NOTES for Nah 1:1-15

It is impossible not to notice the prophet Nahum's confidence that the Highest Court is just. The Lord's justice is shown both in His goodness toward those who hope in Him and in the retribution He sends for evil. These are two sides of justice, and without either of them it cannot be realized on earth. But evil exists by parasitizing living people, and therefore it is impossible to defeat it in the earthly world without causing pain to its victims, who have become carriers of evil.

Nahum's reproaches against Assyria might seem merely one expression of national hostility, but such a view would be superficial. Behind his denunciations of a concrete earthly enemy, it is not hard to see a deeper understanding of the meaning of the events unfolding before the prophet's eyes. Assyria in Nahum's day is a real embodiment of evil: not simply a hostile state, but an aggressive pagan empire that not only seeks to conquer neighboring kingdoms but by its very way of life challenges the God of Israel. Its destruction is more than a military defeat; it is the natural end of ungodly claims.

But then, unexpectedly, words are heard about the feet of the herald who proclaims peace, and we see that the enemy's defeat is not an end in itself for the prophet. He rejoices not in that, but in the coming possibility of finally beginning a normal, peaceful life.

The hopes for peace in 1945 must have been much the same. Peace did not come then once and for all: the interval between the defeat of the old enemy and the appearance of new dangers proved short. But by turning to that time, still recent by historical standards, we can better sense what Nahum and his contemporaries felt in the days of Assyria's collapse.

What does the prophet mean when he says that God is a good refuge in the day of distress? The simplest interpretation, of course, would be to take his words to mean that religious feeling, hope in God, helps in hard days those who have such hope. It is hard to argue with that - but is this the hope Nahum is speaking about? For then, in essence, it would be more accurate to speak not of God as a reliable refuge, but of religious feeling as a reliable support, which in a day of distress can indeed be useful and has been useful to many.

The prophet, however, speaks of God's goodness, which becomes a refuge in the day of sorrow (the corresponding Hebrew text can also be interpreted this way). And God's goodness belongs not only to God: He also placed it in the world He created, which at the beginning, before the fall, was, in the Bible's words, "very good" (or "wholly good" - the corresponding Hebrew text uses the same word that Nahum uses in his preaching). Part of this goodness, inseparable from the fullness of God's world - the fullness destroyed by the fall - are people seeking salvation from God (the corresponding Hebrew word, rendered in the Synodal translation as "those who hope," properly means "those seeking refuge" or "those seeking salvation"). Indeed, anyone seeking salvation or refuge from God is clearly ready to trust Him with all his heart, to rely completely on Him, and such readiness establishes deep and strong relations between God and a person, relations characteristic not so much of the fallen world as of the Kingdom.

Of course, before Christ came into the world it was still too early to speak of the Kingdom's nearness. But the world was originally intended by God to be His Kingdom. It ceased to be so because of the fall, which was not so much a natural or historical event as a spiritual one (all the natural and historical phenomena connected with the fall are only consequences). Yet the one whose relations with God were restored as far as is possible for the fallen world shared in that fullness of God's world which for the Creator always remained a reality. And such fullness could indeed become a true refuge even in the hardest days.