CIRCUMSTANCES OF WRITING

AUTHOR: Nahum, the presumed author (1:1) is the only person with that name in the Old Testament. Like Jonah in the previous century, Nahum prophesied judgment upon Nineveh. The Ninevites in Jonah’s time had repented (Jnh 3). But now that Nineveh’s leaders had resumed their wicked actions, the Lord called Nahum to reaffirm his coming judgment. Ironically Nahum’s Hebrew name means “comfort”—comfort for Judah (1:12-15) because its cruel overlord Assyria would be punished without any “comforters” (see 3:7). Except for the name of his hometown Elkosh (1:1), nothing certain is known about Nahum.

Two events circumscribe the earliest and latest possible dates for the composition of the book of Nahum: the capture and downfall of Thebes in about 663 BC and the announcements of Nineveh’s certain destruction (1:1; 2:8; 3:7) which would happen in 612 BC. The book’s emphasis on the fall of Thebes, seemingly a recent event, would favor a date shortly after 663 BC, during the reign of the notoriously wicked King Manasseh (ca 686-642 BC) and/or his evil son Amon (642-640 BC). Assyria was still strong and had a formidable military capacity (1:2). This fits the reign of cruel Ashurbanipal (ca 668-627 BC) when Assyria was at the pinnacle of its power.

BACKGROUND: The Assyrian capital Nineveh was located about 220 miles north of the modern Iraqi capital of Baghdad. By Nahum’s time, Israel and Judah had experienced long and distressing affliction at the hands of the Assyrians. As early as Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC), King Jehu paid tribute to the Assyrians. The Lord often used Assyria as “the rod of my anger” (Is 10:5) to punish his people. Shalmaneser V (727-722 BC) and his successor Sargon II (722-705 BC) besieged and destroyed Samaria, taking the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity (2Kg 17:3-6). Similarly, Sennacherib captured and devastated Judah, besieging Jerusalem by 701 BC (2Kg 18-19; Is 36-37). By Ashurbanipal’s reign (ca 669-627 BC) Assyrian rulers were infamous for their cruelty (see notes at 3:10,18-19).

MESSAGE AND PURPOSE

JUDGMENT: The main theme of the book is the impending judgment of Nineveh by the Lord (1:1,8; 2:8-13; 3:7-19) by which he would deliver his people (1:12-15; cp. vv. 7-8). He would pay back Nineveh and the Assyrians in the same way they had mistreated their enemies. Since they were known for scattering their captives in brutal death marches, the Lord would send a scatterer (2:1) to disperse the Assyrians in retaliation for their cruelty (3:18-19; cp. 3:10). Since the Assyrians delighted in shedding blood and piling up the corpses of their foes, he would transform Nineveh into a city of blood with piles of its own corpses (3:1-3).

As the Assyrians had plucked the capital city Samaria like a first-ripe fig to devour her (fulfilling Is 28:4), so too the Lord would cause their capital Nineveh and other fortresses to fall into their enemies’ hungry mouths (Nah 3:12). Though Nineveh (like Thebes) was seemingly impregnable because of its military strength (3:8) and its allies (3:9), the Assyrians would be exiled as they had exiled the Egyptians (3:10).

GOD, THE CARING WARRIOR: The character of God, portrayed as a powerful but caring warrior (1:2-7), was the propelling force behind Nineveh’s judgment. The Lord’s jealousy for his people and his wrath toward his enemies (1:2-3), balanced by his compassion and longsuffering nature (1:3; Ex 34:6-7), seem to pivot on his great power (Nah 1:3) and goodness (1:7). Yahweh the warrior will take vengeance on his enemies (1:2,3-6). The portrait of the Lord as a God of wrath is consistent with his promise to avenge the blood of his servants (Dt 32:35-36,42-43). Furthermore, God’s goodness and compassion was not the doting love of the Lord as a permissive or impotent grandparent (2Pt 3:9-10,12). He was “good” (or kind) to those who took refuge in him (1:7) while bringing destruction on his unrepentant enemies, including Nineveh (1:8).

CONTRIBUTION TO THE BIBLE

The book of Nahum provides a great view of a powerful, just God who maintains his absolute moral standards and offers hope to those who are despised and downtrodden. Nahum teaches us to trust God. Even when we despair of any help, we can know that God will stand with those who belong to him.

STRUCTURE

Nahum interweaved typical prophetic strands such as judgment songs against God’s enemies (1:9-11,14; cp. 2:13; 3:5-7), a woe oracle or mock lament (3:1-7), salvation oracles for his people Judah (1:12-15), a victory hymn to Yahweh the divine warrior (1:2-8; cp. Ex 15; Ps 98), and a sarcastic “word vision” of imminent enemy invasion (Nah 2:1-10; cp. 3:2-3). He colored this literary tapestry with satirical “taunt songs” mocking Nineveh’s soon-coming role reversal (2:11-12; 3:8-19; cp. 2:1-2; 3:4-5). He ridiculed Nineveh’s practice of scattering of peoples to other nations by announcing that God’s “scatterer” (2:1-2; 3:18-19) would pay her back in like manner. He taunted that her lion’s lair of military booty would soon be looted (2:11-13). He also mocked her as a witch-prostitute condemned to appropriate punishment: nakedness exposed with shame (3:4-7).

Using psychological warfare (as the Assyrians had used against Judah), Nahum taunted Nineveh’s dependence on allies and other supposed defenses (3:8-10; cp. Is 36:4-20). Esar-haddon, father of Ashurbanipal, had threatened King Manasseh of Judah in 672 BC with treaty curses from the gods if they rebelled. The Lord converted borrowed treaty terminology to reverse this curse on Judah. It would not be Judah but Assyria’s military men who would become defenseless like women (Nah 3:13). The Assyrians’ ravaging of the land like a swarming army of locusts (cp. Jl 1:4-12; 2:4-9) was evoked and modified in order to mock Nineveh’s merchants and military personnel, comparing them to harmless locusts on a wall, easily frightened and scattered (Nah 3:15-18). The incurable disease threatened from their gods would boomerang and inflict Assyria instead (3:19).

Yahweh as the caring warrior who would bring vengeance on his enemies, especially Nineveh, in order to save Judah, forms the backbone not only of Nahum’s purpose statement but also of the book’s literary structure.

OUTLINE

I.Prelude (1:1-10)

II.Nineveh’s Destruction as Part of God’s Plan (1:11-15)

A.Deliverance of Judah (1:12-13,15)

B.Judgment against Assyria (1:11,14)

III.Nineveh’s Destruction to Be Complete (2:1-13)

A.Successful siege (2:1-9)

B.Despair of the people (2:10-13)

IV.Nineveh’s Destruction the Result of Sin (3:1-18)

A.Inevitability of judgment (3:1-4)

B.National annihilation (3:5-18)

V.Postlude (3:19)

800-705 BC

At a time the Assyrian Empire is in decline, God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach repentance. This was likely during the reigns of Uzziah of Judah (792-740) and Jeroboam II of Israel (793-753).

During its time of weakness, Assyria experiences two severe plagues (765 and 759) and a total eclipse (763).

Nineveh repents in response to Jonah’s preaching and is spared God’s judgment.

Assyria’s Shalmaneser V besieges Samaria. 725-722

Samaria falls to Assyria’s Sargon II; nearly 28,000 Israelites are sent into exile. 722

705-675 BC

Sennacherib establishes Nineveh as the capital of the Assyrian Empire. 705-681

Sennacherib captures and devastates Judah, besieging but not capturing Jerusalem. 701

When Babylon rebels against Sennacherib, he destroys the city. 689

Sennacherib is murdered by his two sons, one of whom, Esar-haddon (681-669), succeeds him as king. 681

Esar-haddon immediately begins the rebuilding of Babylon, an act that wins the allegiance of the local populace.

675-610 BC

Nahum (675-612) prophesies that just as Assyria destroyed Thebes, Nineveh (Assyria’s capital) will be destroyed.

Esar-haddon invades Egypt. 671

Egypt rebels (669) and Esar-haddon’s son, Ashurbanipal (668-627), sets out to reconquer Egypt. 667

Egypt rebels again, so Ashurbanipal destroys Thebes. 665

Calah is destroyed and the combined armies of the Babylonians and the Medes lay siege to Nineveh. After two months, the city falls. 612

610-600 BC

An Assyrian general claims the throne and rallies what is left of the Assyrian army in Haran. An alliance with Egypt brings a few troops to Assyria’s aid, but as the Babylonians approach, Haran is abandoned. 610

The last remnants of the battered Assyrian Empire, along with their recent Egyptian allies, are defeated at the Battle of Carchemish, bringing the Assyrian Empire to an end. 605