The Pulpit Commentary — Nahum — Section 16

consider has boen done to ue; whereas the same word as applied to God carrie~ wit!, it no such idea of vindictiveness, but simply a pure desire that the cause of justice and rectitude may be eotabliehed and secure complete vindication. Since this brief book of propliecy hue almost exclusive reference to the Divine judgments to fall upon the Aseyrinns, it is all-important that we clearly underetanel at the outset that Divine vengeance has absolutely no malice in it, and is ever exercised in the maintenance of righteousness. This is indicated in the next verse in three particulars (ver. 3). 1. The Divine Blowness, "The Lord is slow to anger." Vindictiveness will not brook delay; hum~n vengeance reckons with its victims at the earliest moment; revenge burns; passion rages; but the Di vine vengeance delays, that perchance, through penitence, the blow may not be required to fall. 2. The restraining qf Divine power. Man, cherishing the spirit of vindictiveness, sometimes lin:~ers because cooscious of bis want of power to inflict the penalty; but God "great in power" (ver. 3) restrains his might, holds back his avenging hand, that" space for repentance" may be given, and the fact be made manifest that he " desires not the death of the wicked." 3. The Divine concern/or the maintenance of his pure Law. "And will not at all acquit the wicked" (ver. 3). His vengeance is not vindictive, but is exercised in order that the supremacy of his holy Law may be asserted. He has graciously made provision for the forgiveness of sin and the salvation of transgressors from condemnation (Rom. viii. 1), and they who wilfully persist in iniquity must bear the consequences, which will light upon them, not because God is vindictive, but because the honour of his pure Law must be sustained. II. THIS ASPECT OF THE DIVINE CHARACTER IS SET FORTH IN GRAPHIC IMAGERY. (Vers. 3-6.) For sublimity;and grandeur this passage stands unrivalled. The Divine vengeance is presented to us here: I. In its irresistibleness. Like the whirlwind, it sweeps everything before it (ver. 3). 2. In its terribleness. In vivid symbolical language all nature is represented as full of terror at the Divine manifestations (ver. 5). 3. In its destructiveness. Desolation is brought a.bout-the sea and the rivers a.re dried up at the rebuke of the Lord ; the rich pastures of Basha.n, the beautiful gardens of Carmel, and the fra 6rant flowers and fruitful vines and stately trees of Lebanon languish (ver. 4); as a devouring fire this vengeance consumes in every direction (vers. 5, 6); yea, ·so mighty is it that the very rocks crumble to pieces when it is put forth (ver. 6). III. THIS VIEW OF OUR GOD IS PRESSED HOME UPON OUR HEARTS BY EARNEST INQUIRY. "Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fiercemss of his anger?" (ver. 6). The design of the questions is to quicken conscience. They contain and suggest the answers. Humbled in the very dust of self-abasement, we cry, "Enter not into judgment with thy servants, 0 Lord; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified" (Ps. cxlili. 2).-S. D. H. Ver. 7.-The Divine goodness. "The Lord is good." The word "good" is used here in the sense of the desire to promote happiness. The prophet affirms that "the Lord" possesses this disposition-that whilst he is powerful he exerts this power in saving, not in destroying, "judgment" being "his strange work; " that whilst his presence fills all space, and his omniscient eye penetrates all, he is concerned, in his watchfulness, that none of the creatures he has formed should la.ck the blessings his bounteous hand has to bestow; and that as he is eternal in his duration, so the streams of his bounty shall ever continue to flow. "The Lord is good." This inspiring truth was revealed even from the earliest times, and is inscribed in Scripture upon every page. Abram in the vision by night (Gen. xv.), Jacob in his weary wanderings (Gen. xxviii. 10-22), and Moses in "the holy mount" (Exod. xxxiii. 19), were alike favoured with special revelations of it. The very thought of God thus woke up within the psalmist the faculty of song, and led him to strike his lyre and to sing with holy fervour, "Thou, Lord, art good nnd ready to forgive" (Ps. lxxxvi. 5); "They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness." etc. (Ps. cxlv. 7); " Oh, taste and see," etc. (Ps. xxxi v. 8). And prophets unite witii ps,1lmists in bearing this testimony (Jer. xxxiii. 11; Isa. !xiii. 7). Very different was the conception formed by the heathen. We think of the tyranny, caprice, and revenge supposed to characterize heathen deities, the acts of cruelty ascribed to them, the impurity of heathen rites, and the wearisomeness of heathen penances, and we rP-joice that the voice from heaven h11.::1 14 THE BOOK OF NAHUM. [ou. 1. 1-15.