Nahum 1:2-3

 

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
    the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
    and keeps wrath for his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
    and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
    and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

We are back in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.  It's been 150 years since Jonah's reluctant mission trip to this corrupt city.  (Nineveh is modern-day Mosul, Iraq.)  The Assyrians are well-known as the reigning terrorists of the world.   They are credited with inventing crucifixion.  😩 (Knowing this gives me a little more sympathy to Jonah's initial fear than I had yesterday.)  The Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel about 60 years after the Ninevites repented in response to Jonah's message from the Lord.  That left only the tribe of Benjamin in the northern kingdom of Israel, and the tribe of Judah in the southern kingdom.   Nahum is preaching to bolster the courage of the remaining Israelites, prophesying that Assyria will fall soon.  He is encouraging them, through a vision from God,  not to bow to Assyria out of fear or a sense of defeat.  The best way he knows to do that is to quote God Himself, when He proclaimed His Name in Exodus 34:6-7.  The LORD is slow to anger  AND He will not clear the guilty. (emphasis mine, obviously 😉) He is jealous for His people (could also be translated "zealous" or "protective"), and He pays back those who hurt them. 

I'm feeling sad that the repentance of Nineveh only lasted one generation.  Jonah was too worried about himself and his feelings to disciple them in their new found faith, and we are seeing the repercussions of his selfishness in Nahum's day.  The Ninevites' faith is like the second seed sown in Matthew 13--it fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up; but, since it had no depth of soil, they were scorched and withered away when the sun rose.  And now, a generation later, their descendants are facing the wrath and vengeance of the One who offered them steadfast, stubborn, unwavering, single-minded love.  Will this change me?  Will this convince me of the importance of discipleship?  If Jonah had been faithful to his calling instead of fighting every step of the way for self, Nahum's oracle might have been much different.  My desire is to not leave the next generation with a shallow, scorched, and withering faith, under the wrath and vengeance of God.  For the good of His people and for His glory.