Nahum 1:15

The Prophet again teaches us, that whatever he prophesied respecting the destruction of the city Nineveh, was for this end, — that God, by this remarkable evidence, might show that he had a care for his people, and that he was not unmindful of the covenant he had made with the children of Abraham. This prophecy would have otherwise produced no salutary effect on the Israelites; they might have thought that it was by chance, or by some fatal revolution, or through some other cause, that Nineveh had been overthrown. Hence the Prophet shows, that the ruin of the city, and of the monarchy of Nineveh, would be a proof of the paternal love of God towards his chosen people, and that such a change was to be made for the sake of one people, because God, though he had for a time punished the Israelites, yet purposed that some seed should remain, for it would have been inconsistent, that the covena...

9-15 There is a great deal plotted against the Lord by the gates of hell, and against his kingdom in the world; but it will prove in vain. With some sinners God makes quick despatch; and one way or other, he will make an utter end of all his enemies. Though they are quiet, and many very secure, and not in fear, they shall be cut down as grass and corn, when the destroying angel passes through. God would hereby work great deliverance for his own people. But those who make themselves vile by scandalous sins, God will make vile by shameful punishments. The tidings of this great deliverance shall be welcomed with abundant joy. These words are applied to the great redemption wrought out by our Lord Jesus and the everlasting gospel, Romans 10:15. Christ's ministers are messengers of good tidings, that preach peace by Jesus Christ. How welcome to those who see their misery and danger by sin! A...

Verse Nahum 1:15. _BEHOLD UPON THE MOUNTAINS_] Borrowed probably from Isaiah 52:7, but applied here to the _messengers_ who brought the _good tidings_ of the _destruction of_ _Nineveh_. Judah might then _keep her solemn feasts_, for the wicked Assyrian should _pass through the land no more_; being entirely cut off, and the imperial city razed to its foundations....

BEHOLD UPON THE MOUNTAINS, THE FEET OF HIM THAT BRINGETH GOOD TIDINGS, THAT PUBLISHETH PEACE - From mountain-top to mountain-top by beacon-fires they spread the glad tidings. Suddenly the deliverance comes, sudden its announcement. “Behold!” Judah, before hindered by armies from going up to Jerusalem, its cities taken 2 Kings 18:13, may now again “keep the feasts” there, and “pay the vows,” which “in trouble she promised;” “for the wicked one,” the ungodly Sennacherib, “is utterly cut off, he shall no more pass through thee;” “the army and king and empire of the Assyrians have perished.” But the words of prophecy cannot be bound down to this. These large promises, which, as to this world, were forfeited in the next reign, when Manasseh was taken captive to Babylon, and still more in the seventy years’ captivity, and more yet in that until now, look for a fulfi

EXPOSITION NAHUM 1:1 Part I. THE JUDGMENT UPON NINEVEH DECREED BY GOD. NAHUM 1:1 § 1. _The heading of the book. _The book has a double title, the first giving the object of the prophecy, which otherwise would not be evident; the second, its author, added to give confidence in its contents. THE BURDEN; _massa _(Habakkuk 1:1)—a term generally used of a weighty, threatening prophecy (Isaiah 13:1), though translated by the LXX. λ

BEHOLD UPON THE MOUNTAINS,.... Of the land of Israel, as the Targum; or those about Jerusalem: THE FEET OF HIM THAT BRINGETH GOOD TIDINGS; see how they come one after another with the news of the havoc and slaughter made in the army of Sennacherib by an angel in one night; of his flight, and of the dealt, of him by the hands of his two sons; and, after that, of the destruction of Nineveh, and of the whole Assyrian empire; all which were good tidings to the Jews, to whom the Assyrians were implacable enemies, and whose power the Jews dreaded; and therefore it must be good news to them to hear of their defeat and ruin, and the messengers that brought it must be welcome to them: THAT PUBLISHETH PEACE; to the Jewish nation, who might from hence hope for peaceable and prosperous times: like expressions with these are used in Isaiah 52:7 on account of the retur

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS CHAPTER 1 The Purpose of God in Dealing with the Assyrian Oppressor _ 1. The superscription (Nahum 1:1) _ 2. Jehovah's majesty in judgment (Nahum 1:2) 3. His people comforted and assured (Nahum 1:7) 4. The judgment of Assyria and the result (Nahum 1:14) Nahum 1:1. The burden of Nineveh; it means that there is to follow a weighty prophetic oracle concerning the great world city of Nineveh whose dimensions are given by Jonah, which have been confirmed by excavations. The next sentence gives us the definite i

NAHUM 1:12 F., NAHUM 1:15; NAHUM 2:2. COMFORT FOR JUDAH. Now that the days of Yahweh's contention with His people are over, He will afflict them no more, but will break the yoke of the enemy from off their shoulders, and will burst their bonds asunder. Already their eyes may behold on the mountain-tops the feet of the herald bringing tidings of salvation. Let Judah then celebrate her feasts and fulfil her vows in confidence; for no more shall Belial pass through her midst, but Yahweh will restore the vine-tree which the spoilers have despoiled and whose branches they have ruined. NAHUM 1:12. Here, too, the text is almost desperately corrupt. A pla

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos_ (App-6), for emphasis, calling attention to the reference to Isaiah 52:7, the the hypotheticalsecond Isaiah, 100 years before he is supposed by modern critics to have lived. KEEP THY SOLEMN FEASTS. Figure of speech. _Polyptoton._ App-6. Hebrew "feast thy solemn feasts": used for great emphasis. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 16:16, &c.; Nah 23:21, &c). App-92. THE WICKED. Hebrew [the man of] _Belial_. See note on Nahum 1:11....

_GOD IS A GOD THAT EXPECTS US TO KEEP OUR PROMISES -- NAHUM 1:10-15:_ During the days of Jonah the people of Nineveh promised to leave sin and serve God. They did not keep their promises and the pay was destruction. (Romans 6:23) They should have performed their vows that they had made when in distress. At the close of the first chapter Nahum contrasted the comfort that belongs to those that are faithful to God with the utter ruin of His enemies. "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off." (Nahum 1:15) Reference is made to this same thought in...