How Does God Evaluate The Nations? (Nahum 3:1-19) Series

Some of you watch, or read, the news more than others. You keep up on current events in the world; you know the hot spots around the world; you can talk about tensions, and wars. You also know how we, as a nation, are relating to other nations. You keep on news about trade wars, and treaties, and alliances.

When you do all of this, how do you evaluate the news you hear? How do you decide who is acting rightly, and wrongly, on a global scale? More importantly, how do you think God evaluates the news? What do you suppose God think of nations like the U.S., and Russia, and China?

In our passage today, Nahum 3, Yahweh is angry with Ninevah, the capital of Assyria. He announces, again, that He will judge Ninevah-- He will humiliate her, and destroy her. This will the end of the superpower.

Now, one of the (many) things that's interesting about Nahum 3 is that Judah isn't mentioned, even one time, anywhere in the chapter. This chapter, at a surface level, is just about two "persons"-- God, and Ninevah.

Imagine that you're back in elementary school, and the playground bully was beating up on you at recess. Both you and the bully get called to the principal's office. The principal calls the bully into the office first, while you sit and wait out in hallway. But the principal deliberately leaves the door cracked open, so you can hear everything. And then the principal unloads on the student. He condemns him for his violence, and shames him for his behavior. Then, he expels the bully. The bully will never bother you again. He's done.

This, basically, is Nahum 3. Except in Nahum 3, the bully isn't expelled. That's not enough. Here, the bully is publicly shamed, and then killed. That's enough.

So as we read Nahum 3, imagine that you are Judah-- you're the little kid waiting in the hallway. You get to overhear Yahweh's words of judgment against Assyria, and take comfort in that. This is a chapter that's supposed to give you hope, and encouragement, and help you trust in God's power and love.

I say all of this, but at the same time, what Yahweh is about to do to Ninevah, He is not doing just for Judah. God evaluates, and judges, nations on the basis of a particular ethical framework-- and this framework isn't exactly what we'd expect.

So let's work our way through the chapter, and then come back to answer this question: "How does God evaluate the nations?"

Verse 1:

(3:1) Hey, city of blood!

All of her is lies;

Deception, full of.

The prey doesn't depart.

Nahum begins by getting Ninevah's attention. HEY! But notice how Ninevah is described. Ninevah has two main qualities-- violence, and deception. Each of these qualities, by itself, is a terrible thing to find in cities. No one wants to live in dangerous cities, where you risk getting mugged, or murdered. Where you can't let your children play out on the front lawn because you worry about them getting shot. Where you put steel bars over your windows, and a gun in your nightstand, and you still worry you won't be safe.

But the other quality, deception, only makes it worse. Imagine living in a city where you can't trust anyone-- where everyone rips you off. You pay for 10 gallons of gas, but only get 9. You buy 5 lbs of apples, but only get 4. You get your car fixed, but the mechanic didn't really fix it the right way-- he cut some corners that shouldn't be cut, and you won't realize it for 5k miles. You go to work, and your boss shorts your pay. You have customers, and they write bad checks, and skip town.

When you live in a city that's full of deception, inevitably, you become prey. And Nahum says, Ninevah is a city where the prey can't escape.

Normally, some prey always gets away from the predator. A lion kills the older, slower, weaker animals in the herd. And while he's busy doing predator things to the carcass, the rest of the herd gets away.

Ninevah isn't like that. Lions hunt, and hunt, until there's nothing left.

In verses 2-3, Nahum shifts topics. Here, he's going to paint a picture of the future invasion, and destruction, of Ninevah. Now, this has already been described in chapter 2. So this is a good reminder that prophetic books aren't necessarily in chronological/sequential order. This is more like a second picture of the same invasion-- because sometimes, people need to hear something more than once for it to sink in. As I read this, try to picture it. It's important that you visualize this:

(2) The sound of a whip!,