"He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth" (Nahum 1:4).

The short three-chapter prophecy of Nahum is directed especially at the wicked city of Nineveh, capital of the grossly cruel empire of Assyria, predicting its imminent destruction. It was fulfilled in the period 612-609 B.C., when Assyria and Nineveh were finally vanquished by a coalition of forces from Babylonia, Media, and Scythia.

However, the prophecy of verse 4 (our text) was not fulfilled at that time, indicating that Nahum's prophecy would have both a near and far fulfillment. Indeed there will be a terrible worldwide drought in the last days, according to other Scriptures as well. The prophet Joel, many years before Nahum, had prophesied that such a calamity would accompany the coming judgments of the "day of the Lord" when "the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness" (Joel 1:15,20).

This judgment is described more vividly in the last book of the Bible. "My two witnesses . . . have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy. . . . And . . . the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up" (Revelation 11:3,6; 16:12).

But in the still more distant future, in the new earth, there will be "a pure river of water of life" (Revelation 22:1) which will never run dry. Even now, the Lord Jesus offers to all who believe "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). Speaking of spiritual water, of course, the Lord promised: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, . . . out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: . . .)" (John 7:37-39). HMM