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Nahum

by Lance Ponder⁽⁸⁶⁾
http://fkiprofessor.xanga.com

Introduction to the Book of Nahum

Nahum 1:1 introduces the author, Nahum of Elkosh, and states the book is an oracle related through a vision. 1:2-8 describes God. God responds with passion for His people. He counts Nineveh as His enemy because they are the enemy of His people. God is all-powerful and His purposes are good. He will not tolerate evil indefinitely. 1:9-11 describe the indictment against Nineveh. 1:12-14 is an overview of God’s judgment. 1:15 (2:1 in the Hebrew Tanakh), which sounds almost like a side note to the Jews, is a stark reminder that the faithful are to remain faithful with a beautiful promise to those who do remain faithful. 2:1-3 is a starts with a taunt to Nineveh and follows up with a description of the army which would come against them. 2:4-9 vividly describes the fall of Nineveh. 2:10-11 illustrates the emptiness to be left in the wake of Nineveh’s destruction. 2:12-13 includes a follow-up indictment and judgment in the context of 2:10-11. The entire third chapter describes the outcome of God’s wrath. It features the fall of the city of Nineveh and the shame of the end of the greatness of the Assyrian Empire. Through it all there is the constant theme of God’s glorious ultimate victory over evil and the rescue and restoration of God’s true faithful people.

Introducing Nahum

Nah 1:1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

Nahum wrote this short book in the mid-7^th century BC. The descriptions provided, particularly in the passage 3:5-8, place the date of writing between 663 BC when Assyrian King Ashurbanipal conquered Thebes in Upper Egypt and the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC. Based on the direct reference to Thebes and other political events happening in Assyria in the late 7^th century, it is likely Nahum wrote within a decade of the fall of Thebes. Manasseh was king in Jerusalem during this time. His loyalty to Assyria would have been another good reason for Nahum’s prophecy against Nineveh.

Little is known about Nahum as a person, aside from his own self-description of being “of Elkosh.” Although he prophesied from the area of Judea, the location of Elkosh is lost. Some suppose the name Capernaum is derived from the Hebrew term meaning “village of Nahum,” though this is only an educated guess. If so, it is logical to assume Elkosh was a town Galilee at or near the site which was known in Jesus’ time as Capernaum.

As the first line implies, the book of Nahum deals almost entirely with the Assyrian Empire and in particular its capital, Nineveh. As is usually the pattern of prophecy, Nahum gives the Lord’s indictment and describes the forthcoming judgment. While Nahum’s book is largely overlooked today, its main lesson is universal: There is hope for the repentant, but not for those who refuse the mercy of the Lord. It is interesting that both Nahum and Jonah gave prophecies from God to Nineveh, but where the king in Jonah’s day repented and turned back God’s wrath, the king in Nahum’s day ignored the warning of judgment. The judgment against Assyria was, after years of trying the Lord’s patience, carried out in late summer, 612 BC when Babylon, with the help of the Medes, utterly destroyed Nineveh and brought down the Assyrian Empire.

God’s Power
Nah 1:2 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.

Nahum begins the oracle by describing elements of God’s character. God’s jealousy is proclaimed all the way back to the second Commandment (Ex 20:5). The second Commandment makes it clear God hates idolatry. God alone is worthy of our worship. He opposes those who worship idols, whether they are objects formed by hand or idols of the mind such as power, wealth, or self-greatness. Anything we put ahead of God is an idol. Vengeance implies retribution. Unlike God’s chastening to correct those He loves, His divine wrath destroys enemies He hates. In this statement God is declaring Nineveh His enemy and the target of His wrath. It seems logical that whatever the Ninevites were doing to make God angry is what we should avoid doing.

God’s Authority
Nah 1:3-6 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

Nahum goes on at some length to vividly describe the extent of God’s great power. Though slow to anger, once roused it is a terrible thing. That the Lord is slow to anger is a great blessing. For many who are lost the hope they might gain would never be realized if they encountered God’s wrath too soon. Moses was the first to write of God’s great compassion in being slow to anger and this wonderful truth is repeated by John (Jn 1:19). Peter expounds on this subject at some length (2 Pe 3). In the descriptions of God’s power, Nahum illustrates the authority of God over weather (v3), water and the plants who depend on it (v4), and the earth itself from the mountains to the valleys and all who live on earth (v5). Taken together, this leaves no room for any other “authority” over any aspect of the world we live in. The Assyrians had their own collection of false gods responsible for various aspects of nature. By setting up those false hand-made deities they stirred God’s wrath. Only decades earlier Assyria served God’s purpose to punish and exile Israel (Northern Kingdom) for their sin. God was not so much punishing Nineveh for what it did to Israel as for its own evil and imposing idolatry Hebrews both in the exile and in Judah. As mentioned earlier, the Assyrian king held authority over the king at Jerusalem and by extension the bureaucracy (official priesthood) running things in Judah. Remember that while this is an oracle of doom for Assyria, it is being given from Judah and was intended to also call Judah to repentance for their support of the evil emanating from there. Nahum summarizes (v6) by asking the rhetorical question: who can stand before God’s indignation? By the time God’s anger is full, it is too late. What God decides to do is as good as done.

Heaven & Hell

Nah 1:7-8 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

Even though the descriptions of God as vengeful and destructive don’t sound good, they are. God’s righteousness is pure and His holiness is absolute. Although God’s wrath is at hand, those who are His have no need to fear. Like all of the object lessons in Nahum’s book, this truth is as relevant today as it was more than 2600 years ago. If you take refuge in the Lord you can rest assured you are known and will not be forgotten. We hear echoes of v7 in John’s Revelation when he refers to the names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Jesus reminded his disciples that if the Lord cares for the lilies and the birds that he cares all the more for His children. Although Nahum wasn’t speaking specifically of end times, the promise of God’s protection for His elect in the great day of wrath is just as reliable. At that time the redeemed will be rescued from the awful wrath of God. The wrath that God plans for Nineveh represents God’s final wrath, total and complete, overflowing and pursuing the enemies of God into “darkness.” Darkness here is symbolic of more than just physical destruction and being driven from Nineveh. Darkness is death and eternal division from the Kingdom of God. Assyria represents all of the enemies of God and ultimately death itself (1 Cor 15:26).

Conviction of God’s Enemy

Nah 1:9-11 What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time. For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried. From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a worthless counselor.

It is pointless to imagine you can outwit God. He knows evil plots while they are being formed in the hearts of evil men. This prophecy to Nineveh indicates they will be destroyed so completely that they will never rise again to trouble anyone. Assyria is also an historic symbol of God’s wrath against the evil of mankind at the end of time where evil will be eliminated, never to rise again. Entangled thorns are the Ninevites. Thorns and briars were among the things God cursed the earth with when Adam was ejected from the Garden. The people of Nineveh, like thorns, were entangled in useless business and dedicated to making the difficult for all they came in contact with. To farm the land, thorns must be removed and destroyed. The idea of the thorn symbology in this reference suggests Nineveh, though a curse unpleasant to deal with, would have to be cleared away. The reference to “drunkards as they drink” creates a similar mental image. When scripture speaks of a nation being drunk it almost always means they have done so much evil for so long and they are so confident of their prowess they have earned the fullness of God’s wrath. In other words, God’s wrath is the fruit of their labor. “Consumed like stubble fully dried” symbolizes the speed and totality of the destruction to come. Just as the object lesson of Assyria is applicable to the worldly systems of evil at work today that are destined for wrath, 1:11 includes a reference to a specific “worthless counselor.” In its literal form this would be a reference to the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal. As their political leader, he would be their head counselor. The Hebrew term rendered “worthless” includes a demonic connotation that could as easily describe the Anti-Christ spoken of by John. Although Nahum’s prophecies are not overtly messianic, the scriptural symbolism of Assyria and the demonic leadership in end times should not be lost on the astute student.

Burden Lifted

Nah 1:12-13 Thus says the Lord, “Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart.”

This speech is a promise directed toward Israel. Such a promise, though specific in this case to physical salvation from the tyranny of Assyria, is a promise of infinitely greater significance to believers in bondage with broad consequences to the army of oppressors to be destroyed at the end of the age. In literal terms, the Assyrian army was the largest and most powerful Imperial military force on earth at that time. Speaking to Israel, the Northern Kingdom was exiled by Assyria several decades earlier. The Israelites were scattered throughout the Assyrian Empire to prevent them from organizing rebellion and to effectively neuter their religion. The promise of 1:12 is the elimination of the military power emanating from Nineveh and that God’s punishment for Israel’s previous sins would be ended. Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC ending the Assyrian reign of terror. Unfortunately it did not do much to really free the scattered tribes. The rise of the Babylonian Empire was little more than a shift in the location of military and political control. 1:13 extends the promise with a word-picture giving the impression of complete freedom. True freedom comes not from a transfer of political control, but from spiritual transformation when our sins are forgiven and we are born again. Although the Hebrews dispersed in the Assyrian exile experienced a brief respite from the Assyrian affliction, the only truly meaningful fulfillment of this prophecy came when the Gospel of Jesus went out to convert the Hebrew people of the dispersion. “They” here seems to refer to Nineveh, but in the grand scheme of things it appears to apply to all the enemies of Christ, human or otherwise. The promise of salvation is likewise a promise of rescue from the authority of evil over the lives of believers through freedom from sin. The fulfillment of these promises is found in the blood of Christ shed at the cross.

Oppressor Destroyed

Nah 1:14 The Lord has given commandment about you: “No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”

Shifting his attention to Nineveh, Nahum issues this grim oracle of condemnation to the vile sinners. Considering the long reaching implications of the previous verse, it stands to reason the threat here reaches ultimate fulfillment in the absolute wrath of God to be carried out on the last day.

Ultimate Promise

Nah 1:15 Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

It is interesting to note this verse starts the second chapter in the Tanakh. The context of this verse appears to fit at least as well if not better with the messianic overtones of the early part of the second chapter. This verse begins with a vision of a messianic figure, continues with instruction to keep the feasts and obey, and concludes with a profound prophetic promise of security from the worthless counselor mentioned in 1:11. In reference to Nineveh, its fall did end the oppression of the “worthless counselor” king of Assyria over the Hebrews. The reference to the messianic figure, however, suggests the “worthless counselor” figure may have only a foreshadowing fulfillment in the king of Assyria. The grand promise, particularly in light of the balance of scripture, points toward the victory of Messiah over his chief adversary. In Greek terms you could say Nahum saw the approach of the Christ and his victory over and expulsion of the anti-Christ. The commendation to keep the feast and fulfill vows reminds us to always remember the joy of our hope portrayed in the prophetic feasts and to persevere in our faith.

Fair Warning

Nah 2:1 The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength.

The Assyrians would scatter the people exiled from the regions they conquered. This was a strategy they used to dissolve the organizational power of an enemy and effectively destroy them. As great as the Assyrians were at scattering exiles, God is Himself the great “scatterer.” God was about to do to the Assyrians as they had done to their victims. The instruction to prepare for battle is a taunt. God is essentially saying, “give me your best shot,” knowing He will destroy them no matter how great they are.

Redemption of Israel

Nah 2:2-3 For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches. The shield of his mighty men is red; his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them; the cypress spears are brandished.

The reason God is bringing the battle is to redeem (restore the majesty of) His people from their captors. Jacob and Israel were names of the same patriarch who founded the nation of Israel. Jacob was his given name, but Israel was the name given by God. When used in a literary form like this, the name Jacob refers to the humanity of the people where the name Israel refers to their covenant relationship with God. Majesty implies royal glory. The royal glory of Jacob suggests a king like David or Solomon. The royal glory of Israel suggests a great spiritual leader such as Moses or Elijah. The particular phrase here suggests the Lord will restore a royalty of human and spiritual splendor. In context with the messianic references of the previous verse, it seems logical that this passage is a reference to Christ. King Josiah renewed YHWH worship prior to the fall of Nineveh. Ezra and the post-exile prophets built the second temple and restored YHWH worship in the 5^th century BC. The Maccabees restored YHWH worship in 164 BC. Restoration of the political power and autonomy of Israel was not realized until 1948. At no time after the fall of Jerusalem (586 BC) did any tribe of Israel know both religious and political glory at the same time. As a messianic prophecy, however, this passage makes a great deal of sense. The faith of Israel was plundered and the people (branches) were ruined by the plunderers. Through Jesus, the King of kings brought about the Kingdom of God and fulfilled the first covenant promises and prophecies. Jesus is both Lord and Savior; king and suffering servant. 2:3 begins with, “The shield of his mighty is red; his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.” The pronoun “his” refers to YHWH (Lord in 2:2). The mighty men and solders are the Lord’s. A shield is designed to protect from attack. The reference to a red shield makes no sense aside from the blood of Christ which covers sin and protects us from eternal death, saving us for eternal life in the presence of our glorious and glorified Lord Jesus. Scarlet is another name for red and is associated in particular with the color of blood. As it pertains to Nineveh’s fall, there was untold blood spilled on the field of battle when, in 612 BC, the city was utterly destroyed. The latter part of 2:3 seems to pull the prophecy back to the subject of Nineveh’s fall. In general the passage referring to chariots and spears seems to be better fitted with 2:4 and following verses than with the previous messianic passage. On the other hand, the specific prophecies about chariots might refer to some human effort to battle God and His people with modern vehicles in the last days.

The End in Sight

Nah 2:4-5 The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning. He remembers his officers; they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is set up.

The pandemonium in the streets of Nineveh when Babylon attacked is difficult to comprehend. In the days of Jonah, about a century earlier, Nineveh was home to 120,000 people (Jon 4:11). It was probably somewhat larger when Babylon attacked. A lightening fast attack can best be imagined as a blitzkrieg. The Germans terrorized their victims and quickly brought them into submission by attacking suddenly with tremendous speed and overwhelming power. The Babylonians must have used the ancient equivalent of the blitzkrieg tactic. The Assyrians, caught off guard, would have stumbled and rushed about to setup and man their defenses.

Exiling the Exiler

Nah 2:6-9 The river gates are opened; the palace melts away; ⁷its mistress is stripped; she is carried off, her slave girls lamenting, moaning like doves and beating their breasts. Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away. “Halt! Halt!” they cry, but none turns back. Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of the treasure or of the wealth of all precious things.

Nineveh was located near what is now Mosul, Iraq, on the banks of the Tigris River and one of its tributaries. Some believe the initial attack was so successful because the attackers built dams and manipulated the river in such a way that it washed out a portion of the city’s protective wall and allowed the Babylonians to flood in. Nineveh is personified as a female. The city is tripped, its survivors exiled, even the slaves suffer the dread of its destruction. 2:8 likens Nineveh to a pool of water. Water is often associated with people and power, but in this case the people and the power of the city are suddenly drained away. The guards who try to defend the city try to stop the cowards from running, but to no avail. The attackers get their fill of plunder, taking all the wealth stored up in Nineveh from the bloodthirsty Assyrians who plundered so many cultures up until that time. The moral of this story, aside from the immediate forewarning to Nineveh, is that accumulated wealth will not help you on the day the Lord comes for you.

Cowardly Lions

Nah 2:10-13 Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale! Where is the lions' den, the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and lioness went, where his cubs were, with none to disturb? The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

When the armies of the Medes and Babylonians enter the city, its soldiers who bullied its many victims prove to be cowards in the face of a determined invading army. The reference to “lions” is an apt description of the ruthless and aggressive Assyrians who built their great capital city with the plunder of their victims. The evil of Assyrian ruthlessness was infamous in the ancient world. 2:13 gets to the heart of the reason for Nineveh’s fall. God was against them. By God’s authority and divine determination Babylon entered in force, burnt and plundered, killing warriors and civilians alike, and utterly eliminating the political power of the Assyrian Empire.

Blood Guilt
Nah 3:1-4 Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder— no end to the prey! The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over the bodies! And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.

This passage describes the ruthless plundering and destruction wrought by the Assyrians. Official Assyrian records attest to their openly merciless cruelty. Murder, rape, and all sorts of brutality are well documented norms of Assyrian society. Just as the rich never become rich enough, the bloodthirsty never get enough blood. As this passage indicates, the Assyrians would go from one community to the next. They would pretend alliance, then they would come in take whatever they wanted, women and slaves included. When they encountered resistance they would simply kill everyone and take whatever they desired with no one left to stop them. “Deadly charms” and “whoring” aptly describes the way the Assyrians would negotiate peace and trade deals only to search-out weaknesses and discover storehouses to plunder. They worshipped the idols which pleased them, but ultimately they were completely materialistic worshippers of their own power and pleasures. The same descriptions could be used of various ungodly societies in the last century such as Nazi Germany, Communist China, Soviet Russia, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and any number of smaller brutal dictatorships. It could reasonably be argued that the rampant hedonistic materialism resulting from run-away capitalism in the godless strata of America and much of Western civilization is no better in God’s eyes.

Holy Contempt

Nah 3:5-7 Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her? Where shall I seek comforters for you?

With the case fully made, God sentences Nineveh to exposure, shame, and utter oblivion. Although Nahum does not use Assyria as an allegory, several other prophets do. When they do, the vivid imagery of Nahum provides ample explanation of the source of the allegory. Ultimately all evil will be exposed. All who are evil will be put to shame. They will be treated with contempt by God and sent to a place apart from the presence of God. Heaven is described as a place without tears or mourning. As Nahum says, who will grieve the evil ones cast out by God?

As You’ve Done to Others…

Nah 3:8-10 Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall? Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers. Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.

Thebes was a in Upper Egypt about 400 miles up the Nile from Memphis. It is believed to have had moats and canals as part of its defenses around its outer walls. Its chief god was called Amon and in Hebrew the name of Thebes is called “No-Amon.” Assyria conquered Thebes in 663 BC. The reference is included in Nahum most likely because it was fresh in the minds of the Ninevites and Jews alike. This reference makes the writing of Nahum necessarily after 663 BC, but probably within a decade of it. The indictment of 3:8 is that Assyria thinks itself better than those whom it has conquered, even a city with good defenses like Thebes. Cush would have supported Thebes along with the rest of Egypt and even her neighbors from as far away as Libya. In spite of all the aid given to Thebes, the Assyrians succeeded in their conquest. The people were exiled. Men were sold as slaves and children, a useless burden to the conquering army, were ruthlessly murdered. The text does not say, but it is almost certain the surviving women were raped as if part of the plunder and sold into slavery or cult prostitution.

…So Shall It Be Done to You
Nah 3:11-13 You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs— if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.

To be drunken here, as in most prophetic writings, is to be so full of oneself you are in complete denial about facing God’s wrath until it is upon you. Wine comes from fruit and fruit represents works. Being drunk implies being so entrenched in a behavior it is all you know or desire. In this case it may also have had a literal aspect. It is believed the Babylonian attack was a surprise launched following a great feast in Nineveh where the bulk of the fighting force was literally drunk. The king would run and try to hide in his fortress. The fortress, however, would yield easily to the attacking enemy. The troops were terrified and fled as the attackers poured in.

Vanity

Nah 3:14-16 Draw water for the siege; strengthen your forts; go into the clay; tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold! There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper! You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

Once again Nahum spells out God’s taunt essentially saying, “go ahead, get water ready and strengthen your fort, it won’t help when I come for you.” Archeological evidence suggests a great fire consumed a portion of one of Nineveh’s main fortress towers. This would have been a suitable hiding place for the king to run to, although if it were his destination he may very well have succumb to literal flames of wrath. The enemy warriors prevented escape from the towering inferno. The second taunt is to increase their army and their merchants. The merchants helped the city prophet from its spoils and bargain for things desired from other regions. The men of commerce and business, professionals of all types, would run for their lives just like the soldiers stricken with fear.

False Assurance

Nah 3:17-18 Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts settling on the fences in a day of cold— when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they are. Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them.

The words translated “princes” and “scribes” are peculiar terms in Hebrew, probably borrowed from the Assyrian tongue. These words have meanings similar to bureaucrats and officials of various levels. Even the king’s own government would bail on him when faced with sudden and overwhelming invasion. The references to “asleep” and “slumber” could have two different meanings. First, the lower caste and high caste alike were not paying attention and didn’t see the enemy coming. Second, both the lowly and the great of society would be dead. Regardless of what Nahum intended, almost certainly both cases were true. Those who did survive by running to the mountains would have no way to organize, regroup, and counterattack. History proves the Assyrian Empire collapse as a result of the fall of Nineveh and never rose again.

Eternal Disgrace
Nah 3:19 There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?

Nahum ends on a somber note. God has determined the outcome for Nineveh. The wound to the Empire is mortal. The civilized world all knew of Assyria’s reign of evil and would rejoice over its fall. Considering all the damage they dealt, one can only imagine the jubilation in the streets of cities around the known world. Consider Assyria as an example of the evil in the world, of its principalities and powers and evil lurking everywhere. The lesson of Assyria’s fate should loom large in the minds of modern man. We live today in a world fraught with every kind of evil imaginable. Christians are being martyred today on several continents. Officially slavery ended in the 1960’s in parts of the Middle East, although the sex-slave trade thrives unofficially as far away as Thailand and as close to home as the streets of the United States. Prisons are filled with rapists and murders, thieves and arsonists, serial killers and child molesters. In ancient times Assyria was one major source of evil destroyed by God as an example. In the future, a future which seems near at hand, God will destroy all wickedness from the earth. There will be no more mourning, only rejoicing. Nahum’s prophecies of messiah’s restoration of glory will be realized in its ultimate entirety.

Majoring in the Minors

Article submitted Monday, September 27, 2010 & read 204 times.

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» left by Teresa^(1,663) (1 year 185 days ago.)

Hello Lance. I am behind in reading these. I like this introduction and break down and I am looking forward to the next segment. Blessings! Teresa

» left by Lance Ponder⁽⁸⁶⁾ (1 year 185 days ago.)

Thanks! For this book I started breaking the post into smaller "bite sized" pieces. After they've run through the front page I'll merge the chapters together for indexing purposes. Feel free to do any format editing that's needed. The formatting features of this site are still a little challenging to work with sometimes. ~_*

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