Nahum's Call: Trusting in God's Providence
August 9, 2024 - Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7
Today, we spend time with the prophet Nahum, whose name means "consolation" and fits the message he delivers. Unlike the prophets we have encountered until now—Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah—Nahum does not reprimand people for their sins. Instead, he focuses on the enemy of God's people, Assyria, which destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC. This is especially surprising when we consider that, according to Jewish tradition, Nahum was active during the reign of the most depraved king of Judah, Manasseh.
This short book takes us into a battlefield between three empires of the biblical world: Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. In 663 BC, the Assyrian empire reached the summit of its power by conquering Egypt and its capital, Thebes. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, "Thebes was the greatest of the ancient Egyptian cities" and "it stood at the very center of the Nile traffic" (see Nahum 3:8-10). Who would have thought that in just 51 years, by 612 BC, the capital of Assyria would lie in ruins, crushed by the Babylonians?
The way the prophets viewed the history of the world is alien to most of us. Nahum begins his prophecy with a frightening description of the Lord coming to punish His enemies. His power has no match, and in this case, it is directed against Assyria. However, we have learned from Hosea and Amos that Assyria was a tool of God's punishment against His people, Israel. So what happened? The answer is given by Isaiah. The rulers of Assyria did not see themselves as instruments in God's hand. They thought they were godlike, powerful, and invincible, planning to conquer the whole world (see Isaiah 10:5-19). This foolish pride led to their downfall.
The news that the Babylonians were heading towards Nineveh was received by Nahum as good news. The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament uses here the verb form of the word that is at the heart of the message of the New Testament (see Nahum 2:1). The same verb is used for the news of crushing the mighty Assyrian empire as for the news about Jesus Christ announcing the arrival of God's kingdom (see Mark 1:1). Later on, an unknown prophet, whose message was included in the Book of Isaiah, used this verb to announce the news about the Edict of Persian King Cyrus (539 BC) that allowed the Jewish exiles to return home (see Isaiah 40:9-10; 52:7-8).
Behind all these events, the prophets saw the hand of the Lord. This profound theological insight is captured in the Catechism: "By his providence, God protects and governs all things which he has made, 'reaching mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and ordering all things well'" (CCC, 302; see Wisdom 8:1). The Catechism further declares: "The witness of Scripture is unanimous that the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history" (CCC, 303).
The name Nahum means "consolation," and the biblical message of God's providence, who "cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history," is also a message of consolation. We had so much hope at the beginning of this new millennium, but the last 24 years have dashed that hope for a better, more just, and equal world. In such moments, let us draw strength from our faith. No matter how chaotic our present world seems to be, the Lord is in control, and nothing and no one can match His power. In such moments, let us declare with Saint Paul: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).