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

Freeman makes this comment:

When Nahum prophesied, Assyria was at the height of its power. Having subdued its neighbors, the QDWLRQ KDG H[WHQGHG LWV SRZHU LQWR 3DOHVWLQH DQG GLVWDQW (J\SW $VKXUEDQLSDO·V 12 wars were numerous and characterized by ruthlessness and cruelty. He boasted of his violence and shameful atrocities, which included among other things the tearing off of the limbs of his victims, putting out their eyes, impaling them, boiling them in tar, skinning them alive. Assyria prided itself on its cruel and violent atrocities, the number of its corpses, and the pyramids of human heads left behind as monuments to its destruction. 13 How Could Nineveh Fall so Far? All of the above mentioned cruelty and violence against other nations was done in the interest of financial gain, power and control. Their form of empire building brought great revenue and multitudes of enslaved peoples. The Assyrians would invade and subdue countries, then demand yearly payments of tribute, threatening future invasion, devastation and the setting up of a puppet king, if the increased tribute was not paid. It was a warrior state built on the loot of nations. Limitless wealth from the ends of the earth poured into its coffers. There was of course no national unifying spirit or true cohesiveness in this far-flung empire, so the outwardly strong nation was actually rotting from the inside. As Jack Lewis has said: Though it could conquer the world, it proved unable to rule it. Its victims lay prone under tyranny, but no national spirit breathed in the corpus. No peace organization of any proper kind existed to keep the whole together. Nineveh saw men and nations as tools to be exploited to gratify the lust of conquest and commercialism. Assyria existed to render no service to mankind. 14 $VKXUEDQLSDO·V WZR VRQV VXFFHHGHG KLP EXW WKH\ ZHUH UDWKHU weak and ineffective. Thus, the nation that had forgotten the grace and mercy of the true and living God, now faced the wrath of that same God ² and their enslaved peoples. Nahum preached against Nineveh the great, deploring all the time the tragic spiritual influence that the vile habits and destructive idolatry had brought to the ten tribes of Israel when Samaria fell to Nineveh. And, although the Assyrians had not taken Judah, their idolatrous presence and influence had made its spiritual mark in God ·V EDFNVOLGLQJ SHRSOH With the death of Assurbanipal, a dangerous attitude developed, and revolt began to take place in Egypt, Babylon and other countries. Finally, Nabopolassar, after fifteen years as king of %DE\ORQ ´PDGH DOOLDQFH ZLWK DOO WKH HQHPLH s of Assyria, and became the ruling spirit of a strong confederacy which comprised Medes and Persians, Egyptians, Armenians, and other nations, all DQLPDWHG ZLWK WKH ILHUFH GHVLUH RI UHYHQJLQJ WKHPVHOYHV RQ $VV\ULD µ 15 These allied forces

12 Under Ashurbanipal (669-633 B.C.) Assyria reached the peak of its prosperity and power. Nineveh, seemingly impregnable, became the mightiest city on earth. 13 Freeman, p. 228. 14 Lewis, p. 55. 15 Baxter, p. 201.

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