Word Live: Go Tell It On The Mountain
‘Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul…’.* Sometimes, in the midst of hard times, we are surprised by hope, a sense that better times are coming. Let’s call out to God for his peace in our time.
*Emily Dickinson, ‘Hope is the thing with feathers’, first published posthumously in Poems by Emily Dickinson, second series, 1891, believed to have been written ca 1861
Bible passage
Nahum 1:1–15
1 A prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
The Lord’s anger against Nineveh
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
and vents his wrath against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up;
he makes all the rivers run dry.
Bashan and Carmel wither
and the blossoms of Lebanon fade.
5 The mountains quake before him
and the hills melt away.
The earth trembles at his presence,
the world and all who live in it.
6 Who can withstand his indignation?
Who can endure his fierce anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire;
the rocks are shattered before him.
7 The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
8 but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh;
he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.
9 Whatever they plot against the Lord
he will bring to an end;
trouble will not come a second time.
10 They will be entangled among thorns
and drunk from their wine;
they will be consumed like dry stubble.
11 From you, Nineveh, has one come forth
who plots evil against the Lord
and devises wicked plans.
12 This is what the Lord says:
‘Although they have allies and are numerous,
they will be destroyed and pass away.
Although I have afflicted you, Judah,
I will afflict you no more.
13 Now I will break their yoke from your neck
and tear your shackles away.’
14 The Lord has given a command concerning you, Nineveh:
‘You will have no descendants to bear your name.
I will destroy the images and idols
that are in the temple of your gods.
I will prepare your grave,
for you are vile.’
15 Look, there on the mountains,
the feet of one who brings good news,
who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, Judah,
and fulfil your vows.
No more will the wicked invade you;
they will be completely destroyed.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
Nahum is writing at a time of national crisis. References in his prophecy suggest that he is based in the southern kingdom of Judah at a time when it is a vassal state to the Assyrian empire. The northern kingdom of Samaria has already fallen and its people exiled. It is only a matter of time, it seems, before Judah also will fall to Assyrian might.
Nahum, however, is not addressing the people of Judah, but the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh (v 1). His message is that its reign of terror will soon come to an end and God will vindicate his people (v 8). He sees a time when God will move in great power, shake the world (vs 3–6) and bring Nineveh to ruin (v 14). But this is not the reality of the present situation. Still, Nahum is gripped with hope, urging his listeners to look up and see their saviour coming (v 15). The basis of this hope? Mindless optimism? Far from it! It flows from God’s goodness and loving care (v 7).
Author
Gethin Russell-Jones
Respond
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, / When sorrows like sea billows roll; / Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, / It is well, it is well with my soul.*
**Horatio G Spafford, 1873, ‘When peace, like a river’
Deeper Bible study
Thank you, Lord, that the brutality and suffering in the world is not the last word: one day justice will be done.
As I write, the news headlines are full of horrendous flooding in Mozambique, following a cyclone. The suffering must be incredible. With the hindsight of Jesus’ teaching,1 we would not associate this with the guilt of Mozambique’s people in particular. However, it remains true that God is against all evil; Nahum’s metaphors, such as God being in the whirlwind and storm (v 3), are a vivid way of portraying the seriousness with which he views all sin. Then the metaphors continue with the idea of God’s protection for those faithful to him, who take refuge in him, even in ‘an overwhelming flood’ (vs 7,8).
Nahum has just one message: Nineveh (capital of Assyria) will fall; there will be destruction for the oppressor and relief for the oppressed, Judah. Assyria had already overthrown the northern kingdom of Israel and Judah also suffered its brutality, but by Nahum’s time, Assyria itself was threatened by other rising powers and was captured in 612 BC by the Medes. Nahum probably spoke just before then. He shows how God is sovereign and has power to save, in the face of human barbarity.2
This chapter is difficult reading, but it ends with a familiar verse: ‘Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace!’ (v 15). As we live in a world so prone to suffering, whether from human brutality or natural disasters, God’s people are to proclaim the good news of the gospel, the Christian hope of peace with God and with each other. One day our world will bow before our Lord Jesus Christ and he will make all things new.
Bring the current news headlines to God in prayer, trusting that he is working his purposes out.
1 Eg John 9:1–3 2 G Emerson, Minor Prophets II, Doubleday, 1998, p2f
Author
Vivien Whitfield
