Nahum

VIEW:25 DATA:01-04-2020

comforter; penitent
(same as Naum)
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


NAHUM
I. The Man.—The word Nahum means ‘full of comfort’ and is probably a contraction of e longer Heb. term meaning ‘God is a comforter.’ Of the man so named nothing is certainly known. He is called’ the Elkoshite,’ but the exact meaning of the term cannot at present be determined. It is made in the Targum a kind of patronymic, recording the assumed descent of the prophet from an unknown ancestor Koshi It is more likely to preserve the name of the prophet’s birthplace or place of residence, of which the identification is still lacking. Three or four conjectures have been made.
(1) The prophet’s tomb is shown at Elkosh, 24 miles to the N. of Nineveh; and accordingly he is said to have lived there, a descendant of a member of the ten tribes who was deported in b.c. 721. But the tradition that buries Nahum there is not met with before the 16th cent., and is sufficiently accounted for by the interest in the city shewn by the prophet.
(2) Capernaum is really a transliteration of Heb. words which mean ‘village of Nahum.’ But a Galilæn origin for our prophet is unlikely (Joh_7:52), and is not supported by any allusions in the prophecy.
(3) The same objection applies to Jerome’s identification of Elkosh with a village Elkozeh in N. Galilee, which on other grounds is precarious.
(4) The most probable tradition associates Nahum with Elkosh ‘of the tribe of Simeon,’ and locates the hamlet near Beth-Gabre, the modern Beit-Jibrîn, about half-way between Jerusalem and Gaza. The tradition occurs in a Syriac version of the biographies of the prophets, ascribed to Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus towards the close of the 4th cent., but probably of much later date.
II. The Book
1. Analysis of contents.—In the analysis of the book, a line of division can be best drawn at the close of Nah_2:2. The latter section is the actual prophecy or oracle. It is preceded by a psalm or proem consisting of two parts, of which the one is general in its assertion of God’s universal judgment, the other particular in its specific messages to Judah and to Assyria. Jehovah as the jealous Avenger is the opening theme. This fact holds good of His administration (Nah_1:3); and as He passes on to the overthrow of the wicked, physical proofs of His power become evident everywhere (Nah_1:4-6). Tenderness towards those who wait upon Him, but an overwhelming flood upon His enemies (Nah_1:7-10), are the two great characteristics of His rule. ‘What think ye of Jehovah?’ (Nah_1:9, where RV [Note: Revised Version.] does not preserve the sequence of thought) is the point of passage to the section dealing with His particular acts, in which section either the text is corrupt through the displacement of some of the verses, or the two messages, of deliverance to Judah (Nah_1:13; Nah_1:15, Nah_2:2) and of vengeance upon Israel (Nah_1:11 f., Nah_1:14, Nah_2:1, were meaot to be entangled in repeated antitheses. Already the bearer of the good news is speeding over the hills (Nah_1:15; cf. Isa_52:7, Rom_10:15).
The oracle proper consists also of two sections, corresponding with the division into chapters. The second chapter is a swift and vivid description of the siege of Nineveh, its capture and sack, with the complete desolation that followed.
A second oracle is contained in the third chapter, which there is no need to regard as compacted of several prophecies, but of which the unity in theme and sequence of thought is conspicuous. The mention of the city of blood, full of lies and rapine, is followed by one of the most vivid battle-pictures in Heb. literature (Nah_3:2 f.). The cause of destruction is to be found in the diplomatic barlotry, whereby nations and races had been lured and sold; and so richly merited will be the woe, that none will be left or disposed to pity or bemoan Nineveh (Nah_3:7). The analogy of No-amon (Thebes) makes it certain that a similar fate is awaiting the Assyrian city (Nah_3:8 ff.). Her outposts and defences are already falling before the invader, just as the first-ripe figs fall at the mere shaking of a fig-tree; and her people have become women (Nah_3:12 f.). The time to prepare for the siege is past, adds the prophet, with his sarcastic appeal, ‘Tread the mortar, lay hold of the brick-mould.’ The swarming merchants, the ‘crowned ones’ (floating foreign population, according to Wellhausen; more probably the princes and prosperous men, cf. Isa_10:8), the ‘marshals’ or high officials, are like locusts or grasshoppers, that camp in the hedges and walls, but vanish with the sunrise. Finally, the prophet addresses the king himself, and on the eve of the destruction of the city proclaims her disappearance from history amidst the joy of all who had suffered under her tyranny: ‘There is no assuaging of thy hurt … all that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee.’
2. Authenticity of the first chapter.—That Nahum was the author of the two oracles is hardly open to question, but of late years some doubt has been thrown upon the authenticity of the prologue. Against Nahum’s authorship the plea is of a technical character, that the first chapter is really, in Heb., an alphabetic poem, and that its right metrical division yields, with a few alterations and transpositions, a series of stanzas, of which the first words commence with the letters of the Heb. alphabet in order. This plea is followed by the statement that such a literary form points to a late origin; and consequently the prologue is held to have been composed or constructed in the post-exilic period, and prefixed as an appropriate Introduction to the oracle of Nahum on account of its expression of the general principle of God’s avenging justice, of which the drama of Nineveh was supposed to afford a striking illustration.
On the other side, the re-arrangements necessary to restore an alphabetical form are difficult, though perhaps possible as far as Nah_1:9, after which resort has to be had to processes that are scientifically indefensible. The order of the verses and of the words within the verses has to be altered, words are omitted or introduced with freedom, and on the whole A. B. Davidson’s verdict stands—that the attempt to restore the alphabetical form ‘can never be more than an academical exercise.’
Even if an alphabetical form be conceded, a necessary lateness of date cannot be successfully inferred. Instances of the use of such a form occur, e.g., in Psa_9:10, where the tone and teaching are distinctly pre-exilic; and history would allow of the appearance of such a form, or at least of tentative efforts at its construction, at a comparatively early period in the development of a literature. The language and atmosphere of the prologue are those of the succeeding oracles. Alleged parallels with the post-exilic psalms are in reality parallels with earlier writings, which possibly supplied both Nahum and the writers of the psalms in question with their common phrases. Vividness and force, severity towards sin, fervent confidence in God, are features of all three chapters, which are further knit together by their theme, the first setting up God’s throne of judgment and announcing His sentence on Nineveh, the others portraying the execution of that sentence. And the attempts to destroy the unity of the book, able as they have been and full of valuable contributions to its exegesis and to Biblical science generally, must be regarded as having so far failed.
3. Date.—The question of the authenticity of the first chapter does not seriously affect the further question of the date at which Nahum composed the two oracles by general consent ascribed to him. Two points may be fixed at once; and in the period between them the actual date must be found. Nahum prophesied after the capture of No-amon or Thebes (Nah_3:8-10) by Ashurbanipal in b.c. 664–663, but before the fall of Nineveh in b.c. 606. The interval, within which the exact date must be sought, may be shortened with great probability. Ashurbanipal’s brilliant reign terminated in b.c. 626, and before that date there cannot be said to have been any great decline in the strength of Assyria. The Medes and the Scythians were beginning to threaten the empire, but its most serious difficulties arose from dynastic rivalries and the revolt of Ashurbanipal’s brother. Had that revolt been the occasion of Nahum’s prophecy, he would have directed his words against the king in person and not against the city. After the death of Ashurbanipal the Medes rapidly grew in strength, and laid siege to Nineveh, but were called away by an invasion of their own country; and the city was spared for nearly twenty years. The right date for Nahum seems to be a little after the death of Ashurbanipal, when the signs of Assyrian weakness were multiplying, and the outlying parts of the empire had already recovered their independence or been appropriated by other powers. At a later date the language of a prophet in Judah would be likely to be affected by the Deuteronomic style, of which there are no traces in Nahum; an earlier date would fail to supply the historic conditions, which are always an essential feature of Jewish prophecy. About 623 or 624 Nahum would need no great discernment to see the approaching fall of Assyria, and in the equipment and quick movements of the Medes and Scythians he would find the imagery which he uses to such good effect in his oracles.
4. Literary character and religious value.—Picturesqueness and force have been described as the most prominent characteristics of Nahum’s poety. Compact thought, vivid description (Nah_2:3-5, Nah_3:2 f.), effective imagery (Nah_2:11 f., Nah_3:17 f.) separate him sufficiently from the prophets of the Chaldæan period, and give him a position not far behind that of Isaiah. Obscurity is sometimes met with (e.g. Nah_1:10, Nah_2:8), but the cause is probably quite as often the high specific gravity of the sentence as an error in transcription. Findlay says (Books of the Prophets, II. 191) that Nahum is neglected by the Bible-reader, as though the story of Nineveh had little connexion with the progress of the Kingdom of God, and were merely a complete and isolated fact of the past with no relation to present needs. Yet if Nahum is not a religious teacher like Micah or Isaiah, he focuses the truth of God’s moral government of the world, concentrating the light upon a single typical instance; and he does not fail to defend confidence in God as the eventual Avenger of wrong and the perpetual defence of those who love Him. Where he differs chiefly from the other prophets is in the complete outwardness of his gaze. He has no eye for the shortcoming or sin of Judah, and no revelation to make of the inner history or moral character of his own generation. In this respect he contrasts especially with his contemporary Zephaniah, who also looked for the collapse of the Assyrian kingdom, but saw clearly a similar fate about to overtake the sinners of Israel. For Nahum, Nineveh fills up the whole canvas. The prophecy is a stern song of war, a shout of triumph over the conquered and slain; and though thereby it stands in contrast with the kindlier temper and spirit of the NT, in which no citation from the book occurs, it accords well with the traditions of its own age. And its great lesson, from which attention is not allowed to be diverted, is that the mills of God grind ‘exceeding small,’ and for nations as for individuals ‘sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death’ (Jam_1:15).
R. W. Moss.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Na'hum. (consolation). Nahum, called "the Elkoshite," is the seventh, in order, of the minor prophets. His personal history is quite unknown. The site of Elkosh, his native place, is disputed, some placing it in Galilee, others in Assyria. Those who maintain the latter view, assume that the prophet's parents were carried into captivity by Tiglath-pileser, and that the prophet was born at the village of Alkush, on the east bank of the Tigris, two miles north of Mosul.
On the other hand, the imagery of his prophecy is such like would be natural to an inhabitant of Palestine, Nah_1:4, to whom the rich pastures of Bashan, the vineyards of Carmel, and the blossoms of Lebanon were emblems of all that was luxuriant and fertile.
The language employed in Nah_1:15; Nah_2:2, is appropriate to one who wrote for his countrymen in their native land. (McClintock and Strong come to the conclusion that Nahum was a native of Galilee, and that at the captivity of the ten tribes, he escaped into Judah, and prophesied in the reign of Hezekiah, B.C. 726-698. ? Editor).
Prophecy of Nahum. ? The date of Nahum's prophecy can be determined, with as little precision as his birthplace. It is, however, certain that the prophecy was written before the final downfall of Nineveh and its capture by the Medes and Chaldeans, circa, B.C. 625. The allusions to the Assyrian power imply that it was still unbroken. Nah_1:12; Nah_2:8; Nah_2:13; Nah_3:16-17.
It is most probable that Nahum flourished, in the latter half of the return of Hezekiah, and wrote his prophecy, either in Jerusalem or its neighborhood. The subject of the prophecy is, in accordance with the superscription, "the burden of Nineveh," the destruction of which he predicts. As a poet, Nahum occupies a high place in the first rank of Hebrew literature. His style is clear and uninvolved, though pregnant and forcible; his diction sonorous and rhythmical, the words re-echoing to the sense. Compare Nah_2:4; Nah_3:3.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

is supposed to have been a native of Elcosh or Elcosha, a village in Galilee, and to have been of the tribe of Simeon. There is great uncertainty about the exact period in which he lived; but it is generally allowed that he delivered his predictions between the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and probably about B.C. 715. They relate solely to the destruction of Nineveh by the Babylonians and Medes, and are introduced by an animated display of the attributes of God. Of all the minor prophets, says Bishop Lowth, none seems to equal Nahum in sublimity, ardour, and boldness. His prophecy forms an entire and regular poem. The exordium is magnificent and truly August. The preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of that destruction, are expressed in the most glowing colours; and at the same time the prophet writes with a perspicuity and elegance which have a just claim to our highest admiration.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

At the time of Nahum’s prophecy, Assyria had passed the peak of its power and was heading for inevitable conquest by the rising power of Babylon. Nahum, as God’s spokesman, announced a fitting judgment on Assyria, enlivening his message with graphic descriptions of the destruction of Assyria’s capital, Nineveh.
Background to the book
About one hundred years previously, Assyria had conquered the northern kingdom Israel and taken its people into captivity (722 BC; 2Ki_17:6). It then applied pressure to the southern kingdom Judah. Through the reign of one Judean king after another, tension and conflict existed between Judah and Assyria (2Ki_16:7-20; 2Ki_18:7-37; 2 Kings 19; 2Ch_28:20-21; 2Ch_30:6; 2Ch_33:11).
By the time Josiah became king of Judah (640 BC), Assyria had weakened sufficiently for Josiah to carry out extensive political and religious reforms in Judah. Nahum was most likely one of those prophets who began to preach in Judah during the revival of prophetic activity that occurred during Josiah’s reign.
Most nations of the region had at some time suffered from the brutality of Assyria (Nah_3:19). Nahum, who had been deeply stirred over Assyria’s injustice and cruelty, had a feeling of satisfaction that at last a fitting divine judgment was to fall upon the ruthless oppressor (Nah_2:10; Nah_2:13; Nah_3:5-7; Nah_3:19). Nineveh was conquered by the armies of Babylon in 612 BC.
Summary of the book
Nahum opens his book with striking word-pictures showing that God takes vengeance on those who fight against him, though he protects those who trust in him (1:1-15). The prophet then describes the coming attack on Nineveh (2:1-9), which is to be punished because of the fierce cruelty with which it destroyed its victims (2:10-13). A third poem gives a further description of Nineveh’s overthrow. The reason given this time is the nation’s unrestrained greed for wealth and power (3:1-19).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

nā?hum (Ναούμ, Naoúm; the King James Version Naum): An ancestor of Jesus in Luke's genealogy, the 9th before Joseph, the husband of Mary Luk_3:25.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Nahum (consolation), the seventh of the Minor Prophets, according to the arrangement of both the Greek and Hebrew, but the sixth in point of date, was a native of Elkosh, a village of Galilee. He prophesied in Judah after the deportation of the ten tribes, and soon after the unsuccessful eruption of Sennacherib (Nah_1:11-13; Nah_2:1; Nah_2:13), consequently towards the close of the reign of Hezekiah. Attempts have been made to fix the date with precision, from the allusion to the destruction of No-Ammon or Thebes in Egypt (Nah_3:8); but as it is uncertain when this event took place, Eichhorn and others have conjectured that it was near the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, or about B.C. 720, as about this time Sargon, king of Assyria, waged an unsuccessful war for three years against Egypt (Isaiah 20).
The contents of the prophecy of Nahum are as follows:?Nah_1:2-7. The destruction of Nineveh and of the Assyrian monarchy is depicted in the liveliest colors, together with the relief of Judah from oppression. The destruction of Nineveh is detailed with still greater particularity in Nahum 3; which has induced some to suppose that the prophet refers to two different events?the sack of Nineveh by the Medes, B.C. 867, in the reign of Sardanapalus, and its second and final destruction, under Chyniladan, by Cyaxares the First and Nabopolassar, B.C. 625. But this opinion has been satisfactorily refuted by Jahn and De Wette.
The beauty of the style of Nahum has been universally felt. It is classic, observes De Wette, in all respects. It is marked by clearness, by its finished elegance, as well as by fire, richness, and originality. The rhythm is regular and lively. The whole book remarkably coherent, and the author only holds his breath, as it were, in Nahum 3. Jahn observes that the language is pure, with a single exception; that the style is ornate, and the tropes bold and elegant (rendering it, however, necessary for the reader to supply some omissions; see Nah_2:8; Nah_3:3; Nah_3:16); and that the descriptions of the divine omnipotence, and of the destruction of Nineveh, are resplendent with all the perfection of oratory.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Nahum
(Heb. Nachumn, נִחוּם, consolation; a name likewise found as נחםin the Phoenician inscriptions, [Gesenius, Monun. Pheen. pages 134, 137]; and in the form Νάουμος in a Greek inscription given by Bockh, Coap. Inscr. 4:3; Sept. Ναούμ; comp. Luk_3:25), the seventh of the minor prophets, according to the arrangement of both the Hebrew and Greek. (In this and the following article we give a copious exposition of all the topics of interest relating to the whole subject). Of the author himself we have no more knowledge than is afforded us by the scanty title of his book, "the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite," which gives no indication whatever of his date, and leaves his origin obscure. The site of Elkosk, his native place, is disputed, some placing it in Galilee, with Jerome, who was shown the ruins by his guide (Prcem. in Nah.); so Cyril (ad loc.). Capernaum, literally "village of Nahum," is supposed to have derived its name from the prophet. Schwarz (Descr. of Pal. page 188) mentions a Kefar Tanchum, or Nachum, close on Chinnereth, and two and a half English miles north of Tiberias. "They point out there the graves of Nahum the prophet, of rabbis Tanchum and Tanchuma, who all repose there, and through these the ancient position of the village is easily known." Others (after Assemani, Bibl. Orient. 1:525; 3:352) locate Nahum's birthplace in Assyria, where the tomb of the prophet is still visited as a sacred spot by Jews from all parts. Benjamin of Tudela (page 53 Heb. text, ed. Asher) thus briefly alludes to it: "And in the city of Asshur (Mosul) is the synagogue of Obadiah, and the synagogue of Jonah the son of Amittai, and the synagogue of Nahum the Elkoshite." SEE ELKOSH.
Mr. Layard, who visited the place, says (Nineveh, 1:197), "It is held in great reverence by Mohammedans and Christians, but especially by Jews, who keep the building — a modern one — in repair. The tomb is a simple plaster box, covered with green cloth, and standing at the upper end of a large chamber. There are no inscriptions nor fragments of any antiquity about the place; and I am not aware in what the tradition originated, nor how long it has attached to the village of Alkosh." Gesenius regards both the above locations of Elkosh as very doubtful (Thesaurus, s.v.). Those who maintain the latter site assume that the prophet's parents were carried into captivity by Tiglath-pileser, and planted, with other exile colonists, in the province of Assyria, the modern Kurdistan, and that the prophet was born at the village of Alkush, on the east bank of the Tigris, a few miles north of Mosul. (So Eichhorn, Einl. 4:390; Ritter, Erdk. 9:742; and others.) Ewald is of opinion that the prophecy was written there at a time when Nineveh was threatened from without. Against this it may be urged that it does not appear that the exiles were carried into the province of Assyria proper, but into the newly-conquered districts, suchl as Mesopotamia, Babylonia, or Media. The arguments in favor of an Assyrian locality for the prophet are supported by the occurrence. of what are presumed to be Assyrian words: הֻצִּב, 2:8; טִפְסְרִיַךְ מַנְּזָיִיַךְ, 17; and the strange form מִלְאָכֵכֵה in Nahum 2:14, which is supposed to indicate a foreign influence. In addition to this is the interrial evidence supplied by the vivid description of Nineveh, of whose splendors it is contended Nahum must have been an eye-witness; but Hitzig justly observes that these descriptions display merely a lively imagination, and such knowledge of a renowned city as might be possessed by any one in Anterior Asia. The Assyrian warriors were no strangers in Palestine, and that there was sufficient intercourse between the two countries is rendered probable by the history of the prophet Jonah. There is nothing in the prophecy of Nahum to indicate that it was written in the immediate neighborhood of Nineveh, and in filll view of the scenes which are depicted, nor is the language that of an exile in an: enemy's country. No allusion is made to the captivity; while, on the other hand, the imagery is such as would be natural to an inhabitant of Palestine (Nah_1:4), to whom the rich pastures of Bashan, the vineyards of Carmel, and the blossoms of Lebanon were emblems of all that was luxuriant and fertile. The language employed in Nah_1:15 and Nah_2:2 is appropriate to one who wrote for his countrymen in their native land. In fact, the sole origin of the theory that Nahum flourished in Assyria is the name of the village Alkush, which contains his supposed tomb, and from its similarity to Elkosh was apparently selected by mediaeval tradition as a shrine for pilgrims, with as little probability to recommend it as exists in the case of Obadiah and Jephthah, whose burial- places are still shown in the same neighborhood. This supposition is more reasonable than another which has been adopted in order to account for the existence of Nahum's tomb at a place the name of which so closely resembles that of his native town. Alkush, it is suggested, was founded by the Israelitish exiles, and so named by them in memory of Elkosh in their own country. Tradition, as usual, has usurped the province of history. According to pseudo-Epiphanius (De Vitis Proph. in Opp. 2:247), Nahum was of the tribe of Simeon, "from Elaesei, beyond the Jordan, at Begabar (Βηγαβάρ; Chron. Pasch. 150 B. Βηταβαρή)," or Bethabara, where he died in peace and was buried. In the Roman Martyrology the 1st of December is consecrated to his memory. For the period in which he lived, see the discussion below as to the date of his writing.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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