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

unsuccessfully attacked Nineveh, then with more reinforcements, effectively shut up the city for more than two years. Then God sent heavy rains in the high lands and the Tigris River rose to become a mighty flood, destroying a large part of the rampart that surrounded the city--and through the broken walls poured not only water but also the combined allied forces. Notice, Nahum had predicted that the ´ULYHU JDWHV ZRXOG EH RSHQHGµ IRU WKH GHVWUR\LQJ DUP\ Many of the inhabitants were massacred, and Nineveh fell acc RUGLQJ WR WKH ´EXUGHQ RI 1DKXPµ LQ % & Prancing horses, cracking whips, rattling wheels, bounding, raging chariots, flashing swords, great heaps of dead bodies (2:3-4; 3:1-7). It all came to pass exactly as Nahum had pictured it; and the bloody, vile city passed into oblivion. 16 What Can We Learn from Nahum? I have always appreciated the writings of G. Campbell Morgan. He was a true scholar of the Word, a masterful presenter of Bible truths, and a true pastor who loved his people. His messages on the Minor Prophets are most insightful, and I would like to mention three of his conclusions about the message of Nahum. 17 unchanging in all the eternal sublimities of His character when He seemingly changes in His dealings towards men. God is unchangeable, Nineveh , but He must and will deal with you both in mercy and justice. 2. There are limits to the forbearance of the LORD. Full opportunity is granted to every man and every nation, and God will never destroy a nation or a man until full opportunity has been granted, but the rejection of that full opportunity--which expresses itself in direct defiance and challenge of God--is the limit of G RG·V SDWLHQFH 1HYHU , until a nation challenged God, did God sweep a nation away as hopelessly as He swept away Nineveh. There lies the limit of His patience. 3. Nahum is a picture of the avenging God. The vengeance of God is actual; it is active and it is absolute. Yea, verily, verily, verily , it is a fearful thing for willful, impenitent sinners to fall into the hands of the living God. ‡ 1DKXP summarized the message of his book in his opening statement about the awesome power of God in wrath and judgment. God is good, but His goodness includes both His love for those who place their trust in Him, and His justice for those who set themselves against Him. Nineveh, as the capital 1. The changelessness of the LORD. Morgan uses the illustration of a weather vane on a steeple. A weather vane is the most unchangeable thing there is. Yes, in a sense, it is always changing, pointing north, and south, and east, and west. But, it merely responds to the direction of the wind , always staying true to its own unchanging principle, but always showing which way the wind is coming. God is

16 +DOOH\¶V %LEOH +DQGERRN S ³,WV GHVWUXFWLRQ ZDV VR FRPSOHWH WKDW HYHQ LWV VLWH ZDV IRUJRWWHQ :KHQ ;HQRSKRQ DQG KLV passed by 200 years later he thought the mounds were the ruins of some Parthian city. When Alexander the Great fought the famous EDWWOH RI $UEHOD % & QHDU WKH VLWH RI 1LQHYHK KH GLG QRW NQRZ WKHUH KDG HYHU EHHQ D FLW\ WKHUH ´ 17 Morgan, pp. 89-90.

81