(REFLECTIONS ON Nahum 3:1-19)

The great city of Nineveh, the center of the mighty Assyrian Empire is the predator. Yes, Nahum describes Nineveh as the predator where their prey never departs. Nineveh is the harlot, enticing, manipulating, seducing those around them and then once they are within its grasp, they bring destruction upon those trapped by them.

However, the Lord again proclaims, “Behold, I am against you.”

5 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of hosts;
“And I will lift up your skirts over your face,
And show to the nations your nakedness
And to the kingdoms your disgrace.

The Lord will expose the predator, Nineveh, turning their pride to shame, showing to the nations their nakedness and their disgrace. And in the end, Nineveh will become the prey, the one that other nations will come and destroy, rather than being the destroyer.

And the ultimate final hammer of judgment on Nineveh is God’s word to them saying, “Your wound is incurable.” Yes, we end the Book of Nahum with the predator becoming the prey.

What then does this say to us that are reading of this mighty nation being destroyed by the Lord, with an incurable wound, and from the position of authority as the predator to the prey?

It reminds us of what we learned when we were reading through the Book of Jonah (Chapter 2), that is Salvation is in the Lord. Yes, we place our faith in Jesus Christ, and it is our focus and goal to march towards the cross to let Christ live in us.

However, the predator is grabbing at us, distracting us, oppressing us, and even physically destroying us. We are slaves to the predator and we cower as the prey. But there is a reversal that happens in the Gospel, where the predator becomes the prey. And so even though we may be prey to the world, let us continue to fix our eyes on the cross throughout our physical oppression, and hope for the day when God’s reversal pours down on this physical world.

Yes, this is a proclamation for endurance as the prey, and reminds me of a statement that I often tell myself, “You can have my body, but you cannot have my soul.” Let us then continue to hold firmly to the faith that began to do a work in us, because the Lord will be faithful to complete it in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Nahum 3