BBB Bible Series: Ahem, - Nahum Calling Quiz

Answer: The utter destruction of Nineveh

Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria, lay just across the river from the current city of Mosul in the modern-day country of Iraq. After Jonah's not-so-willing visit to the city, the inhabitants who had repented of their evil ways resumed speed again about 150 years later as they reverted back to their ruthless practices.

God had given them a time frame to repent during the time of Jonah, and his very terse sermon consisted of "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Upon receipt of his warning, the king and all the people of the city turned from their evil ways, and God relented.

By the time of Nahum, however, things were different. The Ninevites had begun anew with their heartless cruelties; beheading their enemies, blinding warriors, torturing children, chopping off people's hands and impaling their victims on stakes.

Nahum stepped to the forefront of prophecy against them and predicted their destruction. His prophecy was fulfilled in 612 B.C. so we can be fairly certain that the time of Nahum's oracle was somewhere between 663 and 612 B.C.

Answer: With an overrunning flood

Nahum 1:8 says that Nineveh would be utterly destroyed. "But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies."

Nineveh was an OLD city, built during the time of Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah! This pagan city had raided Israel repeatedly over time and pillaged the land and slain its population numerous times. They were known throughout the region as being incredibly ruthless to the point of barbarism. The flood that caused the downfall of Nineveh was caused by a fatal flaw in engineering, dating all the way back to the city's founding. The city lay at the junction of the Khosr River and the Tigris River. The sun-dried bricks that had been used in its construction simply dissolved in the flood waters, thus granting their enemies access UNDERNEATH the city walls. This was a remarkable fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy found in 2:6 - "The gates of the river shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved." (King James Version)

Answer: The Assyrian

The Assyrians had conquered the city of Nineveh in a move that propelled them into status as a "world power" beginning in 1300 B.C. and lasting for nearly two centuries. In 722 B.C. King Shalmaneser of Assyria began a long siege of Samaria, the capital city of Israel, and the end result was complete destruction of the city. Thousands of Jews were deported to Assyria, and the northern kingdom of Israel never fully recovered from its losses. (Now, if you were wondering why Jonah had detested the idea of warning these cruel and aggressive folks, wonder no more.)

The southern kingdom of Judah also suffered from oppression by the Assyrians. King Ahaz of Judah entered an alliance with King Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria later and as a result of this unnatural alliance with the enemy, was forced to pay tribute to them and adopt some of their pagan worship practices.

Answer: The citizens would be shot with arrows

While the other choices given are all mentioned, the text does not specifically state that arrows would be used on the populace of Nineveh.

"The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet; chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways; they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings."

The walls of the city were thick, impregnable from without, and Nineveh NEVER worried about a breach in its walls. To give you an idea of just how much confidence the Ninevites had in their city, consider this:

Nineveh became the mightiest city on earth because its walls were 100 feet high and were wide enough on the top to accommodate three chariots standing abreast, and placed strategically around the top of the wall were huge towers that stood an ADDITIONAL 100 feet tall! These wall were surrounded on the outside by a moat that was 150 feet wide and 60 feet deep. The city was designed to withstand a 20 year siege, with enough foodstuffs in store to support its huge population for that long. Nahum's prophecy flew in the face of all the conventional wisdom of the day, and must have seemed totally ludicrous to anyone who knew about Nineveh's strength.

Answer: Hadad

While all of these were worshiped by the Assyrians, Hadad served as their god of thunder. Assur was their national god, hence the name "Assyrian"; Shemach was their god of the sun; and Sin was their god of the moon.

Nahum's prophecy toward Nineveh differs from that of Jonah, who had visited the city about a century earlier. This time, there would be no escape from God's judgment, no hope of repentance, because their evil was complete in His eyes. Nahum, therefore, was not sent to talk to them but simply spoke his message from afar.

Answer: To comfort or to console

Nahum can mean to comfort or console or even to be sorrowful for. The name Nehemiah roughly translates as "comfort of Yahweh" or comfort of God. Nahum's sorrow was for his own people, for the inhabitants of Israel and Judah. His prophecy was against the Ninevites because they had once repented of their evil ways, yet had returned to them with a vengeance.

I am reminded of a statement made by Simon Peter in 2 Peter 2:21-22, which states, "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."

This is exactly what happened in the ancient city of Nineveh; the word of God had come to them via Jonah; they had accepted it and turned from their evils, yet eventually turned back again to the same behavior as before. I believe that this stands as a warning for all people throughout all ages of time in this thought.

Answer: Babylonians

Once the walls of the city had been weakened and damaged during the flooding of the Tigris River, the Babylonians (and possibly the Scythians with them) came in and plundered and ravaged the city, setting it on fire, and thus fulfilled Nahum's prophecy in 2:3-4.

In Nahum 2:13, we see the following statement regarding the absolute destruction of Nineveh:

"Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour the young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard."

The Babylonian empire was largely located in Lower Mesopotamia, while the Assyrian empire dominated the regions of Upper Mesopotamia. Naturally, once the Assyrians weakened in might and the Babylonians gained in strength, it was only a matter of time before such a move would be effected.

The Scythians were a nomadic people from the regions of modern-day Iran and southeastern Europe and Central Asia. They were not actually an empire, but rather, opportunists, and quite well may have assisted the Babylonians in their conquering of Nineveh.

Answer: True

True. Nahum 3:4 plainly states, "Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts."

This is similar to the prophecy of John in Revelation regarding the "great whore of Babylon". Ironically, perhaps, it was the Babylonians who were to replace the Assyrians in barbarism, cruelty and even possessed their city. They proved to be just as bad, if not worse, than the Assyrian people that they displaced.

Answer: abominable filth

"And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make the vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock."

As if the Ninevites weren't already vile enough, God says that He will make them more so. The word "gazingstock" means something akin to a horrible example to be looked upon in horror and dismay.

Answer: thou shalt be hid

In Nahum 3:11 we read, "Thou also shalt be drunken: THOU SHALT BE HID, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

After Nineveh's destruction, the prophecy certainly came to pass. This event took place 612 years PRIOR to the birth of Christ, yet it was 1842 years AFTER the birth of Christ that archaeologists finally rediscovered the site of the city, across the river from modern-day Mosul, Iraq. The drunken part of the prophecy could certainly imply being hard hit from their enemies, (punch-drunk if you will); and the latter part of the verse says that they would seek strength. It did not say that they would find it, however. Just as their city was destroyed, and their evil ways stopped, the people who replaced them, the Babylonians, were also notorious in their own right. Their judgments are spoken of in the book of Ezekiel.