"The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. " - Nahum 1:1
NAHUM - 1
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Nineveh!
What impressions does that name bring into your mind?
For most, it is almost a fable related to the story of Jonah and the big fish.... or a picture of a city with a beach, on whose shores he was dropped off.... similar to the story of Jericho, with its seven layers of walls that came tumbling down...
Wikipedia will tell you that it was a real city, (just like Jericho) and its ruins (including a shrine to Jonah, called the prophet Yunus by the muslim community) are to be found on the east bank of the Tigris river in Iraq, near Mosul... and there is a Nineveh Governorate that administers it.
Why is it important other than serving as an example in the book of Jonah?
That area of the world (near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers ) is of particular importance to Bible History....
1. the Garden of Eden was located --somewhere there--- :
"And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the ---third river is ---Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the ---fourth river is ----Euphrates---. " - Gen 2:10-14
(The Hiddekel is the Tigris river, also confirmed by references to the same name in Daniel 10:4.) For those interested, the Syrian gold industry dates back almost 5000 years , Ur, in southern Iraq is where Abraham came from, and ...
2. There are some cities that are pictures and symbols of God's judgment...
a. Sodom and Gomorrah near the Dead Sea (once a fertile area, but today, it is blasted beyond recognition)
b. Babylon - Both an instrument of His wrath against His people (Judah in particular), and a symbol of the world system of religion, politics, commerce, and violence.
c. Nineveh ... unique in being a city that was ALSO an instrument of God's wrath (against Israel this time), and destroyed so utterly that nothing remains today. Even attempts to reconstruct certain artifacts (e.g the Mashki gate) have been doomed to failure, and since destroyed, by the acts of the Islamic State.
-----ALL these cities were given grace (as was all Israel), and time to repent, a ---pattern--- we would do well to heed, God warning them of the destruction to come.-------
Noah and Lot were laughed at. Jonah was more successful, but it did not last, and the Lord was vindicated as righteous in his destruction of the city. Jeremiah and Isaiah were ignored, and in these last days, the blinded church-type of Thyatira is warned about false teaching in the book of Revelation...
" Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
------And I gave her --space to repent-- of her fornication; and she repented not. --------
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. " - Rev 2:20-22
And Babylon is filling up her cup with evil even to this day.
How long will the LORD not judge?
The Book of Nahum shows us a very different picture from the loving, suffering, patient Jesus. When He rides out in anger to finally judge, there is no staying that arm. What has been prophesied WILL happen...
"But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
For there is no respect of persons with God. " - Romans 2:2-11
What is true of a city, is true for us as individuals.
The Book of Hebrews says, TODAY, if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart!
Hallelujah!