Verses 1-19

NAHUM CONSOLATION FOR ISRAEL

Isaiah concludes his work at about the end of Hezekiah’s reign, which synchronizes with the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel by the Assyrians. At this period of perplexity, when the overthrow of Samaria (the capital of Israel) must have suggested to Judah fears for her own safety, when Jerusalem (the capital of Judah) had been drained of its treasure by Hezekiah in the vain hope of turning the fury of the Assyrians from her, and when rumors of the conquest of a part of Egypt by the same great power added still more to the general dismay, Nahum was raised up by Jehovah to reveal His tenderness and power (Nahum 1:1-8), to foretell the subversion of the Assyrians (Nahum 1:9-12), the death of Sennacherib the Assyrian king and the deliverance of Hezekiah from his toils (1:10-15).

The name of the prophet means consolation.

After the consolatory introduction which covers the whole of chapter 1, the prophet predicts in detail, the destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. Properly to grasp Nahum, one needs to compare it with Jonah, of which it is a continuation and supplement. The two prophecies form parts of the same moral history; the remission of God’s judgments being illustrated in Jonah, and the execution of them in Nahum. The city had one denunciation more given a few years later, by Zephaniah (Zephaniah 2:13), and shortly afterwards (606 B.C.), the whole were fulfilled.

QUESTIONS

1. Against what Gentile nation is this prophecy uttered (Nahum 1:1)?

2. Indicate the verses in chapter 1 that particularly console Israel.

3. How is Nahum 2:2 rendered in the Revised Version?

4. How does Nahum 3:7; Nahum 3:19 show the ultimate utter destruction of Nineveh?

5. How does Nahum 3:16 indicate the commercial greatness of that city?