Nahum 1:15: The Oracle of Nahum

The Oracle of Nahum

Behold, on the mountains
The feet of him who brings good tidings,
Who proclaims peace!
O Judah, keep your appointed feasts,
Perform your vows.
For the wicked one shall no more pass through you;
He is utterly cut off.


Nahum (though he preached many centuries ago) foreshadows the gospel in this poem. But before we look at that, let’s look at what it meant for his original audience.

Nahum means comfort or consolation. It’s actually a short form of the name Nehemiah- meaning Yahweh is my consolation. We don’t know much else about him, except that God gave him the ministry that Jonah would have died for (literally); he preached the coming destruction of Nineveh.

Nineveh fell in 612 BC. The demise of that great city is a reminder to us that one day every great empire must come to an end. Just as Persia, Rome and Great Britain fell, so also will America yield to the inevitable advance of history; and that will be a very terrifying day for Canada too.

Nineveh’s state of cruelty and idolatry in Nahum’s day, shows how short lived revivals can be and their effect may only delay the tumult that must be realized when nations set their hearts on wickedness.
Jonah’s prophecy “forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed,” was only delayed by barely a century.

I want to show two things we learn about God from Nahum’s oracle in chapter one- two things, which Nahum himself describes as glad tidings.

1. His Character
God is jealous, and the Lord avenges;
The Lord avenges and is furious.
The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies;
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
And will not at all acquit the wicked…

This is God’s covenantal self disclosure; it is the basis for the first half of the Law: No other Gods; thou shalt not commit idolatry, thou shalt no use God’s name in vain. He is jealous for his glory and any attempt to give His glory to a created thing is to do violence against the glory of God and lead people away from the truth to serve a lie. God hates that!

God is jealous over his people too. He looks upon them as His bride. The Assyrians had committed spiritual adultery with God’s people and led them into captivity: both spiritual and physical.

We become slaves to the things we worship. According to one CBC report, Canadians owe nearly $50 Billion in credit card debt- most of it to purchase things we do not need which never satisfy our insatiable materialism.
Canadians pay more in interest to wealthy banks, than they ever give to God. God is jealous for the way that we use the things with which he blesses us.

God is also jealous for our time. In the early church, believers were together daily breaking bread, listening to the Apostles teaching and praying for each other’s needs. Today, we can hardly give God an hour. I bet the Pagans in Nineveh gave more time to their god’s.

The average Christian has about 1 ½ of spare time outside of worship to give to God. God is jealous for that time. If you want to make the most of it, spend it in prayer for his church.

But the character of God is not all Law- it’s also gospel. In the same breath we hear from Nahum that “The Lord is slow to anger”. In fact, His justice tarries so that we might turn our hearts to Him. This is what made Jonah so angry at God. Remember what he said to God; his reason for not preaching to the Ninevites? “You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”

2) God preserves us:
The second thing we learn about God from Nahum, something that ought to give us great comfort is that God preserves his people in times great tumult (V. 6):
Who can stand before His indignation?
And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?
His fury is poured out like fire,
And the rocks are thrown down by Him.
The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble;
And He knows those who trust in Him.

It reminds me of that song we used to sing a lot when I was a new Christian:
The name of the Lord is
A strong tower
The righteous run into it
And they are saved
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Psalm 46 says,
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

The Bible nowhere promises that Christians will not experience hardships and trials; if anything, it promises that things may get worse for us as we share in Christ’s afflictions. But unlike those who suffer justly, we have great comfort when we go through hard times. Whether in riches or poverty, in health or in weakness, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and gives us perseverance.

Spurgeon once said, “By perseverance the snail reached the ark”. And Thomas A Kempis quipped, “There is no means of escaping from tribulation and sorrow, except to bear them patiently.” God gives us the grace to bear all things.

Conclusion:
Chapter 1 is climaxed with this in verse 15:
Behold, on the mountains
The feet of him who brings good tidings,
Who proclaims peace!

This is the gospel; Paul paraphrased Nahum in Romans 10 when he asked,
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

It seems like Nahum was the kind of prophet who wanted to preach Good news, but also bore the burden of having to preach bad news. He’s the opposite of Jonah; Jonah, in a sense, had good news “40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed” meant there was time to repent. But Jonah wanted to preach bad news. You would think God had it backwards- Nahum should have had Jonah’s ministry and Jonah should have had Nahum’s.

Maybe that’s why God did it that way. Maybe he uses Nahum and Jonah to show us by contrast, the right attitude and the wrong attitude, when we preach the gospel. The gospel is Law to those who reject; but its mercy and grace to those who believe it.

Sometimes to hear people preach the gospel, you’d think its all Law- that’s Jonah. Nahum shows us that it can be law and grace: the jealous vengeance of God and his slowness to anger; His wrath poured out like fire and his goodness as a stronghold in the day of trouble.

You have been sent so that people will hear- some will listen, some won’t- it’s not your job to make them- it’s you’re job to be listenable; make sure that as you go, your feet are beautiful. And you make them beautiful by preaching the message according the character of Nahum- with love and humility and genuine concern for their souls.