Woe to Nineveh
This week's late goodness is on Nahum 3:1-4:
This is an interesting set of verses. Nineveh was a city in what is now northern Iraq, which was dedicated to the ancient sex goddess Ishtar, kind of a middle-eastern Aphrodite or Venus. They would worship her with temple prostitutes. Her symbol was a mighty lion. The city appeared blessed, because it was on a major trade route. It was like New York City, Paris, or London, where every trader seemed to go to do business. It was also incredibly secure. It had thick high walls surrounding it, with guard towers full of armed soldiers at each gate. Looking at it, you would have no reason to believe that it had anything but the rich blessing of God on it.
Nineveh, as the prophet Nahum predicted, was completely slaughtered. Archaeologists digging it up found unburied skeletons littering the streets. Despite it being in such a key location, the city was never resettled. Even today, the major Iraqi city of Mosul, built on the site, is actually across the river from the former Nineveh. It's as if the very ground is cursed.
The interesting thing is that there is no way that Nineveh could have known what sort of tragedy was waiting for it, other than listening to the foreign prophet Nahum. Looking around at each other, they would have thought that the goddess Ishtar was blessing them richly and protecting them. Every time they had sex with a temple prostitute, they would have felt that it was an act of righteousness. In reality, it was a city steeped in corruption and immorality. How could they have known?
God isn't a God of vengeance and destruction. He sent prophets to talk to Nineveh, almost begging them to change. In Jonah's day, they repented of their evil and the whole city was saved. They turned over a new leaf. By Nahum's day, they had become hardened or complacent. Maybe they got used to the wealth, power, and glory. They didn't hear the warnings, the pleas to change their ways.
I guess the moral of this whole story is to not let the awesomeness of your daily life justify ignoring your faith. Everything was going great for the Ninevites too, until the day it went all wrong. Check in with God. Read his story. Don't get so wrapped up in your life on earth that you just assume everything is great. Think about it: Without a relationship with God, how would you know any more than the Ninevites did about what needed to change?
Woe to the city of blood,
full of lies,
full of plunder,
never without victims!
The crack of whips,
the clatter of wheels,
galloping horses
and jolting chariots!
Charging cavalry,
flashing swords
and glittering spears!
Many casualties,
piles of dead,
bodies without number,
people stumbling over the corpses—
all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,
alluring, the mistress of sorceries,
who enslaved nations by her prostitution
and peoples by her witchcraft.
This is an interesting set of verses. Nineveh was a city in what is now northern Iraq, which was dedicated to the ancient sex goddess Ishtar, kind of a middle-eastern Aphrodite or Venus. They would worship her with temple prostitutes. Her symbol was a mighty lion. The city appeared blessed, because it was on a major trade route. It was like New York City, Paris, or London, where every trader seemed to go to do business. It was also incredibly secure. It had thick high walls surrounding it, with guard towers full of armed soldiers at each gate. Looking at it, you would have no reason to believe that it had anything but the rich blessing of God on it.
Nineveh, as the prophet Nahum predicted, was completely slaughtered. Archaeologists digging it up found unburied skeletons littering the streets. Despite it being in such a key location, the city was never resettled. Even today, the major Iraqi city of Mosul, built on the site, is actually across the river from the former Nineveh. It's as if the very ground is cursed.
The interesting thing is that there is no way that Nineveh could have known what sort of tragedy was waiting for it, other than listening to the foreign prophet Nahum. Looking around at each other, they would have thought that the goddess Ishtar was blessing them richly and protecting them. Every time they had sex with a temple prostitute, they would have felt that it was an act of righteousness. In reality, it was a city steeped in corruption and immorality. How could they have known?
God isn't a God of vengeance and destruction. He sent prophets to talk to Nineveh, almost begging them to change. In Jonah's day, they repented of their evil and the whole city was saved. They turned over a new leaf. By Nahum's day, they had become hardened or complacent. Maybe they got used to the wealth, power, and glory. They didn't hear the warnings, the pleas to change their ways.
I guess the moral of this whole story is to not let the awesomeness of your daily life justify ignoring your faith. Everything was going great for the Ninevites too, until the day it went all wrong. Check in with God. Read his story. Don't get so wrapped up in your life on earth that you just assume everything is great. Think about it: Without a relationship with God, how would you know any more than the Ninevites did about what needed to change?
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