A Time of Reckoning
The danger of the somewhat limited picture of God we started with is that it gives you a feeling of insulation, security and inviolability. Many of the prophets wrestled with this. How could they convince God’s people that they were ‘chosen and special’ and that God would always vinidicate their cause without at the same time giving them the impression that they could get away with anything?
Nahum’s message, perhaps with a side glance at this own people while making an onslought on Assyria, is a powerful reminder that because God is all powerful, because he doesn’t have favourites and because in the end of the day he is the only ‘eternal’, no people, race, nation or tribe — not even the mighty Assyria — is beyond his reach.
He reminds them of Thebes (v 8), that great Egyptian trading city on the Nile, with support from Ethiopia and Libya (v 9), which fell to Assyria in 663 BCE. Nobody is safe. Nothing is sacrosanct. The sea (a traditional symbol of uncontrollable chaos) will see to that (v 8).
The overall impression is that after all the trials not much has changed. When the people of Nineveh look at themselves what do they see?. Their strongholds are no more than tender fig trees, their armies weak as women, their gates destroyed and their city wide open to attack (vv 12-13). What are they doing about it? Nothing (vv 14-15a). The ‘City’ (merchants), the army (guards) and the civil service (scribes) have all multiplied like locusts (v 15b-17). No wonder they are a laughing stock.
Whoever, wherever we are this is a nudge to take a look at ourselves. The locusts are a reminder of the way nations, clubs, organisations, people and institutions all have a way of arriving when there is a problem (‘on a cold day’), offering solutions and raising their own profile (vv 16-17), only to disappear as quickly once the sun comes out, leaving everybody else to carry on much as before (vv 18-19). And they are not confined to Nineveh. They can appear anywhere. Next time it could be Israel. Or us. And that should make us think.