Nahum 1:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They faced destruction at the hands of the Romans; like wax melting under extreme heat, they endured great suffering, and due to their profound hardness of heart, they were overwhelmed by calamities, ultimately facing just retribution for their fury against Christ. Yet, for our salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ has likewise subdued the foundations and dominions of this world’s darkness, the malevolent spirits, to liberate us. Recognizing this, the blessed David proclaims: “Thou art fearful, and who shall oppose thee...? From heaven thou hast heard the judgement, and the earth was afraid, and knew not when to come to the judgement of God, to save all the meek of the earth” (Psalm 75:8-10); He has granted us authority "to tread upon the serpent, and upon the scorpion, and upon all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). He has dissolved the very foundations and crushed the pride of the wicked spirits, forcing those who acted unjustly to yield to Him, who is righteously angered on our behalf.

Moreover, the Hebrew term jaccum, which Aquila and the Septuagint render as ‘will resist,’ should be understood concerning the context in which the ‘wrath (ira) of God’ is referred to in the masculine in the second book of Kings and the first Chronicles. It is unequivocal that the wrath of God is represented there as the devil and the evil spirits sent to punish the deserving. At the end of time, it would be a challenge to find anyone who could proclaim, ‘the prince of this world is coming, and in me there is nothing’ (John 14:30), and dare to confront him.

This concept relates to the Assyrians, as when the Lord arrives in a tempest and whirlwind, He will deplete the strength of Babylon, symbolized by the sea, bringing ruin to all kingdoms reliant upon it, represented by rivers, shattering its might and abundance metaphorically expressed through Bashan, Carmel, and the hues of Lebanon, through mountains and hills, and shaking its vast territories, known as the globe of the earth; then, no force will withstand God’s anger as He avenges His people. His indignation was unleashed like fire, and the very rocks were shattered before Him. The Septuagint states that His fury destroys the powers, and the rocks are broken by Him.

Instead of the term ‘spilled over,’ Aquila translated this as συνεκωνεύθη, meaning ‘inflamed,’ while Simmachus and Theodotion rendered it as ἔσταξεν, meaning ‘poured out in drops’ (stillavit). Whether the wrath of God blazes like fire, or His fury descends in drops as if from a fire, designed to break and disintegrate the hardened hearts of men, referred to as rocks, the anger of God, having endured our sins with patience, was eventually ignited, yet not fully unleashed for punishment, but rather distributed upon us in moderate droplets—this is beneficial. However, if a single drop of His fury can obliterate the powers against which we must constantly contend (Eph. 6:12), what devastation would result if the entirety of God’s wrath were unleashed upon us?

May Jesus remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh, so that, once our hardness is softened, we may receive the commandments of the Lord, which proclaim, ‘Sacrifice to God a broken spirit; a broken and humble heart God will not despise’ (Psalm 50:19). It is crucial to understand that all that has been articulated conveys the goodness and not the severity of God, which sets the stage for what follows.