What is the meaning of Nahum 3:7? Then all who see you will recoil from you • The prophecy pictures people literally stepping back in horror as they behold Nineveh’s fall, just as onlookers did when God struck Egypt (Exodus 10:7) or when Babylon’s ruin was announced (Revelation 18:10). • Recoil implies disgust as well as fear—echoing Jonah 3:5–10, where Nineveh once humbled itself; now, having returned to violence (Nahum 3:1), the city evokes only revulsion. • God’s judgments are public and unmistakable. What He decrees in secret He performs in broad daylight (Luke 12:2–3), so that observers recognize His justice (Psalm 9:16). and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated; who will grieve for her?’ • Devastated means emptied, desolate—fulfilling Nahum 2:10 and Zephaniah 2:13–15. • Instead of mourning, the world responds with rhetorical indifference, mirroring Proverbs 11:10: “When the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.” • Nineveh once inspired awe (2 Kings 19:36), but her cruelty left no genuine friends. When judgment comes, even former allies keep silent, as with Tyre (Ezekiel 26:17) and Babylon (Jeremiah 50:13). Where can I find comforters for you? • God Himself asks the question, underscoring that no advocate exists for an unrepentant oppressor (Lamentations 1:2). • The absence of “comforters” contrasts sharply with God’s promise to comfort His covenant people (Isaiah 40:1). Mercy is available, yet only for those who humble themselves (James 4:6). • Nineveh’s plight parallels the last–days fall of the world system in Revelation 18:9–19, where merchants weep for lost profits, not for the city’s soul—no true comforters there either. summary Nahum 3:7 declares that Nineveh’s doom will be so complete that every passerby recoils, no one mourns, and no comfort can be found. The verse underlines God’s righteous judgment: persistent arrogance strips a people of sympathy, leaving only desolation. Just as He literally fulfilled this word against Assyria, He will also execute every promise of justice and grace given throughout Scripture. |
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