Who wrote the book of Nahum? Who was the author of Nahum?

Nahum's history is unknown. All we know of him is that he was an Elkoshite. His name means "comforter." Some have identified Elkosh with a village of similar name which is in existence today, not far from the site of ancient Nineveh, on the eastern banks of the Tigris. There the grave of Nahum is shown, adored alike by nominal Christians and the followers of Mohammed. But careful research has shown this to be absolutely without any foundation whatever. No one knew anything about that grave till about the sixteenth century of our era. It is the Elkosh which existed in Galilee and which is still known as a little village. Nahum, like Jonah, was a Galilean.

We only know little of Nahum - the 7 th of the twelve Minor Prophets. His name means “comforted”. Not even the exact place where he came from is known. Some researchers assume it to be the village Alkush at the river Tigris near Mossul and others suppose a place in Galilee near Capernaum. Others again think it to be Capernaum itself ( Kephar-Nahum = village of Nahum) and finally some believe it to be a village in Judea as the Fathers of the church also testify it. The facts that the kingdom of the 10 tribes (in which Galilee lies) was already in Assyrian captivity at Nahum’s time and that Nahum directly speaks to the kingdom of Judah (chap. 1:15b) would speak for the last possibility.

Exact or approximate indications of time are totally missing in Nahum’s book. Chapter 3:8-10 however mentions the destruction of No of Amon ( Thebes) capital of Upper Egypt. This took place in 663 BC by Assurbanipal king of Assyrians. Nineveh was destroyed by the Medes under Cyaxares and by the Babylonians under Nabopolassar in 612 BC. Nahum’s time of labour would lie between these two events.

Nothing is known of the personal history of this prophet: he is called 'the Elkoshite,' which is supposed to refer to a place named Elkosh in Galilee. There is no reference to dates in the prophecy, but it is generally placed at about B.C. 714, when Sennacherib invaded Judaea. 2 Kings 18:13. The prophecy is against Nineveh, and foretells its destruction, though, like other prophecies, it has an application to the future, when 'Assyria' will again be the open enemy of Israel.

Designation of Nahum the prophet. Nahum 1:1.

Verse 1. The burden of Nineveh; it means that there is to follow a weighty prophetic oracle concerning the great world city of Nineveh whose dimensions are given by Jonah, which have been confirmed by excavations. The next sentence gives us the definite information that what follows in the book is the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

"The burden of Nineveh." This is the subject of "the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite," and with this "burden" it is almost exclusively occupied. Turning aside, however, parenthetically to Israel, the prophet says in the name of the Lord — "Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more: for now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder… Behold upon the mountains the feet of Him that brings good tidings that publishes peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows; for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off" (Nahum 1:12-15).

Nahum 1.

The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

Nahum was a Galilean like Jonah; and if the latter was sent long before to warn the haughty Gentile, and on repentance to defer the judgment in divine mercy, the former was given, on its raising its head still more proudly, to pronounce Jehovah's indignant vengeance, however slow to anger; for He is as great as He is good. In vain went forth out of Nineveh one that imagined evil against Jehovah, a counsellor of Belial. He will make a full end — trouble shall not rise a second time; as Sennacherib proved, his yoke broken, His people's bonds burst, out of the house of the Assyrian's gods graven and molten images cut off, and his grave prepared. The scourge finally past is followed by the enduring peace of His people (Nahum 1).

Nahum (consolation). The prophets Jonah and Nahum were Galileans, and both had Nineveh as the burden of their testimony. In the former, however, the character and doings of the prophet form an integral part of the book, while in the latter the character of God is unfolded in language unrivalled for its sublimity.

Nahum prophesied in Palestine, and nearly a century and a half after Jonah his predecessor, in testimony to and of Nineveh.