INTRODUCTION:
Besides
Jonah and Zephaniah, Nahum was also called to prophesy to Nineveh, long after
Nineveh repented under Jonah’s ultimatum. According to Legends of the Bible
compiled by Louis Ginzberg, Nineveh’s repentance only lasted 40 days, but that
40 days of repentance stayed the execution of judgment for some 100 years.
Jonah prophesied against Nineveh around 760 BCE and Nineveh fell 612 BCE. Who
says the “God of the Old Testament” is not merciful!?
Exd. 34:6
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God,
merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
It is
believed Nahum wrote the book that bears his name around 630-620 BCE. Possibly
during King Josiah’s reform (1:15; II Kings 22:8-23:5) but the Seder Olam tells
us that Joel, Nahum and Habakkuk were contemporaries who prophesied in the time
of the wicked king Manasseh of Judah. But according to Radak his name has been
omitted on account of his wickedness. These times would also indicate that
Nahum overlapped the early prophetic ministry of Jeremiah.
Josiah
reigned over Judah from 640-609 BCE.
Manasseh
ruined Israel from 697-642 BCE and thus it is reasonable for Nahum to have
prophesied during the reign of both kings.
We also know
Nahum prophesied before the fall of Nineveh and 3:8-10 refers to the fall of
“No” or “No-Amon” (The Egyptian city of Thebes) which is known to have occurred
in 661 BCE. So we can deduce Nahum’s prophecy we read occurred sometime between
663-612 BCE.
Nahum’s prophecy
was, as we have already stated, against Nineveh which were Assyrians who were
known for their extreme cruelty to those whom they conquered and at times they
perpetuated their cruelty against Israel, thus Jonah’s reluctance and even
disgust to have to deliver a second chance message to Nineveh. The reason
Nineveh was chosen because it was a large city in an ancient tri-city type of
network. The other two cities were called Khorsabad and Nimrud.
It is safe
to say that Nahum was a prophet in Judah seeing as the two kings we mention
were Judean kings and that by this time the Northern Kingdom has already been
dissolved. Ironically God used Assyria as an instrument of judgment to send the
Northern Kingdom into exile. But because of taking things to far, Assyria had
to be punished for their overuse of their cruel tactics on Israel, the apple of
God’s eye. They would be conquered by a coalition of Babylonians, Medes and
Scythians.
Conveniently
all three chapters are three separate oracles against the Assyrians, especially
the Assyrians of Nineveh.
The location
of Elkosh (1:1) is uncertain, but Jerome believed it to be near Ramah in
Galilee, near Capernaum and some say that this was Nahum’s birth place and it
was renamed Kaphar-Nahum (The village of Nahum) in his honor. This was Yeshua
our Messiah’s main haunts too.
Nahum means
“comfort” or “consolation” but this fact seethes with irony considering there
is absolutely nothing comforting or consoling about Nahum’s message to Nineveh,
but Nineveh’s judgment would have been a comfort and consoling fact to Israel
and Judah.
It is
fascinating to compare Jonah and Nahum.
JONAH: The
Mercy of God: The emphasis is on the
disobedient prophet who prophesied to an obedient nation who repented to
ADONAI.
NAHUM: The
Judgment of God: The emphasis is on the
prophecy by an obedient prophet who prophesied to a disobedient nation who
rebelled against ADONAI.
Nahum
remains is said to be buried inside the synagogue at Alqosh outside Iraq who
inhabitance claim that was the original Elkosh. Coincidentally Jonah also is
said to be buried in Mosul Iraq.
I have
entitled this commentary, “The No-Nonsense of Nahum” because Nahum pulls no
punches as he delivers the chilling message of G-d’s justifiable judgment upon
Assyria.
All quoted
are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted due to its Public Domain
status.
