Nahum

Introduction

Nahum prophesied when the Assyrian power was collapsing, at the death of Ashurbanipal, the last king, in the year 626 B.C. In the year 612 B.C., the Medes and Babylonian allies attacked and destroyed Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Even before that, however, the Assyrians were losing their control over the people whom they had enslaved and who thoroughly hated them. The Jews were among them. Nahum’s poems show the heart of a patriot who believes that the Lord governs the history of the nations.

1.1 This introductory song presents the central theme of Nahum’s prophecy: The Lord is concerned about being acknowledged on earth as the only God; he is present in everything that takes place in nature, and above all, in the faithfulness towards his friends.

Trusting in God’s words, Nahum prophesies the destruction of Nineveh blow by blow in a terrible poem: it symbolizes liberation from all kinds of slavery.

Through Nahum, Scripture approves the happiness of all little people upon seeing the destruction of the powerful who ignored all their rights and dominated them through terror.