Severe Compassion: The Gospel according to Nahum (Gospel according to the Old Testament)
Overview
Gregory Cook helps readers navigate the book of Nahum, a poetic masterpiece that teaches about God’s love for his adulterous people. As the prophet Nahum teaches, God’s passionate love threatens all our other loves. When we find God boring and the world fascinating, we commit the sin of rebellion—but God, with severe compassion, refuses to abandon us when we stray into destructive paths. Ultimately, Nahum’s prophecy is fulfilled in Christ, who relentlessly pursued his people and entered history in order to redeem them for himself. Cook further develops his rich description with historical background, cultural references, literary allusions, poetic devices, and challenging application.
Top Highlights
“We read the Bible to know God. He has told us about himself. We will not know God if we refuse to listen to his self-description. Those who will not allow the Bible to describe God do not worship the God of the Bible; they worship a god of their own making.” (Page 8)
“This led to the third event. Sargon’s son, Sennacherib, lost no time in establishing a new capital in Nineveh. In doing so, he greatly expanded and built up the city—using Israelite slaves and money. This ancient city devoted to the goddess Ishtar soon became the largest and most ostentatious city in the world. As rapidly as it had arisen, it would fall even more quickly—due to a prophet.” (Page 4)
“Like John, Nahum recorded events that he had seen in his mind, but which had not yet happened in history.” (Page 5)
“This act of faithlessness resulted in Judah submitting to foreign kings and gods; it also brought one hundred years of brutal tyranny upon the people of Judah. In a few words, Nahum has set his prophecy in the context of God’s covenant with Judah, Judah’s rejection of that covenant, Judah’s submission to Assyrian deities, and God’s resulting curse: ‘You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me’ (Ex. 20:5).” (Page 7)
“Nahum uses a specific Hebrew clause that occurs in only six other Old Testament passages (Ex. 20:5; 34:14; Deut. 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; Josh. 24:19). All six passages have two important themes in common. In each case, God establishes or renews his covenant with Israel. In each case, he also gives Israel a dire warning not to worship foreign gods.” (Page 6)
- Title: Severe Compassion: The Gospel according to Nahum
- Author: Gregory D. Cook
- Series: The Gospel according to the Old Testament
- Publisher: P&R
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2017
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. O.T. Nahum › Commentaries
- ISBNs: 9781629951737, 9781629951744, 9781629951751, 1629951730, 1629951749, 1629951757
- Resource ID: LLS:GSPLOT34NA
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-10-05T17:16:30Z