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TRUSTING IN THE CHARACTER OF GOD (1 OF 5)

by Wyman Richardson

Scripture: Nahum 1:1-6
This content is part of a series.


Trusting in the Character of God (1 of 5)
Series: Nahum: God Has Not Forgotten His People
Wyman Richardson
Nahum 1:1-6


Read Nahum 1:1-6

In the British Museum, one can find the following relief, carved from 700 to 692 BC:

The Ancient History Encyclopedia describes what is happening in this scene:

This wall relief depicts the Assyrian king Sennacherib after the fall of Lachish (Lakhisha), the second largest city in Judah Kingdom. The king sits on a marvelous throne and watches prisoners. He also greets an Assyrian official who appears to be in very close proximity to him, almost touching the king. This man most likely represents the commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army. ??The cuneiform inscriptions read ''Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before the city of Lakhisha. I give permission for its slaughter.'' ??Sennacherib's face appears to be deliberately damaged, most probably by an enemy soldier after the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE.

It is no stretch to say that the scene depicted in that relief set the stage for the little Old Testament book of Nahum. The IVP Bible Background Commentary states that Nahum ''most likely dates to the period between 663 B.C....and the fall of [Nineveh] to a combined army of Babylonians and Medes in 612 B.C..''

The Assyrian Empire, of which Nineveh was its capital, had harassed and persecuted Judah for a very long time! Here is a nice summary of the historical situation:

Assyria was the Great Power that threatened Israel and Judah from the middle of the ninth century B.C. on. She had made Israel part of her provincial system after the fall of Samaria in 720 B.C. and had been taking tribute from Judah. Sennacherib's attack in 701 B.C., after Hezekiah rebelled and withheld his tribute payment, left the country in ruins, with only Jerusalem intact (see 2 Kings 18-19). Judah was again a tributary.

What we find in the little book of Nahum, then, is a ...

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