Nahum 1:15 - 2:2 (Part 2)

Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off. The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength. For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.

Nineveh is depicted in the following verses as being driven out into exile. Exile, as a form of humiliating a defeated enemy, consisted primarily in capturing the king, the nobility, the rich, upper-crust members of society, marching them back to the capital of the victorious kingdom, then selling these people off as slaves. The poor people were generally left behind.  Israel can testify that perhaps the worst fate a people can do or, except for total annihilation, is exile. For at least 2000 years there has been a Diaspora of Jews. Exile of individuals, as well as hordes of defeated enemies was a practiced that lasted for centuries. After the Battle of Adrianople during the episcopate of Ambrose (378) countless victims were displaced and families separated. Ambrose sold the church’s gold plates and other possessions in order to raise enough money to buy these exiled people out of slavery and send them back home.

Under these circumstances a people have only two choices: 1) Blend in, assimilate and be practically erased; 2) persist as Israel did as a separate people wherever they live. This procedure has always brought down the wrath of the state and only God’s protection in the case of Israel has saved them from planned eradication by the state. No other nation has been so fortunate. On the other hand, no other nation has ever tried to live as a separate people within another nation. Countless cultures throughout the world have been practically eliminated, not so much by foreign enemies as much as by simple assimilation with the surrounding culture.

For Christians, the options are exactly the same. Jewish ‘resistance’ has generally been of a somewhat mixed character, partly political, partly religious. But Christians’ ‘resistance’ must be purely religious. The current lawsuits against the government with regard to forcing religious organizations to provide free birth control and abortions is but one of several fronts on which this battle will be waged. Homosexual marriage is another.

I’d like to quote two paragraphs from a anonymous work entitled The Epistle to Diognetus, which best estimates date to circa 130 A.D.

 

“For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

“To sum up all in one word--what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them.” Epistle to Diognetus 5-6 (ca. 130)

Nahum 1:15 - 2:2 (Part 1)

Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off. The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength. For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.

There are three ways that this passage has generally been understood. Some have considered the plunderer to be Sennacherib, others Nebuchadnezzar. If this were referring to Sennacherib, the gist of the passage would be something like this: (a) Judah need not worry about Sennacherib, because while he is busy threatening you someone is preparing to attack him. Sennacherib will not attack you (God will restore your majesty…) because he is going to be attacked. (b) With the larger picture in view God is telling Judah that she may do all the guarding and preparing she wants, but this will all be of no avail because God will raise up someone else, after Nineveh, to teach rebellious Judah the same lesson Nineveh has been used of God to teach Israel.

(c) The third view is that this is addressed to Nineveh, in which can the plunderer would be Nebuchadnezzar. According to these interpreters, Nahum is proclaiming the ruin of Assyria like this, “Your destroyer is on the rise." The Assyrians would have viewed such a warning with disdain. 1:13 informs us that Assyria was at the height of her power when this prophecy was given. It was only after Assurbanipal retired from nearly a dozen military campaigns (one of which was against Thebes) did he return to Nineveh and gradually become indolent. It was then that the burgeoning unrest among his subjects the Babylonians and Medes break out into open rebellion. This is another factor that helps us date the book to the earlier part of the 50-year window between 663 BC and 613 BC. Nahum would be saying to Nineveh, “It won’t be how you’d expect it. The plunderer will not come secretly, but right in your face. You can guard the fortresses, watch the roads, and be as ready as you’d like, it will all be to no avail.” If this is the correct view, it will be confirming what has already been said that God had now determined to destroy Nineveh and the whole Assyrian Empire. Calvin takes issue with this view because if it were intended then something else should be stated to make it plain, such as -- that God now designed to destroy Nineveh and its monarchy, because it had humbled more than necessary his people, the kingdom of Judah, as well as the ten tribes.

But we don’t find this necessary clarifier, so we can’t really consider this a viable interpretation. Of course the greater weakness of this last option is that the prophecy is addressed to Judah, hence this view would run contrary to what the prophecy has been all along. Plus 2:1-2 are set up with 1:15 which rules this view off of bounds right out of the blocks.

Nahum 1:14-15

The LORD has given commandment about you: “No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.” Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.  Nahum 1:14-15

We previously observed that God views an attack on His people as an attack upon Himself. As Zechariah 2:8 puts it: “For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye:” Christ took persecution of His church personally, as Paul found out on the road to Damascus.

We see another interesting insinuation here: God sees idolatry as a direct attack on Himself. Nineveh is said to have plotted evil against the Lord; now God is commanding her destruction because of idolatry. God commanded that the King’s name be no longer perpetuated. This implies a couple of things. It likely means that his line of offspring will end. But it is also interesting that apart from Sargon and Sennacherib, whose names are mentioned in Scripture, there is no other familiar name of any Assyrian king. Ancient kings saw it as an honor to be buried with images of their gods. God deems it the mark of contempt – against the kings! It is a testimony to how poor your state truly is if the best thing you’ve got going for you is your stone idol graven image. The Hebrew literally speaks of graven images and cast metal images. Not only was paganism the religion of Nineveh, it was a business as well. This is one of the true hallmarks of all false religion. And woe be unto us if we be guilty of trafficking the things of God.

The opening line of verse 15 is found in Isaiah 52:7 and there is likely an allusion in it as well as to Isaiah 40:9. Paul repeats Nahum 1:15 in Romans 10:15 in regard to the Messiah and His ministry, as well as the apostles of Christ in His time. It may also be understood of any minister of the Gospel whose business it is to "preach the Gospel of peace." God has made peace with sinners by the blood of Christ, and has given to His people the peace that “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). The preacher’s work is also to "bring glad tidings of good things" (KJV), such as reconciliation, righteousness, pardon, life, and eternal salvation by a crucified Christ. The preaching of such a Gospel, and bringing such news, makes their feet beautiful.

Isaiah 54:3-7 For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” For thus says the Lord GOD: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore what have I here,” declares the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the LORD, “and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.” How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Isaiah 40:9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

Isaiah 40:1-4 is a prediction about John the Baptist. So the larger context is obviously Messianic. So when you come to verses 9ff (Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”) this is clearly about Christ’s Incarnation. So when the language is repeated in Isaiah 52:7, it becomes clear that even in the OT, Israel’s plight (problems with Egypt, Assyria and Babylon) was seen as typical of spiritual truths about the deliverance of God’s covenant people from sin and God’s wrath against it. Hence one clear implication of Nahum’s message against Nineveh is: Judgment is all that the reprobate have to look forward to. In other words, God’s covenant people are the only ones who are safe from the prospect of Divine wrath.

Comparing Nahum 1:15 with Isaiah 52:7 we see something very interesting. Isaiah’s typical “good news” is the return of God’s people from their Babylonian exile. Nahum’s “good news” is the destruction of Nineveh, which relieved God’s people from the fear of Assyrian oppression. What is fascinating about these passages is the (1) Babylon rises to world prominence only after the “good news” Nahum predicts of Nineveh’s downfall. (2) Isaiah was written first. (3) Both are viewed by the New Testament as typical of God’s deliverance of His people from their sins by the Atonement. The Exodus of Israel from Egypt, the fall of Nineveh, the return of the exiles from Babylon are all literally true factual, historical events; yet they are not ends in themselves: they point to a deeper, yet equally true spiritual meaning about God’s salvation of His people. So what if God merely provides temporal, sociological salvation from political enemies? Eternal salvation from sin and the wrath of God is what we truly need. These ‘salvations,’ while completely factually real, are intended to point our attention and hope forward to the true deliverance God has worked for His people in Christ.

The context of Isaiah 52 is the return of the exiles out of Babylon, which must be taken as typical as well because that is how Paul cites it. The same Holy Spirit who breathed out Isaiah 40:9, 52:7 and Nahum 1:15 also breathed out Romans 10:15. Since the New Testament expounds the Old, we understand that the salvation of the Church is what is ultimately in view behind all these figures. On Isaiah 52:7 Matthew Henry writes, “The removal of the Jews from Babylon to their own land again is here spoken of both as a mercy and as a duty; and the application of verse 7 to the preaching of the gospel (by the apostle, Romans 10:15) plainly intimates that that deliverance was a type and figure of the redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ, to which what is here said of their redemption out of Babylon ought to be accommodated.

            For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:11-17 ESV)

The promise of salvation referenced in Romans 10 is the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham that Gentiles would be included in the Covenant. That is what is in view in verse 13 where it says that “whoever” calls on the name of the Lord…” Salvation as per the Covenant of Grace is to both Jew and Gentile Paul expects his readers to not be surprised by this since it was foretold by Joel (2:32). Paul illustrates how this should be fulfilled:

1. The Gospel needed to be preached to the Gentiles (vss 14, 15). This is what the Jews were so angry with Paul for. But Paul says that since they were included in the promise to Abraham, then they had to be informed by the preaching of the Gospel.

(1.) They cannot call on him in whom they have not believed. Except they believe that he is God, they will not call upon him by prayer; to what purpose should they? The grace of faith is absolutely necessary to the duty of prayer; we cannot pray aright, nor pray to acceptation, without it. He that comes to God by prayer must believe, Heb. 11:6. Till they believed the true God, they were calling upon idols, O Baal, hear us.

(2.) They cannot believe in him of whom they have not heard. some way or other the divine revelation must be made known to us, before we can receive it and assent to it; it is not born with us. In hearing is included reading, which is tantamount, and by which many are brought to believe (Jn. 20:31): These things are written that you may believe. But hearing only is mentioned, as the more ordinary and natural way of receiving information.

(3.) They cannot hear without a preacher; how should they? Somebody must tell them what they are to believe. Preachers and hearers are correlates; it is a blessed thing when they mutually rejoice in each other-the hearers in the skill and faithfulness of the preacher, and the preacher in the willingness and obedience of the hearers.

(4.) They cannot preach except they be sent, except they be both commissioned and in some measure qualified for their preaching work. How shall a man act as an ambassador, unless he have both his credentials and his instructions from the prince that sends him? This proves that to the regular ministry there must be a regular mission and ordination. It is God's prerogative to send ministers; he is the Lord of the harvest, and therefore to him we must pray that he would send forth laborers, Mt. 9:38. He only can qualify men for, and incline them to, the work of the ministry. But the competency of that qualification, and the sincerity of that inclination, must not be left to the judgment of every man for himself: the nature of the thing will by no means admit this; but, for the preservation of due order in the church, this must needs be referred and submitted to the judgment of a competent number of those who are themselves in that office and of approved wisdom and experience in it, who, as in all other callings, are presumed the most able judges, and who are empowered to set apart such as they find so qualified and inclined to this work of the ministry, that by this preservation of the succession the name of Christ may endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven. And those that are thus set apart, not only may, but must preach, as those that are sent.

2. The Gospel should be welcomed by those to whom it was preached, because it showed the way to salvation, v. 15. And this is where Paul quotes both Isaiah 52:7 and Nahum 1:15. The two passages point at the glad tidings of the deliverance of Israel out of Babylon in type, yet look further to the Gospel, the good news of our salvation by Jesus Christ. We see:

     (1.) What the gospel is: It is the gospel of peace; it is the word of reconciliation between God and man. On earth peace, Lu. 2:14. “Peace” is used as a general term for good; so it is explained here; it is glad tidings of good things. The things of the Gospel are good things indeed, the best things; tidings concerning them are the most joyful tidings, the best news that ever came from heaven to earth.
     (2.) What the work of ministers is: To preach this gospel, to bring these glad tidings; to evangelize peace (as the Greek words it), to evangelize good things. Every good preacher is in this sense an evangelist: he is not only a messenger to carry the news, but an ambassador.  
     (3.) How much faithful Gospel preachers should be appreciated for their work's sake: How beautiful are the feet, that is, how welcome are they! Mary Magdalene expressed her love to Christ by kissing his feet, and afterwards by holding him by the feet, Mt. 28:9. And, when Christ was sending forth His disciples, He washed their feet.

3. He answers an objection against all this, which might be made from the little success which the Gospel had in many places (v. 16): But they have not all obeyed the gospel. Paul lets us know that God’s sovereignty removes all our fears and worries about the success of the Gospel. The success and growth of God’s kingdom are safely in His hands, not ours. This little success of the word was foretold by Isaiah (Isa. 53:1): “Who hath believed our report?” Very few have, few to what one would think should have believed it, considering how faithful a report it is and how well worthy of acceptance -very few to the many that persist in unbelief. It is no strange thing, but it is a very sad and uncomfortable thing, for the ministers of Christ to bring the report of the Gospel, and not to be believed in it. We should always remember this and encourage ourselves with the knowledge of His control over His kingdom’s success.

“When bad news is abroad this is good news, and when good news is abroad this is the best news, that Zion's God reigns, that God is Zion's God, in covenant with her, and as such He reigns, Ps. 146:10; Zec. 9:9. The Lord has founded Zion, ch. 14:32. All events have their rise in the disposal of the kingdom of His providence and all tend to the advancement of the kingdom of His grace. This must be applied to the preaching of the Gospel, which is a proclamation of peace and salvation; it is gospel indeed, good news, glad tidings, tidings of victory over our spiritual enemies and liberty from our spiritual bondage. The good news is that the Lord Jesus reigns and all power is given to Him. Christ himself brought these tidings first (Lu. 4:18 – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach good news…, Heb. 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord), and of him the text speaks: How beautiful are His feet! His feet that were nailed to the cross, how beautiful upon Mount Calvary!” Matthew Henry

Philippians 2:12-13 tells us that we “work out,” i.e., live in accord with that which God has “worked in” us. Since He has worked such a great salvation for us, the proper response is grateful service. Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows.

Verse 15 of chapter 1 is actually verse 1 of chapter 2 in the Hebrew. And looking at the following verses it seems to fit there better than at the end of chapter 1. The “good news” is in essence the news of the destruction of the enemies of God and the enemies of his people, who are one and the same. Nineveh is a type of this. The Gospel is the good news that God has conquered sin, and it, as His peoples’ greatest enemy, is no longer the threat and power that it once was. The King of Nineveh is presented as “Belial” (in the Hebrew – a type of Satan. With God’s triumph in Christ over sin, the devil cannot assail God’s people. His dominion is cut off forever.

Nahum 1:9-13 (Part 3)

Another factor in this passage is the absolute sovereignty of God over all things. God is the primary cause of all things, yet all secondary agents are fully responsible their actions. God sovereignly controls even His enemies for His divinely-appointed purposes with regard to His people, yet these same enemies will pay the ultimate price – destruction – for their treatment of the Lord’s people. Isaiah 10 details this explicitly with regard to Nineveh. Thus we are made to see Nineveh’s full responsibility for her actions. Yet God unapologetically states in verse 12b that it is He who has afflicted His people. He was the primary agent in the affliction of His people, yet Nineveh, as the secondary agent was fully responsible for her actions. This concept, like the previously discussed one of covenant solidarity, runs rampant throughout the Scriptures. The Bible plainly teaches that God is the First Cause, the Primary Agent, of all things, and I do mean all things which occur. That is to say, no one single act, good or bad, done by anyone who has ever lived or will ever live, occurs outside the decree of God. Nevertheless, God has decreed all things so that they must necessarily occur as He has decreed them to occur, by the people whom He has decreed to do these acts, in such a way that their own personal responsibility for these actions is not nullified. I am not arguing for freedom; I am arguing accountability or, if you like, responsibility. To say that one is free implies that there are never any external or internal forces or factors that influence our actions. This is patently false. Being born as sinners, we already have an inborn proclivity to evil which cannot be overcome except by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit of God. This means that we are never free. The only Being of whom freedom can be predicated with any real meaning is God. The existence or nonexistence of freedom has absolutely no bearing on the question of responsibility. God created us and He created us as responsible beings before Him. When Scripture asserts that Original Sin has rendered man completely unable to do anything righteous or pleasing before God, absolutely and totally unable to do anything salvific, utterly unable and unwilling to have faith in God or submit to Him – meaning that no man in the unregenerate state is able to obey the law of God: when Scripture says this and we state this, it is commonly objected that this would make God unjust. It is argued that it would be unfair for God to require of man that which he knows we cannot do. But this is a red herring. It is ridiculous to assert that simply because man fell into sin by eating the forbidden fruit, God must therefore logically surrender His right to demand obedience. Stated this way I trust we can all see the nonsensical nature of such an assertion. Just because Adam destroyed himself and his posterity with his iniquity, it does not therefore follow that God must surrender, or that God has surrendered His right to perfect obedience.

Returning to our previous statement that God is the primary cause, that is to say, First Cause, of all things which happen, we also remember that we stated that this does not exonerate the secondary causes from their personal responsibility. In Genesis 50, Joseph explicitly declares his brothers’ culpability and personal guilt when they sold him into slavery. Without denying this, Joseph also affirms that it was not they, but God who had sent him to Egypt. Joseph tells them that they meant their act for evil (Hebrew: ‏רַע‎). Joseph replies that this very act of ra, God meant for good. In verse 20, he says, God meant it for good.” The antecedent to the pronoun, it, is the word evil. They agree in person, number, and gender. There is no other word in the sentence to which the pronoun, it, can grammatically apply. So as I have been saying, we see that divine Providence, that is God’s direct government and control over all things, does not negate the personal responsibility of secondary causes.

So, looking back at our text, particularly 1:2-10, which comprise a hymn or poem celebrating God’s greatness, His special love for His people, His control over nature and His sovereign use of his enemies, we find two things asserted: God had afflicted His people and Nineveh had afflicted His people. Scripture places these two things side-by-side asserting that they are one and the same. This clearly shows what we have been saying. God is the First Cause or Primary Agent of all events that take place in history because He has decreed all things. But He has decreed that all things take place through the agency of secondary agents and His decree does not mitigate the guilt of the secondary agent nor does it nullify their culpability.

This theme is seen all over Scripture. In Exodus, when God sends Moses to Pharaoh he tells Moses that Pharaoh will not listen to him because God will harden Pharaoh’s heart. The succeeding narrative alternates in the reasons that it gives for why Pharaoh refused to obey Moses: in some instances we are told that Pharaoh hardened his heart. In other instances we are told that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. In Joshua 7, when Israel is defeated in battle by the one horse town Ai, Joshua laments that God has given Israel into the hands of the Amorites. In 1 Samuel 2, when Eli’s sons refused to listen to him, we are told that this was of God for he planned to put them to death. In 1 Samuel 4, when the Philistines defeat Israel in battle, the elders of Israel cry out, “Why has the Lord defeated us in battle?” 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21 recount the same event, namely David’s taking a census of Israel. In 2 Samuel 24 the impetus for this act is said to be God. In 1 Chronicles 21, the event or the inciting to the event is said to be of Satan. The Devil, no doubt, fancies himself a great rebel against God, yet in the final analysis, he's as big a company man as there ever was. Not even he moves without God overruling his every move.

 

This shows us that not only are human enemies of God’s people at God’s disposal, but even the spiritual enemy of God’s people is at His disposal. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul mourns his “thorn in the flesh.” And yet he acknowledges that this weakness he laments is actually of God so that the power of Christ may rest upon him. This “thorn in the flesh,” Paul actually calls a messenger of Satan while saying that God sent it. Clearly then we can see that God’s sovereignty over the sinful acts of men never exonerates sinners, neither does it negate their personal responsibility for their own actions. It ultimately serves to comfort God’s people, knowing that all things which befall them in this life come from their Father’s hand. Heidelberg Catechism, Question 26: What do you believe when you say, "I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth"?

Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them; who likewise upholds and governs the same by his eternal counsel and providence) is for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my Father; on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt, but he will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body and further, that he will make whatever evils he sends upon me, in this valley of tears turn out to my advantage; for he is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father.

Nahum 1:9-13 (Part 2)

This idea that God takes an attack on His people as a personal attack upon Himself ties in with the earlier idea in verse 2 of Divine jealousy. Nahum’s employment of the idea of jealousy, then, is in harmony with the familiar scriptural motif of ‘husband and wife.’ This motif is often applied to God’s relation to His people. Israel had been the object of God’s eternal love. They had been brought into the family of God in the Exodus from Egypt. He had cared for them and nourished them in the testings of the wilderness and had brought them safely into the land of inheritance. God recalled their total devotion and the loving warmth and pristine purity of those early wedding days. Living in the land of promise, a thoughtful and happy wife ought to have been what God had intended her to be: holy to the Lord (Jer. 2:2-3). But such scarcely had been the case. Jeremiah 2:4-3:5 recounts the sorry tale of the bride who had become God’s wayward wife.

Jeremiah’s portrayal of the spiritual odyssey of Israel/Judah is in harmony with the same theme sung by other prophets. Hosea’s marriage was to picture God’s relation to Israel. It emphasized that Israel’s wanton apostasy would gain her only the loss of her freedom, until God would pay the price for her sin and bring her back to Himself in the latter days (Hos. 1-3).

Isaiah (Isa. 54:4-17) relates that Israel had been forsaken by God because of her wickedness. Nevertheless she was yet God’s wife and, as a repentant nation, would yet be forgiven and re-gathered in righteousness and so enjoy the everlasting acceptance and protection of her divine husband.

Ezekiel 16 is devoted to the same theme. Jerusalem is likened to a bride (v. 8) who had become a brazen harlot (vv. 15, 43), even outdoing Sodom in her iniquity (vv. 44-52). Because she had broken her marriage oath, she incurred God’s chastisement (vv. 53-59). But God, a forgiving and loyal husband, would yet receive her back and remove her humiliation forever (vv. 60-63).

It is no surprise, then, that the theme of the bride is taken up again by Christ and the apostles, whose Bible was largely still the Old Testament. The relationship now, however, is between Christ and the church (cf. Mark 2:19) and, as such, complements the relationship of God the Father with Israel.

Paul reminds the Ephesians that Christ loved the church as a husband loves his bride. Accordingly He sacrificed Himself for her so that she might be pure and holy and seen in all her God-given beauty (Eph. 5:25-27). Paul rehearses to the Corinthian believers how he (the friend of the bridegroom) had introduced them (the bride) to Christ (the groom). Although she had been a pure virgin, Paul found that the Corinthian church had been susceptible (like Eve) to the serpent’s bite of false gospels. Thus the Corinthians stood in particular need of his ministry to them lest they stray further (2 Cor. 11:1-4).

 

The Revelation given through John pictures the joy of heaven at the proclamation of that great wedding supper of the Lamb for His waiting bride: “Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). Certainly it is true that, although she has been wedded to Christ, the church His bride awaits His coming to take her to His home and to the full joy of that festive occasion. Of that coming of the bridegroom, Christ Himself warns a waiting generation to be ready and watching, longing for His coming (Matt. 25:1-13).

 

Paul reminds his readers, who make up the waiting bride of Christ, that the church is to have a faithful and productive marriage. For that reason she has been married to her saving husband and has become one spirit with Him, her body having become the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:15-19). As His bride, who both expects His imminent return and is mindful of her union with Christ, the church is to keep herself pure (1 John 3:1-3), remembering the wedding price that Christ Himself has paid (1 Cor. 6:20).