Thus saith Jehovah Though they be complete in number, and many as they be, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away; and though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
Nahum's book announces judgment on Nineveh, the city of Israel's great enemy. Right in the middle of that judgment, verse 12 turns and speaks comfort to God's own people. Two voices meet here. One is a verdict on an enemy whose huge numbers will not save him. The other is a promise: the suffering of God's people has a limit, and God sets it.
The first half of the verse counts the enemy's forces. One writer gives a plainer translation and names who passes away:
Verse 10 describes the Assyrian... The better translation of verse 12 is, "Though they be strong, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he (the Assyrian) shall pass away."
The verse pairs a strike against Israel with a strike against Israel's oppressor. One writer explains why God does both, and why the two are not the same:
God has plainly combined two things in these revelations. On one side is judgment on what was wrong in His own people. On the other side is judgment on merciless enemies. They did not know God's gracious purpose in chastening His people. He would not leave them unpunished; but could He allow a full end? So He measured that chastening, and He ended it in keeping with His own goodness. By contrast, God lets the enemy pour out hatred on His people without scruple or limit. Yet He does not only use their hatred against His people for their good and to punish their unfaithfulness. He would surely turn on the spiteful foe once He had accomplished His purpose.
The verse switches from "they" to "you". Two writers take that "you" to be Israel, though one calls the verse obscure:
In Nahum 1:11 we find the one the prophets mention so often — the Assyrian, who plans evil against Jehovah. Verse 12 is obscure, but I think it applies to Israel. Israel too, sad to say, boasts of its safety and strength in the spirit of the world. So Israel will also go through the invasion, the flood of great waters, the scourge of God. But when this passes through the land (that is, of Israel), they shall be cut down.
God's own hand lay behind Israel's trouble, and that trouble ends. He then speaks to each side in turn:
Though Jehovah had broken Israel down by the enemy for their good, there would be no such trouble again... I think that "you" in verse 12 means Israel, and in verse 13 means the Assyrian. So Jehovah is represented as addressing each personally in turn.
Israel kept on suffering long after Nineveh fell. So one writer reads "no more" as a promise still ahead:
The second half of the twelfth verse concerns His people. "Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more." One can see at once that the "no more" demands a future fulfilment. It is true that the Assyrian no longer afflicted Israel. Yet affliction after affliction has been their lot. But there comes the day when all afflictions will cease. "For now I will break his yoke (the yoke of the Assyrian) from off you (Israel), and I will burst your bonds apart."
The comfort here is not a small aside; it is where the whole line of prophecy is heading:
But does judgment close the story? That never has been, nor could it be. It only makes way for the purpose of God. The judgment of this "present evil world" will bring in the millennium, or "the world to come." And God will receive Israel as the seal and pledge of that bright and happy age — as our prophet says, "Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more."
The book aims God's fury at the enemy. It also has words for the afflicted:
Nahum looks only at this enemy of God's people. It is striking that he never mentions the sins of Israel and Judah. Yes — God announces His holy and just fury to the enemies, while His people receive comforting words (chapter 1:12-15).
- Strength — numbers do not save the enemy. Strong and many, they are still cut down and pass away.
- Measure — God measures His chastening of His own people and aims it at their good. He sets no such measure for a merciless oppressor.
- Address — "you" in verse 12 is Israel, "you" in verse 13 the Assyrian; God speaks to the afflicted and to the oppressor in turn.
- End — "no more" reaches past Nahum's century to a day when affliction stops for good, the yoke breaks, and the bonds snap.
- Comfort — a book of judgment on Nineveh still comforts God's people. Judgment clears the way for His purpose.
And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds asunder.
Nahum announces judgment on Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the empire that had crushed God's people. Here the message turns from the oppressor to the oppressed. Whose yoke does God break, off whose neck, and when?
One commentator names both sides. He starts from the promise in the verse just before, and asks when "no more" comes true:
The second half of the twelfth verse concerns His people. "Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more." One can see at once that the "no more" demands a future fulfilment. It is true that the Assyrian afflicted Israel no longer. Yet affliction upon affliction has still been their lot. But there comes the day when all afflictions will cease. "And now I will break his yoke (the yoke of the Assyrian) from off you (Israel) and will burst your bonds apart."
Two things run side by side here. God disciplines His own people. He also judges the nation He used to do it — and He does not deal with the two alike.
God has combined two things in these revelations. On one side He judges what was wrong in His own people. On the other He judges merciless enemies, who did not know His gracious purpose to chasten His people. He would not leave His people unpunished; but could He let them be destroyed completely? So on one side He kept the chastening measured, and ended it in keeping with His goodness. On the other side, God lets the enemy pour out hatred on His people without limit or scruple. Yet He does not merely use their hatred against them, for the good of His own people and for the punishment of their unfaithfulness. He would surely turn on the cruel enemy when He had accomplished His purpose.
The breaking here is not a pause before the next invasion.
God would break the yoke of the Assyrian for ever. He would destroy the proud and hostile power of the world, just as He had already judged the corruption and rebellion that set itself against Christ. The good news of full deliverance would spread far and wide, and Judah would keep her solemn feasts in peace.
One commentator counts the blows in order, and notes that God addresses each side in turn:
The first blow was, I suppose, Sennacherib. The second would not be the Assyrian merely rebuked with a threat, but the destruction of Nineveh. And the destruction of Nineveh is a picture of the final judgment of the great Assyrian in the last days, the king of the north. The Lord had broken down Israel by the enemy for their good, but there would be no such trouble any more. […] Now He turns to the Assyrian, and addresses him. […] The Lord is represented as addressing each personally in turn.
Another writer says the same about Hezekiah's day, and adds what this way of reading gives us:
What happened in Hezekiah's day was only a picture of how this chapter will be fulfilled in the last days […] and in this way we see the scope of prophecy, and not simply the immediate events that gave rise to it.
God says, "I will break." One writer names the hand that does it:
There will be no peace and no blessing apart from Christ. It is He who will break the oppressor's yoke, and burst His people's bonds apart.
And judgment is not the end of the story. It clears the ground:
But does judgment close the story? That never has been, nor could it be. It only makes way for the purpose of God. The judgment of this "present evil world" will bring in the millennium, "the world to come." And God will receive Israel as the seal and pledge of that bright and happy age. […] Or, as one of God's saints in our own day has put it, "the vengeance of God is the deliverance of the world from the oppression and misery of the yoke of the enemy and of lust, that it may flourish under the peaceful eye of its Deliverer."
- Named — the yoke is the Assyrian's, the neck is Israel's, and the hand that breaks it is God's own: "I will break."
- Measured — the affliction was God's own chastening. He kept it within limits and ended it in keeping with His goodness.
- Final — the "now" points past every partial rescue. The yoke is broken for ever, and all affliction ceases.
- Layered — Sennacherib's defeat and Nineveh's fall set the pattern. The last-days enemy is the full picture, and reading it this way shows how far prophecy reaches.
- Christ — there is no peace and no blessing apart from Him. He breaks the oppressor's yoke, and that clears the ground for God's purpose.
And Jehovah hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown out of the house of thy god will I cut off the graven image, and the molten image I will prepare thy grave; for thou art vile.
God has just comforted His people. Now He turns and passes sentence on Assyria: the name ends, the idols fall, and God digs the grave. Older translations read "no more of your name be sown," and several writers below use that older wording.
The word "you" in these verses points to two different hearers. One writer sorts out which is which.
The destruction of Nineveh is a picture of the final judgment of the great Assyrian in the last days, the king of the north... Now He turns to the Assyrian, and addresses him: "The LORD has given a command concerning you, that no more of your name be sown"... I think that "you" in verse 12 means Israel, and in verse 13 means the Assyrian. So the LORD is represented as addressing each one in turn.
God let Assyria punish His own people first. One writer follows that thought to its end, and sets God's two messengers to Nineveh side by side.
He permits the world, as the one who carries out His judgments, to lay waste His people for their good. Judgment begins at the house of God. But if the worldliness and sin of His people have been corrected by the stronger worldliness and sin of the world, what will the end of that world be? We have, then, two prophets whose witness concerns Nineveh only. One is Jonah, the last witness given to the world in the mercy of God — a witness that there was the greatest and quickest mercy for the world itself before God. The other is Nahum, a witness of the final judgment... Here there was nothing but pride against the LORD: and who shall stand in the day of His wrath?
The sentence falls on the city, not on the whole nation. One writer marks that difference, and asks why Nineveh's ruin is final when Sodom's is not.
Nineveh will never rise again, but in contrast with this, Sodom and her neighbouring cities are to be restored by God for blessing in the Millennium (Ezek. 16:55). The explanation is that Nineveh was favoured with a special message from God and submitted to it. But the generations that followed gained nothing by it, and returned to their old ways... Favour granted by God but despised brings heavy judgement from God... Assyria — the nation — is to be blessed. But to the once favoured city of Nineveh God has said: "The LORD has given commandment that no more of your seed be sown." Deeply solemn words! Truly "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).
The verse ends by giving the reason. One writer ties that reason back to God's character, declared at the start of this message.
The fourteenth verse gives the judgment commandment as to Assyria and Nineveh. They are vile, and the God who declared His character at the beginning of this message is going to act accordingly.
God says He will make a grave. One writer separates the Hebrew word used here, qeber, from another Hebrew word, sheol.
Qeber can be dug or made. "In my grave which I have dug for me" (Gen. 50:5); "I will make your grave" (Nah. 1:14). Sheol is never said to be dug or made.
God said it, and the ruins of the city show the result. One writer points to what excavation has uncovered.
Modern excavations prove the magnificence of the past and fallen greatness of Nineveh. For all her worldly and royal splendour, the LORD said, "I will make your grave, for you are vile." He also said, "Nineveh is laid waste, who will grieve for her… they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains." (Nahum 1 and 3.)
Writers differ on how far the verse reaches. Some see it fulfilled in the ruined city. Kelly sees in it a picture of a judgment still to come.
- Commandment — God issues a formal order against a named enemy. The sentence rests on His own declared character: He "is going to act accordingly."
- Name — The first stroke ends the future: no more of his name sown, no line, no revival of the city.
- Gods — The second stroke reaches into the temple. God cuts off the carved and cast images kept there.
- Grave — The third stroke is a grave God Himself prepares. The word means a grave that is dug or made, not sheol.
- Why — The reason is moral, not political: "for you are vile." Jonah brought the city mercy; it went back to its old ways. So the next prophet came with the final verdict.
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings, that publisheth peace! Celebrate thy feasts, Judah, perform thy vows for the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
Nahum's book announces doom on Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. Yet the chapter ends with a runner on the hills shouting good news. Whose feet are these? And what makes news of peace possible at all?
The good news is not spoken into an untouched world. It arrives only once the oppressor has been dealt with, and the chapter's order is deliberate.
Some prefer to read this last verse as the beginning of chapter 2. Either way, the chapter closes with the beautiful words, "Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace!" The judgment of the Assyrian will be the settled peace of Israel. That peace will be proclaimed everywhere when the LORD has completed His full work in Jerusalem.
Judgment is not an end in itself.
But does judgment close the story? It never has, and it never could. It only makes way for the purpose of God… "God's vengeance is the deliverance of the world from the oppression and misery of the yoke of the enemy and of lust. Then the world may flourish under the peaceful eye of its Deliverer."
Nahum says him, singular. Elsewhere Scripture picks up the same picture and turns it plural.
Romans 10:15 speaks of "the feet of THOSE" who preach the good news. But Isaiah 52:7, which it quotes, speaks of "the feet of HIM… who brings good news, who publishes peace, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" Nahum says the same: the feet of HIM (Nahum 1:15).
If the herald is one Person, no political settlement can take His place. Commentators identify these feet with Christ Himself.
We know that the only one who can bring peace to the earth is the Lord Himself. Peace will not come from the destruction of dictatorships by the vengeful sword of the democracies. It will come by the personal appearance of the Son of Man. His nail-pierced feet will appear on the mountains of Judea, and He will judge the nations for the glory of God and for the peace of Israel.
Nineveh really was destroyed, roughly six centuries before Christ. Yet the writers insist that the scale of what Nahum describes was never reached in that event.
Isaiah 52:7 was spoken in connection with Babylon's overthrow, but its wider application and meaning is future. The overthrow of Babylon and Nineveh did not bring the glorious things Isaiah and Nahum spoke of. The ends of the earth did not then see the salvation of God. Jerusalem was not redeemed. God was not enthroned as King in Zion. It is all yet to come. When that day comes, messengers will go out from Jerusalem and declare the good news to the nations of the world. The wicked, opposing powers of the world will then be no more.
Prophecy here works by pattern. The Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib is only the starting point.
I have no doubt that the invasion of Sennacherib was the occasion of this prophecy. But it clearly goes far beyond that event, and the judgment is final. This is another instance of what we have so often seen in the prophets. A partial judgment serves as a warning or an encouragement to the people of God, while it is only a forerunner of a future judgment.
The verse asks Judah for worship. With the invader gone, Judah can hold her feasts again and pay what she promised.
The yoke of the Assyrian would be broken for ever, and the proud, hostile power of the world destroyed… The good news of full deliverance would be spread everywhere, and Judah would keep her solemn feasts in peace.
The vows are a different matter.
The Israelites were not told to make vows. But if they made them freely, God said they must keep them faithfully. Man is always ready to boast of his strength, without being conscious of his own weakness.
The picture is not locked in the future. Writers see it repeat wherever people announce peace now.
In Romans 3, the feet of those who did not know the way of peace were marked by violence. Now, through the precious "gospel of peace," those feet have such moral worth and dignity that God can use them to crush the one who brought violence and murder into this world. The perfection of beauty is seen in Christ publishing peace (Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15). The same beauty is seen, in measure, in believers who delight to preach the gospel of peace, as sent by the Lord, in a world disturbed by sin.
- Judgment first. The tyrant's fall clears the ground. Peace comes on the far side of judgment, never instead of it.
- Peace is a Person. Nahum's herald is singular — the feet on the mountains are Christ's, and no human victory can replace His appearing.
- Not yet fulfilled. Nineveh fell, but the world never saw God's salvation to its ends; the prophecy runs past history to its final scene.
- Feet multiplied. The one Herald sends many; those whose feet once ran to violence now carry the same beautiful news.
- Freedom is for worship. Delivered people keep the feast and pay what they promised — good news answered by a kept vow.