Drunken, Hid and Seeking Strength Nahum 3:11

The prophet Nahum continued to share concerning the effects of the invading army against Nineveh. The entire city would be affected by the invasion including the “children and honorable and great men”. In chapter three of his prophesy, Nahum shared how the incursion of the enemy would cause the people to be “drunken, hiding and seeking strength” where we read:

You also shall be drunken: you shall be hid, you also shall seek strength because of the enemy.

The verse begins, “You also shall be drunken: you shall be hid,...” Nahum began, “You also shall be drunken” which means “to become intoxicated or drunk”: “you shall be hid” which means “concealed, in secret or as a dissembler”. In addition to“children being dashed in pieces”,“casting lots” for the “honorable men” and binding all the “great men in chains”, the people of Nineveh would become like those who were “drunk” from the wrath of God and “hiding in secret” when attacked by their foe.

The verse goes on to say, “...you also shall seek strength because of the enemy.” Nahum continued, “you also shall seek” which means “require, desire, exact, request to find and secure” “strength” which means “place or means of security, protection, refuge, harbor and stronghold” “because of the enemy” which means “adversary or foe”. Just as “No” or “Thebes” of Egypt sought help from other nations when the Babylonian army invaded them, so would Nineveh “seek” refuge in other places as well.

When we think through these words of Nahum, we can imagine the fear and torment that came upon the people of Nineveh when they were attacked by the Babylonian army. The LORD's agent of judgment was so fierce they would cause people to become as though they were drunk, and they would hide and “search” for help from any source to be saved. Though they looked for refuge and shelter, there was none available, and so shall it be for those who reject God's offering of Salvation through Jesus Christ His Son. Let us make no mistake – as it was for Nineveh, so shall it be for those who refuse to humble themselves and repent before God even as the apostle Peter wrote in his first letter in chapter four and verse seventeen: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”

Next time Nahum shares how Nineveh's “strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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