Nahum

I find it interesting that Nahum, like Jonah, is about a prophet who spent time telling the people of Nineveh how bad they were and urging them to join the Jewish religion. His message in this tiny, obscure book is virtually identical to what Jonah is said to have preached. This makes me wonder just how vital it was to put this into the Bible?

Nah 1:2,3 - A jealous and avenging God is the LORD, the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and rages against his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger but great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in the whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Reading this, it looks like God is one MEAN dude! I find it interesting that it says he will not under any circumstances pardon those who are "guilty." In light of this, I wonder about what was the point of sending Jesus to do this pardoning?

Nah 1:14 - The LORD has commanded concerning you: "Your name shall be perpetuated no longer; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the cast image. I will make your grave, for you are worthless."
This is precisely the heart of the message I see every day from the preachers of Christianity. All people are worthless - but they know of a way (and they claim there's only one way - their way!) to make them worth something. It's unfortunate that there are so many people who are willing to accept the label of "worthless."

Nah 3:4-6 - Because of the countless debaucheries of the prostitute, gracefully alluring, mistress of sorcery, who enslaves nations through her debaucheries, and people through her sorcery, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will let the nations look on your nakedness and kingdoms on your shame. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt, and make you a spectacle.
This is yet another example of the childish sort of attitude that the Bible often attributes to God. Here, in response to the sin of Nineveh, God threatens to resort to embarrassment as punishment. I also think it's quite telling that the idea of exposing a helpless victim's nudity for all to see is a sick image, certainly not the sort of thing a mature, sane authority figure would feel a need for.