Nahum 1:9 - Meaning and Application

These verses seem to point to the destruction of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. That may well be counted part of the burden of Nineveh, the main city of the Assyrian empire, and a pledge of Nineveh’s own fall about 100 years later. This was an event Isaiah, who was likely a contemporary of Nahum, spoke of often.

Notice, first, the great offense the Assyrians gave to God, the just and holy God, who would take revenge even though he is slow to anger (Nahum 1:11). One man came out of Nineveh who imagined evil against the Lord, that is, Sennacherib and his spokesman, Rabshakeh. They sent an evil letter and made evil speeches, not only against Hezekiah and his people, but against God himself. They treated him as if he were no better than the gods of the nations, unable to save his worshippers.

They also tried to turn the people of Jerusalem away from trusting in God and urged them to submit to the Assyrian king instead. In effect, they wanted to strip Jerusalem of its identity as the Lord’s city, the holy city. This powerful man from Nineveh, who thought himself great, brought this burden on Nineveh by imagining evil against the Lord. Never was the glorious Majesty of heaven and earth more boldly insulted than by Sennacherib at that time.

He was a wicked adviser. He pushed the people to lose hope in God’s protection, surrender to the Assyrian king, and look down on Hezekiah’s reform under which the people had returned to true worship (Isaiah 36:7). Nahum confronts this evil counselor directly: “What do you imagine against the Lord?” What a foolish and wicked thing it is to plot against God, as if human wisdom could outsmart him or human strength could overcome his power.

There is much imagined against the Lord by the powers of hell and against the good of his kingdom in the world, but it will prove useless (Psalm 2:1, Psalm 2:2). He who sits in heaven laughs at the schemes of those who try to act like political leaders against him, and he will turn their plans back on them.

Second, notice the great destruction God would bring on them for this sin, though not at once on the whole Assyrian empire, since that ruin was delayed until their guilt was complete. He would first strike the army. God would make a complete end of it, cutting it off and ruining it in a single blow. One fatal strike from the destroying angel would leave them dead where they stood, and no second blow would be needed.

With some sinners, God brings swift judgment and finishes the matter at once. His judgments do not follow just one pattern. Sometimes he acts through sudden disease, sometimes through long sickness. In one way or another, he will make a full end of all his enemies who keep planning against him. The Assyrian army probably shared their leader’s spirit and words, and now God would deal with them, even if they only repeated what they had been taught. It would also become clear that they had made themselves open to divine wrath by their own actions and choices (Nahum 1:10).

They are like thorns that cling to one another and are tangled together. They make one another worse and more stubborn against God and his people, hardening each other’s hearts and strengthening each other’s hands in evil. So God will deal with them as a farmer deals with a thorn bush he cannot pull apart: he throws the whole thing into the fire together.

They are also like drunk men, made wild by pride and anger. People like that are headed for a ruin they cannot recover from. They will stumble, fall, and become a shame and a joke. They deserve to be laughed at.

They will be consumed like dry stubble, which burns completely and cannot resist the flame. God’s judgments are like a devouring fire to those who make themselves like stubble before it. This great army is again warned (Nahum 1:12) that though they are at peace and very numerous, feeling secure because they are so strong, they will still be cut down like grass or grain. When he passes through, even the destroying angel sent to strike them, they will fall with no effort.

The security of sinners and their confidence in their own strength are often signs that ruin is near.

Third, notice the judgment on the king himself. He imagined evil against the Lord, and will he escape? No (Nahum 1:14). “The Lord has issued a command about you. The decree has gone out that your name will no longer be passed on, that your memory will perish, and that people will no longer speak of you as they once did.” Even the story of his mighty deeds would fade and be scattered, instead of being celebrated.

Since Sennacherib’s son reigned after him, some understand this as pointing to the fall of the Assyrian empire not long afterward. Those who imagine evil against the Lord only bring evil on themselves, their families, and their interests, and they ruin their own name by dishonoring his name.

It is also threatened that the images he worshipped would be cut off from their temple, both the carved image and the cast image from the house of his gods. Some think this was fulfilled when Sennacherib was killed by his two sons while worshipping in the temple of Nisroch his god. That brutal murder would have made the temple unclean and perhaps left it abandoned, with the images removed from it and its worship ended.

Or this may be a broader picture of Assyria’s total ruin. The enemy army would sweep through and destroy everything, even their idols. In this way God showed them that one reason for his judgment was their idolatry. It is also said that Sennacherib’s grave would be made there, perhaps in the house of his god. There he was slain, and there he would be buried, for he is vile. His shame was fixed forever, because he lost even the natural love of his own children, and two of them murdered him.

This may also refer to the humiliating fall of the Assyrian monarchy itself, from whose ruins Babylon later rose. The fall of that once fearful state became a loud and public disgrace (Ezekiel 31:3, Ezekiel 31:11, Ezekiel 31:15, Ezekiel 31:16). Those who make themselves vile through shameful sins will be made vile through shameful punishment.

Third, this would bring great deliverance for God’s own people and for the city that bears his name. The ruin of the church’s enemies is the church’s salvation, and Jerusalem was given a very great salvation in the overthrow of Sennacherib’s army.

The siege would be lifted. God says, “Now I will break the yoke from off you, the yoke that kept you in slavery, and I will snap your chains in two,” the chains that made you seem bound to Assyria’s anger. That huge army had spread itself through Judah, taking what it wanted and living off the land. Jerusalem, while it was surrounded, was like a prisoner in chains, but when the destroying angel finished his work, those chains were broken and the city was free again. This pointed forward to the great salvation by which the Jerusalem above is made free indeed.

The enemy would be left so weak and discouraged that they would never make such an attack again. God would bring this trouble to such a good end by his grace that there would be no need for another severe correction. God would not punish Jerusalem like this again, because his anger had turned away. He says, “It is enough,” because he had used this terror to carry out his full work on Mount Zion (Isaiah 10:12), and so, “Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.” God does not punish gladly. The enemy also would not dare to attack Jerusalem again (Nahum 1:15). “The wicked will no more pass through you,” as they had done to ruin everything, because they would be completely cut off and unable to do it. Their army would be cut off, their courage would be cut off, and in the end the enemy himself would be cut off.

The news of this great rescue would spread everywhere and be welcomed with great joy throughout the kingdom (Nahum 1:15). While Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, was winning and sweeping everything before him, every day brought bad news. But now there would be a messenger seen on the mountains, bringing good news, running as fast as his feet could carry him. How welcome it is to see a messenger of peace after so many messengers of trouble, like those who came to Job. Another prophet uses these same words to describe God’s rescue of his people from Babylon (Isaiah 52:7), not because one prophet copied another, as false prophets did (Jeremiah 23:30), but because both spoke by the same Spirit. Ministers can also show their agreement in sound truth by using the same clear words (1 Timothy 6:3; 2 Timothy 1:13). The apostle also quotes these words, from both Isaiah and Nahum, and applies them to the great redemption Jesus Christ won for us and to the preaching of it through the everlasting gospel (Romans 10:15). Christ’s ministers are those messengers of good news who preach peace through Jesus Christ. How beautiful their feet are, and how welcome their message is to those who see their sin, misery, and danger.

Notice also that the one who brings this good news calls Judah to keep her appointed feasts and fulfill her vows. During the trouble, the regular feasts had been interrupted. While Jerusalem was surrounded by armies, they could not go up to worship, but now that the restraint is lifted, they must return to the worship of the Lord. The feasts of the Lord become even sweeter to God’s people after they have been deprived of them for a time and then receive them again by God’s kindness. We learn the value of such blessings by losing them for a while. They had also made vows to God, promising that if he would deliver them from this distress, they would do something special in his service for his honor. Now that the rescue has come, they are told to keep those vows. What they promised then must now be paid, because it is better not to vow at all than to vow and not fulfill it.

The words, “The wicked will no more pass through you,” may also be understood as a promise that the good work of reform begun by Hezekiah would be brought to completion. The wicked would not, as before, move freely throughout the land. They would be cut off. And the defeat of wicked enemies abroad is truly a mercy to a nation when it is joined with the restraint and reform of wicked people at home, who are often its more dangerous enemies.