From you came one who plotted evil against the LORD, a worthless counselor.
Nahum's prophecy is aimed at Nineveh, the great city of Assyria — the power that had oppressed God's people. In verse 11 the prophet points to one man who came out of that city with a plan against God Himself.
The man who came out
One commentator points to this verse as the book's most telling passage, and names the man behind it.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe passage that gives us the most important information is chapter 1:11. Who was this wicked counsellor who plotted evil against the Lord? There can be but one answer. A wicked counsellor came out of Assyria, the mouthpiece of its ruling king, Sennacherib. His name was Rabshakeh. He blasphemed and defied the God of Israel.
Evil aimed higher than Judah
The verse names the target: not Israel, but the LORD.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe one who had come out to oppress Israel was a wicked counsellor. He plotted evil not only against Judah, but against Jehovah. He would be cut off. Compare the insulting language of Rabshakeh, the general of the king of Assyria. At first he said that Jehovah had sent him. Then he treated the God of Israel as no better than the gods of the nations, who had not been able to protect their worshippers.
What "worthless" means
Where the ESV reads "a worthless counselor," other writers keep the Hebrew word itself: Belial.
William KellyOne went out from Nineveh who plotted evil against Jehovah, a counsellor of Belial — and it was in vain. He will make a full end. Trouble will not rise a second time. Sennacherib proved it: God broke his yoke and burst His people's bonds.
One writer explains the word elsewhere. It carries far more weight than the English "worthless" suggests:
Numerical Bible NotesBelial is a Hebrew word, and it seems better to carry it over than to translate it. It clearly means "worthlessness"... But it says far more than the English word does. Its moral sense is very positive, not merely negative. In moral and spiritual things nothing is merely negative: plain indifference here is a crime. So the New Testament uses Belial for the direct opposite of Christ. And in the Old, the "sons of Belial" are always those lawless ones. Whenever the chance comes, they show themselves as law-breakers, hostile to God and man.
Two things God is doing at once
God used Assyria to discipline His own people. So does using an enemy mean God approves of him?
William KellySo it is plain that 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... So the chastening was measured, and its end matched the goodness of God. Meanwhile God lets the enemy pour out hatred on His people without limit or restraint. But He does not only use their hatred for the good of His own people and to punish their unfaithfulness. He would surely turn on that cruel enemy once He had accomplished His purpose.
Beyond Nineveh's fall
Commentators see this verse reaching further than Assyria's day. One finds in it a figure the prophets return to again and again:
J. N. DarbyIn Nahum 1:11 we find the one the prophets mention so often — the Assyrian, who plots evil against Jehovah... But this scourge completes the judgment of God. The deliverance of Israel, the prophet says, should now be complete and final. God should break the yoke of the Assyrian for ever, and destroy the proud and hostile power of the world... The good news of full deliverance should spread far and wide, and Judah should keep her solemn feasts in peace.
The same dictionary reads the whole chapter this way. What happened in King Hezekiah's day "was only a preview of the last-day fulfilment of this chapter... and in this way we see the scope of prophecy, not simply the immediate events that gave rise to it" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Summary
- Out of Nineveh. One man came out of Assyria with a plan. A commentator names him as Rabshakeh, the mouthpiece of King Sennacherib, who blasphemed and defied the God of Israel.
- Against the LORD. He plotted not only against Judah but against Jehovah, treating Him as no better than the gods of the nations Assyria had already crushed.
- Worthless, not harmless. The word behind "worthless counselor" is an active charge. It marks the lawless who are hostile to God and man, not people who are merely empty.
- Used, then judged. God measured the discipline of His own people by His goodness. Then He turned on the merciless enemy once He had finished that work.
- Broken for ever. Writers see the same figure through the prophets. In the end God breaks his yoke, and His people keep their feasts in peace.