Bible Commentaries
Nahum

THE BOOK OF NAHUM

INTRODUCTION

The heart of the Book of Nahum is an extended ode (approximately chapters 2 and 3) celebrating the downfall of the city of Nineveh in a battle or series of battles vividly described. The exact limits of this poem are not easy to define because of the possibility that at least two of the verses of chapter 1 belong to it. The lengthy song of triumph over Nineveh is written in the peculiar rhythm of the ancient Hebrew dirge, here used as a taunt song against a fallen (or falling) enemy. Its mood is not that of most of the prophetic writings, which were usually concerned with the correction of moral evil within the Hebrew community. Instead, most of Nahum is concerned with the physical details of the last hours of the city of Nineveh before its collapse. With photographic realism the poet relishes each detail, and he challenges the citizens of the doomed city to escape their fate (Nahum 3:5-17). In keeping with the character of the dirge and taunt song (another example is found in Isaiah 47) the language is terse, the measure short, and the imagery vivid.

As the Book of Nahum has been transmitted to us, an introductory chapter of quite different poetic character prefaces the body of the work. Chapter 1 is written in a longer measure and, except for verses 11 and 14 (see comment on verse 9), makes no direct address to the enemies of the people of God. Even these two verses do not make any clear reference to Nineveh (as does 2:8), and they may be understood as referring to the Assyrian capital only by their association with the rest of the book.

The text of chapter 1 is badly preserved, and in its present form obscures what was apparently the original alphabetic poem used as a preface to the ode against Nineveh. It is a psalm like Psalms 111, 145, both alphabetic poems by individuals in the praise of God, and celebrates the way of God’s vengeance against his enemies. The device of beginning the verses with the successive letters of the alphabet is not generally reproduced in English translations but is familiar among the Psalms (compare also Psalms 9-10, 119, and others). Its purpose appears to have been to serve as a structure for the elaboration of a theme, and perhaps to help soloists remember the words during worship. If the purpose of aiding the memory was one of the reasons for using the acrostic form, it was not successful in the first chapter of Nahum. As they now stand, the limits of the poem and its text are obscure. It is, of course, possible that the editor of the material in the book adapted the alphabetic poem celebrating God’s jealousy to serve as an introduction to the ode against Nineveh, thus providing something of a prophetic setting for the poem which is concerned so largely with the physical details of Nineveh’s collapse.

The Poet and His Times

The poet Nahum is not described as a prophet in the title (Nahum 1:1). He is identified in the first verse of the text as a native of Elkosh, a place that cannot be located satisfactorily. Efforts to locate it have placed it in at least three areas of the Middle East. One site is near the remains of ancient Nineveh itself, but this is not attested from any ancient source; Jerome identified an Elkosh in Galilee; and a recent commentator has suggested that Capernaum may be the "village of Nahum," but no clear evidence connecting the prophet with any of these sites can be seen. The most likely possibility is a site in the southwest of Judah, on the borders of the country once assigned to the tribe of Simeon.

Of Nahum nothing is known except what may be assumed from a careful reading of the book. Because of the vividness of references to Nineveh it has been guessed that Nahum was a descendant of the exiles from Israel who were settled among the Assyrians after 721 B.C., and that he may have witnessed the last days of Nineveh. The reference to Thebes (Nahum 3:8) has led to the guess that Nahum had traveled in Egypt. Neither idea is more than a guess, and it is not improbable that the poet was a native of Judah who watched events in distant Assyria with the satisfaction which is natural for the oppressed when they see a bully given his due.

The exact moment of writing cannot be determined. Chapter 1 does not specify the adversaries concerned or indicate by historical references the moment of the anticipated cutting-off of God’s enemies. Chapter 2 takes its standpoint in the midst of the fighting for Nineveh at the turning point of the battle. Although it sounds like an eyewitness account of the last hours of the city’s life, nothing specifically identifies it as such, and it may well be the poetic creation of a prophet predicting the downfall of the hated capital city of Assyria. Chapter 3 (together with 2:13) looks forward to the downfall of Nineveh from a moment not too far from the end of the battle, but this viewpoint may have been assumed by the writer as a literary device. No details of the long poem are exact enough (to our knowledge) to require the assumption that he had received direct information from the defeated city.

The moment (or moments) at which the chapters were actually written may be anywhere from the sack of the Egyptian city of Thebes (663 B.C.), to which clear reference is made in 3:8-10, to shortly after the fall of Nineveh, which took place in August of the year 612 b.c. If the composition of the book was after the latter event, it was soon afterward, in the flush of triumph that spread over the Near Eastern world. If, as seems at least equally possible, the material was composed as a prediction, it was probably written after the death of Ashurbanipal, whose long reign began with the invasion of Egypt and continued in a series of wars with the peoples on the borders of his territories. The successors of Ashurbanipal proved to be weak and ineffective (as they are described in Nahum 3:18), and the coalition of Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians was successful in reducing the fortress of Nineveh and its outposts during a period of four years from 616 to 612 B.C.

In the two decades from the death of Ashurbanipal to the fall of Nineveh when the Assyrian Empire began to deteriorate, an opportunity for change presented itself in Judah. Josiah, who came to power about 640 B.C., dedicated himself to the restoration of the proper worship and service of God. The discovery’ of the "book of the law" in 621 B.C. profoundly influenced the future course of the development of Judaism, but nothing definitely related to the experiences of religious revival in Josiah’s time appears in the Book of Nahum, and it is safe to conclude that the message of the prophet grew out of the broader experiences of his time in relation to the general conceptions of God held commonly by the people of Judah during the latter part of the seventh century before Christ.

The Significance of the Book and Its Importance

From the point of view of usefulness to the modern preacher or teacher of the Bible, the Book of Nahum offers real difficulty. Concerned as it is very largely with the downfall of a great pagan city of ancient times, written in the mood of triumph and rejoicing over the disaster that was to overtake Nineveh, it does not seem to offer much to the followers of One who said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).

As literature the book is admittedly sublime. The characterizations of the confused officers and people (chs. 2-3) are worthy of a place in any collection of world literature. The expressions of bitter hostility ascribed to God and shared by the poet and his readers are magnificent and frightening. The occasional words of assurance to the people of Judah seem out of place in the midst of the torrent of malice against the enemies of God, but from the literary point of view they serve to sharpen an intended contrast between God’s treatment of those who take refuge in him and those who oppose him. This literary gem in the midst of the Minor Prophets should not be overlooked.

But mere literary merit cannot justify the inclusion of a book in the Bible. The explanation for the presence of Nahum in Scripture is to be found in the Hebrew sense of the justice of the fall of Nineveh. Where a modem writer might reflect on the "poetic" justice of the downfall of a great and terrible enemy, using language appropriate to describe conditions during the agony accompanying that downfall, the ancient prophet reflected on the event as demonstration of God’s rule. His language was appropriately borrowed from the conditions which could arise in the last days of the siege of any ancient city situated near a great river.

It is therefore the view of God’s justice and his overwhelming power to accomplish his purpose that makes the book significant. Thus the first chapter is most significant from the point of view of the student interested in the contemporary relevance of the Bible. Chapter 1 asks (vs. 6), "Who can stand before his indignation?" The acrostic poem (Nahum 1:2-10), uncertain as its text is, answers strongly that no one can. Chapters 2 and 3, the "long poem" detailing Nineveh’s downfall, add the declaration that not even Nineveh can stand before his indignation and wrath.

The Book of Nahum offers the modem reader one of the many opportunities found in the Minor Prophets to consider the currently unpopular aspect of God’s character as a jealous God. As Nahum saw it, this quality led God to action against those who flouted his authority or who took pride in their ability to strike terror to the hearts of their neighbors, but it also promised relief from such oppression for all those who put their trust in him. For modern man, who has heard much of the relief promised those who trust in God, the Book of Nahum emphasizes the urgency of taking his requirements seriously. Graphically it pictures one way in which God has acted against those who deserved his indignation and anger.

OUTLINE

God the Avenger. (Nahum 1:1-15)

The Doom of Nineveh. (Nahum 2:1 to Nahum 3:19)

The Fall of the City (Nahum 2:1-13)

A Taunting Dirge Over the City (Nahum 3:1-19)