Nahum Quotes

Literalism involves a fundamental misconception of the mental processes of biblical man and ignorance of his modes of self-expression. It thus misrepresents the purport of the narrative, obscures the meaningful and enduring in it and destroys its relevancy.

Nahum did not send her to the county asylum, but let her wander about the house as long as she was harmless to herself and others. Even when her expression changed he did nothing. But when the boys grew afraid of her, and Thaddeus nearly fainted at the way she made faces at him, he decided to keep her locked in the attic.

The trees budded prematurely around Nahum’s, and at night they swayed ominously in the wind. Nahum’s second son Thaddeus, a lad of fifteen, swore that they swayed also when there was no wind; but even the gossips would not credit this.

Nahum himself gave the most definite statement of anyone when he said he was disturbed about certain footprints in the snow. They were the usual winter prints of red squirrels, white rabbits, and foxes, but the brooding farmer professed to see something not quite right about their nature and arrangement.

Know this...GOD IS BIGGER, than anything you're going through, trust him...KEEP YOUR TRUST IN HIM" -Gary Linville "I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what love is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you." "Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw, Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw; Gives exercise to faith and love, Brings every blessing from above." Nahum 1:7, "The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him." "be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." ♥ Ephesians 4:2-3 “the truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. you just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” ― Bob Marley "The thing about the shadows is that they're not all darkness. You need to have light to have shadows" - A. Meredith Walters "Light in the Shadows" (Find You in the Dark #2)

Another misapprehension, shared alike by the followers of "pietism" and "scientism," was that the recognition of the non-unitary origin of the Pentateuch must be destructive of faith and inimical to religion. But is it not to circumscribe the power of God in a most extraordinary manner to assume that the Divine can only work effectively through the medium of a single document, but not through four? Surely God can as well unfold His revelation in successive stages as in a single moment of time.

As Ben-Gurion told Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, in 1956, “If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it’s true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been antisemitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?”78

Although I have afflicted you, . . . I will afflict you no more. (Nahum 1:12) There is a limit to our affliction. God sends it and then removes it. Do you complain, saying, “When will this end?” May we quietly wait and patiently endure the will of the Lord till He comes. Our Father takes away the rod when His purpose in using it is fully accomplished. If the affliction is sent to test us so that our words would glorify God, it will only end once He has caused us to testify to His praise and honor. In fact, we would not want the difficulty to depart until God has removed from us all the honor we can yield to Him. Today things may become “completely calm” (Matt. 8:26). Who knows how soon these raging waves will give way to a sea of glass with seagulls sitting on the gentle swells? After a long ordeal, the threshing tool is on its hook, and the wheat has been gathered into the barn. Before much time has passed, we may be just as happy as we are sorrowful now. It is not difficult for the Lord to turn night into day. He who sends the clouds can just as easily clear the skies. Let us be encouraged—things are better down the road. Let us sing God’s praises in anticipation of things to come. Charles H. Spurgeon “The Lord of the harvest” (Luke 10:2) is not always threshing us. His trials are only for a season, and the showers soon pass. “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5). “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17). Trials do serve their purpose. Even the fact that we face a trial proves there is something very precious to our Lord in us, or else He would not spend so much time and energy on us. Christ would not test us if He did not see the precious metal of faith mingled with the rocky core of our nature, and it is to refine us into purity and beauty that He forces us through the fiery ordeal. Be patient, O sufferer! The result of the Refiner’s fire will more than compensate for our trials, once we see the “eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Just to hear His commendation, “Well done” (Matt. 25:21); to be honored before the holy angels; to be glorified in Christ, so that I may reflect His glory back to Him—ah! that will be more than enough reward for all my trials. from Tried by Fire Just as the weights of a grandfather clock, or the stabilizers in a ship, are necessary for them to work properly, so are troubles to the soul. The sweetest perfumes are obtained only through tremendous pressure, the fairest flowers grow on the most isolated and snowy peaks, the most beautiful gems are those that have suffered the longest at the jeweler’s wheel, and the most magnificent statues have endured the most blows from the chisel. All of these, however, are subject to God’s law. Nothing happens that has not been appointed with consummate care and foresight. from Daily Devotional Commentary

We moved all around, and I was very worried I would not get a chance to show her what I had planned. Here was the children's home, here was the library, here was a furniture factory of the  kibbutz. I tried to squeeze a few words in about everything we saw, as someone who makes himself known and unversed in the ways of the  kibbutz. The highlight was when I gave her a tour, on the tractor, to the pear groves where I worked. I drove the tractor and she sat beside me, in a very unsafe way, standing on the shaft as she rested on one of the wheel's wings of the tractor. The groves were just a few minutes away from the  kibbutz, on a dirt road that led south towards Acre. I kept explaining to her about new life on the  kibbutz the entire time.

Chapter 17   I was on my way from Rambam Hospital to Tiberias, when the news first came across the radio about a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Maggie was still at the Hematology  Ward. I tried to imagine how she felt listening to the news. Surely she was as shocked as everyone else. There in the ward, patients were fighting for their lives, and now in another place in the country, people had perished in seconds. The entire country was horrified by the horrible scenes that aired on all the media. Gradually, the magnitude of the disaster started to be known. A suicide bomber detonated a charge inside a bus, while travelers were going up and down the bus at the heart of the city. It was a few minutes before nine in the morning. There were over twenty dead and dozens wounded. At home, sitting in front of the TV, I watched the extensive coverage. This transition from the sick atmosphere of the hospital in the morning, to the atmosphere of the evening suicide bombing, was depressing. The TV coverage was painful and brought an atmosphere of sadness. I had a feeling that the broadcast intended to clarify to all the people who were still healthy  that their health would not help them. That their end could come just as it did to those victims of the terrorism act on the bus. People did not stop thinking about the event, and the harsh images which were shown repeatedly on the television. Reporters broadcasted from the scene in heightened excitement and everything was filmed live. It seemed that someone was afraid, lest, God forbid, there would be a single person in the country who did not watch this horror. It was appalling. It was one of the first suicide bombings in Israel, and perhaps one of the largest ones.

Whatever they plot against the Lord he will bring to an end; trouble will not come a second time.--Nahum 1:9

To destroy the present in the name of the future is a crime; to destroy the present in the name of the past is insanity.

The evangelical commitment is to take the text at face value while resisting our culture’s post-Enlightenment inclination toward skepticism. God must remain free to act in our world in improbable ways. The evangelical task is to assess accurately, with literary and theological sensitivity, what the face value of the text is, even if the result departs from traditional assessments.

Biblical conception of the world: (1) waters above the firmament; (2) storehouses of snows; (3) storehouses for hail; (4) chambers of winds; (5) firmament; (6) sluice; (7) pillars of the sky; (8) pillars of the earth; (9) fountain of the deep; (10) navel of the earth; (11) waters under the earth; (12) rivers of the nether world.

Si alguna vez estamos inclinados a enorgullecernos de nuestro conocimiento bíblico, debemos abrir cualquier volumen de John Owen, Thomas Goodwin, o Thomas Brooks, observar cómo se cita algún pasaje desconocido de Nahum seguido de un pasaje conocido de Juan —donde ambos ilustran perfectamente el punto que está planteando el escritor—, luego comparar nuestro conocimiento con el de ellos.

The depravity of mankind makes evident the infinite patience of God. "The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power" (Nahum 1:3).

Es preferible pasar por esta vida dando, mejor que exigiendo.

»¿Preguntas por la verdad que se sienta a tu lado, junto al dolor? A ésa la espanta uno mismo, en cuanto puede… »¿Preguntas por mis ilusiones y esperanzas? Cada una viaja con una verdad sobre los hombros, todas diferentes…

Del amor nace lo visible y lo invisible, lo infinito y lo eterno.

El silencio es una ventana que se abre directamente sobre Dios, bendito sea su nombre, pero el hombre todavía no la ha abierto.

cada hombre es un mundo diferente, de la misma manera que no hay dos círculos iguales. No hay que hablar a las multitudes. Conviene hablar a cada corazón.

¿Desde cuándo la Divinidad está sujeta al raciocinio?

He who fulfills the commandments will be blessed. One of the aims of the Orthodox ascetic struggle is healing or transformation of the passions in the heart, and returning of the divine peace in it―the only precondition for building peace among people. The more apostasy from God, the more depression; the lesser the grace of God in our lives, the more depression. And this problem cannot be solved with pills, but above all, with repentant prayer; it cannot be solved in a pharmacy, but with a struggle in the Church. And never―by escape from reality.

I understood reality. Everyone had gone mad. They found a reason not to go to work. There was snow in the city, there was no transportation, so there was no work. No one thought it possible to walk a little. It seemed I was the only righteous one in the department. I was so embarrassed and angry; I took off my camera and snapped pictures of the gate that remained wrapped with the white snow. These pictures of the gate were etched in my heart. I do not know if I took them because of the beauty of the snow that enveloped the metal arches of the gate, or if I only wanted proof that I, unlike all other Jerusalemites, came to work on this day. Looking back I think it might have been a combination of both.

I tried to explore the likely possibilities of any one of my brothers having the tissue type that would be a match for Maggie. Maggie and I were born in Iraq, maybe we were made of different material. We certainly had a lot in common. I definitely had a good chance of my tissue being a match for Maggie, more than that of my brothers. I immediately ruled out Haim. It seemed he would not fit. He was a redhead, like my father. His chances seemed slim.

Every summer, we used to clean and prepare the stoch for the overnight sleep accommodations. I imagined the atmosphere on those roofs - quiet, without noise or the sound of our home appliances. No buzzing fans, no refrigerator’s groans, and no air conditioner rattling. People enjoyed their sleep. I thought it was fun, at least on those nights when I used to sleep at my grandmother's in the transit camp. The overnight stays under the open sky were fascinating. Even there on the roof they must have watched the stars and their movements up in Heaven. I could not hide my smile when I remembered the time I was on my way to see my mother, and  I noticed a woman going up to sunbathe on the roof with only a tiny bikini on her body. It was in the summer months, in one of the adjacent streets. I realized that my mother was right. There were many uses for flat roofs. I remembered, of course, the biblical story of David and Bathsheba. Yes, King David made an intelligent use of the stoch. He was on one when not far away, while on another roof, Bath-Sheba pleasantly washed herself. It turns out that she knew how to take advantage of the roof too.

Over time I found an explanation that eased my mind. I thought I should no longer be surprised by the fact that it was my nest friends who came from well-established families, that were not hesitant to stay at the Kibbutz. They were the ones that actually did not have economic concerns. Their risk factor was  low. They could stay in the Kibbutz and leave it any time they wanted. They would have supportive parents to help them rebuild their future, whether it was in school or whether it was in finding a proper job to make  a living. I did not have these advantages. If I left, I would have to start over from scratch. I knew early on that my chances of making a brave decision and staying at Kibbutz were slim. There was a very high risk associated with that decision. If I could not make it in the Kibbutz  then everything would go down the drain. Then I would have to get out in the job market, with no financial assistance, with no place to live, and without any education. I knew my situation was different from the other nest members, and I think as that realization dawned on me, it was then that I first decided to go into the military. I remembered I had a similar dilemma when I decided not to stay in the United States any longer and return to Israel. The decision making process was long and tedious, but ultimately I chose to return to Israel. I never thought about what would happen if I would have chosen to stay in the US instead, or how my life would have turned out.

Kibbutz founders were mostly friends from Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, mostly Holocaust survivors and refugees. At the time the founders picked out a small group of people from abroad, among those who came, those that arrived from South America stuck out the most. There were also individual members of the Kibbutz, whose nationality we never knew, so we didn't know what group to put them in. There were also members of young movements in Israel, and then there was us, the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement graduates, staying at the Kibbutz, and trying to fit in with everyone.

I remembered how as a result of the Soviet invasion of their country, all of a sudden the media was interested in Shomrat. It went from being an almost unknown Kibbutz, to the center of attraction for the media. All eyes were fixed on it, or rather on those Czechs staying there at the same time. When we first learned of the invasion there was a spontaneous gathering of members of Shomrat Kibbutz. The assembly was in front of the dining room, where members expressed their protest regarding what had happened in Czechoslovakia. The volunteers themselves were scattered in different places on that same day, and some were even on a trip to Jerusalem. Immediately upon publication of the invasion, they began to find each other, to decide on their steps, and cope with the difficult dilemma they faced.

His idea was clear – you should not continue to teach the other person, that would be useless. Nothing positive would come out of it. He just won't understand you. It is the brain that God gave him. It is his mind and he will not change it. His ability to understand is limited to what you see before you. In short, 'Let him be'.

There were different groups of volunteers who came in waves. There were Dutch, Swiss, Americans, Czechs and others. We enjoyed working with them all.

It was clear to me that the transition from a healthy and active person in the family as Maggie was, to a state of limited and hospitalized patient, was not easy. Maggie was a central and dominant figure in the family, and this stay within the hospital walls, whether it was for testing, treatment, or hospitalization, forced her into a new reality; making her into a marginal and helpless figure.

In my heart I was hoping that the dead were not buried by their love for a soccer team, too. Where would they bury me?

A sense of responsibility accompanied me my whole life. Nothing is more important or more valuable than saving a person's life. When it comes to a family member, it certainly has deeper meaning.

Unlike other patients, there there was a higher ratio of donors, and it was likely that someone would be a match. The competition would be over who would be most suitable. Six brothers wanted the job and one of them would certainly win.

I thought I'd meet the same tough kind of Kibbutz members at Shomrat, as I knew from the days when I worked as an employee at the Jordan Valley. But I was wrong. I did not see hired workers at Shomrat. The workers were all treated the same. Muhammad and Nazami were also employed in the Kibbutz, but were not members of it, and they were treated completely different from what I had known before. This was not the attitude I'd seen in the limited experience I had as an employee at the Jordan Valley. Here Muhammad and Nazami had their own rooms, and I felt they were involved in what was going on at the Kibbutz. I did not like the Kibbutz's talk gatherings. I went there several times to get an impression and listen, but I could not find any interest in them. It seemed to me that perhaps the issues discussed there were not significant for me or for my Tiberias nest friends. Perhaps one of the reasons for that was our fatigue after a day of labor and the activity afterward. Our priority was apparently different. Sometimes we preferred to watch the television, which was installed high at the entrance to the dining room. Our television watching would come to an end once Alla fell asleep in his chair, and he would always fall asleep in the first five minutes.

Shomrat Kibbutz was our targeted Kibbutz in our Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. We arrived there with a number of nests of the movement from all over the country, and together, for the first time, we tried to integrate into common life, within the frame of the Nahal's unpaid service.

There was a widespread rumor that there was an attempt to absorb an Arab youth movement into the  kibbutz. It seemed that the attempt failed. Perhaps Muhammad and Nazmi were the remnants of that Arab youth movement. They may have belonged to the Arab youth movement pioneers. The movement succeeded in establishing a number of cores, and one of its training groups was in Shomrat. It was not talked about often in the  kibbutz, but rumors always reached us, and Mohammed and Nazmi had ties to this movement. Muhammad loved to read Arabic poetry and occasionally enjoyed translating the words into Hebrew for us. It always amazed me how he sat, he never needed a chair.

I never understood the place of the workers all that time, which was proudly called, 'The Spring of Prague'. It is quite possible that he was right. It is possible that it was actually the students who managed to drag the country into these reforms. If this is true, I thought to myself, they are also guilty of the Soviet occupation. After all, they caused it.

The more I tried to delve into the issue and understand the mood of their country, the more obscure things became. Our language difficulties may have contributed to this quite a bit.

Today's marbles were then called,  ‘blorot'. It is possible that the source of this strange name came from the language spoken by the people of  Tiberias. The  blorot  was an entire world. There was no self-respecting child who did not have them in his possession. There were those who walked proudly with a fixed 'Rasiot'. The Rasiot was a special brand of  blorot,  usually larger, but what was important was that they were trusted by the user, who could rely upon them when shooting. The  blorot was in abundance and appeared in different forms, in different colors, and in different sizes. There were giants and small  blorots, there were those that were made of glass or ceramic. There were transparent  butterflies, some that were decorated in a way that only someone with a wild imagination could design. Every  blora was more beautiful than the other, but most beautiful of all, was no doubt the variety of games you could play with them.

I remember many of us getting together where we sat, each of us holding our cup and mixing the coffee powder with a little bit of water or milk inside. The more you swirled, the better the foam created in the cup. We preferred the tube milk over the fresh milk of the Kibbutz. Mixing coffee with our hands till it foamed  was a kind of a ceremony. Over time it became something of a ritual. I think in those days, there was intense activity of the commercial companies distributing instant coffee among consumers. “Ness café”, they called it. There was a great demand for milk, which arrived to us in tubes. It was imported. Maybe they were manufactured in Holland. Drinking instant coffee with that milk and the foam we created with our own hands using a simple spoon, was the heart's desire of all coffee lovers in the nest. I was moved by the very simple preparation of it – boiling water in an electric kettle, one teaspoon of this new wonder, the instant coffee in the cup, and you have your coffee. It was amazing. I used to compare this action to the method of tea preparation by my mother at home, or the rare preparing of the black coffee for guests, and suddenly I realized how debilitating and complex her job was compared to what we were doing. There in Shomrat Kibbutz I learned to drink and enjoy instant coffee.

With every interaction with Maggie, they would treat her as if she was the only patient in the ward, and all their attention was directed only  her. They demonstrated special and impressive personal care. I do not remember feeling a similar attitude, with these intensities, in any other hospital. I did not feel it, even in other wards. Sometimes it seemed to me that a nurse would have a reason for going to work in a particular ward. Her choice in the ward she would work in, eventually, was a derivative of her character. The impression was that the nurses there were bonded around a clear and indisputable target - to protect patients, no matter what, to help them and their families as much as possible. I remember several incidents of violence by visitors towards the medical and nursing staff in other hospitals. It was mainly verbal, although sometimes there was also physical violence. Most cases concerned the displeasure of family over the treatment of patients, or so felt the patients or their companions. Perhaps their expectations were different from the possible reality. Maybe they thought that with the magic formula that was the nursing staff, all the pains would suddenly disappear and the patients would return home safe and sound. The reality was not like that.

In the Bone Marrow Transplant  Ward, it looked so different  that such thoughts seemed completely detached from reality. I thought about the nature of the ward and the medical staff employed there. It was a completely different world. I understood my comparison was unfair.

I noticed a Swiss volunteer standing next to a tree and his hand was holding the base of the tree. I saw the volunteer, a young man, who was impatient and occasionally replaced his hands, making sure one was always pressed to the tree trunk. I approached him and asked what he was doing. "I'm guarding the tiger moth," he replied in English, saying 'tiger moth' in clear Hebrew. "Guarding what? What are you talking about?" I asked, puzzled. "Elijah asked me to watch over it, so it won't get away. He went to get something to kill it." I looked at the volunteer and I knew he had fallen victim to one of Elijah's jokes. "I have been in this state more than half an hour now. Please tell Elijah to hurry!” the volunteer begged. Elijah loved to laugh, but he never exaggerated his pranks.

I could have been in that naive status the same as the volunteer in front of me.

It was one day in August 1968, when the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia took place and crushed the hopes of his people, for liberty and freedom, it all came to a stop. The  kibbutz was in turmoil. An atmosphere of sadness came over it. It was in solidarity with the volunteers of the Czech people. Members, former Czechoslovakians, tried to encourage them, helping them with the blow they suffered by their country. All of their dreams were shattered. Since the Soviet invasion in their country, Czech volunteers were in shock. Stress and fear gripped them. The members often stayed with them and talked to them in their language.

In my mind I imagined that all communist students were bald, and here was my interlocutor, a handsome guy with long hair. He did not match any of my images of the communists. Perhaps it is a product of the revolution that has just started in Czechoslovakia and was nipped in the bud, I thought to myself.

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. Nahum 1:7

She described tirelessly to me how effective the flat roof was, and how it was useful. I found that the stoch was also used as a place to dry food, such as tomatoes. They used to put the tomatoes on the stoch, when they were cut, crushed, and soaked in large bowls. Soaking them on the roof would cause the fluid content to vaporize. What remained of the fruit was preserved in jars for regular use over time. To the tomatoes, which turned  very thick, we used to add a little salt, and it was enough to preserve them for a long time. They layed it out on the stoch and that was it. I laughed when she added a story from her childhood as well, when she used go up on the stoch with her friends and throw pottery off of it, throwing it down to shatter as a mark of the end of summer.

I wondered often how my nest buddies, who came from financially established families, would prefer to stay and live on a Kibbutz, according to the movement's values which centered around equality. I thought such a decision would cause a decrease in their accustomed standard of living. Reality proved me wrong. These members, who came from financially established homes and apparently did not miss anything at their homes, showed eagerness about living in the Kibbutz lifestyle.

I remembered my initial enthusiasm, when I was with the youth movement members at Beit Zera Kibbutz. We were kids and had arrived for our first visit there. When we saw the drinking fountain next to the dining room, we were surprised. There were water fountains, and next to them was a soda fountain one could drink from freely, without restrictions. We were not used to this phenomenon. In the Jordan Valley heat, it looked to us as a well of vital water to those whose  thirst had almost finished them. We pounced on the soda fountain, as ones who could not believe their eyes. We drank and drank until we could not fit another drop in our stomachs. I remember when Michael, one of the Tiberias youth movement members, clung to the fountain and began drinking soda, one cup after another. Behind him stood a member of the Kibbutz in work clothes, who apparently, had also come to quench his thirst from the soda fountain. The member of the Kibbutz arrived with a pitcher, which he sought to fill with soda. Michael clung to the fountain and did not let him get near it until he had finished drinking. The member of the Kibbutz waited patiently with a smile on his face, perhaps wondering a little about these Tiberians. Maybe he thought they had never seen a soda fountain. Which we hadn’t, especially one that was freely accessible to everyone. It was something beyond our understanding. As he was sipping the soda, Michael began to explain to a member of the Kibbutz about this invention they were standing in front of. “It's free," said Michael. "Everything is free. You can drink and fill bottles as often as you want. It's  all free." "Really.?" asked the member of the Kibbutz, at the sight of the youth movement member who was amazed at the sight of soda. I do not know if he said it sarcastically or in natural simplicity, so as not to embarrass Michael. After all, he saw a group of children attacking the soda fountain, like a found treasure.

Unfortunately, this insurance did not include the special blood donations, which Maggie needed due to her illness. There was a need to turn to other factors for blood donations, and so Isaac initiated contact with Ezer Mitzion Association, a volunteer organization that worked to help patients and their families. The organization offered help and expressed their willingness to recruit people for blood donations. Isaac settled for modest help. He asked them to send him warm meals during his stay with Maggie at the hospital. For the blood donations he enlisted his colleagues from Israel Electric Corporation. Employees traveled in small groups of up to five people, from Tiberias to Hadassah Hospital, and donated the blood needed. More volunteers were not lacking, among them were neighbors. Everyone chipped in and enlisted as one for the task. They had all the blood units needed, to be delivered to the hospital.

I remember the hard work in the banana plantations of Kibbutz Kinneret, in stained work clothes. I remembered the hot sun and unbearable heat of the Jordan Valley, and now here those beautiful young women dressed in short and narrow shorts, covering a little and revealing a lot more, and at the top part of their body was a piece of cloth that was barely enough to cover their breasts. If anything of their bodies was yet to appear, my fertile imagination found it, and sometimes the camera helped my imagination. I thought maybe I was in another country. I think those volunteers not only fascinated me, but they also brought a different and special spirit into the work, and perhaps the entire Kibbutz spirit.

God is jealous, and the Lord avenges;     The Lord avenges and is furious.     The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries,     And He reserves wrath for His enemies. (NAHUM 1:2)

I remember one day, he brought to my room on the Kibbutz a considerable amount of fruit and suggested that I send some of it to my family in Tiberias. "Teach them to eat avocados," he said, as if he was someone who had been appointed as the marketer of avocado eating in the country. "Trust me, they will love it.” He was not mistaken.

We were divided into adoptive families, and there was always someone from the Kibbutz who accompanied us to immediately take care of any problem that might come up. The rooms we got were spacious wooden huts, and we were divided into two in each room. I adapted nicely after learning to switch on the boiler. I felt free in my room and the Kibbutz. I enjoyed my new place. Although I found it hard to work with the boiler, but with time I found a way to get used to the new situation. At Tiberias, heating water was done using electricity and solar panels installed on the roof, and here we heated water with a boiler, at least that is what they called the small device that operated on kerosene. In the tiny shower room there was a kind of boiler which, to me, looked like a threatening missile, and from it was an arrangement of dripping kerosene, that when it was burned, would heat the water. I loved hearing the noise the boiler made when it worked. The noise rose and fell  according to the pace of the kerosene drip. Sometimes, in my mind, I saw it taking off into the sky.

I knew Acre like the back of my hand. I loved every opportunity I had to explore the old city there. The walls reminded me a bit of the walls of Tiberias. Later, I learned that they had a common constructor. I would suggest to everyone who visited me at the  kibbutz, a short tour in Acre or in the immediate vicinity of the  kibbutz. Over time I developed a regular route, which included the Acre and the Bahai Gardens in the south, and up to Nahariya and Rosh Hanikra in the north –  stunning views of western Galilee. Everything was new to me. I was relieved by the presence of my youth members from Tiberias. They were in the picture in front of me, helping me with their advice on how to capture Jacob when he was carrying the Lohamei Hageta'ot Musiem, somewhere over the aqueduct of Shomrat.   ***

The LORD is good. He is a fortress in the day of trouble. He knows those who seek shelter in him. He will put an end to Nineveh with a devastating flood. He will pursue his enemies with darkness. Nahum 1:7–8

Sometimes I got the impression that the attitude towards her from the medical staff was more positive because of our  presence.

No one expected her to remain hospitalized for so long, that she would enjoy the comforts of the new ward. Maggie thought about the doctor's words and was very upset with them. Within the family, we never understood the concerns of the ward and its conduct. Here at Hadassah, the attitude toward the patient was completely different. No more feelings of strangeness, but a feeling more like being in a comfortable environment, for both patients and their families. We felt that every approach towards Maggie was humane and considerate.

On one occasion, Asher told me that there were visitors who came and were on the verge of collapse, immediately upon seeing her. One of them was my brother Haim. When he went in to see her in one of his first visits at Hadassah Hospital, he was just horrified. He turned as white as a sheet, breathing heavily, and there was a serious concern for his health. Maggie's helpless appearance shocked him. Even before entering the room, when he had to wash his hands with the alcoholic device, he showed the first signs of a tremor. Because he wore the mask on his nose, it was necessary to direct him towards the room. He just lost control of himself. Maggie's appearance without her natural hair, which had fallen out due to chemotherapy, was beyond his ability to take. He could not recognize her, he snuck glances at her, having trouble seeing her as his sister. He did not dare to look at her, and only blurted out unclear words in Asher's direction. He must have tried to calm himself in his own way.

The first signs of new hope spread among the family members. Chapter 22   The Aqueduct at Shomrat was part of the ancient aqueduct that led past the Cabri Springs water to the city of Acre. An impressive part of it went through the avocado groves of the Shomrat and all the way to the Lohamei Hageta'ot Museum, at the neighboring Kibbutz.

Point the camera, so it actually looks like the museum is being lifted by my hands," Jacob said. I did as I was told, while Altar and All cheered. I do not know if he was satisfied, but when I look at the picture today, I see the life we lived at the Kibbutz, during the summer of 1966, till the end of our military service, more than three years later. In the Kibbutz, Alla found his place in the avocado grove. We did not know much about this fruit. I had never tasted it before, though I knew of its existence.

I was not so clear on how such things can calm a person who is in recovery from a serious illness. While it is clear that in the end everyone must die, I know no one is in a hurry to get there. No one is rushing there. We all want to get to death  as late as possible. "This is the way of the world," continued Yigal quoting, in a not so clear way, what Dr S. said. "Look, Nahum," Yigal said with a frown. "He told her that even Moses died.” Yigal repeated this sentence several times and in different ways, to make sure I understood Dr. S.’s intentions. "He managed to do what others have failed to do before him, he managed to calm her down." Maybe Maggie longed for such words from an expert physician. Perhaps she expected someone from the medical staff would talk to her at eye level and explain things to her in a simple and understandable manner. She did not want to settle for dry statistics that only confused her. It seemed to me that indeed Dr. S. succeeded. He strengthened her impressively  by planting a sense of peace in her.

Shomrat Kibbutz is in western Galilee and is located on a small hill. North of it there is a small stream that separates it from Lohamei Hageta'ot, and south of it is the temple of Bahá A'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í religion. About two kilometers separate it from the city of Acre. To the west was Bustan HaGalil and the Mediterranean, to its east, endless farmland.

The contact between the core members, most of whom were purely Sabra and Kibbutz members and Holocaust survivors, created unpleasantness at times, but both sides always succeeded in overcoming them.

Breakfast in the shed of the pear groves  was an experience, made by Mizrahi. I remember his unique and diverse Shakshuka. I remember the side dishes and refreshing coffee. Nothing resembled that stolen sandwich, I used to eat in Kinneret under the shade of the banana trees. No one here was in a rush and no one urged you to finish. There was no stressful work atmosphere. I could not help but make the comparison of the working conditions here, to my  father's in the banana plantations of Kinneret.

I remembered how Maggie did not want to give up on seeing the cows of the  kibbutz. I knew she would love to see them, and Altar did not disappoint. He took advantage of our visit to the barn and showed us the distribution of food there. Maggie followed his agile activities closely, as he threw the packs of hay in front of the calves. It seemed that the smell of manure and the aromas of the hay did not deter her. Altar went further, calling a number of calves by their names and also tried to talk with them. Although they did not answer him, or answered with a monotonous mooing, Maggie laughed to high heaven again.

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. NAHUM 1:7

Peter had asked when the legions of heavenly host would join them, and Jesus said, “When you see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power, coming on the clouds of heaven.” That made everyone more confused. “Coming on the clouds” was a common poetic phrase that indicated an earthly judgment of cities or nations. On earth as it is in heaven. Canaanites had used the term “cloud-rider” of their god, Ba’al. But Ezekiel had used it of Yahweh when he judged Egypt, Nahum used it of Yahweh when he judged Nineveh, and Isaiah had used it when Yahweh judged Edom and even Israel. Simon, being learned in the scrolls from Qumran, asked Jesus if he was referring to the prophecy of Joel that had yet to be fulfilled.   Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the Day of the Lord is coming; it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.   Jesus simply said, “Yes,” but offered no more.

But what if the soul -the residual energy/information that doesn't register on our electromagnetic energy detectors- doesn't go somewhere else, but just, you know, snuffs out? Ceases to exist? That has always been my own depressing, humdrum assumption regarding death. No can be, says Nahum. Standing in the way is the First Law of Thermodynamics: Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It has to go somewhere..."The question then becomes, Where does it go? The question is not, Is it there? It's there.

When Nahum prophesied, Assyria was at the height of its power.

Great Babylon” (16:19): though Babylon is not mentioned in Scripture between Genesis 11:9 (Babel is the Hebrew name for Bab-ili, which we render Babylon) and the days of Hezekiah, it had its own position in Hebrew thought. Though it had little political importance between its capture by the Kassites in 1530 BC and its being made the capital of a Chaldean empire in 626 BC, it was the virtually undisputed commercial and religious capital of the Fertile Crescent. So it is the personification, so to speak, for the Bible, of humanity organized for financial profit, and of manmade religion in all its attractive sophistry. These are the two aspects which are dealt with in chapters 17 (religion) and 18 (commerce). If we compare Nahum and Habakkuk, we shall learn something of the different impression created by the pride and cruelty of Assyria and the corruption of human nature which the prophet saw in Babylon.

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him. – Nahum 1:7

Et Jésus lui-même commençait d'avoir environ trente ans, étant, comme on l'estimait, fils de Joseph: d'Héli, de Matthat, de Lévi, de Melchi, de Janna, de Joseph, de Mattathie, d'Amos, de Nahum, d'Esli, de Naggé, de Maath, de Mattathie, de Séméi, de Joseph, de Juda, de Johanna, de Rhésa, de Zorobabel, de Salathiel, de Néri, de Melchi, d'Addi, de Cosam, d'Elmodam, d'Er, de José, d'Éliézer, de Jorim, de Matthat, de Lévi, de Siméon, de Juda, de Joseph, de Jonan, d'Éliakim, de Méléa, de Maïnan, de Mattatha, de Nathan, de David, de Jessé, d'Obed, de Booz, de Salmon, de Naasson, d'Aminadab, d'Aram, d'Esrom, de Pharès, de Juda, de Jacob, d'Isaac, d'Abraham, de Thara, de Nachor, de Seruch, de Ragaü, de Phalek, d'Éber, de Sala, de Caïnan, d'Arphaxad, de Sem, de Noé, de Lamech, de Mathusala, d'Énoch, de Jared, de Maléléel, de Caïnan, d'Énos, de Seth, d'Adam, de Dieu.

Nahum bobbed again. 'My crest is cropped by croaking cranes. I go to drown in doleful dumps, dead-drunk with drearihead.

David Ben-Gurion well understood these contradictory perspectives. As he told his colleagues, against the backdrop of the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939: "We must see the situation for what it is. On the security front, we are those attacked and who are on the defensive. But in the political field we are the attackers and the Arabs are those defending themselves. They are living in the country and own the land, the village. We live in the Diaspora and want only to immigrate [to Palestine] and gain possession of [lirkosh] the land from them." Years later, after the establishment of Israel, he expatiated on the Arab perspective in a conversation with the Zionist leader Nahum Goldmann: "I don't understand your optimism.... Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: We have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?

Y harás de ello el aceite de la Santa Unción; superior ungüento, según el arte del perfumador, será el aceite de la Unción santa. Éxodo 30:23-25

En el último y gran día de la fiesta, Jesús se puso en pie y alzó la voz, diciendo: Si alguno tiene sed, venga a mí y beba. El que cree en mí, como dice la Escritura, de su interior correrán ríos de agua viva. Juan 7:37,38

Nineveh was destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians in 612. (The fall of Nineveh provides the background to the Book of Nahum.) Ashuruballit assumed control over what remained of Assyria in Haran, but Haran too was captured by the Medes and Babylonians in 610 and the might of Assyria was ended.

According to Nahum Sarna,

El silencio fue antes que la palabra.

La paz es más saludable que la justicia.

—Los sueños son como los deseos. Se cumplen siempre, aunque los hayas olvidado.

El hombre no aprende de sus errores, porque lo que cuenta no es aprender…

El verdadero sabio, amigo mío, es el que dispone de conocimientos, sí, pero sobre sí mismo.

¿Qué sabes de ti mismo?

¿Sabes de dónde vienes, por qué estás aquí y cuál es tu destino?

—El hombre pelea hasta que los cielos le descubren su Destino… ¿A quién le había oído decir algo similar? ¿Al Maestro? —… La verdadera sabiduría,

Cada cual hará bien en ocuparse del agua de su propio pozo.

el que «sabe» no levanta la voz.

Cada cual tiene marcada su hora.

no pretendas sacar agua de dos pozos a la vez.

Los caminos de Ab-bā, el Altísimo, son circulares…

Todo sale de Él y todo regresa a Él. Los círculos son su juego favorito. Arrancamos en el camino sin saber que retornaremos al punto inicial…

La paz prefiere anidar en el silencio.

Una cosa es manifestar que la verdad está ahí, en el Altísimo, y otra muy distinta desnudarla delante de los hombres.

Servir bien es tan arduo como saber mandar. Quizá más…

Somos los hombres los que hacemos a Dios a nuestra imagen y semejanza. No al revés…