Sermon on the Book of Nahum

 I was recently able to preach at Pella Communities on the book of Nahum. 

Systematic Theology in a Raging Storm: Reflections on Nahum's Vision of God

¹The oracle of Nineveh.  

The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.  

²A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; 

the Lord is avenging and wrathful.  

The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, 

and he reserves wrath for his enemies.  

³The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, 

and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.  

In whirlwind and storm is his way, 

and clouds are the dust beneath his feet.  

⁴He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; 

he dries up all the rivers.  

Bashan and Carmel wither; the blossoms of Lebanon wither.  ⁵Mountains quake because of him 

and the hills dissolve; 

indeed the earth is upheaved by his presence, 

the world and all the inhabitants in it.  

⁶Who can stand before his indignation?  

Who can endure the burning of his anger?  

His wrath is poured out like fire 

and the rocks are broken up by him.  

⁷The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, 

and he knows those who take refuge in him. 

⁸But with an overflowing flood 

he will make a complete end of its site, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.  

–Nahum 1.1-8

I can make a "list of God's attributes" from Nahum 1.1-8:

* Jealous
* Avenging
* Wrath
* Slow to anger
* Great in power
* Good

Words on a page as I sit comfortably in climate-controlled office.

But place me in a  whirlwind and storm with its flashing lightning and booming thunder.  Let me behold the waters being evaporated and devastation lacing the land.  Let me feel the earth itself as mountains begin to break apart.  Now I am experiencing the majestic presence of God with all his danger and fury.  In the midst of the rattle and rumble, confusion and chaos let me find a place of refuge, a safe haven from upheaval.  Now I experience the goodness of God.  The One from Whom heaven and earth convulsively flee--this One is Himself the place of refuge, stability and safety.  In His presence I know both fear and joy--I rejoice with trembling (Psalm 2.11).  I am no longer looking at a "list of attributes;" I am worshipping!

*See the following for more on Nahum:

Nahum: The Word of God or the Imagination of Man?

Nahum: Good Theology from a Book of God's Judgment

Nahum: Good Theology from a Book of God's Judgment

In a recent post--Nahum: The Word of God or the Imagination of Man?--I looked at an essay which, in the final analysis, denigrates the vision of God contained in the book of Nahum.  Another essay by Aron Pinker--Nahum's Theological Perspectives Jewish Bible Quarterly 32 (2004), 148-157--provides a good counter-point as he accurately unfolds the deep theology of Nahum.

Pinker begins by stating the purpose of his paper:

The purpose of this paper is to show that Nahum's small book contains an unusually rich theological perspective, and a prophetic message of eternal validity, which is in line with the best prophetic traditions. (p. 149)

Pinker lists out and briefly explains sixteen "specific beliefs that can be discerned in the Book of Nahum."  I will list out these sixteen statement and add a few extra quotations from Pinker for some of them.

1.  God demands universal adherence to His moral code.

God's jealousy presupposes an accepted moral fabric.  It is the basis for man's hope that a just cause would be recognized.  Moreover, God's jealousy implies the existence of a purpose.  The achievement of this purpose involves His chosen people.  Those who pose a threat to His people become His enemies, because they obstruct the attainment of His purpose.

2.  God punishes transgressions.

An avenging God gives hope and comfort that justice will be done.

3.  God is "temperamentally" involved.

God possesses anger (1:2), which is a consequence of the discrepancy between the reality of the human condition and God's expectation from man.  God is not apathetic, nor is He distanced and uninterested.  Being in possession of anger means that He is involved, interested, and near to man and historical events.

4.  Trangressors of God's moral code are His enemies.

5.  God bears a grudge.

God's bearing a grudge guarantees that every act has to be accounted for.

6.  God is slow to anger.

Time allowed for the sinner to reform is usually also an extension of the suffering of the righteous... How the Lord harmonizes between "being slow to anger" and "timely justice" is not altogether clear... While Nahum describes a "furious" and "avenging" God, it is clear that this is a state reached only after all the "patience" has been exhausted.

7.  God is great in power.

8.  God does not remit all punishment.

9.  God's majesty is exhibited in nature's reaction to His appearance.

His appearance causes a cataclysm of nature, indicating His supremacy over the forces of nature and His ability to reverse long-standing features (1:4-6).  This is the basis for his argument that God can undo the Assyrian Empire, a lasting phenomenon of might and subjugation.

10.  God is good.

11. Belief in God is a source of strength in time of duress.

12.  Deliverance as a consequence of the other's punishment.

13.  God's verdict can not countervailed.

14.  There is a moral code by which God judges nations.

15.  God is in charge.

16.  Restoration of the special relationship with God

When the messenger brings the tidings of peace (2:1), Nahum urges Judah joyfully to celebrate its feasts and fulfill its vows.  The directive implies a new start without any resentments or recriminations.  Such "new beginnings" are possible with the Lord.

After listing and discussing these sixteen beliefs Pinker has these apt words:

Nahum's book appears to be imbued with a strong sense of God's sovereignty and clearly portrays His lordship over history.  This serves as the principal element of Nahum's comforting message, transcending the specific historical situation that was the cause for its announcement.  Nahum's eternal message is one of hope, which gives comfort to anyone oppressed by seemingly invulnerable tyranny.  He clearly presents the normative theological position held by the biblical prophets: The Lord is powerful, applies His power to counter evil and protect the righteous.  There is nothing shallow in Nahum's theological perspectives.  His theocentric view of history would not have permitted a position of an opportunistic national propagandist.  For it was clear to him that Judah's salvation is not one that it deserves but rather is a consequence of Assyria's fall.  Nahum rejoices, firstly, because the sanctuary will be cleansed and sacrifices brought (2:1), enabling a recovery of religious norms.  (p. 155)

This is a good and proper perspective on the book of Nahum.  May we listen afresh to God's word--yes, even Nahum--with faith, humility, and worship.

Nahum: The Word of God or the Imagination of Man?

Approaching Scripture as the word of God--the way Jesus did--has consequences for what kind of conclusions one will come to when seeking to understand the text.  Conversely, viewing the text as simply the word of man--generated and driven by man's religious impulses--will also have consequences.

The book of Nahum is a good test case in this regard.  Nahum presents us with a vision of God as avenging Judge who prophesies the coming destruction of Nineveh in graphic terms.  There are those who think Nahum's vision of God's retributive justice is unbecoming and unworthy of the God of love displayed elsewhere in Scripture.  A good example of this view of Nahum as reflecting merely human religiousity is David G. Garber, Jr. and his essay "Facing Traumatizing Texts: Reading Nahum's Nationalistic Rage" Review and Expositor 105 (Spring, 2008), 285-294.  

Throughout his essay Garber repeatedly uses inflammatory rhetoric to describe the book of Nahum.  He calls it a "fantasy of vengenace," "a diatribe and vengeance fantasy," and "a vitriolic vengeance fantasy" (pp. 286, 287, 290).  Occasionally Garber does state an insightful truth, such as when he writes:

The awesome terror of God's avenging power is both frightening and reassuring to the oppressed.  It is frightening, because it is a reminder that Yahweh is a God with whom one cannot trifle, but it is also reassuring, because it affirms that the oppressor will not have the last word. (p. 288)

This is a genuine biblical perspective but it is ultimately drowned out by Garber's perspective elsewhere in the article.  For example, Garber states:

In Nahum, shalom (peace or wholeness) for the Judean will only result from the realization of violent vengeance.  The pronouncement of "good news" serves as an introduction to a vitriolic vengeance fantasy as the prophet imagines the city of Nineveh suffering military defeat from the hands of YHWH. (pp. 289-290)

Aside from the rhetoric of "a vitriolic vengeance fantasy" already noted, the key phrase in this quotation is--"as the prophet imagines."  The operating assumption here is that the destructive imagery of the book is a result of Nahum's imagination.  It is not seen to be a divine revelation given from Yahweh to Nahum that reveals the truth about God himself.

This is not simply a "slip of the pen" for it is the perspective Garber continues to push in the concluding section of the essay.  Garber begins his conclusion with these words:

The book of Nahum reminds us of the deeply ingrained human longing for vengeance. (p. 291)

The question must be asked: Is it only "the deeply ingrained human longing for vengeance" or is it not also a manifestation and revelation of God's holy and jealousy character?  Later Garber writes:

Perhaps the vitriolic rhetoric in the book of Nahum, and in the collective, xenophobic response of some to the terrorist attacks on September 11, could best be explained as attempts to reassert corporate life in the face of tragedies that force humanity to face the inevitability of its own mortality. (p. 291)

Again, there is nothing here about God revealing his character.  The rhetoric of the book is simply a human attempt to come to grips with national tragedy.  Garber goes further.  He moves to a place where we are called upon to reject the vision of God as vengeful.  Here is Garber in his own words:

Finally, one must wrestle with the image of God presented in the text.  A jealous, powerful, and violent deity is not one to whom many Christians wish to cling.  Christians are much more comfortable with the God who is slow to anger than the God who avenges.  We would much rather read of God's mercy exhibited to the foreigners in Jonah 3 and 4, than God's wrath executed on the Assyrian King in Nahum 2 and 3.  

Up to this point in this quotation it is merely descriptive but the next sentences of Garber move to a prescriptive perspective...

This, I think, is certainly appropriate.  But while we remain steadfast against this image of a violent and wrathful deity, we must also recognize the reason such fantasies exist in the first place. (pp. 292-293--bold-face added)

Here Garber pits himself against the God of Nahum.  This God of vengeance is not worthy of Garber's worship and adoration; he is someone to be opposed.  The book of Nahum is not, therefore, the revelation of God's holy character.  Rather, Nahum is only the expression of man's attempts to deal with pain.  Garber is clear about this when he writes, "Rather, we must continue to read the text and respect the representation of pain that it expresses." (p. 293)

For Garber, the book of Nahum is man's best attempt to deal with pain and crisis.  Garber doesn't like the God of Nahum and urges that the portrait of God as wrathful be opposed.  This is Garber's opinion.  There is only one problem--this is the not the view of Jesus Christ (Matthew 5.17-18)!  Jesus never treated the Scriptures like Garber treats them.  As a follower of Christ ... well, I'm going to follow Christ's viewpoint.

Nahum 1.9-2.2: Alternating Judgment and Salvation

I'm currently preaching through the book of Nahum.  The section of 1.9-2.2 can be confusing at a first read since the writer alternates between judgment for Nineveh and salvation for Judah.  Some translations (i.e., NIV) insert the words "Nineveh" and "Judah" to help but these words do not have any basis in the underlying Hebrew text.  In order to facilitate quick understanding and to enable my hearers to follow the sermon I printed up the following which color-codes the text for easy reference.

Nahum 1.9-2.2 (NASB)

(red = judgment against Nineveh; green = salvation for Judah)

^1.9Whatever you devise against the Lord, he will make a complete end of it.  Distress will not rise up twice.

¹⁰Like tangled thorns, and like those who are drunken with their drink, they are consumed as stubble completely withered.

¹¹From you has gone forth one who plotted evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor.

¹²Thus says the Lord, “Though they are at full strength and likewise many, even so, they will be cut off and pass away.  Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no longer.

¹³So now, I will break his yoke bar from upon you, and I will tear off your shackles.”

¹⁴The Lord has issued a command concerning you: “Your name will no longer be perpetuated.  I will cut off idol and image from the house of your gods.  I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible.”

¹⁵Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace!  Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; pay your vows.  For never again will the wicked one pass through you; he is cut off completely.

^2.1The one who scatters has come up against you.  Man the fortress, watch the road; strengthen your back, summon all your strength.

²For the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, even though devastators have devastated them and destroyed their vine branches.

Nahum and the God of Sovereign Wrath: Some Quotations

A jealous and avenging God is the Lord;

the Lord is avenging and wrathful.

The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries,

and he reserves wrath for his enemies.

Nahum 1.2

“God’s jealousy is not a compound of frustration, envy, and spite, as human jealousy so often is, but appears instead as a (literally) praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious.”  J. I. Packer[1]

“God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is.  It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil… Would a God who took as much pleasure in evil as He did in good be a good God?  Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in His world be morally perfect?  Surely not.  But it is precisely this adverse reaction to evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, that the Bible has in view when it speaks of God’s wrath.”  J. I. Packer[2]

“That God is dangerous in his holiness should not be dismissed as if it were a primitive idea, beyond which we have now evolved.  It is, in fact, a reality toward which we are all moving, for in the end God’s holiness will prove to be the final line of resistance to all that is wrong, all that is evil in the world.  The day is coming when truth will be placed forever on the throne, and error forever on the scaffold.”  David Wells[3]

“Nahum invites a celebration of divine sovereignty and justice, affirming that God’s retributive justice is good news.”  Thomas Renz[4]

“No message could be more repulsive to the modern mind than the idea of retributive justice.  But this truth finds open exposition in the messages of these seventh-century prophets [Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah].  The historical events that befell Judah, Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon attest to the truthfulness of their declaration.  It finds no contradiction in the Scriptures of the new covenant, but only repeated reinforcement (2 Thess. 1:6-10; 2 Cor. 5:10).”  O. Palmer Robertson[5]

“This great God depicted by Nahum is not just an abstract idea, a nebulous concept.  He is a living person whose nature defines the meaning of personhood.  He interacts powerfully with the world he has made, so that the attributes that Nahum has so vividly delineated have their telling effect on every element of creation.  The sea, the rivers, the fruitful lands, mountains, hills, the earth, the world and all its inhabitants—these diverse segments feel the effects of God’s jealousy, vengeance, wrath, anger, might, and justice.”  O. Palmer Robertson[6]

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[1] J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1973), 153.  For more on God’s jealousy see my paper “The Jealousy of God” online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-jealousy-of-god.html.

[2] Packer, Knowing God, 136-137.  For more on God’s wrath see my Bible study online:  http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-wrath-of-god.html.

[3] David F. Wells, God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1994), 142.

[4] Thomas Renz, “Nahum” in Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible ed. Kevin J. VanHoozer (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2005), 528.

[5] O. Palmer Robertson, The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah—NICOT (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1990), 22.

[6] Robertson, The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah—NICOT, 66.