The Book of Nahum

Interacting with the Word

1. In the book of Jonah, God sent Jonah to prophesy against Nineveh and they did repent. Now they are again incurring the wrath of God. What does the book of Nahum Chapter 1 reveal about the character of God?

2. What did the Lord say regarding Nineveh's name?

Nahum describes God like this:

• 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. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In the whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

• Remember the context of this verse was that God had prophesied to Nineveh way back in the time of Jonah to repent and they did repent for a time. However, Nineveh returned to their own ways and set themselves up as enemies against God. Nineveh was a nation that God tried to reason with. As the capital of Assyria, they had led the nations astray and had taken Israel captive. They set themselves up as enemies of God's kingdom even though he showed them mercy.

• This is important to remember as many of us have this perception of God that He is unreasonable, but He isn't. He was patient with this nation and yet they didn't remain faithful to Him, so He destroyed it. Often, we miss the point of these scriptures and get lost in the destruction. We miss God's patience with us and our mind skill right to the fear-based consequences. The question isn't whether you have sinned. The question is, are you truly repentant ant and have you turned to God with all your heart.

• In the new covenant, God has provided for us grace through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is proof that God is slow to anger and full of mercy.

Interacting with the Word

• Nahum had oppressed almost every nation around them and emerged as super powerful, but they were no match for God. God says in Nahum 2:13 the Lord states "Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of Hosts." I will burn up her chariots in smoke, a sword will devour your young lions, I will cut off your prey from the Land, and no longer will the voice of your messages be hard."

• It demonstrates that God is the protector of His people.

• The Word "Nahum" in Hebrew means comfort. It's funny that a book that basically describes the destruction of people could mean comfort. Yet, Nahum isn't about comforting Nineveh it was about comforting the remnant of people that were oppressed by Assyria.

• Think of a time where you say God defend you in a situation. He may not have destroyed them, but He made it clear He was protecting you and write it in your journal.

• Lastly, if you can't think of a moment like this know that your time is coming to you.

Interacting with the Word

• In Nahum, we are introduced to God as a righteous Judge. God is not like our parents, nor does willfully get angry and execute judgment randomly. He wrote the book for two reasons; He is addressing it to Judah and other nations to warn them about willfully ignoring God. He had been warning them for a generation that He would render judgment, but they ignored it.

• How does this apply to our walk with God today? We live under the dispensation of grace provided through Jesus Christ, but we are told that we don't sin so that Grace can abound. Our role is to demonstrate God's faithfulness to the kingdoms. God will execute judgment among the nations in the end.

THE END

Thanks for joining the bible study series on the Book of Nahum.
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