AUTHOR
Very little is known about Nahum, except that he was from Elkosh, an unknown location!
In the 4th century, Jerome identifies a little village in Galilee pointed out to him by a guide, but its exact location is unknown. Nahum was probably from the northern kingdom of Israel because he mentions devastation in Bashan, Carmel and Lebanon, cities located in the northern kingdom, as Galilee was.
Nahum must have been very bold to deliver such a scathing message about Nineveh during a time when Assyria was still in full strength.
DATE
Nahum prophesied in the latter days of Manasseh (687-642 BC).
THEME
Nahum's entire book is a "vision" about God's impending judgment upon Nineveh.
Only 100 years prior to this, the reluctant Jonah saw Nineveh repent.
"Then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them" (Jonah 3:10).
But their repentance was short-lived, thus incurring Nahum's announcement of judgment.
A JEALOUS and AVENGING GOD (1:2-6)
God's jealousy is rooted in His honor as the only God. He boldly proclaims to Nineveh that there is no other God but Yahweh, just as He always exhorted the Jews to "...not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Ex 34:14).
Not acknowledging that Yahweh is the only God may incur His wrath and vengeance.
"A jealous and avenging God is the Lord;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful.
The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries,
and He reserves wrath for His enemies."
(1:2)
Therefore, we must be "jealous with My jealousy," that people worship only the one true God, just as Phinehas was jealous (Num 25:3-8).
SLOW TO ANGER
"The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished."
(1:3)
Nahum certainly intended to echo Ex 34:6,7 where God reveals Himself to Moses.
"The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth...He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished."
God was slow to anger regarding Nineveh. He waited 100 years to judge them.
"In whirlwind and storm is His way, and the clouds are the dust beneath His feet."
(1:3)
God comes in great power to judge Nineveh.
HE REBUKES THE SEA
"He rebukes the sea and makes it dry."
(1:4)
Nahum recollects God's great rebuke of the Red Sea where He exacted judgment upon Pharaoh and his army.
"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided" (Ex 14:21).
Let haughty Assyria be reminded that the Lord had already judged a nation (Egypt) that stood in His way.
"He dries up all the rivers."
(1:4)
Nineveh relied on its surrounding rivers as a natural water barrier or defense.
But these will not deter the Lord.
"Bashan and Carmel wither, the blossoms of Lebanon wither."
(1:4)
Bashan, Carmel and Lebanon are the most fertile regions in Israel's northern kingdom.
Nahum envisions a drought that is so long and severe that even the world-famous cedar trees of Lebanon "wither."
God is telling Assyria that if He brought such severe judgment against His own people, He will so so to Assyria.
These judgments happened to Israel when Assyria itself conquered northern Israel in 721 BC.
God promised to one day restore the fruitfulness of Bashan, Carmel and Lebanon.
"It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon, they will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God" (Isa 35:2).
But there would be no such promise for Assyria.
GOD'S WRATH SHAKES the EARTH
"Mountains quake...
hills dissolve...
the earth heaves...
His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken up by Him."
(1:5,6)
THE LORD IS GOOD
"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those take refuge in Him."
(1:7)
In this context, God shows His goodness to Israel by judging their enemies.
NINEVEH COMPLETELY DESTROYED
"But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of its site...
Distress will not rise up twice.
Like tangled thorns, and like those who are drunken with their drink, they are consumed as stubble completely withered."
(1:8-10)
God will completely destroy Nineveh, comparing the Babylonians and Medes who conquered it in 612 BC as a flood.
It would never rise again.
Today ancient Nineveh is an archaeological ruin with no inhabitants.
A WICKED LEADER
Nineveh's stubborn rebellion had produced "one who plotted evil against the Lord."
(1:11)
This "counselor of Belial" is the leader of the people, which certainly can be Sennacherib, who was the king of Assyria when they invaded Israel in 701 BC.
"THUS SAYS THE LORD"
Verse 1:12 is the only place Nahum uses this customary phrase that the OT prophets used to confirm the authenticity of their message from God.
"I WILL BREAK HIS YOKE BAR FROM UPON YOU"
The Lord's judgment will not be deterred at all by Assyria's great numbers and power.
"Though they are at full strength and likewise many, even so, they will be cut off and pass away...
I will cut off idol and image from the house of your gods.
I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible."
(1:12-14)
"I WILL DIG YOUR GRAVE"
Yahweh promises the last great king of Assyria, Ashurbanipal (669-627 BC), that
1) "your name will no longer be perpetuated." He will have no successors to his throne.
2) "I will cut off idol and image from the house of your gods."
3) "I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible."
(1:14)
GOOD NEWS
"Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace!
Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; pay your vows.
For never again will the wicked one [Assyrians] pass through you;
he is cut off completely."
(1:15)
The messenger witnesses the fall of Nineveh and rushes to proclaim the joyful word.
This is strikingly similar to Isaiah 52:7,
"How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!"
The apostle Paul compares the OT messenger who brings good news of God delivering His people from their enemies with the NT messenger who brings the gospel (good news) of Christ delivering us from our sins.
"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?
And how will they hear without a preacher?
How will they preach unless they are sent?
Just as it is written,
'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!'" (Rom 10:14-15)
CELEBRATING DELIVERANCE
God tells His people to celebrate their deliverance from their "wicked" enemies.
An inscription dating to the 9th century BC is attributed to Ashurnasirpal II, who proudly listed his violent atrocities after a battle.
"I built a pillar over against his city-gate, and I flayed all the chief men who had revolted, and I covered the pillar with their skins; some I walled up within the pillar, and some upon the pillar on stakes I impaled, and others I fixed stakes round about the pillar; many within the border of my own land I flayed, and I spread their skins upon the walls; and I cut off the limbs of the high officers, of the high royal officers who had rebelled.
Many captives from among them I burned with fire, and many I captured alive. From some I cut off their hands and their fingers, and from others I cut off their noses and their ears...and the eyes of many men I put out. I made one heap of the living, and another of the heads, and I bound their heads to vines round about the city. Their young men and maidens I burned in the fire." (cited in Ancient Iraq by George Roux).
NINEVEH IS TAKEN (2:1-7)
Why is there such a detailed description of Nineveh's fall?
This description was made decades before it occurred to stir up the faith of the Israelites, who would have found it difficult to believe that such a powerful city could fall.
RED SHIELDS, RED BATTLE GARB, STEEL CHARIOTS, CYPRESS SPEARS
"The shields of his [the army attacking Assyria] mighty men are colored red,
the warriors are dressed in scarlet,
the chariots are enveloped in flashing steel when he is prepared to march,
and the cypress spears are brandished.
The chariots race madly in the streets,
they rush wildly in the squares,
their appearance is like torches,
they dash to and fro like lightening flashes."
(2:3-4)
As psychological warfare, warriors often had their uniforms and shields colored blood-red in order to strike fear into the hearts of their enemy. All the chariots flashing "like lightening" would do this as well.
The enemy soldiers are too late to repel the besieging army, who have already set up their "siege covering." This mantelet was a large movable shelter used as a protective cover for the attacking soldiers, designed to shield them from arrows shot down from the city wall. The soldiers used this covering to undermine the foundation of the city walls, built embankments, or used machines to hurl stones to smash the walls.
"They [the defending Assyrians] stumble in their march,
they hurry to her wall,
but the mantelet is set up."
(1:5)
HOW NINEVEH WAS CONQUERED
"The gates of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved [weakened]."
(2:6)
The Tebiltu and Khoser rivers flowed through Nineveh.
The city used a system of dams and sluice gates to control their waters.
The Tebiltu often flooded its banks inside the city, undermining palace foundations and other structures. to reduce this flooding, Sennacherib changed the course of the Tebiltu inside the city.
Outside the city, he dammed up the Khoser and created a reservoir, regulating the flow of water into the city through an elaborate system of double sluice gates.
Sennacherib also had to strengthen the foundations of his palace with mighty slabs of limestone so that it would not be weakened by the flood of high water. At the time of Nineveh's fall, the palace of Ashurbanipal was located on the edge of the sharpest bend of the Khoser River as it flowed through the city. When the Khoser overflowed its banks, the palace foundation was weakened.
According to historians Diodorus and Xenophon, just before Nineveh fell, a succession of very high rainfalls deluged the area. The Khoser River swelled and the reservoir was beached. The waters rushed through the overloaded canal system, breaking a hole about 20 stades (about 2.3 miles) wide in the city wall and flooding the city. When the waters receded, the Babylonians stormed into Nineveh and conquered the city.
FROM WEALTH TO WASTELAND
"It is fixed [settled]" means God has ordained Nineveh's destruction.
After the city is breached, every inhabitant flees with terror while the conquerors plunder the city.
"Now they are fleeing...no one turns back.
Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!...
She [Nineveh] is emptied!
She is desolate and waste!
Hearts are melting and knees knocking!
Also anguish is in the whole body
and all their faces are grown pale!"
(2:8-10)
For the 200 years from Ashurnasirpal II (884-824 BC) to Sennacherib (705-681 BC), the Assyrians engraved on stone the endless treasures they took from other nations.
NINEVEH IS HUMBLED
In its day, Nineveh is compared to a den of lions which "filled its lair with prey and his dens with torn flesh."
(2:11-12)
In "Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia" by D.D. Luckenbill, Ashurnasirpal declared, "I am lion-brave."
Senncherib says, "Like a lion I raged."
For 200 years, Assyria tortured and ravaged the peoples of the ancient Near East.
From the annals of Ashurbanipal in "The Book of Nahum" by W.A. Maier,
"They suspended their corpses from poles, tore their skin off, and affixed it to the city walls...
I let dogs, swine, wolves, vultures, the birds of the heavens, and the sweet-water fish devour their cut-off limbs...
The people who lived in the city and had not come out and had not acknowledged my rule, I slew. I chopped off their heads and cut off their lips...
I bore through his jaw with my cutting dagger, pulled a rope through his cheek and the sides of his face, and attached a dog chain to him, and let him guard the cage at the east gate of Nineveh."
THE LORD IS AGAINST NINEVEH
"'Behold, I am against you,' declares the Lord of hosts.
"I will burn up her chariots in smoke,
a sword will devour your young lions,
I will cut off your prey from the land,
and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.'"
(2:13)
WHAT SINS NINEVEH COMMITTED
"Woe to the bloody city,
completely full of lies and pillage;
her prey never departs...
All because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the charming one, the mistress of sorceries,
who sells nations by her harlotries and families by her sorceries.
(3:1,4)
1. Bloodthirsty
On one of the sculptured reliefs found in Ashurbanipal's palace is a scene featuring the king and queen celebrating victory over the Elamites. Depicted near the banqueting table is a fruit tree with the severed head of the king of Elam dangling from one of the branches.
2. Lying
In 701 BC during the siege of Jerusalem, Sennacherib of Assyria sent his emissary, Rabshakeh, to King Hezekiah of Judah.
Rabshakeh lies to the people that if they surrender, they will then be taken back to Assyria where they "will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern." Their land is "a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey." (2 Kgs 18:31-32)
3. Profiteering ("pillage")
4. Victimization ("prey")
5. Sorcery
Rather than trusting in God's sovereignty for their future, the Assyrians relied on witchcraft.
Archaeology has uncovered thousands of tablets from Nineveh attesting to their heavy use of sorcery and the magical arts.
THE ASSAULT on NINEVEH
"The noise of the whip,
the noise of the rattling of the wheel,
galloping horses and bounding chariots!
Horsemen charging,
swords flashing,
spears gleaming,
many slain, a mass of corpses,
and countless dead bodies --
they stumble over the dead bodies!"
(3:2,3)
The Assyrian people, who had struck fear and trembling into other nations with the rattling of their chariots and charging horsemen with swords and spears, are now on the receiving end of such terror.
The Assyrian kings enjoyed exposing their captives to public ridicule.
Now, God is so against Nineveh that He will display its devastation to the nations, and no one will grieve for them or comfort them.
(3:5-7)
NINEVEH WILL BE DESTROYED just as THEBES WAS DESTROYED
Thebes (No-amon) was the capital of Egypt.
"Are you better than No-amon which was situated by the waters of the Nile,
with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall consisted of the sea?..
She became an exile, she went into captivity,
also her small children were dashed to pieces...
all her great men were bound with fetters."
(3:8-10)
Thebes had remarkable geographical defenses.
An invading army had to march 400 miles down from the Nile Delta to besiege the city.
This would expose their flanks to constant attacks.
Arriving at Thebes, 27 miles in circumference, it was surrounded by rivers, streams, canals, and lakes form by the Nile.
A field of massive statutes, memorials, temples, and great halls with no equals stood before them.
What could Nineveh boast to compare with these defenses?
Nineveh will fall...
1)... like a staggering drunk.
2)... like a panicked fugitive
3) ...like a trembling fig tree
4) ...like a feeble woman
5) ...like a city with gates thrown open
(3:11-13)
ASSYRIAN PREPARATIONS of THEIR DEFENSES IS FUTILE
Storing up water before their siege, and strengthening their walls with more bricks and mortar will not save them.
(3:14)
Their vast numbers of guardsmen, merchants, and marshals will not save them either.
(3:15-17)
Their leaders ("shepherds") are sleeping, and their people are scattered on the mountains (cowering in caves)
(3:18)
ADDRESSED TO THE KING OF NINEVEH (Ashurbanipal)
1. "There is no relief for your breakdown."
2. "Your wound is incurable."
3. "All who hear about you will clap their hands over you,
for on whom has not your evil passed continually?"
(3:19)
All people everywhere will rejoice at the fallen king of Nineveh. Why?
Because of his endless cruelty toward everyone.
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