NAHUM

Nahum of Elkosh, the author of this short book, is an otherwise completely unknown prophet. The only thing know about his life is what can be gleaned from the prophecy that he spoke and wrote.
Nahum wrote around 640-628 BC to Judah, at a time when the Empire of Assyria was vast, powerful, oppressive and an ever-looming threat. Assyria was infamous for its cruelty in warfare, its oppressive policies of forced mixing up and re-settlement of conquered peoples, its debilitating tribute demands and its imposition of Ashur worship, Assyria’s main god.
A little bit over a hundred years ago a very unwilling Jonah had issued a challenge to repent to Nineveh, Assyria’s capital. To his utter surprise they repented and judgment was delayed. But those days of humility are long gone and for about a hundred years (since 750 BC) Assyria has been a cruelly oppressive empire. None of the many conquered vassal nations have been able to mount a successful challenge to its rule. Assyria totally destroys and exiles Syria in 732 BC and Israel in 722 BC. Judah escapes only narrowly due to a humble king, Hezekiah, who cries out to God and is rewarded with a powerful intervention of God.
Nahum in his incredibly bold prophecy predicts the total destruction of Assyria, and its capital Nineveh, which was considered a completely impregnable fortress. The city wall was a hundred feet high, almost eight miles long, fortified by high towers and fifteen gates. It was so wide that three chariots could ride abreast on top of it. It was surrounded by a moat one hundred and fifty feet wide and sixty feet deep, and another four moats and five walls further out. The depth of the siege works were seven hundred meters all around.
Nahum’s audacity in declaring the complete destruction of the capital of a vast and unchallenged empire is stunning. He is boldly declaring the ‘unthinkable’. To make the unthinkable more thinkable he uses visualization: vivid, detailed and dramatized descriptions of the future siege and conquest of the great Nineveh. In short, dramatic sentences he describes the approaching cavalry, the siege, the frantic brick making to strengthen the walls, the breach of the fortifications, the massacre before the gates, the people deserting the city, the captives being led away. He uses a surprising amount of water based metaphors: ”Nineveh is like a pool… the river gates are opened… rushing flood”, which turn out to not only be dramatic, but accurate predictions: When the Babylonian, Median and Scythian armies besiege Nineveh in 612 BC, they are aided by heavy rains, that causes the river to flood part of the city, softening the fortifications and breaching the walls in record time.
Nahum also uses many fire based metaphors: ”His wrath is poured out like fire… they are consumed like dry straw… I will bur your chariots in smoke… first has devoured the bars of your gates”. The destruction of Nineveh was so extensive that for two and a half millennia nobody knew any more where its ruins were. Excavations of Nineveh started in the 19th century AD revealed charred wood, charcoal and extensive traces of ashes, confirming the accuracy of Nahum’s prediction and fire metaphors.
It is likely that Nahum’s prediction of doom was never ever heard in Nineveh, unlike Jonah’s before. Rather Nahum addresses Judah, who – like many others – has cruelly suffered under Assyria. Nahum anchors his prophecy in a description of God’s character: God does see, he cares about the injustice, he will not let evil continue forever. He is just, he will avenge, he will judge the oppressor. He is powerful to do so, sovereign over history.
God declares Assyria’s coming destruction, which spells good news to the surrounding nations: ”Look! On the mountains the feet of one who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace!” (Nah 1:15). This verse describes the moment the news of the fall of Nineveh will reach people, causing great relief. Paul picks up this verse in Rom 10:15 referring to the good news spreading because oppressive evil has been ultimately defeated through Jesus on the cross.

The Author
Nahum of Elkosh, the author of this short book, is an otherwise completely unknown prophet. There is no other Nahum mentioned in the Old Testament, except one in later years in the geneaology of Jesus (Luk 2:35). Also the home town of Elkosh is otherwise unknown.

The historical setting
Nahum writes a bold prophecy of the coming destruction of Assyrian empire and its capital Nineveh. A little bit over a hundred years before Nahum’s time a very unwilling Jonah had issued a challenge to repent to this same Nineveh. To Jonah’s utter surprise they repented and judgment was delayed.
But those days of humility are long gone and for about a hundred years (since 750 BC) Assyria has been a cruelly oppressive empire. None of the many conquered vassal nations have been able to mount a successful challenge to its rule. Assyria totally destroys and exiles Syria in 732 BC and Israel in 722 BC. Judah escapes only narrowly due to a humble king, Hezekiah, who cries out to God and is rewarded with a powerful intervention by God.
After King Hezekiah Judah descends into horrifying idolatry and great societal injustice under the evil kings Manasseh and Amon (686-640 BC). But since then a godly young king has been ruling Judah, Josiah, who has worked hard to reverse the damage done. Nahum writes around 640-628 BC to Judah, during Josiah’s time, when Judah has recovered spiritually to a degree. But the vast, powerful and oppressive empire of Assyria is an ever-looming threat on the horizon.

Assyria
Assyria was infamous for its cruelty in warfare: burning cities, skinning prisoners alive, cutting off hands, feet, noses, ears, putting out eyes, pulling out tongues and piling up skulls outside the gates of conquered cities to demoralize people was considered normal warfare. Nahum fittingly ends his book asking: ”For who has ever escaped your endless cruelties?” (Nah 3:19).
Assyria was also infamous for its treatment of conquered nations: forceful mixing up of peoples and re-settlement in different lands to disorientate and discourage racial identity, unity or action.
Assyria demanded debilitating tribute and used uncounted enslaved people to build their many fortresses and palaces.
Assyria also demanded cultural and religious submission: it imposed the worship of Ashur, Assyria’s main god, on all conquered peoples and demanded the children to be taught Ashur worship throughout the empire.

The Assyrian empire has had a hundred year series of powerful, conquering kings:
• Tiglath Pileser III 745-727 BC mentioned in 2 Kin 15:19. Conquers and exiles Syria in 732 BC
• Shalmanever V 727-722 BC referred to in 2 Kin 17:3-5, 18:9-10. Besieges Samaria 725-722 BC
• Sargon II 722-705 BC referred to in 2 Kin 17:3-5,18:9-10. Conquers, exiles Israel in 722 BC
• Sennacherib 705-681 BC referred to in 2 Kin 18:13-19:37. Almost defeats Judah in 701 BC.
• Esar-Haddon 681-669 BC Temporarily exiles Manasseh. Takes tribute. Defeats rebelling Egypt
• Ashurbanipal 669-627 BC Tribute from twenty-two kings. Defeats rebelling Babylon.

Assyria’s capital Nineveh was considered an impregnable fortress. The city walls of Nineveh were a hundred feet high, almost eight miles long, fortified by high towers and fifteen gates. It was so wide that three chariots could ride abreast on top of it. It was surrounded by a moat one hundred and fifty feet wide and sixty feet deep, and another four moats and five walls further out. The depth of the siege works were seven hundred meters all around. Inside the fortifications were the many palaces and temples of the Assyrian kings and space for a large population.

Nahum’s bold message

Nahum in his incredibly bold prophecy predicts the total destruction of Assyria, and its capital Nineveh – at a time when none of the many conquered vessel states have ever been able to mount a serious challenge to Assyrian rule.
Nahum’s audacity in declaring the complete destruction of the capital of a vast and unchallenged empire is stunning. He is boldly declaring the ‘unthinkable’. To make the unthinkable more thinkable he uses visualization: vivid, detailed and dramatized descriptions of the future siege and conquest of great Nineveh. In short, dramatic sentences he describes the approaching cavalry, the siege, the frantic brick making to strengthen the walls, the breach of the fortifications, the massacre before the gates, the people deserting the city, the captives being led away. Here is a sample:
”The shields of the warriors are red; his soldiers are clothed in crimson. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day when he musters them; the chargers prance. The chariots race madly through the streets… Halt! Halt! – But no one turns back. ‘Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of treasure! And abundance of every precious thing!’ Devastation, desolation and destruction! Hearts faint and knees tremble, all loins quake, all faces grow pale!… Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts; trample the clay, tread the mortar, take hold of the brick mold! There the fire will devour you, the sword will cut you off. I will devour you like the locust” (Nah 2:3-10, 3:14-15).

Historic Fulfillment of the prophecy

Nahum’s description of the destruction of Nineveh is not only a dramatic visualization, it is a true prophecy fulfilled in history. In 612 BC a coalition of Babylonians (under Nabopolassar), Medes (under Cyaxares) and Scythians attack the city of Nineveh. Nineveh was thought to easily withstand a twenty year siege because of its vast fortifications and its abundant water supply (the River Khosr running through it). But the coalition of forces conquered it after only three months of siege. How was this possible?
It is interesting that Nahum uses a surprising amount of water based metaphors: “Nineveh is like a pool… the river gates are opened… rushing flood”. This fulfilled in 612 BC, when the besieging coalition was aided by heavy rains, that caused the river to flood part of the city, softening the brick fortifications and eventually breaching the wall. Nahum had predicted this with an interesting metaphor: “All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs – if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater” (Nah 3:12).
Nahum also uses many fire based metaphors: ”His wrath is poured out like fire… they are consumed like dry straw… I will burn your chariots in smoke… first has devoured the bars of your gates” (Nah 1:6, 3:13,15).
The destruction of Nineveh was so extensive that only some mounds remained and for two and a half millennia nobody knew any more where its ruins were. For many years Biblical Nineveh, and with it Jonah and Nahum were considered a myth, till it was discovered in 1820 AD and then excavated. Excavations revealed charred wood, charcoal and extensive traces of ashes, confirming the accuracy of Nahum’s predictions.

The God of justice and mercy

It is likely that Nahum’s prediction of doom was never ever heard in Nineveh, unlike Jonah’s before. Rather Nahum addresses Judah, who – like many others – has cruelly suffered under Assyria. To Judah Assyria is the fearful symbol of violence, deportation, oppression, tribute and corruption. Assyria is evil – and unaddressed, unchallenged, un-judged – with no sign of change on the horizon. Assyria does whatever it wants to whomever it wants, and seems to get away with it every time. Powerlessness at entrenched evil, unchallenged injustice with no hope of change – all humans knows this feeling.
This is what Nahum addresses in his readers. And this is why he starts his book as he does: Nahum anchors his prophecy in a description of God’s character (chapter 1): God does see, he cares about the injustice, he will not let evil continue forever. He is just, he will avenge, he will judge the oppressor. He is powerful to do so, sovereign over history: ”God is slow to anger but great in power, by no means clearing the guilty… Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and by him the rocks are broken in pieces… God is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, he protects those who take refuge in him, even in a rushing flood” (Nah 1:3, 6, 7). Nahum depicts God as Almighty, sovereign over the nations, but not cruel, violent or arbitrary as the Assyrian gods. He is principled, committed to justice, powerful to save: ”Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. And now I will break off his yoke from you and snap the bonds that bind you” (Nah 1:12b-13).
And this God of justice and mercy has declared Assyria’s coming destruction, a thought as yet unthinkable and unbelievable. Again Nahum dramatizes, he describes the moment when the news of the fall of Nineveh will reach people, causing great relief: ”Look! On the mountains the feet of one who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace!” (Nah 1:15). The overthrow of a fearful oppressor is good news. Nahum then encourages Judah to remain faithful: ”Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, fulfill your vows” the needed corollary to God’s deliverance.
The verse about the good tidings is picked up by Paul and quoted in Rom 10:15. Paul shows a greater fulfillment yet: God will not only deal with an evil empire, he will deal with evil itself. And when the news of the ultimate defeat of evil will spread, it will be good news to the peoples, indeed. Jesus has defeated evil on the cross, the good news (gospel) about him are spreading and bringing relief, peace and hope to all who hear it.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Who wrote?

• Nah 1:1    ‘The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh’ … probably written by himself.
• No other Nahum mentioned in the entire Bible other than one in the genealogy of Jesus in Luk 3:25, covering the 400 silent years. Nahum is His name means “comfort” or “consolation”, which does fit his message.
• Nah 1:1   His home town was Elkosh, of unknown location, probably in Judah (Israel is gone by that time).
• Some think Elkosh was later called Capernaum, which means “village of Nahum”, but this has no OT reference, it’s not Judah and seems to not have been linked in people’s minds in NT times (for it would contradict the comment of ‘no prophet from Galilee’).

When written?

• Nah 3:8-10 describes a historic event, the fall of Thebes in Egypt in past tense, as an example of a widely known destruction (by Assyria on Egypt here). Thebes was destroyed by Ashurbanipal in 663 BC, so the prophecy is likely after 663 BC.
• Nahum predicts the fall of Nineveh as a future event, which happened in 612 BC, so written before 612 BC.
• By 628 BC the Scythians (Col 3:11) start raiding and weakening Assyria, also Ashurbanipal, the last really strong Assyrian king dies in 627 BC. But in Nahum Assyria is still an unchallenged threat, so probably written before 628 BC.
• Thebes starts regaining strength by 654 BC, but Nah 3:8 sounds like Thebes is gone, so before 654 BC?
• Nahum speaks no word of judgement or condemnation to Judah, but only words of encouragement (Nah 1:12-15). This probably means that Nahum prophesied during or after the reforms of King Josiah (640-609 BC).
• Therefore the range typically given for Nahum is 640-628 BC (?)

Written to whom?

• Nineveh Like Jonah Nahum is generally addressing Nineveh, issues no call to repent. Jonah also didn’t mention a repentance option (so far we know) and still they repented and God extended mercy. Is this a last repentance option? Maybe, but there is no mention of Nahum going to Nineveh.
• It is thinkable that he addressed an Assyrian envoy as Jeremiah in Jer 27:1 but no proof and also it is doubtful such a message would have reached the normal people.
• Judah More likely Nahum writes to Judah. In Nah 1:12-15 he addresses Judah directly, but generally. The assurance of Nineveh’s fall and Assyria’s loss of power would be something oppressed Judah would be comforted by.
• It could also be an indirect challenge, for the sins that brought Nineveh down can also bring Judah down.

Written from where?

• unknown, probably Judah, maybe Elkosh, wherever that is.

Historical background

Judah

• King Manasseh 686 (695) to 642 BC: evil reintroduced of strengthened, severe idolatry of any kind (Baal, Asherah, host of heaven, burnt son, sooth saying, setting up altars in the temple, much bloodshed (2 Kin 21:16) > God announces the destruction of Judah. Manasseh is actually deported by Assyria, repents, starts some reforms (2 Chr 33:10-17).
• King Amon 642-640 BC: evil, no repentance.
• King Josiah 640-609 BC: good, starts reforms, cleanses the temple, responds to found book of the law, cleanses Judah and even parts of Israel from idolatry, to do this needs to interfere with Assyria governed land > regaining strength against Assyria.

Assyria

• still the superpower under its last strong king Ashurbanipal 669-639 BC.

Religious background

Assyria

• Jona’s repentance faded, now judgment re-announced, repentance option? do they hear Nahum’s prophecy?
• Sins mentioned are Assyria’s endless cruelty (Nah 3:19), Niniveh is called the city of bloodshed (Nah 3:1), harlotry and sorcery (Nah 3:4, referring to political alliances or to idolatry), pride, self-sufficiency, trusting in strongholds (Nah 3:8-9).

Judah

• King Manasseh, Amon: Judah sinks deeper into idolatry, lawlessness, innocent bloodshed, evil practices than ever before
• Josiah’s reforms help, but do not seem to lastingly impact the nation, shift towards religiosity rather than deep-hearted repentance (see Jeremiah)
• false trust in coalitions, political negotiations (with Egypt mostly)

Contemporary prophets

• His contemporaries were Habakkuk, Zephaniah and young Jeremiah.

Literary form

• all poetry (> figurative) except Nah 1:1. Chapter one has (somewhat) the form of an acrostic poem, some call it a psalm, some think it written separately.

Structure

• prophesy (announcement of judgment, reasons for judgment, respite for Judah)

Composition

• Nah 1:2-10 is an acrostic poem (though the alphabetic order has lapses).
• dramatic questions (Nah 1:6, 1:9, 2:11, 3:8, 3:19), commands (Nah 3:14) and statements (Nah 3:1-3).
• Best Hebrew in all of the OT (source? Catholic Encylopedia, Kaulen agree). Calvin’s Commentary: ‘sublimity, vehemence and boldness of Nahum is unparalleled, his prophecy is a complete and finished poem, his exordium (introduction) is majestic, indeed magnificent. The destruction, the ruin and the greatness of Nineveh are in descriptions of most vivid color.’

Main Ideas

• God announces complete destruction of the proud capital of powerful Assyria: Nineveh
• Reasons for judgement: unending cruelty, bloodshed, idolatry, sorcery, oppression of peoples
• God’s power and control over superpowers and history
• Comfort & relief to Judah that the oppressing Assyria will soon be judged

Main Reasons

• to announce to Assyria the judgment decreed, maybe a last call or chance to repent (?)
• to comfort and assure Judah of the soon destruction of the oppressor
• to reveal God as the God of power / control over history & superpowers
• to warn Judah: if you do as Assyria did, the same fate will come to you

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO ASSYRIA & NINEVEH

History of Assyria

Religion of Assyria

• Ashur was the principal deity and also the patron of the city of Ashur.
• Ishtar / Astarte was the goddess of war, night, love, sex. She was the patron of the city of Niniveh
• Marduk was the sun god, the patron of city of Babylon.
• Assyria developed a distinct culture (cuneiform script, libraries, palaces, wall reliefs)

Nature of the Assyrian empire – endless cruelties (Nah 3:19)

• Military oppression        known for unbelievable cruelty in warfare, deported, resettled and deliberately mixed up peoples
• Religious oppression     all tribute payers must submit to Ashur (national god), children must be taught to worship Ashur
• Economic oppression     exacted tribute, exacted slave labor
• Assyrians were aggressive, war loving, known for unbelievable cruelty in warfare, knows to burn cites, skin prisoners alive, cut off hands, feet, noses, ears, put out eyes and pull out tongues. They would mound up human skulls outside their gates as a demonstration to the people.
• Assyrian reliefs depict kings and queens banqueting, music playing in gardens decorated with severed human heads.
• Quote from Asshurbanipal (883-859 BC) “I stormed the mountain peaks, and took them. In the midst of the mighty mountain I slaughtered them. with their blood I dyed the mountains red like wool. I carried off, and I formed them into a pillar over against their city, their young men and their maidens I burned with fire.”
• Assyria was most likely the first empire to force-resettle entire people groups, deliberately mixing up peoples, thinking that deportations causes captives to be submissive through disorientation, reduction of identity and unity.
• Assyria conquered nations and demanded tribute: The nation must submit to Ashur, the national god of Assyria. Children must be taught about Ashur. Vassal subjects have to render political and religious allegiance to Assyria.
• Assyria’s commerce had deliberately corrupted the surrounding nations to provide the luxuries of the city. Morality and honesty counted for nothing, everything was secondary to the acquisition of wealth and pleasure (Nah 3:1-4).

The City of Nineveh

• In Assyrian Nineveh is called Ninua. Nine was the name of a fish. Ishtar, a Ninivite godess had as her symbol a fish.
• Nineveh’s gods: Ashur, Ishtar, Nabu (god of writing, arts, sciences)
• Nineveh was the capital city and largest city of the Assyrian Empire
• Located on the Eastern shore of the Tigris, where the tributary River Chausar (Kosr) enters the Tigris.
• Jon 3:3 calls Nineveh “an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across”. Is this an overstatement? How did Nineveh look?
• Ancient city is now two tells (hills with ruins): Kujundshik (magnificent Sennaherib palace, huge Asurbanipal library) and Nebi Younus (named after Jonah, palace of Eshar-haddon). See map on the right, yellow areas.
• Northeast lies another tell: Khorshbad (or Dur-Sarrukin) with the palace of another Assyrian King (xxx II).
• South is a location called Salamije, the probable site of ancient Resen
• Further south is a location called Nimrud, the old Kalah with palaces of Assurnasirpal II, Salmanezer III, Sargon II, Adad-nirari III and Eshar-haddon.
• Jon 3:3 must be referring not only to the actual city (Kujundshik, Nebi Younus), but also the entire area, wich was found framed by walls and tower, including all these different localities and palace sites.
• It is also probable that to the North the peripheral Rehobot-Ir (in Assyrian: Rebit-Ninua) on the Western bank of the River Tigris (where today’s Mosul is) should be counted into Nineveh as well. In this sense Rehobot-Ir, Resen und Kelach together with the center are called ‘the great city’.
• The city owes its most magnificent buildings to Sennaherib (705-681 BC) and Eshar-haddon (681-669 BC). Around Sennacherib’s palace were parks and animal parks, horse stalls and farms, storage and administrative buildings.
• A water conducting system brought water from the hills in the East to the city. Sennacherib built a dam to control the flooding of the Khoser River.
• The city wall had 15 main gates (5 have been excavated), each guarded by colosses of stone bulls. Nineveh had a city wall almost 8 miles long, encircling an area that is sufficient to house a population of 120’000 (greater Nineveh).
• Nineveh was the mightiest city on earth, walls 100 feet high, wide enough to accommodate three chariots riding parallel upon it. The walls were fortified with towers rising high above the wall
• The walls were surrounded by a moat 150 feet wide and 60 feet deep, and another 4 moats and 5 walls further out. The depth of the siege works were around 700 meters all around.
  • Nineveh appeared impregnable and could withstand a 20 year siege. To these proud, powerful and thriving Nineveh, that had grown rich with the loot of nations and profits from extensive trade, Nahum and Zephaniah prophesied doom.

Destruction of Nineveh

• 612 BC Nineveh was conquered by the Medes (King Cyaxares) and Babylon (King Nabopolassar) and Scythians after an only 3 month siege
• They were helped by a sudden flood of the Tigris river, which softened up a part of the city’s walls and bulwarks made from bricks an destroyed them.
• An extensive fire destroyed whatever might have been left after the plundering of the Medes and the Babylonians.
• The destruction was so complete that it was not recognized by passing Greeks (inquiring of locals about the hill which contained Nineveh’s ruins) in 401 BC.
• Until 1820 AD the Assyrian empire and Nineveh was considered to be a myth, then it was found and excavations began.

Nahum’s prophecy and how it is fulfilled in history

• Nah 2:11, 12 “What became of the lion’s den, the cave of the young lions, where the lion goes, and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them? The lion has torn sought for his whelps and strangled prey for his lionesses, he has filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh”‘ > Metaphor of lions for Assyria
• Archeology: The lion was an Assyrian symbol. The gates had huge stone lions guarding them.
• Nah 3:12-13 “All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs – if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. Look at your troops, they are women in your midst, The gates of your land are wide open to your foes; fire has devoured the bars of your gates.” > Defenses or fortresses surrounding the city will collapse and be easily captured.
• Nah 3:14 “Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts; trample the clay, tread the mortar, take hold of the brick mold!” > desperate building activities against the siege to prevent a breach.
• Archeology: According to Babylonian chronicles the fortified towns around Nineveh began to fall in 614 BC. Archaeologists report that to the South of the gate, the moat was filled with fragments of stone and mud bricks from the walls, heaped up before breached (Nah 3:14). The city gates would be destroyed (Nah 3:13). Archaeologists report that the main attack was directed from the NW onto the Hatamti Gate at this corner. Within that gate were traces of the counter-wall raised by the inhabitants.
• Nah 1:10, 3:11 “Like thorns they are entangled, like drunkards they are drunk’ …’ You also will be drunken, you will go into hiding” > In the final hours of the attack, the Ninevites would be drunk
• Archeology Siculus (20 BC) wrote that the Assyrian king distributed meats and liberal supplies of wine and provisions to his soldiers. While the army was carousing, the friends of Arbakes learned from some deserters of the slackness and drunkenness in the enemy camp and made an unexpected attack by night.
• Nah 1:8, 2:6, 2:8 “even in a rushing flood’…’The river gates are opened, the palace trembles’ … ‘Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away”. Nahum thus uses an abundance of water metaphors, even in the comparison to Thebes, which also fell: “Thebes sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, water her wall” (Nah 3:8). > Nineveh will be breached and destroyed by water.
• Archeology Nineveh was almost impregnable. It was a huge complex of cities covering 30 miles, protected by 5 walls and 3 canals. The walls stood 100 feet high, and broad enough for 3 chariots to drive abreast on top of them. The circumference was 60 miles and there were more than 1,200 towers. It has 15 huge gates. But during the siege by the Babylonian armies, heavy rains caused the river to flood part of the city and a vital part of the city wall was carried away. Terrifying thunder was associated with the city’s capture. This breach allowed the armies of King Nabopolassar of Babylon to take the city.
• Nah 1:6,10, 2:13, 3:15 “His wrath is poured out like fire … Like thorns they are entangled, … they are consumed like dry straw’ …’I will burn your chariots in smoke’ … ‘fire has devoured the bars of your gates’ … ‘There the fire will devour you” … Nahum thus uses an abundance of fire metaphors. > Nineveh will be destroyed by fire.
• Archeology: Excavations have revealed charred wood, charcoal and extensive traces of ashes.
• Nah 2:2 “The shields of his warriors are read; his soldiers are clothes in crimson.”
• Archeology Soldiers of Media (who attacked together with Babylonians and Scythians) wore red
• Nah 3:2-3 “The crack of whip and rumble of wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, piles of dead, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end – they stumble over the bodies!” > People would be massacred at the capture.
• Archeology Diodorus wrote: “In 2 battles fought on the plain before the city, the rebels defeated the Assyrians. So great was the multitude of the slain that the flowing stream, mingled with their blood, changed its colour for a considerable distance”.
• Nah 2:9-10 “Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end to treasure! An abundance of every precious thing!’ Devastation, desolation and destruction!” > Plundering and pillaging.
• Archeology From the Babylonian chronicle, Great quantities of spoil from the city, beyond counting, were carried off. The city was turned into a mound and a ruin heap.
• Nah 2:8 ”Halt! Halt!’ but no one turns back” > At the time of capture, people would try to escape.
• Archeology Diodorus wrote that Sardanapalus sent away his 3 sons and 2 daughters with much treasure into Paphlagonia.
• Nah 2:7 “It is decreed that the city be exiled, its slave women led away, moaning like doves ad beating their breasts” > exiling and deportation.
• Archeology Just as Assyria had exiled their captives, they would be exiled. The queen also was deported.
• Nah 2:10, 3:17 “Hearts faint and knees tremble, all loins quake, all faces grow pale! …’ You increased your merchants, more than the starts of the heavens. The locust sheds its skin and flies away. Your guards are like grasshoppers, your scribes like swarms of locusts settling on the fences on a cold day – when the sun rises they fly away; no one knows where they have gone” > Merchants, officers will desert Nineveh and flee.
• Archeology The Babylonian chronicle writes that the army of Assyria deserted the king. As a economic center with lucrative trade is also hosted many business people, who had no loyalty to the city and fled when trouble showed.
• Nah 1:14 “The Lord has commanded concerning you: ‘Your name shall be perpetuated no longer from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved images and the cast image.” > Images and idols would be destroyed.
• Archeology Archaeologists found the headless statue of the goddess Ishtar in the ruins.
• Nah 1:8, 9,14 ”He will make a full end of his adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. Why do you plot against the LORD? He will make and end; no adversary will rise up twice.” > The destruction will be final.
• Archeology Nineveh was never rebuilt. 200 years later (401 BC) locals were not able to name the hill formed by its ruins when Greeks passed by (and inquired?). Long Nineveh was considered at myth, till is was found in 1820 AD and excavated in the second half of the 19th century.

Nahum Chapter 1              God the Judge

Mindset of the first hearers or readers

• To the nations Assyria was the fearful symbol of cruelty, deportation, oppression, tribute and corruption.
• As seen in the book of Jonah, to wish Assyria well was an impossible thought in Israel. For Judah a century later Assyria is the one under who they suffered cruelly (701 BC), the devastator of Israel in the North (722 BC) and the constant threat even now (640-628 BC). Assyria is evil – and unaddressed, unchallenged, unjudged – with no sign of change on the horizon. Assyria does whatever it wants to whomever it wants, and seems to get away with it every time. Entrenched evil, unchallenged injustice, and no hope of change – everybody knows this feeling!
• Nahum’s prophecy, a bold denounciation of Assyria, an unthinkable oracle of Assyria’s doom, is ear-shattering – and hard to believe. Nobody can even free a village from Assyria’s clutch, what makes you think their impregnable capital will fall?
• Nahum’s prophecy is audacious, outrageous and impertinent. He comforts Judah (Nahum means comforter), that the oppressor they have so long suffered under, will indeed be torn down and so utterly destroyed, that it will never recover. Justice will be served. The inflictor of endless cruelties will be judged. People will be freed from their yoke.
• He challenges Judah to believe the unbelievable, to trust in the justice of God when nothing seems to speak for that.
• Just a little bit later Zephaniah, also boldly will confirm Nahuma nd say the same (Zeph 2:13) in 632-612 BC: “And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria; and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert.”
• In this sense Nahum has parallels with Revelation, assuring God’s people that injustice will be judged, that evil will not reign with impunity forever.
• No wonder then he first focuses on the character of God, who is just, powerful to judge, committed to truth and intervening for good. Also indirectly he draws a contrast between the justice and mercy of God and the the brutal nature of the Assyrian gods.
• Nah 1:2 “A jealous and avenging God is the LORD, the LORD is avenging and wrathful, the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and rages against his enemies” … He does see. He does care. He will avenge. He is not immutable but compassionate to the victim, cares about the world, and wrathful to the inflictor.
• Nah 1:3  God is slow to anger but great in power, by no means clearing the guilty … not arbitrary, not cruel, not annoyed, not selfish … yet he really is God, he really is just, he is angered by evil, committed to truth, not susceptible to meddling or corruption. Not for cruelty’s sake but because of the guilt of the oppressor, God must punish.
• Nah 1:3b-5 “His way is in whirwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry and he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither, and the bloom of Lebanon fades. The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who live in it” …. God as Creator God, Almighty, everything at his command, sovereign, involved, powerful. It will be partially by sovereingty over nature (a flood of the Tigris) that God will bring Assyria down.
• Nah 1:6 “Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and by him the rocks are broken in pieces” … when injustice and oppression persists, humans always doubt the power of God. Nahum tells us emphatically that that is not the problem.
• Nah 1:7 “God is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, he protects those who take refuge in him, even in a rushing flood” … Assurance or promise of God’s protection in the midst of it all.
• Nah 1:8b-12a “He will make a full end of his adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. Why do you plot against the LORD? He will make and end, no adversary will rise up twice. Like thorns they are entangled, like drunkards they are drunk, they are consumed like dry straw. From you one has gone out who plots evil against the LORD, one who counsels wickedness. ‘Thus says the LORD, ‘Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut off and pass away”… Nahum challenges the arrogance of the evil power in a dramatic way with apostrophe (addressing him). By dramatizing he paints another picture, communicates another reality, challenges the one who hasn’t been challenged. He tops it by an authoritative “thus says the LORD”, a declaration, promise, almost oath.
• Nah 1:14 “The LORD has commanded concerning you: ‘Your name shall be perpetuated no longer; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the cast image. I will make your grave, for you are worthless.” … Apostrophe again. A declaration of doom, God’s revenge on the idols. They are – and Assyria has become – worthless. Assyria has made such decisions as to morph itself into such a thing that is ‘no use’, ‘no worth’, ‘no need’. Therefore it can be desposed of.
• Nah 1:12b-13 “Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. And now I will break off his yoke from you and snap the bonds that bind you” … Now speaking directly to Judah, a warm promise of a soon relief. God s committed to his people, he limits how far evil can go, he brings a change in due time, he is committed to justice and freedom.
• Nah 1:15 “Look! On the mountains the feet of one who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace!” … In context this is another dramatization of Nahum, envisioning the very moment when from far away the news will come that the oppressor is finished off. With NT eyes and ears this has overtones, as it is quoted by Paul in Rom 10:15 to refer to Jesus but more widely to his believers who share the gospel.
• Nah 1:15b “Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, fulfill your vows, for never again shall the wicked invade you; they are utterly cut off” … A repeat assurance, and a challenge to ongoing relationship with God. In the literal sense this doesn’t fulfill (or they don’t fulfill the conditions for it), as Judah is wiped out in 586 BC and 70 AD. But in the spiritual sense it does fulfill: eternal, unshakable salvation.
• Nah 2:1-2 “A shatterer has come up against you (Nineveh) … For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their branches.” … The promised turning of fortunes, a re-exaltation of God’s people.
• But how does this fulfill? First of all it says ‘Jacob’ and ‘Israel’ and in the literal sense the Northern tribes never get restored. If it refers to Judah, and current time, it will be a short lived majesty, for after Josiah things will fall apart rapidly. It could be referring to the return in 539 BC, or propably rather: Messianic.
• Any real revelation, any God-perspective and new thinking starts with the character of God.
• It is God who has used evil Assyria to judge them for their idolatry and unfaithfulness, but ultimately God will judge Assyria as well (Isa 10:5 God uses Assyria as his rod of wrath).
  To be the instrument of judgment is God’s hand doesn’t mean immunity to judgment, rather the opposite: I am just as much accountable.
  God can bring about a change in fortunes, beyond belief. He is powerful to turn things around, to create the ‘Eucatastrophe’ (J.R.R.Tolkien), to redeem beyond imagination.

Nahum Chapter 2                Description of the Judgment on Nineveh

• The judgment of God has come: the combined force of the Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians will conquer and destroy it. Some details of how the prediction fulfilled:
• Nah 2:3               The Medes wore red.
• Nah 2:6,8              The flooding rivers caused a breach in the walls through which the enemies entered the city (Nah 1:8).
• Nah 2:7                Just as they had deported their captives, so their queen was deported.
• Nah 2:10             The destruction was so complete that the site was not recognized by 401 BC. The remains were only rediscovered in 1820 AD.
• Nah 2:11, 12     The lion was an Assyrian symbol. The gates had huge stone lions guarding them.
• Nah 2:13, 3:15   Extensive traces of ash have been found by archeologists.

Nahum Chapter 3            Description of and Reasons for the Judgment on Nineveh

• Nahum chapter 3 is a continued description and dramatization of the destruction of Nineveh, with a greater focus on the ‘why?’ > we are told of the sin of Nineveh; the reason for its total destruction.
• Nah 3:4       Nineveh is the harlot who betrays nations with her countless harlotries (parallel to Rev 17 “the whore Babylon”)
• Nah 3:7, 19 Assyria has no friends who will aid her nor feel regret at her ruin.
• Nah 3:8-10  Thebes was a strong city with other nations coming to her aid when Assyria came against her, yet she fell. So Assyria shall fall, but she shall stand alone in her defense, for no one will come to her aid.
• Nah 3:13     Nineveh is known for her walls, moats, and 15 metal gates.
• Nah 3:14    Sennacherib strengthened Nineveh. It was considered unconquerable. The Ninevites put their trust and security in her strong walls.
• Nah 3:16    Because of the size and strength of Nineveh, there were many merchants in the city, but they were not loyal to the city. Thus when the enemy came, much of the population fled.

What was the sin of Assyria according to Nahum?

• Nah 1:2, 8  They are enemies of God
• Nah 1:3     They are guilty
• Nah 1:7     They haven’t taken refuge in God
• Nah 1:9, 1:11 They have plotted against God
• Nah 1:14    They have carved images, cast images
• Nah 1:14    They are worthless, vile
• Nah 2:2     They are ravagers, plunderers
• Nah 3:1      Nineveh is a city of bloodshed, utterly deceitful, full of booty
• Nah 3:4     Niniveh is full of debaucheries, alluring, enslaving nations through her debaucheries & sorcery
• Nah 3:19   They are guilty of endless cruelty
• We can learn from Assyria how serious it is to sin against God through our actions, our pride, and our not taking heed to His warnings. God brings justice.
• How easy it is at times to forget God when the going gets easy, when we become efficient in something we thought we couldn’t do and at one time desperately depended on God for. When God helps us and we become strong, do we become proud and dependent on ourselves instead of God? We need to heed His warning to repent and not harden ourselves against Him.
• On the other hand: how easy it is to loose faith when evil persists, nothing seems to be addressed.
• God is slow to anger. God is powerful. God does not clear the guilty. God is a refuge for those who trust in him. God is not fooled.
• Great powers can fall apart within 10-20 years! World maps can change. Do not fear that. God sovereignty is not touched, neither his ultimate rule, nor his goodness.