Bible Commentaries

INTRODUCTION

NAHUM means "consolation" and "vengeance"; symbolizing the "consolation" in the book for God's people, and the "vengeance" coming on their enemies. In the first chapter the two themes alternate; but as the prophet advances, vengeance on the capital of the Assyrian foe is the predominant topic. He is called "the Elkoshite"

(Na 1:1),

from Elkosh, or Elkesi, a village of Galilee, pointed out to JEROME [Preface in Nahum] as a place of note among the Jews, having traces of ancient buildings. The name Capernaum, that is, "village of Nahum," seems to take its name from Nahum having resided in it, though born in Elkosh in the neighborhood. There is another Elkosh east of the Tigris, and north of Mosul, believed by Jewish pilgrims to be the birthplace and burial place of the prophet. But the book of Nahum in its allusions shows a particularity of acquaintance with Palestine

(Na 1:4),

and only a more general knowledge as to Nineveh

(Na 2:4-6; 3:2, 3).

His graphic description of Sennacherib and his army

(Na 1:9-12)

makes it not unlikely that he was in or near Jerusalem at the time: hence the number of phrases corresponding to those of Isaiah (compare

Na 1:8, 9, with Isa 8:8; 10:23;

Na 2:10, with Isa 24:1; 21:3;

Na 1:15, with Isa 52:7).

The prophecy in

Na 1:14

probably refers to the murder of Sennacherib twenty years after his return from Palestine

(Isa 37:38).

The date of his prophecies, thus, seems to be about the former years of Hezekiah. So JEROME thinks. He plainly writes while the Assyrian power was yet unbroken

(Na 1:12; 2:11-13

Na 3:15-17).

The correspondence between the sentiments of Nahum and those of Isaiah and Hezekiah, as recorded in Second Kings and Isaiah, proves the likelihood of Nahum's prophecies belonging to the time when Sennacherib was demanding the surrender of Jerusalem, and had not yet raised the siege (compare

Na 1:2, &c., with 2Ki 19:14, 15;

Na 1:7, with 2Ki 18:22; 19:19, 31; 2Ch 32:7, 8;

Na 1:9, 11, with 2Ki 19:22, 27, 28;

Na 1:14, with 2Ki 19:6, 7;

Na 1:15; 2:1, 2, with 2Ki 19:32, 33;

Na 2:13, with 2Ki 19:22, 23).

The historical data in the book itself are the humiliation of Israel and Judah by Assyria

(Na 2:2);

the invasion of Judah

(Na 1:9, 11);

and the conquest of No-ammon, or Thebes, in Upper Egypt

(Na 3:8-10).

Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser had carried away Israel. The Jews were harassed by the Syrians, and impoverished by Ahaz' payments to Tiglath-pileser

(2Ch 28:1-27; Isa 7:9).

Sargon, Shalmaneser's successor, after the reduction of Phœnicia by the latter, fearing lest Egypt should join Palestine against him, undertook an expedition to Africa

(Isa 20:1-6),

and took Thebes; the latter fact we know only from Nahum, but the success of the expedition in general is corroborated in

Isa 20:1-6.

Sennacherib, Sargon's successor, made the last Assyrian attempt against Judea, ending in the destruction of his army in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (713-710 B.C.). As Nahum refers to this in part prophetically, in part as matter of history

(Na 1:9-13; 2:13),

he must have lived about 720-714 B.C., that is, almost a hundred 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 603 B.C.

The prophecy is remarkable for its unity of aim. Nahum's object was to inspire his countrymen, the Jews, with the assurance that, however alarming their position might seem, exposed to the attacks of the mighty Assyrian, who had already carried away the ten tribes, yet that not only should the Assyrian (Sennacherib) fail in his attack on Jerusalem, but Nineveh, his own capital, be taken and his empire overthrown; and this, not by an arbitrary exercise of Jehovah's power, but for the iniquities of the city and its people.

His position in the canon is seventh of the minor prophets in both the Hebrew and Greek arrangement. He is seventh in point of date.

His style is clear, elegant, and forcible. Its most striking characteristic is the power of representing several phases of an idea in the briefest sentences, as in the majestic description of God in the commencement, the conquest of Nineveh, and the destruction of No-ammon [EICHORN]. DE WETTE calls attention to his variety of manner in presenting ideas, as marking great poetic talent. "Here there is something sonorous in his language there something murmuring; with both these alternates something that is soft, delicate, and melting, as the subject demands." Excepting two alleged Assyrian words

(Na 3:17),

English Version, "crowned," or princes, and English Version, "captains," or satraps (used by

Jer 51:27),

the language is pure. These two, doubtless, came to be known in Judea from the intercourse with Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.

Na 1:1-15.

JEHOVAH'S ATTRIBUTES AS A JEALOUS JUDGE OF SIN, YET MERCIFUL TO HIS TRUSTING PEOPLE, SHOULD INSPIRE THEM WITH CONFIDENCE. HE WILL NOT ALLOW THE ASSYRIANS AGAIN TO ASSAIL THEM, BUT WILL DESTROY THE FOE.

1. burden of Nineveh--the prophetic doom of Nineveh. Nahum prophesied against that city a hundred fifty years after Jonah.

2. jealous--In this there is sternness, yet tender affection. We are jealous only of those we love: a husband, of a wife; a king, of his subjects' loyalty. God is jealous of men because He loves them. God will not bear a rival in His claims on them. His burning jealousy for His own wounded honor and their love, as much as His justice, accounts for all His fearful judgments: the flood, the destruction of Jerusalem, that of Nineveh. His jealousy will not admit of His friends being oppressed, and their enemies flourishing (compare

Ex 20:5; 1Co 16:22; 2Co 11:2).

Burning zeal enters into the idea in "jealous" here (compare

Nu 25:11, 13; 1Ki 19:10).

the Lord revengeth . . . Lord revengeth--The repetition of the incommunicable name JEHOVAH, and of His revenging, gives an awful solemnity to the introduction.

furious--literally, "a master of fury." So a master of the tongue, that is, "eloquent." "One who, if He pleases, can most readily give effect to His fury" [GROTIUS]. Nahum has in view the provocation to fury given to God by the Assyrians, after having carried away the ten tribes, now proceeding to invade Judea under Hezekiah.

reserveth wrath for his enemies--reserves it against His own appointed time

(2Pe 2:9).

After long waiting for their repentance in vain, at length punishing them. A wrong estimate of Jehovah is formed from His suspending punishment: it is not that He is insensible or dilatory, but He reserves wrath for His own fit time. In the case of the penitent, He does not reserve or retain His anger

(Ps 103:9; Jer 3:5, 12; Mic 7:18).

3. slow to anger, and great in power--that is, but great in power, so as to be able in a moment, if He pleases, to destroy the wicked. His long-suffering is not from want of power to punish

(Ex 34:6, 7).

not at all acquit--literally, "will not acquitting acquit," or treat as innocent.

Lord hath his way in the whirlwind--From this to

Na 1:5,

inclusive, is a description of His power exhibited in the phenomena of nature, especially when He is wroth. His vengeance shall sweep away the Assyrian foe like a whirlwind

(Pr 10:25).

clouds are the dust of his feet--Large as they are, He treads on them, as a man would on the small dust; He is Lord of the clouds, and uses them as He pleases.

4. rebuketh the sea--as Jesus did

(Mt 8:26),

proving Himself God (compare

Isa 50:2).

Bashan languisheth--through drought; ordinarily it was a region famed for its rich pasturage (compare

Joe 1:10).

flower of Lebanon--its bloom; all that blooms so luxuriantly on Lebanon

(Ho 14:7).

As Bashan was famed for its pastures, Carmel for its corn fields and vineyards, so Lebanon for its forests

(Isa 33:9).

There is nothing in the world so blooming that God cannot change it when He is wroth.

5. earth is burned--so GROTIUS. Rather, "lifts itself," that is, "heaveth" [MAURER]: as the Hebrew is translated in

Ps 89:9; Ho 13:1;

compare

2Sa 5:21,

Margin.

6. fury is poured out like fire--like the liquid fire poured out of volcanoes in all directions (see

Jer 7:20).

rocks are thrown down--or, "are burnt asunder"; the usual effect of volcanic fire

(Jer 51:25, 56).

As Hannibal burst asunder the Alpine rocks by fire to make a passage for his army [GROTIUS].

7. Here Nahum enters on his special subject, for which the previous verses have prepared the way, namely, to assure his people of safety in Jehovah under the impending attack of Sennacherib

(Na 1:7),

and to announce the doom of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian foe

(Na 1:8).

The contrast of

Na 1:7, 8

heightens the force.

he knoweth--recognizes as His own

(Ho 13:5; Am 3:2);

and so, cares for and guards

(Ps 1:6; 2Ti 2:19).