Nahum 1

Nahum 1:1-15

God’ s Goodness and Righteous Anger Nahum 1:1-15 The native city of Nahum was Elkosh, near the Lake of Galilee. The name Capernaum means literally “ the village of Nahum.” He lived about 150 years after Jonah, who also had been especially concerned with the sins and doom of Nineveh. Though as a Jew he must have dreaded Nineveh, which had already carried Samaria into captivity and was now menacing Jerusalem, he accounted its fate a grievous burden-“ the burden of Nineveh.” We must never speak of the doom of the ungodly, save from a broken heart. Nahum 1:1-8 forms a magnificent preamble combining the goodness and severity of God. His dealings with mankind are wrapped in mystery, but He is good and the stronghold of His saints. In Nahum 1:9-15 we see how mad Assyria was to enter into conflict with Jehovah. The fate of thorns in fiercely burning flame is the emblem of their doom. Compare Nahum 1:14 with Isaiah 37:38. When the hour of anguish is past, let us not forget to pay our vows.