You are strongly recommended to add to your library the excellent revised edition of Harper's Bible Dictionary titled, The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Revised Edition [book review], edited by Paul J. Achtemeier, with the Society of Biblical Literature (NY: Harper Collins, 1996). It is currently the best one-volume Bible dictionary in English, and it is available at Border's Books, Christian Science Reading Rooms, http://www.borders.com, or http://www.christianbook.com.

Nahum, the Book of, (Heb., ‘consolation, compassion’), the seventh book in the ot in ‘The Book of the Twelve’ (the so-called minor prophets). Nothing is known about the prophet other than his name and the place of his birth, Elkosh, a town in southwest Judah. The book was written in the half century between 663 and 612 b.c. These dates are fixed by the reference in 3:8 to the fall of Thebes (663) and the fact that Nineveh was destroyed in 612. A date for the book close to the actual fall of Nineveh is frequently assumed, though an earlier date is certainly possible. If the revolt of Manasseh is not to be dismissed as a figment of the imagination of the author of Chronicles, the situation as it existed in Judah ca. 652-648 fits the occasion rather well. The basis for such a revolt on Manasseh’s part would have been the conviction that Assyria’s days were numbered. The book of Nahum presents precisely that message and may have been used to persuade the Judean king to take part in such a revolt—the assurance that Assyria’s fall was certain, in fact that it was ordained of God the Divine Warrior. The book would then have taken on deeper meaning as part of the theological basis for the subsequent resurgence of Judean independence under Josiah, especially after the death of Asshurbanapal in ca. 630. The final destruction of Nineveh in 612 would have been the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy and would thus explain its inclusion in the canon.

It is likely that Nahum was a central prophet functioning within the Temple cult in Jerusalem. The book belongs to the so-called oracles against the nations and as such was probably motivated by political aims. In its present canonical form it is closely related to the book of Habakkuk. In fact the two books may be outlined as a single literary unit as follows:

I. Hymn of theophany (Nah. 1)

II. Taunt song against Nineveh (Nah. 2-3)

III. The problem of theodicy (Hab. 1)

IV. Taunt song against the ‘wicked one’ (Hab. 2)

V. Hymn of theophany (Hab. 3).

The opening hymn of theophany (Nah. 1:2-8) is in the form of an acrostic on the first half of the Hebrew alphabet (cf. Ps. 9), which presents the two sides of God’s character: he is slow to anger but he will vent his wrath against those who defy him. The appearance of the Divine Warrior is presented in mythic imagery with the cosmos returning to chaos in the day of God’s wrath.

In the taunt song (Nah. 2-3), sometimes described as an ode on the fall of Nineveh, the language is graphic, depicting in vivid form scenes of horror and vengeful rejoicing because Assyria is finally experiencing the atrocities she had inflicted on others.

In its poetic form the book of Nahum has no superior within the prophetic literature of the ot. The vivid and rapid succession of images gives it a peculiar power. It delineates the swift and unerring execution of God’s fury against his merciless foes and those of his people. At the same time it also points rather sharply to God as the sure refuge and security for those who obey and trust him.