Nahum 2:1-13
Nahum is a prophet who only appears in his own book. He prophecies destruction against Nineveh and Assyria, in a marked contrast to the book of Jonah. We certainly hear the tone of Jonah the prophet in the words of Nahum. This book fits the context of Jonah, and Habakkuk. Here Nahum describes an attack on Nineveh, or perhaps how Nineveh views Judah. Depending on that decision, the passage reads differently.
Regardless, the narrative is designed to show the danger, the destruction, and the chaos of battle and invasion. Filled with symbolic language, the red of the soldiers speaks to blood, things move quickly life forces of nature and things beyond human control. The sense of danger, of fear, of loss, and of panic are designed to make the reader anxious.
We shift to a lion’s den image at the end, and it doesn’t quite connect to our modern ears. Assyrian used the lion as its symbol, and now their home is no more. Now the place that once was full of food, full of safety, and was beyond touch, is no longer.
There is a message here if it is against Assyria – behave, repent, turn from your ways, or this will happen, or you have done so much wrong that this will happen. And there is a message here to the people of God – you know the rules, and if God would do this to someone who didn’t know how they were supposed to live, how much more will God do to you?
