Nineveh, a major gentile city in Assyria found God through the preaching of Jonah. How long did revival last? One generation had found God; yet, they failed somehow to teach that knowledge to the next generation. The great revival had occurred somewhere between 772 and 754 B.C. Yet, by 697 B.C., they were known as a cruel, bloody nation. Meanwhile in the land of Judah; Manasseh had become King. King Manasseh of Judah returned the people to idolatry. Because of the nation turning their back on God, they were overtaken by the cruel Assyrians. Two nations stood in the crux of judgement because of their choice. How can one then find comfort in the words of Nahum? His name meant comforter. He spoke words meant to comfort the remnant of true believers that remained in Judah. Yet, they come with an admonition for us to teach our children well.
We can read in 2 Kings 21 of the corruption of Manasseh, from idolatry to the shedding of innocent blood. A tyrannical King whom many of the people of Judah followed with great fervor. Evil filled the streets and God proclaimed:
2 Kings 21: 10-12
And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying,
Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.
Manasseh was later carried away in chains. He did, subsequently repent of his sins. He tried to restore worship; however, his own son followed in the ways of evil. Rather than to have learned from his father’s errors, he continued in evil. During that same time period, Assyria rose in their evil endeavors to become the cruelest nation in the area. They wreaked havoc throughout the land of Judah.
Two Nations Under God, turned from God to seek Evil
The revival in Nineveh was short-lived. In 722, King Sennacherib besieged Samaria and defeated it, overtaking the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Then “21 years later (in 701) Sennacherib (705-681) invaded Judah and destroyed 46 Judean towns and cities. After encircling Jerusalem, 185,000 of Sennacherib’s soldiers were killed overnight and Sennacherib returned to Nineveh.”1 Nineveh underwent a moment of grace; however, 150 years later “Nineveh was the capital of one of the cruelest, vilest, most powerful, and most idolatrous empires in the world.”2 They were known for skinning people alive, cutting off heads, and even burying people in the desert with only their head above sand and their tongue staked to the ground before them.
Nahum’s Words of Comfort
The entire book of Nahum prophecies the destruction of Nineveh: God’s words of comfort to the remnant of people who trusted and followed Him. Soon, a child would become King of Judah for a time. His name Josiah. Although his father did evil and he was the grandson of Manasseh, who led the nation into the worst forms of idolatry; King Josiah would lead a generation of His people into a great revival. During that revival period, Nineveh would fall; just as Nahum spoke of.
The future of our nation, depends on you and I teaching the younger generation of God. We see what happened to two nations who once knew the light of God’s Grace; when they failed to teach the truth to the generations that followed. How can we stand by idly while our schools and Universities teach relativism? How can we not teach our Children of God’s Grace and His Justice? To teach God’s truth, we must first study, pray and grow in His word ourselves. We must not be afraid and we must boldly stand for Christ, in a land that a few desire to silence our voices.
CONCLUSION: AN ADMONITION TO US
Our future, as a nation is not dependent on how much money we make, the prosperity to which we gift our children. Instead, it depends upon whether we teach the principles of God’s Truth to our children and grandchildren. Our urgency must lie in telling them of the Gospel of Christ with all its grace. It must also include the call to righteousness that brings upon our lives. We must not divert from the truth of the Bible; from God’s Glory displayed in both His Justice and His Mercy. He is the treasure we need to help them seek; rather, than making some “feeling within them” their God.
We must stand upon the principles which made this nation great: Faith in God Alone. If not we too shall fall as did Assyria in her day. The land of Judah also faced destruction and later captivity for their having turned their backs on God.
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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2017
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1 Elliot Johnson, “Nahum”, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty: Old Testament, John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, eds., (Colorado Springs: CO: Victor, 2004), 1493
2 Ibid., 1494.
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