John 2:12-25

After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days.  Now the Jewish feast of Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 

He found in the temple courts those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting at tables.  So he made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple courts, with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  To those who sold the doves he said, "Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father's house a marketplace!"  His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will devour me." 

So then the Jewish leaders responded, "What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?"  Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again."  Then the Jewish leaders said to him, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?"  But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body.  So after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the saying that Jesus had spoken.

Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing.  But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people.  He did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew what was in man. 
(NET)

John's Gospel has a certain directness that appeals to many readers.  Of course, readers who want something more "subtle" sometimes feel John is too simple.

But, on the other hand, amidst the "simplicity" of John's telling of the Jesus story, delving deeper and looking more closely shows it isn't so simply at all.

One theme in John is the question of belief/unbelief.

Often times the people who believed Jesus were the ones we least expected to belief!  And, likewise, the ones who didn't believe were the ones we think should know better!

The other big theme in John is pointing to who Jesus really is and to the Cross.

In this passage, there is a whole lot of pointing going on!

Jesus called the Temple, "My Father's House."

If you or I were really upset about commerce occurring in the worship space of a church and had the guts (I don't think I have that kind of boldness) to overturn the tables and chase them out, we might say, "Get out of here, you are using God's/Lord's house as a market place."  I suppose some might say, "The Heavenly Father's House."  But "My Father's House?"  Dunno.  Don't think so.

But for Jesus, entirely proper.

The pointing toward the Cross however is a bit more subtle.  Jesus said destroy this temple and in 3 days I will raise it up again.  If one heard that proclamation with no context of resurrection, it would sound like crazy talk.  But John's post-resurrection editorial comment makes it clear to the listeners and readers of the Gospel:  But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body.  So after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the saying that Jesus had spoken.

Another feature of the Gospel of John I hadn't fully appreciated was the "Jewishness" of it.  Of course, much of the growth in the early church was in reaching the Gentiles. But the message of Jesus is rooted in God's work among the Jews.  I do wonder what it was like for the Gentile believers who had no idea of any of the Jewish stories.  I suppose as part of their church life, the teaching elders would have explained how God worked among the Jews and cited examples from the Hebrew Scriptures and the punch line would be: God is still working today and now includes everybody!

In John's writing of this Gospel, there are periodic mentions of Passover.  Jesus is often at Jerusalem for the Passover in the various episodes in John.  To this day, Jews celebrate Passover to remember how God delivered them out of the slavery of Egypt.  And indeed, we now celebrate the ultimate Passover in that Jesus has delivered us from sin and death.

One controversy about this passage of driving out the money changers is about its location within the Gospel of John (very early) while in the other Gospels, it occurs very late.

Some speculate that Jesus drove out the money changers twice in his life time.

Another possibility is that the Gospel of John is not always chronological and that he juxtaposed this event with the water into wine event to suit his teaching aims.  Perhaps, John wanted to pair the first sign (water into wine) with Jesus pointing to the final sign (death and resurrection).

We need to remember that the Bible writers should not be constrained by our 21st Century expectations of what a biography looks like.  Today, we get 500+ page tomes with tons of footnotes and usually a chronological narrative.  In the early church, the text was hand written on precious and hard to come by materials.  Thus, the text tends to be terse compared to modern writing styles.

Also, these texts were read aloud for meetings as part of teaching components in worship.  And so they are not mere reportage of the events of Jesus life but sermons.  Thus, there are times when John steps in the text with explanation and amplification of the episode he recounted.

As we approach Christmas of 2012, let's remember the miracle of this story:  God coming into the world to dwell among us.  God could have used a megaphone and said, "God loves everyone."  But no, he sent Jesus to dwell among us.  And indeed, to suffer and die on a Cross.  And rose again the third day!  Death is no longer the last chapter for those who would trust in Jesus.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. 

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. 

 Amen!

John 2:1-11

Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,  and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.  When the wine ran out, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no wine left."  Jesus replied, "Woman, why are you saying this to me? My time has not yet come."  His mother told the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it." 

Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washing, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  Jesus told the servants, "Fill the water jars with water." So they filled them up to the very top.  Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the head steward," and they did.  When the head steward tasted the water that had been turned to wine, not knowing where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called the bridegroom  and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper wine when the guests are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!"  Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, in Cana of Galilee. In this way he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.  (NET)

What to make of this episode?

This passage sometimes comes up in wedding celebrations with the officiant saying some variation of, "And so we know the high value of marriage for Jesus attended the wedding at Cana."

But compared to some of the other miracles, this does seem a bit "mundane" as miracles go as it is meant to keep the party going!

But perhaps that is part of the point of this "sign."

Remember, the idea of signs is to point to who Jesus is or point to the Cross or both!

And so, indeed, through Jesus, through his mission on the earth, He brings us to the knowledge of God and we are drawn into a celebration.

So perhaps this sign points to celebration and its a big one with 120-180 gallons of wine and to top it off wine of good quality.

At another level, one wonders if the water to wine miracle points to the Cross in a symbolic way?

Jesus told us to remember whenever as a church family we break bread (Jesus body broken for us) and drink wine (Jesus blood shed for us) in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper (or eucharist or communion; name depending on the type of church one attends).

And so interestingly, the wine was made from water placed into pots used for "ceremonial washing."

If the ritual of the time was ceremonial washing of hands with water, how much greater a washing of our whole being from our sins through the blood of Christ on the Cross?

And so as a result of this sign, his disciples believed in Jesus.

Perhaps, at a superficial level, Jesus must be special as he performed a transmutation of water into wine.  But perhaps, they began to glimpse something more about the King who was ushering in the Kingdom of God?  Certainly, after the institution of the Lord's Supper at the Last Supper, the symbolism of this miracle could be more striking.

Lord, thank you that you have brought us into your family to be Children of God and into a grand celebration.  Thank you for the Cross which we remember with simple symbols of bread and wine.  You have cleansed me from sin with your blood.  May you continue to cleanse me by renewing my mind, strengthening my conscience and empowering my will to follow your ways.  Amen.

John 1:29-51

In addition to the role of signs pointing to Jesus and the Cross and the significance of that, John's Gospel offers portraits of the journey towards belief mixed with stories of unbelief.

Belief, in our modern language, has taken on the meaning, believing in something you know isn't true. In our day and age, belief is wishful thinking about something that isn't real. However, in the strictest sense of the meaning, in the Bible, belief is trust and a trust placed in someone worthy of trust. Thus, belief, trust, faith, in the Biblical sense, has some foundation.

And so in this portion of John, we get three examples of belief.

First, John the Baptist.

On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, 'After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.' I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel." Then John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining - this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God." 

What was John the Baptist's journey to faith?

His mother Elizabeth knew Mary, the mother of Jesus.  One wonders if John the Baptist grew up hearing stories about Mary and the miraculous/mysterious Jesus?  Did he spend time as a youth with Jesus?

Interestingly, twice in this passage, John the Baptist said, I did not recognize him!

Is his failure to recognize him a feature of perhaps knowing Jesus while growing up and thinking Jesus as rather unremarkable?

In any case, in this episode, John the Baptist was moved to call him "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  And John the Baptist saw the Spirit descending upon Jesus.  Apparently, God broke through!

The second episode tells about Andrew and Simon Peter's journey to belief.
 
Again the next day John was standing there with two of his disciples. Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When John's two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Jesus turned around and saw them following and said to them, "What do you want?" So they said to him, "Rabbi" (which is translated Teacher), "where are you staying?" Jesus answered, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Now it was about four o'clock in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah!" (which is translated Christ). Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

Andrew was already following John the Baptist.  John the Baptist starting calling Jesus, "the Lamb of God!"  And so Andrew decided to follow Jesus.  Was it curiosity?

Andrew wound up staying with Jesus for the day.  Oh, what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall during that time!  Something amazing must have happened because Andrew told his brother Simon Peter, we found the Messiah!

John the Baptist saw the Spirit descending on Jesus. Andrew spent an afternoon with Jesus. As a result both believed.

The third story is Philip and Nathanael.

On the next day Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." (Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.) Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael replied, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip replied, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, "Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "How do you know me?" Jesus replied, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!" Jesus said to him, "Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these." He continued, "I tell all of you the solemn truth - you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Why did Philip start to follow Jesus? We don't know for sure but look at what he told Nathanael: "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

Somehow in spending time with Jesus, Philip who apparently knew his Scriptures very well, concluded Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures.

Meanwhile, Nathanael was skeptical. Yet, when Jesus said he saw Nathanael was under the fig tree, Nathanael's skepticism melted away. Should we assume that Nathanael was under the fig tree figuring no one else was around and yet Jesus knew he was there? But why was that so significant? Perhaps, Nathanael was engaged in serious meditation and prayer? Perhaps, he was deeply troubled by something? Perhaps, he was contemplating the news that John the Baptist was calling this Jesus of Nazareth the Lamb of God and wondering, is it actually possibly true?

The journey to belief is different for everyone. Perhaps, one has had parents and family members who were believers like John the Baptist may have known about Jesus since childhood. Perhaps, one gets to spend time with people who embody what it means to be a Christian like Philip getting to spend time with Jesus. Perhaps, one searched the Scriptures and find faith like Phililp. Perhaps, God meets us in some unusual way knowing us in a way only God could know us like Nathanael.

Lord, please work through me to reveal you to people I meet. Lord, please work in my church so that people see YOU when they come to church and when we go out about our lives. Lord, please work through the church around the world, especially in the hard places, revealing your love and your truth. Amen.

John 1:19-28

Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed - he did not deny but confessed - "I am not the Christ!" So they asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not!" "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No!" Then they said to him, "Who are you? Tell us so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" John said, "I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord,' as Isaiah the prophet said." (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ) So they asked John, "Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal!" These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan River where John was baptizing.
(NET)

One of the challenges of reading the Bible is to factor in the cultural and temporal distance between us and the people who first received a portion of Scripture. The early church would have read the text aloud in their meetings because the painstakingly hand written copies would be exceedingly rare and precious.

Today, we can read the text for ourselves from bound copies of the Bible or electronic versions on various devices. As such, we may miss the dynamics of how the text sounded.  And so read this text aloud and right off the bat one can probably feel how it was written for the ear.

Note the triplet of negative confessions by John the Baptist: "I am not the Christ!" "I am not!" (Elijah) "No!" (I'm not the Prophet).

There was no question that John the Baptist was a compelling figure. His potent message had attracted considerable attention resulting in followers and opponents. It would have been very easy to let all of that acclaim go to his head. But he knew his mission and his role and so the triplet of negatives.

He then went positive to explain his role: I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, "Make straight the way for the Lord."

He followed up by pointing to someone greater than himself: I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal!

A couple of months back, I heard a podcast by Prof. Fred Sanders. He was making a point about the challenge of "pointing." As Christians, our role is to point people to Jesus. That isn't always so easy because of our own weakness but also the weakness of the one watching us pointing. He explained by way of illustraion, when we point at something, a dog may look at what we are pointing at or at the end of our finger. The more we point, the more the dog is intrigued by our finger. Thus, as human beings, in regards to pointing at spiritual truths, we may often get stuck looking at the fingertip and not what is being pointed at.

The people saw the dramatic preaching of John the Baptist and the positive responses of many of the listeners and thus, they wonder, Is He the Christ?

John the Baptist immediately, says, no, no, no. I'm pointing to someone else who is far greater. I'm pointing to someone else who is going to do something else far greater than I.

This notion of "pointing" or "signs" will turn out to be a useful template to view much of the Gospel of John. In future passages, Jesus would do miracles and these acted as signs pointing to something greater. But many in the audience would focus on the miracle itself and miss the point!

And so what is the point? The Prologue in John 1:1-18 and the purpose statement of John 20:30-31.

Sprinkled throughout the Gospel of John will be little "sermons" of what the point is interspersed with episodes of people missing the point or struggling to get the point. In some cases the people involved eventually come to recognize that Jesus is "God who became flesh to give us light and life."

Lord, have mercy. Help me NOT to miss the point. Help me to be someone willing to be like John the Baptist and speak for and point to Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

John 1:1-18

When I started this blog, I opted not to try to blog straight through from Genesis to Revelation. I figured I'd sample different parts of the Scriptures. In some cases, I wanted to examine portions that don't come up very often in typical sermons or small group Bible studies. For example, the just concluded series of blog posts was on Nahum. Send me an email if you have heard a sermon from Nahum! Or even a quote of a verse from Nahum in a sermon!  I'd be curious to hear how it was discussed.

For the next series, I thought I'd go with something familiar, the Gospel of John. When I first started to follow Jesus, I was advised to read the Gospel of John to learn more about Jesus. And indeed, over the decades, I have heard many sermons from John. And I'm sure in the re-reading I'll be doing for these blog posts it will be refreshing to go over familiar things and am looking forward to new insights.  

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it. 

The start of John's gospel has the echo of Genesis and the Creation. A grand sweeping cosmic description. Jesus the Christ was the Word, is the Word and was there at the start and continues to be the source of light and life.

A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

We are introduced to John, as in John the Baptist. From what I have read and have heard about the Gospel of John, John, the Apostle doesn't explicitly refer to himself in this Gospel. Thus, when you see the name John, it is almost certainly John the Baptist. It has been hypothesized that when John referred to himself in this Gospel, he used the phrase, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Indeed, in the Gospel of John the word love appears quite a few times, more than in Matthew, Mark and Luke combined. Also, he used love frequently in his letter I John.

The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. But to all who have received him - those who believe in his name - he has given the right to become God’s children - children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God. Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory - the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. John testified about him and shouted out, "This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’” For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.
(NET) 

This is the part that I think is most profound: God "became flesh and took up residence among us."

The "deist" god is one that created the universe and hasn't been heard from since. The god of "non-theist" religions is an impersonal god.

What do we have here?

The idea was asked pointedly by the big hit song a decade or so ago by Jewel, "What if God was one of us?"

What if God was one of us?
Just a slave like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin' 2 make His way home

We started in John with a cosmic big picture canvas.  We also have before us in John, a God who inhabited a particular place and time.  We have a God who was not content for humanity to remain in the darkness we have chosen for ourselves.  Grace and truth was revealed through Jesus.  God took up residence among us:  his fingernails got dirt in them, his feet got blisters, he got soaked in the sweat of daily toil, he experienced the aches and pains of this life, he was accepted and received by some and rejected and not recognized by others. 

Lord, thank you for the grace of Jesus in taking up residence among us, of taking up human skin and experiencing the full sorrows of a fallen world.  Thank you that this truth has been proclaimed and preserved through the generations.  May your followers continue to proclaim this mysterious, amazing good news to all the world!  Amen.

Outline of Nahum

1:1  Author - Nahum

Judgment upon Nineveh introduced
1:2-7  The character of God
1:8-11  Judgment introduced for the first time in text
1:12-14  God speaks (text has God speak in first person on 3 occasions)

Judgment upon Nineveh revealed - possible chiastic structure.
A.  1:15-2:2  Judgment announced - cause for the oppressed people to celebrate
B.  2:3-2:10  Judgment described
C.  2:11-12  Judgment compared to defeat of a lion, a symbol of Assyrian culture
D.  2:13  God speaks
E.  3:1-4  Judgment described
D'  3:5-7  God speaks
C'  3:8-11  Judgment compared to defeat of Thebes, a city the Assyrians destroyed
B'  3:12-17  Judgment described
A'  3:18-19  Judgment announced - cause for Assyrians to mourn

UPDATE: The other day (May 6, 2013), I was visiting the NET Bible. I clicked on Nahum and looked at "Constable's Notes." He cited an outline that looked very much like what I wrote above. He footnoted the item to two works: Robert B. Chisholm Jr., Handbook on the Prophets, p. 428. See also Gordon H. Johnston, “A Rhetorical Analysis of the Book of Nahum,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1992) for a thorough analysis of the book’s structure. Its nice to know that someone else has seen the same literary structure!

Nahum 3:1-19

Nahum is a bit hard to read because it is harsh.

The justice of God is fair but nonetheless hard to hear.

Onward to Nahum 3:1-19.

In this chapter, we get a blend of the description of the judgement that will fall on Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, God speaking directly and a final concluding announcement of judgement.

The judgement described, vv. 1-4.

The bold texts below are from the NET. Read it aloud. The translation seems to be trying to capture the cadences of a preached message of doom. It begins with a description of why judgement will fall on them.

Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed!
She is full of lies;
she is filled with plunder;
she has hoarded her spoil!

It is then followed by this series of images you can see and hear in drumbeat like fashion:

The chariot drivers will crack their whips;
the chariot wheels will shake the ground;
the chariot horses will gallop;
the war chariots will bolt forward!
The charioteers will charge ahead;
their swords will flash
and their spears will glimmer!
There will be many people slain;
there will be piles of the dead,
and countless casualties –
so many that people will stumble over the corpses.

Nahum then returns once again as to why this nation deserves judgement.
Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute –
a seductive mistress who practices sorcery,
who enslaves nations by her harlotry,
and entices peoples by her sorcery –

Periodically, in the text of Nahum, God speaks directly. We have seen this before in 1:12-14 and 2:13. We see this again in 3:5-7.

"I am against you," declares the Lord who commands armies.
"I will strip off your clothes!
I will show your nakedness to the nations
and your shame to the kingdoms;
I will pelt you with filth;
I will treat you with contempt;
I will make you a public spectacle.
Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust;
they will say, 'Nineveh has been devastated!
Who will lament for her?'
There will be no one to comfort you!"

Again the drumbeat cadence of repetitions of doom. We would prefer to think about how God loves the world and sent His Son Jesus to be the Savior and we definitely should immerse ourselves in the truth of God's grace. But if God is truly a God who will receive the sinner who turns from their sins, what is God suppose to do about the sinner who doesn't turn from their sin? What is God to do about an nation that has sinned and won't change its ways? Would God be worthy of worship if God forgives the repentant sinner but doesn't judge the one who refuses to repent?

In vv. 8-11, we get an anchor into another historic reality of that era of ancient history in the citation of the judgement of Thebes which fell in 663 BCE. Assyria would fall in 612. Turns out in a bit of justice, it was the Assyrians who sacked Thebes though this article cites the date as 661. Nonetheless, what irony that those who destroyed Thebes would suffer the same fate!

You are no more secure than Thebes –
she was located on the banks of the Nile;
the waters surrounded her,
her rampart was the sea,
the water was her wall.
Cush and Egypt had limitless strength;
Put and the Libyans were among her allies.
Yet she went into captivity as an exile;
even her infants were smashed to pieces at the head of every street.
They cast lots for her nobility;
all her dignitaries were bound with chains.
You too will act like drunkards;
you will go into hiding;
you too will seek refuge from the enemy.

Nahum returns once again to a doleful recitation of the doom that will fall upon Nineveh in vv. 12-17.

All your fortifications will be like fig trees with first-ripe fruit:
If they are shaken, their figs will fall into the mouth of the eater!
Your warriors will be like women in your midst;
the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies;
fire will consume the bars of your gates.
Draw yourselves water for a siege!
Strengthen your fortifications!
Trample the mud and tread the clay!
Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls!
There the fire will consume you;
the sword will cut you down;
it will devour you like the young locust would.
Multiply yourself like the young locust;
multiply yourself like the flying locust!
Increase your merchants more than the stars of heaven!
They are like the young locust which sheds its skin and flies away.
Your courtiers are like locusts,
your officials are like a swarm of locusts!
They encamp in the walls on a cold day,
yet when the sun rises, they fly away;
and no one knows where they are.

The methods of poetry can be used to potent effect with its evocation of images and sound and smells thorough word choices. Even the very pattern of repetition of ideas slightly changed with each line contributes to the mood. And here the doom and despair just hammers home hard.

Nahum ends with one final parting shot in vv. 18-19 which forms a counter-point to Nahum 1:15-2:2 which described the fall of Assyria and Nineveh from the perspective of celebration for the oppressed Israelites. For the oppressed, proclaim on the mountains the good news of Assyria's fall. For the Assyrians, are see themselves scattered like sheep on the mountain. For the Israelites, they can celebrate and experience restoration. For Nineveh, it is the end of line, their demise and destruction if a fatal injury and incurable wound.

Your shepherds are sleeping, O king of Assyria!
Your officers are slumbering!
Your people are scattered like sheep on the mountains
and there is no one to regather them!
Your destruction is like an incurable wound;
your demise is like a fatal injury!
All who hear what has happened to you will clap their hands for joy,
for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty!

Lord, your rulership in this world is breaking in for at the Cross of Christ there is good news. Your victory has begun but has not been completed yet. Help me as an individual and help us as a people who follow you to fight the wickedness within ourselves and strive to combat the wickedness in our society that destroys lives. God speed the days of restoration and heighten the visibility of your goodness in this world. Amen.

Nahum 2:11-13

Let's recap up to this point.

In Nahum 1:1 we are introduced to Nahum. Beyond what is in this verse, we know nothing else about him.

Nahum 1:2-8 stressed the character of God
Nahum 1:9-11 began the announcement of the judgment upon Nineveh.
God is referred to in the third person in this section.

Nahum 1:12-14 God spoke of judgment in first person.

Nahum 1:15-2:10 the judgment against Nineveh is described in very vivid terms.

And now let's enter a brief reflection on Nahum 2:11-13 where the imagery is of a lion (Nineveh) now decimated. Additionally, God spoke again in first person in verse 13 using the image of a lion for Nineveh.

Verses 11-12
Where now is the den of the lions,
the feeding place of the young lions,
where the lion, lioness, and lion cub once prowled
and no one disturbed them?
The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed
and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses;
he filled his lairs with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.

The lion is probably the most fierce animal in the ancient world. Elephants might be bigger but the sight of a lion pouncing on its prey and tearing it apart must have been one of the most scary and awe-inspiring sights. In the NETBible study note #77 on this passage, it said the Assyrians saw themselves as lions. Thus, this part here turns their national image of themselves on its head.

This section concluded with God speaking out against them.

"I am against you!" declares the Lord who commands armies:
I will burn your chariots with fire;
the sword will devour your young lions;
you will no longer prey upon the land;
the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard."
NETBible

We usually prefer thinking in more positive terms: if God is for us, who can be against us?

Here it is turned upside down, if God is against us, what chance do we have?

And indeed, Assyria was utterly destroyed.

How do we stand in the face of God in response to a passage like this?

I recently heard a lecture on the life of John Calvin. The speaker, Fred Sanders, admitted he was trained at a seminary that wasn't supportive of all of Calvin's theological ideas. But he believed he learned very much about how to approach the Scriptures in an honest and thorough way by reading John Calvin's magnum opus, Institutes of the Christian Religion. Sanders admired Calvin's attitude of "doing theology before the face of God." In the end, Sanders shared, when we "do theology" we are trying to express our understanding of God and in order to do it seriously, we have to be willing to say our theology back to God.

Because of this endorsement from a non-Calvinist, I have decided I'll try to read this famous work. I suspect it will be in fits and starts as it is a very large work and not always the easiest reading!

I came across this in Chapter II, part II:
"... he embraces him not less as the avenger of wickedness than as the rewarder of the righteous; because he perceives that it equally appertains to his glory to store up punishment for the one, and eternal life for the other."

Yes, God is the God of the simple but profound truth, "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong."

As I read Nahum, do I also embrace this God who is the "avenger of wickedness?"

Lord, as one who wants to understand your ways and live for you, it isn't easy to think about the hard things of God. But, indeed, if I am to praise your goodness and kind mercies, I need to praise you for your justice that will fall upon those who are wicked. In this passage in Nahum, I see that no one escapes and judgment fell upon an evil nation. Lord, have mercy and help bring about repentance and reconciliation in the world today in all its hard places. Thy Kingdom come and with may the fullness of justice and restoration and reversal come too. Amen.

Nahum 2:3-10

Poetry fires up the imagination. As you read poetry, it engages the senses: you can hear the sounds and see the colors and feel the anguish. And, indeed, the destruction meted out upon Nineveh was described in very vivid manner in the portions below found in Nahum 2:3-10.

The shields of his warriors are dyed red;
the mighty soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments.
The metal fittings of the chariots shine
like fire on the day of battle;
the soldiers brandish their spears.

The chariots race madly through the streets,
they rush back and forth in the broad plazas;
they look like lightning bolts,
they dash here and there like flashes of lightning.

The commander orders his officers;
they stumble as they advance;
they rush to the city wall
and they set up the covered siege tower.

The sluice gates are opened;
the royal palace is deluged and dissolves.

Some parts of Scripture are unique to the Scripture. In some cases, what was described in the Bible was also described in other literature of the times. And in some cases, archeological evidence support the descriptions of ancient literature including the Bible.

It seems that this particular event, the fall of Nineveh and Assyria would fall into that the category of being present in the Bible, other literature and archeology if Wikipedia can be taken as accurate on this point in the "historical context" paragraph. More can be found in their entry on Nineveh.

Nahum continued the prophecy about the calamity that would befall Nineveh ...

Nineveh is taken into exile and is led away;
her slave girls moan like doves while they beat their breasts.

Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days,
but now her people are running away;
she cries out: "Stop! Stop!" -
but no one turns back.

Her conquerors cry out:
"Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!"
There is no end to the treasure;
riches of every kind of precious thing.

Destruction, devastation, and desolation!
Their hearts faint,
their knees tremble,
each stomach churns, each face turns pale!

NET

Chilling word pictures!

In reading the Wikipedia entries on Assyria and Nineveh, the archeological digs suggest that "destruction, devastation and desolation" would be an accurate description of what happened there.

An analogy might be made to 20th century history where by the end of World War II many parts of Germany and Japan were in ruins.

But what about the "big" theological point: the rise and fall of nations occur at the discretion of God?

I don't think one can "prove" this idea. I think that would be a faith claim based on revelation. However, one might make an inference from the idea of "justice" that there is a God. Using World War II as an example, most people view it as a "just war" because of the atrocities committed by the Axis nations. Where does this sense of justice come from?

Of course, some might argue, in the end, it was just a matter of raw power and that the Allies had more raw power and they prevailed because of that. Perhaps so.

In the final analysis, in my mind, I would be very sad if there was no God with the resulting situation that injustice in too many cases would prevail and be the last word. Of course, this does not mean, those who believe in God sit idle waiting for God to bring justice. Instead, we are to do justice the best we can with humility mixed with mercy. But sometimes, it is beyond us and we have to beseech God.

Lord, as I reflect today, there is injustice in the world. Lots of it. Just a few days ago, nearly a 100 people were killed by one evil man in Norway. We cry out for justice upon those who do evil. We cry out for mercy for us who have failed to stop injustice big and small when we had the opportunity to do so. Amen.

Nahum 2:1-2

Nahum 2:1-2
The watchmen of Nineveh shout:
An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!
Guard the rampart!
Watch the road!
Prepare yourselves for battle!
Muster your mighty strength!

The pronouncement against Nineveh gets more specific in chapter two after chapter one's more sweeping statements pertaining to God's justice and mercy. Now, the hammer of justice is about to fall and Nineveh can see it coming!

The first remark in the NET seems a bit odd to me, The watchmen of Nineveh shout, considering the 5 lines that follow.

According to the NET notes for verse 1, The introductory phrase “The watchmen of Nineveh shout” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied from the context for clarity.

Perhaps, if it was rendered this way, it would make more sense?

An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!
Thus, your watchman should shout:
Guard the rampart!
Watch the road!
Prepare yourselves for battle!
Muster your mighty strength!

For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, though their enemies have plundered them and have destroyed their fields.
NET

And so indeed, Israel/Jacob would be restored and those who had plundered the people of God will get their comeuppance which will be further described in the next parts of chapter 2.

I took a look at Harper's Bible Commentary for some analysis of Nahum. They too point out that Nahum portrays a fearsome God. They also point out that Nahum should be read in light of Jonah that is also about God and Nineveh.

We have all heard the story of Jonah being swallowed by a fish. What you may not know is that Jonah eventually went to Nineveh to tell them to repent or God is going to judge them. And, indeed, the people of Nineveh did repent and God spared them.

Thus, if one reads both Jonah and Nahum in sequence, one would have a clear picture that God doesn't just blast people without giving them a chance to change their ways. Indeed, it would seem Nineveh did turn back once before but by the time of Nahum, they had slipped back into wickedness and God's justice came back to the forefront.

Lord, you are both merciful and just. Those who have turned their back on your mercy have decided they want to face your justice. I pray thy kingdom come. I trust in your timing. As you delay, I ask that your call of repentance, your patient mercy and your gracious desire for reconciliation will be responded to. Amen.