God’s Word for You

Nahum 3:12-13 Figs and fire

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, May 23, 2026

12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees
with their first ripe fruit.
When they are shaken,
the figs fall into the mouth of the one who eats them.

The prophet compares the people of Nineveh with ripe figs. The Ninevites thought that they were safe behind their many thick walls, but they weren’t safe at all. It takes hardly any effort at all to knock down ripe figs in the summer. A stick swung by a child or a stiff breeze will do all that is needed.

It is a wonderful thing to know that although one has been outside of the original people of Israel, that we have been grafted into the family of believers like the wild olive shoot that Paul talks about in Romans 11:17-24. We have nothing to boast about, but God by his grace has brought us into the family of believers, and we are made into children of Abraham simply on account of faith. For Paul also says, “Those who believe are children of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7). But Nineveh was like a grafted shoot that was ruined over time. Oh, there was a season of repentance and faith when Jonah came, but that was a long time ago. Since that time, the grafted shoot of Nineveh withered and dried up, and now they were being cut off (Romans 11:22). This isn’t exactly what the prophet is saying with his image of the figs, but what happens to the fig tree when the invaders take all of the figs? The Assyrian destroyed and burned wherever they went. Their conquerors would do the same. The fig trees and olive orchards alike would burn, and the cities would be turned to ashes (verse 13).

13 Look at your troops—
they are like women in the face of your enemies.
The gates of your land will be wide open.
Fire will consume the bars of the gates.

The thought of women in the ranks of an army in the days of the brutal fist-fight with spears, clubs and short swords that typified ancient warfare was out of the question. Today, women serve in our military, well-trained and well-armed, as tactically savvy and as deadly in combat as any of their comrades. They serve from the lowest ranks to the very highest. But many readers are bound to cry out, “That’s offensive!” when they read a verse like this (Jeremiah has a verse like this; Jeremiah 51:30, and Isaiah too, Isaiah 19:16). But we should be careful not to overlay our culture and its biases on top of what we read in the Scriptures.

In my translation I have tried to follow the regular rules of the Hebrew accent marks. This means that “in the face of your enemies” (לְאֹיְבַיִךְ) must be connected grammatically to “they are like women (in your midst)” (נָשִׁים בְּקִרְבֵּךְ). Few translations follow this grammatical position, but the King James, the English Standard Version and Evangelical Heritage Version translate the way I have it.

Mighty soldiers, strong fortresses—none of this will amount to anything when the attackers come, O Nineveh. You were a mighty city once. Jonah reports: “Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days” (Jonah 3:3). But Jonah had spent a three day journey of his own in the belly of a fish just to get there (Jonah 1:17). What did the strength of the city matter against the power of the Word of God?

The gospel always does work in human hearts, but so does the law. According to Isaiah 55:11, the word of God is never taught, preached, or read in vain. But this doesn’t mean that everyone who hears the gospel will be won over to Christ. We learn in the Parable of the Sower (one of the first lessons Jesus taught, Mark 4:3-20) that with many people who hear it, the word has no effect. Remember that Paul said, “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). There will even be times when the word will be preached and no one at all will receive it (Luke 10:10-11).

But this can’t discourage us. The gospel is also the only resource that we have for making disciples. A thousand speakers with reasonable arguments about God will never convert anyone to believe in Christ without the text of the Holy Scriptures doing all of the real work. Everything that is not the gospel is at best a mere help, and at worst a complete hindrance.

When the gospel is preached but then forgotten about, or rejected, as with the people of Nineveh, a few were saved, but then the work was finished. What happened in Nineveh? Did Satan come and take away the word that was sown? That was what Jesus called the seed along the path. Or was it faith with no roots, so that when trouble came, they quickly fell away? That was what Jesus called the seed among the rocks. Or did the deceitfulness of wealth and power, or the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful? Jesus called that the seed choked by weeds. Perhaps all of those things happened in Nineveh, some people with the word carried off by the devil, some with stony hearts, and some choked by the weeds of worldly desires.

Now judgment was coming, swift, terrifying, and complete. “Justice… is severe.” The judgment of Nineveh was a sermon for the rest of the world. This is what will surely take place to all who reject the gospel of Christ’s forgiveness. Otherwise, after a certain time, you will be overturned (Jonah 3:4).

This verse and all of the other proclamations of the law in Nahum teach us to thank our God and treasure the gifts he gives to us through the Means of Grace. “He who trusts the Lord will not suffer loss.” For what Nineveh and its people received, we surely deserve for even one of our sins, the slightest “gosh” or “golly” uttered as the mildest curse, the most insignificant moment of covetousness over what someone else has, the very slightest bit of annoyance that finally breaks the Fifth Commandment—for any of these, we should be condemned. But God has sent his Son to forgive us with his blood. “The Lord Christ upon the cross is not a work we do but a treasure comprehended and offered to us in the Word and received by faith” (Large Catechism, IV:37). Treasure what God has given to you. This includes your life and all of the good things you have where you live, the people you love, and so many other good things, but most especially your Savior, your faith, God’s holy Word, and the Holy Spirit who lives in the temple of your heart and who remains with you always (1 Corinthians 3:16).

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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