Now, Assyria is under discussion, in today’s Text, Zephaniah 2:13-15. Yes, God in Heaven will even bring this mighty Nation “down!”
As He has done so many other entities … primarily because of their hatred and mistreatment of the people of Israel, the Jews. In fact, Zephaniah 2 is a sample “list” of such nations. First mentioning the Philistines and then the Moabites and Ammonites followed by the Ethiopians … the chapter ending with the defeat of these Assyrians.
“And He (the Lord) will stretch out His Hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” Again, Zephaniah 2:13-15
God’s Hand upon one “for good” is a blessing. (Nehemiah 2:8 offers a clear example. “And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” Where the “me” is Nehemiah.)
God’s Hand upon one “in wrath” is quite another! (Our Text is my example of this. “And He (the Lord) will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.”
God is AGAINST Assyria!
Finally, what Jonah had earlier hoped … Nineveh’s dissolution … Zephaniah was allowed to prophesy … with certainty. (The event happened in 612 BC, when the Babylonians overran the capital City.) Once Zephaniah, under the Direction of the Holy Spirit, wrote these words … Nineveh only had a decade or two left!
Once a bustling City … now pastureland for livestock!
“Uncovered cedar work” equates to houses being deconstructed. Left open to ruin in the rain and wind and heat!
The happy-go-lucky City (“rejoicing city”) will no longer party and party and party!
“And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” Zephaniah 2:13-15
To “dwell carelessly” means to be so strong, so militarily secure … that even the thought of an enemy is foreign! Safe to the extreme! (Like the Edomites once, before God humiliated them. “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?” Obadiah, verse 3)
Listen to the inflated ego Assyria possessed: “Who said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me.” But who met her “Match” one day, as do all the ungodly.
She will become the “laughingstock” of humanity … “Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” In other words, “Everyone who passes by her will hiss (in scorn) and wave his hand in utter contempt.”
Yes, God “cursed” Assyria. As He either has already done or will some day do to all those who oppose and seek to annihilate the Jewish people.
Powerful verses.
A powerful chapter.
Many a nation today should take heed, including America.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell