I will not mention any names (modern ones, that is); I am sure you can fill in the blanks. Originally, I intended to revisit the subject of the atonement, but recent events compel me to postpone that issue. Instead, I am writing about an OT prophecy against a nation other than Israel and Judah. I offer my thoughts tentatively. They are part of my process of wrestling with biblical statements regarding God’s justice in dealing with nations.
Each of the three major prophets includes a substantial section of such oracles against various nations. Some minor prophets are nothing but an oracle against some other nation. I have always struggled a bit to see the relevance of such prophecies for us today. But in light of what is happening, they are beginning to make more sense to me.
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Justice and Vengeance
In praying about the situation, I found myself wondering if the following might be a true statement or perhaps even a prophetic word for today: as you do to city ABC, so it will be done to your city.
A principle of vengeance or retribution. Would that be fair? If nation X reduces the city or cities of nation Y to rubble in an act of aggression, should we expect that the same will or might happen to nation X? And would that be just?
For a historical example, think Nazi Germany. In May 1940, it bombed the city centre of Rotterdam to force a quick surrender of the Netherlands army. Later that year, the Battle of Britain began, which included the extensive bombing of London and other British cities. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. At the end of the war, German cities lay in rubble on an unprecedented scale.
History is messy and does not show clear lines or follow ‘laws’ in the way that nature does. But might there at least be a principle or tendency in this direction? And would this be justice?
Nahum: Vengeance on Nineveh
The prophet Nahum begins with invoking precisely such a principle of vengeance:
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD is avenging and wrathful;
the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies. (Nah. 1:2 ESV)
God’s self-revelation in Exodus 34, an enormously important statement in the OT, often quoted, is also part of Nahum’s theological foundation:
The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation. (Ex. 34:6f ESV)
Ironically, Nahum only quotes part of the original, grace-heavy statement and thereby puts the emphasis decidedly differently:
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. (Nah. 1:3a ESV)
But it is worth noting that the tension between pardon and punishment is already present in the original revelation at Mount Horeb. How can God both forgive and not clear the guilty at the same time? (Okay, seeing this apparent contradiction, I do need to get back to the subject of the atonement!)
In Nahum 2 and 3, we get a detailed description of the final attack on Nineveh and its destruction, presumably based on a vision (Nah. 1:1). These two chapters also point out some of the reasons for the judgment; it is well-deserved. For a taste of Assyrian ruthlessness, see the issue on Sennacherib or look at illustrations of the siege of Lachish chiselled in stone. And, well, read Nahum.
But the theological foundation is laid in Nahum 1: God’s nature.
All of this is presented, literally, as good news (gospel) – for Judah, which will no longer have to put up with Assyrian oppression (Nah. 1:15). God is breaking this yoke (Nah. 1:13).
Amos: A Standard of Justice and International Law
There is, of course, the question by what standard of justice nations could be held accountable in OT times. For Israel, the standard was clear. The prophets denounced Israel for breaking the commandments of the law and for being unfaithful to its God. But this would not apply to other nations. YHWH wasn’t their God, and they were not under the mosaic covenant.
Amos makes clear that there are nevertheless standards of justice to which God holds nations accountable. These standards have a lot to do with how the population of conquered cities and territories is treated; read Amos 1f.
Amos did not have any of our terminology for this, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, Geneva conventions, and genocide. But he upholds a remarkably similar set of criteria of justice.
With his take on international standards, Amos is more than two and a half millennia ahead of his time.
Babylon: Toward a Symbol of Evil
It appears, therefore, that there are principles of international justice in the Bible – literally ‘inter-national’, between nations. Violent actions against unarmed civilians, for instance, are wrong. And the prophets call on YHWH to execute vengeance for such actions. Looking at Assyria and Babylon, it seems he did. Eventually. Although often, it appears, the principle is not upheld. HHH
But this is OT. How does this change in the NT? And what about the inconsistent application? I see three crucial points to make.
First, God is not after individual people, themselves caught in the systems of evil; on the contrary, he would much rather save them from this evil. Even in the case of Nineveh, many of its inhabitants escaped: “Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them” (Nah. 3:18). The empire was gone, not the people.
Second, features of these ancient empires are compressed and transferred; they become a symbol, largely condensed into one name: Babylon – which is not a real city but a system of evil and, well, a symbol. Even though at the time the NT was written, it was incorporated superlatively by one city-empire, namely Rome, it is still clear that not all of Rome was all of Babylon. The symbol is much larger than any single city or empire.
Third, judgment is largely, even if not entirely, postponed: there is an eschatological day of reckoning. And sometimes at least, judgment overtakes the transgressors even now, before that day.
Anyone reducing cities to rubble must count on the possibility that his city or cities will be likewise reduced, even though it is not a certainty. In fact, I sincerely hope it won’t (have to) come to this. But it could.
These prophecies don’t tell us what will happen but what can happen – and that one way or another, God will eventually deal with evil and do full justice. I would not want to be on the wrong side of that justice.
In the meantime, we hold on to that final line in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thine is the kingdom (that is, the governmental rule) and the power (not you-know-who’s) and the glory”.
I have always felt a bit puzzled by the end of the prayer. Is it a random three-some thrown it as a feel-good conclusion? No. I am beginning to see what a comforting confession it is.
And it explains why the earlier line, “Thy kingdom come”, is not an empty wish. It already belongs to him, and he has the power to uphold it.
Babylon. Nineveh. Nation X. City Y. Nahum is a book worth reading (and praying) at such time as this.
Attribution
MabelAmber. 2018 <https://pixabay.com/de/photos/europa-l%c3%a4nder-karte-kontinent-3483539/> CC0
‘Kirchstraße in Potsdam nach dem Luftangriff im Jahr 1945’ <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kirchstr_Potsdam_1945.jpg> [accessed 7 March 2022] CC0 1.0
The Trustees of the British Museum <https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1856-0909-14_4> [accessed 8 March 2022] CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Max Bauer. ‘Potsdam, Nikolaikirche’ Bundesarchiv, Bild 170-373 <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bundesarchiv_Bild_170-373,_Potsdam,_Nikolaikirche.jpg> [accessed 7 March 2022] CC BY-SA 3.0
References
All Bible quotations from: The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles)