Nahum: Introduction and Chapter 1

Introduction
There is no particular good reason for rejecting the rather old traditions which identify Nahum as a prophet of the Northern Kingdom long after the Assyrian Exile. There is an obscure reference to a small village named Elkosh somewhere near the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, and nothing prevented faithful Israelites from communicating with the folks back home in Judah. We know Capernaum means “village of Nahum” and tradition says it was the site of his pre-exile home.
The probable date for this prophecy is around 630 BC, based on internal evidence which places him between Assyria’s conquest of Thebes (663 BC) and the Scythian raids on Nineveh during the 620s. The tone of this prophetic message is vengeance on an ungrateful empire which so quickly forgot Jehovah’s mercy under the prophet Jonah over a century before.
Chapter 1
Nineveh was built entirely on predation, starting with her ancient founder, Nimrod. The worship of predatory warfare symbolizes this ancient city like nothing else, and few since have come anywhere close to this disturbingly violent empire. Because she refused to renounce it for long, despite her usefulness to God in punishing Samaria, she will see her own violent end. That it took God so long to finally punish Nineveh shows the mercy of which Jonah preached, but His power is far beyond the comprehension of anyone among the Assyrians.
God’s wrath is more than sufficient to turn the silent dead dust into storm clouds in the desert, turning the sea into a desert itself, withering all green life even in places which never saw drought in human memory. Mountains collapse and valleys become high ridges, and all human life could be so easily snuffed out. The very fortress for those who cling to moral justice is the same destruction poured out on sin. The massive walls of Nineveh accommodated four chariots abreast, but they were nothing against the Maker of all things. During the final siege of the city, a flash flood in the river actually washed away the gates, leaving her wide open to the armies surrounding her. Her arrogant drunken feast that night became a slaughter.
So while some of the finest strategist minds came from that city, they were evil in God’s eyes. Thus, when she dared to attack Jerusalem, her troops evaporated in death overnight. The Assyrians fled home and never came to Judah again. So complete was the destruction God promised to bring on Nineveh, she was for a time considered a myth, with no one recognizing the site as that of a great city for many centuries. Thus, go and tell the people in Zion! Nahum’s word comes like a messenger over the heights, informing the Judeans they can start celebrating now, because the Assyrian threat is past and can be forgotten like a bad dream.