Nahum 1:2

1:1-8 About a hundred years before, at Jonah's preaching, the Ninevites repented, and were spared, yet, soon after, they became worse than ever. Nineveh knows not that God who contends with her, but is told what a God he is. It is good for all to mix faith with what is here said concerning Him, which speaks great terror to the wicked, and comfort to believers. Let each take his portion from it: let sinners read it and tremble; and let saints read it and triumph. The anger of the Lord is contrasted with his goodness to his people. Perhaps they are obscure and little regarded in the world, but the Lord knows them. The Scripture character of Jehovah agrees not with the views of proud reasoners. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is slow to wrath and ready to forgive, but he will by no means acquit the wicked; and there is tribulation and anguish for every soul that doeth evil: but who duly regards the power of his wrath?

Nahum 1:2-3 . God is jealous — For his own glory; and the Lord revengeth — Or rather, avengeth, namely, the cause, or ill treatment, of his people, as being the Supreme Governor, who, by office, is bound to deliver the oppressed, and punish the oppressor: he also vindicates his own insulted honour. And is furious — Or rather, is angry. In the Hebrew it is literally, And is the Lord of anger, or wrath; that is, can easily give effect to his anger, or execute what it prompts him to. It would be well if the epithet furious were for ever banished from the sacred writings; and, indeed, from all others, when speaking of God. He reserveth wrath for his enemies — There is nothing in the Hebrew to answer the word wrath; it is only, He reserveth for his enemies. Some supply the word punishment; He has punishment in store to execute upon his enemies, when he pleaseth. The Lord is slow to anger, and great [rather, although he be great] in power, and [or, but] will not at all acquit the wicked — The sense of the clause seems to be, that although God defers punishment, yet he has it in his power to inflict it at all times; and though it be long delayed, yet it will, in the end, overtake the wicked, unless the long-suffering of God lead them to repentance. The Lord hath his way — The method of his providence; in the whirlwind — Which often riseth suddenly, and beareth before it all things that stand in its way.

Thus God’s judgments often come unexpectedly, and are irresistible, and most terribly destructive. And the clouds are the dust of his feet — He makes the clouds his chariot, and employs them to whatever purpose he pleases. This and the two following verses are a very noble and majestic description of the power of the Almighty.

(2-8) God’s character a pledge that the oppressor of His servants shall be destroyed. (2) God . . . furious.—Better, A jealous and vengeful God is Jehovah, an avenger is Jehovah, aye, wrathful. This verse lays the groundwork for the declaration of God’s sentence against the offending city. There are, of course, several passages in the Law which attribute the same character to Jehovah, e.g., Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 4:24. Nahum’s model, however, is a passage of opposite purport, the well-known proclamation of Jehovah’s attribute of mercy (Exodus 34:6-7). To that passage the present is a kind of counterpoise, Êl kannô v’nôkêm here being the pendant to Êl rachoom v’channoon there.

God is {d} jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and {e} is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. (d) Meaning, of his glory. (e) With his own he is but angry for a time, but his anger is never appeased toward the reprobate, even though he defers it for a time.

God; the mighty God, so the French version, and the Hebrew la implieth it. Is jealous; his love is fervent for his people, his displeasure hot against his and their enemies, whose idolatries he will not long bear against himself, nor their cruelties and rage against his people; but, as jealous for his people’s good, and for his own glory, he will appear and act: so Isaiah 42:13 Ezekiel 39:25 Zechariah 1:14 8:2 . The Lord; Jehovah, the everlasting and unchangeable God, the same always towards his people. Revengeth ; as supreme Governor, who by office is, and accounts himself, bound to right the oppressed, and to punish the oppressor; so vengeance is the Lord’s, and he will repay. The Lord revengeth; it is repeated for confirming the truth, and to affect the wicked with terror, and to awaken them to a timely repentance; to affect God’s own people with joy and hope, that they may wait on him till they see the vengeance from God, mighty, judge, zealous, unchangeable, and eternal. Is furious, Heb. is Lord or Master of fury ; not like furious men, who cannot command or govern their anger, but grow suddenly furious, and as suddenly pour it forth, whether seasonably or unseasonably they regard not; but God, who here threatens enemies, and comforts his friends, is as much Lord of his anger, as he is Lord of power and wisdom to execute his displeasure in fittest time. Will take vengeance; when it is most seasonable he should do it he most certainly will do it.

He reserveth wrath: this explains the former phrase, Lord of fury; God restrains and keeps in his own anger, which grows greater by the sufferings of his people and sins of his enemies. God; the mighty God, so the French version, and the Hebrew la implieth it. Is jealous; his love is fervent for his people, his displeasure hot against his and their enemies, whose idolatries he will not long bear against himself, nor their cruelties and rage against his people; but, as jealous for his people’s good, and for his own glory, he will appear and act: so Isaiah 42:13 Ezekiel 39:25 Zechariah 1:14 8:2 . The Lord; Jehovah, the everlasting and unchangeable God, the same always towards his people. Revengeth ; as supreme Governor, who by office is, and accounts himself, bound to right the oppressed, and to punish the oppressor; so vengeance is the Lord’s, and he will repay. The Lord revengeth; it is repeated for confirming the truth, and to affect the wicked with terror, and to awaken them to a timely repentance; to affect God’s own people with joy and hope, that they may wait on him till they see the vengeance from God, mighty, judge, zealous, unchangeable, and eternal.

2 . God is jealous ] The original order of words being retained: A jealous God and vengeful is Jehovah, Jehovah is vengeful and wrathful; Jehovah is vengeful upon His adversaries, And retaineth wrath against His enemies. “Jealousy” is the reaction of injured self-consciousness, it is God’s resentful self-assertion when He Himself, or that which is His, as His people or land, is too nearly touched; Deuteronomy 4:23-24 ; Joshua 24:19 ; Exodus 20:5 ; Exodus 34:14 . Here His “jealousy” is awakened by the long-continued injuries inflicted on His people. The form of spelling the Heb. word “jealous” occurs again Joshua 24:19 ; the more usual form, Exodus 20:5 . “Wrathful” is lit. the possessor , cherisher, of wrath ; the phrase again, Proverbs 29:22 , cf. Proverbs 22:24 . On the “vengeance” of God, comp. Isaiah 63:4 “the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come”; Isaiah 34:8 ; Isaiah 61:2 . After “retaineth” wrath is understood, Jeremiah 3:5 ; Psalm 103:9 . 2–6 . An introduction on the attributes of Jehovah, God of Israel The introduction, Nahum 1:2-6 , leads up to Jehovah’s interposition against Nineveh: (1) Nahum 1:2-3 a His moral attributes; (2) Nahum 1:3 b – Nahum 1:6 the activity of these attributes when He reveals Himself in the Theophany of the tempest.

2. jealous—In this there is sternness, yet tender affection. We are jealous only of those we love: a husband, of a wife; a king, of his subjects' loyalty. God is jealous of men because He loves them. God will not bear a rival in His claims on them. His burning jealousy for His own wounded honor and their love, as much as His justice, accounts for all His fearful judgments: the flood, the destruction of Jerusalem, that of Nineveh. His jealousy will not admit of His friends being oppressed, and their enemies flourishing (compare Ex 20:5; 1Co 16:22; 2Co 11:2). Burning zeal enters into the idea in "jealous" here (compare Nu 25:11, 13; 1Ki 19:10). the Lord revengeth … Lord revengeth—The repetition of the incommunicable name Jehovah, and of His revenging, gives an awful solemnity to the introduction. furious—literally, "a master of fury." So a master of the tongue, that is, "eloquent." "One who, if He pleases, can most readily give effect to His fury" [Grotius]. Nahum has in view the provocation to fury given to God by the Assyrians, after having carried away the ten tribes, now proceeding to invade Judea under Hezekiah. reserveth wrath for his enemies—reserves it against His own appointed time (2Pe 2:9). After long waiting for their repentance in vain, at length punishing them. A wrong estimate of Jehovah is formed from His suspending punishment: it is not that He is insensible or dilatory, but He reserves wrath for His own fit time.

Verses 2-6. - § 2. The prophet describes the inflexible justice of God, and illustrates his irresistible power by the control which he exercises over the material world. Verse 2. - God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; better, Jehovah is a jealous and avenging God, as Exodus 20:5 ; Deuteronomy 4:24 ; Joshua 24:19 . The threefold repetition of the name of Jehovah and the attribute "avenging" gives a wonderful force to this sublime description of the Divine character. God is here called jealous ( ζηλωτὴς , Septuagint) anthropopothically, as ready to defend his honour against all who oppose him, as One who loves his people and punishes their oppressors. Is furious; literally, master of fury, as Genesis 37:19 , "master of dreams." The Lord is full of wrath (comp. Proverbs 10:12 :24; 29:22). The word used implies a permanent feeling, Hire the Greek μῆνις . He reserveth wrath. The Hebrew is simply "watching," "observing" for punishment. Septuagint, ἐξαίρων αὐτὸς τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ , "himself cutting off his enemies;" Vulgate, irascens ipse inimicis ejus . God withholds his hand for a time, but does not forget. All this description of God's attributes is intended to show that the destruction of Assyria is his doing, and that its accomplishment is certain. Nahum 1:2