Nahum 3:8-10 (ESV Strong's)
Are you better than Thebes
that sat by the Nile,
with water around her,
her rampart a sea,
and water her wall?
Cush was her strength;
Egypt too, and that without limit;
Put and the Libyans were her helpers.
Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity;
her infants were dashed in pieces
at the head of every street;
for her honored men lots were cast,
and all her great men were bound in chains.
Subject: False Security
The city mentioned above, Thebes, was destroyed. God tells Nineveh that, like that city, you have false hope in your security. By pointing out this city, Nahum gives us some information about the date of his prophecy. Thebes had been destroyed despite their fortress of nature. They thought the way and the place their city was situated, they would be safe from harm. But, God destroyed them. In speaking to the city of Nineveh the message is simply: The security you have in yourself and the hope you have in temporal things is not enough to stop the judgement, and in this case, the wrath of God. Men hope their money, their power, their connections, their army, their prestige and/or their endless resources will keep them safe and out of God's watching eye. But, God sees their sin and my sin. He knows my heart and and hears are faint attempts of repentance. The book of Nahum shows that God's wrath is not diminished by His love. Nineveh would not be able to hide behind its fortress of a city. God's judgement can only be stopped by the sacrifice of His Son, to take that judgment in our place. That is the only hope for safety from the wrath of God. God poured His wrath out on Christ that we might not hear the message that God is giving to Nineveh through Nahum.
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