When Jonah took God’s message to Nineveh the people repented and turned to God. But did their change of heart last?
Read Nahum 1: 9-15
Although both prophets were sent to take God’s message to Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire, Jonah and Nahum never met.
Jonah carried God’s message to Assyria in around 780 BC. The people heard the message and responded with repentance and turning to God. In the years that followed the Assyrian Empire grew and prospered, but as it did so, the people forgot about God and returned to the violence and oppression that God had sent Jonah to condemn.
So, more than a hundred years later, in about 630 BC God sent Nahum to remind the Assyrians that he’s been watching and waiting, patiently giving them time to remember and repent again. But he also tells them that time is running out.
Intertwined with the prophecy against Assyria, there are also words of hope and encouragement for the people of Judah, who have looked on in horror at the atrocities committed by Assyria, with a sinking feeling that they may be next.
They watched as Assyria conquered the kingdom of Aram in 732 BC, then later destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel, in 722 BC, wiping the kingdom from the map and carrying off the survivors to Assyria. Then in 701 BC they themselves come within a whisker of being completely defeated and overrun by the Assyrians. That time they were saved by a last-minute miracle (read about it in 2 Kings18: 13 to 19: 37). Judah was thankful for the reprieve but knew it would only be a matter of time before the Assyrians returned.
So, Nahum’s reminder that God may be patient but he’s also powerful, and well able to sort out evil Assyria, is a message of hope for Judah. Soon, they will see the sudden and unexpected downfall of the mighty Assyrian Empire, and this time there will be no escape, their “injury is fatal”.
When we hear the things God says to us, we may respond in a variety of ways:
“The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.
[16] “And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
[18] “The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.
[20] “But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.”
Mark 4:14,16,18,20 MSG
I guess for the Assyrians, their response to God’s message was something along the lines of verses 16 and 17. Are there any areas of my life where I may be guilty of the same kind of responses.