Ver. 1. The burden of Nineveh] i.e. The burdenous prophecy, [See Trapp on “Mal 1:1”] It is a burden to wicked men to be told of their sins and foretold of their punishments, to whom we may not unfitly apply that of the civilian, Perquam durum est, sed ita lex scripta est (Ulpian). It is extremely hard, but so the law is written. If it be so tedious to hear of it, what will they do to bear it? Nineveh had fair warning before by Jonah; and for the present, the unclean spirit seemed to be cast out of her; but he returned soon after, with seven worse, as appears by this prophecy; and so their last state was worse than the former, Matthew 12:45. Their boil, half healed, breaking out again, proved to be the plague of leprosy, Leviticus 13:18-20, such as shut them out of heaven. God will do good to those that are good and continue so. But “as for those that turn aside unto their crooked ways” (as all apostates do), “the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity” (as cattle are led to the slaughter, or malefactors to execution): “but peace shall be upon Israel,” Psalms 125:5. The book of the vision] Or, the epistle of the vision. Hence some collect that Nahum went not to Nineveh, as Jonah had done; but sent this prophetic epistle thither, to let them know what should shortly befall them. So Jeremiah sent an epistle to Babylon, Jeremiah 29:1., and Elijah wrote a threatening letter to Jehoram, King of Judah, 2 Chronicles 21:12, before his translation to heaven; and left it to be sent to him by Elisha, or the other prophets, who dared not show themselves in his presence, such was his insolent cruelty, as it is conceived. Of Nahum the Elkoshite] Elkosh was a small town in Galilee beyond Bethabara, as say Jerome and Dorotheus. Here was our prophet born, and named Nahum, non sine numine, saith Gualther; for Nahum (as Noah) signifieth a comforter; and so he proved, by this book of his, both to the ten tribes now newly carried captive by the Assyrian monarch, and also to the other two tribes, who were shortly after besieged by the same Assyrian, in the reign of Hezekiah; under whom Nahum prophesied. [See Trapp on “Ex 3:1”]
Ver. 2. God is jealous] [See Trapp on “Zec 1:14”] And the Lord revengeth, the Lord revengeth] As he is Pater miserationum to his people, a father of mercies, and God of consolation; so to his and their enemies he is a most sure and severe revenger: Deus ultionum, as David calleth him, Psalms 94:1. A God of recompenses, as Jeremiah, Jeremiah 51:56. And when he comes against a people, he usually takes them to do when they are at the strongest and most confident; as Nineveh now was, in the days of proud Sennacherib. And is furious] Heb. And is master of hot wrath; he is all on a light fire, as it were, with fierce indignation against the enemies of his Church; yet not so, but that he is master of his anger too; and doth nothing in it but what is just and equal. Here the vials of his wrath are said to be golden vials, Revelation 15:7, his anger is holy, his fire is pure, and without smoke. And this is further declared in the following words. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries] Such as seek to thrust him beside his throne, that oppose his worship, contemn his word, persecute his people, send proud messages after him, saying, “We will not have this man to reign over us,” “Bring hither those mine enemies,” saith he, “and slay them before me,” Luke 19:27. As for such as sin of infirmity and return to him by repentance, they shall not find him furious, but gracious. And he reserveth wrath for his enemies] Their preservation for a time is but a reservation to that wrath to come. As he precipitateth not his anger, but defers the execution of it, giving men space to repent, as he did Jezebel, Revelation 2:20, so they shall find that his forbearance is no quittance; and that Poena venit gravior, quo mage tarda venit The penalty comes more heavily which comes with great slowness.
Ver. 3. The Lord is slow to anger] “Slack he is not, as some men count slackness,” saith St Peter, “but longsuffering to us-ward,” 2 Peter 3:9. The devil stirred up the heathen poets to persuade people that God either knew not or cared not what was done here below; that he was often from home, feasting with the Ethiopians, &c. The Epicureans also taught the like doctrine; and the Sadducees among the Jews, the Manichees among the primitive Christians, the Libertines among us. But they shall one day find that God is slow, but sure; that the higher he lifteth his hand the harder he will strike; the farther he draweth his bow the deeper will be the wound. And great in power] Heb. Great of power, able to knock down sinners in the very act of their rebellion, and to send them packing to their place in hell. So that it is not for want of power that he is so patient. “For the Lord our God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible,” Deuteronomy 10:17. But what need we go farther than the text, where he is called the strong God, great in power, and that will not at all acquit the wicked] This is the last letter in his name (that nomen maiestativum, as Tertullian calleth it), Exodus 34:7, which he will in nowise forget; as neither must we. He will not take the wicked by the hand, saith Job, Job 8:20, nor wink at the workers of iniquity, saith David, Psalms 50:21, but will render a just recompense to every transgression and disobedience, saith Paul, Hebrews 2:2. “A God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he,” Deuteronomy 32:4. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm] The word Suphah, here rendered whirlwind, begins with a small Samech, ad minuendum timorem piis, ne propterea terreantur, to take off the saints from their inordinate fears, and to assure the wicked, that when the Lord cometh, imminet inde Soph finis et exitium, there shall be an end of them, and an utter destruction. “As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation,” Proverbs 10:25. Or, as some read it, The righteous is the foundation of the world, as firm as the world’s foundation, sc. the earth, which is immovable. And the clouds are the dust of his feet] He walketh upon them as men do upon the dust of the earth; he maketh the clouds his chariot, and rideth upon the wings of the wind, Psalms 104:3: see Isaiah 60:8 19:1. The wicked’s happiness shall take its end surely and swiftly, as Ezekiel tells them in his seventh chapter, “An end is come, is come, is come.”