NAHUM
Nahum Introduction – His name means “compassion,” “consolation,” or “comfort.” Other than this, little is known about him. He probably wrote the Book between 663 and 612 B.C. Its purpose was to announce Nineveh’s fall and thereby comfort the Judean Jews with the assurance that their God was indeed sovereign and just. His vivid and powerful style of poetry probably gets a bit fogged in the English translation. The major theme is that God’s judgment against nations is relentless and therefore they do not get away with evil behaviors.
Nahum 1 – He describes God in several ways: jealous, vengeful, great in power, good, a stronghold during trouble, slow to anger, and will pursue His enemies even into the darkness.
Nahum 2 – God will destroy Nineveh and restore the splendor of His people.
Nahum 3 – More judgments of doom for Nineveh and a graphic description of its fall. Nimrod built Nineveh, so it had a long history of being evil. Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-9), was perhaps the first humanist, i.e., believing that humans had to live and fend for themselves rather than seeking divine assistance. It is believed by scholars that Nimrod headed up the building of the Tower of Babel. Nineveh’s surprising response to Jonah’s mission delayed its destruction. It was the capital of the evil Assyrian empire. Sometimes it was used as a representation of the whole country which was often done regarding other cities of countries by other prophets as well. By Nahum’s time it was huge (a 3-day journey to see it all) and had an estimated 150,000 inhabitants. The Medes and the Babylonians eventually flattened it, and later when Alexander the Great was in the area, he had not even realized he was near its ruins. The city was never rebuilt.
Application for Today: God brings down nations that violently destroy life and desire to dominate people, especially oppressing the poor, or seeking power via occultic means. Even Adolf Hitler was known to seek the occult to help his war efforts. German philosopher Georg Hegel (1770-1831) once said, “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” I’m not sure if Adolf ever saw that one. So goes the nations of today’s world. I hope America is not one of them, but it seems we have more and more people that have no regard for God or have a warped view of Him.