The Prophet Nahum

Tradition holds that the author of the Book of Nahum is Nahum, a prophet from the Southern Kingdom. Details of Nahum’s life are unknown, and the location of his hometown, “Elkosh,” remains unconfirmed to this day. Some suggest it was north of Nineveh, others south of Jerusalem, and still others Capernaum in Galilee (whose name means “Nahum’s village”), but there is no definitive evidence.

The name “Nahum” means “comfort,” which, like the name “Nehemiah,” is very fitting. This prophet did not condemn the people who were under discipline but instead comforted the suffering populace through the announcement of Nineveh’s judgment. Nahum declared that Nineveh, the city that had temporarily escaped punishment in the Book of Jonah, would now be destroyed because of its renewed sin. Therefore, “Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless one pass through you; he is utterly cut off” (Nahum 1:15). The prophet Isaiah had uttered similar words: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'” (Isaiah 52:7). The Apostle Paul also applied this passage to the proclaimers of God’s Gospel in Romans 10:15.

During Nahum’s time, the Assyrian Empire was at its peak. Nineveh was “full of power, and mighty in number,” and no one could believe that such an unprecedentedly powerful empire would be “cut off and brought to nothing.” Yet, through the prophet Nahum, God declared that Assyria had no future and would surely “come to the grave.”