The Lord Takes Vengeance?
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Nahum 1:1-3
An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty”
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty”
This past week I was doing research on the city of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire in preparation for our series on Nahum. In doing so, I came across an article that I could not resist reading. I don’t know what kind of twisted clickbait it was, but the title was “Beheading in the Ancient World.”
The article mentioned David’s dispatching of Goliath and his head. But it the article mainly featured the Assyrians. And it is true, the Assyrian’s seemed to have a special penchant to lopping off the heads of their enemies. We know this because they boasted of the practice quite readily in their writings. We have recovered documents that recount numbers, piles, and sometimes even the hanging of heads in trees (much like bulbs on Christmas trees). One conquered prince was made to wear his father’s head as a necklace.
The Assyrians, you might say, had a thing for decapitation.
Why do I mention this here? Is it because I have some twisted interests and need help guarding my internet usage? No, not at all. I mention it for this reason:
As we come to the book of Nahum, we might say that the Lord gives us a record of the law of equivalent retribution. The Bible tells us that God demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In judicial parlance we call this lex talionis. And it means that the penalty must always fit the crime. And it is a reminder that as you do unto others, so it will be done unto you. It is something of the axiom of the golden rule.
And that’s what the book of Nahum really is. Nahum is the book of God’s justice. It is the justice that God brings to Nineveh. Nahum was a prophet and in this book he predicts the downfall of the city of Nineveh. Nineveh, of course, was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. It was, you might say, the head of that empire. And, thus, you might say, that this book details the decapitation of Assyria.
In 612BC, approximately 30-40 years after the book of Nahum was written, the city of Nineveh fell. A coalition of Babylonians and Medes burst through what was thought to be impregnable walls and wreaked destruction upon the city. And with that the Assyrian state came to an end. What’s more, the Akkadian dialect became extinct.
All of this, of course, was God’s doing. Nahum sits in our Bibles as a testimony to the fact that one of the greatest empires that ever existed came down. It’s fall was not due to the power of men and their weapons. Rather it was a direct result of the judgement of the Lord God, Almighty.
As you look in our text you see that this is the case. The opening lines of the book of Nahum declare the Lord to be a “jealous and avenging God.” He is “avenging and wrathful.” Indeed, “the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.”
It is for this reason that you who are diligent to read the Scriptures probably do not have a lot of highlights marking up these pages of your Bibles. There are perhaps 2 or 3 passages that you have underlined, but the majority of the three chapters recounts the stinging severity of a wrath filled, vengeful God.
One may even find that the book is offensive in many parts. That’s because there are points in this book is rather explicit. Nahum is not sparing when it comes to the details regarding the violence that God says he will do.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be taking a look at these intense & fiery chapters. And we want to explore this side of God’s character. We are going to focus on God’s anger and the bone he has to pick with Nineveh.
And this morning want to introduce that subject. We want to think about the vengeance of God, and dip our toes (if you will) into the book of Nahum. By that I mean we are just going to look the first couple of verses and ask what we can say about God’s vengeance?”
Now, I recognize that this is not an altogether comfortable topic. We may lament that the church doesn’t speak enough about God’s wrath and the idea of hell. But we should recognize that there’s a reason why. It’s a hard topic. It can be very difficult, even for the most devoted Christians, to think about.
But it becomes a little easier when we understand that God’s vengeance is, first of all, pointed at his enemies.
I. It is pointed at God’s enemies
The book of Nahum begins by saying, “An oracle concerning Nineveh.”
Now, the word oracle can also mean “burden.” It signifies something heavy and hard; something solemn and grievous. And that is what the book of Nahum is. It is a heavy, hard hitting expression of God’s wrath and indignation. A burden of anger is going to be unloaded upon the city of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire at large.
You might ask, “Why Nineveh?” It’s because Nineveh is the enemy of God and his people.
As mentioned a few moments ago, Nineveh was a place of wickedness and immorality. Though there had been a great revival and reformation of morals under Jonah and his preaching, things did not stay that way. By the time of Nahum, the Assyrian Empire had not only been re-paganized. You might say that it had become twice the son of hell.
During the time of Jonah Assyria had gone into a time of decline and was relatively quiet in terms of its military ventures. But, as the times of the great revival faded, Assyria revived its bloodthirst and desire for world conquest. It revved up the military industrial complex and conquered lands as far west as Egypt, to the north, east, and south (including the lands of Babylon).
King Ashurbanipal, who would likely be one of the king during the time that Nahum was written, was particularly evil. He is renown as one of the most brutal of the Assyrian kings. That says a lot because the Assyrians had always been known for their cruelty and violence (as we saw in Jonah). But Ashurbanipal took it to a whole new level. He boasted of his gory exploits. He would go into lands and not just conquer them, but he would outright massacre them. His campaigns in the east (in the region of Elam) are said today to be nothing less than genocides.
Specifically, though, this was the time when Judah was a vassal state of Assyria. Assyria had come in and laid its heavy hand upon king Manasseh. And, of course, Assyria was no kind overlord. Worldwide conquest comes at a price; a heavy price. You need a lot of resources to support all the armies who are stretching into all those different regions. And the taxation that they levied upon Judah was an immense one.
And it is in this context that Nahum writes. He says that Nineveh, though it has incredible power, will be brought down. Even though she has God’s people pinned down and has become a burden to Judah, they will find that the burden of God is much worse. Judah’s God has a burden he will put on Nineveh and it will be crushed under the weight of it.
And this is a reminder to us that God is the savior of his people. And the way he saves is often through the conquest of his enemies. Indeed, this is the very essence of the gospel promise in Genesis 3. Even though there will be enmity between God’s people and Satan’s, our Lord will eventually crush the head of Satan. A heavy, hard burden will come down upon Satan’s head and he will be utterly vanquished.
And so Nahum stands as a reminder to us that God does not ignore the injustice of this world. Those who set themselves against the Lord and against his people will not last long in this world. They will find that they may succeed for a while, but their exploits will not go one forever. You can be assured that the Lord will eventually break forth.
And you can be assured that he will not spare. His mercy will not be extended. As we will see in this book, God’s dealings with his enemies will be without mercy. As we go through this book you will find that, despite only being 3 chapters long, it presents one of the harshest expressions of God’s wrath in all of the Scripture. The Lord is presented as one who is utterly unrelenting in his dealings with Nineveh. His enemies can expect nothing less than pure vengeance.
The picture that we are given is a terrifying one. But we have to remember that this is the portrayal of God’s wrath towards his enemies. His vengeance is hot, but it is specifically targeted. That’s the beauty of being in Christ. By trusting in Christ, nothing like this is to be feared.
I can say that with confidence based on what this passage says. For the opening of the book reminds us that while God’s vengeance is pointed at his enemies, it is executed on behalf of his people.
II. It is executed on behalf of God’s people
Look at the next part of verse 1. After telling us that this is the oracle (or burden) of Nineveh, we are told that this is the “book of the vision of Nahum.”
Now, I want you to notice two things. First, remember that this is not in the Assyrian Bible. Ashubanipal may or may not of had a copy of Nahum’s book in his library. Perhaps Nahum emailed him a copy, but we don’t know that for certain.
What we do know is that this is in our bibles. This book was incorporated into the Hebrew Scriptures. That means that the book was not written primarily to the Ninevites. It was for the people of Judah. It was a word about Nineveh for the Jewish people who were suffering under the heavy hand of Nineveh’s policies.
In that respect, the book of Nahum is a lot like Jonah. You remember that Jonah may have had material about the Ninevites, but it was written to the Israelites. It was a message to Israel, calling them to repentance.
Nahum is similar in that it too might be about the Ninevites, but it’s primary audience is covenant community. It was written to assure us that God will deal with our enemies. Judah would have heard these words and their hearts would be encouraged.
In sum, we who have received this book may know that our God is not asleep. He may seem like he is in active, but we should not think that he has forgotten us. He will always honor the covenant he made with us.
This is further reinforced by the author’s name. This first verse tells us all that we know about Nahum. Really, you might say that it tells us more than we know about Nahum. That’s because it tells us that he was “of Elkosh.” The problem is that we do not know what Elkosh was. Is that his father? Is that the town he came from? We don’t know.
What we do know is that this book was from Nahum. And that’s all that really matters. That’s the most important thing that could be revealed. For the name Nahum means “comfort.” Nahum is actually a short version of the name Nehemiah. Nehemiah means “The Lord is my comfort.”
Maybe you are familiar with the New Testament city called Capernaum, which is the “city of comfort.” Some say that the city of Capernaum was named after this prophet.
So we could read this opening line as “the vision of comfort.” and that’s the way we are to understand this book. While it is a ravaging tale of God’s trouncing of Nineveh, it is better understood as a testimony to the fact that God loves his people. He does not abandon them, even in the midst of their sins and shortcomings. He acts on their behalf. He is their rescuer. He is not just any old avenger, he is our avenger. He is working his justice for us.
From time to time I catch the news and I hear stories of people who have lost loved ones. Their brother or son was murdered or lost his life because of the recklessness of a drunk driver. And these families will have to endure long, drawn out trials. They may have to sit through appeals and years and years of court cases. But then the day will finally come. The courts finally declare that the murderer or the drunk driver is guilty and his sentence is pronounced. He has to serve life in prison or life without parole.
When that day comes the family appears on the TV screen and they say, “We can now rest knowing that justice has been served.” The family feels a great deal of relief and are comforted because the offender got what he deserved.
In a similar fashion, a while ago I counseled a lady who had lost her daughter. She was grieved because she felt that the justice system did not do its due diligence in investigating what happened. The case was closed and she felt a growing bitterness over it. And the bitterness began to overflow to her relationship with God. How could he do such a thing and allow that?
I took her to the third commandment. I reminded her of what it said. “Do not take the name of the Lord in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” In other words, God does not make the same kind of mistakes that many investigators do. We can be assured of this: Guilty parties may escape the justice of men, but they will by no means escape the justice of God.
When this woman realized that, there was a bit of a breakthrough in her life. She found comfort in the fact that her God was a sworn avenger.
The same is true for all of us. The book of Nahum was written to bring comfort to the people of God. Judah could be assured that the oppressive tyranny of that powerful regime would not go unpunished.
As we read it, we can have the same consolation. Indeed, we can be reminded that Jesus is the one who rides upon the white horse. He is the one whose garments are stained with blood. He tramples down his enemies and brings salvation to his people.
Before we wrap up, there’s one more thing that I’d like us to notice about God’s vengeance. I’ve said that it is pointed at God’s enemies and executed on behalf of God’s people. But its also important to understand that this vengeance is rooted in God’s character.
III. It is rooted in God’s character
If you look at verses 2-3, you see that this book begins with God. Nahum does not waste any time. He says, “This book is a burden. This book is about Nineveh. I wrote it. Now, behold your God. This is what he is like.”
He says, “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.”
You understand why Nahum puts this right out front. A lot of people who read this book will be shocked by it. We haven’t gotten very far into it, but we have already witnessed that it is pretty intense. God seems like a flaming locomotive charging down the tracks ready to obliterate his enemies.
And there are a lot of people who prickle at the thought of this. Some might even call it a puritan view of God. It portrays God as intensely angry, yearning for death and destruction. Maybe you could say that He’s just as thirsty for blood as these Ninevites have been.
This doesn’t seem to be the God of love that we are used to. This must be that nasty God of the Old Testament. At least, that’s how some people might view it. They have a concept of God that they cannot reconcile with what is laid forth in this book.
But Nahum shows us that it is precisely because he is a God of love that he is so mad. His vengeance flows out, not because he has an angry disposition, but because he is the most loving being that ever has existed.
How can I say that? It’s because he is, as it says in verse 2, “a jealous God.”
Now jealousy is one of those attributes that doesn’t come off well because we have corrupted it. When we think of jealousy, we think of someone who is envious or suspicious. You can be jealous of your neighbor because he’s gotten another promotion and was able to buy a brand new Escalade.
That’s a sinful kind of jealousy and it should not be what we think of when it says that God is a jealous God. There is a righteous kind of jealousy; one that is evoked because of love.
My old pastor once told the story of how his wife was in an accident. She was blindsided by a guy who ran a stop sign. He was called to the scene and when he got there he was overwhelmed by the sight. The emergency teams had already arrived. The lights from the ambulance and the police cars where flashing. The family van was mashed in on one side and pushed over the curb. His wife was sitting on the gurney, and the paramedics were hoisting her into the ambulance.
At that moment he said that he was enraged. He wanted to tear that negligent driver limb from limb. How dare he treat his wife that way?
That is jealousy. And that’s the right kind of jealousy. It’s that intense anger that rises out of love. When that which you love has been greatly dishonored, you can (and should) become enraged. You are provoked to make things right and get the vengeance that this injustice calls for.
That is the kind of thing that Nahum is speaking of. He says that this tirade that God goes on is not because God is capricious or mean-spirited. He’s not a monster by nature. It is just the opposite. Yes, he is wrathful. Yes, he is full of anger. But it is because of the intensity of his love.
He loves his honor. He loves his people. And it is because he loves them so much that jealousy wells up within him. It breaks forth with such fierceness because his love is so intense.
This is essentially what you find in the book of Revelation. In the opening chapter we have a vision of Jesus. His hair is as white as wool and his eyes are a flame of fire. Out of his mouth comes a two edged sword. There’s this intense picture of a warrior. But it also says that in his hand are the seven stars, which represent his ministers and their churches. He’s shown to be incensed and full of wrath, but he’s holding that which is precious to him. He’s may be depicted as angry, but he is also depicted as cherishing his people at the same time.
That’s the God of the book of Nahum. That’s the God of the entire bible, actually. He’s a jealous God because he is a God who loves. And in that we may take great comfort.
The article mentioned David’s dispatching of Goliath and his head. But it the article mainly featured the Assyrians. And it is true, the Assyrian’s seemed to have a special penchant to lopping off the heads of their enemies. We know this because they boasted of the practice quite readily in their writings. We have recovered documents that recount numbers, piles, and sometimes even the hanging of heads in trees (much like bulbs on Christmas trees). One conquered prince was made to wear his father’s head as a necklace.
The Assyrians, you might say, had a thing for decapitation.
Why do I mention this here? Is it because I have some twisted interests and need help guarding my internet usage? No, not at all. I mention it for this reason:
As we come to the book of Nahum, we might say that the Lord gives us a record of the law of equivalent retribution. The Bible tells us that God demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In judicial parlance we call this lex talionis. And it means that the penalty must always fit the crime. And it is a reminder that as you do unto others, so it will be done unto you. It is something of the axiom of the golden rule.
And that’s what the book of Nahum really is. Nahum is the book of God’s justice. It is the justice that God brings to Nineveh. Nahum was a prophet and in this book he predicts the downfall of the city of Nineveh. Nineveh, of course, was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. It was, you might say, the head of that empire. And, thus, you might say, that this book details the decapitation of Assyria.
In 612BC, approximately 30-40 years after the book of Nahum was written, the city of Nineveh fell. A coalition of Babylonians and Medes burst through what was thought to be impregnable walls and wreaked destruction upon the city. And with that the Assyrian state came to an end. What’s more, the Akkadian dialect became extinct.
All of this, of course, was God’s doing. Nahum sits in our Bibles as a testimony to the fact that one of the greatest empires that ever existed came down. It’s fall was not due to the power of men and their weapons. Rather it was a direct result of the judgement of the Lord God, Almighty.
As you look in our text you see that this is the case. The opening lines of the book of Nahum declare the Lord to be a “jealous and avenging God.” He is “avenging and wrathful.” Indeed, “the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.”
It is for this reason that you who are diligent to read the Scriptures probably do not have a lot of highlights marking up these pages of your Bibles. There are perhaps 2 or 3 passages that you have underlined, but the majority of the three chapters recounts the stinging severity of a wrath filled, vengeful God.
One may even find that the book is offensive in many parts. That’s because there are points in this book is rather explicit. Nahum is not sparing when it comes to the details regarding the violence that God says he will do.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be taking a look at these intense & fiery chapters. And we want to explore this side of God’s character. We are going to focus on God’s anger and the bone he has to pick with Nineveh.
And this morning want to introduce that subject. We want to think about the vengeance of God, and dip our toes (if you will) into the book of Nahum. By that I mean we are just going to look the first couple of verses and ask what we can say about God’s vengeance?”
Now, I recognize that this is not an altogether comfortable topic. We may lament that the church doesn’t speak enough about God’s wrath and the idea of hell. But we should recognize that there’s a reason why. It’s a hard topic. It can be very difficult, even for the most devoted Christians, to think about.
But it becomes a little easier when we understand that God’s vengeance is, first of all, pointed at his enemies.
I. It is pointed at God’s enemies
The book of Nahum begins by saying, “An oracle concerning Nineveh.”
Now, the word oracle can also mean “burden.” It signifies something heavy and hard; something solemn and grievous. And that is what the book of Nahum is. It is a heavy, hard hitting expression of God’s wrath and indignation. A burden of anger is going to be unloaded upon the city of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire at large.
You might ask, “Why Nineveh?” It’s because Nineveh is the enemy of God and his people.
As mentioned a few moments ago, Nineveh was a place of wickedness and immorality. Though there had been a great revival and reformation of morals under Jonah and his preaching, things did not stay that way. By the time of Nahum, the Assyrian Empire had not only been re-paganized. You might say that it had become twice the son of hell.
During the time of Jonah Assyria had gone into a time of decline and was relatively quiet in terms of its military ventures. But, as the times of the great revival faded, Assyria revived its bloodthirst and desire for world conquest. It revved up the military industrial complex and conquered lands as far west as Egypt, to the north, east, and south (including the lands of Babylon).
King Ashurbanipal, who would likely be one of the king during the time that Nahum was written, was particularly evil. He is renown as one of the most brutal of the Assyrian kings. That says a lot because the Assyrians had always been known for their cruelty and violence (as we saw in Jonah). But Ashurbanipal took it to a whole new level. He boasted of his gory exploits. He would go into lands and not just conquer them, but he would outright massacre them. His campaigns in the east (in the region of Elam) are said today to be nothing less than genocides.
Specifically, though, this was the time when Judah was a vassal state of Assyria. Assyria had come in and laid its heavy hand upon king Manasseh. And, of course, Assyria was no kind overlord. Worldwide conquest comes at a price; a heavy price. You need a lot of resources to support all the armies who are stretching into all those different regions. And the taxation that they levied upon Judah was an immense one.
And it is in this context that Nahum writes. He says that Nineveh, though it has incredible power, will be brought down. Even though she has God’s people pinned down and has become a burden to Judah, they will find that the burden of God is much worse. Judah’s God has a burden he will put on Nineveh and it will be crushed under the weight of it.
And this is a reminder to us that God is the savior of his people. And the way he saves is often through the conquest of his enemies. Indeed, this is the very essence of the gospel promise in Genesis 3. Even though there will be enmity between God’s people and Satan’s, our Lord will eventually crush the head of Satan. A heavy, hard burden will come down upon Satan’s head and he will be utterly vanquished.
And so Nahum stands as a reminder to us that God does not ignore the injustice of this world. Those who set themselves against the Lord and against his people will not last long in this world. They will find that they may succeed for a while, but their exploits will not go one forever. You can be assured that the Lord will eventually break forth.
And you can be assured that he will not spare. His mercy will not be extended. As we will see in this book, God’s dealings with his enemies will be without mercy. As we go through this book you will find that, despite only being 3 chapters long, it presents one of the harshest expressions of God’s wrath in all of the Scripture. The Lord is presented as one who is utterly unrelenting in his dealings with Nineveh. His enemies can expect nothing less than pure vengeance.
The picture that we are given is a terrifying one. But we have to remember that this is the portrayal of God’s wrath towards his enemies. His vengeance is hot, but it is specifically targeted. That’s the beauty of being in Christ. By trusting in Christ, nothing like this is to be feared.
I can say that with confidence based on what this passage says. For the opening of the book reminds us that while God’s vengeance is pointed at his enemies, it is executed on behalf of his people.
II. It is executed on behalf of God’s people
Look at the next part of verse 1. After telling us that this is the oracle (or burden) of Nineveh, we are told that this is the “book of the vision of Nahum.”
Now, I want you to notice two things. First, remember that this is not in the Assyrian Bible. Ashubanipal may or may not of had a copy of Nahum’s book in his library. Perhaps Nahum emailed him a copy, but we don’t know that for certain.
What we do know is that this is in our bibles. This book was incorporated into the Hebrew Scriptures. That means that the book was not written primarily to the Ninevites. It was for the people of Judah. It was a word about Nineveh for the Jewish people who were suffering under the heavy hand of Nineveh’s policies.
In that respect, the book of Nahum is a lot like Jonah. You remember that Jonah may have had material about the Ninevites, but it was written to the Israelites. It was a message to Israel, calling them to repentance.
Nahum is similar in that it too might be about the Ninevites, but it’s primary audience is covenant community. It was written to assure us that God will deal with our enemies. Judah would have heard these words and their hearts would be encouraged.
In sum, we who have received this book may know that our God is not asleep. He may seem like he is in active, but we should not think that he has forgotten us. He will always honor the covenant he made with us.
This is further reinforced by the author’s name. This first verse tells us all that we know about Nahum. Really, you might say that it tells us more than we know about Nahum. That’s because it tells us that he was “of Elkosh.” The problem is that we do not know what Elkosh was. Is that his father? Is that the town he came from? We don’t know.
What we do know is that this book was from Nahum. And that’s all that really matters. That’s the most important thing that could be revealed. For the name Nahum means “comfort.” Nahum is actually a short version of the name Nehemiah. Nehemiah means “The Lord is my comfort.”
Maybe you are familiar with the New Testament city called Capernaum, which is the “city of comfort.” Some say that the city of Capernaum was named after this prophet.
So we could read this opening line as “the vision of comfort.” and that’s the way we are to understand this book. While it is a ravaging tale of God’s trouncing of Nineveh, it is better understood as a testimony to the fact that God loves his people. He does not abandon them, even in the midst of their sins and shortcomings. He acts on their behalf. He is their rescuer. He is not just any old avenger, he is our avenger. He is working his justice for us.
From time to time I catch the news and I hear stories of people who have lost loved ones. Their brother or son was murdered or lost his life because of the recklessness of a drunk driver. And these families will have to endure long, drawn out trials. They may have to sit through appeals and years and years of court cases. But then the day will finally come. The courts finally declare that the murderer or the drunk driver is guilty and his sentence is pronounced. He has to serve life in prison or life without parole.
When that day comes the family appears on the TV screen and they say, “We can now rest knowing that justice has been served.” The family feels a great deal of relief and are comforted because the offender got what he deserved.
In a similar fashion, a while ago I counseled a lady who had lost her daughter. She was grieved because she felt that the justice system did not do its due diligence in investigating what happened. The case was closed and she felt a growing bitterness over it. And the bitterness began to overflow to her relationship with God. How could he do such a thing and allow that?
I took her to the third commandment. I reminded her of what it said. “Do not take the name of the Lord in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” In other words, God does not make the same kind of mistakes that many investigators do. We can be assured of this: Guilty parties may escape the justice of men, but they will by no means escape the justice of God.
When this woman realized that, there was a bit of a breakthrough in her life. She found comfort in the fact that her God was a sworn avenger.
The same is true for all of us. The book of Nahum was written to bring comfort to the people of God. Judah could be assured that the oppressive tyranny of that powerful regime would not go unpunished.
As we read it, we can have the same consolation. Indeed, we can be reminded that Jesus is the one who rides upon the white horse. He is the one whose garments are stained with blood. He tramples down his enemies and brings salvation to his people.
Before we wrap up, there’s one more thing that I’d like us to notice about God’s vengeance. I’ve said that it is pointed at God’s enemies and executed on behalf of God’s people. But its also important to understand that this vengeance is rooted in God’s character.
III. It is rooted in God’s character
If you look at verses 2-3, you see that this book begins with God. Nahum does not waste any time. He says, “This book is a burden. This book is about Nineveh. I wrote it. Now, behold your God. This is what he is like.”
He says, “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.”
You understand why Nahum puts this right out front. A lot of people who read this book will be shocked by it. We haven’t gotten very far into it, but we have already witnessed that it is pretty intense. God seems like a flaming locomotive charging down the tracks ready to obliterate his enemies.
And there are a lot of people who prickle at the thought of this. Some might even call it a puritan view of God. It portrays God as intensely angry, yearning for death and destruction. Maybe you could say that He’s just as thirsty for blood as these Ninevites have been.
This doesn’t seem to be the God of love that we are used to. This must be that nasty God of the Old Testament. At least, that’s how some people might view it. They have a concept of God that they cannot reconcile with what is laid forth in this book.
But Nahum shows us that it is precisely because he is a God of love that he is so mad. His vengeance flows out, not because he has an angry disposition, but because he is the most loving being that ever has existed.
How can I say that? It’s because he is, as it says in verse 2, “a jealous God.”
Now jealousy is one of those attributes that doesn’t come off well because we have corrupted it. When we think of jealousy, we think of someone who is envious or suspicious. You can be jealous of your neighbor because he’s gotten another promotion and was able to buy a brand new Escalade.
That’s a sinful kind of jealousy and it should not be what we think of when it says that God is a jealous God. There is a righteous kind of jealousy; one that is evoked because of love.
My old pastor once told the story of how his wife was in an accident. She was blindsided by a guy who ran a stop sign. He was called to the scene and when he got there he was overwhelmed by the sight. The emergency teams had already arrived. The lights from the ambulance and the police cars where flashing. The family van was mashed in on one side and pushed over the curb. His wife was sitting on the gurney, and the paramedics were hoisting her into the ambulance.
At that moment he said that he was enraged. He wanted to tear that negligent driver limb from limb. How dare he treat his wife that way?
That is jealousy. And that’s the right kind of jealousy. It’s that intense anger that rises out of love. When that which you love has been greatly dishonored, you can (and should) become enraged. You are provoked to make things right and get the vengeance that this injustice calls for.
That is the kind of thing that Nahum is speaking of. He says that this tirade that God goes on is not because God is capricious or mean-spirited. He’s not a monster by nature. It is just the opposite. Yes, he is wrathful. Yes, he is full of anger. But it is because of the intensity of his love.
He loves his honor. He loves his people. And it is because he loves them so much that jealousy wells up within him. It breaks forth with such fierceness because his love is so intense.
This is essentially what you find in the book of Revelation. In the opening chapter we have a vision of Jesus. His hair is as white as wool and his eyes are a flame of fire. Out of his mouth comes a two edged sword. There’s this intense picture of a warrior. But it also says that in his hand are the seven stars, which represent his ministers and their churches. He’s shown to be incensed and full of wrath, but he’s holding that which is precious to him. He’s may be depicted as angry, but he is also depicted as cherishing his people at the same time.
That’s the God of the book of Nahum. That’s the God of the entire bible, actually. He’s a jealous God because he is a God who loves. And in that we may take great comfort.