9<\/strong>. What do ye imagine against the Lord<\/em> ] Compare Nah 1:11<\/em><\/span>: “out of thee came forth one that imagined evil against the Lord.” This sense, though the natural one, does not connect well with the next clause. Possibly the meaning is, What do ye imagine<\/em> (think) of<\/em> the Lord? in regard to Him and His operations. The next words then explain how He is to be thought of, and what His way of operation is: He will make an utter end.<\/p>\n Affliction the second time<\/em> ] Or, trouble shall not rise twice<\/strong>. Is the statement a threat against Jehovah’s enemies or particularly Nineveh? or is it a promise to Israel? Do the words mean that as the Lord shall make an utter end of Nineveh the trouble that now threatens her shall be once for all? or is the sense that Israel having suffered once from Assyria (Sennacherib) she shall not suffer twice? The use of the word “twice” as well as the connexion seems to favour the former sense, though perhaps the term “affliction” or trouble not unnaturally suggests the second. Comp. 1Sa 26:8<\/span>, “Let me pin him with the spear to the earth at one stroke (one time) and I will not smite him the second time (lit. I will not repeat to him)”; 2Sa 20:10<\/span>. The same ambiguity arises in Nah 1:12<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n The prophet had in few words summed up the close of Nineveh; he now upbraids them with the sin, which should bring it upon them, and foretells the destruction of Sennacherib. Nineveh had, before this, been the instrument of chastising Israel and Judah. Now, the capture of Samaria, which had cast off God, deceived and emboldened it. Its king thought that this was the might of his own arm; and likened the Lord of heaven and earth to the idols of the pagan, and said, Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand? 2Ki 18:35<\/span>. He sent to reproach the living God 2Ki 19:16<\/span> and defied the Holy One of Israel (see 2 Kings 19:15-34<\/span>). His blasphemy was his destruction. It was a war, not simply of ambition, or covetousness, but directly against the power and worship of God.<\/P> What will ye so mightily devise , imagine against the Lord? He Himself, by Himself, is already making an utter end. It is in store; the Angel is ready to smite. Idle are mans devices, when the Lord doeth. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us Isa 8:10<\/span>. While the rich man was speaking comfort to his soul as to future years, God was making an utter end. Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee.<\/P> Affliction shall not rise up the second time – <\/B>Others have understood this, affliction shall not rise up the second time, but shall destroy at once, utterly and finally (compare 1Sa 26:8<\/span>; 2Sa 20:10<\/span>): but:<\/P> (1) the idiom there, he did not repeat to him, as we say, he did not repeat the blow is quite different;<\/P> (2) it is said affliction shall not rise up, itself, as if it could not. The causative of the idiom occurs in 2Sa 12:11<\/span>, lo, I will cause evil to rise up against thee; as he says afterward, Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more Nah 1:12<\/span>. God, He had said, is good for a refuge in the day of affliction; now, personifying that affliction, he says, that it should be so utterly broken, that it should rise up no more to vex them, as when a serpents head is, not wounded only but, crushed and trampled underfoot, so that it cannot again lift itself up. The promises of God are conditioned by our not falling back into sin. He saith to Nineveh, God will not deliver Judah to thee, as He delivered the ten tribes and Samaria. Judah repented under Hezekiah, and He not only delivered it from Sennacherib, but never afflicted them again through Assyria. Renewal of sin brings renewal or deepening of punishment. The new and more grievous sins under Manasseh were punished, not through Assyria but through the Chaldeans.<\/P> The words have passed into a maxim, God will not punish the same thing twice, not in this world and the world to come, i. e., not if repented of. For of the impenitent it is said, destroy them with a double destruction Jer 17:18<\/span>. Chastisement here is a token of Gods mercy; the absence of it, or prosperous sin, of perdition; but if any refuse to be corrected, the chastisement of this life is but the beginning of unending torments.<\/P> <\/p>\n Nah 1:9-10<\/span><\/p>\n What do ye imagine against the Lord?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Sin<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The basest of ingratitude.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The greatest injustice.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Impious presumption.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>He will completely ruin you.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>He will completely ruin you, whatever the kind of resistance you may offer. Fighting against God is a mad fight. (Homilist.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Folly of opposing God<\/strong><\/p>\n Sin, <\/em>when it is mightiest and most successful, is transitory. Lord Rosebery has been telling us the story of Napoleon the Great. His energy, his intellect, his genius were such that he enlarges the scope of human achievement. Once he fought the Austrians for five consecutive days without taking off his boots or closing his eyes. He was as much the first ruler as the first captain in the world. Ordinary measures do not apply to him; we seem to be trying to span a mountain with a tape. Napoleon was the largest personal force that has come into the modern European world. But his career ended in defeat and exile. At forty-six the man who had dreamed of governing a continent was a captive. His conquests left no mark. The kings whom he made lost their thrones. France was beggared and exhausted by him. Why? Because God was not his God. I am not a man like other men, he asserted himself; the laws of morality could not be intended to apply to me. Therefore I will fear nothing, though wickedness seems to prosper for a time. Such prosperity has no permanence about it. It is better to walk humbly with God than to stand alone on the proudest eminence in the world. (A. Smellie, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n While<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>they be folden together as thorns<\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong>—<\/em><\/p>\n National undergrowth<\/strong><\/p>\n Illustrate by the undergrowth in a great forest. It must be cut; down before anything hopeful can be done with the soil There is a national moral undergrowth: a brutal, vile, wretched population of a most repulsive and dangerous character. Ignorance, sensuality, violence, and irreligion, fostered and perpetuated by drunkenness, forms a dismal, moral undergrowth, where human tigers watch for prey, where foul habits breed disease, where women lose all beauty and joy, and where children–the offspring of immoral parents-are like a nest of unclean birds. What is to be done with this deadly moral undergrowth? Soft measures, easy-going, self-indulgent Christianity are of no use here.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Let us take increased care that good and precious seed shall be sown in the hearts of the young. This is of paramount and urgent importance. Take care of the little ones.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Seek to reach the people who never enter places of worship.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Endeavour to abate incentives to drunkenness.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Consecrate yourselves afresh to God, and the work of His kingdom. (George W. McCree.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 9. Affliction shall not rise up the second time.<\/B><\/I>] There shall be no need to repeat the judgment<\/I>; with one blow<\/I> God will make a full end of the business.<\/P> <\/p>\n Having declared the dreadfulness of Gods power and anger against the wicked, his goodness towards his people, and denounced future destruction against the Ninevites and Assyrians, he doth now expostulate with them, would know what it is they think of God, what it is they design against him, and on what ground they flatter themselves into such an attempt. <\/P> Against the Lord, the God of Israel; for however you, O Ninevites and Assyrians, will look only upon a poor, afflicted people, (weakened by many wars,) and design to swallow them up, yet they are the people of the Lord, and you design against him what you design against them. <\/P> He will make an utter end; he will make your utter desolation to be the issue of your projects, and the punishment of your sins: see Nah 1:8<\/span>. <\/P> Affliction shall not rise up the second time; when that storm which shall overthrow you is past, no other shall arise, because you shall be no more; as if the prophet had said, God will at once and for ever destroy your empire and city. <\/P> <\/p>\n 9. What do ye imagine against theLord?<\/B>abrupt address to the Assyrians. How mad is your attempt,O Assyrians, to resist so powerful a God! What can ye do against suchan adversary, successful though ye have been against all otheradversaries? Ye imagine<\/I> ye have to do<\/I> merely withmortals and with a weak people, and that so you will gain an easyvictory; but you have to encounter God, the protector of His people.Parallel to Isa 37:23-29<\/span>;compare Ps 1:1<\/span>. <\/P> he will make an utter end<\/B>Theutter overthrow of Sennacherib’s host, soon about to take place, isan earnest of the “utter end” of Nineveh itself. <\/P> affliction shall not rise upthe second time<\/B>Judah’s “affliction” caused by theinvasion shall never rise again. So Na1:12<\/span>. But CALVIN takesthe “affliction” to be that of Assyria:<\/I> “Therewill be no need of His inflicting on you a second blow: He will makean utter end of you once for all” (1Sa 3:12<\/span>;1Sa 26:8<\/span>; 2Sa 20:10<\/span>).If so, this verse, in contrast to Na1:12<\/span>, will express, Affliction shall visit the Assyrian no more,in a sense very different from that in which God will afflict Judahno more. In the Assyrian’s case, because the blow will be fatallyfinal; the latter, because God will make lasting blessedness inJudah’s case succeed temporary chastisement. But it seems simpler torefer “affliction” here, as in Na1:12<\/span>, to Judah; indeed destruction,<\/I> rather thanaffliction,<\/I> applies to the Assyrian.<\/P><\/p>\n What do ye imagine against the Lord<\/strong>?…. O ye Ninevites or Assyrians; do you think you can frustrate the designs of the Lord, resist his power, and hinder him from executing what he has threatened and has determined to do? or what mischief is it you devise against his people, which is the same as against himself? can you believe that you shall prosper and succeed, and your schemes be carried into execution, when he, the all wise and all powerful Being, opposes you?<\/p>\n he will make an utter end<\/strong>; of you, as before declared, and will save his people; which may be depended on will certainly be the case:<\/p>\n affliction shall not rise up the second time<\/strong>; either this should be the last effort the Assyrians would make upon the Jews, which they made under Sennacherib, and this the last time they would afflict them; or rather their own destruction should be so complete that there would be no need to repeat the stroke, or give another blow; the business would be done at once. This seems to contradict a notion of some historians and chronologers, who suppose that Nineveh was destroyed at two different times, and by different persons of the same nations; and so the whole Assyrian empire was twice ruined, which is not likely in itself, and seems contrary to this passage; for though some ascribe it to Arbaces the Mede, and Belesis the Babylonian as Diodorus Siculus e; and others to Cyaxares the Mede as Herodotus f, and to Nebuchadnezzar the first, or Nabopolassar the Babylonian in a later period; so Tobit g says it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus, the same with the Cyaxares of Herodotus; yet all seem to agree that it was taken by the conjunct forces of the Medes and Babylonians; and there are some things similar h in all these accounts, which show that there was but one destruction of Nineveh, and of the Assyrian empire.<\/p>\n e Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 110, 111. f L. 1. sive Clio, c. 106. g Tobit 14:15. h See the Universal History, vol. 4. c. 8. sect. 5. & vol. 5. p. 22. Margin, & Nicolai Abrami Pharus Vet. Test. l. 6. c. 19. p. 165.<\/p>\n The reason for all this is assigned in Nah 1:9<\/span>. Nah 1:9<\/span>. “What think ye of Jehovah? He makes an end; the affliction will not arise twice.<\/em> Nah 1:10<\/span>. For though they be twisted together like thorns, and as if intoxicated with their wine, they shall be devoured like dry stubble.<\/em> Nah 1:11<\/span>. From thee has one come out, who meditated evil against Jehovah, who advised worthlessness.” <\/em> The question in Nah 1:9<\/span><\/em> is not addressed to the enemy, viz., the Assyrians, as very many commentators suppose: “What do ye meditate against Jehovah?” For although chashabh ‘el <\/em> is used in Hos 7:15<\/span> for a hostile device with regard to Jehovah, the supposition that ‘el <\/em> is used here for al <\/em>, according to a later usage of the language, is precluded by the fact that is actually used in this sense in Nah 1:11<\/span>. Moreover, the last clause does not suit this view of the question. The word, “the affliction will not stand up, or not rise up a second time,” cannot refer to the Assyrians, or mean that the infliction of a second judgment upon Nineveh will be unnecessary, because the city will utterly fall to the ground in the first judgment, and completely vanish from the earth (Hitzig). For points back to , and therefore must be the calamity which has fallen upon Judah, or upon those who trust in the Lord, on the part of Nineveh or Asshur (Marck, Maurer, and Strauss). This is confirmed by Nah 1:11<\/span> and Nah 1:15<\/span>, where this thought is definitely expressed. Consequently the question, “What think ye with regard to Jehovah?” can only be addressed to the Judaeans, and must mean, “Do ye think that Jehovah cannot or will not fulfil His threat upon Nineveh?” (Cyr., Marck, Strauss). The prophet addresses these words to the anxious minds, which were afraid of fresh invasions on the part of the Assyrians. To strengthen their confidence, he answers the question proposed, by repeating the thought expressed in Nah 1:8<\/span>. He (Jehovah) is making an end, sc. of the enemy of His people; and he gives a further reason for this in Nah 1:10<\/span>. The participial clauses to are to be taken conditionally: are (or were) they even twisted like thorns. , to thorns = as thorns ( is given correctly by J. H. Michaelis: eo usque ut spinas perplexitate aequent <\/em>; compare Ewald, 219). The comparison of the enemy to thorns expresses “firmatum callidumque nocendi studium” <\/em> (Marck), and has been well explained by Ewald thus: “crisp, crafty, and cunning; so that one would rather not go near them, or have anything to do with them” (cf. 2Sa 23:6<\/span> and Mic 7:4<\/span>). , not “wetted like their wet” (Hitzig), nor “as it were drowned in wine, so that fire can do no more harm to them than to anything else that is wet” (Ewald); for neither means to wet nor to drown, but to drink, to carouse; and means drunken, intoxicated. is strong unmixed wine (see Delitzsch on Isa 1:22<\/span>). “Their wine” is the wine which they are accustomed to drink. The simile expresses the audacity and hardiness with which the Assyrians regarded themselves as invincible, and applies very well to the gluttony and revelry which prevailed at the Assyrian court; even if the account given by Diod. Sic. (ii. 26), that when Sardanapalus had three times defeated the enemy besieging Nineveh, in his great confidence in his own good fortune, he ordered a drinking carousal, in the midst of which the enemy, who had been made acquainted with the fact, made a fresh attack, and conquered Nineveh, rests upon a legendary dressing up of the facts. , devoured by fire, is a figure signifying utter destruction; and the perfect is prophetic, denoting what will certainly take place. Like dry stubble: cf. Isa 5:24<\/span>; Isa 47:14<\/span>, and Joe 2:5<\/span>. is not to be taken, as Ewald supposes (279, a<\/em>), as strengthening , “fully dry,” but is to be connected with the verb adverbially, and is simply placed at the end of the sentence for the sake of emphasis (Ges., Maurer, and Strauss). This will be the end of the Assyrians, because he who meditates evil against Jehovah has come forth out of Nineveh. In Nineveh is addressed, the representative of the imperial power of Assyria, which set itself to destroy the Israelitish kingdom of God. It might indeed be objected to this explanation of the verse, that the words in Nah 1:12<\/span><\/em> and Nah 1:13<\/span> are addressed to Zion or Judah, whereas Nineveh or Asshur is spoken of both in what precedes (Nah 1:8<\/span> and Nah 1:10<\/span>) and in what follows ( Nah 1:12<\/span><\/em>) in the third person. On this ground Hoelem. and Strauss refer also to Judah, and adopt this explanation: “from thee (Judah) will the enemy who has hitherto oppressed thee have gone away” (taking as fut. exact.<\/em>, and as in Isa 49:17<\/span>). But this view does not suit the context. After the utter destruction of the enemy has been predicted in Nah 1:10<\/span>, we do not expect to find the statement that it will have gone away from Judah, especially as there is nothing said in what precedes about any invasion of Judah. The meditation of evil against Jehovah refers to the design of the Assyrian conquerors to destroy the kingdom of God in Israel, as the Assyrian himself declares in the blasphemous words which Isaiah puts into the mouth of Rabshakeh (Isa 36:14-20<\/span>), to show the wicked pride of the enemy. This address merely expresses the feeling cherished at all times by the power of the world towards the kingdom of God. It is in the plans devised for carrying this feeling into action that the , the advising of worthlessness, consists. This is the only meaning that has, not that of destruction.<\/p>\n Destruction of the Assyrian Army; Overthrow of Sennacherib.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 710.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 9 What do ye imagine against the LORD<\/B>? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. 10 For while they be<\/I> folden together as<\/I> thorns, and while they are drunken as<\/I> drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 11 There is one<\/I> come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD<\/B>, a wicked counsellor. 12 Thus saith the LORD<\/B>; Though they be<\/I> quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. 13 For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. 14 And the LORD<\/B> hath given a commandment concerning thee, that<\/I> no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile. 15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.<\/P> These verses seem to point at the destruction of the army of the Assyrians under Sennacherib, which may well be reckoned a part of the burden of Nineveh, the head city of the Assyrian empire, and a pledge of the destruction of Nineveh itself about 100 years after; and this was an event which Isaiah, with whom probably this prophet was contemporary, spoke much of. Now observe here,<\/P> I. The great provocation which the Assyrians gave to God, the just and jealous God, for which, though slow to anger,<\/I> he would take vengeance (v.<\/I><\/span> 11<\/span>): There is one come out of thee, that imagines evil against the Lord<\/I>–Sennacherib, and his spokesman Rabshakeh. They framed an evil letter and an evil speech, not only against Hezekiah and his people, but against God himself, reflecting upon him as level with the gods of the heathen, and unable to protect his worshippers, dissuading his people from putting confidence in him, and urging them rather to put themselves under the protection of the great king, the king of Assyria.<\/I> They contrived to alter the property of Jerusalem, that it should be no longer the city of the Lord, the holy city. This one, this mighty one, so he thinks himself, that comes out of Nineveh, imagining evil against the Lord,<\/I> brings upon Nineveh this burden. Never was the glorious Majesty of heaven and earth more daringly, more blasphemously affronted than by Sennacherib at that time. He was a wicked counsellor<\/I> who counselled them to despair of God’s protection, and surrender themselves to the king of Assyria, and endeavour to put them out of conceit with Hezekiah’s reformation (Isa. xxxvi. 7<\/span>); with this wicked counsellor he here expostulates (v.<\/I><\/span> 9<\/span>): “What do you imagine against the Lord?<\/I> What a foolish wicked thing it is for you to plot against God, as if you could outwit divine wisdom and overpower omnipotence itself!” Note, There is a great deal imagined against the Lord by the gates of hell, and against the interests of his kingdom in the world; but it will prove a vain thing,<\/I>Psa 2:1<\/span>; Psa 2:2<\/span>. He that sits in heaven laughs<\/I> at the imaginations of the pretenders to politics against him, and will turn their counsels headlong.<\/P> II. The great destruction which God would bring upon them for it, not immediately upon the whole monarchy (the ruin of that was deferred till the measure of their iniquity was full), but,<\/P> 1. Upon the army; God will make an utter end<\/I> of that; it shall be totally cut off and ruined at one blow; one fatal stroke of the destroying angel shall lay them dead upon the spot; affliction shall not rise up the second time,<\/I> for it shall not need. With some sinners God makes a quick despatch, does their business at once. Divine vengeance goes not by one certain rule, nor in one constant track, but one way or other, by acute diseases or chronical ones, by slow deaths or lingering ones, he will make an utter end<\/I> of all his enemies, who persist in their imaginations against him. We have reason to think that the Assyrian army were mostly of the same spirit, and spoke the same language, with their general, and now God would take them to task, though they did but say as they were taught; and it shall appear that they have laid themselves open to divine wrath by their own act and deed, v.<\/I><\/span> 10<\/span>. (1.) They are as thorns<\/I> that entangle one another, and are folded together.<\/I> They make one another worse, and more inveterate against God and his Israel, harden one another’s hearts, and strengthen one another’s hands, in their impiety; and therefore God will do with them as the husbandman does with a bush of thorns when he cannot part them: he puts them all into the fire together. (2.) They are as drunken men,<\/I> intoxicated with pride and rage; and such as they shall be irrecoverably overthrown and destroyed. They shall be as drunkards, besotted to their own ruin, and shall stumble and fall, and make themselves a reproach, and be justly laughed at. (3.) They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry,<\/I> which is irresistibly and irrecoverably consumed by the flame. The judgments of God are as devouring fire to those that make themselves as stubble to them. It is again threatened concerning this great army (v.<\/I><\/span> 12<\/span>) that though they be quiet and likewise many,<\/I> very secure, not fearing the sallies out of the besieged upon them, because they are numerous,<\/I> yet thus shall they be cut down,<\/I> or certainly shall they be cut down, as grass and corn are cut down, with as little ado, when he shall pass through,<\/I> even the destroying angel that is commissioned to cut them down. Note, The security of sinners, and their confidence in their own strength, are often presages of ruin approaching.<\/P> 2. Upon the king. He imagined evil against the Lord,<\/I> and shall he escape? No (v.<\/I><\/span> 14<\/span>): “The Lord has given a commandment concerning thee;<\/I> the decree has gone forth, that thy name be no more sown,<\/I> that thy memory perish, that thou be no more talked of as thou hast been, and that the report of thy mighty actions be dispersed upon the wings of fame and celebrated with her trumpet.” Because Sennacherib’s son reigned in his stead, some make this to point at the overthrow of the Assyrian empire not long after. Note, Those that imagine evil against the Lord<\/I> hasten evil upon themselves and their own families and interests, and ruin their own names by dishonouring his name. It is further threatened, (1.) That the images he worshipped should be cut off from their temple, the graven image<\/I> and the molten image out of the house of his gods,<\/I> which, some think, was fulfilled when Sennacherib was slain by his two sons, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god,<\/I> by which barbarous parricide we may suppose the temple was looked upon as defiled, and was therefore disused, and the images were cut off from it, the worshippers of those images no longer attending there. Or it may be taken more generally to denote the utter ruin of Assyria; the army of the enemy shall lay all waste, and not spare even the images of their gods, by which God would intimate to them that one of the grounds of his controversy with them was their idolatry. (2.) That Sennacherib’s grave shall be made there, some think in the house of his god; there he is slain, and there he shall be buried, for he is vile;<\/I> he lies under this perpetual mark of disgrace, that he had so far lost his interest in the natural affection of his own children that two of them murdered him. Or it may be meant of the ignominious fall of the Assyrian monarchy itself, upon the ruins of which that of Babylon was raised. What a noise was made about the grave of that once formidable state, but now despicable, is largely described, Eze 3:3<\/span>; Eze 3:11<\/span>; Eze 3:15<\/span>; Eze 3:16<\/span>. Note, Those that make themselves vile by scandalous sins God will make vile by shameful punishments.<\/P> III. The great deliverance which God would hereby work for his own people and the city that was called by his name. The ruin of the church’s enemies is the salvation of the church, and a very great salvation it was that was wrought for Jerusalem by the overthrow of Sennacherib’s army.<\/P> 1. The siege shall hereby be raised: “Now will I break his yoke from off thee,<\/I> by which thou art kept in servitude, and will burst thy bonds asunder,<\/I> by which thou seemest bound over to the Assyrian’s wrath.” That vast victorious army, when it forced free quarters for itself throughout all the land of Judah, and lived at discretion there, was as yokes and bonds upon them. Jerusalem, when it was besieged, was, as it were, bound and fettered by it; but, when the destroying angel had done his work, Jerusalem’s bonds were burst asunder, and it was set at liberty again. This was a figure of the great salvation, by which the Jerusalem that is above is made free, is made free indeed.<\/P> 2. The enemy shall be so weakened and dispirited that they shall never make any such attempt again, and the end of this trouble shall be so well gained by the grace of God that there shall be no more occasion for such a severe correction. (1.) God will not again afflict Jerusalem; his anger is turned away,<\/I> and he says, It is enough;<\/I> for he has by this fright accomplished his whole work upon Mount Zion<\/I> (Isa. x. 12<\/span>), and therefore “though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more;<\/I>” the bitter portion shall not be repeated unless there be need and the patient’s case call for it; for God doth not afflict willingly.<\/I> (2.) The enemy shall not dare again to attack Jerusalem (v.<\/I><\/span> 15<\/span>): The wicked shall no more pass through thee<\/I> as they have done, to lay all waste, for he is utterly cut off<\/I> and disabled to do it. His army is cut off, his spirit cut off, and at length he himself is cut off.<\/P> 3. The tidings of this great deliverance shall be published and welcomed with abundance of joy throughout the kingdom, v.<\/I><\/span> 15<\/span>. While Sennacherib prevailed, and carried all before him, every day brought bad news; but now, behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,<\/I> the feet of the evangelist;<\/I> he is seen coming at a distance upon the mountains, as fast as his feet will carry him; and how pleasant a sight is it once more to see a messenger of peace, after we have received so many of Job’s messengers! We find these words made use of by another prophet to illustrate the mercy of the deliverance of the people of God out of Babylon (Isa. lii. 7<\/span>), not that the prophets stole the word one from another (as those did, Jer. xxiii. 30<\/span>), but speaking by the same Spirit, they often used the same expressions; and it may be of good use for ministers to testify their consent to wholesome truths (1 Tim. vi. 3<\/span>) by concurring in the same forms of sound words, 2 Tim. i. 13<\/span>. These words are also quoted by the apostle, both from Isaiah and Nahum, and applied to the great redemption wrought out for us by our Lord Jesus, and the publishing of it to the world by the everlasting gospel, Rom. x. 15<\/span>. Christ’s ministers are those messengers of good tidings, that preach peace by Jesus Christ. How beautiful are the feet<\/I> of those messengers!<\/I> How welcome their message to those that see their misery and danger by reason of sin! And observe, He that brings these good tidings brings with them a call to Judah to keep her solemn feasts<\/I> and perform her vows.<\/I> During the trouble, (1.) The ordinary feasts had been intermitted. Inter arma silent leges–The voice of law cannot be heard amidst the shouts of battle.<\/I> While Jerusalem was encompassed with armies<\/I> they could not go thither to worship; but now that the embargo is taken off they must return to the observance of their feasts; and the feasts of the Lord will be doubly sweet to the people of God when they have been for some time deprived of the benefit of them and God graciously restores them their opportunities again, for we are taught the worth of such mercies by the want of them. (2.) They had made vows to God, that, if he would deliver them out of this distress, they would do something extraordinary in his service, to his honour; and now that the deliverance is wrought they are called upon to perform their vows; the promise they had then made must now be made good, for better it is not to vow than to vow and not to pay.<\/I> And those words, The wicked shall no more pass through thee,<\/I> may be taken as a promise of the perfecting of the good work of reformation which Hezekiah had begun; the wicked shall not, as they have done, walk on every side, but they shall be cut off, and the baffling of the attempts from the wicked enemies abroad is a mercy indeed to a nation when it is accompanied with the restraint and reformation of the wicked at home, who are its more dangerous enemies.<\/P><\/p>\n Some interpreters so consider this verse also, as though the Prophet had said, that the calamity of the chosen people would not be a destruction, as God would observe some moderation and keep within certain limits. The unbelieving, we know, immediately exult, whenever the children of God are oppressed by adverse things, as though it were all over with the Church. Hence the Prophet here, according to these interpreters, meets and checks this sort of petulance, What imagine ye against God? He will indeed afflict his Church, but he will not repeat her troubles, for he will be satisfied with one affliction. They also think that the kingdom of Judah is here compared with the kingdom of Israel: for the kingdom of Israel had been twice afflicted: for, first, four tribes had been led away, and then the whole kingdom had been overturned. As then one calamity had been inflicted by Shalmanezar, and another by Tiglathpilezar, they suppose that there is here an implied comparison, as though the Prophet said, “God will spare the kingdom of Judah, and will not repeat his vengeance, as it happened to the kingdom of Israel.” But this meaning is forced and too far-fetched. The Prophet then, I doubt not, continues here his discourse, and denounces perpetual ruin on the enemies of the Church. He says first, What imagine ye against Jehovah? He exults over the Assyrians, because they thought that they had to do only with mortals, and also with a mean people, and now worn out by many misfortunes. For we know that the kingdom of Judah had been weakened by many wars before the Assyrians made an irruption into the land: they had suffered two severe and grievous attacks from their neighbors, the king of Israel and the king of Syria; for then it was that they made the Assyrians their confederates. When therefore the Assyrians came against Judea, they thought that they would have no trouble in obtaining victory, as they engaged in war with an insignificant people, and as we have said, worn out by evils. But the Prophet shows here that the war was with the living God, and not with men, as they falsely thought. What then imagine ye against Jehovah? as though he said, “Know ye not that this people are under the care and protection of God? Ye cannot then attack the kingdom of Judah without having God as your opponent. As it is certain that this people are defended by a divine power, there is no reason for you to think that you will be victorious.” At the same time, I know not why the Prophet’s words should be confined to the tribe of Judah, since the purpose was to comfort the Israelites as well as the Jews. <\/p>\n Now this is a very useful doctrine; for the Prophet teaches us in general, that the ungodly, whenever they harass the Church, not only do wrong to men, but also fight with God himself; for he so connects us with himself, that all who hurt us touch the apple of his eye, as he declares in another place, (Zec 2:8<\/span>.) We may then gather invaluable comfort from these words; for we can fully and boldly set up this shield against our enemies, — that they devise their counsels, and make efforts against God, and assail him; for he takes us under his protection for this end, that whenever we are injured, he may stand in the middle as our defender. This is one thing. <\/p>\n Now in the second clause he adds, that he will make a complete end, Rise up again shall not distress; that is, God is able to reduce you to nothing, so that there will be no need to assail you the second time. This passage, we know, has been turned to this meaning, — that God does not punish men twice nor exceed moderation in his wrath: but this is wholly foreign to the mind of the Prophet. I have also said already that I do not approve of what others have said, who apply this passage to the Church and especially to the kingdom of Judah. For I thus simply interpret the words of the Prophet, — that God can with one onset, when it seems good to him, so destroy his enemies, that there will be no need of striving with them the second time: Il n’y faudra plus retourner, as we say in our language. God then will make a full end; that is, he will be able in one moment to demolish his enemies and the ruin will be complete, that is, the wasting will be entire. There will be no distress again or the second time; for it will be all over with the enemies of God; not that God observes always the same rule when he punishes his enemies, nor does Nahum here prescribe any general rule; but he simply means, that God, whenever it pleases him, instantly destroys his enemies. He afterwards adds — <\/p>\n CRITICAL NOTES.] <\/strong><\/p>\n Nah. 1:9<\/span><\/strong>.]<\/strong> The city must be destroyed and its inhabitants perish. Imagine]<\/strong> By means of defence to ward off danger. Second]<\/strong> time from Assyria (cf. Isa. 51:17-23<\/span>; 2Sa. 20:10<\/span>). <\/p>\n Nah. 1:10<\/span><\/strong>. Thorns]<\/strong> twisted together, to appear inseparable, and present a bristling front (2Sa. 23:6-7<\/span>). Drunken]<\/strong> Assyrian kings proverbial for intemperance and revelry. <\/p>\n Nah. 1:11<\/span><\/strong>. One]<\/strong> Sennacherib. Thee]<\/strong> From Nineveh itself arises its own ruin. Counsellor]<\/strong> Lit. a counsellor of Belial, worthless and bad; designs to overthrow the kingdom of God (Isa. 36:14-20<\/span>). <\/p>\n HOMILETICS<\/em><\/p>\n RESISTANCE TO GOD POWERLESS.Nah. 1:9-11<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Nahum now turns to the invaders, boldly challenges them for their opposition to Jehovah, again describes their ruin, and for the encouragement of the Jews, adds that they should not be annoyed any more.<\/p>\n I. Resistance to God in its nature<\/strong>. What do ye imagine against the Lord? <\/p>\n 1. Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>The essence of sin is suggested. It is hostility to God. It is opposition to the laws, purposes, Spirit of God. It involves–<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The seat of sin is suggested. It is in the mind. Sin is not language, not mere actions. Sin is in the deep mute thoughts of the hearts. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The folly of sin is suggested. It is opposition to Omnipotence. In opposing Him, remember–<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n