Nahum 1:3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked… I. THE ADMIRABLE PATIENCE OF THE DIVINE BEING. The prophet adds a reference to the power of God, and His punishment of the wicked, in order to guard men against presuming on His forbearance. We need not stay to prove that slowness to anger is a property of God. Divine patience could not be displayed unless there were sin. There was abundant evidence of the Divine goodness before man transgressed; but none of the Divine patience. When our race rebelled, Divine patience displayed itself. There could be no forbearance, no long-suffering, in the sense in which we now use the word, unless there were the possibility of ultimate pardon. When the Almighty spares a sinner, He is even more wonderful than when He builds a universe. But the Divine patience is in no degree opposed to the justice and faithfulness of God. It leaves room for the exercise of every other attribute. II. THE MYSTERIOUS AND AWFUL CHARACTER OF DIVINE PROVIDENTIAL OPERATIONS. God has everything at His disposal; and He accomplishes His purposes, and works out the counsel of His own will, through a varied instrumentality. Our text, with its sublime and magnificent imagery, is full of consolation to the afflicted as well as terror to the impenitent. (H. Melvill, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. |
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