Nahum means "Consolation" or "Consoler". The name "is in a sense symbolical of the message of the book, which was intended to comfort the oppressed and afflicted people of Judah (ISBE, 2109)".
Nahum calls himself the Elkoshite. He was probably from a place called Elkosh. The exact location of Elkosh is not known. His occupation, like his hometown, is unknown. This book of Nahum is one of the most poetical of all the Minor Prophets. It is stately and impressive. "As one reads it he feels himself carried from thought to thought at a rapid and highly excited pace. The style is forceful, brilliant, and lifelike. One feels that he is sharing with the prophet the excitement of the moment. As George A. Smith describes it, `His language is strong and brilliant; his rhythm rumbles and rolls, leaps and flashes, like the horsemen and chariots he describes' vol. II., p. 91) [Hailey, 249]."
Nahum did not say anything about the internal conditions of Judah and Jerusalem. He left this to his contemporaries, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.
The earliest date identifiable in this book is in nahum 3:8 , the fall of No, the Egyptian Thebes. This destruction was carried out by Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria about the year 663 B.C. In the campaign Thebes was destroyed and a great booty was taken to Assyria. Nineveh was destroyed later by the combined forces of the Medes and Chaldeans in 612 B.C. Somewhere between these dates Nahum announced the fall of Nineveh. Most scholars narrowed the date to the time between 630 to 612 B.C. (Hailey, 249-50).
The Assyrians rulers from the beginning of Assyria's policy of westward conquest and world domination, and the dates of each, are as follows (Hailey, 250):
Tiglath-pileser III, 745-727 B.C. This monarch began a programme of world conquest. He invaded the West and deported some of the inhabitants of Northern Israel, removing them to an area north of Nineveh.
Shalmaneser V, 727-722 B.C. Shalmaneser began the siege of Samaria, 722 B.C., but died before the city fell.
Sargon II, 722-705 B.C. This king completed the siege of Samaria, 721 B.C. which had been begun by Shalmaneser. He was murdered in 705 B.C.
Sennacherib,705-681 B.C. Sennacherib boasted of his monuments that he had shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem "as a bird in a cage". He was murdered by two of his sons in 681 B.C., who were then driven out by a younger son, Esarhaddon, who became king.
Esarhaddon, 681-668 B.C.
Ashurbanipal, 668-625 B.C. His campaign in Egypt resulted in the fall of No (Nah. 3:8 ). Much booty was carried away by him into Assyria. According to the records this king was very cruel.
Assur-etil-ilani, 625-620 B.C.
Sin-shar-ishkeen (Esarhaddon II), 620-612 B.C. When Nineveh was besieged by the Medes and Chaldeans, Esarhaddon II gathered his wives and children and wealth into the palace and set fire to it. He perished in the fire with them.
The native forces of Assyria were expended and exhausted by long and extensive wars. The population of her cities was never homogeneous, but was made up of foreigners who were drawn to them by trade and the desire for wealth. With nothing more than trade and commerce to hold them together, the nation was bound to break up eventually. The character of the Assyrian rulers and people in general was that of excessive cruelty. Farrar gives a vivid and clear description of their general character (Hailey, 251):
Judged from the vaunting inscriptions of her kings, no power more useless, more savage, more terrible, ever cast its gigantic shadow on the page of history as it passed on the way to ruin. The kings of Assyria tormented the miserable world. They exult to record how "space failed for corpses"; how unsparing a destroyer is their goddess Ishtar; how they flung away the bodies of soldiers like so much clay; how they made pyramids of human heads; how they burned cities; how they filled populous lands with death and devastation; how they rededdened broad deserts with carnage of warriors; how they scattered whole countries with corpses of their defenders as with chaff; how they impaled "heaps of men" on stakes, and strewned the mountains and choked rivers with dead bones; how they cut off the hands of kings and nailed them on the walls, and left their bodies to rot with bears and dogs on the entrance gates of cities; how they employed nations of captives in making brick in fetters; how they cut down warriors like weeds, or smote them like wild beasts in the forests, and covered pillars with flayed skins of rival monarchs (The Minor Prophets, 147-148).
Nahum is a prophet with a single theme. The theme was the fall and destruction of Nineveh, that city of great and dreadful people.
This was not a book recording the personal glee of the prophet over the fall of Nineveh. Nahum was not a narrow minded prejudice servant of God filled with hatred for his enemies. "But it is a fervent expression of the outraged conscience of mankind (Hailey, 249)."
His cry over the fall of Nineveh was one of faith in his sovereign God who is Ruler of the Judah as well as Israel. The LORD will vindicate His elect when the time comes. The duty of the elect is to honour God. Vengeance is the LORD's (Deut. 32:35 ; Rom. 12:19 ). Righteousness will prevail in the END. Do not worry.
"The lesson of his beautifully worded yet dreadful prophecy is one to which the world could well give heed today. The prophet reveals the eternal principle of the omnipotent God that for a nation to survive it must be established upon and directed by principles of righteousness and truth. Wickedness will eventually turn a nation back to Sheol, . . ., when it makes cruelty and wickedness the standard by which it lives (Hailey, 249)."
The outline of the book is adapted from Hailey's commentary and Master's Study Bible.
Nahum 1:1 , "The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite." "Burden" literally means a heavy load to be borne or lifted. Here, and in the writings of the other prophets, it means to lift up the voice in proclamation, an utterance or prophecy, denouncing the sins of a people by pronouncing on them or their place of habitation a heavy judgment.
It is also a vision in which the LORD reveals the destruction of Nineveh in a most vivid and moving manner. This will soon come to pass.
The fierce wrath of the LORD against His enemies will be one where no one will be able to stand. This is graphically described in Nahum 1:2-6 . Over against this wrath is the mercy of the Lord, but it will only be on those who take refuge in Him. It will not be universalism.
NAH 1:7 , "The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. This presents the LORD's "otherside". In love and protective care He will protect His own. Though no one can escape His wrath, anyone can trust in Him. When you do He will become your stronghold in times of trouble. No one can touch you when you are in His care.
A full end of Nineveh is decreed. It will not rise up again to trouble anyone. As a yoke upon Judah, her affliction from that corner will be completely broken off.
The instrument that God used to punish Israel will in turn be punished. Nahum 1:11-13 , "There is one come out of thee,that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor. Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder." The power of evil men like the Assyrians is always under the sovereign control of the LORD. They might be considered super powers in the eyes of men but they are only pawns in the hand of the Almighty!
Assyria's doom is determined. Her grave is already made. A messenger is on His way to bring these good tidings to Judah. In other words help is on its way.
Nahum 1:15 , "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
Judah is assured of her safety based upon Nahum 1:11-13 . The call to Judah was a return to her duty of humble service to the LORD. The feasts must not be seen as mundane and contemptuous to them anymore. Did they listen? In the days of Hezekiah who listened to Isaiah and Nahum but not long after that future generations sinned against God. The worse was Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah. He was the worst of all the kings of Judah. Despite his cruelty and wickedness he reigned for 55 years (cf. 2 Ki. 20:21 ; 21:1-2 ).
2KI 23:26-27 , "Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. 27And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there." (cf. 2 Ki. 21:10-16 ).
NOTE: He was taken captive by the Assyrians and whilst in captivity he humbled himself and returned to the LORD. Manasseh became a believer and upon his return form captivity, he did try to undo the damage of the past years as an evil king but it was too late. The people . . . "did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only" (2 Chron. 33:17 cf. 2 Chron. 33:12-16 on Manasseh's repentance and good works). It was a case of too little too late.
The destroyer of Nineveh is on his way!! The prophet sees the destruction as accomplished. The destroyer draws nigh; excitement is high. Nineveh prepares for the siege. But it was to no avail; the city was doomed.
Assyria will have a taste of its own medicine. The Chaldeans will come and thoroughly destroy her. They will not escape. The thoroughness of her destruction was seen in Nahum 2:8-9 , "But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. {9} Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture."
With the fall of the city the people flee; they are in terror as the city is plundered. The lair of the old lions is invaded and a new experience is theirs -- destruction!! When the LORD is against you there is no where you can hide. No strength is able to withstand the wrath of God. The city becomes empty and void. The heart of the people melts away. Their knees smite together. There is great pain in their loins. Their faces are darkened probably by fire. Like a ferocious lion hunting food for her whelps the LORD will devour and tear to pieces the Assyrians!
Nahum 2:13 , "Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard."
Nineveh's fate was brought upon herself as God's lex talionis judgement for her crimes must fall upon her. A graphic picture of the battle is described. Her own sins were the cause. The uncovering of her shame was of the LORD.
The fault lies with Assyria. She cannot put the blame on anyone. Her sinful ways were judged by God, who is the Creator and God of the Universe. All mankind will have to answer to Him. No one will escape His all seeing eye! Sinful men must beware!!
The sins of the Assyrians were very much like that of modern man today. The primary difference is that modern men are more subtle and euphemistically covered up their sins behind beautiful words.
Nineveh's resources are unable to save the city. The prophet points to the fall of the outlying strongholds, to the siege and destruction of the city, and to the universal exultation over the fall of Nineveh.
God's irresistible power will be manifested for all to see. The Assyrians will be helpless before Him. They will receive their just rewards.
Nahum 3:5 , "Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame."
Nahum 3:18 , "Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. {19} There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?"