Daybreak: Nahum Overview

Overview for name, purpose.

To pronounce judgment upon Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and to comfort the people of

Judah with the assurance that their enemy was doomed and would no longer be a threat

to their national security.

Author, name the Elkashite, a prophet.

Date written, probably between 663 and 654 BC, according to evidence from within the book.

To whom written, the people of Nineveh and Judah, history?

In spite of repenting at the preaching of Jonah some 100 to 150 years earlier, the people

of Nineveh, the mighty capital of the Assyrian Empire, had turned back to their evil ways

and at once again rejected God and were unrepentant.

Under the leadership of Senacarib, the armies of Assyria had invaded Judah and laid siege

against Jerusalem, which was only delivered by an act of divine intervention.

Then the prophet name stepped on the scene to pronounce God's judgment and impending doom

upon this wicked nation.

The fact that name is identified as the Elkashite in the first verse of the book suggests that

he was from a place called Elkash, though its location is unknown.

Some Bible scholars identify it with Capernum, literally the village of Name.

Thus it is possible that Name was born in Galilee but moved to Judah during Israel's

perfection.

Other scholars propose a location in Mesopotamia and suggest that Name may have been a descendant

of Israelite captives.

The fact that Name was so familiar with the city of Nineveh lend support to this view.

Assyria was the most powerful nation on earth and was renowned for its plunder, slaughter,

and vicious treatment of the people it conquered.

After Sinakirub, the city of Nineveh was reestablished as the nation's capital.

Surrounded by walls so thick that three chariots could travel abreast along the top, the city

was considered impregnable.

Inside the city walls were beautiful buildings, roads, and gardens, characteristics.

The lyrical poetic style of the book is deemed by scholars to be of the highest quality,

an example of Hebrew literature at its best.

Superb word pictures and the author's rhetorical skill in his vivid portrayal of the attack,

destruction, and plundering of the city has caused this short book to be called the most

poetic of all the prophetic writings.

It is also the most severe in tone of any of the minor prophets, with the only glimpses

of brightness at the beginning of the prophecy, rather than at the end.

CNAM-1-7-15

Summary chapter 1 announces the doom of Nineveh and establishes the nature of the judge

who is the divine agent of its coming destruction.

Verses 9 through 14 deliver a message from the judge to Nineveh, mentioning specific instances

of their futile rebellion against Jehovah.

The closing verse of the chapter is a message of comfort for Judah.

In chapter 2, the author described Nineveh's fall and vivid detail, concluding with the

prophet's wonderment at the destruction of such a powerful city, and the pronouncement

of Jehovah against the evil and rebellious city.

Chapter 3 provides a vindication for Nineveh's destruction, giving three reasons for the

judgment.

1.

Nineveh's bloody history, 2.

Her similarity to wicked Egypt and particularly to the city of No or Thebes, and 3 her apathy.

The book closes with the pronouncement that no one could or would come to Nineveh's aid,

and the nations who had suffered at a serious hands would rejoice over the report of her

suffer.