#nineveh

For those demanding, "If God exists, let him show himself," it doesn't get much more dramatic than the Red Sea parting.

The Creator and the God of Israel had made the headlines in Canaan! In the words of Rahab,

"We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt.... When we heard of it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath" (Josh. 2:10-11).

In the words of the Gibeonites,

"Your servants have come from a very far country because of the fame of the LORD vour God; for we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt" (9.9; cf. Exod. 15:14-17; Deut. 2:25).

Just as a pagan Nineveh repented at the sight and message of the beached (and bleached!) prophet Jonah, the Canaanites also could have repented: unless, of course, they were too far gone morally and spiritually.

In the New Testament, Jesus asserts that without a willing heart, a person won't turn to God even if someone rises from the dead (Luke 16:31).

The repeated, visible pounding of Egypt's gods could have prompted the Canaanites to turn to the one true God, given they had a "heart condition" like Rahab's. Even Israel's sevenfold march around Jericho exhibited a formal opportunity for its king, soldiers, and priests to relent.

The Hebrew word naqap ("circle, march around" in Josh. 6:3) involves various ceremonial aspects, including rams' horns, sacred procession, and shouting (cf. 2 Sam. 6:15-16). The word is found in Psalm 48: "Walk about Zion and go around her; count her towers; consider her ramparts" (vv. 12-13; also 2 Kings 6:14). The word suggests the idea of conducting an inspection. In the case of Jericho, the inspection was conducted to see if the city would open its gates. The city, however, refused to do so.

Each time the Israelites circled the city meant an opportunity for Jericho to evade the ban; sadly, each opportunity was met with Jericho's refusal to relent and acknowledge Yah weh's rule.

I want to pick up on a point that came up in a recent conversation I had following the latest Unite the Kingdom rally. Someone suggested that we should learn from the story of Jonah. Perhaps those on the marches were like the Ninevites and needed someone to go to them. I suggested that there might be a few problems with that kind of analogy.  The first is that whilst Jonah reluctantly did head…

You cannot outrun God. ‘Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. “Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?” Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the…

While most people know of the Library of Alexander and possibly of Ashurbanipal's library, there are many other libraries of note through history, and likely more that have been lost entirely to the passage of time.

Perhaps the first library, the Royal Library of Ebla, flourishing from around 2500-22350 BCE, near modern day Aleppo, Syria, and likely held around 20,000 tablets. Of those, around 1,800 complete and 4,700 fragments, to say nothing of thousands of minor chips, have been found to date. The tablets were written in Sumerian and in the local Semitic language using Sumerian cuneiform script to represent the sounds. The language was previously unknown before the site was discovered in 1974-1979. Many of the shelves the tablets were found on still had their clay tags that referenced what was on the shelf. The shelves were made of wood and partially recessed into the walls. They were stored so that the recto, or front, was facing outwards and slightly reclined. They told us much about Ebla and mentioned Canaanites, Ugarit, and Lebanon, representing the first mentions we have of those groups. The focus of the texts were on financial affairs of the city, ranging from imports and exports to the range of beers that were produced, including one that was named for the city, to treaties and king lists.

Nuzi, now known as Yorgan Tepe near Kirkuk, Iraq, was rediscovered in 1896, but wasn't really excavated until 1925. To date, about 5,000 tablets have been recovered, with about a quarter of them focused around legal and business matters for a single family, which date back as far as about 1500 BCE. The tablets are mostly from the Hurrian period though a few go back to the Akkadian founding of the town. From these, we know that Nuzi's people largely worshiped in their homes and the eldest son would inherit the family's cult statue. Very few, only 0.18%, of the tablets contained a formula that allow us to date them against others, but they can be 'chronologically ordered by internal clues such as the names of officials and prosopographical [relating to the study that identifies and relates a group of person or characters within a particular historical or literary context] data'.

12 Great Cities of Ancient Mesopotamia: The Rise and Fall of the Earliest Cities in the World

Rivalry between Mesopotamian city-states was often heated, and each tried to outdo the others with the largest ziggurat, the most majestic walls, cultivated public gardens and parks, and, of course, the most robust economy that made such works possible. When a city triumphed in creating some amazing wonder, a festival was held, and when a city fell, it was mourned, notably through the genre known as Mesopotamian city laments. Read about twelve of the greatest of these cities, what they were famous for, and how they passed into memory.

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Nineveh: The Great Cultural Center That Became the "City of Sin"

Nineveh is mentioned several times in the Bible, where it is associated with sin and vice. Prior to its fall, however, Nineveh was the largest urban center in the world, ornamented by gardens, statuary, parks, and a zoo, and was regarded as a great cultural and religious center. The city was completely destroyed in 612 BCE by the coalition led by the Babylonians and Medes, which toppled the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

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The Lord Will Judge Nineveh

1 How terrible it will be for Nineveh! It is a city of murderers! It is full of liars! It is filled with stolen goods! The killing never stops! 2 Whips crack! Wheels clack! Horses charge! Chariots rumble! 3 Horsemen attack! Swords flash! Spears gleam! Many people die. Dead bodies pile up. They can’t even be counted. People trip over them. 4 All of that was caused by the evil desires of the prostitute Nineveh. That woman who practiced evil magic was very beautiful. She used her sinful charms to make slaves out of the nations. She worshiped evil powers in order to trap others.

5 “Nineveh, I am against you,” announces the Lord who rules over all. “I will pull your skirts up over your face. I will show the nations your naked body. Kingdoms will make fun of your shame. 6 I will throw garbage at you. I will look down on you. I will make an example out of you. 7 All those who see you will run away from you. They will say, ‘Nineveh is destroyed. Who will mourn over it?’ Where can I find someone to comfort your people?”

8 Nineveh, are you better than Thebes on the Nile River? There was water all around that city. The river helped to keep it safe. The waters were like a wall around it. 9 Cush and Egypt gave it all the strength it needed. Put and Libya also helped it. 10 But Thebes was captured anyway. Its people were taken away as prisoners. Its babies were smashed to pieces at every street corner. The Assyrian soldiers cast lots for all its nobles. They put them in chains and made slaves out of them. 11 People of Nineveh, you too will get drunk. You will try to hide from your enemies. You will look for a place of safety.

12 All your forts are like fig trees that have their first ripe fruit on them. When the trees are shaken, the figs fall into the mouths of those who eat them. 13 Look at your troops. All of them are weak. The gates of your forts are wide open to your enemies. Fire has destroyed the bars that lock your gates.

14 Prepare for the attack by storing up water! Make your walls as strong as you can! Make some bricks out of clay! Mix the mud to hold them together! Use them to repair the walls! 15 In spite of all your hard work, fire will burn you up inside your city. Your enemies will cut you down with their swords. They will destroy you just as a swarm of locusts eats up crops. Multiply like grasshoppers! Increase your numbers like locusts! 16 You have more traders than the number of stars in the sky. But like locusts they strip the land. Then they fly away. 17 Your guards are like grasshoppers. Your officials are like swarms of locusts. They settle in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun appears, they fly away. And no one knows where they go.

18 King of Assyria, your leaders are asleep. Your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains. No one is left to gather them together. 19 Nothing can heal your wounds. You will die of them. All those who hear the news about you clap their hands. That’s because you have fallen from power. Is there anyone who has not suffered because of how badly you treated them? — Nahum 3 | New International Reader's Version (NIRV) New International Reader's Version Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®. All rights reserved worldwide. Cross References: Leviticus 26:37; 1 Kings 22:17; 2 Kings 8:12; 2 Chronicles 12:3; 2 Chronicles 16:8; 2 Chronicles 32:3-4; Job 6:27; Job 9:31; Job 27:23; Job 30:8; Job 39:22; Psalm 62:10; Psalm 76:5-6; Psalm 105:34; Isaiah 2:10; Isaiah 2:19; Isaiah 19:6; Isaiah 19:16; Isaiah 23:8; Isaiah 34:3; Isaiah 45:1-2; Isaiah 47:2-3; Isaiah 51:19; Isaiah 51:27; Isaiah 66:15-16; Jeremiah 15:5; Jeremiah 25:19; Jeremiah 30:12; Jeremiah 46:3; Jeremiah 47:3; Jeremiah 51:14; Ezekiel 24:6; Revelation 6:13; Revelation 9:7; Revelation 17:1-2; Revelation 18:3

Nahum 3 Bible Commentary - Matthew Henry (concise)