Friday Fille

This morning on the late train I saw a couple of people I know: Josh Lear, who slept most of the journey on the seat next to me, and Brendon Worsley, who didn’t see me. There was a pretty young lass that particularly caught my eye as well. Well dressed in black with blonde hair and brown roots, eyes looked hazel and she had this kind of cheekish smile/grin for pretty much the entire journey….

I often wonder what people like this are thinking, it intrigues me…. How wonderful would it be if she was joyous of the love that Jesus Christ shows us, through his self-sacrifice on the cross. Is there really any greater joy??

I also had a good read of some bible: Ecclesiastes 2 and Nahum, which I’m not sure if I’ve previously read before… Quite an amazing book talking about the destruction of Ninevah, the city which Jonah went to tell them to turn back to the Lord or they would be destroyed and immediately did so…. By way of my ESV Study Bible, and access to the website of the same name we find this:

Purpose, Occasion, and Background

Nahum was God’s messenger to announce the fall of Nineveh and the complete overthrow of Assyria. This coming judgment from the Lord was certain and irrevocable, as was Obadiah’s message concerning Edom.

Nahum’s book is a sequel to, and a dramatic contrast with, the book of Jonah. Jonah’s mission to Nineveh was probably sometime in the first half of the eighth century b.c. He was to warn that large city of God’s impending judgment because of Nineveh’s wickedness. To Jonah’s dismay, the Ninevites heeded his message, repented, and were spared God’s judgment.

This repentance, however, did not last beyond 745 b.c., when Tiglath-pileser III (745–728/727) made his people the leading military power in the Near East. The vast Assyrian Empire was established by bloodshed and massacre, cruelty and torture, destruction, plundering, and exiling such as has seldom been seen in history. After several campaigns, Tiglath-pileser greatly enlarged the territory paying him homage with annexed land and vassal kingdoms, including the northern kingdom of Israel (reduced in size by the Assyrians) and the southern kingdom of Judah. Succeeding rulers maintained and expanded this empire. In 722 b.c. the Assyrians brought to an end the northern kingdom of Israel.

Sennacherib (reigned 704–681 b.c.) made Nineveh the capital of his kingdom (c. 700). His energetic building program included a splendid palace, water-supply and water-control projects, and a massive wall to surround the expanded city. Nineveh was destroyed in 612 b.c., never to be restored, marking the end of Assyria. A small remnant of Assyrians did escape the city, fleeing to Haran and making Ashur-uballit II “king of Assyria.” In 610 b.c., though, Haran fell to the Babylonians and their allies. Ashur-uballit retreated, but in 609 b.c., with Egyptian help, he tried to recapture Haran. That attempt failed, and Ashur-uballit and the Assyrians disappeared from history.

Some graphic images in here, most surprising for me was in Nahum 3: 4-7 which says:
⁴ And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.
⁵ Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶ I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.
⁷ And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her? Where shall I seek comforters for you?