Nahum 2:11-3:19		“A Message of Mockery”				July 29, 2007

Nahum is a very useful book for understanding how God thinks about the nations.
	Those prophets who focus on Israel or Judah can be difficult to apply to modern nations
		(like America)
		because Israel was the people of God—the OT church.
	But Nahum tells us what God thinks of the city of man, proud in his rebellion.

Last time we went through the first half of Nahum.
	We saw that Nahum brings a message of comfort to Judah,
		and that this message of comfort includes the promise 
       that Ninevah will be destroyed.
	The name “Nahum” means “comfort,” 
		and for an oppressed and troubled people, the promised defeat of their enemies
		is truly a message of comfort.

Last time we saw that Yahweh is the Divine Warrior who defeats his enemies.
	He is the one who rides upon the clouds and overthrows his enemies.

We ended at 2:10 –
	right in the middle of the paragraph, as far as the ESV is concerned.
But others have pointed out that there is a shift in tone between 2:10 and 2:11.

2:3-10 consists of a vision of the destruction of Ninevah.
	Starting in 2:11 we see a long string of “taunts.”

We teach our children not to make fun of people.
	And children, it is important not to make fun of people who are weaker than you are.
	It is important not to make fun of people who cannot defend themselves.
	If you mock those who are helpless, then you are simply being mean.

But there is a place for mockery.
	Taunts and insults are useful and proper – when used properly!

So if you want to learn how to use insults and mockery, keep listening!

First of all, always mock someone who is bigger and stronger than you are!
	Now, that might seem counter-productive.
	After all, they can beat you up!
	Mocking the playground bully never worked very well in grade school, did it?

So when picking a target for your insults, you need at least one more principle!

Secondly, always mock someone whom God says to mock!

Ninevah is a good example of this!
	And so as we look at Nahum’s mockery of Ninevah,
		we should apply this to how we are to mock all powers that arise against God.
	Yes, they are bigger and stronger than we are!
	But our God is bigger than them!
The playground bully may be bigger than you are,
	but you can mock the playground bully 
       if your big brother is about to pound him to a pulp!

The best targets for our mockery are temptation, sin, death, and the devil.
	There may also be appropriate times where the powers of sin and death 
       are manifested in human affairs.
	Civil rulers who oppress the church, and other social powers may be appropriate at times,
		but these require more care, because we do not know their end.
	
Ninevah is a good example of this.
	Jonah would have loved to have mocked Ninevah,
		but God called him to call Ninevah to repentance instead.
	So mocking the nations without God’s direct call is a dangerous occupation!

Tonight we will look at the seven taunts of Nahum 2:11-3:19.
	Seven taunts – the number of completeness.
	Seven taunts, and Ninevah will be no more!

1. The Lion Taunt (2:11-13)
Where is the lions’ den, the feeding place of the young lions,
	where the lion and lioness went, where his cubs were, with none to disturb?

Assyrian art is dominated by the lion – the emblem of the Assyrian empire.
	Where is the lions’ den?
	Where is the place where Ninevah nurtured her cubs?

So the first lesson of a good insult is that you need to attack your target’s strengths.

This is a very different approach from most of the insults we hear around us.
	Jay Leno and David Letterman are constantly mocking people – 
		but they target people’s weaknesses.
	If a celebrity has stumbled, they mercilessly zero in on them and ridicule them publicly.

This is not a godly approach to mockery.

Do not mock the weak –
	neither should you focus on the weaknesses of your enemies.

Notice verses 12-13:
	The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses;
		he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.

	(If you know anything about lions, you know that the lionesses are the ones that hunt.
		Nahum is not describing what lions do –
			he is describing what the King of Ninevah has done.)

	Nahum points out that the King of Ninevah has provided for all his people.
	He is strong and powerful.

But,
Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke,
        and the sword shall devour your young lions.
I will cut off your prey from the earth, 
        and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

The reason why you can mock your enemies is because the LORD of hosts is against them.
	So when temptation strikes,
		when the world, the flesh and the devil seek to lure you away from God,
		you may respond by going after the very heart of that temptation.

	What is that temptation offering you?
		Power? Pleasure? Peace? 
	Don’t pussyfoot around by trying to find the weakness of the temptation.
	Go after its strength!

2. Woe against Ninevah (3:1-3)
Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder – no end to the prey!
	The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
	Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, 
		hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end –
	they stumble over the bodies!

The bloody city is all full of lies and plunder.
	But it will be overthrown.
	Indeed, the destruction will be so great,
		that the invading army will stumble over the corpses.

I know that some people have some difficulty with singing some of the Psalms 
       because of this sort of imagery.
But really, what that means is that we need to change.
	We need to realize that God is indeed a God of judgment 
		who will in fact bring judgment upon all who oppose his will.
	And we need to be willing to (as Jesus put it) 
		“shake off the dust from your feet” 
       when a house or town refuses to hear the gospel, because (as Jesus put it)
		“it will be more bearable on the day of judgment 
       for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town” (Matt 10:14-15)
	Judgment is coming against all the earth.
	The city of man is under the judgment of God.

And Nahum’s taunting of Ninevah is simply one part of a long and honorable list
	of prophetic taunts against cities that oppose the word of the Lord.

3. Sorceress-Harlot Taunt (3:4-7)
The harlot taunt of verses 4-7 has very strong connections with the Babylon language
	of the book of Revelation:

And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, gracefully and of deadly charms,
	who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.
Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts,
	and will lift up your skirts over your face;
	and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.
	I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.
And all who look at you will shrink from you and say,
	Wasted is Ninevah; who will grieve for her?
	Where shall I seek comforters for you?

Cities in the ancient world were described as feminine –
	and especially in scripture, cities are viewed as the consorts of their gods.
Jerusalem is the city of God, the wife of Yahweh.

Ninevah is a prostitute who has whored with the kings of the earth,
	seducing them with her charms (charm here has a definite “magical” aspect).
She is a prostitute, but she is also a sorceress.
	She has held the nations spellbound with her charms,
		but the day of reckoning has come!

So the first taunt went after the king of Ninevah as the mighty lion.
Now the rest of the taunts are focusing on the city itself—
	the harlot, whose very charms are now revealed in filth.
The outward beauty of the seductress is now covered with filth and refuse,
	revealed for what it is: filled with death.

Remember that when Nahum writes this,
	Ninevah is still the most powerful city in the world.
Nahum, whose name means “comfort,” declares that there will be no comforters –
	no Nahums for Ninevah.

4. Thebes Taunt (3:8-10)
We saw last time that the greatest glory of the Assyrian empire 
       was achieved through their triumph over the Egyptian capital of Thebes.
Now Nahum goes after that very triumph –
	once again mocking Ninevah’s strengths!

Are you better than Thebes (just to give you a sense of proportion, 
       this would be like asking the American military,
		“are you better than the Iraqi army?”)

Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, 
	her rampart a sea, and water her wall?
Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit;
	Put and the Libyans were her helpers.

Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity;
	her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street;
	for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.

Nahum says to Ninevah (and to all other cities that will not bow to God),
	Don’t think for a minute that you are invincible!
	If it can happen to Thebes, it can happen to you.

5. Worthless Defenses Taunt (3:11-15c)
Ninevah was a strong city.
	But Nahum mocks its defenses as entirely inadequate for the assault that is coming.

You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
	All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs –
		if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.
	Behold, your troops are women in your midst.
	The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.

Perhaps the 1980s way of saying this would be “your troops are girly-men!”
	 So Nahum mocks their preparations for defense:
	Draw water for the siege; strengthen your forts; 
        go into the clay; tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold!
	There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off.

Do your best – but it will not work!

Even so, we may speak to the tempter:
	You think you’re tough – but I know that you’ve got nothing!
	
Here’s a caution:
	Do not, for a minute, pretend that you are stronger than temptation.
	Notice that Nahum does not go to Ninevah, stand in the city square and say,
		Your troops are women in your midst!

I seriously doubt that the book of Nahum would ever have been written if he had done that!
	Nahum does not think that he can overthrow Ninevah.

And even so, you cannot defeat temptation.
	You cannot overthrow the devil.

The reason why you can mock the world, the flesh and the devil
	is because Jesus has triumphed.

Jesus, the LORD of Hosts, is bigger and stronger and tougher than the powers that assail you.
	But his way of overthrowing them is not what we might expect.
	He triumphed over them through the cross.

Paul says in Colossians 2:15,
	He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame,
		by triumphing over them in it.

	Jesus has made a public spectacle of the powers by the cross.
	But this is the strangest sort of public spectacle ever seen.

	Because the only public spectacle visible to human eyes
		was the public spectacle of the derelict on the cross.
	And yet Paul says that to the eyes of faith,
		the cross was the public mockery – the public shaming –
			of the powers.

But the foolishness of the cross is wiser than human wisdom.
	The weakness of the cross is more powerful than human strength.

And through the cross, God is pleased is triumph over his enemies.

6. Locust Taunt (3:15d-17)
And so Nahum goes on:
	Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!
	You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens.
	The locust spreads its wings and flies away.
	Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts
		settling on the fences in a day of cold—
		when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they are.
You may be as numerous as the locusts,
	but you will also be as transient.

Every empire thinks that it will last forever.
	But none ever does.
American power may reign supreme for another five years, or for five hundred.
	But every empire fades away.
	
And over every empire, Nahum’s closing sarcastic dirge may be sung:

7. Sarcastic Dirge (3:18-19)
No matter how benevolent an empire may think itself to be,
	every empire looks out first for itself and its own interests.
But such a self-centered focus will invariably create enemies 
       who will one day overthrow the empire.

Augustine rightly noted that emperors and kings must observe the golden rule.
	The rule of love must dictate the actions of Christian rulers.
	If a king does not love his enemies, then he is not a servant of Christ.

Nahum speaks to Assyria, laughing at their plight.
	
Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber.
Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them.

When the leaders are asleep, there is no one to protect the people.
	That sleep is not usually literal sleep.
	Rather it is a moral indifference to the future of the nation.

God’s law of nations is clear:
	a nation that is proud and exalts itself over him will be destroyed.
So any ruler who neglects this is asleep at the rudder.

There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you.
For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?

As you have done to others, so will it be done to you!
	God’s judgment against Ninevah is a warning 
       against all nations that rise up against his anointed one.
Revelation 18 and the destruction of every city that refuse to heed the Christ.
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