Nahum 3:17 (ESV)
Your princes are like grasshoppers,
your scribes like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
no one knows where they are.
Nahum is prophesying agains the great city of Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria. One-hundred years earlier Jonah had reluctantly traveled to Nineveh (via a big fish) to preach the good news of God’s grace. Back then they repented. Under Nahum’s preaching they will be destroyed. Even their great leaders, a stated above, will be removed.
In the British national museum there is a tribute to Nineveh. Some of the exhibits memorialize the leadership of the Ninevites’ leadership. They are lifted up and exalted by the exhibit. However, when God brought His wrath on the people of Nineveh, the leaders, as stated above, were absence. They were like grasshoppers, ready to fly away instantly.
This is not unlike our leadership today. They are often present before the storm hits, but no where to be found when the storm actually does hit. They always seem to have their golden parachutes to land some place safely and peacefully. Yet, God’s wrath is complete. Nineveh (modern day Bagdad) would be destroyed. God’s wrath would be all encompassing. These leaders would be unseen by the people of the city, but God would still bring utter destruction and chaos to them. Even though the King of Nineveh proclaimed a fast in the days of Jonah (Jonah 3), these kings and leadership looked to hide and flee away. In the days of Jonah God offered the grace. In the days of Nahum He brought them wrath. Leadership can hide, but God’s wrath is complete in the end.
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