Woe to Ungodly Nineveh!

Nahum 3:1-11 

1 Woe to the bloody city!
It is all full of lies and robbery.
Its victim never departs.

2 The noise of a whip
And the noise of rattling wheels,
Of galloping horses,
Of clattering chariots!

3 Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear.
There is a multitude of slain,
A great number of bodies,
Countless corpses—
They stumble over the corpses—

4 Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot,
The mistress of sorceries,
Who sells nations through her harlotries,
And families through her sorceries.

5 "Behold, I am against you," says the LORD of hosts;
"I will lift your skirts over your face,
I will show the nations your nakedness,
And the kingdoms your shame.

6 I will cast abominable filth upon you,
Make you vile,
And make you a spectacle.

7 It shall come to pass that all who look upon you
Will flee from you, and say,
'Nineveh is laid waste!
Who will bemoan her?'
Where shall I seek comforters for you?"

8 Are you better than No Amon
That was situated by the River,
That had the waters around her,
Whose rampart was the sea,
Whose wall was the sea?

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
And it was boundless;
Put and Lubim were your helpers.

10 Yet she was carried away,
She went into captivity;
Her young children also were dashed to pieces
At the head of every street;
They cast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound in chains.

11 You also will be drunk;
You will be hidden;
You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

Nineveh is laid waste, who will mourn her passing?  That was the epitaph echoed by the messenger Nahum at the fall of that great city who once repented almost two generations earlier but had forgotten God and gone back into unrighteousness and evil deeds against her neighbors.  God had therefore spoken lamentations of woe to that city of blood, lies, and plundering.  Yes, woe to ungodly Nineveh!  Judgment had come to their doorstep once more, but this time they did not repent as their forefathers had at the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:5, Luke 11:32).  The first was used as an example by Jesus Christ of those who listened to Jonah and repented as a warning to those not listening to Him for eternal deliverance.  The message this second time to Nineveh likewise fell on deaf and unrepentant ears to their immediate as well as eternal destruction instead of salvation.  Nineveh would be overrun by war and laid waste as a result of this rejection of God.  Their physical and spiritual harlotries as of a seductive harlot and as a mistress of sorceries of ungodly influence brought shame and judgment down on her head at last.  The wages of all sin is death (Romans 6:23), and these went out of their way to grossly outdo themselves to offend the LORD in their rejection of His word given to live by.  God brought them down to display as a spectacle of judgment against sin that others might see or hear of it by spoken or written words and turn from that sin to Him.  God used Nahum to remind these of other great cities who were similarly devastated because of their idolatry and immortality in denying Him and His word of commands to live by.  He reminded them that they would be driven to drunken hopelessness without refuge in the night of other great nations who were no stronger and of no assistance to deliver them.  Only the LORD God can deliver from His own hand.  That also is the gospel of Jesus Christ which we proclaim to others throughout history and into the future until His return.  Turn and live as Ezekiel 18:23 implores!  Do not follow the bad example of Nineveh.