Nahum

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Nahum 1 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Nahum 1 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment


1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

"God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries.
Does God ever get furious?
On the word furious, see Is. 27:4.

3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

"The clouds are the dust of his feet."
"The Lord ... will not at all acquit the wicked."
Do the wicked prosper?
If the wicked prosper, it's just to set them up for a fall from even greater heights, see Job 21:7.

4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

(1:5-6) "The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence ... and the rocks are thrown down by him."
Tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires are caused by God and are signs of his anger.
Of course literal earthquakes are under God's control. He wouldn't be God if that wasn't so. But that's not what meant here. As John Gill explains:

Mountains figuratively signify kings and princes; and hills large countries, ..., and the inhabitants of them; particularly the kingdoms and nations belonging to the Assyrian empire, which would tremble and quake, and their hearts melt with fear, when they should hear of the destruction of Nineveh their chief city; and of the devastation made by the enemy there and in other parts, under the direction of the Lord of hosts;

6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

"The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble."
Does God help in times of need?
God helps those who trust in Him. Of course he is not helping the evildoers He is punishing.

8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

God doesn't just get even. He drowns his enemies.
The overrunning flood is an image of the number of enemies who would overwhelm Nineveh.

9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.

12 Thus saith the LORD: Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

13 For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

14 And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.