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.
