Q: In Nah 1:1, who is Nahum?
A: We know nothing of Nahum, except the he was an Elkoshite. We do not even know where Elkosh was.
Q: In Nah 1:1, when was the book of Nahum written?
A: Nahum 3:8 mentions Thebes (also called No) as already being destroyed. Since Thebes was destroyed in 663 B.C. and rebuilt in 654 B.C., Nahum was very likely written between these two dates. For reference, Ninevah was destroyed in August 612/611 B.C. According to the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1209, this is computed from the Babylonian Chronicle, which says that Ninevah fell in the 14th year of Nabopolassar.
Q: In Nah 1:2, why is the first thing out of Nahum’s mouth a declaration that God is jealous?
A: This is not the only or most important attribute of God, but it is a very important attribute that they were overlooking. Zechariah 8:1-2 written close to the same time, also mentions that God is jealous. See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.338-339 for a more extensive answer.
Q: In Nah 1:2, how can a loving God get angry?
A: While this may be contradictory to the view that "love = God" that many people have, this is not contradictory with the God of the Bible. Romans 11:22 says to consider both the kindness and sternness of God. See When Critics Ask p.313 for a different, but complementary answer.
Q: In Nah 1:3 and Rom 2:6, since God will not acquit the wicked, why does God forgive?
A: Regardless of why, I am glad God does forgive. Ezekiel 18 and 2 Peter 3:8-9 show that while God destroys the wicked, God does not delight in the death of the wicked. Rather, God delights if they turn from their wickedness and live.
Q: In Nah 1:4 (KJV), what does "languisheth" mean?
A: It means to become weak or in this case, dry up.
Q: In Nah 1:4, why does God rebuke the sea?
A: God can move the waves, as He did when Moses and Israelites crossed the Red Sea. This could refer to God drying up the Sea, too. Regardless, God will move Heaven and earth to accomplish His will.
Q: In Nah 1:5-6, when will this destruction occur?
A: This is the destruction referred to in the Book of Revelation. Like the book of Zephaniah, the book of Nahum initially starts out by referring to the great destruction during the tribulation, and then later talking about the destruction that is soon to come.
Q: In Nah 1:8, how does darkness pursue God’s enemies?
A: The destruction of Ninevah came about at night. In general, darkness of mind as well as physical darkness come upon God’s enemies.
Q: In Nah 1:14, since God will cut off idols, why were come there were still idols in Paul’s time, in 1 Cor 10:19-20?
A: Nahum 1:14 refers to Jews, not everyone. See the next question for more discussion.
Q: In Nah 1:14, when were the idol worshippers gone?
A: Idol worship ceased among the Jews, after the return from captivity. God punished them severely, and then gave the survivors a choice to continue with Him or not. The Israelites who chose to continue with God were called the Jews.
Q: In Nah 1:15, how was it that no more would the wicked invade Judah?
A: While the Babylonians and Romans did invade Judah in later times, these wicked people, that is the Assyrians, would never trouble Judah again.
Q: In Nah 2, what do we know about the city of Ninevah?
A: Ninevah was built on the east bank of the Khosr River. Archaeologists have extensively excavated the city. Ninevah’s walls were so massive, that one person said that if Ninevah had been placed between France and Germany during World War I, it would have survived any attacks by either side. A map of the city of Ninevah is in New International Dictionary of the Bible p.710. See 1001 Bible Questions Answered p.376 and the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary p.1208-1210 for more info.
Q: In Nah 2:1, what is munition?
A: Munitions are stockpiles of weapons, such as arrows. The NIV translates this a "fortress" and the NRSV translated this a "rampart".
Q: In Nah 2:3, how were the shields scarlet-colored?
A: Perhaps they were red colored from blood after being used in battle.
Q: In Nah 2:3-8, 3:13-15, what do open rivers and the destruction of the palace have to do with Ninevah?
A: Ninevah was destroyed in part when the heavy rains caused the Khosr River to flood and break down part of the wall.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary : Old Testament p.1495 lists many prophecies of Nahum concerning Ninevah’s destruction.
Nahum 1:8; 2:6,8 Ninevah would be destroyed by a flood. Diodorus Siculus (c.20 B.C.) wrote that in the third year of the siege heavy rains caused the Khosr River to flood and breach part of the wall.
Nahum 1:8 the Assyrians would be pursued into darkness. The final attack on Ninevah came at night. Many Assyrian soldiers escaped in the night.
Nahum 1:9,14 Ninevah would never be rebuilt. Many ancient cities were rebuilt, but not Ninevah.
Nahum 1:10; 2:13; 3:15 Ninevah would be destroyed by fire. The temple was burned, and archaeologists have found a two-inch layer of ash.
Nahum 1:10; 3:11 At the end, the Ninevites would be drunk. Diodorus Siculus wrote that the Assyrian king distributed food and wine, and that night, while the men were drunk, the attack was made.
Nahum 1:14 Ninevah’s carved images and cast idols would be destroyed. Archaeologists R. Campbell Thompson and R.W. Hutchinson said the status of the goddess Ishtar lay headless.
Nahum 2:8 The Ninevites would try to escape. Diodorus says that the king sent his three sons and two daughters to Paphlagonia to escape. Also, after the fall of Ninevah, the surviving Assyrian army went west into Assyria, before finally being wiped out.
Nahum 2:9-10 There would be plundering and pillaging. The Babylonian Chronicle said that "great quantities of spoil from the city, beyond counting, they carried off."
Nahum 3:3 Many Assyrians would be killed. According to Diodorus, so many were killed that the River was red for a considerable distance.
Nahum 3:12 Outlying fortresses would be captured easily (Nahum 3:12) The Babylonian Chronicle says the fortresses began to fall in 614 B.C.
Nahum 3:13 The city gate would be destroyed. Olmstead says the main attack was directed from the northwest on the Hatamti gate. (History of Assyria)
Nahum 3:14 The Ninevites would prepare bricks and mortar for emergency repairs. A.T. Olmstead says that south of the gate the moat is still filled with stone and mud brick fragments.
Nahum 3:17 The Ninevite officers would weaken and flee. The Babylonian Chronicle says the Assyrian army ran away before the king.
Q: Why does Nah 2:11-13 speak of lions?
A: Almost every empire has a symbol by which it identifies itself, and the Assyrians thought of themselves as lions. Assyrian kings liked to hunt lions, which were often depicted in Assyrian art.
Q: In Nah 3:1, how was Ninevah a bloody city?
A: In ancient times, one could compare the Assyrians with the modern Nazis due to their torture, ruthlessness, and military tactics. The Empire was built on oppression, and they were constantly putting down rebellions. In contrast to this, the Persian Empire gave a measure of toleration to their subjects, and there were few rebellions in the Persian Empire (Greek cities and Egyptians excepted).
As to whether the Assyrians were really all that cruel, we will let King Ashurnasirpal II (883-859) speak in his own "defense".
"I slaughtered them; with their blood I dyed the mountain red like wool…. The heads of their warriors I cut off, and I formed them into a pillar over against their city; their young men and their maidens I burned in the fire. … I destroyed, I demolished, I burned. I took their warriors prisoner and impaled them on stakes before their cities. …flayed the nobles, as many as had rebelled, and spread their skins out on the piles [of dead corpses]… many of the captives I burned in a fire. Many I took alive; from some I cut off their hands to the write, from other I cut off their noses, ears and fingers; I put out the eyes of many of the soldiers." (taken from TimeFrame 1500-600 BC Time Life Books and The Bible Knowledge Commentary : Old Testament p.1494.) Other leaders made similar boasts, but probably we do not need to go any further.
Q: In Nah 3:5, since God is pure, why does he allow nudity here?
A: God is speaking symbolically of stripping the city of Ninevah and exposing its shame.
Q: In Nah 3:8, where was the city of "No"?
A: No Amon was another name for the city of Thebes, which was an important city of Egypt. Nahum speaks of No as already being destroyed, and Thebes was destroyed in 663 B.C. The city of Thebes was rebuilt in 654 B.C. according to The Bible Knowledge Commentary : Old Testament p.1496.
Q: In Nah 3:13, why were the people compared to women?
A: Battles at that time involved great physical strength, and women were considered to make poor warriors.
Q: In Nah 3:16, how did Assyria multiply merchants?
A: It had many traders to buy goods with all the tribute Assyria continually received from its conquered subjects. As an example, the book TimeFrame 1500-600 BC (Time-Life Books) p.18 mentions that the Assyrians annually received 12,000 horses and 2,000 cattle from just one people, the Nairi.
Q: In Nah 3:16, was there anything wrong with Ninevah multiplying its merchants?
A: In general, merchants are OK, but it was wrong in Ninevah’s case. The merchants traded in the excessive tribute they took from their conquered subjects. See the previous question for an example.
Q: In Nah 3:18, how did the Assyrian shepherds slumber?
A: This poetic phrase is fascinating. The mountainous region of Assyria was good sheep country. Undoubtedly many Assyrians in generations past were shepherds, before the time that most of the Assyrian, men became warriors. The shepherds were slumbering in the sense that they were not so interested in herding sheep any more. Also, as a sleeping shepherd is not watching the sheep, nobody is watching over Assyria to protect it from its doom.
Q: In Nah 3:19, why is God speaking of the Assyrians cruelty, since most conquerors were cruel?
A: The Assyrians were especially cruel. We have Assyrian sculptures of the chained slaves with their eyes being pecked out by birds. They had rather different ideas of what was good art (and they did not even have the NEA [U.S.A. National Endowment for the Arts] back then!). Assyrians wrote with pride of mutilating, skinning and burning people alive. Shalmaneser III made a pyramid of heads. Overall Ashurbanipal’s reign (669-626 B.C.) was one of the cruelest. Among many other things, Ashurbanipal put a dog chain through a captured king’s jaw and made him live in a dog kennel. Subject peoples paid excessive tribute for the privilege of staying alive. For some strange reason, the Assyrians had many revolts. I suppose you might say that, in the end, God found them revolting too.
Q: In Nah, as we do not know who Nahum was, for certain when it was written, why should it be in our Bible?
A: Among other reasons, because Jesus authenticated the entire Old Testament. He accepted without question the Old Testament of the Jews in Palestine as shown by Matthew 5:17; 7:12; 11:13; 22:40; Luke 16:16,29,31; 18:31; 24:27.
The early church accepted Nahum as scripture. One example is Cyprian was a bishop of Carthage from 248 to his martyrdom in 258 A.D.. He quotes from "Nahum" in Treatise 12 The Third Book 20.
Q: In Nah, what are some of the earliest manuscripts that still exist today?
A: Dead Sea scrolls: (c.1 B.C.) There is 1 copy of Nahum among the Dead Sea scrolls, called 4Q82. (The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated p.479) There is also a commentary on Nahum called 4Q169 (=4QpNah) (ibid p.485). You can see a picture of part of this scroll (Nahum 3:1-6) in the New International Dictionary of the Bible p.689.
Nahal Hever is a cave near Engedi, that has a fragment of the Twelve prophets in Greek (8 Hev XIIgr). According to Manuscripts of the Greek Bible p.34, is it thought to be written between 50 B.C. and 50 A.D.. It was hidden during the Bar Kokhba revolt against Rome. It is a revision of the Septuagint, made in Judea, and almost identical to the Massoretic text.
Christian Bible manuscripts, from about 350 A.D., contain the Old Testament, including Nahum. Two of these are Vaticanus (325-250 A.D.) and Alexandrinus (c450 A.D.), where the books of the twelve minor prophets were placed before Isaiah. Nahum is complete in both Vaticanus and Alexandrinus.
Sinaiticus (340-350 A.D.) also has the entire book.
Q: In Nah, what are some of the translation differences between the Hebrew and Greek Septuagint?
A: Focusing on chapter 1, the first alternative is the Massoretic text, the second is the Septuagint, unless otherwise noted.
Nah 1:2 "Jehovah is avenging and Jehovah a possessor of wrath" vs. "the lord avenges with wrath"
Nah 1:2 "keeps [wrath]" vs. "cuts off"
Nah 1:3 "does not acquit the guilty" vs. "will not hold any guiltless"
Nah 1:4 "rebukes the sea" vs. "threatens the sea"
Nah 1:4 "dries up" vs. "exhausts all"
Nah 1:5 "hills are shaken" vs. "hills melt"
Nah 1:7 "trust in him" vs. "reverence him"
Nah 1:8 "His enemies" vs. "rise up against [him] and his enemies"
Nah 1:10 "For as thorns are woven together, and as their drunkards are drunken, they shall be devoured like fully dried straw" vs. "For [the enemy] shall be laid bare even to the foundation, and shall be devoured as twisted yew, and as stubble fully dry."
Nah 1:11 "counseling worthlessness" vs. "counseling evil things hostile to him."
Nah 1:12 ""Though secure, and so many, yet they will be cut off, and will vanish." vs. "who rules over many waters, Even thus shall they be sent away, and the report of thee shall not be heard any more."
Nah 1:14 "I will cut off the carved image and the molten image out of the house of your gods; I will appoint your grave, for you are despised." vs. "I will utterly destroy the graven images out of the house of thy god, and the molten images: I will make thy grave; for they are swift."
Nah 1:15 "for the worthless will not continue to pass through among you; he is completely cut off." vs. "for they shall no more pass through thee to they decay. It is all over with him, he has been removed, one who has been delivered from affliction has come up panting into they presence."
Nah 2:3 "cypresses are made to quiver" (Massoretic, Green's literal translation) or "spears of pine are brandished" (Massoretic, NIV translation) vs. "horsemen rush to and fro" (Septuagint, NIV translation)
Bibliography for this question: the Hebrew translation is from Jay P. Green’s Literal Translation and the Septuagint rendering is from Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton’s translation of The Septuagint : Greek and English. The Expositor's Bible Commentary and the footnotes in the NASB, NIV, NKJV, and NRSV Bibles also were used.
