Commentary - Nahum 1:2-6

Bird's-eye view

The book of Nahum opens not with a gentle word, but with a thunderclap. This is a prophecy concerning Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, a brutal and idolatrous regime that had long been a scourge to Israel. But before Nahum gets to the specifics of Nineveh's downfall, he first lays the foundation. And that foundation is the character of God Himself. These opening verses are an acrostic poem, a majestic and terrifying overture that establishes who it is that Nineveh is dealing with. This is not some petty tribal deity, but the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. Nahum establishes from the outset that history is not a random series of events, but is rather the unfolding of God's righteous judgments. God is jealous, avenging, wrathful, and yet slow to anger and great in power. He is the God who controls the whirlwind and the storm, who rebukes the sea, and who causes mountains to quake. The central question posed by this text is therefore a simple one: if this is who God is, who can possibly stand before Him?

This passage forces us to confront attributes of God that our modern sensibilities would prefer to file away. But Nahum will not let us. He insists that we see that God's vengeance and wrath are not contrary to His goodness, but are rather expressions of it. His justice is as essential to His character as His mercy. The power on display here is absolute, a power over creation itself, which serves to underscore the utter foolishness of rebelling against such a God. The doom of Nineveh is therefore not simply a geopolitical event; it is a theological statement. It is a demonstration of the reality that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the King of all the earth, and He will not suffer rivals.

Outline

The Jealous and Avenging God

We must begin where the prophet begins, with the jealousy of God. In our therapeutic age, jealousy is seen as a petty, insecure, and sinful emotion. But this is to confuse the creature with the Creator. When we are jealous, it is almost always sinful because we are laying claim to something that is not rightfully ours. But when God is jealous, it is a holy and righteous attribute. His name is Jealous (Ex. 34:14). He is jealous for His own honor, for His own name, and for the covenant love of His people. He has an exclusive right to their worship and allegiance, and when that allegiance is given to idols, His jealousy is kindled. It is the righteous expression of His covenant love. A husband who is not jealous when his wife is courted by another man is not a loving husband; he is a contemptible one. God's jealousy is the measure of His love for His own glory and for His people.

This jealousy is therefore the fuel for His vengeance. The word vengeance here should not be confused with petty, vindictive revenge. This is not a matter of God "getting even." Divine vengeance is the execution of perfect justice. It is God setting things right. He is avenging against His adversaries because they have set themselves against Him, against His law, and against His people. They have defied His holiness and trampled His glory. God's wrath is His settled, holy opposition to all that is evil. He "keeps His anger for His enemies," which means He does not forget. His justice is not short-sighted or forgetful. A debt has been incurred, and it will be paid.

Slow to Anger, Great in Power

Nahum immediately follows the terrifying description of God's vengeance with a crucial qualification: "Yahweh is slow to anger." These two truths must be held together. God's slowness to anger is not a sign of weakness, apathy, or indecision. Rather, it is a demonstration of His power. It takes immense strength to restrain wrath. A weak man is quick to anger; he has no control. But God is "great in power," and so He is able to be patient. He gives men, and nations like Assyria, space to repent. Think of Jonah's message to Nineveh a century earlier. God's slowness to anger was their salvation then. But His patience is not endless. It serves His purposes, and when the appointed time for judgment comes, it will not be delayed.

And this is the linchpin of the verse: "And Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished." This is a direct quote from the declaration of God's character to Moses in Exodus 34:7. God's mercy and patience do not nullify His justice. He is slow to anger, but He is not a senile grandfather who overlooks sin. He is a righteous judge who must and will punish every transgression. This is a terrifying truth for the unrepentant, for it means that no sin will simply be swept under the rug. But it is also the very foundation of the gospel. Because God will by no means clear the guilty, the only way for us to be saved is for someone else to take our guilt and our punishment upon himself. This verse cries out for the cross of Christ, where God's perfect justice and His covenant mercy meet. On the cross, God did not clear the guilty; He punished His own Son in our place.

The God of the Whirlwind

Having established the moral character of God's judgment, Nahum now turns to the raw power by which that judgment is executed. "In whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet." This is the language of theophany, of God appearing on the scene. This is not mere poetry; it is a statement about reality. The God who is coming to judge Nineveh is the same God who commands the most violent forces in the natural world. A whirlwind is an image of chaotic, irresistible power. But for God, this is simply His "way," His path. The clouds, which can seem so immense and powerful to us, are nothing more than the dust kicked up by His feet as He walks. This is the language of utter transcendence and effortless power. The forces that terrify man are trivial to God.

This power is then demonstrated in His authority over all creation. "He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; He dries up all the rivers." This recalls the great acts of salvation in Israel's history, the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River. The God who can dry up the sea for the salvation of His people can also do so for the judgment of His enemies. His power is not limited to one application. Then Nahum turns to the land. "Bashan and Carmel languish; the blossoms of Lebanon languish." These were regions famous for their lushness, fertility, and strength. Bashan had rich pastures, Carmel was beautiful, and the cedars of Lebanon were legendary. Nahum's point is that the very best and strongest parts of the created order wither and fade before the judgment of God. If the mighty cedars of Lebanon cannot stand, what hope does Nineveh have?

The imagery culminates in the shaking of the very foundations of the earth. "Mountains quake because of Him, and the hills melt." Mountains are our biblical symbols for stability, permanence, and strength. But in the presence of their Creator, they tremble like a leaf. The hills dissolve like wax before a flame. The created order has no stability in itself; its stability is entirely dependent on the sustaining will of God. And when God appears in judgment, that sustaining will is directed toward upheaval. "Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence, the world and all the inhabitants in it." The judgment is total and all-encompassing. No one is exempt. No one can hide. When the Creator comes to call His rebellious creatures to account, the entire stage of creation convulses.

Who Can Stand?

Nahum concludes this section with two rhetorical questions that drive the point home with devastating force. "Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger?" The answer, based on everything that has come before, is obvious: no one. No created being, no man, no king, no empire, can stand on its own two feet in the face of God's holy wrath. His indignation is not a fleeting temper tantrum; it is a righteous, settled opposition to evil. To endure it would be like trying to endure the surface of the sun.

"His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are torn down by Him." The image of fire speaks of consumption, purification, and judgment. The image of rocks being torn down shows that even the hardest, most inanimate objects are shattered by His power. If the rocks cannot endure, what of mortal man? This is meant to strip away all false confidence, all pride, all trust in military might or political cunning. Before the living God, all human strength is less than nothing.

And so the question hangs in the air: "Who can stand?" The unstated answer in Nahum is "no one from Nineveh." But the gospel provides the ultimate answer. We cannot stand, but Christ has stood in our place. The indignation we could not face, He faced. The burning anger we could not endure, He endured. The wrath poured out like fire was poured out upon Him at Calvary. The rocks were torn at His crucifixion, but it was He who absorbed the full force of the blow. Therefore, the only one who can stand before this holy and avenging God is the one who is hidden in Christ. For those who are in Christ, this description of God is not a terror, but a comfort. This is our God. This is the one who fights for us. And if this God is for us, who can be against us?

Application

First, we must recover a biblical fear of God. Our generation has domesticated God, turning Him into a celestial therapist whose only job is to affirm us. Nahum blows that idol to pieces. God is a consuming fire, and we must worship Him with reverence and awe. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and that fear begins with recognizing who He truly is, in both His mercy and His severity.

Second, we must understand that God's justice is good news. A God who did not judge sin would not be a good God. He would be morally indifferent. We should rejoice that our God is a God of justice, that He will right all wrongs, and that He will vindicate His people. The Assyrians were a wicked and brutal empire, and God's judgment upon them was a righteous and good thing. We should pray for God's justice to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and trust that He will do it in His perfect time.

Finally, this passage ought to drive us to the cross. In ourselves, we cannot stand. We are the guilty whom God will by no means clear. Our only hope is to flee to the one who stood for us. Our only safety from the wrath of God is to hide in the Son who absorbed that wrath. The terror of Nahum 1 is the black velvet backdrop against which the diamond of the gospel shines most brightly. Because God is a jealous and avenging God, we need a Savior. And because He is slow to anger and great in power, He has provided one.