Nahum 1:1-3:19, Rev 8:1-13, Ps 136:1-26, Pr 30:7-9
Today is the 17th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and do what we’ve come to do, take the next step forward in the Scriptures which will bring us to some new territory, brand-new book, the seventh book of the Minor Prophets.
Introduction to the Book of Nahum:
The book of Nahum which we will read in its entirety today and there are plenty of unknowns about who Nahum is, there are plenty of knowns. The name Nahum, means comfort and we’re told in the book that he was from Elkosh, although where Elkosh is…is an unknown. Nobody knows if this was larger kind of town somewhere, or if it was a little tiny village that’s just disappeared. Where Elkosh is…is unknown but dating when Nahum may have been written is a little bit easier because there are historical events that are contained within the prophecy. So, Nahum mentions the conquest of Thebes, which is in Egypt yet the Assyrian conquest of Thebes, that’s a historical event, it happened in 663 BC. So, if Nahum is mentioning this event than we can sort of say that the prophecy happened after that date, but a lot of the prophecy in Nahum is about the destruction of Nineveh and that also is a historical event that happened in 612 BC and so, somewhere between those two years is likely when this prophetic utterance happened. And like I said, this is about the destruction of Nineveh. And it’s just like a few days ago reading the book of Jonah with another prophet who ran away from God because he didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he feared that God might have mercy on Nineveh, which he did. But we’re like 150 years into the future now from Jonah and the Assyrians, they had conquered the northern kingdom and destroyed it and carried all of those 10 tribes away into exile where they are gone, they were never tribes ever again. That has happened and their brutality for conquering peoples was legendary so they repented for a time after Jonah came to Nineveh. And you can only imagine that the word of Jonah being swallowed by a fish and spit out on dry ground, that would spread pretty fast and so that would give him some credibility. But this is 150 years later and they’re not thinking about Jonah’s prophecy anymore. They’re thinking about conquest and God is displeased and this is an Oracle about the destruction of Nineveh. There…there are plenty of scholars that think that Nahum may have written this prophecy down from like a city like Jerusalem in the southern kingdom knowing what had happened to the northern kingdom and issuing this Oracle of destruction on Nineveh on the Assyrians, which would’ve been received as words of comfort to those who had lost everything including their families. And this would be the second time we’re encountering prophecies about Nineveh in two different books so we can see from Jonah that God is merciful and patient, but we see from Nahum, He’s not…He’s not a pushover. He’s not gonna be pushed around, He’s not gonna allow injustice, no mercy and no humility, which is what we we’re reading about yesterday in Micah. He won’t let that go on forever. So, with that we will read the three chapters in their entirety, the book of Nahum.
Prayer:
Father, we are ever thankful for the gift of Your word, which is the centerpiece of why we gather around this Global Campfire every day. It is to allow the Scriptures to speak into our lives and they speak into our lives in so many ways, we find ourselves in the stories of people who have gone before us, we find their…their attitudes and convictions are similar to our own. It shows us that thousands of years can pass, many cultures can change, the…the clothes that we wear and the technology that we use and the transportation that we have may change, but the heart of humanity, we are still trying to sort through the same things thousands of years in the future and we will never sort any of this out without walking with You in a straight line consistently and we see this over and over and over. This is what You keep calling Your people back to, through the prophets, come back, come back. We have a covenant, return and so there’s no way that we can’t get this message on a daily basis, as we move through this particular territory in the Bible and so we’re getting the message loud and clear. And so, each and every day a little bit more, we invite Your Holy Spirit to continue to chip away as we open ourselves to You completely, chip away and remove and demolish the things that separate us from You. We…we may hear of the destruction of a city and walls falling down and armies entering but that isn’t unlike what we need in our own hearts that the walls come down in Your Spirit just floods in eradicating all of the things that separate us from You and Your will for our lives. And so, come Holy Spirit into this as we continue to seek Your counsel and comfort as we continue to humble ourselves before You and Your sovereignty. Change us God, we pray, help us to collaborate with You in that change, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base. It is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, has been Christmas time all around here and all around everywhere. I guess we’re kind of getting down to last call. It’s a week from today, it’s Christmas Eve, and so, we have had well the Daily Audio Bible Christmas box that is available. Promised Land, Photographs from the Land of the Bible is available, as well as all of the Christmas music that we’ve been talking about that is available for Christmas time, but anything that you’re wanting shipped to you is kinda, last call for that. We will continue to ship but it’s been hectic shipping and receiving time in the world all over the place so don’t…don’t delay, but you can check out all of these items, any of the items in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, whether that be at dailyaudiobible.com or whether that be in the app, you can access the Shop from either place. And so, check that out.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hey Daily Audio Bible friends, my name is Mandy and I’m calling to ask for prayer for me and my family. My Papa, who is my maternal grandfather passed away on the 1st and he was like a second father to me and this Christmas is going to be really hard for us. So, if you could pray for us and especially me that would be very appreciated. Thank you. Bye.
Hello friends, this is Brother Doug from Florida. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for two or three years now and I’m a first time caller and I’m calling because of Robert P. From Tennessee he shared a story on today’s Daily Audio Bible and regarding his wife Bonnie of 31 years, and Robert, you said something that really touched my heart and that was you don’t know what to do. I can so relate to that. 12 years ago my wife was in her final stages of…of cancer and when the whole thing started two years prior, I didn’t know what to do. And I was impressed to love, love her, love her, love her and do everything I could. So, I’m going to encourage you Robert to love her and I know that you love her, but I want to encourage you also with some Scripture: 1st John 4:18, part of that the last part of it says perfect love casts out all fear. That’s for you as well because when you think that you’re not doing the right thing that’s fear coming into your mind. Place perfect love on you my friend. First Peter 4:8: above all love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. That’s another way, just love her as much as you possibly can, show her, speak blessings to her. Ephesians 5:25 husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. It’s all about love at this point, Robert. I know you love Bonnie. I know how you care for her or else you wouldn’t be so concerned and so worried about what’s going to happen. O my friend we love you as well. I’ve never met you but I feel like I know you. May the Lord Jesus Christ richly bless you and give you all love and encouragement that you need in this season.
Father God, Lord, I’d like to pray today for those who are going through the sadness of losing a loved one. Lord, I’d like to pray for those who are suffering with the agony of seeing life being leached away from people that they adore. It’s wrong Lord. Death is wrong. Suffering and pain are wrong. Illness is wrong. You never made the world this way. Not initially, it’s our fault through Adam that this is among us. That this is our situation and this is our lot. And Lord, we thank You so much that through Your Holy Spirit we can know about the sacrifices that Jesus made so that this suffering, this pain actually has a purpose. That there is light at the end of the tunnel and that that light is You. Father God Lord, we ask You to comfort those that are suffering such things at this time especially with it being Christmas. When each one of us consider those that we’ve lost and wish that they were near and wish that they were here. And wish that we could just buy them a Christmas present. Tell them that we love them. Father God Lord, we raise them up, in the name of Jesus. Amen. This is Tony the Narrator, I love all of you, have a Merry Christmas.
Hi, DAB family this is Lindsey calling in from Minnesota. I’m out on a walk this morning and it’s pretty cold so hopefully everybody can hear me okay. But I just wanted to call in and really echo and reinforce the prayer that I heard from Child Advocate out in LA. The prayer for those who are incarcerated just really touched my heart, impacted my heart. I know a couple of people here in Minnesota who work with juvenile detentions centers and with youth who are incarcerated and I just echo your prayer Child Advocate that the Lord would be with these people. That they would come to know You and that they would truly feel your presence dispite being in this isolated circumstance. And also, that if they’re able to, you know, be free from incarceration, that they can continue on a path in life where they can help others and let others know about You. I just pray this in Jesus name.
Hey DAB, this is Refined by the Fire in Ohio. I have two things on my heart this morning. I just wanted to call in and first is just to pray for people that the holidays and Christmas are not a joyous time, whether that’s we’ve lost somebody or we have painful memories from our past, it’s just not something that we necessarily look forward to. Lord, I pray that You would surround each individual with Your presence and Your peace that they would experience You in new way this season Lord. That would build a new category for what this season means to them and that it would begin to override and erase the pain and the hurt that they have carried with them Lord. And that the season would bring on a new meaning full of joy and hope that they have not experienced before. And, also just want to pray for the marriages. Lord, marriage is such a difficult institution in this world Lord. It is beautiful and difficult and Satan wants nothing more than to destroy it. So, I pray Lord, that we would now and always that we would view our spouse as You would view them. That You would help us to have a heart for them to be able to see the pain and the struggle that their having. And that we would use the love that You have given us and to overflow that to them as well Lord. And to try to protect it at all cost. Thanks guys, I love you all have a great day.