the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Nahum (2)
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or "consolation" and "vengeance", to Israel and Israel's foe respectively. The two themes alternate in Nahum 1; as the prophecy advances, vengeance on Assyria predominates.
Country. "The Elkoshite" (Nahum 1:1), from Elkosh or Elkesi a village of Galilee pointed out to Jerome (Preface in Nahum). Capernaum, "village of Nahum," seemingly takes its name from Nahum having resided in the neighbourhood, though born in Elkosh. The allusions in Nahum indicate local acquaintance with Palestine (Nahum 1:4; Nahum 1:15; Nahum 2:2) and only general knowledge of Nineveh (Nahum 2:4-6; Nahum 3:2-3). This confutes the notion that the Alkush (resembling the name Elkosh), E. of the Tigris and N. of Mosul, is Nahum's place of birth and of burial, though Jewish pilgrims visit it as such.
DATE. Hezekiah's time was that in which trust in Jehovah and the observance of the temple feasts prevailed as they did not before or after. So in Nahum 1:7; Nahum 1:15, "Jehovah is a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth (with approval) them that trust in Him ... O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts." Moreover Nahum has none of the reproofs for national apostasy which abound in the other prophets. Nahum in Elkosh of Galilee was probably among those of northern Israel, after the deportation of the ten tribes, who accepted Hezekiah's earnest invitation to keep the Passover at Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30). His graphic description of Sennacherib and his army (2 Chronicles 1:9-12) makes it likely he was near or in Jerusalem at the time.
Hence, the number of phrases corresponding to those of Isaiah (Nahum 1:8-9, compare Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 10:23; Nahum 2:10 with Isaiah 24:1; Isaiah 21:3; Nahum 1:15 with Isaiah 52:7). The prophecy in Nahum 1:14, "I will make it (namely, 'the house of thy gods,' i.e. Nisroch) thy grave," foretells Sennacherib's murder 20 years after his return from Palestine, "as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god" (Isaiah 37:38). He writes while Assyria's power was yet unbroken (Nahum 1:12; Nahum 2:11-13; Nahum 3:1, "the bloody city, full of lies ... the prey departeth not": Nahum 3:15-17). The correspondence of sentiments in Nahum with those of Isaiah and Hezekiah implies he wrote when Sennacherib was still besieging and demanding the surrender of Jerusalem (Nahum 1:2 ff, with 2 Kings 19:14-15; Nahum 1:7 with 2 Kings 18:22; 2 Kings 19:19; 2 Kings 19:31; 2 Chronicles 32:7-8; Nahum 1:9; Nahum 1:11 with 2 Kings 19:22; 2 Kings 19:27-28; Nahum 1:14 with 2 Kings 19:6-7; Nahum 1:15 and Nahum 2:1-2 with 2 Kings 19:32-33; Nahum 2:13, "the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard," namely, Rabshakeh the bearer of Sennacherib's haughty message, with 2 Kings 19:22-23).
The historical facts presupposed in Nahum are Judah's and Israel's humiliation by Assyria (Nahum 2:2); the invasion of Judah (Nahum 1:9-11); the conquest of No-Amon or Thebes in Upper Egypt, probably by Sargon (Isaiah 20) who, fearing lest Egypt should join Palestine against him, undertook an expedition against it, 717-715 B.C. (Nahum 3:8-10). Tiglath Pileser and Shalmaneser had carried away Israel. Judah was harassed by Syria, and oppressed by Ahaz's payments to Tiglath Pileser (2 Chronicles 28; Isaiah 8-9). As Nahum refers in part prophetically to Sennacherib's (Sargon's successor) last attempt on Judah ending in his host's destruction, in part as matter of history (Nahum 1:9-13; Nahum 2:13), he must have prophesied about 713-710 B.C., 100 years before the event foretold, namely, the overthrow of Nineveh by the joint forces of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar in the reign of Chyniladanus, 625 or else 603 B.C.
The name "Huzzab" (Nahum 2:7) answers to Adiabene, from the Zab or Diab river on which that region lay; a personification of Assyria, and seems to be an Assyrian word. So the original words, minzaraik , taphsarika , for "crowned" or "princes" (Nahum 3:17) and "captains" or "satraps " (also in Jeremiah 51:27); contact with Assyria brought in these words. Nahum 2:18, "the faces gather blackness," corresponds to Isaiah 13:8; Joel 2:6; Joel is probably the original. Nahum 1:6 with Joel 2:7; Amos 2:14; Nahum 1:3 with Joel 2:13; the mourning dove, Nahum 2:7, with Isaiah 38:14; the first ripe figs, Nahum 3:12, with Isaiah 28:4; Nahum 3:13 with Isaiah 19:16; Nahum 3:4 with Isaiah 23:15; Nahum 2:4-5; Nahum 2:14 with Isaiah 22:7; Isaiah 36:9; Micah 1:13; Micah 5:10.
The Assyrians, by just retribution, in turn should experience themselves what they caused to Israel and Judah (compare also Nahum 1:3 with Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:13 with Isaiah 10:26-27; Nahum 1:8 with Isaiah 10:21-22; Isaiah 8:8; Nahum 1:9; Nahum 1:11 with Isaiah 37:23; Nahum 3:10 with Isaiah 13:16; Nahum 2:2 with Isaiah 24:1; Nahum 3:5 with Isaiah 47:2-3; Nahum 3:7 with Isaiah 51:19). Plainly, Nahum is the last of the prophets of the Assyrian period. Jeremiah borrows from, and so stamps with inspiration, Nahum (Jeremiah 10:19 compare Nahum 3:19; Jeremiah 13:26 compare Nahum 3:5; Jeremiah 50:37; Jeremiah 51:30, compare Nahum 3:13). Nahum is seventh in position in the canon, and seventh in date.
Subject matter. "The burden of Nineveh." The three chapters form one consecutive whole, remarkable for unity of aim. Nahum encourages his countrymen with the assurance that, alarming as their position seemed, assailed by the mighty foe which had already carried captive the ten tribes, yet that not only should the Assyrian fail against Jerusalem, but Nineveh and his own empire should fall; and this not by chance, but by Jehovah's judgment for their iniquities.
STYLE. Clear and forcible. Several phases of an idea are presented in the briefest sentences; as in the sublime description of God in the beginning, the overthrow of Nineveh, and that of No Amon. Melting softness and delicacy alternate with rhythmical, sonorous, and majestic diction, according as the subject requires; the very sound of the words conveys to the ear the sense (Nahum 2:4; Nahum 3:3). Paronomasia or verbal assonance is another feature of likeness to Isaiah, besides those already mentioned (Nahum 1:3; Nahum 1:6; Nahum 1:10; Nahum 2:2-3; Nahum 2:11; Nahum 3:2).
These files are public domain.
Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Nahum (2)'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/n/nahum-2.html. 1949.
