Nahum
The day of the LORD upon Nineveh: the fall of the cruel Assyrian capital and comfort for Judah.
About a century after Nineveh repented at Jonah’s preaching, the city had returned to its violence. Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom, devastated Judah, and made itself proverbial for cruelty. Nahum, whose name means “comfort,” announced that the LORD would make an utter end of Nineveh.
Chapter 1 presents the character of God: jealous and avenging toward His enemies, slow to anger, great in power, and good—“a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him” (1:7). Chapters 2 and 3 describe the siege and sack of Nineveh in vivid, rapid images: chariots raging in the streets, gates of the rivers opened, the palace dissolved, and the city emptied.
Nineveh fell in 612 BC to the Babylonians and Medes and never rose again. For Judah the book was good news: “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!” (1:15).
Writer: Nahum
Written: About 660–654 BC, after the fall of Thebes and before Nineveh fell in 612 BC.
Name: Comfort; consoler
Title and authorship
Nachum means “comfort” or “comforter.” The book is “the burden of Nineveh” and “the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite” (1:1). Capernaum, “village of Nahum,” may preserve his name.
Nahum the Elkoshite wrote the book (1:1). The location of Elkosh is uncertain; suggestions include Galilee and southern Judah.
Historical background
Judah after the fall of Thebes (No-amon) to Assyria in 663 BC (3:8) and before the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC, probably about 660–654 BC in the traditional chronology, during the reign of Manasseh.
Judah, oppressed by Assyria, and Nineveh, warned of its doom.
The fall of Nineveh
In 612 BC a coalition of Babylonians and Medes besieged Nineveh. The ancient historian Diodorus records that a flood of the river breached part of the wall; Nahum had said, “The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved” (2:6), and “with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end” (1:8).
Thebes as a warning
Nahum compares Nineveh to No-amon (Thebes) in Egypt, a city protected by the Nile that Assyria itself had sacked in 663 BC (3:8–10). If Thebes could fall, so could Nineveh.
Forgotten ruins
Nineveh was so completely destroyed that when Xenophon passed its site two centuries later he did not recognize it, and Alexander the Great fought a battle nearby without knowing a great city had stood there. Its ruins were identified only in the nineteenth century.
Key passages
Nahum 1:7
“The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.”
Nahum 1:8
With an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof.
Nahum 3:5–7
“Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts”—Nineveh laid waste, with none to bemoan her.
Nahum 1:7–8
The Lord is a refuge for those who trust him and a judge of his enemies.
Outline
1 · The doom declared
The Lord’s patience, power, goodness, and judgment establish the certainty of Nineveh’s end.
2 · The siege portrayed
The city’s defenses collapse and its wealth is exposed to plunder.
3 · The doom deserved
Violence, deceit, seduction, and false security explain why Nineveh’s fall brings no mourning from its victims.
Original language
נָחוּם (Nachum, H5151) — “Nahum”
From nacham (H5162), to comfort or console. Judgment on the oppressor is comfort to the oppressed.
קַנּוֹא (qanno, H7072) — “jealous”
God is jealous for His own glory and for His people, as a husband is jealous for his wife. His jealousy is the zeal of holy love, not petty envy.
מָעוֹז (maoz, H4581) — “strong hold”
A fortress or place of safety. The same God who is a flood to His enemies is a fortress to those who trust Him (1:7).
Doctrinal study
The patience and wrath of God
“The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked” (1:3). His patience with Nineveh lasted more than a century after Jonah, but it had limits. God’s longsuffering is not indifference; it gives time for repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
Good tidings of peace
Nahum 1:15, echoing Isaiah 52:7, announces the messenger who brings good tidings and publishes peace. Paul applies the words to preachers of the gospel (Romans 10:15).
Judgment matched to sin
Nineveh was a “bloody city... full of lies and robbery” (3:1). It had lived by violence and would die by violence. The woes of chapter 3 describe the exposure of a city that had exposed others.
Commentary notes
Jonah and Nahum
Jonah’s message to Nineveh was repentance, and the city was spared. Nahum’s message was judgment, and the city fell. Together they show God’s mercy and God’s justice toward the same people—and the tragedy of a generation that does not pass on the faith of its fathers.
The Lord’s character in chapter 1
Nahum presents the Lord’s patience (1:1–3), power (1:3–5), presence (1:6–8), purpose (1:9–14), and protection of His people (1:15).
Prophet and patriot
Nahum speaks as a prophet announcing God’s verdict and as a patriot rejoicing in his people’s deliverance. He has no call for Nineveh to repent; the time for that had passed.
Christ in the book
- The bringer of good tidings who publishes peace (1:15)
- The Lord who is a strong hold in the day of trouble (1:7)
Applications
Historical
- Nahum prophesies the destruction of Nineveh at the peak of Assyrian power—a message of hope for Judah.
- Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom and threatened Judah; the prophecy addresses a real imperial power, not a vague symbol of evil.
- The book belongs after the generation of Nineveh that repented under Jonah. Earlier mercy does not make later wickedness harmless.
Doctrinal
- God’s promise to Israel of the final destruction of the great world system at the height of its power over the kings of the earth (Revelation 17–18). Nineveh, like Babylon, is a type of the proud, cruel, idolatrous world city.
- The Lord’s judgment of a violent world power provides a pattern for the final destruction of systems that oppose him and oppress his people.
- Divine patience and divine justice are not opposites: the certainty of judgment follows the repeated refusal of mercy.
Devotional
- God will one day deal with sin and the evil world system. Meanwhile we must invest in the next generation and make disciples who will multiply for generations to come.
- The promised judgment of Nineveh establishes confidence in God’s authority over powerful and persistent evil.
- The difference between the generations addressed by Jonah and Nahum demonstrates the need to preserve truth through continued teaching, repentance, and obedience.
Answering the critics
Few serious criticisms have been raised against Nahum, though some critics have questioned the integrity of the acrostic in chapter 1 or suggested parallels with other ancient writings.
When a document seems to disagree with the Bible, remember the first rule: believe the Book. The fulfillment of Nahum’s detailed prophecies in 612 BC is its own vindication.