Friday 11th July
Read Nahum 2:8-10
“Nineveh is like a pool
whose water is draining away.
‘Stop! Stop!’ they cry,
but no one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
the wealth from all its treasures!
10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
Hearts melt, knees give way,
bodies tremble, every face grows pale.” (NIVUK)
The ‘scatterer’ approaches (v1) and the people flee (v8b). It not just the people that are scattered but the accumulated wealth of the nations also (v9). Having scattered the people they have conquered throughout their empire, the punishment of Yahweh perfectly matches the crime.
Water imagery flows through Nahum’s vision. This is not accidental. Though water is not reported to have played any part in the historic conquest of Nineveh (though it did with Babylon) the symbolic importance of water, and its mastery, is at the heart of the order within Assyrian society. To lose control of water is to lose presence and vigour and reflects the scattering and chaos Nineveh has fallen to.
The draining away of water is also reflected in the draining away of courage and indeed life. Hearts give way and blood drains from the faces of the people as the shock of judgment is realised (v10). Nineveh is emptied of people, wealth and renown.
Contrast that with the security promised by God to those who trust Him. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39) (NIVUK)
