NOTES for Nah 2:1-13

Nineveh was accustomed to relying on its own strength; one might say that veneration of military power became a cult in Assyria. With force one can indeed achieve much, but it is impossible to lean on it constantly. The only inexhaustible strength is the strength of the Lord, and now it is turned against Assyria itself. What inspired such hopes naturally failed, as does everything in which people try to seek support apart from the Creator.

The fate of Nineveh brings to mind the biblical principle: whatever one sows, that he will also reap. Assyria brought much evil to those around it, conquered and devastated many lands, and now the hour has come when invaders fall upon Assyria itself. We see vivid pictures of the defeat of a city that until recently was strong and rich, now doomed to inevitable destruction. But what Assyria is now experiencing, many nations had already had to suffer from its own hordes - all of it has returned to the place from which it came. Everything must be paid for, and now Assyria's turn to pay has come.

The Assyrians in those days would hardly have been able to acknowledge what happened to them as just. But the One who is able to turn any difficult situation to good did not allow the complete destruction of the Assyrian people: they are as dear to Him as His other children, even disobedient ones.