Contemporaries
- His ministry was during the reign of king Manasseh of Judah (14).
- His relationship with prophets was 20 years after Isaiah, and a sequel to the book of Jonah, who prophesied over a century earlier.
His message to Nineveh was delivered a century after the city repented because of God’s message through Jonah. The city returned to idolatry, violence, and arrogance during the height of its power. The city fell under the assault of the Babylonians, after a 300-year rule (612 B.C.).
The Book of Nahum is a poem celebrating the fall of Nineveh, the capital city of Israel’s ancient and oppressive enemy, the Assyrians. The fall of Nineveh is seen as the judgment of God upon a cruel and arrogant nation.
- God presented as jealous and avenging.
Sharing:
- The name ‘Nahum’ means ‘consolation’.
- Jonah and Nahum connect because of the time of repentance followed by sin and destruction.
- The nature of sin is that it is slow, corrosive, and effective.
- Jonah must love this book.
- What are prophets for? To share God’s word; to give a message from God; to give a warning in a merciful way. It is not a pride thing. They didn’t make a bunch of rules, but just communicated God.
- Now we see that God is a God who keeps His word and remains just. The Ninevites of Jonah’s time repented. But that had no bearing on their children and the following generations. The sins of the parents do not condemn, and righteous parents don’t mean righteous children. God has an individual relationship with every person’s heart.
- The Lord is described by Nahum as jealous and avenging and filled with wrath. Nahum 1:6 says: “Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before Him.” This is an almighty God being described: a terrifying, humbling, all-powerful Creator, who is ready to punish the sin of a nation.
- The very next verse is almost contradictory (v.7): “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.” No human can capture those identities in the same moment. Our God is a God who can be a refuge while He’s angry, deliverance in His punishment, and mercy in His justice.
- The references to the water gates (Nahum 2:6) and flooding (Nahum 3:8) is interesting. The city has been excavated and they found gates that held the Tigris River out of the city.
- Is it a good thing to have a jealous and avenging God? This description seems negative to us. However, God has a right to be jealous – He created us. The reason for this description is that He loves us.
- No one can get away with sin. Sooner or later it will catch up to us. The only way to stop sin is death and destruction, or like David, have real repentance.
- Did Judah deserve to be punished by the Assyrians? Did the Assyrians deserve punishment? In chapter 3 we get a reminder of what kind of people the Ninevites were. The city itself is known as the city of blood; full of lies, full of plunder, and never without victims. The last verse of the book clarifies things: “Nothing can heal your wound, your injury is fatal. Everyone who hears the news about you will clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?
- And yet Israel becomes known for its abuse of the poor, its valley of slaughter where they sacrificed their children to the god Molech. Their daughters were given as temple prostitutes. It’s so easy to think to ourselves: “God seems really extreme here. He seems angry and violent.” His children are murdering each other and committing horrible acts, God will not let a people continue into deeper and deeper sin. He will cut it off, and stop the bleeding. In order to stop generation after generation from becoming prostitutes and murderers, He will stop a nation. God does not view death from our point of view, and He does not condemn every man, woman and child to hell when He punishes on earth. We have a God who cares for us more than we care for ourselves. He fashioned each one of us and knows our names and our most intimate self. He will not watch self-abuse and self-ruin forever. God reaches down and brings punishment that leads to justice and repentance. He stops evil, and ultimately, He stepped down to take His own punishment that everyone deserved.
HABAKKUK
- His ministry was during the reign of King Jehoiakim (18) of Judah.
- His relationship with prophets was when Zephaniah’s ministry was concluded, Jeremiah was in the middle of his ministry, and Daniel was deported to Babylon two years after Habakkuk’s warning.
- Habakkuk belongs to the time when the balance of power was shifting from the Assyrians to the Babylonians. Jerusalem was destroyed (586 B.C.) two years after his ministry ended.
The message of Habakkuk came at a time when the Babylonians were in power. He was deeply disturbed by the violence of these cruel people, and asked the Lord, “So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?” (1:13, GNT). The Lord’s answer was that He would take action in His own good time, and meanwhile “those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God” (2:4, GNT). The rest of the message is a prophecy of doom on the unrighteous, with a concluding psalm celebrating the greatness of God and expressing the undying faith of the poet.
- What should we do when God seems to lack concern because He is silent?
- When can complaining to God be beneficial?
- What is involved in waiting on God?
- What’s a good description of living by faith?
- How should life be balanced when there is injustice, grief and pain?
Sharing:
- The book of Habakkuk begins with a man complaining to God. Here is a man who knows he is talking to a real God. He’s not trying to mock God, or call Him out. He’s asking, “Why?” What are you doing in heaven? Sometimes all we can do in the middle of a terrible stretch in our lives, is ask why?
- Is it a good thing to go to God with complaints, requests, and conversations? In God’s Story so far, it seems so within limits, like Job. God desires open communication. It shows relationship. We are able to ask questions respectfully of God.
- It appears that this is a conversation that is over time. Habakkuk waits on the Lord, and stands ready for an answer. Habakkuk knew he didn't know everything about God. It’s a good place to be.
- Habakkuk 1:5 shows a God who cares enough to reply. Sometimes we have to wait and watch and listen. He doesn’t ask that we blindly follow. We should be willing to wait. This is a concept of faith in self/now versus faith in God.
- After reading Habakkuk 2:6-7, it is easy to say Israelites are bad, but we must remember we are too. It comes down to our promoting ourselves. Our plans become our gods. And God laughs at them. They were punished due to their self love. But not before again having a chance to repent.
- Habakkuk knows something about our God. He knows that He can be trusted to reveal His will to those who love Him, and wait for Him to answer. God answers in His time, because it is the best time. He makes us wait, to bring us closer to Himself. God answers, and tells Habakkuk that He is raising up the Babylonians to spread across the earth. He acknowledges their cruelty and that they worship themselves. Notice that God only gives a part of the picture. In the prophet’s reply, he seems to understand that God will reveal more to him. He wonders at why God would use such a proud, cruel and godless nation. He shares his heart with God and stands ready to watch and listen for an answer. And we have a God who as all the answers, and has a purpose and reason for everything. He tells His prophet to make it plain, easy to understand, so that it can be told to everyone. God does not want Himself revealed to only a higher society. In fact, many times those in power refuse to hear His voice. God is the God of all men of all walks of life. His word is meant to be easily understood by those who seek after Him and wait for His word.
- This prophecy is towards the end of Israel and Judah as kingdoms, so it is not a prophecy toward innocent people.
- God uses evil for good. For each of us. That's the only use God has for evil.
- God’s last answer lets Habakkuk know that the Babylonians will not be rewarded for their evil. Their evil will eventually destroy them. All evil is self-destructive. Evil is pride of self, and the self was never meant to serve itself. It’s a broken lifestyle and it can only produce evil in the end.
- The last chapter is Habakkuk’s prayer of praise to God. The fog of fear is lifted and God’s promise of salvation for His people is still good. It’s easy to think that if God isn’t letting us know what’s happening, it must be a bad thing. Habakkuk shows us that God waits to reveal things so that we can learn to wait on Him. It’s in the waiting that we grow in faith and trust and love.
- The wait was worth it: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:18).
- His ministry was during the reign of King Josiah of Judah (16).
- His relationship with prophets was when Jeremiah was half way through his ministry, and Daniel began his ministry two years after his message.
His message belongs to the dark period in Judah’s history about 100 years after Israel had fallen to the Assyrians. He sensed that the same thing was about to happen to Judah. In 605 B.C. Judah’s first captives were taken to Babylon. Judah fell in 586 B.C.
Zephaniah preached in the decade before King Josiah’s religious reforms of 621 B.C. The book contains the familiar prophetic themes: A day of doom and destruction is threatened, when Judah would be punished for her worship of other gods. The Lord would also punish other nations. Although Jerusalem was doomed, in time the city would be restored, with a humble and righteous people living there.
- Consider God’s order in delivering judgment.
- How is the ‘joy of the Lord’ expressed?
- What is the significance of Zephaniah’s use of God’s name 37 times in three chapter?
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