The MAJOR & MINOR Prophets - The 16 Writing Prophets Of The Hebrew Canon

2. Nahum predicted the future fall of Nineveh, which was destroyed in 612/608 B. C. Therefore, 1DKXP·V PLQLVWU\ PXVW KDYH RFFXUUHG EHWZHHQ WKH WZR DERYH GDWHV /HRQ - :RRG FRPPHQWV A precise date is impossible to designate, but since Zephaniah, who dates his ministry more precisely as transpiring in the rule of Josiah, also foretells the fall of Nineveh (2:13), it may be that Nahum made KLV SUHGLFWLRQ DERXW WKH VDPH WLPH« 7KXV LW PD\ EH WKDW WKH EHJLQQLQJ RI KLV 1DKXP·V PLQLVWU\ IHOO about 630 B. C., and it is quite possible that he continued to serve du ULQJ PRVW RI -RVLDK·V UHLJQ 7 Jonah had been sent to Nineveh to present the claims of Almighty God to this wicked, Gentile city. Amazingly, the whole city ² the king, the people and the animals ² repented in sackcloth and ashes, and God graciously stayed His judgment! Now, Nahum over 100 years later is proclaiming the downfall of the same city. What has happened in the intervening years? ´ The conversion of the Ninevites in response to J RQDK·V PHVVDJH RI MXGJPHQW WRRN place about 760 B.C. The revival was evidently short-lived, because the Assyrians soon returned to their ruthless practices µ 8 Consider for a moment the Vastness and then the Vileness of Nineveh: Beyond all doubt, Nineveh is one of the most remarkable cities in history. Recent discovery has shown that it was really a complex of four cities in one, making it a vast quadrangle no less than sixty miles round. The walls were one hundred feet high, and so broad, that three chariots could be driven abreast on them. These walls were fortified with fifteen hundred towers, each two hundred feet high. Based on a trigonometric survey, the full area has been computed as three hundred and fifty square miles ³ the area of modern London! Of course, greater Nineveh included spacious gardens, orchards, pastures, and grain fields. This need not surprise us. %DE\ORQLD·V JUHD t walled towns enclosed large spaces for pasturage and produce so that in case of siege they were self-provided for « 9 «6HQQDFKHULE SODQQHG LWV IRUWLILFDWLRQV UHVWRUHG LWV WHPSOHV DQG JDYH LW D V\VWHP RI ZDWHUZRUNV +H built a large platform for his palace. Perhaps as many as 10,000 men worked for twelve years to deposit the 15,000,000 tons of earth and brick required. 10 The Vileness of the City and Nation The Vast City of Nineveh

%XW 1LQHYHK·V YDVWQHVV ZDV HFOLSVHG E\ LWV vileness. The brutality of the Assyrians toward the victims of their conquests was such as to make the flesh creep. The surrounding peoples shuddered with a sickly horror at the thought of ever being prey to them. The mania for blood and savagery was gruesome and foul. Nahum now drags out to view the violence, murder, witchcraft, whoredom, and vile corruption inside the harlot city (iii. 1-7). The word RI *RG WR KHU LV ´, ZLOO PDNH WK\ JUDYH IRU WKRX DUW YLOHµ (i.14). 11

7 Leon J. Wood, The Prophets of Israel, p. 316. 8 The New Open Bible Study Bible, p. 1043. 9 J. Sidlow Baxer, Explore the Book, p. 200. 10 Jack P. Lewis, The Minor Prophets, p. 54. 11 Baxter, p. 201.

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