Introduction to the Prophet Nahum

Nahum 1:1

Main Idea: At a critical time, Nahum brought a prophetic word from God against Nineveh to encourage Judah to trust in God alone.

1. I. Prophetic Ministry during a Perilous Period
2. II. Prophetic Preaching Poetically Proclaimed
   1. A. The nature of the prophetic message
   2. B. The name of the prophetic messenger

Prophetic Ministry during a Perilous Period

Nahum’s prophetic ministry took place during the mid-seventh century BC. Internal references in Nahum’s prophecy indicate that he was active between the years 663 and 612 BC. In 663 the great Egyptian city of Thebes fell to the Assyrians, and in 612 Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrians, was conquered by the Babylonians. So we are able to narrow down the span of time when Nahum issued his oracles from the latter years of the reign of Manasseh, king of Judah, through the reign of Josiah, king of Judah.

The ancient city of Nineveh was located on the bank of the Tigris River in northeastern Mesopotamia in the area of what is today modern Mosul, Iraq.^[14] Genesis 10:8-12 attributes the founding of Nineveh to Nimrod, the great warrior-hunter. Nineveh had apparently become a great city even in remote antiquity, for by the time of Jonah it is reported to have had a population of 120,000 inhabitants (Jonah 4:11). Nineveh is well known as one of the capital cities of the Assyrian Empire during its period of domination of the ancient Near East from about 900 to 612 BC. At its height the city possessed a massive wall that surrounded it, large palace complexes, and a number of world-class amenities, such as parks, gardens, and the like (Brand and England, Holman Illustrated, 1192–93; Kaiser and Garrett, NIV, 1497).

This historical period is characterized by political transition and instability. The long reign of Manasseh was nearing its end, and the Neo-Assyrian Empire was showing signs of serious weakness (2 Chr 33:10-20). After the death of King Hezekiah of Judah about 697 BC, his son Manasseh succeeded him and ruled Judah from 697 to 642 BC (2 Kgs 21:1-18; 2 Chr 33:1-20). Manasseh was a counter reformer who systematically sought to undo the reforms of his father Hezekiah (McCarter, Divided Monarchy, 184). Unlike his father, Manasseh was not faithful to the Word of the Lord. Second Kings 21:2 says, “He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.”

Manasseh was vassal to three Assyrian kings: Sennacherib (704–681 BC), Esarhaddon (681–669 BC), and Ashurbanipal (669–627 BC). After the death of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon attempted to expand Assyrian control over Egypt; but this was a costly miscalculation because it badly overextended the Assyrian military forces and drained resources away from a more important threat to the east of its empire. Ashurbanipal managed to undo some of the problems caused by his predecessor’s policies, but the situation would continue to plague the Assyrian king (Garcia-Treto, “The Book of Nahum,” 439). These problems would prove to be the beginning of the end of Assyrian domination. Babylonia would eventually become the superior aggressor who would take down the Neo-Assyrian Empire by sacking Nineveh in 612 BC and finally eliminating Assyria in 609 BC. The entire prophecy of Nahum addressed the fall of the empire and its capital city of Nineveh.

Meanwhile, Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon, who was assassinated after two years on the throne (2 Kgs 21:19-24; 2 Chr 33:24-25). Amon’s eight-year-old son Josiah was placed on the throne by “the common people” (2 Kgs 21:24; 2 Chr 33:25). Josiah would reverse the religious policies of his father Amon and grandfather Manasseh and return to the faithfulness of his great-grandfather Hezekiah and his ancestor King David. Second Kings 22:2 says, “He did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn to the right or the left.” Josiah led Judah back to the Lord in covenant faithfulness by instituting some of the most thorough religious reforms in the history of the nation. In the days of King Jeroboam I, a prophet had prophesied that Josiah would be a great reformer for the nation (1 Kgs 13:2). However, despite the faithfulness of King Josiah and all his efforts to reform Judah, after his death God’s people would quickly backslide into unfaithfulness and suffer a series of consequences that led to the eventual destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian deportation of the people in 586 BC (2 Kgs 23:24–25:21).

The prophetic ministry of Nahum came at a critical period in history, between the sacking of Thebes in 663 BC and the destruction of Nineveh in 612 BC. This perilous period was primed for the powerful preaching of a prophet who dared to proclaim the gospel of the sovereign judgment of God against the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the salvation of God’s people, Judah.

Prophetic Preaching Poetically Proclaimed

The Nature of the Prophetic Message

We are introduced to the prophet in Nahum 1:1 with the following words: “The oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.” The oracular genre of Nahum’s prophecy is immediately stated in this superscription. The biblical prophetic writings are filled with oracular literature. Oracular literature is often written in the form of poetry. Poetry is a familiar means through which the Old Testament prophets communicate the vivid imagery of divine revelation. All the Old Testament prophetic oracles contain poetry.^[15]So the book of Nahum contains his prophetic oracles on the subject of the Neo-Assyrian Empire represented by its capital city Nineveh. The word translated “oracle” is a Hebrew word with the basic meaning of “carry,” “burden,” or “pronouncement” (Koehler and Baumgartner, Hebrew and Aramaic, 1:639). Some translations such as the King James Version and the New King James Version employ the term burden, perhaps to convey the weightiness of the prophetic task of delivering oracles that include divine judgment (Robertson, Nahum, 55). One definition of this term is “An oracle is any divine pronouncement through a prophet that directs human action in the present or foretells future events” (Kaiser and Garrett, NIV, 1507). The oracles of the biblical prophets possess the following important characteristics:

• They originate with God (Zech 9:1; Mal 1:1).
• They are directed primarily toward specific nations or individuals (Isa 13:1; Ezek 12:10).
• They are intended to encourage or correct God’s people (2 Kgs 9:25).
• They emphasize the sovereignty of God (Zech 12:1).

Isaiah employs the word oracle in several of his oracles against the nations (e.g., Isa 13:1; 14:28; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; 21:1; 21:11; 21:13; 22:1; 23:1). Isaiah’s oracles call the nations to account for their sins against God’s people. Nahum will confront the sins of the Neo-Assyrian Empire against God’s people Judah and against the former northern kingdom of Israel. Nahum’s oracles are directed against Nineveh, the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Nineveh represents everything that was wrong about the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were imperialistic in their ambitions and brutal in the execution of their objectives.

Nahum’s prophecy fits into the literary category known as “prophetic oracles against the nations.” In addition to Isaiah 13–23, these types of prophetic utterances are found in Jeremiah 46–51; Ezekiel 25–31; Amos 1–2; Joel 3; Zephaniah 2:4-15; Zechariah 9:1-8; and the books of Obadiah and Nahum.^[16]Nahum, like other prophets who wrote oracles against the nations, directed his message against Assyria but intended it for God’s people in Judah. So his oracle fulfills a dual purpose. Directed against the Neo-Assyrian Empire, this oracle is a sobering message of divine judgment proclaiming the sovereignty of God over all the earth. Nahum’s oracle is also a sobering message to Judah concerning its failure to trust the Lord loyally for national security. Under King Manasseh, Judah had been a loyal vassal state trusting in the brutal Assyrian overlord for protection instead of trusting the one true God of the universe. Even though the empire appeared to be strong, it would not be long before the Lord would bring it down. This would be good news for God’s people in Judah who had to suffer the brutal indignities imposed on them by Assyria. So the oracle of Nahum is a negative message for Assyria, but it is a mostly positive message for Judah.

That this is called “the book” indicates that these are written oracles. The oracles may have been originally spoken but are now codified in written form for God’s people as a record of His divine revelation through the prophet Nahum. The book contains God’s word to the prophet, and it is intended for God’s people to know the truth about God’s purpose in their situation. The importance of God’s word preserved in the form of a book cannot be overstated. God’s word is not only spoken but also written. The written form (the Word) of divine revelation preserves the spoken word of God not only for the generation that was present but also for generations to come. Moses sought to preserve the teaching of God’s word by writing down every word of the law of Moses. Deuteronomy 31:24-26 describes Moses’ instructions concerning God’s Word:

When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word of this law, he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God so that it may remain there as a witness against you.”

Moses knew that God’s people would need the word of God written on a scroll for them to be reminded of everything that the Lord had revealed during the previous decades. Without the book (scroll) that recorded the law—God’s Word—the people would forget and disobey the Lord. In Deuteronomy 31:27 Moses stated to the Levites, “For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are rebelling against the Lord now, while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after I am dead!”

It should also be noted that Nahum prophesied during the reign of King Josiah of Judah (640–609 BC). King Josiah instituted major reforms to the religious practices of Judah because, as a sixteen-year-old youth, he began to seek the Lord and reject the long-established idol worship practices of his father Amon and grandfather Manasseh (2 Chr 34:3-7). According to 2 Kings 22:3-13, it was during the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign that the law of Moses was discovered in the temple. When this discovery was reported to the king, he became deeply convicted by the words of the book of the law of the Lord. Second Kings 22:10-11 records,

Then Shaphan the court secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book,” and Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.

The Word of God, which had been originally written by Moses, had survived generations of apostasy and now was being read to a new generation represented by King Josiah. Josiah’s reformation of Judah came as a direct result of the discovery of the book of the Word of God. Only the recovery of the Word of God can bring true spiritual reformation. This is true for the individual, for the people of God, and for society.

The importance of the Bible as the divinely inspired Word of God (also known as Scripture) cannot be overstated for Christians. In 2 Timothy 3:16 the apostle Paul declares, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.” Paul’s reference here is to the Old Testament. So the book of the prophet Nahum was part of the “Scripture” to which Paul is referring. The elements of teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness for God’s people are all contained in Nahum’s oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of God’s Word is the most important book for God’s people.

The book of Nahum is referred to as the “book of the vision of Nahum.” The Hebrew term translated “vision” is found elsewhere in the Old Testament in Proverbs 29:18 where the HCSB translates the word “revelation.” It says, “Without revelation people run wild, but one who listens to instruction will be happy.” The ESV reads, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off all restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” The Hebrew term translated “vision” is derived from a verb that means “to see” (Roberts, Nahum,41). Habakkuk 1:1 refers to the oracle that the prophet “saw.” Both noun and verb forms are used in Isaiah 1:1 to refer to the messages of the prophet Isaiah. Vision refers to the communication of God’s word to the prophet and through the prophet. This is clear from the usage of this word in Proverbs 29:18. The Hebrew word translated “vision” is employed throughout the Bible’s prophetic literature. For example, 1 Samuel 3:1 reports that visions were rare in those days. This means that during the days of Samuel’s early childhood under the mentorship of Eli the priest there was little revelation from God. It was a spiritually dry period in the history of Israel.

Nahum has been given divine revelation to communicate concerning the fate of Nineveh and the future of God’s people. When we preach God’s Word today, we are communicating the divine vision of God for His people and His world. Without the preaching of the divine vision, people will remain without hope and without God (Eph 2:12). The preaching of biblical truth is an act of divine grace that restrains human sinfulness. The proclamation of biblical truth in the prophetic message facilitates saving grace and common grace. It facilitates saving grace because only the power of God’s Word delivered through preaching is able to save souls from divine judgment and eternal punishment. But if people are convicted by the prophetic preaching of the Word of God to repent and call on the Lord for salvation, then God will hear and save them from their sins. Romans 10:13-15 reminds us of these truths:

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!

Paul the apostle begins and ends this statement with two Old Testament quotes—Joel 2:32 and Nahum 1:15—referring to the powerful effect of the prophetic preaching of God’s Word in the gospel.

The necessity of the preaching of the divine vision of God’s Word is clear. We cannot relent because the need is so great. Nahum’s vision of the Word of God needs to be heard in every generation. Where is the prophetic vision from God’s Word today? Where is the prophetic voice calling people to repentance and faith in the twenty-first century?

The Name of the Prophetic Messenger

The name “Nahum” comes from a Hebrew root that is found in several other names in the Bible such as Nehemiah, Nahamani (Neh 7:7), Tanhumeth (Jer 40:8), and Menahem (2 Kgs 15:16). The root meaning of the name is “comfort.” While Nahum’s name carries a message of comfort for Judah, Nahum’s message is anything but comfort for Assyria. “Elkoshite” most likely indicates the clan or place of Nahum’s birth. He was from the clan or village of Elkosh. We have no archaeological information that confirms the whereabouts of this clan or the location of this village in antiquity. We are given no further biographical information about the man Nahum. So we know very little about this prophet except that he was a real person whose name seems to have had providential significance for his prophetic ministry.

Nahum has a prophetic message for today that is relevant to the realities we face in the twenty-first century. God is sovereign over the affairs of nations just as much as He is sovereign over the affairs of people. He reigns over all the political events, policies, and people in this world. He is faithful to care for His people who trust Him for salvation.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What do we learn from Nahum about war? What role does God have in war?
2. Who is responsible for atrocities that happen in war?
3. What role does God have in international affairs?
4. How was God’s hand evident in the political situations in the ancient world? What were some situations where it is hard to understand what His plans were?
5. How did God respond in the long run to the sinfulness of Kings Manasseh and Amon of Judah? Why did Josiah’s reforms ultimately fail?
6. When God speaks out against one’s enemies, how can that be both an encouragement and a warning? Are there any countries in our day that are clearly evil and that also serve as a warning for us?
7. Do you have a favorite poem? Why might poetry be an effective means of communicating a prophetic message?
8. Where do you find hope and comfort in God’s Word? How can you express that hope and comfort to those who have not heard it?
9. The name Nahum means “comfort” or “compassion.” How would this apply to the book of Nahum?