The devastation
pronounced by Nahum the prophet upon the city of Nineveh was so far
reaching that their “respite” and restful place was forsaken, and
their “silver and gold” were to be easily spoiled by their
enemies. In chapter two and verse ten of his prophesy, Nahum shared
how the city of Nineveh was to be “empty, void and waste”
where we read:
She is
empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melts, and the knees smite
together,
and much
pain is in all
loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.
The
verse begins, “She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart
melts, and the knees smite together,...” Nahum began with the
words, “She is empty” which means “Nineveh is devastated
and depopulated”, “and void” or “empty, bare and
destitute”, “and waste” which means “annihilated”:
“and the heart” or “inner man, heart, mind and
inclination” “melts” which means “dissolves, vanishes
and wastes away”, “and the knees” or “joints between
the upper and lower legs” “smite together” which means
“totter, stagger, stubble and afflict one another”. The
destruction of Nineveh was to be so complete, they would be made
“destitute and annihilated”, their “souls” would “dissolve”
and their “knees” would knock from the fear of their
enemy.
The
verse continues, “...and
much pain is
in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.” Nahum
added, “and much pain”
or “trembling, terror, writhing and anguish” “is
in all loins” which refers to “the hips,
waste or small of the back”, “and the
faces” or “presence, person, surface and
before and behind” “of them all gather ”
which refers to “the gathering and assembling of them people”
“blackness” which
means “glowing, heat and darkness”. Not only were the people in
the city of Nineveh, “empty, void and
waste” to the point their “souls”
“melted” and their knees “knocked together, but they also
wreathed in “anguish” as both their
“loins” and their “faces”
were affected by the onslaught.
When
we think through these words of Nahum, we see how widely spread the
destruction was that was prophesied upon Nineveh. The once thriving
city was to be “depopulated” and “destitute”, and the people
would suffer physically as their enemy easily conquered them. Jesus
Christ offers Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and
those who humble themselves and repent of their sins will know Him as
Savior and LORD. Those who reject Him will find themselves “empty,
void, waste” with their “hearts melted” and their
“knees smiting together” in fear, and they endure the “pain”
their “faces” will know as they “gather blackness”
for all eternity.
Next
time Nahum writes about “the
dwelling of the lions”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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