Nahum 1 · The Lantern

An oracle about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

(Chapter I—Verse 1.) God, zealous and avenging Lord. The voice of the prophet praising God for avenging the injury done to his people by the Assyrians. Or, in a deeper understanding, that he hears the groaning of his saints and will make his adversaries feel punishment at the end of the world.

Something of this kind is the meaning of the word oracle: in his wish to give the prophets an insight often productive of rapture, God caused a sudden transformation of their mind so that while in this condition they might receive the knowledge of the future with deeper fear.

The burden of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. First, he defines the purpose of the prophecy, and usefully clarifies what and where it looks to; then he makes clear who is speaking and from where.

The Lord is a jealous God and avenges. The Lord avenges and is full of wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.

The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

And again: "I will reestablish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am Lord, that you may remember and be confounded and may no more open your mouth because of your confusion, when I shall be pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord God." Thus it is clearly indicated by these divine words what was meant in another place by the statement "And thou…

The Lord's way is in destruction and in shaking, and clouds are the dust of his feet. As the Prophet is about to proclaim beforehand the capture of Nineveh for the comfort of those who have suffered, and to make clear to the wronged that it will be shaken down by God, he usefully recounts first the all-powerful nature of the divine, and that for it, when it chooses to accomplis…

"The Lord is longsuffering, great is his power, and he will certainly not clear the guilty." He does not suddenly and all at once inflict punishment, but only after exercising extreme longsuffering. You Ninevites are witnesses to this, practicing repentance and finding salvation, and then guilty of extreme wickedness and for a time not paying the penalty for it.

He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes.

If it is [Marcion's] Christ that is meant, he will not be stronger than the servants of the Creator. I would have been content with the examples I have shown you without adding anything further. But here a prediction of [Christ] walking on the water precedes his advent as well. The words of the psalm are, in fact, accomplished by Christ's crossing over the lake.

(Verse 4) Rebuking the sea, and drying it up, and leading all the rivers to the desert. It is described according to the power of God, who will avenge Israel's adversaries, showing that it is not difficult for Him to destroy the Assyrians, whose majesty even includes the ability to change the elements.

And the Prophet said, "He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers;" and again, "He looketh on the earth and it trembleth; He rebuketh the mountains, and they smoke." And again the prophet Isaiah saith, "All the nations are accounted as nothing by Him." Now these things the Spirit of God spake concerning the power of God, that those things which were no…

The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.

Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.

But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a full end. Affliction won't rise up the second time.

For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.

There is one gone forth out of you, who devises evil against the Lord, who counsels wickedness.

Thus says the Lord: "Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so they will be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

Now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart."

The Lord has commanded concerning you: "No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, will I cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile."

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.

Nahum1