Sunday 6th July
Read Nahum 1:15
“Look, there on the mountains,
the feet of one who brings good news,
who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, Judah,
and fulfil your vows.
No more will the wicked invade you;
they will be completely destroyed.” (NIVUK)
One would be forgiven for hearing a joyful echo here. But the question, still unresolved, is who is echoing whom! For those who are familiar with Isaiah will remember these words…
“How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
‘Your God reigns!’” (Isaiah 52:7) (NIVUK)
Those familiar with Handel will also find them familiar! Handel places them clearly in the context of the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah. For that is when they are finally and fully fulfilled.
There is a sense in which Isaiah looks further forward than Nahum, to the time when the true king comes. Nahum looks forward, though in that intriguing prophetic past tense, to the time when Assyria is no longer a threat. When they have been wiped out as God promised. Then they can honour and celebrate Yahweh rightly for they will have been saved. In that sense then they are echoing one another and it matters little who is quoting whom…they both speak of the saving acts of God for His people.
