HIS PATIENCE HAS LIMITS
"She is empty and
void and waste, and the heart melts, and the knees smite together, and anguish
is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale" Nahum 2:10
These words describe the effect of
the Divine vengeance, as manifested in the city and the people. The condition
of the former is set forth with graphic force in three words, "empty,
void, waste." There is the utmost of finality in this
collocation of words. Nothing remains to be said. The proud city, of splendid
architecture, of accumulated treasure, of the utmost luxury, is seen as a
dreary, degraded desolation. The literal fulfillment of this Divine sentence is
a matter of history. The condition of the people as the result of the vengeance
is described with equal force. When the Divinely appointed scourge fell in
hammer blows upon the vile nation, the heart melted, that is inward courage
failed; therefore, the knees smote together, that is outward courage failed;
anguish was in all loins, that is the vital forces were filled with agony; and
the faces of all waxed pale, that is they paled in death. What a commentary
this prediction and its historic fulfillment are on the exclamation of the
writer of the letter to the Hebrews, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God." (Heb. 10:31)
These aspects of the Divine government abide. He is still "slow to anger," (Neh. 9:17; Psa. 103:8; 145:8; Nahum 1:3)
but when men or nations persist in wickedness in spite of His patience, then
still "with
an overrunning flood, He will make a full end." And again we
say, this certainly gives the trusting heart comfort and courage. However proudly evil rear its head and vaunt
itself, it is doomed.
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