On the Mountains

On the mountains – Nahum 1:15-2:12
begun Thursday, November 02, 2006

We lift our eyes to the hills goes one of the Psalms. We look for something beyond ourselves when we look for the one who brings good tidings. It may be for one who comes in might to break our chains. It may be one who rides in on a donkey to tell of peace. But it is someone bringing a word that we can't quite imagine, but that we know is good beyond our measure.

Nahum is part of this tradition of looking for something beyond. The feet of those bringing good tidings are on the mountains. From somewhere beyond comes joy that we didn't know was possible.

We can explain the feeling of good news from the mountains in several ways, but really we don't have a clue. It is like our descriptions of heaven – they are only imagined and not close to the reality. The good news is of salvation and we cannot know the height or the depths. The boundaries are as far as the east is from the west and the depth of the ocean from the moutaintop.

Nahum 1:15-2:12

[15] Look! On the mountains the feet of one who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, fulfill your vows, for never again shall the wicked invade you; they are utterly cut off. [2:1] A shatterer has come up against you. Guard the ramparts; watch the road; gird your loins; collect all your strength.

[2] (For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their branches.)

[3] The shields of his warriors are red; his soldiers are clothed in crimson. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day when he musters them; the chargers prance. [4] The chariots race madly through the streets, they rush to and fro through the squares; their appearance is like torches, they dart like lightning. [5] He calls his officers; they stumble as they come forward; they hasten to the wall, and the mantelet is set up. [6] The river gates are opened, the palace trembles. [7] It is decreed that the city be exiled, its slave women led away, moaning like doves and beating their breasts. [8] Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away. "Halt! Halt!"--but no one turns back. [9] "Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of treasure! An abundance of every precious thing!"

[10] Devastation, desolation, and destruction! Hearts faint and knees tremble, all loins quake, all faces grow pale! [11] What became of the lions' den, the cave of the young lions, where the lion goes, and the lion's cubs, with no one to disturb them? [12] The lion has torn enough for his whelps and strangled prey for his lionesses; he has filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.