The Book of Nahum

Recently, while writing about the books of Joel and Hosea, I said that I had read both these two books in the past, but had made no notes in my Bible, and could not remember either of them. Well, ha ha, I’ve just read Nahum, and now I quickly come to review it I discover much the same thing...

What Nahum has got though, is a very clear agenda: the people of the city of Nineveh are bad, and as a result they’re going to lose everything. What we have here are three chapters detailing the unstoppable fall of Nineveh.

"I am against you," declares the LORD Almighty.
"I will lift your skirts over your face.
I will show the nations your nakedness
and the kingdoms your shame.

- Nahum 3:5 (NIV)

Well, I say unstoppable. This is all future-tense.

Conversely, The Book of Jonah tells of Nineveh’s doom in the past tense, and of how they averted it by listening to another prophet’s call for repentance. Assuming it’s the same potential fate we’re talking about. My Good News Bible isn’t sure where Jonah comes. And I haven’t read Zephaniah yet.

All that aside, I gather that some version of the place is still going in Iraq these days...

I’m intrigued by Nahum 2:5a:

The officers are summoned;
They stumble as they press forward.

Reminds me of Exodus 14:25a:

He made the wheels of their chariots get stuck, so that they moved with great difficulty.

In both situations, God's dictating the outcome, without taking anyone's free will away.