NAHUM CHAPTER 2: A CHAPTER OF NEGATIVE ACTION WORDS

NAHUM CHAPTER 2 

The prophet Nahum continues his oracle with action words: 

#1 “guard” #2 “watch” #3 “brace” #4 “marshal” 

The people of Nineveh will do these things in vain because verse 13 exists (it is also repeated in 3:5).  God is against them and He is bringing His wrath and He is using a human army to defeat them and bring them low.   

In contrast (as mentioned in Chapter 1), God is for His people.  He will restore, verse 2, His people and give them splendor and blessing again.   

The overall picture we have in this chapter is the ultimate destiny of those who follow God and the ultimate destiny of those who reject God.  Those who follow God will have life.  Those who reject God will have destruction.  It might seem more complicated than this, but it is not.   

Nahum seemed like he wanted to search for proper language to express what he was seeing.  In verses 3-10, he is describing poetically what would happen.  The troops remind us of descriptions in Revelation.  The language is meant to draw us into the seriousness of it all.  The colorful language is meant to show us the Lord is coming and He will destroy.  There is no holding this back. 

The next chapter begins with a “woe” which emphasizes everything expressed in this one. 

NOTE: The slave girls moaning like doves in verse 7 is an odd phrase.  They will be cooing and making sounds that are lamentations and full of sadness and woe.  Not only will the highborn of the society feel this destruction, but even lowly slaves will know that Nineveh will be destroyed. 

In case you were not sure Who is speaking, verse 13 reminds us that it is YHWH of Hosts that declares all of these things.  The God of the Universe says Nineveh will end and so it shall and so it did.  The chapter begins with four terms and it also ends with four terms showing a beautiful poetic parallel: 

#1 “burn up” #2 “devour” #3 “leave” #4 “not heard” 

Not encouraged? Take heart! Many if not all of the prophetic books bring dire warnings for Israel and others and God never leaves us without hope. Even His judgment and wrath bring about life. Don’t stop reading Nahum in chapter 2… but keep reading!

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