A Good Day

Series: Life is Good

Scripture: Nahum 1:7 ESV

Imagine if you will the best day of your life. You had been terrorized by a bully all your life, and now that bully was now becoming powerless.

The time period was 663–612 B.C.

The Assyrian Empire had been a powerful force in the ancient Near East. At their peak they controlled the area from the Persian Gulf to Egypt.

Under King Ashurbanipal Assyria conquered the city of Thebes in Egypt.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel had been defeated in 722 B.C. by the Assyrians. The men and boys (probably over the age of 12) were captured and taken to work in Assyria.

The Southern Kingdom of Judah was barely able to survive but they still became feudal tenants to Lords who controlled the area. While the older boys and men were not captured and taken to live in Assyria they were no longer free men.

The Assyrian Empire gradually grew from a region in modern day Iraq to control most of the Middle East.

They build massive monuments in major cities they conquered. The men and boys the armies captured throughout the Middle East were the slaves who built their monuments. Nineveh was the most populated city in the ancient Assyrian Empire.

As powerful as the Assyrian Empire was in the Middle East, by 627 BCE the Empire declined following the death of King Ashurbanipal. Civil Wars within the Empire divided the Assyrian Military.

In 606 B.C. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon seized Jerusalem and every available man was exiled to Babylon, that included the Prophet Daniel.

We know from scripture that Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel were taken from their homes in Jerusalem in 605 B.C.

The Assyrian Empire was defeated by the Chaldeans and Medes between 612 and 609 B.C.E.

The Hebrew prisoners taken captive were allowed to return home in 538 B.C.E. Those who were too old to make the 1000 mile journey back to Jerusalem never saw their homeland again.

Those who returned home to Israel began a massive rebuilding campaign. The construction of the Second Temple started and the Temple was completed by 520 BC.

The Prophet Nahum (663 to 612 B.C.) foretold what would happen.

In Nahum 1:7 he wrote, “The Lord is good,    a stronghold in the day of trouble;he knows those who take refuge in him.”

It is a bit mind-boggling that Jerusalem was sacked and the first Temple was destroyed in 587-586 B.C.E.

The first Temple build by King Solomon was gone but that is not the end of the story.

Deborah, acrazyjourney.com