{"id":7995,"date":"2023-08-14T14:27:29","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T19:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/?p=7995"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:18:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T00:18:30","slug":"__trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/bible-faith\/devotional-notes\/2023\/08\/__trashed\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical Background of the book of Nahum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Book of Nahum (\u05e0\u05d7\u05d5\u05dd \/ Nakhum in Hebrew) is the seventh of the twelve Minor Prophets. It follows the Book of Jonah, which declares forgiveness for Nineveh, and precedes the Book of Micah, which addresses the discipline of Judah. Nahum delivers a message of comfort to God’s people by announcing the final judgment on Nineveh, the very city God had previously used to discipline His people. Though short in length, Nahum\u2019s prophecy is captivating. The book has a distinctive style\u2014concise yet forceful, rich in detail, full of emotion, dramatic in tone, dignified in wording, clear in imagery, and vivid in expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Illustration excerpted from David Pawson\u2019s Unlocking the Old Testament<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the reign of King Jeroboam II of Northern Israel (c. 793-753 BCE), the Neo-Assyrian Empire experienced a 39-year period of decline marked by internal strife and limited royal power, which temporarily halted its expansion. During this time, the prophet Jonah went to Nineveh to proclaim judgment. The city repented, and God “did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10). However, God’s plan was not finished. He still intended to use Assyria as a tool to discipline His people (Isaiah 10:5).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: A distant view of the Nineveh plain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Assyria would repeatedly attack both Northern Israel and Southern Judah. Although they were instruments of God’s discipline, their motive was to “conspire against the Lord” (Nahum 1:9) and destroy the “priestly kingdom” God had established. After Assyria completed its task, God declared, “I will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant heart and for his conceited look” (Isaiah 10:12). In 612 BCE, the capital city of Nineveh was conquered and destroyed by a Babylonian-led coalition, and the once-mighty Assyrian Empire disappeared from history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: Artistic reconstruction of Nineveh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image: Rebuilt section of Nineveh\u2019s city wall. When Nineveh fell to the Babylonians in 612 BC, it became a ruin, lost in the mists of history. For centuries, people knew of Assyria\u2019s glory only through legends. With no visible remains, many began to doubt the historical accuracy of the Bible. In 1843, French archaeologist Paul-\u00c9mile Botta discovered the remains of a royal palace, which was later confirmed to be part of Nineveh, along with a vast number of artifacts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For centuries, many scholars doubted the existence of Nineveh and, by extension, the authenticity of the Book of Nahum. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BCE, had no knowledge of its location. However, in 1843, French archaeologist Paul-\u00c9mile Botta discovered the ruins of a palace in what is now Mosul, Iraq. It was later confirmed to be Nineveh. The discovery unearthed numerous artifacts and provided archaeological evidence that substantiated the biblical account of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: Map of the Nineveh ruins. The ruins of Nineveh are surrounded by a 12-kilometer-long brick wall, 15 meters high. The western and southern sides were naturally protected by the Tigris River, while the eastern and northern sides had a moat. The Khosr River, a tributary of the Tigris, flowed through the city, and it is believed that the invading Babylonian army may have used a dam on this river to flood the city and breach its walls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Book of Nahum (\u05e0\u05d7\u05d5\u05dd \/ Nakhum in Hebrew) is the seventh of the twelve Minor Prophets. It follows the Book of Jonah, which declares forgiveness for Nineveh, and precedes the Book of Micah, which addresses the discipline of Judah. Nahum delivers a message of comfort to God’s people by announcing the final judgment on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional-notes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7995"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11396,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7995\/revisions\/11396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}