Today's Scripture Reading (June 13, 2026): Nahum 2
Over the
years, I have spent a lot of time in traffic. I don't think I am predisposed to
road rage, though I have seen a lot of it over the years on the road. Where I
am vulnerable is when people get mad at me, especially if I have no idea why
they are angry. I remember one trip home a few years ago when a guy in a big
truck decided to pull a U-turn on a residential street. I came around the
corner to find the road blocked by this guy and his truck. My response was to
pull over to one side of the road; I admit that when I made the turn, I was
closer to the middle of the road than I should have been. In my defense, I didn't
know a truck was going to be blocking my way. So I pulled over to let the truck
do its thing.
I thought
everything was okay until the driver pulled up beside me and gave me the
universal one-finger greeting for hello. Then he pulled over and parked. So, I
parked (Do not try this at home). I got out and went over to him. I am a fairly
big guy, and he was relatively small, so when I walked up to him, it was
obvious that he was looking for something he could use as a weapon if things
turned bad. Knowing that, I kept everything as calm as I could. I asked my new
acquaintance what was wrong, and he responded that he believed I was trying to
block him. I assured him that I wasn't, apologized, and then turned and went
back to my vehicle. Maybe the most unnerving part of the whole confrontation was
that I noticed he watched me intently until I disappeared out of sight.
Some people read
this passage in Nahum and wonder if Nahum was seeing a contemporary traffic jam
on the ancient streets of Nineveh. Chariots that storm through the streets
looking like torches that run back and forth might be a description of a scene
that any traffic camera of an urban center during rush hour might reveal.
However, it is not a contemporary rush-hour scene that is being described, but
rather the bedlam of Nineveh overrun by its enemies. The end of Nineveh would
see armies flowing into the city from several different directions. The city
and its defenses would be overwhelmed in a way that couldn't have been imagined
fifty years before the fall of the city. History records that the city's end
occurred in 612 B.C.E. In that year, the city was overrun, and bitter fighting
raged from house to house. No place was safe. And when the fighting ended, the
city was razed. The former mighty city of the Assyrians was gone, never to
attain any importance ever again.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Nahum 3
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