Nahum Series

Nahum was a minor prophet whose Prophecy is recorded in the Tanakh, also called the Hebrew Bible and The Old Testament. He wrote about the end of the Assyrian Empire and its capital city, Nineveh, in a vivid poetic style.

Life

Little is known about Nahum's personal history. His name means "comforter," and he was from the town of Alqosh (Nahum 1:1), which scholars have attempted to identify with several cities, including the modern Alqosh in northern Iraq and Capharnaum of northern Galilee. However, he was a very nationalistic Hebrew and lived amongst the Elkoshites in peace. Nahum, called "the Elkoshite," is the seventh in order of the minor prophets.

Works

Nahum's writings could be taken as Prophecy or as history. One account suggests that his writings are a prophecy written in about 615 BC, just before the downfall of Assyria. In contrast, another account suggests that he wrote this passage as liturgy just after its downfall in 612 BC.

The book was introduced in Reformation theologian Calvin's Commentary as a complete and finished poem:

No one of the minor Prophets seems to equal the sublimity, the vehemence, and the boldness of Nahum: besides, his Prophecy is a complete and finished poem; his exordium (The beginning or introductory part, especially of discourse or treatise.) is magnificent and indeed majestic; the preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its ruin, and its greatness, are expressed in most vivid colors, and possess admirable eloquence and fulness.

Nahum, taking words from Moses himself, has shown in a general way what sort of "Being God is." Calvin argued that Nahum painted God by which his nature must be seen, and "it is from that most memorable vision when God appeared to Moses after the breaking of the tablets."

The Prophet Nahum is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity. On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, his feast day is December 1 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, December 1 currently falls on December 14 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). He is commemorated with the other minor prophets in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 31.

The book of Nahum is a collection of poems announcing the downfall of some of Israel's worst oppressors. Referencing Daniel, Exodus, and Isaiah, Nahum shows us that the destruction of Nineveh and Assyria are examples of how God works in history in every age

What is the central message of Nahum?

From its opening, Nahum shows 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 and protect those who trust Him.

How does Nahum point to Jesus?

The Assyrians experienced in part what Jesus took on in full. The words of Nahum point forward to Jesus in this way; because of what Jesus has done because he has defeated sin and death, trouble will not defeat us a second time.

Who wrote the book?

The only mention in the Scripture of Nahum the Elkoshite occurs in the first verse of his book. While scholars have proposed several theories about Nahum's hometown, Elkosh, the best option identifies it with a city in southern Judah that later became known as Elcesi, near where the Prophet Micah lived. Nahum's Prophecy against the city of Nineveh would have been significant for the people of Judah. He would have needed encouragement in the face of the terrifying power of the Assyrian Empire.

When did Nahum Prophecy?

The book of Nahum mentions the recent fall of No-amon, or Thebes, which occurred in 663 BC (Nahum 3:8), as well as the coming destruction of Nineveh, which happened in 612 BC (1:1; 3:11–15). However, when, during this more than fifty-year period, did Nahum preach? The Assyrian Empire, which had its capital at Nineveh, was most powerful in the first half of this period, having a stranglehold on Judah during King Manasseh's reign (2 Chronicles 33:10–13). Also, while the book of Nahum mentions the destruction of Thebes, it does not mention its reconstruction, which took place in 654 BC. This leads us to date Nahum's Prophecy between 663 and 654 BC.

Nahum preached during the reign of King Manasseh, one of the evilest kings in Judah's long history, a man who needed the pain of his own experience to teach him the lessons of being a good king. Commentator J. Barton Payne suggests that Manasseh's incredible conversion took place late in his reign, around 648 BC, a mere half-dozen years before his death. That means Nahum preached during the darkest period in Judah's history to that point, a time filled with idolatry of all kinds in a nation that had completely turned its back on God. The Lord's willingness to send Nahum, whose name means "comfort," into such a hopeless situation evidences His unrelenting and overwhelming grace.