Nahum 1:2: A Jealous God

Nahum’s Oracle and the Reading of Chapter 1

Now we're in Nahum chapter 1, and we're moving very quickly. We're on verse 2 at this point, okay? So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read chapter 1 of Nahum once again, just to go through it real quickly.

Actually, maybe just about halfway through. So Nahum, an oracle concerning Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum of El-Kosh. The Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord is avenging and wrathful.

The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in the world when in storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.

He rebukes the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt. The earth heaves before Him, the world and all who are in it.

Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the heat of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by Him. That is a heavy statement about God. So let's begin by going through this first verse here.

So, the Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies. So this, Nahum begins right out the gate, addressing the nature and the character of God.

So Nahum begins with a beautiful description of God's character. His character guarantees that He will be a vindicator of the oppressed and judge of the oppressor. This is what we would expect a holy and loving God to do.

So, he talks about the vengeance of God, the power of God, the goodness of God, and then the severity of God. The book also begins with an acrostic wordplay using the letters of the first half of the Hebrew alphabet in sequence to begin each half verse.

I wasn't able in Hebrew to actually track that and find it, so I didn't want to do too much commenting on it. I'll just have to take the commentator's word at this point, but we can get into that later as I dig up some more material.

But Nahum starts by declaring Yahweh's name five times with descriptions of three of God's attributes. The Lord is jealous, the Lord is slow to anger, the Lord is great in power, and the Lord is good.

Okay, so now which one of those would you say is not one of His attributes, if any? Yeah, the Lord is jealous, the Lord is slow to anger, the Lord is great in power, and the Lord is good. Well, goodness would be an attribute of God, omnibenevolence.

What about power? Omnipotent. Jealous is God. Is that one of His attributes? I'd say yes. What is not an attribute is God is not anger. He's not anger, right? He's angry towards sin, but He's not anger in and of Himself.

The Covenant Name of the Lord and His Jealous Character

So first, the term Lord is His covenant name, and it's used five times in two verses. Now, why is that important? Coffee? Anyone? Why is His covenant name important? Sure, it's all about the covenant of God.

Yes, Mike? He's addressing His people and the people that Lawrence brought up last week who are in covenant with God's people. So God is a covenantal God, which means that He cannot deny Himself. If He is in a covenant with a people, He must carry out the terms of that covenant.

So that's going to be very important. He's going to carry out the terms of that covenant against Assyria, and He's going to carry out the terms of that covenant for Israel, because He's promised to keep a remnant.

The term avenge and vengeance is used three times in verse two alone. How often do you hear that in church services? God is an avenging God, a God of vengeance, right? God reveals Himself in His character before He demonstrates His power.

Again, that's important, right? Because God is telling you who He is before He does what He does. He's letting you know who He is. And this gets back to His covenant structure. If you've listened to Pastor Chris' series on Leviticus, you'll see that acrostic theos.

Does anybody want to take a guess at what theos means as far as the acrostic structure for covenants? Go ahead. Yeah, sure. What they stand for? Yes, right? Ethics, right? Succession, excellent. Taught by the man himself, right?

Transcendence, hierarchy, ethics, oaths, and succession. And transcendence means that God is above us. So here God is letting Nahum and the Assyrians know, through Nahum, that He is above all of them.

This is who He is. He's a jealous God, an avenging God. He's going to pour out His wrath on His enemies. So He's letting them know up front who He is. So that when this happens, they can't say, Well, you never told us this is who you are.

He clearly tells us who He is. So to introduce God, Nahum says that God is a jealous God. Does anybody have any thoughts about that? Is jealousy a good thing? Bad thing? Yes. Absolutely. Go ahead, Cameron.

It's an outworking of His love, definitely. Yes. Men? Yeah. Right, absolutely. Yes. There was another hand? No? Very good. So these are all good answers. And actually we're going to get into that a little bit deeper.

Because I think knowing what the term jealousy means, when God says He's a jealous God, is very important. This is one of the reasons why Oprah walked away from Christianity. God is a jealous God. I can't believe that.

Oh, my goodness. Because jealousy almost always carries with it bad overtones. It means resentful and being envious about that which belongs to someone else. So jealousy has that connotation of envy. I want what that person has.

So I'm jealous of them because of what they have. Now, that's not God. Yes. Definitely. Definitely. We're going to see a couple of verses that show us that. So can anybody tell me where the first place we hear the term jealous is in the Bible?

Want to take a guess? I don't think it's easily identifiable if you had a concordance or a Bible software like I did. I'll give you the answer, Genesis 37 .9. Then he dreamed another dream, this is Joseph, and told it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream.

Behold, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to me. And his brothers were jealous of him. But his father kept the saying in mind. So this is the first time we hear the term jealous in the Bible.

But this jealousy is pertaining to man, right? His brothers were jealous of him. They were envious of what he had. This is not the way God is jealous. In the Bible, where's the first time we hear about God and his jealousy?

Exodus? Exodus is right, okay. Exodus 20 and 5. We need to go back to the Ten Commandments to see what this phrase means in regards to God. In Exodus 20 and 5, we read, You shall not bow down to them, the idols, or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

Right? So this pertains to everything that you guys had said before. He's zealous for his law. He's zealous for his people. Okay, and we're going to get into this a little bit more because I think it's important to understand exactly what jealousy is.

So this one particular commentator says, The jealousy means that the Lord will put up with no rivalry, just as a husband will not allow any other man to share his wife in those intimate ways which belong to the marriage bond alone.

So God will not permit his people to give affection whatsoever to any other God, be it a person, a relationship, power, money, etc. If anything at all is allowed to come between God and one of his children, then the Lord will not overlook it.

He will show his jealous anger against whoever or whatever seeks to win the affection of any of his beloved ones. Right? Does that make sense to you? You see why he would tell this to Nahum and share this with the rest of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin?

Why do you think that is? Why do you think he would have the prophet Nahum bring this message to the Israelites?

Because they were, yes, right.

And God is not going to allow the Assyrians, okay, to stop them from being God's people. They're not going to be cut off. God is going to remain, they're going to remain his bride. They're going to remain his people.

It's going to be painful. There's consequences to sin and their idolatry, but ultimately he's going to be zealous for his people and the Assyrians are going to get God's wrath poured out on them. Okay?

It's an adjective that means jealous. The word comes from the verb kanah, meaning to be jealous or zealous, like Jerry said. In every instance of this word is used to describe the character of the Lord.

He is a jealous God who will not tolerate the worship of other gods. The word is always used to describe God's attitude toward the worship of false gods, which arouses his jealousy and anger and judgment against the idol worshipers.

Okay? So this is God who is jealous for his people, who does not want them to devote their attention or affection to anything but himself. Now some people say, well, that makes God an egomaniac. No. God doesn't need their affection or their attention.

That would make him an egomaniac. He knows that God is the highest being. Okay? The best good being. He's omnibenevolent. Anything else that they decide to worship is going to be false because he's the only true God.

So worshiping God is for our benefit, not his. God doesn't derive any benefit from us worshiping him. Right? We don't add to the goodness of God when we worship him. We direct our attention to where it rightly belongs, on God.

So what does the scripture say about God and jealousy? Deuteronomy 424, for the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 615, for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God.

Lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from the face of the earth. See what jealousy can lead to? Joshua 2419, but Joshua said to the people, You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God.

He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. Okay? These are warnings to the Israelites. Turn from worshiping your idols and turn to worship God. His jealousy is going to cause you a problem at that point if you don't turn.

And then again, in Nahum, the Lord is a jealous and avenging God, the Lord is avenging and wrathful. Okay? Here's the one that perfectly defines who God is. Exodus 34, you shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their asherim, for you shall worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.

So again, I think this is something that people generally grade against. Yes, Jerry? Yes. You're reading ahead of my notes, but I like the way you're thinking. That's good. We're going to get to that.

Right? He's zealous for himself as well. Okay? Notice that each time we quote these verses, it uses capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That's Yahweh. That's the covenant name for God. God will honor the covenant.

Okay? He will always maintain the stipulations of the covenant. The problem is we don't. That's an issue. We need someone who's going to keep the covenant on our behalf perfectly in order for us to avoid the wrath of God.

Thank God for Jesus. That's what he does. Okay? But all this points to the covenant name of God. He will not deny himself. He will maintain that covenant and the stipulations of that covenant with the people who he entered into it with.

Okay? That's not a good thing for some people because, as humans, we're sinful. We're going to break the covenant. Okay, so what is jealous wrath? Psalm 79, how long, O Lord, will you be angry forever?

Will your jealousy burn like fire? Ezekiel 36, therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills and to the ravines and valleys,. Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath because you have suffered the reproach of the nations.

Right? So his jealousy is expressed in wrath at times. Okay? Zephaniah, neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed.

For a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth. And finally in Zephaniah, Therefore wait for me, declares the Lord, for the day when I rise up to seize the prey, for my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them my indignation and all my burning anger.

For in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed. Right? This is a zealous God who's zealous for his name. He's not going to let his name be profaned. Ultimately, his enemies are going to receive the wrath they deserve and his people are going to be protected by him in his jealousy because they're his bride.

All right? Any questions at this point? Yes, Jerry. It can be. Sure. Yeah. Cleansing for his people who obey him, but not so much cleansing for those who oppose him. They'll be wiped clean off the earth, if that's what you mean by cleansing.

Right? Well, kind of. Yeah. Okay. So let me just give you a little historical recap just to let you see where we're at right now. So Jonah, which is the first half of Nahum. Nahum is Jonah 2 .0. Right?

Jonah announced the destruction of Nineveh, but the city repented. The Lord, for a while, turned from his threats to destroy Nineveh. However, Nineveh returned to her old ways and destroyed Samaria, taking the northern Israel into exile.

In 722 BC, the Lord was jealous for his people and would destroy this mighty Assyrian capital through the Babylonians. The city of Nineveh fell in 612 BC. Okay? So again, Jonah preached to the Ninevites.

They repented. There was a 40-year gap, and then they walked away from their repentance. They went back to their old ways. They came in and sacked the northern tribes, destroyed them. The prophet Nahum now comforts the people of Israel by announcing the vengeance of the Lord upon Nineveh.

He begins his message by declaring that the Lord is a kano god, a jealous god. This adjective is used to describe only God. It is formed from a root meaning intensity, and the verb kana to be jealous or zealous.

A synonym of kana is kana and means zeal of the Lord, Exodus 25. God declared that he alone was to be Israel's God. Later, Joshua made it clear to the people that they could not worship the Lord and strange gods of Canaan or Egypt, for the Lord was a jealous god or zealous for his name.

His very name, kana, means jealous, a synonym for kana. So again, historically, here's where God is telling Nahum to bring this message to the Israelites. Okay? What does Nahum's name mean? Comfort. Thank you.

All right? So this is a message of comfort. That's why some people think with all this jealousy and avenging and wrath, who named this guy? This isn't comforting. This is comforting for Israel, not so much for the Assyrians, the Ninevites.

Okay? So the zealousness of God is that of a creator and redeemer who is intensely set on caring for, protecting, and if necessary, avenging himself upon the enemies of his people. He has a unique godly jealousy.

It's to protect his people. If the Lord burns with jealousy for his people, he is set on protecting them and his holy character of love. But if his people are unfaithful to him, God's jealousy and zeal for his character will cause him to judge them.

His angle will burn against those who defy him or his people. Make sense? Any questions? See where this is going? Okay. By serving false gods, Israel made the Lord jealous for his own reputation, like Jerry said before, for his own name.

His holiness parallels his jealous character. Okay? Again, we can't separate God into parts. His jealousy is a holy jealousy. It's a loving jealousy. Right? It's all of God at the same time. It was with a message of avenging wrath that Nahum announced the coming vengeance of the Lord.

God was not only jealous for his destroyed people, but ultimately for his own namesake as well. Again, he's not going to deny himself. He's covenanted to those people and will abide by the terms of the covenant.

Right? So if somebody turns away from God, that's going to result in a consequence. Okay? So as Christians, we live under the grace of God, and God does not change, Malachi 3 .6. He is still a jealous God.

He wants our total allegiance and even more so now since we're comforted with the sacrifice of his own son on our behalf. We have the testimony of Jesus. Paul is our example, for he was jealous for his Christian brothers and sisters at Corinth with a godly jealousy, a jealousy that was ultimately for their benefit, not his.

Here's what he says in 2 Corinthians 11. I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. So it's not like this is the God of the Old Testament that changed and now Jesus appeased him.

He's not jealous anymore. He is a jealous God. All right? In the Bible, the term jealousy has both positive and negative connotations. Negatively, it may denote sinful human envy. But when speaking of God, the term jealousy is used to express God's demand for faithfulness and his zealous protection of those he loves.

I'm drumming this home about God's jealousy because I think it's very important. It's going to set the tone for the rest of the book of Nahum. Okay. So God's jealousy is thus based on two fundamental claims.

First, God made us so we rightly belong to and should love our creator. And second, God purchased us with his acts of deliverance so we rightly belong to the one who saved us. Okay? So he created us and he saved us.

It is right for us to give all our attention, all of our devotion, all of our worship to God alone. Have undivided hearts. When an enemy steals or oppresses Yahweh's people, God exercises perfect jealousy.

That phrase that Yahweh maintains his wrath, because that's what it means. When we get to that word wrath, it's an ongoing wrath. It comes from a word related to gardening. To maintain wrath means to persist against weeds that choke a vine and against foxes that eat the grapes.

So God is continually weeding his garden. He's continually guarding the garden against foxes. God persists in this way for the sake of the Judean remnant. God is not zealous of us. He is zealous for us.

Right? He's not jealous of us. We don't have anything that God needs. He's zealous for us. That's an intense love for his people. A protecting love. The love of a husband who's not going to let his wife run away or let someone come in and damage his relationship with his wife.

Very important we understand that. And here's a definition by Kevin DeYoung, who I love. It says, Bottom line, the jealousy of God is his holy commitment to his honor, glory, and love that manifests itself in the salvation of his people and the just condemnation of all who stand in opposition to him.

Any book by Kevin DeYoung, buy it and read it. He's excellent. Okay, so now we're going to move on from jealousy to avenging. And I know what you're thinking. I know, some of you are like, avenging, I know that.

Oh, that's what, yeah, the Avengers. Is that what God means by avenging? Let's see. All right. Nahum in chapter one, verse two, proceeds to give one of the clearest statements of God's vengeance in the Bible.

Now, I purposely cut out this quote because it is profound when we listen to it, okay? Many people cringe at this aspect of God's character. Undoubtedly, this contributes to the scarcity of references to the book of Nahum in worship services.

However, we cannot afford to ignore or avoid any aspect of God's character. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

We read the Bible to know God. He has told us about himself. A .W. Tozer says, What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. All right. So when we read the scriptures and we try to water down God's wrath or water down his jealousy or water down his avenging.

Right. What are we doing? We're just watering down God, right? We're watering down the truth of who he is. We're changing him. What is the most important question mankind has ever been asked? What would be the most important question you can ask anyone when you're on the street with them evangelizing?

Say again. Right. With regards to Jesus, who do you say Jesus is? Right. Jesus looks at Peter and says, who do you say I am? This is the crux. This is the crux of the situation. Do you say that I'm the Messiah?

Right. Or do you say I'm just a good teacher? Everything comes down to Jesus. He's the focal point. So that's the most important question we have to ask about God. Now, most people try to water Jesus down, Jesus meek and mild.

Jesus is coming back like a lion. He's not Jesus meek and mild. He hates sin, and he will punish it. Okay. We will not know God if we refuse to listen to his self-description. Those who will not allow the Bible to describe God do not worship the God of the Bible.

They worship a God of their own making. Isaiah says that such a person fashions a God or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing. When we read the Bible and we try to distort or water down the things that the Bible tells us, we are moving further away from God.

When we understand what those terms mean, jealousy, wrath, avenging, okay, in their proper context, we move closer to God. Now watch what he says here. This is real important. Whether the idol is fashioned with tools or theology, it is a false God.

Think about how many people use theology to create a different God. Obviously, it's not pure theology. It's not true theology. But they try to build a system, okay, of theology that waters God down, that tames him.

All right. What does C .S. Lewis say about Aslan? All right. Aslan is the lion. He's not to be tamed. All right. He's a fierce God. I think this is an excellent observation because people can use their theology to change or distort what the Bible, what the Scripture says about who God really is.

When you read the Scriptures and you come across something that grates against you, it's probably because you think you're more merciful than God. All right. You have to accept God for who he is and understand him in context.

Okay. So let's continue. Any questions at this point? We're good? Okay. Okay. So is there a difference between avenge and revenge? What is it? Yes, I really. Mm-hmm. What is it? I don't know. I didn't either.

Don't worry. Let's go through. Okay. Avenge is a verb. To avenge is to punish a wrongdoing with the intent of seeing justice. Does that give you a hint of what revenge might be? What do you think revenge is?

Getting even. Right. It's not so much a matter of justice. It's about personal satisfaction. I got them back. Right? Revenge can be used as a noun or a verb. It is more personal, less connected, less concerned with justice, and more about retaliation by inflicting harm.

Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's going, like I think Brother John said, it's going beyond what the law says. That's why the law says an eye for an eye. And people are like, oh, gosh, an eye for an eye.

That's designed to keep you from going further in the punishment. If somebody steals a loaf of bread, you don't kill them. It's not capital punishment. You get capital punishment if you kill another human being.

That's an eye for an eye. Killing somebody for stealing a loaf of bread is going beyond what the law says. Okay? That's why the law has those guidelines. Okay? Dictionary .com says, avenge and revenge both imply to inflict pain or harm in return for pain or harm inflicted on oneself or those persons or causes to which one feels loyalty.

The words were formerly interchangeable but have been differentiated until they now convey widely diverse ideas. Avenge is now restricted to inflicting punishment as an act of retributive justice or as a vindication of propriety to avenge a murder by bringing the criminal to trial.

Revenge implies inflicting pain or harm to retaliate for real or fancied wrongs. So sometimes revenge can be taken against people who haven't even really committed a crime. I thought they did it so I'm just going to go after them.

It's not about justice at that point. The concept of divine vengeance must be understood in the light of Old Testament teaching about the holiness and justice of God and its effect on man as a sinner.

In terms of the presuppositions of some modern Christian theologies, such a god of vengeance will be labeled unchristian and unethical. Understood in the full orb of biblical revelation, balanced as it is by the mercy of God, divine vengeance is seen to be a necessary aspect of the history of redemption.

God's vengeance is a necessary aspect of him bringing about justice on his enemies. We're going to read a little bit more about what this means. Avenge in this verse carries with it the idea of ongoing continuous activity.

God's vengeance in the Old Testament can be described as the punitive retribution of God, who, as the sovereign king, faithful to his covenant, stands up for the vindication of his glorious name in judging and fighting mode, while watching over the maintenance of his justice and acting to save his people.

It is never used for blood revenge, but to defeat his enemies. God is avenging his people and taking his enemies, giving them justice. God avenges. God commands Israel to avenge in Numbers. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites.

Afterward, you shall be gathered to your people. The last one, God commands not to avenge Leviticus 1918. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself, as I am the Lord.

Now, what do you think is going to happen when you when you show somebody these verses about God being an avenging God? Where did all these verses come from? The Old Testament. Oh, but that's just the Old Testament.

That's just the Old Testament. OK, let's see. Romans 12 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Hebrews 10, for we know him who said, Vengeance is mine.

I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. No, it's in the New Testament, too. Right. So this should cause us to pause, humble ourselves, recognize that if you are saved, if you are a Christian and your faith and trust is in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, he's absorbed God's wrath on your behalf.

That's what we deserve. Right. This is going to change the way we act towards other people. This is going to change the way we act towards our enemies. What does Jesus say? Love your enemy. Bless those that persecute you.

Why? Because we will show mercy and grace. We need to show that mercy and grace to our enemies and recognize that we've been spared the wrath of a jealous and vengeful God. Should cause us to humble ourselves, bring us to tears in certain cases.

Yahweh is jealous and avenging, avenging, describes what he does in reaction to the sins of Nineveh. Yahweh is not vengeful by nature, yet his vengeance is mentioned three times in this opening verse.

His vengeance is a response to of his jealousy to particular circumstances. He does. He does take vengeance, but he is not vengeful in character. OK, his wrath is circumstantial, is is a circumstantial response to those who destroy what God loves.

Three expressions provide the context of Yahweh's vengeance in this verse. Jealousy as an attribute of Yahweh filled with wrath against his enemies. Wrath is the righteous response to sin.

Yes, I would say God is God is love. God is jealous.

That's one of his attributes. I would say God is omnipotent. God is righteous. He's holy. Wrath is a response of who he is on those people who sin. OK, so God is not wrath. That's not an attribute of his wrath is the outworking of his justice upon unholy people.

He cannot stand in the presence of wrath. He's going to remain faithful to the covenant. Makes sense, does that? Yeah. Put it this way. If there was a fire, OK, in the room and it was contained, the closer you are to the fire, the hotter you're going to be.

The further you are from the fire, the cooler you're going to be. The fire doesn't change. It's us coming closer to the fire or moving away from the fire. So if we're sinners, we're going to be brought in contact with that fire.

It's going to hurt. Unless we have a savior who stood in our place, in our place, such that we'll be separated from that fire, from the response, God's response towards sin. So it's not that God moves.

We don't move God. God remains constant, static, the same. OK, and he's passionate for his people and he's vengeful, vengeful towards his enemies because that's the proper response of justice. If God didn't do that, he wouldn't be just.

He wouldn't be holy. He wouldn't be loving. Right. Does that help? I know it's kind of. Yeah, Jerry. Sure. Right. Absolutely. Yes. Right. Absolutely. Yeah, it's only until sin comes into the world that God demonstrates wrath towards it.

Exactly. Right. He's going to have a proper response to that sin because because he is love. Right. Romans tells us to hate what is evil, cling to what is good. That means God hates what is evil also.

Makes sense. All right. We're just going to move a little quicker now. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries. Man needs to understand that he cannot fight against God and hope to prevail. Everyone who sets themselves against God will end up receiving his vengeance.

For God to not have overthrown the Assyrians would have meant that he was not true to himself. The character of God means that evil cannot triumph in this world. This is comforting to Nahum, and this should be comforting to us.

We see what's going on in the world today, and it's horrific. But that does not mean that God's not sovereign or in control. The people who rebel against God, who are murdering innocent people, are going to receive the just penalty.

For if God does not destroy the evil human beings have brought into God's good creation, the world can never return to the wholeness he intended for it in the beginning. To divest God of his function as destroyer of wrong is to acquiesce to the present corrupt state of the world.

To accept the sinful status quo and simply to put up with whatever is done by selfish and prideful and corrupted men and women. Do you see what he's saying there? God must do this in order to restore the garden back to what it was.

Perfection. Sinlessness. God's love also ignites his wrath against any who would draw us away from him. If God did not care when our hearts are far from him, or when we adulterously give our hearts to the world, he would not be loving us.

If God did not care that the world, the flesh, and the devil attempt to seduce us away from him, he would not love us. If God could watch us suffer grievous injustice without punishing evil, he would not love us.

The notion of a love without jealousy and vengeance cannot survive a thorough biblical examination. It is a concept lacking power. It is apathy masquerading as virtue. That's a heavy statement. This guy, Gregory Cook, has become my new favorite commenter with regards to Nahum.

I looked up to see if he has any other books. He doesn't, but this is a gem. So if God didn't punish evil, he says it's apathy masquerading as virtue. Are we as concerned about sin as God is concerned about sin?

That's what we need to worry about. Not worry. That's what we need to be concerned with. We have to be as vigilant against sin as God is. We're too complacent in our sin. We have to recognize God is a jealous God.

He's an avenging God. Alright, so we're getting close to the end. We're getting wrathful. I've got to move. A noun meaning wrath, heat. Figuratively, it can signify anger, hot displeasure, indignation, poison, or rage.

The noun describes the great fury that the kings of the north executed in their art of destruction. So now we're up to that last word, wrathful. I know we're moving very quickly, right? This vengeful and jealous God is also a wrathful, literally a baal of wrath.

That is a master, lord, or husband of wrath. That's an interesting way to describe it. Hebrew has several ways of expressing God's anger or ire. Nahum used the term hema, which can refer to heat or poison.

God's wrath is his inner fire against sin and is always raised by human disobedience. It is not the result of frustration or impatience and results in visible consequences. So that goes back to my illustration with the fire.

The closer you get to the fire, the hotter it's going to be. You could get burned. We don't play with fire. Such actuality of wrath demonstrated God's power both to his people in their need and to the enemies in their pride and self-sufficiency.

That would be the Ninevites. It called for faith from God's people. Wrath did not automatically bring destruction and judgment. Human repentance and divine mercy often acted to turn God away from his wrath.