The Skeptics Annotated Bible (703 page)

18
Who is a God like unto thee
, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?
he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy
.

(7.18)
“Who is a God like unto thee … he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”
144 How long does God’s anger last?
120 Is God merciful?

19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile.
—
Nahum 3.6

There’s not much new in Nahum. God continues to behave in a way that would be unacceptable for any human. But God can get away with anything.

Here are a few highlights:

• God is jealous and gets furious. He takes vengeance on his adversaries and wrath on his enemies.
  1.2
  
• Whirlwinds, tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires are caused by God and are signs of his anger. He dries up oceans and rivers, melts mountains, and throws stones. “The clouds are the dust of his feet.”
  1.3-6
  
• God doesn’t just get even. He drowns or burns to death his enemies.
  1.8-10
  
• There is “much pain in all loins.”
  2.10
  
• God will “discover thy skirts upon thy face … show the nations thy nakedness … and cast abominable filth upon thee.”
  3.5-6
  
• He punished Nineveh by enslaving the people and smashing the little children in the streets.
  3.10
  
• “Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women.” I guess this (“You’re all just a bunch of women.”) was the biggest insult God could think of at the moment.
  3.13
  
• God says that “the fire shall devour thee, the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm.”
  3.15
  

1
The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2
God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth
; the LORD revengeth,
and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

(1:2)
“God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth … and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.”
317 Does God ever get furious?

3
The 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.

(1:3a)
“The Lord … will not at all acquit the wicked.”
292 Do the wicked prosper?

(1:3b)
“The LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”

(1:3b-6) Whirlwinds, tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires are caused by God and are signs of his anger. He dries up oceans and rivers, melts mountains, and throws stones. “The clouds are the dust of his feet.”

4
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers
: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

(1:4)
“He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers.”

5
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence
, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

(1:5-6)
“The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence … his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.”

7
The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble
; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

(1:7)
“The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble.”
176 Does God help in times of need?

(1:8-10) God doesn’t just get even; he drowns or burns to death his enemies.

8 But
with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies
.

(1:8)
“With an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.”

9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and
while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

(1:10)
“While they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.”

11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.

12 Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

13 For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

14 And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

2
He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

2 For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.

4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.