TheBook of Nahum is the seventh book of the 12minor prophets of theHebrew Bible. The book has three chapters.[1] It is attributed to the prophetNahum. The most general historical setting of Nahum as a prophet was 663 BC to 612 BC, while the historical setting that produced the book of Nahum is debated, with proposed timeframes ranging from shortly after thefall of Thebes in 663 BC to theMaccabean period around 175-165 BC.[2] Another view, held by the ancient historianJosephus, proposes that the book of Nahum was from the reign ofJotham.[3] This identification is supported by both theGreekSeptuagint and theLatinVulgate, both of which refer to Thebes in the present tense rather than the past tense.[4][5] Its principal theme is the destruction of theAssyrian city ofNineveh.[6]
Scholars with a preference forHebrew manuscripts place the writing of the book after the Assyrian kingAshurbanipal'sSack of Thebes in 663 B.C. This view is the current majority opinion because the city of Thebes is referred to in the past tense in the Masoretic Text of Nahum 3:8-10. However, both the Septuagint and Vulgate refer to the city in the present tense, and the former opinion held by scholars was that Nahum lived about a century earlier, before both thecaptivity of the ten lost tribes and the Sack of Thebes.[7][8]
The first-century Jewish historianFlavius Josephus[9] places Nahum's life during the reign ofJotham. This view was also held by the Catholic scholarThomas Worthington in his notes for the originalDouay-Rheims Bible, writing: "Nahum prophesied about 50 years afterJonah ... 135 before the destruction of Niniveh."[10] In this view, rather than Ashurbanipal, Nahum's prophecy would have been directed atTiglath-Pileser III, who revitalized the Neo-Assyrian Empire into a world power again and conquered most of the Levant, defeating and subjugating previously influential kingdoms, includingAram-Damascus. Tiglath-Pileser was contemporary with the reign of Jotham.
Little is known about Nahum's personal history. His name means "comfort",[15] and he came from the town ofElkosh orAlqosh (Nahum 1:1), which scholars have attempted to identify with several cities, including the modern`Alqush ofAssyria andCapernaum of northernGalilee.[16] He was a very nationalistic Hebrew, and lived among the Elkoshites in peace.
Simplified plan of ancientNineveh, showing city wall and location of gateways.
The subject of Nahum's prophecy is the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh, which was the capital of the great and flourishingAssyrian empire at that time.Ashurbanipal was at the height of his glory. Nineveh was a city of vast extent, and was then the center of the civilization and commerce of the world, according to Nahum a "bloody city all full of lies and robbery",[17] a reference to the Neo-Assyrian Empire's military campaigns and demand of tribute and plunder from conquered cities.
Jonah had already uttered his message of warning, and Nahum was followed byZephaniah, who also predicted[18] the destruction of the city.
Nineveh was destroyed apparently by fire around 625 BC, and the Assyrian empire came to an end, an event which changed the face of Asia. Archaeological digs have uncovered the splendor of Nineveh in its zenith underSennacherib (705–681 BC),Esarhaddon (681–669 BC), andAshurbanipal (669–633 BC). Massive walls were eight miles in circumference.[19] It had a wateraqueduct, palaces and a library with 20,000 clay tablets, including accounts of a creation inEnuma Elish and a flood in theEpic of Gilgamesh.[20][21]
The Babylonian chronicle of the fall of Nineveh tells the story of the end of Nineveh.Nabopolassar of Babylon joined forces withCyaxares, king of the Medes, and laid siege for three months.[22]
Assyria lasted a few more years after the loss of its fortress, but attempts byEgyptianPharaohNecho II to rally the Assyrians failed due to opposition from kingJosiah ofJudah,[23] and it seemed to be all over by 609 BC.[24]
The whole Book of Nahum inLatin as a part ofCodex Gigas, made around the 13th century.
Beyond its superscription, Nahum 1:1, the Book of Nahum consists of two parts:[25] a prelude in chapter one,[26] followed by chapters two and three, which describe the fall of Nineveh, which later took place in 612 BC.Davidson notes that there are two parts to the superscription:
The burden of Nineveh, or "an oracle against Nineveh", probably an editorial addition, and
The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite, which "may ... have come from the hand of the prophet himself".[27]
Nineveh is compared toThebes,[28] the Egyptian city that Assyria itselfhad destroyed in 663 BC.[11] Nahum describes the siege and frenzied activity of Nineveh's troops as they try in vain to halt the invaders. Poetically, he becomes a participant in the battle, and with subtle irony, barks battle commands to the defenders. Nahum uses numerous similes andmetaphor that Nineveh will become weak "like the lion hiding in its den". It concludes with a taunt song and funeral dirge of the impending destruction of Nineveh and the "sleep" or death of the Assyrian people and demise of the once great Assyrian conqueror-rulers.
Nahum's prophecy carries a particular warning to the Ninevites of coming events, although he is partly in favor of the destruction.[38] One might even say that the book of Nahum is "a celebration of the fall of Assyria".[12] And this is not just a warning or speaking positively of the destruction of Nineveh, it is also a positive encouragement and "message of comfort for Israel, Judah, and others who had experienced the "endless cruelty"[39] of the Assyrians."[12]
The prophetJonah shows us where God shows concern for the people of Nineveh, while Nahum's writing testifies to his belief in the righteousness/justice of God[40] and how God dealt with those Assyrians in punishment according to "their cruelty".[39] The Assyrians had been used as God's "rod of […] anger, and the staff in their hand [as] indignation."[41]
From its opening, Nahum affirms God to be slow to anger, but that God will by no means ignore the guilty; God will bring his vengeance and wrath to pass. God is presented as a God who will punish evil, but will protect those who trust in Him. The opening passage states: "God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked".[42]
"The LORD is slow to anger and Quick to love; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished."[43]
"The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him."[44]
God's judgement on Nineveh is "all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft."[45] Infidelity, according to the prophets, related to spiritual unfaithfulness.[46] For example: "the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD."[47] John of Patmos used a similar analogy inRevelation chapter 17.
The prophecy of Nahum was referenced in thedeuterocanonicalBook of Tobit. In Tobit 14:4 (NRSV) a dying Tobit says to his son Tobias and Tobias' sons:[48]
[My son] hurry off to Media, for I believe the word of God that Nahum spoke about Nineveh, that all these things will take place and overtake Assyria and Nineveh. Indeed, everything that was spoken by the prophets of Israel, whom God sent, will occur.
^Christensen, Duane L. (2009).Nahum: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Yale Bible. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 53–54.The historical setting of the work of Nahum as a prophet is the fifty-year period between 663 and 612 BCE. These dates are fixed by reference to the fall of Thebes in 663 BCE, which is described as an event in the past (3:8), and by the fact that Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC. Even with this relatively narrow window of time, however, the quest to recover the historical setting that produced the book of Nahum has produced at least six options: Soon after the fall of Thebes to Ashurbanipal in 663 BCE; Around the time of Ashurbanipal's death (ca. 630 BCE); Just before the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE; Shortly after the fall of Assyria; After the fall of Assyria in the exilic and/or postexilic period; The Maccabean period (ca. 175-165 BCE)
^Josephus, Flavius (1958).Vol. VI: Jewish Antiquities, Books IX–XI. Loeb Classical Library. Vol. 326. Translated by Marcus, William. London: William Heinemann. pp. 125–129, XI.xi.2–3.
^Heaton, E. W.,A Short Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets, p. 35, Oneworld Publications, P.O. Box 830, 21 Broadway, Rockport, NA 01966,ISBN1-85168-114-0
^Tobit 14:4 KJV. Quote:"Go into Media my son, for I surely believe those things whichJonas the prophet spake of Nineve, that it shall be overthrown; and that for a time peace shall rather be in Media; and that our brethren shall lie scattered in the earth from that good land: and Jerusalem shall be desolate, and the house of God in it shall be burned, and shall be desolate for a time;"
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