READ/LISTEN ONLINE:
SOME STUDY GEMS:
Click on the gem below to read the study notes:
About Nahum
Nahum 1:1 “The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite”
The Hebrew name H5151 – naḥûm comes from H5162 – nāḥam, meaning to comfort, repent, to console yourself, to be moved to pity and compassion. Interestly Nahum’s name is closely related to Noah, where we find the same word naham used in Genesis 5:29, “And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us H5162 concerning our work and toil of our hands”, and again in Genesis 6:6 where YHWH is sad about mankinds’ fall and sin, “And it repented H5162 YHWH that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.”
Nineveh Destroyed
Nahum 1:1 “The burden of Nineveh.”
The Hebrew word for burden is Massa H4853 – maśśā’, meaning more like a tribute, prophecy, song, an utterance or lifting up. Where the word is used a lot is with the Levites and their “burdens”, meaning more the load, work or tributes that they carry. Nineveh certainly was a big city, but it was an example to other famous cities like Sodom and Gomorrah that anyone can be saved, but even the biggest of cities cannot escape judgement.
See our previous posts’ on Nineveh. First some history is given about the origins in 2 Kings 19, and then later Nineveh is warned by Jonah, because YHWH knew Israel was going to be captured and Nineveh would be the major city where they would end up. Nineveh quickly repented, and things looked ok for Israel, even though they were going to be captured. But in the end, Nineveh went back to their old ways, wicked oppression, violence, and sorcery, which ultimately brought down YHWH’s judgment. In 612 BC, a coalition of Babylonian, Median, and Scythian forces conquered the city, a military event that fulfilled the biblical prophecies by Nahum and marked the end of the powerful Assyrian Empire.
Normally only the story of Johan is told and how Nineveh got saved, but the 2nd tragic part of Nineveh is never told. What we do learn here, is that YHWH is an El of Jonah and an El of Nahum. From Nahum 1 we see both sides of YHWH, verse 2 and 3 “.. YHWH avenges and is furious… is slow to anger and great in power”, and then verse 6 and 7 “..the rocks are thrown down by Him… YHWH is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble”
