Sermon Tone Analysis

Major Messages from the Minor Prophets: God is our Body Guard—Nahum

Text: Nahum 1:7

Theme: God is our refuge in times of trouble.

Date: 10/30/2016 File name: MinorProphets_12.wpd

ID Number: 227

It is never easy to live under oppression.

Whether it’s the oppression of a prolonged illness, or the oppression of mental depression, or the oppression of religious persecution, or the oppression of an abusive relationship, or the oppression of devastating grief, or the oppression of a besetting sin, oppression — any way it comes to us — is a difficult burden to live under.

When the Prophet Nahum recorded his oracle, the people of ancient Israel had lived under the vassalage of Assyria for 100 years.

It had been a harsh oppression.

Assyria was a cruel oppressor who victimized its neighbors.

Assyria was the mid-east’s soul superpower of that day, and they were at the height of their power.

Their capitol city was Nineveh, and their evil touched the whole middle east.

The Prophet Nahum wrote 150 years after the time of Jonah.

If you remember, Jonah’s message was short and to the point, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4, NKJV).

The city, from the king to the dogcatcher, repented.

Have you ever wondered what happened to Nineveh after that?

The short prophetic book of Nahum tells us “the rest of the story.”

Their repentance has “worn off” and they have sunken deeply into all kinds of sin.

Ninevah was again a place of unparalleled wickedness.

It was also the wealthiest city in the world, furnished with priceless objects taken as plunder from conquered nations.

Nahum’s prophecy is about the impending destruction of the Assyrian empire.

His message would have been considered subversive, and if a copy of his prophecy would have come into the hands of Assyrian bureaucrats in any of the four administrative centers scattered throughout Israel, retribution would be swift.

The judgment Nahum prophesied took place in 612 BC.

He is writing in about 650 BC. — about thirty-five years before the event.

In the mean time, the people felt hopeless.

In the midst of oppression, the people of Judah had several options:

I. WHEN OPPRESSION COMES YOU CAN SINK INTO AN EVER DEEPENING STATE OF DESPAIR

1. this is what the people of Judah did

2. for decade after decade Judah felt the oppressive hand of Assyria upon her throat

a. they knew nothing but bad news after bad news

3. the result was an ever deepening state of despair

ILLUS.