Old Testament · Prophecy · book 34 of 66 · 1 min read
The book of Nahum
The sequel to Jonah, a century later: the same city, no repentance this time, and a book that is unapologetically glad it is going to fall.
“Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.”
At a glance
- Chapters
- 3
- Author
- Nahum of Elkosh
- Written
- Seventh century BC, before Nineveh's fall in 612 BC
- Written for
- People living under Assyrian occupation
- Themes
- empire, judgement, refuge, the fall of Nineveh
What it is about
Nahum announces the destruction of Nineveh, and it is worth reading immediately after Jonah to feel the difference. Jonah's Nineveh repents and is spared; Nahum's has spent another century doing what Assyria did to conquered peoples, and the book celebrates its coming fall in vivid detail.
Modern readers find the tone difficult. It is important to know who is speaking: a subject people under an empire notorious for mass deportation and public atrocity, being told the empire will end.
Between the judgement oracles sits one of the gentlest verses in the prophets, and its placement is the book's argument in miniature.
Where to start
Chapter 1, which holds both halves — the fury and the refuge — in twelve verses.
The chapters worth knowing
- Nahum 1 — The acrostic poem holding both the fury and the line about a stronghold in trouble.
- Nahum 3 — The city's fall described in detail, from the point of view of people it had occupied.
What people get wrong about it
That the book is simple vengeance. It is written from under an occupation, and read that way it is a claim that empires are accountable — which is a different thing from personal revenge.
Questions
How is Nahum related to Jonah?
Both concern Nineveh. Jonah's Nineveh repents and is spared; Nahum, roughly a century later, announces its destruction after another hundred years of Assyrian brutality.
Why is Nahum so violent?
Because it is written by a subject people about the empire occupying them. The genre is oracle against the nations, and the claim it makes is that imperial power is accountable.