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.
Nahum 1:3
