Nathan N’Qamah – Avenger

The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is fierce in wrath. The LORD takes vengeance against His foes; He is furious with His enemies. The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will never leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet. - Nahum 1:2-3 HCSB

A jealous and avenging God does not sell well today. Go down to the local Christian bookstore, Barnes and Noble or Borders and check out the books. How many describe God as easy going, loving, sweet, empowering and forgiving? How many describe Him as being jealous of our affections, vengeful toward His enemies or fierce in wrath? I find this disparity amazing considering God’s long history of vengeance and wrath with humans.

Did He or did He not cast us out of paradise, inflict us with mortality and curse the ground on which we tread when we disobeyed?[1] Wasn’t He the one who marked Cain, cursed him with an inability to gain anything from the soil at all and sent him into exile for his crime?[2] Wasn’t it Nathan N’Qamah who wiped all existing humans off the earth through drowning?[3] Didn’t Yahweh spread confusing languages among the people of Babel beginning the long slide of human warfare through miscommunication, misunderstanding and plain greed?[4] Go visit Sodom and Gomorrah – oh wait! We can’t because He overthrew them with fire and brimstone.[5]

Is this solely a description of the Old Testament God? Did God change? Can God change? His immutability is a fundamental tenet of Christian doctrine.[6] He said, "Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.”[7] Do you think that during the 400 year silence God rethought His approach? Did He mumble to Himself, “You know, this whole God of wrath thing isn’t working for me. I need to change my image“?

Ask that of Annanias and Saphira who were killed for lying to the Holy Spirit.[8] Tell that to the sick and dying Corinthians who were partaking of Communion wrongly.[9] Tell that to the people of Israel who vowed "His blood be on us and on our children!"[10] Haven’t they suffered generation after generation of pogroms, exile and the Holocaust? Read the book of Revelation and tell me that God has changed.

God is love and He is forgiving. He demonstrates tremendous self-control and mercy every day He allows a sinning nation that kills millions of babies to exist. Nahum says that the Lord is slow to anger – not that He is spineless. We need to have a proper and healthy fear of Nathan N’Qamah because those who don’t have a nasty habit of turning up dead. Worse – they end up in hell for this God can not only reach out and touch our bodies but our very souls.[11] We need to obey Him.


[1] Genesis 3:16-24
[2] Genesis 4:11-12
[3] Genesis 6:7
[4] Genesis 11:7-9
[5] Genesis 19:24-25
[6] 1 Samuel 15:29; Psalm 89:34
[7] Malachi 3:6 HCSB
[8] Acts 5:5
[9] 1 Corinthians 11:29-30
[10] Matthew 27:25
[11] Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4