Nahum 3:18-19

Everything, every thing, is under God’s control. Fear Him who has the power of life and death in His hands. He will lift up the humble and bring down the prideful because He alone is the Creator and giver of life and it is His right.

Every nation and people that had suffered under the abusive power of Nineveh would shout and clap upon hearing of the city’s destruction. There would be no mourning for Nineveh.

Assyria was a dominant power in the Near East for a large portion of the Bible, and the lands of the Bible were within the reach of its empire. Assyria’s affairs with biblical characters are recorded in 2 Kgs 15–23, where it is overthrown and Babylonia becomes the dominant Near Eastern power. In the Prophets, Assyria (land and inhabitants) is referred to in a variety of ways: as an object of judgment but also an instrument of judgment, as an example of pride and its consequences, and even an object of God’s affection. Assyria is also frequently spoken of in the context of exile and return, as the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria and taken into exile. 

Jesus warned the people of his own day, This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah (Lk 11:29).

Jesus was harkening back to the historical paradox that when Israel would not repent, he frequently used the pagan nations around them to humble and purify them. Since Israel would not repent, God sent Jonah to strengthen the Assyrians and God eventually used Assyria to prune Israel, and execute justice for its failure to repent.

And thus for the people of Jesus time, if they would not repent, and come to believe, they, in their foolishness like Hoshea of old, would wage war, this time against the Romans, and suffer a horrible blow. That in fact happened in 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed and 1.2 million Jews died in the war.

It is a mysterious providence but it is also written to warn us. If we do not repent, we cannot be strong, and our enemies will surely overwhelm us. And what will our Assyria, our Rome be? It could be radical Islam, it could be our debt crisis, it could be our demographic winter. But by failing to repent, by our injustice, our refusal to keep commitments, our rising unbelief and ingratitude, by our sacrificing our children on the “altars” of our lust and our burning incense to the “gods” of this age, we are calling a just punishment and grave consequences that cannot forever wait. 

~ Archdiocese of Washington

Nahum 3:18-19

¹⁸ Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria;

Your nobles rest in the dust.

Your people are scattered on the mountains,

And no one gathers them.

¹⁹ Your injury has no healing,

Your wound is severe.

All who hear news of you

Will clap their hands over you,

For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually¹⁶Fear and dread will fall on them; By the greatness of Your arm They will be as still as a stone, Till Your people pass over, O Lord, Till the people pass over Whom You have purchased. 

Exodus 15:16

⁶At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both the chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep. 

Psalm 76:6

³Indeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, With fine branches that shaded the forest, And of high stature; And its top was among the thick boughs. 

Ezekiel 31:3

¹⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, As I have punished the king of Assyria. 

Jeremiah 50:18

⁹For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah; It has come to the gate of My people— To Jerusalem. 

Micah 1:9

¹⁵This is the rejoicing city That dwelt securely, That said in her heart, “I am it, and there is none besides me.” How has she become a desolation, A place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who passes by her Shall hiss and shake his fist. 

Zephaniah 2:15