt at his presence by the scorching heat of the sun, and he could burn it with fire from heaven, as he did Sodom, and at the end of time he will burn the world and all that dwell therein. The earth, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Thus great is the Lord and of great power.
2. This is particularly applied to his anger. If God be an almighty God, we may thence infer (v. 6), Who can stand before his indignation? The Ninevites had once found God slow to anger (as he says v. 3), and perhaps presumed upon the mercy they had then had experience of, and thought they might make bold with him; but they will find he is just and jealous as well as merciful and gracious, and, having shown the justice of his wrath, in the next he shows the power of it, and the utter insufficiency of his enemies to contend with him. It is in vain for the stoutest and strongest of sinners to think to make their part good against the power of God’s anger. (1.) See God here as a consuming fire, terrible and mighty. Here is his indignation against sin, and the fierceness of his anger, his fury poured out, not like water, but like fire, like the fire and brimstone rained on Sodom, Ps. xi. 6. Hell is the fierceness of God’s anger, Rev. xvi. 19. God’s anger is so fierce that it beats down all before it: The rocks are thrown down by him, which seemed immovable. Rocks have sometimes been rent by the eruption of subterraneous fires, which is a faint resemblance of the fierceness of God’s anger against sinners whose hearts are rocky, for none ever hardened their hearts against him and prospered. (2.) See sinners here are stubble before the fire, weak and impotent, and a very unequal match for the wrath of God. [1.] They are utterly unable to bear up against it, so as to resist it, and put by the strokes of it: Who can stand before his indignation? Not the proudest and most daring sinner; not the world of the ungodly; no, not the angels that sinned. [2.] They are utterly unable to bear up under it so as to keep up their spirits, and preserve any enjoyment of themselves: Who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? As it is irresistible, so it is intolerable. Some of the effects of God’s displeasure in this world a man may bear up under, but the fierceness of his anger, when it fastens immediately upon the soul, who can bear? Let us therefore fear before him; let us stand in awe, and not sin.
III. He is a God of infinite mercy; and in the midst of all this wrath mercy is remembered. Let the sinners in Zion be afraid, that go on still in their transgressions, but let not those that trust in God tremble before him. For, 1. He is slow to anger (v. 3), not easily provoked, but ready to show mercy to those who have offended him and to receive them into favour upon their repentance. 2. When the tokens of his rage against the wicked are abroad he takes care for the safety and comfort of his own people (v. 7): The Lord is good to those that are good, and to them he will be a stronghold in the day of trouble. Note, The same almighty power that is exerted for the terror and destruction of the wicked is engaged, and shall be employed, for the protection and satisfaction of his own people; he is able both to save and to destroy. In the day of public trouble, when God’s judgments are in the earth, laying all waste, he will be a place of defence to those that by faith put themselves under his protection, those that trust in him in the way of their duty, that live a life of dependence upon him, and devotedness to him; he knows them, he owns them for his, he takes cognizance of their case, knows what is best for them, and what course to take most effectually for their relief. They are perhaps obscure and little regarded in the world, but the Lord knows them, Ps. i. 6.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Nahum begins with the nature of God, that what he afterwards subjoins respecting the destruction of Nineveh might be more weighty, and produce a greater impression on the hearers. The preface is general, but the Prophet afterwards applies it to a special purpose. If he had only spoken of what God is, it would have been frigid at least it would have been less efficacious; but when he connects both together, then his doctrine carries its own force and power. We now apprehend the design of the Prophet. He might indeed have spoken of the fall of the city Nineveh: but if he had referred to this abruptly, profane men might have regarded him with disdain; and even the Israelites would have been perhaps less affected. This is the reason why he shows, in a general way, what sort of Being God is. And he takes his words from Moses; and the Prophets are wont to borrow from him their doctrine: (208) and it is from that most memorable vision, when God appeared to Moses after the breaking of the tables. I have therefore no doubt but that Nahum had taken from Exo 34:0 what we read here: he does not, indeed, give literally what is found there; but it is sufficiently evident that he paints, as it were, to the life, the image of God, by which his nature may be seen.
He says first, that God is jealous; ( amulus — emulous); for the verb קנא, kona, means to irritate, and also to emulate, and to envy. When God is said to be קנוא, konua, the Greeks render it jealous, ζηλωτην, and the Latins, emulous, ( amulatorem) But it properly signifies, that God cannot bear injuries or wrongs. Though God then for a time connives at the wickedness of men? he will yet be the defender of his own glory. He calls him afterwards the avenger, and he repeats this three times, Jehovah avengeth, Jehovah avengeth and possesseth wrath, he will avenge. When he says that God keeps for his enemies, he means that vengeance is reserved for the unbelieving and the despisers of God. There is the same mode of speaking in use among us, Je lui garde, et il la garde a ses ennemis. This phrase, in our language, shows what the Prophet means here by saying, that God keeps for his enemies. And this awful description of God is to be applied to the present case, for he says that he proclaims war against the Ninevites, because they had unjustly distressed the Church of God: it is for this reason that he says, that God is jealous, that God is an avenger; and he confirms this three times, that the Israelites might feel assured that this calamity was seriously announced; for had not this representation been set before them, they might have thus reasoned with themselves, — “We are indeed cruelly harassed by our enemies; but who can think that God cares any thing for our miseries, since he allows them so long to be unavenged?” It was therefore necessary that the Prophet should obviate such thoughts, as he does here. We now more fully understand why he begins in a language so vehement, and calls God a jealous God, and an avenger.
He afterwards adds, that God possesses wrath I do not take חמה, cheme, simply for wrath, but the passion or he it of wrath. We ought not indeed to suppose, as it has been often observed, that our passions belong to God; for he remains ever like himself. But yet God is said to be for a time angry, and for ever towards the reprobate, for he is our and their Judge. Here, then, when the Prophet says, that God is the Lord of wrath, or that he possesses wrath, he means that he is armed with vengeance and that, though he connives at the sins of men, he is not yet indifferent, nor even delays because he is without power, or because he is idle and careless, but that he retains wraths as he afterwards repeats the same thing, He keeps for his enemies (209) In short, by these forms of speaking the Prophet intimates that God is not to be rashly judged of on account of his delay, when he does not immediately execute His judgments; for he waits for the seasonable opportunity. But, in the meantime there is no reason for us to think that he forgets his office when he suspends punishment, or for a season spares the ungodly. When, therefore, God does not hasten so very quickly, there is no ground for us to think that he is indifferent, because he delays his wrath, or retains it, as we have already said; for it is the same thing to retain wrath, as to be the Lord of wrath, and to possess it. It follows —
(208) How far this language is right, may be questioned. The Prophets, under the immediate direction of the Divine Spirit, can hardly be said to borrow from a previous writer. They have no doubt announced the same sentiments, and in some instances, used the same words, as those found in the writings of Moses; but they derived them not from those writings, but from Divine inspiration: and, as Calvin has often observed, they adduced nothing but what they received from God. But this language is not peculiar to Calvin: he adopted it from the fathers. — Ed.
(209) The following may be proposed as the literal rendering of this verse, —
A God jealous and an avenger is Jehovah; Avenger is Jehovah, and one who has indignation: Avenger is Jehovah on his adversaries, And watch does he for his enemies.
God is said to be jealous in the second commandment, being one who will not allow his own honor to be given to another. Avenger, נקם, is a vindicator of his own rights; and he is said to have indignation, or hot wrath, or great displeasure; בעל חמה, possessor, holder, or keeper of indignation. His adversaries, צריו, rather, his oppressors; the oppressors of his people were his own oppressors. נוטר means to watch, rather than to keep. Its meaning here is to watch the opportunity to take than to keep. Its meaning here is to watch the opportunity to take vengeance on his enemies. The description here is remarkable, and exactly adapted to the oppressive state of the Jews. The dishonor done to God’s people was done to him. He is jealous, a defender of his own rights, full of indignation, and watches and waits for a suitable time to execute vengeance, to vindicate his own honor. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE COMING OF THE LORD OF JUDGEMENT . . . Nah. 1:2-8
RV . . . Jehovah is a jealous God and avengeth; Jehovah taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty: Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers; Bashan languisheth, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that take refuge in him. But with an over-running flood he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. LXX . . . God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges with wrath; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he cuts off his enemies. The Lord is longsuffering, and his power is great, and the Lord will not hold any guiltless: his way is in destruction and in the whirlwind, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He threatens the sea, and dries it up, and exhausts all the rivers: the land of Basan, and Carmel are brought low, and the flourishing trees of Libanus have come to nought. The mountains quake at him, and the hills are shaken, and the earth recoils at his presence, even the world, and all that dwell in it. Who shall stand before his anger? and who shall withstand in the anger of his wrath? his wrath brings to nought kingdoms, and the rocks are burst asunder by him. The Lord is good to them that wait on him in the day of affliction; and he knows them that reverence him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end: darkness shall pursue those that rise up against him and his enemies.
COMMENTS
JEHOVAH, GOD OF WRATH . . .
The wrath of God is here revealed from heaven against His enemies at the same time His favor and mercy are assured to His faithful, loyal people. His almighty power in both make His wrath exceedingly terrible and His grace very much to be desired.
JEHOVAH IS JEALOUS . . .
The Assyrian empire had desolated Israel and harassed Judah repeatedly. It seemed their idols had overcome the people of Jehovah. The poetic prophet warns that God is jealous. He will not allow the seeming power of false gods to go unchallenged.
Here is an echo of Jehovahs own evaluation of Himself in Exo. 20:5; Exo. 34:14, Deu. 4:24; Deu. 5:9; Deu. 6:15.
There is a certain affection expressed here. Jealousy is of those we love. It is His wounded heart that brings about Ninevehs destruction. Gods wrath is always Gods love reacting to unfaithfulness.
JEHOVAH AVENGETH . . .
Only God is qualified to avenge. He does so in complete justice. In the case of Nineveh, He had gone to great lengths (cf. Jonah) to warn them of the consequence of their sin.
JEHOVAH IS FULL OF WRATH . . .
Paul, in Rom. 1:18 -ff, speaks of Gods wrath being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Rom. 2:5 -ff pictures Gods wrath as being stored up against the day of wrath when it will be released in a burst of pent-up power. John the Baptist spoke of fleeing from the wrath to come (Mat. 3:7, Luk. 3:7), John, the apostle of love, indicates that the wrath of God remains on those who do not believe and obey the Gospel. Jesus spoke of Gods wrath in His foretelling of the destruction of Jerusalem. (Luk. 21:22)
In light of these, and many more New Testament passages, we must conclude that Jehovah as a God of wrath was not, as some have taught, a primitive notion limited to the Old Testament. The loving God of the New Testament is the same God and wrath is yet one of the facets of His nature.
Nah. 1:2-3 (a) indicate that while Jehovah is a jealous God, avenging and full of wrath, His wrath is never impetuous or petulant. His wrath is reserved for His enemies: those who have set themselves against His purposes and His people. He is slow to anger, as indeed a God of love Who demands patience of His people must be. Nevertheless, His patience and slow anger must never be misunderstood as weakness or tolerance of enmity toward Himself.
Nah. 1:3(b)-7 . . . Jehovah is great in power, as witness His control over the forces of nature, the whirlwind, the storm, the clouds, the sea. Even the weather is in His power. The rivers run dry and the most verdant areas of the land, Bashan and Carmel and Lebanon languish and do not produce at His command.
The immovable mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the very earth itself is upheaved in His presence . . . even the whole world and all who inhabit it. Rocks break asunder at the outpouring of His wrath.
In the day of Gods wrath, they are kept safe who are in Him, but those who attempt to flee will find their hiding places swept away as in a flood.
This entire passage of Nahum is a poetic picture of the wrath of God. Such vividness could scarcely be achieved by the more literal language of prose. It is reminiscent of the apocalyptic description in Rev. 6:12-17 of the opening of the sixth seal.
(Nah. 1:8) The image of an over-running flood is possibly an allusion to Ninevehs capture by the Medo-Persian armies through a flood in the river which destroyed her walls. More likely it is a poetic reference to the overwhelming armies. The figure is also used quite normally to simply suggest calamity, (cp. Psa. 32:6; Psa. 42:7; Psa. 90:5) her place . . . (RV)
This phrase is a direct reference to Nineveh. The city is figured as a queen. Her place (of dwelling) is to be utterly demolished.
Chapter XIIQuestions
Introduction
1.
Jonah prophesied to Nineveh about __________ years before Nahum.
2.
How do you explain Gods destruction of Nineveh in view of her repentance at Jonahs preaching?
3.
What two phrases in Nah. 1:1 establish the work as inspired Scripture?
4.
God assures His faithful and loyal people of His __________ and at the same time He pronounces His wrath against Nineveh.
5.
What had been Ninevehs past dealing with Israel?
6.
Comment on the idea that God is a jealous God.
7.
Explain Jehovah is full of wrath!
8.
In light of Nah. 1:3(b) – Nah. 1:7 discuss the power of God.
9.
What is meant by the overrunning flood in Nahim Nah. 1:8?
10.
Show how Ninevehs attempts at self-defense were to prove futile.
11.
What sort of person was Sennacherib?
12.
What was to become of the gods Nineveh worshipped?
13.
Discuss (Nah. 1:15) Behold upon the mountain.
14.
Discuss (Nah. 1:15) keep thy feasts . . . perform thy vows.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(2) God . . . furious.Better, A jealous and vengeful God is Jehovah, an avenger is Jehovah, aye, wrathful. This verse lays the groundwork for the declaration of Gods sentence against the offending city. There are, of course, several passages in the Law which attribute the same character to Jehovah, e.g., Exo. 20:5; Deu. 4:24. Nahums model, however, is a passage of opposite purport, the well-known proclamation of Jehovahs attribute of mercy (Exo. 34:6-7). To that passage the present is a kind of counterpoise, l kann vnkm here being the pendant to l rachoom vchannoon there.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(2-8) Gods character a pledge that the oppressor of His servants shall be destroyed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
DECREE OF NINEVEH’S DOOM, Nah 1:2-15 (+ Nah 2:2?).
Nah 1:2-15 (+ Nah 2:2?) contains the first section of the Book of Nahum. On its originality and poetic form see pp. 432ff. It opens with a sublime description of Jehovah as a God jealous and merciful, the avenger of evil, at whose appearance no one can stand; even heaven and earth tremble (2-6). In Nah 1:7 the prophet turns to his specific theme, and shows what bearing these phases of the divine character have upon the future history of Judah and of Nineveh. Jehovah will be faithful toward those who rely upon him (Nah 1:7), but woe unto his enemies (8). The destruction of the chief of these is already decreed: Nineveh must fall, and her downfall will bring deliverance and rejoicing to Judah (9-15.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Divine manifestations and their effects, Nah 1:2-6.
These verses serve a twofold purpose: 1. They bring the judgment upon Nineveh, which is announced in the rest of the book, into connection with the universal purpose and providence of Jehovah; 2. They remove all doubt concerning the possibility of the execution of the threat.
The entire book deals with the manifestations of the divine wrath against the enemies of Jehovah and of the people of Jehovah. These manifestations are not due to arbitrary decisions on his part; they are the inevitable outgrowth of his character; he cannot rest until sin and wickedness, and all who represent these, are swept away. To emphasize this side of the divine character is the purpose of Nah 1:2-3. For the sake of greater emphasis the divine name is mentioned three times, as also the fact of the divine vengeance; and the intensity of the divine emotions is brought out in a climax jealous, furious, preserveth wrath. Like other prophets seeking to describe the divine attributes, Nahum is compelled to resort to very bold anthropomorphisms.
Jealous See on Joe 2:18.
Revengeth Better, R.V., “avengeth.” Jehovah must vindicate himself and his character, he must show himself holy; hence he is bound to avenge all wrongdoing, and to sweep away all who seek to prevent the carrying out of his holy purpose. Applied to the case in hand, he must destroy the Assyrians, who, through ill treatment accorded to the chosen people, have proved themselves his own enemies.
Furious R.V., “full of wrath”; literally, possessor of wrath. The divine wrath may be defined as “an energy of the divine nature called forth by the presence of daring or presumptuous transgression, and expressing the reaction of the divine holiness against it, in the punishment or destruction of the transgressor.” The divine wrath, jealousy, and vengeance, all express essentially the same idea (see further A.B. Davidson, The Theology of the Old Testament, 318ff.).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Might and Character of God ( Nah 1:2-8 ).
The prophecy begins with an awesome and magnificent picture of the might and character of God.
Nah 1:2
‘YHWH is a jealous God and avenges. YHWH avenges and is full of wrath. YHWH takes vengeance on his adversaries and reserves wrath for his enemies.’
Before John the Apostle in 1Jn 4:8 tells us that God is love, he first reminds us of the fact that God is light, and that in Him there is no darkness at all (1Jn 1:5). By this he was indicating that God hates all sin, whether in individuals or in nations. His light shines on it and reveals it for what it is, and reacts to it, for His light is the essence of what He is, wholly moral and pure.
Nor can He bear sin or allow it to go on indefinitely. At some point He must step in, in judgment on it. Those who will not have a change of heart and mind, and will not repent, seeking His mercy, will eventually have to face His anger against wrongdoing and evil.
Nineveh had been given such an opportunity of repentance by Jonah (see the book of Jonah) and had for a time been spared. But their repentance had been mainly on the surface and they had in the end simply multiplied their sins, (although no doubt some few individuals did continue in the way of God), and they now faced the inevitable consequences.
‘YHWH is a jealous God and avenges.’ The jealousy of God reflects His overall concern for His people. He watches over them with a careful and concerned eye. He is deeply interested in their welfare.
It also reflects His concern that all men recognise His glory, that they recognise Him for what He is (Exo 20:5). He knew the debasing result of their religions, and that it was only when they saw His glory that they could be released from them. So He was concerned that they worship Him as the only God. This was the reason for His ‘jealousy’. He was concerned for those whom He had created, and wanted nothing to spoil their lives.
But His people, whom He watched over as a father over his children, had been badly ill-treated by Assyria, and now God will reward those who have done it. His vengeance and wrath will come on those who have earned it. The same will eventually happen to all who mistreat His people. It had been delayed on Assyria. But at last the time had to come. The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small.
‘YHWH avenges and is full of wrath.’ We like to stress God’s love and compassion. And that is gloriously true. But here we have the other side of the picture. He also takes vengeance on those who sin, and that includes those who treat His people badly. And at that point He is full of wrath.
Biblically ‘wrath’ is not strictly anger. It is not that God is filled with feelings of uncontrollable anger. It is that His attitude towards sin is such that, because He is truly pure and holy, He has an aversion to sin, He cannot therefore overlook it. Unless it is dealt with by atonement, He is roused to action against it. His wrath is the moral sensitivity and reaction against sin that results in the determination to remove it.
‘YHWH takes vengeance on his adversaries and reserves wrath for his enemies.’ We are not left in doubt of the seriousness of God’s reaction to sin. It is in the end inevitable because of what He is. However, it is not blind vengeance. It simply results in men reaping what they sow. When men’s hearts are totally set against God no plea will be effective. They are set in their ways. All that is left is for them to receive what is their due.
Nah 1:3
‘YHWH is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty. YHWH has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.’
‘YHWH is slow to anger and great in power”. The converse to Nah 1:2 is that He does not act hastily. He does not lose His temper. He is ‘slow to anger’ (Exo 34:6). His wrath is revealed only when it is fully and finally deserved. Assyria should have remembered how great and powerful He was by the way that He had delivered Jerusalem (Isaiah 36-38). But rather they had thought that they could mock at YHWH. While they had been chosen to be His rod for chastening Israel, they had one too far (Isa 10:5 ff).
But He is also great in power. His slowness to respond to sin is not because of weakness but because of strength. He is powerful enough to be able to delay judgment until He Himself determines that it is necessary. However, when He does decide to judge, nothing will prevent Him.
Nahum is not a hard hearted prophet. He wants us to be fully aware that what he is about to declare is the consequence of long years of sin and arrogance. God is slow to anger. What He does here is not the norm, except as a consequence of long years of sin.
‘And will by no means clear (clearing He will not clear).’ ‘Guilty’ is put in to make sense. He will by no means clear men unless they are ‘worthy’, that is, unless they make use of the means of mercy and forgiveness and abide by the covenant, which involves obedience to His will. He calls them to account. See Exo 34:7; Num 14:18. This means that if men are unwilling to receive His offer of mercy then they must face the consequences of their guilt. God will not just overlook it or bypass it. He will not count it as nothing or sweep it under the carpet. In the end He will face them up to it. His very morality demands that sin is punished in one way or another.
‘YHWH has his way in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet’ This is a vivid picture of God, striding, as it were, on the pathway of a great storm, surrounded by whirlwinds, causing dust to rise up in the form of swirling clouds. He is seen as Lord over the elements and of disaster. He controls all the most violent elements that affect man’s world.
Notice the mention of YHWH five times. Five is the number of covenant; the number of fingers on the hand that confirms the covenant, the number of statements on each tablet of the covenant, the number whose multiples were constantly used in the tabernacle and the temple and the heavenly temple of Ezekiel. Thus the covenant is in mind. It is as though the hand of God is made bare.
Nah 1:4
‘He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languishes.’
‘He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, He dries up all the rivers.’ He is Lord over the sea which obeys His commands (Psa 77:16; Psa 89:9; Psa 104:7; Job 38:11). When He rebukes it, it becomes dry (Psa 106:9). Contrary to what many say God is never revealed as struggling with the seas. They always obey His command. To Israel, who were always afraid of the sea, that was a wonder indeed. But the point being made here is that no forces can resist Him. Even the mighty sea does His bidding. It was Jesus’ command of the sea and its fury that made His disciples first say, ‘Of a truth You are the Son of God’ (Mat 14:33).
All the rivers are subject to His word. The world’s prosperity and fruitfulness, which mainly depends on the rivers, is dependent on His beneficence. Even the fertile places are dependent on His provision, and when it is withdrawn they wither. The drying up of the Jordan for Joshua may be partly in mind here, but only as an example. The point is that man may boast of his success and plenty, but God can dry it up in an instant.
‘Bashan languishes, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languishes.’ Nahum selects the most fruitful areas that he knows of to illustrate his point. They are all dependent on His benefits. And when they are withdrawn, they wither. Bashan was in Transjordan, famous for its oaks, and its abundant sheep and herds (Psa 22:12; Isa 2:13; Jer 50:19; Eze 27:5-6; Eze 39:18; Amo 4:1; Mic 7:14). Carmel means ‘fruitful land’. See Jer 50:19; Amo 1:2; Amo 9:3; Mic 7:14. For ‘the flower of Lebanon’ see Psa 72:16; Son 4:11; Hos 14:5-7. It is admired in the inscriptions of Tuthmosis III of Egypt.
Nah 1:5
‘The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt. And the earth is upheaved at his presence, yes the world and all who dwell in it.’
So even the mighty mountains quake at His presence, and the hills melt, and the earth is upheaved before Him. This was the kind of language sometimes used by great kings as they advanced to conquer. They claimed that even the mighty mountains recognised their coming. Ashur-nasir-pal II claimed that at his approach “all lands convulse, writhe, and melt as though in a furnace”. For them it was simply arrogance and pride. But for YHWH it is true. He really does make the mountains quake and the hills melt. The language is expanded to take into account that YHWH is unique in power. Possibly partly in mind are the earthquakes familiar in the area. Everything, whether mountain, hill, plain or valley is affected. They all quake before YHWH and the earthquakes are all seen as being the result of His activity.
‘Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.’ No part of the world is outside His sphere of activity, all peoples are under His control. Their destinies are in His hand. They too are upheaved before Him and quake at His presence.
There are clear indications in the narrative that God’s power revealed in the Exodus is in mind, but not as a controlling feature. His ‘jealousy’, His slowness to anger, the storm and the clouds, the rebuking of the sea and the drying up of the river, the quaking of the mountains and the melting of the hills, all remind us of the Exodus narrative (Exo 19:16-18; Exo 20:5; Exo 34:6-7; Psa 106:9). But if so the ideas are greatly expanded on and universalised.
Nah 1:6
‘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 broken asunder by him.’
‘Who can stand before His indignation?’ The answer is, no one, not even mighty Assyria. When God finally determines to deal with sin no one can stop Him. And one day all men will have to face Him. But for now, watch out Assyria! His anger is pictured as being like the lightning that strikes the earth and breaks rocks asunder. Alternately there may be in mind the powerful activity of a volcano, pouring its fiery lava on the earth, and cracking the rocks with its heat.
Nah 1:7
‘YHWH is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who put their trust in him.’
‘YHWH is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.’ But while YHWH is fearsome to those who incur His anger by their constant sinfulness, and by their attacks on His people, He is good to those who trust in Him, those who are in covenant relationship with Him and seek honestly to fulfil their part in the covenant. Indeed when the day of trouble comes He is their stronghold, as Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem had discovered when Jerusalem was besieged by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18-19).
The idea here is that YHWH is essentially good, and His purposes are good. Indeed He only acts as He does because He is good. He acts on behalf of the weak and helpless against their oppressors.
‘He knows those who put their trust in him.’ This means more than knowing in our sense of the word. It means that He has entered into a relationship with them, and therefore acts towards them as protector (Psa 1:6; Joh 10:14; Joh 10:27; 1Co 8:3. It can have a reverse effect – Amo 3:2).
Nah 1:8
‘But with an overrunning flood he will make a full end of its place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.’
Yet although He is essentially good and compassionate He must also deal fully with sin. By its nature it is unavoidable. Let sin totally gain control and the world will be in torment. The overrunning flood almost certainly meant to Nahum a flood of soldiers (Dan 9:26; Dan 11:2; Isa 8:7-8; Jer 46:7-9), swarming down on Nineveh and making a full end of it, following that up by pursuing the defeated enemy as they fled into the darkness. Babylon and the Medes, along with the Scythians, were in fact determined to make a full end of Assyria once and for all. They had suffered too much at their hands.
But ‘into darkness’ may also have a deeper significance. Men feared darkness (Isa 8:22; Joe 2:2; Amo 5:20; Zep 1:15). It spoke of the unknown. In it they would be swallowed up by they knew not what, even possibly the darkness of death (Jer 13:16). Their worst nightmares will be realised. Jesus said that ultimately all those who set themselves against God will go into the outer darkness (Mat 22:13). And the same darkness awaits those who reject God today, as for those Assyrians long ago.
But as often happens in prophecy his words were truer than he knew, for the city finally fell because of breaches made in the defences by the flooding of the river that passed through Nineveh.
‘He will make a full end of its place.’ The huge city was plundered and then burned and left to fall into a desolate heap. Two hundred years later, when Xenophon saw it, it was an unrecognisable mass of debris. And eventually its whereabouts became totally forgotten.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Nah 1:2. God is jealous, &c. This and the following verses, to the eighth, are a preamble, like that of many others in the Prophets, to prepare the mind of the reader, and to impress upon him sentiments of respect and fear. As God is very jealous of his honour, so will he not fail to execute his judgments on those who affront and dishonour him; and though he does not always punish impenitent sinners immediately, yet he will not fail in due time to execute his severity upon them. The repetition of the word revengeth denotes not only the greatness of the divine anger, but the certainty of the punishment. The reader will observe, that many of the ideas in the following verses are taken from the description of the Almighty’s descent on mount Sinai.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1218
GOD A REVENGER OF SIN
Nah 1:2; Nah 1:6. 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..Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
MEN have such ideas of Gods mercy, that they cannot persuade themselves he will ever execute judgment on impenitent transgressors. In fact, it is the hope of this which encourages men to go on in their sins: for, if once they could believe that they shall soon become monuments of Gods righteous indignation, they would consider their ways, and labour by all possible means to avert his displeasure.
About one hundred and forty years before this was written, the Prophet Jonah had been sent to warn the Ninevites of their impending destruction. But they had repented of their wickedness; and God, in his mercy, had withheld his threatened judgments. But now he warns them, that since they had filled up the measure of their iniquities, his wrath should come upon them to the uttermost. Now, I would ask, supposing God to be determined to convince men that he would execute vengeance on the impenitent, what could he add to what is here spoken? Methinks there is here such an accumulation of words, as must defy incredulity itself to question the truth contained in them. It is not a pleasing subject that we are now called to insist upon: but it is necessary; and the more necessary, because of mens backwardness to give it the consideration it deserves. Let us, then, consider,
I.
The description here given of the Deity
God is a jealous God
[He has a claim to our undivided allegiance, and to all the affections of our souls. And when he sees how prone we are to set our affections on the creature rather than on him, it becomes him to be jealous. A man like ourselves would not do well to connive at the unfaithfulness of his wife, who was giving to others the affections which were his unalienable right: how much less, then, can God admit such an alienation of our hearts from him!. He cannot: indeed his very name is Jealous [Note: Exo 34:14.]: and he must divest himself of his every perfection, before he can connive at the dishonour which our unfaithfulness reflects upon him.]
He will take vengeance on obstinate transgressors
[The Lord revengeth; yea, he revengeth, and is furious. We are not indeed to conceive of him as feeling in his own bosom such emotions as constitute fury in man: in that sense fury is not in him [Note: Isa 27:4.]; but, so far as the effects of his displeasure are felt, it will be the same to us, as if he were filled with the utmost rage. At present, indeed, he bears with sinners with all imaginable patience and long-suffering: but he reserves them unto the day of judgment to be punished [Note: 2Pe 2:9.]. In my text, the word wrath is in italics, to shew that it is not in the original. In truth, there is no word in any language that can express what God reserveth for his enemies; no, nor can any imagination conceive it. The Psalmist well says, Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath [Note: Psa 90:11.]]
And who can stand before his indignation?
[Who indeed can abide the fierceness of his anger? These pointed interrogations convey the most tremendous thoughts to our minds. Now we can puff at Gods judgments, as if they were scarcely worthy of a thought [Note: Psa 10:5.]: but it will not be so when the time for the infliction of them is fully come. Then the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, no less than the poor bond-man, will hide themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and will cry to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them, and to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. The great day of his wrath being come, who shall be able to stand [Note: Rev 6:15-17.]? The wrath of man has been sustained, even when it raged to the utmost extent of human ingenuity to inflict pain: but who can sustain the wrath of God? The soul, aided by divine grace, has upheld the body: but who, or what, can uphold the soul, when it is Gods arm, too, that inflicts the punishment? Some will console themselves with the thought that they shall do as well as others. But if they could for one moment descend to hell, and see the agonies, and hear the cries, of a damned soul, methinks it would be little consolation to think that they shall do as well as others. If they were only to be racked upon a wheel, and to endure its agonies but for an hour, their prospect, methinks, would be but little cheered by this thought: how much less then, when the wrath of an offended God must be endured to all eternity!]
But, that we sink not into despondency, let us attend to,
II.
The advice, which one moments reflection on this subject must suggest
The doom of Nineveh was fixed: but not so the doom of any amongst us. No, Brethren, there is yet hope concerning you; yes, concerning every one of you. Only,
1.
Abide not in impenitence
[When Nineveh was warned by Jonah, though no encouragement was given them to repent, they humbled themselves, on a mere peradventure that God might possibly have mercy on them: and the mercy which they sought was accorded to them [Note: Jon 3:5-10.]. But to you I am authorized to proclaim mercy: for Gods gracious message to you is, Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin [Note: Eze 18:30.]. Hear what God says to you by the Prophet Jeremiah: Thus saith the Lord, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it [Note: Jer 4:3-4.]. Yes indeed, by timely humiliation, you may yet avert the wrath of your incensed God; who, if you forsake your evil ways, and turn unto him, will have mercy upon you, and abundantly pardon, to the full extent of your multiplied transgressions [Note: Isa 55:7.].]
2.
Abide not in unbelief
[God has provided a Saviour for you, even his only dear Son; who has, by his own obedience unto death, effected a reconciliation for you; and has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation; so that we are not only authorized, but commanded, to say to all of you, without exception, Be ye reconciled to God [Note: 2Co 5:18-20.]. He has illustrated this to you in his word, by the appointment of cities of refuge for those who by any accident should slay a man. The very instant he should get within the gates of any one of these cities, he was safe; and the pursuer of blood, however enraged, could not get at him to hurt him [Note: Num 35:9-25.]. And who shall sustain any hurt, that flees to Christ for refuge? No: in him you will be safe. Once found in him, you have nothing to fear. You are as safe in him as you would be in heaven itself [Note: Heb 6:17-18. Rom 8:1.]. To every one of you, then, I give this counsel from the Lord: Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast [Note: Isa 26:20.].]
3.
Abide not in a proud defiance of your God
[There were, in the days of old, some who, in answer to Gods threatenings, said, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it [Note: Isa 5:19.]. And such there are amongst ourselves, who, in reply to all that we say, exclaim, Ah, Lord God, doth he not speak parables [Note: Eze 20:49.]? But indeed, my dear brethren, Gods patience will have an end; and the very exercise of it will only aggravate our condemnation, if it do not prevail to lead us to repentance [Note: Rom 2:4-6.]. Be persuaded that Gods description of himself, in the words of our text, will be found true at the last. He is indeed a consuming fire [Note: Heb 12:29.]: and can your heart endure, or your hands be strong, in the day that he shall deal with you [Note: Eze 22:14.]? Have you an arm like God? and can you thunder with a voice like him [Note: Job 40:9.]? No: it is in vain to contend with God: for who shall set briers and thorns against him in battle? He will go through them, and burn them up together [Note: Isa 27:4.]. Verily, it will be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God [Note: Heb 10:31.] Be convinced of this; and to-day, while it is called to-day, implore mercy at his hands: so shall you find, that he will pardon your iniquity, and pass by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage; for he retaineth not anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy [Note: Mic 7:18.]. And if the description of him in my text be true, you shall find that true also which is added in the seventh verse, The Lord is good, a strong-hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
The Prophet opens his sermon with the most striking text, such as the Lord himself opened his sermon with, when he preached before Moses. See Exo 34:1-7 . It were to weaken the words of this solemn and gracious passage, to offer any comment upon them. The Lord’s sovereignty, and the Lord’s grace are awfully set forth. I only beg the Reader to remark how beautifully blended the one is with the other. A child of God that reads this passage, can do as David did, sing of mercy and of judgment, and direct his holy song unto the Lord. Psa 101:1 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Nah 1:2 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.
Ver. 2. God is jealous ] See Trapp on “ Zec 1:14 “
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
Poena venit gravior, quo mage tarda venit
The penalty comes more heavily which comes with great slowness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
GOD. Hebrew El. App-4.
jealous. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 20:5-7. Deu 4:24). App-92. See the Structure (book comments for Nahum), and note the subjects of “A” and “A”; “B” and “B”; “C” and “C”.
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4. Note the Figure of speech Epizeuxis (App-6), for great emphasis.
revengeth = avengeth.
is furious = a possessor of wrath. Hebrew “lord of wrath”.
take vengeance on = be an Avenger to.
wrath. Figure of speech Ellipsis (Absolute). App-6.
for = against.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Nah 1:2-8
THE COMING OF THE LORD OF JUDGEMENT . . . Nah 1:2-8
JEHOVAH, GOD OF WRATH . . .
The wrath of God is here revealed from heaven against His enemies at the same time His favor and mercy are assured to His faithful, loyal people. His almighty power in both make His wrath exceedingly terrible and His grace very much to be desired.
JEHOVAH IS JEALOUS . . .
The Assyrian empire had desolated Israel and harassed Judah repeatedly. It seemed their idols had overcome the people of Jehovah. The poetic prophet warns that God is jealous. He will not allow the seeming power of false gods to go unchallenged. Here is an echo of Jehovahs own evaluation of Himself in Exo 20:5; Exo 34:14, Deu 4:24; Deu 5:9; Deu 6:15. There is a certain affection expressed here. Jealousy is of those we love. It is His wounded heart that brings about Ninevehs destruction. Gods wrath is always Gods love reacting to unfaithfulness.
JEHOVAH AVENGETH . . .
Only God is qualified to avenge. He does so in complete justice. In the case of Nineveh, He had gone to great lengths (cf. Jonah) to warn them of the consequence of their sin.
JEHOVAH IS FULL OF WRATH . . .
Paul, in Rom 1:18 -ff, speaks of Gods wrath being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Rom 2:5 -ff pictures Gods wrath as being stored up against the day of wrath when it will be released in a burst of pent-up power. John the Baptist spoke of fleeing from the wrath to come (Mat 3:7, Luk 3:7), John, the apostle of love, indicates that the wrath of God remains on those who do not believe and obey the Gospel. Jesus spoke of Gods wrath in His foretelling of the destruction of Jerusalem. (Luk 21:22). In light of these, and many more New Testament passages, we must conclude that Jehovah as a God of wrath was not, as some have taught, a primitive notion limited to the Old Testament. The loving God of the New Testament is the same God and wrath is yet one of the facets of His nature.
Nah 1:2-3 (a) indicate that while Jehovah is a jealous God, avenging and full of wrath, His wrath is never impetuous or petulant. His wrath is reserved for His enemies: those who have set themselves against His purposes and His people. He is slow to anger, as indeed a God of love Who demands patience of His people must be. Nevertheless, His patience and slow anger must never be misunderstood as weakness or tolerance of enmity toward Himself.
Zerr: Jealousy (Nah 1:2) is what causes a person to cling to that which he possesses and to resent any attempt of another to take it from him. Assyria had taken possession of a portion of God’s people. He was determined to take vengeance because of it. Reserveth is defined “to cherish” in the lexicon, and the clause means that God holds a store of wrath for his enemies. Slow to anger (Nah 1:3). This phrase is in keeping wtih the last sentence at the preceding verse. It God reserves wrath for certain characters, then He can take as much time as his wisdom suggests in executing it upon His wayward people. But he will not entirely overlook even their wrong-doing, which is the meaning of the words not at all acquit the wicked. That is why He suffered the Assyrians to take the people of Israel into exile. Hath his way means that God does as he wills with all the elements of the universe. If He wishes to use these agencies to carry out some or the decrees of chastisement upon a nation it will be done.
Nah 1:3-7 . . . Jehovah is great in power, as witness His control over the forces of nature, the whirlwind, the storm, the clouds, the sea. Even the weather is in His power. The rivers run dry and the most verdant areas of the land, Bashan and Carmel and Lebanon languish and do not produce at His command. The immovable mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the very earth itself is upheaved in His presence . . . even the whole world and all who inhabit it. Rocks break asunder at the outpouring of His wrath. In the day of Gods wrath, they are kept safe who are in Him, but those who attempt to flee will find their hiding places swept away as in a flood. This entire passage of Nahum is a poetic picture of the wrath of God. Such vividness could scarcely be achieved by the more literal language of prose. It is reminiscent of the apocalyptic description in Rev 6:12-17 of the opening of the sixth seal.
Zerr: Nah 1:4 is further specification of the power of God over the parts of the universe, and it denotes that if He wills to control them as agencies against men and nations it will be accomplished. Bashan was in a heathen tenitory and Carmel with Lebanon was in the possession of Israel. However, wherever the place might be that incurs the divine wrath, it wilt have to suffer whatever form of chastisement that He deems proper. All of these statements in Nah 1:5 are made as a description of the power of God. This verse (Nah 1:5) is quite inclusive, for it begins with the inanimate things in creation, and ends with the living in the words world, and. all that dwell therein. God is able not only to control the material things that have no intelligent power of resistance, but He can rule all living creatures in the world which includes men and nations. It is logical to ask the question with which Nah 1:6 begins, for if God has such universal power it is folly for anyone to think of resisting Him. His fury is compared to fire because of its effect upon corruption to which it is applied. Paul makes the same figurative comparison of God In Heb 12:29 which is also a quotation from Deu 4:24. The Lord is good (Nah 1:7) denotes that God’s wrath is not to be regarded in the light of a destructive fire that ruins everything before it whether good or bad, it should rather be thought or as a purifying flarne that affects only such combustible matter as refuse, leaving unhurt and purified all elements that are useful.
(Nah 1:8) The image of an over-running flood is possibly an allusion to Ninevehs capture by the Medo-Persian armies through a flood in the river which destroyed her walls. More likely it is a poetic reference to the overwhelming armies. The figure is also used quite normally to simply suggest calamity, (cp. Psa 32:6; Psa 42:7; Psa 90:5) her place . . . (RV) This phrase is a direct reference to Nineveh. The city is figured as a queen. Her place (of dwelling) is to be utterly demolished.
Zerr: The same might is now compared to a flood (Nah 1:8) that sweeps everything before it that is not firmly attached. Darkness Is used figuratively, and among the words of the lexicon definition of the original are “misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow.” These conditions come upon those who are enemies of the God of Israel.
Questions
Introduction
1. Jonah prophesied to Nineveh about __________ years before Nahum.
2. How do you explain Gods destruction of Nineveh in view of her repentance at Jonahs preaching?
3. What two phrases in Nah 1:1 establish the work as inspired Scripture?
4. God assures His faithful and loyal people of His __________ and at the same time He pronounces His wrath against Nineveh.
5. What had been Ninevehs past dealing with Israel?
6. Comment on the idea that God is a jealous God.
7. Explain Jehovah is full of wrath!
8. In light of Nah 1:3(b)-7 discuss the power of God.
9. What is meant by the overrunning flood in Nahim Nah 1:8?
10. Show how Ninevehs attempts at self-defense were to prove futile.
11. What sort of person was Sennacherib?
12. What was to become of the gods Nineveh worshipped?
13. Discuss (Nah 1:15) Behold upon the mountain.
14. Discuss (Nah 1:15) keep thy feasts . . . perform thy vows.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
God is jealous
The great ethical lesson of Nahum is that the character of God makes Him not only “slow to anger,” and “a stronghold to them that trust Him,” but also one who “will not at all acquit the wicked.” He can be “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” Rom 3:26 but only because His holy law has been vindicated in the cross.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth: or, The Lord is a jealous God, and a revenger, Exo 20:5, Exo 34:14, Deu 4:24, Jos 24:19, Isa 42:13, Eze 38:18, Eze 39:25, Joe 2:18, Zec 1:14, Zec 8:2
revengeth: Deu 32:35, Deu 32:42, Psa 94:1, Isa 59:17, Isa 59:18, Rom 12:19, Rom 13:4, Heb 10:30
is furious: Heb. that hath fury, Lev 26:28, Job 20:23, Isa 51:17, Isa 51:20, Isa 59:18, Isa 63:3-6, Isa 66:15, Jer 4:4, Jer 25:15, Jer 36:7, Lam 4:11, Eze 5:13, Eze 6:12, Eze 8:18, Eze 36:6, Mic 5:15, Zec 8:2
reserveth: Deu 32:34, Deu 32:35, Deu 32:41-43, Jer 3:5, Mic 7:18, Rom 2:5, Rom 2:6, 2Pe 2:9
Reciprocal: Exo 34:7 – that will by no means clear the guilty Num 14:18 – longsuffering Num 25:11 – that I Num 31:2 – Avenge Deu 7:10 – repayeth Deu 29:20 – his jealousy Deu 32:16 – provoked Jdg 10:7 – was hot Neh 4:14 – great Job 21:30 – the wicked Psa 18:47 – avengeth Isa 13:9 – cruel Isa 30:30 – the flame Isa 34:2 – and his Jer 5:9 – and shall Jer 44:6 – my fury Jer 50:15 – for it Lam 2:4 – he poured Eze 5:15 – when Eze 16:38 – shed Eze 25:14 – and they shall know Dan 9:4 – the great Nah 1:6 – his fury Hab 3:5 – went Luk 19:27 – General Rom 3:5 – Is God Heb 10:27 – which
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Nah 1:2. Jealousy is what causes a person to cling to that which he possesses and to resent any attempt of another to take it from him. Assyria had taken possession of a portion of God’s people. He was determined to take vengeance because of it. Reserveth is defined “to cherish” in the lexicon, and the clause means that God holds a store of wrath for his enemies.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Nah 1:2-3. God is jealous For his own glory; and the Lord revengeth Or rather, avengeth, namely, the cause, or ill treatment, of his people, as being the Supreme Governor, who, by office, is bound to deliver the oppressed, and punish the oppressor: he also vindicates his own insulted honour. And is furious Or rather, is angry. In the Hebrew it is literally, And is the Lord of anger, or wrath; that is, can easily give effect to his anger, or execute what it prompts him to. It would be well if the epithet furious were for ever banished from the sacred writings; and, indeed, from all others, when speaking of God. He reserveth wrath for his enemies There is nothing in the Hebrew to answer the word wrath; it is only, He reserveth for his enemies. Some supply the word punishment; He has punishment in store to execute upon his enemies, when he pleaseth. The Lord is slow to anger, and great [rather, although he be great] in power, and [or, but] will not at all acquit the wicked The sense of the clause seems to be, that although God defers punishment, yet he has it in his power to inflict it at all times; and though it be long delayed, yet it will, in the end, overtake the wicked, unless the long-suffering of God lead them to repentance. The Lord hath his way The method of his providence; in the whirlwind Which often riseth suddenly, and beareth before it all things that stand in its way. Thus Gods judgments often come unexpectedly, and are irresistible, and most terribly destructive. And the clouds are the dust of his feet He makes the clouds his chariot, and employs them to whatever purpose he pleases. This and the two following verses are a very noble and majestic description of the power of the Almighty.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Nah 1:2-10. The Avenging Wrath of Yahweh.Yahweh is a jealous and vengeful Godsensitive to the honour of Himself and His peoplewho marcheth through whirlwind and storm to save them from the enemy. Before His presence sea and rivers dry up, Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon wither, the mountains quake and the earth itself is upheaved. How then can mortal man face the glow of His anger? To such as trust in Him He is a stronghold in the day of trouble; but His adversaries He thrusteth into darkness, taking not vengeance twice, but making a full end of them and all their devices. Though for a time He may remain silent, He is storing up wrath against them; and all of them shall be mown down like thorns, or burnt in the fire as stubble.
Nah 1:2 b (the N stanza) ought clearly to follow Nah 1:9 a, while Nah 1:3 a is an interpolation (from Exo 34:6 f.) modifying the severity of the opening words. The B stanza is found in Nah 1:3 b, the description of Yahwehs march through storm and tempest.
Nah 1:4. Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon were proverbial for fertility and foliage.
Nah 1:6. are broken asunder: rather, are kindled (transposing the middle letters).
Nah 1:7 f. Using suggestions from the Versions, render somewhat as follows: Yahweh is good unto those that wait for Hima stronghold in the day of trouble. He knoweth such as take refuge in Him, and in the overflowing flood He delivereth them. A full end doth He make of them that rise up against Him, and His enemies He driveth into darkness.
Nah 1:9. Transposing the clauses (as the alphabetical scheme demands) read, He taketh not vengeance twice on His foes (LXX), but an utter end He doth make (of them). What then do ye devise against Yahweh?
Nah 1:10. The text here is hopelessly tangled and corrupt, but with certain changes and omissions of letters (noted in Kittels text) the following sense may be extracted: Like thorns cut down are they all, As dry stubble they are burnt in the fire (cf. Isa 33:12).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
1:2 God [is] {d} jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and {e} [is] furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth [wrath] for his enemies.
(d) Meaning, of his glory.
(e) With his own he is but angry for a time, but his anger is never appeased toward the reprobate, even though he defers it for a time.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
II. NINEVEH’S DESTRUCTION DECLARED 1:2-14
The rest of chapter 1 declares Nineveh’s destruction in rather hymnic style, and chapters 2 and 3 describe its destruction. Each of these major parts of the book opens with a revelation of Yahweh.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
A. The anger and goodness of Yahweh 1:2-8
"The opening verses of Nahum form a prologue dominated by the revelation of God’s eternal power and divine nature in creation (cf. Rom 1:20). As in Rom 1:18-32, this revelation is characterized preeminently by God’s justice, expressed in retribution (Nah 1:2) and wrath (Nah 1:2-3; Nah 1:6) that shake the entire creation (Nah 1:3-6)." [Note: Carl E. Armerding, "Nahum," in Daniel-Malachi, vol. 7 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 460.]
Armerding made much of the similarities between this section and the Exodus event, God’s self-revelation at Mt. Sinai, His appearance to Elijah at Mt. Horeb, and parallels in Isaiah.
"The seventh-century minor prophets focused on the justice of God as exhibited in powerful judgment on an international scale." [Note: Robert B. Chisholm Jr., "A Theology of the Minor Prophets," in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, p. 413.]
"In the Book of Psalms there are three types of Divine Warrior hymns: those sung before a battle, calling on God’s aid (Psalms 7); those sung during a battle, focusing on the Lord’s protection (Psalms 92); and those celebrating the victory God has won for his people (Psalms 98). Nah 1:2-8 bears a remarkable similarity to the last type of psalm, the original function of which was to sing the praises of Israel’s Warrior God in the aftermath of a victory. What is significant, then, is the placement of Nahum’s Divine Warrior hymn. The victory is celebrated before the battle is actually waged. The victory of God against Nineveh is certain. So much so, that the prophet could utter the victory shout years before the battle [cf. Rev 5:9]." [Note: Longman, p. 788.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Nahum drew a picture of Yahweh as a God who is jealous for His chosen people (cf. Exo 20:5; Exo 34:14; Deu 4:24; Deu 5:9). That is, He greatly desires their welfare (cf. Deu 6:15). He is also an avenging God who takes vengeance on all who violate His standards of righteousness (what is right), though not with human vindictiveness. Third, He is full of wrath against those who oppose Him and disregard His grace, those who set themselves up as His adversaries and enemies (cf. Deu 32:35; Deu 32:41). The repetition of avenging, vengeance, and wrathful in this verse creates a strong impression of an angry God. The word "wrath" (Heb. hemah) means "to be hot" and describes burning rage and intense fury. Why was God so angry? The rest of the oracle explains that it was the behavior of the Ninevites that had aroused His anger.
This is the first of several rhetorical allusions to uniquely Neo-Assyrian conquest metaphors in the book. The figure of a destroyer of mountains and seas continues through Nah 1:6, and the figure of the self-predicating warrior extends through Nah 1:8. Other metaphors are the raging storm and the overwhelming dust cloud in Nah 1:3, the overwhelming flood and the uninhabitable ruin in Nah 1:8, the sheep slaughterer in Nah 1:12, and the Assyrian yoke in Nah 1:12-13. The metaphor of the mighty weapon appears in Nah 2:1 and that of the consuming locust swarm in Nah 3:16-17. [Note: See Gordon H. Johnston, "Nahum’s Rhetorical Allusions to Neo-Assyrian Conquest Metaphors," Bibliotheca Sacra 159:633 (January-March 2002):21-45.]
"Verse 2 lays a foundation for the entire prophecy: all that follows is rooted in this revelation of the justice and burning zeal of the Lord exercised on behalf of his people." [Note: Chisholm, "A Theology . . .," p. 462.]