As Nahum the
prophet continued to describe the destruction that was prophesied
upon the city of Nineveh, he used the devastating ways of “lions”
and “lionesses” with their “prey” as an
example. Nineveh was destined for the judgment of God, and in chapter
two and verse thirteen of his prophesy, Nahum shared how “the
LORD of hosts” was against them where we read:
Behold,
I am against
you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the
smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions: and I will cut
off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall
no more be heard.
The verse begins,
“Behold, I am
against you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in
the smoke,...” Nahum
began with the word, “Behold I am
against you says”
”
which is all one Hebrew word “nĕ'um
” and means
“listen intently and pay attention to the utterance, declaration
and speaking”, “the LORD”
who is “Yehovah or Jehovah who is the existing One and the proper
name for the one true God” “of
hosts”
which refers to “an army, warfare and service of those who go out
to war”, “and I will burn”
or “consume, kindle, destroy and stupefy”
“her chariots”
which refers to “the vehicle weapons of war which by implication
was a team of cavalry riders” “in
the smoke”
or “vapor, dust and anger”. The fierce “anger” of the LORD of
“spiritual armies” was against Nineveh, and the result would be
the demise of their most effective weapons, “the
chariots”,
which would be destroyed in “smoke”.
The
verse continues, “...and
the sword shall devour your young lions: and I will cut off your
prey from the earth,...” Nahum
added, “and the sword”
or “knife and cutting tools such as an ax or dagger” “shall
devour” which means “burn
up, feed, consume and slay” “your young lions”
or “lions that are already weaned and begun to ravin”: “and
I will cut off” or “eliminate,
kill, hew and behead” “your prey”
which means “food, meat, spoil and leaf” “from the
earth” or “the land,
country, territory, district or region”. God's “sword”, in the
hands of the Babylonians, would “consume” the people within the
city of Nineveh, and He would remove all their “spoils” from the
“land”.
Finally
the verse says, “...and
the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard.” Nahum
finished the verse with, “and the voice”
or “sound, noise, lightness and frivolity” “of your
messengers” which refers to
“representatives” “shall no more be heard”
which means “listened to, obeyed and understood”. Nahum's message
was, when the LORD invades Nineveh, even the “voices” of the
“representatives” within the city would be “heard and listened
to” no more.
When
we consider these words of Nahum, we see the completeness of the
LORD's destruction planned for Nineveh. He gave them occasions to
“humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways”, but they
rejected Him and now face His wrath. To listen to the words, “The
LORD of hosts is against you” has to be some of the most
ominous words a person could hear. Those who receive Jesus Christ as
their Savior and LORD will not hear these words, however those who
reject Jesus Christ certainly will. May we take heed to Nahum's
warnings to Nineveh as though they were directly to us, and may we
never know what it means to have “The LORD of hosts”
against us.
Next
time we begin the final chapter of the prophesy of Nahum and
see him write, “Woe to the
bloody city”,
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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