The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible Nahum 1:3
The Lord [is] slow to anger…
He is not in haste to execute
it; he takes time for it, and gives men space for repentance. Nineveh
had had a proof of this when it repented at the preaching of Jonah,
upon which the Lord deferred the execution of his wrath; but lest they
should presume upon this, and conclude the Lord would always bear with
them, though they had returned to their former impieties; they are let
to know, that this his forbearance was not owing to want of power or
will in him to punish: since he is
great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked];
he is able to
execute the wrath he threatens, and will by no means clear the guilty,
or let them go free and unpunished; though he moves slowly, as he may
seem in the execution of his judgments, yet they shall surely be
brought on his enemies, and be fully accomplished:
the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds
[are] the dust of his feet;
he spoke to Job out of the whirlwind; he
descended on Mount Sinai in a storm and tempest; and the clouds are his
chariots; in which he rides swiftly; and which, for their appearance
and number, are like the dust raised by a multitude of horsemen riding
full speed, The wrath of God may be compared to a whirlwind, and a
storm, which is sometimes hastily and suddenly executed upon men:
respect seems to be had to the armies of the Medes and Chaldeans
against the Assyrians; who, as the Babylonians against the Jews, came
up as clouds, and their chariots as the whirlwind, (Jeremiah 4:13) ; and the
figures beautifully describe the numbers of them, the force with which
they came; and in an elegant manner represent the vast quantity of dust
raised by an army in full march; at the head of which was the Lord
himself, ordering, directing, and succeeding, before whom none can
stand.
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