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Nahum Chapter
One
Nahum 1
Chapter Contents
The justice and power of the Lord. (1-8) The overthrow of
the Assyrians. (9-15)
Commentary on Nahum 1:1-8
(Read Nahum 1:1-8)
About a hundred years before, at Jonah's preaching, the
Ninevites repented, and were spared, yet, soon after, they became worse than
ever. Nineveh knows not that God who contends with her, but is told what a God
he is. It is good for all to mix faith with what is here said concerning Him,
which speaks great terror to the wicked, and comfort to believers. Let each
take his portion from it: let sinners read it and tremble; and let saints read
it and triumph. The anger of the Lord is contrasted with his goodness to his
people. Perhaps they are obscure and little regarded in the world, but the Lord
knows them. The Scripture character of Jehovah agrees not with the views of
proud reasoners. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is slow to wrath
and ready to forgive, but he will by no means acquit the wicked; and there is
tribulation and anguish for every soul that doeth evil: but who duly regards
the power of his wrath?
Commentary on Nahum 1:9-15
(Read Nahum 1:9-15)
There is a great deal plotted against the Lord by the
gates of hell, and against his kingdom in the world; but it will prove in vain.
With some sinners God makes quick despatch; and one way or other, he will make
an utter end of all his enemies. Though they are quiet, and many very secure,
and not in fear, they shall be cut down as grass and corn, when the destroying
angel passes through. God would hereby work great deliverance for his own
people. But those who make themselves vile by scandalous sins, God will make
vile by shameful punishments. The tidings of this great deliverance shall be
welcomed with abundant joy. These words are applied to the great redemption
wrought out by our Lord Jesus and the everlasting gospel, Romans 10:15. Christ's ministers are messengers
of good tidings, that preach peace by Jesus Christ. How welcome to those who
see their misery and danger by sin! And the promise they made in the day of
trouble must be made good. Let us be thankful for God's ordinances, and gladly
attend them. Let us look forward with cheerful hope to a world where the wicked
never can enter, and sin and temptation will no more be known.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Nahum》
Nahum 1
Verse 1
[1] The
burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
The burden —
When the prophets were sent to denounce judgments against a nation or city, the
word was usually called the burden of that nation or city.
The vision — As
prophets were of old called seers, 1 Samuel 9:9, so their prophesies were called
visions.
Nahum —
His name speaks a comforter, but it is God's people to whom he gives notice of
the destruction of their oppressors.
Verse 2
[2] God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is
furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth
wrath for his enemies.
Jealous —
For his own glory.
Revengeth — As
supreme governor, who by office is bound to right the oppressed, and to punish
the oppressor.
Verse 3
[3] The
LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the
wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds
are the dust of his feet.
Hath his way —
The methods of his providence.
The whirlwind —
Which beareth before it all things that stand in its way.
The dust of his feet — Though he be surrounded with darkness, yet as an army afar off is
discovered by the dust that their feet raise, so wilt God appear with great
power marching against his enemies.
Verse 4
[4] He
rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan
languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
The flower —
Whatever flourished thereon; the blossoms, and flowers which were wont to be
the glory of it.
Verse 7
[7] The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them
that trust in him.
Knoweth — He
approves, owns, and preserves them.
Verse 8
[8] But
with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and
darkness shall pursue his enemies.
An over-running flood — His judgments like a mighty flood that overflows all banks, shall
swallow up Assyria.
Thereof — Of
Nineveh, that is Nineveh itself.
Darkness —
Troubles, and desolating afflictions.
Verse 9
[9] What
do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not
rise up the second time.
Against the Lord —
What you imagine or design against his people, ye design against him? Make an
utter end - He will bring you to utter desolation.
Verse 10
[10] For
while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as
drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
As thorns —
They shall be like thorns easily burnt, and like thorns folded together which
burn together, and help to destroy each other.
As drunkards — As
men drunken, and unable to help themselves, so the Assyrians drunk with
pleasure and pride, shall be surprised, and easily overthrown.
Verse 11
[11]
There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked
counsellor.
Come —
Sennacherib, or Rabshekah.
Thee —
From Nineveh.
Against the Lord —
Against the people of the Lord, 2 Chronicles 32:1.
Verse 12
[12] Thus
saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be
cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will
afflict thee no more.
They —
The Assyrians.
Quiet — Be
secure, and fear no dangers.
Yet thus —
Irresistible, suddenly, and universally.
He — The angel of the Lord.
Thee — O
Israel, I will no more use that rod.
Verse 14
[14] And
the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be
sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the
molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
Thee —
Thee, Sennacherib, and the whole kingdom of Assyria.
Be sown —
None shall bear thy name, and title; but thy kingdom shall be swallowed up.
Verse 15
[15]
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the
wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
Keep — Be
careful to serve God.
Thy vows —
Made in thy distress.
The wicked —
That wicked oppressor, Sennacherib.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Nahum》
01 Chapter 1
Verses 1-15
The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
Nahum’s book
Nahum writes a book. It was a curious thing to do in those days.
It was a book of a vision, and therefore likely to be quite misunderstood; for
who has eyes that can see visions of the shadowy, aerial kind? Only a visionist
can read visions. There are some men who ought never to attempt to read poetry,
because they kill it. They do not know that they are killing it, but their
slaughter is none the less complete. There are persons who ought not to read
the lighter kinds of literature, say even comedy itself, because they were born
to live at the graveside, and never have caught a laugh on the wing. Only those
who have the inspired heart can read the prophets, either major or minor, and
understand what they are about,--not understand what they are merely saying, but
understand what they are meaning. There is a common drift in all the
prophecies, a set, a tendency in this great biblical movement. Unless you
comprehend that tendency or movement you will be lost in the details of the
dislocated parts. The Bible reveals God; now let all the rest fall into proper
adjustment under the influence of that dominant and ennobling thought. How will
Nahum talk about God? He will talk about God in his own way. If every man would
do that we should have a new and grand theology, because we should have as many
theologies as there are human beings reverently engaged in the profound study
of God. Every man sees his own aspect of the Divine Being; every man catches
his own particular view of the Cross; hence a good deal of the obstinacy that
is found in theological controversy and religious disputation. (Joseph
Parker, D. D.)
God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth.
The jealous God
There is in man a selfishness that is Divine. It is a
singular fact, in our moral constitution, that often the tenderest feelings of
our nature should also be the most selfish. Love, even apparently in its
highest moods, is sometimes also most exacting and difficult of satisfaction. I
have known a mother most jealous of the departure of a daughter’s heart to its
natural home and rest. When I have seen this, I have thought of the selfishness
of God. God is infinitely selfish, for we may appropriately use that term. For
selfishness may be celestial, and an attribute of benevolence. We do not,
indeed, think much of love that cannot, in circumstances, be jealous; such is
but a cold, indifferent, impoverished affection. How can it be other than that
the best natures of the universe must he most selfish? Jealousy is not
necessarily an infirmity. It may be a Divine emotion. The apostle speaks of a
“godly jealousy.” No doubt all our love is |infirmity. The best, what we call
the most purely unselfish, has its infirmity: I call that rove of the highest
which most intensely desires the well-being of its objects! this is me
selfishness of love. Jealousy is a passion that depends for its character upon
the fuel that gives its flame. It is the sorrowing and pitying passion which
would save, if it could, from the perdition and the doom, and unable to do so,
or even seeking to do so, moves all its powers, takes all the minor emotions,
faculties, and casts them into the flames of its love, bidding all blue. This
is the apostle’s “godly jealousy.” And God is jealous. Do not think of Him as
beneath the influence of that passion which sometimes, as envy, spite, and
malice, disturbs our rest; still think of Him as, in a lofty sense, the jealous
God. There are many terms applied to Him in Scripture which seem to
anthropomorphise His character. “Angry,” “repenting,” “foreseeing.” Whenever
such terms are used, think of them as steps of Divine descent. We may be sure
they do represent some qualities of the Divine nature on which it is important
that we should reflect, and of which we should stand in awe. The meaning of
words assists to the conception of things. Jealous is the same word as zealous,
and both are derived from the Greek word zeal, fire; zeal is
enthusiasm--moral fire; and jealousy,--what is jealousy but love on fire? Is
not this the representation we constantly have of God? I do believe in the
mercy, and gentleness, and goodness of God. I do believe that He who “knows our
frame” does save His children from the alienation of eternity, even when the
heart has so vehemently loved in time the children of time. But then you must
take the consequences here of that too vehement love. God is jealous of sin, of
all aberrations from Himself. He is jealous of love, of power, of knowledge.
See how He is constantly reminding man of his weakness as He incarnates his
strength; and God is constantly absorbing man’s knowledge, power, and love to
Himself. Divine love on fire, God is jealous! There is no love where there is
no fire, but let it burn
with the white, not with the red heat. Imagine no evil against God from this
declaration of His Book. God is jealous, His love is on fire, the Holy Spirit
is love on fire,--hell is love on fire. The one by gentle persuasion entreats;
the other, by forcible compulsion, guards His holy ones. Thus His fire folds
inward and outward; inward to bless, outward to punish--so a calm breath of
holy life, a stormy fire of doom. (Paxton Hood.)
The Lord will take
vengeance on His adversaries.
Great sins bringing great ruin
I. That the great
sins of a people must ever bring upon them great ruin. The population of
Nineveh was pre-eminently wicked. It is represented in the Scriptures as a
“bloody city,” a “city full of lies and robberies”; the Hebrew prophets dwell
upon its impious haughtiness and ruthless fierceness (Isaiah 10:7-8). Great sins bring great
ruin. It was so with the antediluvians, with the inhabitants of Sodom and
Gomorrah. The principle of moral causation and the Eternal Justice of the
universe demand that wherever there is sin there shall be suffering, and in
proportion to the amount of sin shall be the amount of suffering.
II. The great ruin
that comes presents God to the “vision” of man as terribly indignant. The
passions of man are here ascribed to God. It is only when terrible anguish
comes upon the sinner that God appears to the observer as indignant. (Homilist.)
National punishments part of God’s moral government
I. The certainty
that sin will not remain unpunished.
1. The inevitable working of natural laws secures this. Physical,
social, and spiritual evils follow sin.
2. The declared character of God secures it. He is a jealous God.
II. There is no
resisting the judgments of God. His power is seen in nature. The rolling
whirlwind, the dark tempest, the desolating storm are symbols of His wrath and
of His might.
III. Yet in wrath
God remembers mercy.
1. There is a refuge for those who turn and repent.
2. No sins preclude hope.
3. Salvation is full and certain to the truly penitent.
4. Though the godly suffer trouble, they will be delivered from it.
Their trials are only a discipline, if used aright. (C. Cunningham Geikie,
D. D.)
God’s judgments will be fulfilled
As you stood some stormy day upon a sea cliff and marked the giant
billow rise from the deep to rush on with foaming crest, and throw itself
thundering on the trembling shore, did you ever fancy that you could stay its
course and hurl it back to the depths of the ocean? Did you ever stand beneath
the leaden, lowering cloud, and mark the lightning’s leap as it shot and flashed, and
think that you could grasp the bole and change its path? Still more foolish and
vain his thought who fancies that he can arrest and turn aside the purpose of
God. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
The Lord is slow to anger,
and great in power, and win not at all acquit the wicked.
Mercy, omnipotence, and
justice
Works of art require some education
in the beholder before they can be thoroughly appreciated. There must be
something in the man himself before he can understand the wonders either of
nature or of art. Certainly this is true of character. By reason of failures in
our character, and faults in our life, we are not capable of understanding all
the separate beauties and the united perfection of the character of Christ, or
of God His Father. Men, through the alienation of their natures, are constantly
misrepresenting God, because they cannot appreciate His perfection. This is
especially true with regard to certain lights and shadows in the character of
God, which He has so marvellously blended in the perfection of His nature,
that, although we cannot see the exact point of meeting, yet we are struck with
wonder at the sacred harmony. How can God be “slow to anger,” and yet unwilling
to “acquit the wicked? Our character is so imperfect that we cannot see the
congruity of these two attributes. It is because His character is perfect that
we do not see where these two things melt into each other.
I. The first characteristic of God. “Slow to anger.”
1. Because He never smites without first threatening.
2. But He is very slow to threaten. God’s lips move swiftly when He
promises, but slowly when He threatens.
3. When He threatens, how slow He is to sentence the criminal.
4. Even when the sentence against a sinner is signed and sealed, how
slow God is to carry it out. Illustrate from case of Sodom. Trace this
attribute of God to its source. He is “slow to anger” because He is infinitely
good. And because He is great.
II. The link between the first sentence of the text and the last. He
is “great in power.” He that is great in power has power over Himself. When
God’s power doth restrain Himself, then it is power indeed.
III. The last attribute is this--“He will not at all acquit the
wicked.” Never once has God pardoned an unpunished sin. Trace this attribute to
its source, and you find it in this, because He is good.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The patience of God
I. Implies great power. Note--
1. This exquisite sensitiveness. He is sensibility itself.
2. His abhorrence of sin. It is the “abominable thing,” which
He emphatically hates. His whole nature revolts from it. He feels that it is
antagonism to His will, and to the order and well-being of the universe.
3. His provocation by the world.
4. His right to do whatever He pleases. He could show His anger, if
He pleased, any when, anywhere, or anyhow.
II. His patience precludes not the punishment of the impenitent. “And
will not at all acquit the wicked.”
1. To “acquit” the impenitent, would be an infraction of His law. He
has bound suffering to sin by a law as strong and as inviolable as that which
binds the planets to the sun. “The wages of sin is death.”
2. To “acquit” the impenitent, would be a violation of His Word.
3. To “acquit” the impenitent, would be to break the harmony of His
universe. If inveterate rebels were acquitted, what an impulse there would be
given in God’s moral empire to anarchy. Abuse not the patience of God; nay,
avail yourselves of it. (Homilist.)
A discourse upon God’s
patience
Slowness to anger, or
admirable patience, is the property of the Divine nature. This patience is seen
in His providential works in the world. Consider--
I. The nature of this patience.
1. It is a part of the Divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from
both. It differs from mercy in the formal consideration of the object. Mercy
respects the creature as miserable, patience respects the creature as criminal. Mercy is one end of
patience. It differs in regard of the object. The object of goodness is every
creature. The object of patience is primarily man.
2. Since it is a part of goodness and mercy, it is not an insensible
patience.
3. It is not a constrained or half-hearted patience.
4. Since it is not for want of power over the creature, it is from a
fulness of power over Himself.
5. The exercise of this patience is founded in the death of Christ.
The natural ness of God’s veracity and holiness, and the strictness of His
justice, are no bars to the exercise of His patience.
II. How this patience, or slowness to anger, is manifested.
1. To our first parents.
2. To the Gentiles.
3. To the Israelites. In particular, this patience is manifest--
III. Why doth God exercise so much patience?
1. To show Himself appeasable.
2. To wait for men’s repentance.
3. For the propagation of mankind.
4. For the continuance of the Church.
5. To manifest the equity of His future justice on righteous and
wicked.
For instruction--
1. How do men abuse this patience?
2. The second use is for comfort.
3. For exhortation. Meditate often on the patience of God, (C.
Charnocke.)
The God of providence a
forbearing God
I. The admirable patience of the divine being. The prophet adds a
reference to the power of God, and His punishment of the wicked, in order to
guard men against presuming on His forbearance. We need not stay to prove that
slowness to anger is a property of God. Divine patience could not be displayed
unless there were sin. There was abundant evidence of the Divine goodness
before man transgressed; but none of the Divine patience. When our race
rebelled, Divine patience displayed itself. There could be no forbearance, no
long-suffering, in the sense in which we now use the word, unless there were
the possibility
of ultimate pardon. When the Almighty spares a sinner, He is even more
wonderful than when He builds a universe. But the Divine patience is in no
degree opposed to the justice and faithfulness of God. It leaves room for the
exercise of every other attribute.
II. The mysterious and awful character of divine providential
operations. God has everything at His disposal; and He accomplishes His
purposes, and works out the counsel of His own will, through a varied
instrumentality. Our text, with its sublime and magnificent imagery, is full of
consolation to the afflicted as well as terror to the impenitent. (H.
Melvill, B. D.)
And will not at
all acquit the wicked.--
God both forgiving and
unforgiving
Calvin’s translation
is, “Jehovah is slow to wrath, and great in power, and by clearing He will not
clear.” God is irreconcilable to the impenitent. He deals strictly with
sinners, so as to remit no punishment. He will not clear by clearing, but will
rigidly execute His judgment. There seems to be some inconsistency in saying
that God is reconcilable and ready to pardon, and yet that by clearing He will
not clear. But the aspect of things is different. The ungodly ever promise
impunity to themselves, and in this confidence petulantly deride God Himself.
The prophet answers them, and declares that there was no reason why they thus
abused God’s forbearance, for he says, By clearing He will not clear, that is,
the reprobate: for our salvation consists in a free remission of sins; and
whence comes our righteousness but from the imputation of God, and from
this--that our sins are buried in oblivion? Yea, our whole clearing depends on
the mercy of God. But God then exercises also His judgment, and by clearing He
clears, when He remits to the faithful their sins; for the faithful, by
repentance, anticipate His judgment; and He searches their hearts, that He may
clear them. As then God absolves none but the condemned, our prophet here
rightly declares, that “by clearing He will not clear,” that is, He will not
remit their sins, except He tries them, and discharges the office of a judge;
in short, that no sin is remitted by God which He does not first condemn. But
with regard to the reprobate, who are wholly obstinate in their wickedness, the
prophet justly declares this to them,--that they have no hope of pardon, as
they perversely adhere to their own devices, and think that they can escape the
hand of God: the
prophet tells them that they are deceived, for God passes by nothing, and will
not blot out one sin, until all be brought to mind. (John Calvin.)
The Lord hath
His way in the whirlwind, and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His
feet.--
The way of the Lord in the
whirlwind and in the storm
Philosophers contemplate
hurricanes as natural evils, and investigate the material causes of these
elementary commotions. But Scripture raises us up to a higher sphere of
contemplation, and presents to our minds the terrible operations of nature, under
consideration of the works and judgments of the God of nature. He commands the
storm, whirls the wind, rules the sea, and superintends the destructions of
death. The literal sense of the text appears to have a foundation in fact, and
may be traced to the terrible hurricane in which the God of Israel came down, and
by a mighty angel destroyed the Assyrian camp before Jerusalem.
1. The way of the Lord in these elementary and violent commotions
which have been described.
Application--
1. The way of the Lord in whirlwinds and storms, and the
illustrations of it, are proofs and demonstrations to the world of His
existence and providence.
2. Exhibitions to our senses of the glory and terror of His majesty.
3. Declarations to the world that it is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God.
4. Admonitions to the nations, to consider the miseries of war, and
to settle among themselves those differences for which they have taken up arms
against one another.
5. Calls to the inhabitants of the world, to turn from ungodliness
and unrighteousness, and to serve the Lord with reverence and godly fear.
Knowing the terrors, and knowing that they are coming upon all who know not
God, and obey not the end unbelief, to foresee the great day of His wrath, to
believe your guilt and danger, and to hide yourselves under His righteousness.
(A. Shanks.)
The clouds are
the dust of His feet.--
What are the clouds
I. The way of God is generally a hidden one. When God works His
wonders, He always conceals Himself. Even the motion of His feet causes clouds
to arise.
II. Great things with us are little things with God. What great things
clouds are to us! Great things are they? Nay, they are only the dust of God’s
feet.
III. The most terrible things in nature have no terror to the child of
God. Sometimes clouds are fearful things to mariners. But them is nothing
terrible now, because it is only the dust of my Father’s feet.
IV. All things in nature are calculated to terrify the ungodly man.
Sinner, hast thou ever seen the clouds as they roll along the sky! Those clouds
are the dust of the feet of Jehovah. If these clouds are but the dust, what is
He Himself? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
He rebuketh the sea.
God’s power
Here is a description of
God’s power unrivalled in its sublimity and soul-stirring force. Power
belongeth unto God. It is absolute, inexhaustible, ever and everywhere
operative. “He fainteth not, neither is weary.” His power is here presented in
two aspects.
I. As operating irresistibly in nature.
1. It works in the air. “The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and
the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.”
2. It works in the sea. “He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry, and drieth up all
the rivers.” There is undoubtedly an allusion here to the Red Sea and the
Jordan. “He holdeth the winds in His fists, and the waters in the hollow of His
hands.” “His way is in the sea,” and “His path in the great waters.”
3. It works on the earth. “Bashan languisheth, and Carmel and the
flower of Lebanon languisheth.” No spots in Palestine were more fruitful than
these three. But their life and their growth depended on the results of God’s
power. Nor is His power less active in the inorganic parts of the world. “The
mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His
presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein.” God’s power is seen in
all the phenomena of the material world. How graphically and beautifully is
this presented in Psalms 104:1-35. The fact that God’s power is ever acting in the material
universe is--
II. As irresistibly opposed to the wicked. “Who can stand before His
indignation!” (Homilist.)
God’s control over nature,
and deliverance of His people
In these words them
is a striking display of the power, the severity, and the long-suffering and
mercy of God.
I. God’s control over the powers of nature. With the terrible effects
of His wrath. He ruleth in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, and in
the waters under the earth.
II. The essential goodness of God’s character, and the all-sufficiency
of His protection. Both the scenes of external nature, and the general
condition of nations and individuals will, on the slightest reflection,
convince you of the prevailing goodness of God. If them is any doubt on the
subject, turn to the book of inspiration.
III. The means whereby man may avert God’s anger, and secure His favour
(ver. 7). “He knoweth them that are His.” Trust in Him is the grand means to be
employed. The faith that is wrought in your hearts by the Holy Spirit of God.
This faith will work submission to Him will, and repentance towards Him. This
faith will lay hold of the stronghold that can defend in the day of trouble.
This faith worketh by love. (Hugh Hughes, B. D.)
Verse 6
Who can stand before His indignation?
Repentance through fear
This and similar passages address themselves directly to our
fears. The term “fear of God” in Scripture, does not always bear the same
meaning. Them is a filial fear, and them is a servile fear. Servile fear gives
place to filial when God becomes known to us as our reconciled Father in
Christ. We begin with the dread of God. The dread drives us to the Cross.
Mistakes are often made as to that fear of God which we denominate servile.
Christians are afraid of fear, looking with suspicion on any part which fear
may have had in moving them to forsake evil ways, as if it were a base and
ungenerous agent, which ought not to have had share in the great work of
conversion. Whilst so much of the Bible speaks of fear, fear cannot be without
its use in religion.
I. What
misapprehension may there be in reference to the use of fear? Noah, in
preparing the ark, is said to have been “moved with fear.” It was dread of
impending wrath. Fears may rightly move us to genuine and acceptable
repentance. We are so constituted as to be just as accessible through fear as
through hope. We feel that with the great mass of men we can make no way
without appealing to their fears. Men must commonly be wrought upon by fear
through what they are incurring rather than through what they are losing. We
must come down upon them with tidings of disaster. Let a man continue his
struggles and his endeavours even though he feel actuated only by fear, and in
due time other motives shall gain sway in his breast.
II. The legitimate
use of such awful denunciations as these in the text. Or the way in which
threatenings ought to be employed by the preacher. St. Paul says, “Knowing the
terrors of the Lord, we persuade men.” Neither should the engine of terror be
otherwise used by the present ministers of Christ. Threatenings are to be
employed as inducements to the laying hold on the succour provided by Christ, (H.
Melvill, B. D.)
The Lord is good, a
stronghold in the day of trouble.
Goodness a stronghold
The great design of religion
is to bring us to God and true blessedness. In order to this, there must be
full and practical confidence in God,--submission to His providence and
law,--unquestioning repose in Himself. The text, though not possessing the form
of a promise, is a declaration concerning God Himself, which includes the whole
system of promise. Such is God. If such is God, then happy the people that is
in such a case; yea, blessed they whose God is the Lord.
I. “The Lord is Good.”
1. The expression reminds us of the absolute goodness of the Divine
nature, and especially of the Divine benevolence. Whatever goodness there is in
the creature is derived--God is its source; it is limited--in God it is
unbounded; dependent--in God it is essential and independent;
mutable--in God it is changeless.
2. The active character of the Divine goodness. He “doeth” good. In
inanimate creation are displayed His perfections. All living beings look up to
God. He universally provides. But we are of more value than many sparrows. And
He cares for us.
3. God’s goodness in its suitableness to man’s present condition. He
is a sinner. Providential blessings continued. Evil tendencies of sin checked.
A wisely ordered scheme of redemption; and hence, forbearance, salvation.
II. “A stronghold in the day of trouble.” Figure forcible in the East,
where predatory expeditions are usual. God a “stronghold for defence of His
people. Recollect what He is in Himself. All His attributes are employed for
the benefit of His people. In the day of trouble they are shut up with God.
III. “He knoweth them that trust in him.” To trust in God implies
satisfied persuasion He will be and do as He has said. Two results--we shall
seek all good in Him. We shall abide with Him. Trust in God and doing good are
ever conjoined--in nature as well as duty. (G. Cubitt.)
The goodness of God in
seasons of calamity
This book is “The Burden
of Nineveh.” Nahum was contemporary with Hezekiah. The immediate design of the
prophecy was to minister comfort to the afflicted and alarmed Jews; for the
defeat of the enemies of the Church involves its deliverance. The name of the
prophet indicates this design;--it signifies comfort or comforter. The text
teaches that the Lord is good, even in seasons of calamity.
1. Such seasons are not only not inconsistent with the Divine
goodness, but m various ways manifest it. There is always much affliction in
the world. When we suffer under calamities, unworthy thoughts of God are apt to
rise within us, and especially suspicions of His goodness. If we indulge these
suspicions, they will alienate our hearts from God and His service, and prompt
us to impatience, murmuring, and impiety. But they are not inconsistent with
God’s goodness. The punishment of transgression is not in consistent with
goodness. Days of judgment on us may be merciful warnings, to others. They are
often means of delivering and purifying the Church. They are instructors and
monitors to future ages.
2. In seasons of calamity the Lord is good, for He reveals Himself to
us as a stronghold, and invites us to flee to Him for safety and comfort.
3. In days of trouble the Lord is good, for He affectionately watches
over all who honour Him with their trust. (James Stark, D. D.)
The Divine goodness a
refuge in trouble
These words have
been well compared to a burst of sunshine on a cloudy tempestuous day. The
prophet opens his commission with setting forth the terrors of the Lord. But on
a sudden this appalling strain ceases. As though impelled by an inward feeling
which had obliged him to look around for something to uphold him amid these
terrors, he thinks and speaks of the goodness of the Lord.
I. What this goodness is. We are not to understand here the Divine
purity, or holiness, but the benevolence, the kindness, the graciousness of the
Lord. The goodness of God, taken in this sense, is that perfection of His
nature which inclines Him to deal graciously with His creatures; rich and happy
in Himself, to give out of His riches and happiness, and make His creatures
partakers of them, as far as their different capacities will admit. This
goodness of God is, like every other perfection of His nature, infinite. By
this I mean, it cannot be added to, it could not be greater. And His is holy
goodness. It always moves and acts in conformity with His just and holy nature.
Here it is that we make such mistakes in thinking of God. We take one of His
attributes, and we look on it alone, as though God had no other attribute but
that; and then a mystery comes over His nature and doings. This goodness is
also self-moved, spontaneous, free. It requires nothing in us to call it into
exercise towards us; it requires nothing whatever out of God to bring it into
operation. It is not the Cross and work of the Lord Jesus that makes God good
and gracious to us sinners. He was good and gracious to us before. It was God’s
love to us that found for us a Saviour. The Cross and mediation of Christ is
the way the Divine goodness has opened for itself into our world. It is the
channel through which it flows to us, not the fountain whence it takes its
rise.
II. What this God of goodness is to His people in the day of their
trouble. “A stronghold.” This language conveys the idea of protection and
defence. The countries in which the Old Scriptures were written were scenes of
almost incessant warfare. Men were continually exposed to hostile inroads and
invasions, and were obliged to have fortresses or holds to flee to for
security. God is this refuge to the troubled soul in various ways. Sometimes
keeping impending trouble off. At other times removing His people out of reach
of trouble. More frequently giving them strength to bear their trouble. The
prophet here intimates that the Lord’s goodness shall be the stronghold, the
strength and the support. The mere thought of His goodness is to be a
consolation and a stay.
III. What assurance they who trust Him have that He will be this to
them. “He knoweth them that trust in Him. This brings the infinite knowledge of
God to bear upon their case. When I make a living Being my refuge, when I fly
to Him to protect me, it is clear that He must know I am come to Him for
protection, and know too what my dangers are that He may shield me against
them. He knows both us and our troubles. It is impossible for words to
exaggerate the attention God pays to His suffering people. The mere act of
trusting in God seems to be something spoken of here as something like a claim
on His attention and care. Then if you are in affliction, encourage yourselves
in the Lord your God. He is all-sufficient in Himself. Make Him the centre of
your affections, desires, and consolations. Flee to Him to hide you. (C.
Bradley.)
God a refuge
At Holyhead there is a
splendid breakwater which cost a million and a half of money. Rising thirty
feet above the waves it defies their utmost fury. We are not surprised that it
should be built on so massive a scale, for in a great storm each wave strikes
with the sledge hammer force of three tons to the square foot. Though a
hurricane blow, and the sea be mountains high, shipping sheltered behind it
ride in perfect safety. This is a type of the security God is to those Who
trust Him.
God is our refuge
A heathen could
say, when a bird, scared by a hawk, flew into his bosom for refuge, “I will not
kill thee, nor betray thee to thine enemy, seeing thou fliest to me for
sanctuary”: much
less will God either slay or give up the soul that takes sanctuary in His name.
(W. Gurnall.)
Secure in God
Readers of Darwin will
recall the description he gives of a marine plant which rises from a depth of
one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet, and floats on the great breakers of
the western ocean. The stem of this plant is less than an inch through; yet it
grows and thrives and holds its own against the fierce smitings and pressures
of breakers which no masses of rock, however hard, could long withstand. What
is the secret of this marvellous resistance and endurance? How can this slender
plant face the fury of the elements so successfully, and, in spite of storm and
tempests, keep its hold, and perpetuate itself from century to century? The
answer has leaped to every lip:
It reaches down into the still depths, where it fixes its grasp after the fashion
of the instinct that has been put into it, to the naked rocks; and no commotion
of the waters can shake it from its fastenings. When a man has deep and inner
clingings to God, when the roots of his life go down and take hold on God, mere
surface agitation and pressures will not overcome him. He may be floated here
and there within a given sweep like a plant bosomed on the sea, and there may
be times when it is very rough arid the strain is great, but he will survive it
all and preserve his integrity. (F. A. Noble.)
God’s shielding love
Astronomers tell us that
every year millions of meteoric bodies make their way towards our earth with a
speed many times greater than that of the swiftest cannon-ball. These, beyond
doubt, would strike the earth and destroy its inhabitants but for the air which
surrounds it, That air, soft and yielding as it seems, offers so powerful a resistance
to the swift motion of the falling meteors that they become vaporised through
increased heat, and if they reach the earth at all, it is only in the form of
minute meteoric dust. This physical fact has its counterpart in the spiritual
realm. The influences Of evil which assail the Christian as he goes through the
world are often enough to crush and kill in him all spiritual life and joy and
beauty, but round about him there is the atmosphere of the Divine love, and
that love resists all evil, being as a consuming fire, keeping back from
contact with the trusting soul everything that would destroy its purity and
blast its blessedness. The love of God is a perfect protection to every
Christian believer; with it around us we can walk with untrembling tread,
knowing that no “weapon formed against us can prosper,” (Great Thoughts.)
God a refuge
I once heard of a lonely
traveller who sought to cross one of the western prairies. The only thing he
had to guide him was a path that had been made by other travellers in the rank
grass. But he had not gone very far before the snow began to fall, at first in
scattered flakes, like large white feathers, but by and by with thick and
blinding fierceness. He soon lost every trace of the path along which he
travelled. He was lost, bewildered, and as the darkness began to gather around
him he was greatly alarmed. He cried out for help, but the wild winds only
laughed at him as hey swept by. He was almost in despair when he saw through
the blinding flakes a flickering light. Toward it he bent his exhausted
energies. Stumbling and falling, over the drifts that had accumulated here and
there, he at length came to a settler’s cottage. Can you imagine his
thankfulness and joy when-he found the storm behind him, in that friendly hut?
He was safe. He was happy. In the moment of greatest peril he had found a
refuge. Now that is just what God is to every traveller caught in the storm of
life. If you but see the light that streams out from the windows of His palace,
of His heart, and follow it, you will be safe from harm. The door of mercy is
always open; the fires of His love and forgiveness are always glowing; the
welcome which He gives is always abundant.
God’s ways with friends
and enemies
The sentiment of the
passage is, that the same power which the Almighty displays for the destruction
of His enemies, He employs for the protection of His friends.
I. The benignity of the ever-blessed God. “The Lord is good.”
Goodness is associated with every idea it is possible to form of the Most High.
Goodness is the perfection of His nature, the foundation of His actions, and
comprehends all His other attributes, When His goodness supplies the needy, it
is bounty; when it visits the miserable, it is pity; when it pardons the
guilty, it is mercy; when it performs His promises, it is faithfulness; when it
protects our persons, it is His power; when it orders events to our advantage,
it is His wisdom; and when it converts and saves the soul, it is His grace. But
where shall we look for its especial display? Not in providence but in
redemption. His goodness here is love. This love is,--
1. Comprehensive in its objects.
2. Satisfying in its nature.
3. Exalting in its influence.
4. Perpetual in its existence.
II. THE REFUGE HE AFFORDS HIS AFFLICTED PEOPLE. “He is a stronghold.”
1. The distressing period to which the text refers. Such as national
calamities; family trouble; soul trouble.
2. The refuge unfolded to our view. A stronghold, i.e., a
fortification, a place of strength and defence.
III. The approbation he expresses in their confidence. “He knoweth them
that trust in Him.” It is supposed that we betake ourselves to the shelter
which Divine goodness provides foe our safety. A refuge, unless it be embraced,
is no refuge at all.
1. What is the trust of which the text speaks? It is the fruit
of faith.
2. What is the import of the term, “He knoweth them”? It is designed
to express a distinguishing and an approving knowledge. He regards their
confidence in Him with peculiar favour. (J. B. Good.)
How good God is
Two kinds of
persons are spoken of here.
I. Those who are in trouble.
1. Trouble may be the result of our own imprudence. Or perhaps worse,
of our sinfulness.
2. It may arise from family or business perplexities. Sometimes trouble is
allowed to come and go unheeded. The rod is felt, but not the hand that brought
it down. Sometimes trouble is received angrily or peevishly. It is very hard to
contend against these feelings.
II. The characters that calmly wait for God; expecting some further
development of His mind, and not venturing to judge according to present
appearances.
I. Trusting in God supposes there is some occasion for trust. The
work of faith is to trust in God when all outward things go wrong, and there is
nothing but the Word
of God to rely on.
2. Trusting in God is the highest manifestation of real principle.
3. Trusting in God is not an adventure. His revealed will puts a
peradventure out of the question. (W. G. Barrett.)
The Lord’s favour to those
who trust in Him
The Bible abounds with the
most sublime descriptions of God, and represents, in a variety of passages, His
awful character and glorious perfections. On reading the description in the
passage connected with the text It may appear to contain a contradiction. It
may seem to represent the Almighty under two different characters. We may be
ready to think that He cannot be at once “a jealous God” and “good, slow to
anger.” There is no real difficulty. God is in Himself the same, infinitely
glorious in all perfections. The seeming differences in His character arise
from the different characters of those with whom He has to deal. In this
respect His character, like the cloud which accompanied Israel, has a dark side
and a bright side. To His adversaries He is a “jealous God.” To His people He
is “rich in mercy.” The description here given--
I. Of the people of God. “They that trust in Him.” Trust is often
used for the whole of religion. It signifies a confidence in His power and
faithfulness for protection and support, and for a supply of all things
necessary to life and godliness. Things which characterise this confidence
are--
1. It is habitual.
2. It is practical.
3. It is a patient and persevering trust.
4. It is a solid and well- grounded confidence.
Trust in God must be
founded on His promise.
II. Of the favour of God to his people.
1. “The Lord is good.” God is goodness. Even His severity against sin
is the effect of His goodness.
2. He is “a stronghold in the day of trouble.” The Lord s people are
not exempt from trouble. But if they have peculiar trials they have peculiar
support under them.
3. The Lord “knoweth them that are His.” He sees, distinguishes,
approves. Especially has He respect to them as putting their trust in Him. He
sees the humble confidence with which they repose in His truth and
faithfulness. Surely blessed arc the people who make the Lord their trust. (E.
Cooper.)
He knoweth them that trust in Him; but with an overrunning flood
He will make an utter end of the place thereof.
Opposite types of human character, and opposite lines of Divine
procedure
I. Opposite types
of character.
1. The friends of God.
II. Two opposite
lines of Divine procedure. God’s procedure is very different towards these two
opposite classes of men.
1. He affords protection to the one. When the hosts of Sennacherib
were approaching Jerusalem, Hezekiah, the king, under Divine inspiration, said
to the people, “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the
king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more
with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our
God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon
the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.” Thus it is ever; God is always the
refuge and strength of His people in times of tribulation. As a refuge He is--
The varied destinies of men
How various are the destinies of men! One goes to honour
and life, another to disgrace and death. There are two lakes high up in the
Alps, which lie so near that the bystander may throw a stone from the one to
the other. Lago Blanco the one is named, or the White Loch, because it is of a
light green colour; while its neighbour is Lago Nero, or the Black Loch,
because it is dark and gloomy looking. But though they are so close, they are
on different inclines of the watershed. Lago Blanco sends its overflow down to
the Adriatic, but Lago Nero is connected with the Black Sea. I look at the one,
and I think about Venice and sunny Italy; I look at the other, and I think
about Sebastopol and the wintry Crimea. So I may be side by side in one home,
in one business, in one Christian congregation, with a man who is yet on the
different slope of the watershed. We receive the same messages of warning and
of salvation. We enjoy much the same opportunities. But one of us believes God,
and the other does not. One of us passes into glorious liberty, and the other
into darkness and despair. Ah, let me watch in which direction I turn. (A.
Smellie, M. A.)
What do ye imagine against the Lord?
Sin
I. The essence of
sin is suggested. It is hostility to God. It is opposition to the laws,
purposes, Spirit of God. It involves--
1. The basest of ingratitude.
2. The greatest injustice.
3. Impious presumption.
II. The seat of sin
is suggested. It is in the mind. Sin is not language, not mere actions. Sin is
in the deep mute thoughts of the hearts. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is
he.”
III. The folly of
sin is suggested. It is opposition to Omnipotence. In opposing Him, remember--
1. He will completely ruin you.
2. He will completely ruin you, whatever the kind of resistance you
may offer. Fighting against God is a mad fight. (Homilist.)
Folly of opposing God
Sin, when it is mightiest and most successful, is
transitory. Lord Rosebery has been telling us the story of Napoleon the Great.
His energy, his intellect, his genius were such that he “enlarges the scope of
human achievement.” Once he “fought the Austrians for five consecutive days
without taking off his boots or closing his eyes.” “He was as much the first
ruler as the first captain in the world.” “Ordinary measures do not apply to
him; we seem to be trying to span a mountain with a tape.” Napoleon was the
largest personal force that has come into the modern European world. But his
career ended in defeat and exile. At forty-six the man who had dreamed of
governing a continent was a captive. His conquests left no mark. The kings whom
he made lost their thrones. France was beggared and exhausted by him. Why?
Because God was not his God. “I am not a man like other men,” he asserted
himself; “the laws of morality could not be intended to apply to me.” Therefore
I will fear nothing, though wickedness seems to prosper for a time. Such
prosperity has no permanence about it. It is better to walk humbly with God
than to stand alone on the proudest eminence in the world. (A. Smellie, M.
A.)
While they be
folden together as thorns.--
National undergrowth
Illustrate by the undergrowth in a great forest. It must be cut;
down before anything hopeful can be done with the soil There is a national
moral undergrowth: a brutal, vile, wretched population of a most repulsive and
dangerous character. Ignorance, sensuality, violence, and irreligion, fostered
and perpetuated by drunkenness, forms a dismal, moral undergrowth, where human
tigers watch for prey, where foul habits breed disease, where women lose all
beauty and joy, and where children--the offspring of immoral parents-are like
“a nest of unclean birds.” What is to be done with this deadly moral
undergrowth? Soft measures, easy-going, self-indulgent Christianity are of no
use here.
1. Let us take increased care that good and precious seed shall be
sown in the hearts of the young. This is of paramount and urgent importance.
Take care of the little ones.
2. Seek to reach the people who never enter places of worship.
3. Endeavour to abate incentives to drunkenness.
4. Consecrate yourselves afresh to God, and the work of His kingdom.
(George W. McCree.)
There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the
Lord, a wicked counsellor.
Corrupt kings
These words suggest a few thoughts concerning human kings and
kingdoms.
I. Human kings are
sometimes terribly corrupt. “There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil
against the Lord, a wicked counsellor.” This evidently means Sennacherib, the
king of Nineveh.
II. Corrupt kings
often ruin their kingdoms. “Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus
shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted
thee, I will afflict thee no more.” These words seemed to be addressed to Judah
concerning the utter destruction that will befall their enemies, and their
consequent deliverance from all fear from that quarter. It was here said they
should be destroyed--
1. Notwithstanding their military completeness. “Though they be
quiet.” The word “quiet” means complete. No doubt the military organisation,
discipline, and equipment of Sennacherib’s mighty army, as he led them up to
attack Jerusalem, were as complete as the intelligence, the art, and the
circumstances of the age could make them. Notwithstanding this, ruin befell
them.
2. Notwithstanding their numerical force. “Likewise many.”
III. The ruin of
corrupt kingdoms is a blessing to the oppressed. “Yoke” here refers to the
tribute imposed upon Hezekiah by Sennacherib. And so it ever is, when despotism
has fallen, the oppressed rise to liberty. Conclusion--
1. Realise the truth of prophecy.
2. Realise the importance of promoting education among the people. (Homilist.)
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good
tidings.
Three things worthy of note
I. Peace
proclaimed. Glorious to the ears of the men of Jerusalem must have been the
intelligence that their great enemy was destroyed, that the Assyrian hosts were
crushed, and now peace had come. A proclamation of national peace is “good
tidings.” But the proclamation of moral peace is still more delightful. “How
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad
tidings of good things! “ (Romans 10:15). “My peace I give unto you,
not as the world giveth give I unto you.”
II. Worship
enjoined. “O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows.” “During the
Assyrian invasion the inhabitants of Judah were cut off from all access to the
metropolis; now they would be at liberty to proceed thither as usual in order
to observe their religious rites, and they are here commanded to do so.”
1. War disturbs religious observances. As peace in nature is the time
to cultivate your ground and sow your seed, peace in the nation is the time to
promote growth m religion and virtue.
2. In war men are disposed to make religious vows.
III. Enemies
vanquished. For the wicked shall no more pass through them; he is utterly cut
off.” (Homilist.)
Peace proclaimed
“At the close of the last war with Great Britain,” says an
American writer, “the prospects of our nation were shrouded in gloom. Our
harbours were blockaded. Communication coastwise between our ports was cut off.
Our immense annual products were mouldering in our warehouses. Our currency was
reduced to irredeemable paper. Differences of political opinion were
embittering the peace of many households. No one could predict when the contest
would terminate, or discover the means by which it could much longer be
protracted. It happened that one afternoon in February a ship was discovered in
the offing, which was supposed to be a cartel, bringing home our commissioners
at Ghent from their unsuccessful mission. The sun had set gloomily before any
intelligence from the vessel had reached the city. Expectation became painfully
intense as the hours of darkness drew on. At length a boat reached the wharf,
announcing the fact that a treaty of peace had been signed, and was waiting for
nothing but the action of our Government to become a law. The men on whose ears
these words first fell rushed in breathless haste into the city to repeat them
to their friends, shouting as they ran through the streets, ‘Peace! Peace! Peace!’ Every one
who heard the sound repeated it. From house to house, from street to street,
the news spread with electric rapidity. The whole city was in commotion. Men
bearing lighted torches were flying to and fro, shouting, ‘Peace! Peace!
Peace!’ When the rapture had partially subsided, one idea occupied every mind.
But few men slept that night. In groups they were gathered in the streets, and
by the fireside, beguiling the hour of midnight by reminding each other that
the agony of war was over, and that a worn-out and distracted country was about
to enter again upon its wonted career of prosperity. Thus, every one becoming a
herald, the news soon reached every man, woman, and child in the city, and
filled their hearts with joy.”
──《The Biblical Illustrator》