Where was Ninevah? This was the laugh of the Biblical critics - Ninevah was so destroyed, it was not uncovered until the 1980s. Today Ninevah is known as Mosul, Iraq.
Today Iraq sells off ruins to be used as military posts.
Nahum 1
1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the bloom of Lebanon withers.
5 The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.
6 Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
7 The Lord is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
8 But with an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries,
and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
9 What do you plot against the Lord?
He will make a complete end;
trouble will not rise up a second time.
10 For they are like entangled thorns,
like drunkards as they drink;
they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
11 From you came one
who plotted evil against the Lord,
a worthless counselor.
12 Thus says the Lord,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
they will be cut down and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
13 And now I will break his yoke from off you
and will burst your bonds apart.”
14 The Lord has given commandment about you:
“No more shall your name be perpetuated;
from the house of your gods I will cut off
the carved image and the metal image.
I will make your grave, for you are vile.”
15 Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
who brings good news,
who publishes peace!
Keep your feasts, O Judah;
fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
he is utterly cut off.
Where was Ninevah? This was the laugh of the Biblical critics - Ninevah was so destroyed, it was not uncovered until the 1980s. Today Ninevah is known as Mosul, Iraq.
Well - we encounter the wrathful God of the Old Testament. And perhaps this is a good day to point out to those who don't like the Word of God - um. He tends to be right.
If we look at the hard times of Elijah and the abundance of prosperity for Elisha - we see the same God. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Surely we can stretch to incorporate Ezekiel's mercy for Tyre, God's insistence Jonah go to Ninevah, God's anger at Jonah's hard heart towards the repentant.
Jonah, son of Amittai appears in 2 Kings 1,a prophet from Gath-hepher (a few miles north of Nazareth), during the reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 BC). Jonah is also in the Book of Jonah. Ordered by God to go to the city of Nineveh, to prophesy against it "for their great wickedness is come up before me: - Jonah is unhappy they repent.
And now Nahum - Nahum prophesied guestimation at the beginning of the reign of Ahaz (740s BC). Others, however, think that his prophecies are to be referred to the latter half of the reign of Hezekiah (8th century BC).
In historical proportions, we could call them bookend prophets. Boy, that mean ol God hates the goys (heathens - roughly that's you and me). The Book of Zephaniah attributes its authorship to “Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah. Um hate to remind us of Biblical history, but um Cush - is, roughly, an Iraqi. A son of Noah. Cushi is Ethiopian we think, but that's slicing bread because the grandchildren of Noah were off to Ethiopia. Zephaniah does not shrink from condemning the Cushites or Ethiopians. Chapter 2:12 “You also, O Ethiopians, Shall be killed by my sword.” Is the questionable translation. Ethiopia is a long way away from Jerusalem, but Iraq is not.
Oh - seems the LORD employs the Goy. Good to know.
I don't know a lot about the minor Prophets but let me tell you I am thrilled with this verse. Love it and hold on to this - Let's start with the explanation and go with the complete zinger.
7 The Lord is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
8 But with an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries,
and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
This explains Trouble in the World - the Lord overcomes and the DAY OF THE LORD -
9 What do you plot against the Lord?
He will make a complete end;
trouble will not rise up a second time.
Some Trouble shines a Light to send more help. The Ships of Tarshish - are gone. Tyre is gone. Nineveh - gone. The Hittite Empire? Was also a joke, completely missing the Empire, the whole Empire, before the Hittite Library echoed the battles shown where - The Word of the Lord.
Now you might wonder, if they repented???? Abraham begged the Lord eyeball to eyeball for mercy. After all Assyria never invaded? (Yes, its a miracle because Hezekiah quit paying the puppet/tribute to the Assyrian Empire.) Evidently the LORD saw that some of the seed ...
Matthew 13
the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
How we do not understand the hand of God and attempt to backseat and umpire His judgements.
A crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
That would be...
Nebuchadnezzar styles himself as Nabu's "beloved" and "favourite". "Firstborn son" or "oldest son". Variations of the Hebrew form include נְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר and נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר (Nəḇuḵaḏreṣṣar). He is also known as Bakhat Nasar, which means "winner of the fate", or literally, "fate winner". Nebuchadnezzar was the oldest son and successor of Nabopolassar, who delivered Babylon from its three centuries of vassalage to its fellow Mesopotamian state Assyria.
Nebuchadnezzar was also mentioned in .... (If History is written by the Victors - we have a very certain level of reasonableness going on here - wow!)
Here is the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar about self-glory, other cares choking out his walk with the Lord and his open heart with reasonableness. Is this historically accurate. Yes.
(Daniel 2:
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. 47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
Daniel 3
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside[f] the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Daniel 4
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”
36 At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.)
Jesus made the religious completely angry when He reminded them - the great works of Elijah went to the goys. Look at Namaan and Elisha -
2 Kings 5
2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” 5 And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abana[c] and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.”
Nebuchadnezzar was willing to open his heart to God. Namaan was the same, taking advice from a slave girl and his household.
Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
who brings good news,
who publishes peace!
Keep your feasts, O Judah;
fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
he is utterly cut off.
Father God, In Your majesty, let Your Word be enough. Jesus loved the Centurion for understanding about Your Word. Let us always be the leper who when healed, returned to give thanks. Let us not have hardened hearts, instead Lord - let us be so fruitful for You. Blessed be Your Name - Jesus Christ the LORD. Forever. Amen.
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