A Strong Hold
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 49, “He Delighteth in Mercy,” on Gospel Library
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More than a hundred years after Jonah, Nineveh had gone back to its cruel ways. Nahum saw in vision that the city would fall (Nahum 1:1; 3:1).
Read Together
Assyria had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and attacked the cities of Judah (2 Kings 17:6; 18:13). Nahum’s name means comfort, and his message comforted the people Nineveh had hurt.
3The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
7The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
What It Teaches
Nahum shows two sides of the Lord in one verse. “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked” (Nahum 1:3). He is patient, and he is also just. Nineveh had been given a long time to change.
Verse 7 says, “The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” A stronghold was a fortress with thick walls where people ran for safety. The same power that humbled Nineveh protects the people who trust him. Helaman called Jesus Christ the rock we build on, so the devil’s storms cannot pull us down (Helaman 5:12).
Verse 15 sounds like Isaiah (Isaiah 52:7). “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!” For Judah and everyone else Assyria had crushed, the news of Nineveh’s fall was good news.
Talk About It
What makes a place feel safe to you? How can the Lord be a strong hold for our family in a day of trouble?
Take to Church
Nahum’s name means comfort. The Lord who is slow to anger is also a strong hold in the day of trouble, and he knows everyone who trusts him.