nahum

Background

Author.   Mentioned only once in the Bible (1:1), the only biographical fact known of this prophet is that he was an “Elkoshite,” concerning which La Sor says, “Even his hometown, Elkosh (1:1), has defied identification, although sites in Assyria, Galilee, and Judah have been suggested.”[1]

Date of composition.   Since the book lacks chronological specifiers, various dates have been proposed. The surest terminus is the ad quem date of the actual fall of Nineveh in 612. The terminus a quo is probably the 663 destruction of Thebes (3:8). (Ellison lists six possible dates for this destruction, and prefers that of 710.[2]) Beyond this, Maier prefers a date soon after 663, since Thebes was rebuilt in 654.[3] On the other hand, La Sor prefers a date shortly before 612, based on “the tone of imminence throughout the book.”[4] That imminence seems a rather weak point, as Assyria also seems too weak to be regarded any kind of threat at that time. Prefer a date around 660.

Historical setting.   Nineveh had an extreme and well-deserved reputation for cruelty.[5] Despite the repentance of Jonah’s day, the nation was consumed with rapacity and a lust for expansion. Her army besieged Samaria and toppled her; and within two decades gobbled up some forty-six Judean towns and was poised to overrun Jerusalem (see 2 Kings 18:13—19:37), only to be supernaturally decimated (19:35).

Judah at the time was ruled by her wickedest king, Manasseh, who at some time—probably late in his reign—was deported to Babylon by the Assyrian army and subsequently released (2 Chron. 33:11–13).

Argument

Nahum may be regarded in a sense as a historical sequel to the book of Jonah: where Jonah preached repentance upon pain of the doom of Nineveh in the eighth century, Nahum in the seventh century announced the irrevocable fall of the city.

While the burden of the prophecy is absorbed with the destruction of Nineveh, it must be remembered that it was written for Judah, not Assyria. It is thus a message of consolation—in the form of announcement of “vengeance” (1:2)—to Judah that her mortal enemy, Assyria, will fall. It also contains a positive message of hope for Judah, if ever so faint: 1:15; 2:2. The prophecy is broadly arranged around the announcement (1), description (2), and desert (3) of God’s judgment on Nineveh.

In announcing the judgment on Nineveh the prophet begins by portraying God as a God of wrath (1:2–8). Thus the tone and justification for the prophecy are set. While the Assyrians may have had no conscious intention to “devise against the Lord” (1:9; though see the Rabshakeh, Isaiah 36:7, 15, 18–20), but assumed they had simply to deal with the mortals of Judah, the prophet announces that the Assyrian aggressions against Judah amount to evil plots against Yahweh (1:11). Because of Yahweh’s disposition toward sin and the Assyrians’ challenge to Yahweh himself, the demise of Nineveh was unavoidable; and this same Yahweh would certainly relieve his people of Judah (1:12–15).

Her fall could then be described in terms of the military defeat (2:1–8) and the subsequent plundering (2:9–13).

Finally the reasons for her overthrow are detailed. Her sins of brutality (3:1–3), prostitution, and sorcery (3:4) must ultimately bring shame (3:5–7). There would come a kind of poetic justice, in the form of destruction mirroring her destruction of Thebes, a particularly brutal conquest (3:8–11). To answer the Assyrian denials based on their ‘impregnable’ defenses, a source of great pride, the prophecy concludes with the prediction that all their great defense will be to no avail when Yahweh comes in judgment (3:12–19).

Outline

I. Title  1:1

II. God’s judgment on Nineveh announced  1:2–15

A. God’s attribute of wrath  1:2–8

B. Nineveh’s guilty devices against God  1:9–11

C. Nineveh’s demise and Judah’s relief  1:12–15

III. God’s judgment on Nineveh described  2

A. Nineveh’s defeat  2:1–8

B. Nineveh’s plundering  2:9–13

IV. God’s judgment on Nineveh deserved  3

A. Nineveh’s sins  3:1–4

B. Nineveh’s shame  3:5–7

C. Nineveh’s fate: to mirror that of Thebes  3:8–11

D. Nineveh’s inadequate defense  3:12–19