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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the
fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength! The Lord
will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though
destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines. The shields of the
soldiers are red; the warriors are clad in scarlet. The metal on the chariots
flashes on the day they are made ready; the spears of juniper are brandished. The
chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares.
They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning. Nineveh summons
her picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the
protective shield is put in place. The river gates are thrown open and the
palace collapses.”
It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away. Her female slaves moan like doves and beat on their breasts. Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back. Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures! She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale. Where now is the lions’ den, the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear? The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.”
“I am against you,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will
burn up your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I
will leave you no prey on the earth. The voices of your messengers will no
longer be heard.”
Nahum 2
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks
be to God.
Assyria had established itself as a major power in the
world. They had mighty, powerful fighting forces who easily dispatched of
anyone they attacked with weaponry whether on chariots or on foot. The
resulting bounty from those victories had not only provided vast amounts of
territory but also a plunder of great riches.
Israel and Judah were among the lands victimized by the
Assyrians. The Bible carries accounts of those attacks, orchestrated by God as
judgment on His people for their blatant sinfulness grounded in the worship of
false gods and idols. The assault by the Assyrians left devastation and
desolation over much of the land given to the Israelites by God as everything
was looted and left in ruins before God’s people were taken away into
captivity.
Indeed, Assyria and its capital of Nineveh were thriving
and had an abundance, much like a great pool of water full to its edges.
But as we see in the second chapter of Nahum, all that
was about to change. For God was getting ready to pull the plug and drain
Nineveh (and Assyria’s) pool, leaving them dry and empty after His judgment.
Look again at these words here:
An attacker
advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace
yourselves, marshal all your strength! The Lord will restore the splendor of
Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and
have ruined their vines. The shields of the soldiers are red; the warriors are
clad in scarlet. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day they are made
ready; the spears of juniper are brandished. The chariots storm through the
streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming
torches; they dart about like lightning. Nineveh summons her picked troops, yet
they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is
put in place. The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.”
It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away. Her female slaves moan like doves and beat on their breasts. Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back. Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures! She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale. Where now is the lions’ den, the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear? The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.”
“I am against
you,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will burn up your chariots in smoke, and
the sword will devour your young lions. I will leave you no prey on the earth. The
voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.” Nahum 2
Note here that Judah, who had endured God’s judgment at
the hands of the Assyrians and the Babylonians, would have its splendor
restored. The once holy and mighty nation would rise up from the ashes of waste
and ruin to again flourish, blessed anew by the God who had selected them to be
His chosen people.
Assyria and its great city of Nineveh were going to go in
the opposite direction as the words of the prophet Nahum liken the mighty
empire to a pool whose water would be draining away. You see, God was about to
pull the plug and, in doing so, take away everything from the Assyrians,
emptying the empire of all its power and affluence.
Ironically, this would come through marauding attackers
as Assyria and its main city of Nineveh were brought under siege by opposing
warriors who would overcome the greatest of Nineveh’s fighting men. Any natural
or human defenses would be breached and the once vicious Assyrian nation,
likened to lions who had an easy time with any prey they went after, would now
be the hunted.
It would be their land that would be ravaged and wrecked.
It would be their treasures that would be taken away,
their gold and silver and other valuables.
It would be their people who would “be exiled and carried”.
Assyria and the once proud and strong city of Nineveh
would be pillaged, plundered, and stripped, leaving the hearts of its people
melted, afraid, and faint. Such is what happens when one becomes an enemy of
God and finds Him against them.
Throughout this passage, I thought about an old saying
that goes like this:
“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”
Israel and Judah saw both sides of this saying. Assyria
saw both sides of this saying.
Are we next?
Only if we choose to turn from God toward sinfulness,
trading in righteousness for wickedness. For if we do this, we can expect the
Lord to pull our plug and drain the pool of whatever we have accumulated to
show us that without Him, we have nothing.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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