Reasons for Downfall
Nahum declares in this concluding chapter all of the reasons for
the downfall of Assyria. He begins
pretty intently in the opening verse.
Nahum calls Nineveh the bloody city.
That says a lot right there. God
is judging them because they are a bloody and violence-loving culture. I’ve spoken elsewhere on the violence of
Assyria. They had a reputation for being
atrociously violent. They would take
captives and cut off hands and feet and ears and noses, or gouge out their eyes,
or lop off their heads and then they would bind these severed bodies and parts
to vines or heap them up before city gates.
In particularly harsh cases, captives could be impaled or flayed alive
through a process in which their skin was gradually and completely removed. There is just something wrong about
that. Apparently, God agrees.
However, their violence is not God’s only concern. They are also full of lies. Their mouths are deceitful. They would say one thing yet do whatever
pleased their heart. Politically, they
were untrustworthy. You could have no
outside relationship with them because they said whatever needed to be said
knowing that they would do whatever they wanted instead. In fact, the Assyrians often sold their
military power so that the military could get familiar with the area of their
allies and then invade them once they’ve accurately assessed their strengths,
weaknesses, and fortifications.
Yet, this is also not the end of the list. God calls them a city of plunder. They were hoarders. They took and stole from other people and
amassed wealth in their own city. They
did not take what God gave to them; they took what God had given to
others! God does not care for us very
much when we take from others what He did not intend for us to have. Whether we take it through might (war) or
intelligence (commerce), if God did not desire for us to have it then it is a
mistake when we find ourselves in possession of something that belongs to another
person.
Since they acted in shame, God would shame them in the end. They would come to ruin. Nations around them would see that they were
fallen but do nothing to help them up.
In fact, so great is the shame that people will actually shrink back
from Assyria. Assyria will be judged so
hard that others will recoil from being “too much like them” or “too much in
their midst.”
Comparison to Thebes
God then lifts up the example of Thebes in the midst of
Nahum. Thebes – symbolically to be
thought of as Egypt – was beside the Nile just as Assyria was among the Tigris
and Euphrates. She felt that she had a
natural means of protection from her enemies just as Nineveh felt security
behind its own walls. Thebes even
thought that she had allies much like the Assyrians had vassal states that paid
them tribute.
Yet, As Egypt fell, so would Assyria. In fact, God had brought Assyria to Egypt to
judge Egypt. However, God would now
bring along Babylon to judge Assyria. If
Assyria was in the same position as Thebes and Thebes was judged, Assyria could
expect the same.
Useless
As we close this chapter – and the book – we discover that the
fall of Assyria actually has much in common with the fall of the Hebrew
people. The nobles are “asleep.” The shepherds are asleep. The things in which the Assyrians put their
trust in will fail them. The Assyrians
have become a people whose leadership is only interested in their own desires
and the words and warnings of the truly wise go unheeded.
I think this is interesting, and it really does point us to quite
an incredible dynamic of humanity. When
we become strong and powerful, we always lose sight of what got us there. We become complacent. Our hearts change and instead of seeking hard
work and true counsel we seek entertainment, pleasure, and ease. Instead of looking for opportunities to
strive forward, we instead seek vacation and relaxation and having things “our
way.”
We are an interesting creation.
We are willing to work hard to get somewhere, but once we arrive we slip
and slide and backtrack and fall. We see
it with the Hebrew people. We see it
with the Assyrians. We’ll see it with
the Babylonians. We see it with the
Persians, the Greeks, and we especially see it in the Roman Empire. We see it in England. We see it in China. We see it in ourselves, don’t we?
Woe to any country whose shepherds are asleep, whose nobles
slumber, whose princes are like grasshoppers, and whose people multiply like
locusts. When we seek the easy road in
the desires of our own hearts we often go astray and come into judgment.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment