Nahum: Bible Character Study

Introduction

About a century after Jonah, Nineveh had gone back to its old ways. Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, laid siege to Jerusalem, and terrorized the nations for generations. Nahum, whose name means comfort, announced that its end had come.

His book is a vivid poem of a city falling: chariots in the streets, river gates opened, treasure plundered. It is hard reading. But it opens with the character of God: slow to anger and great in power, who will by no means clear the guilty, and who is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. For people Assyria had crushed, Nineveh's fall was good news. Nineveh fell in 612 BC.

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble
(ESV)

Name means: “Comfort”
Home: Elkosh, location unknown
Role: Prophet against Nineveh, capital of Assyria
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Nahum's story

Beginning
Who God is
Jealous, avenging, slow to anger, good and a stronghold.
High point
Good news
The feet of the one who brings good news upon the mountains.
Turning point
The siege
The attackers break into Nineveh.
Low point
Woe to the bloody city
The city of lies and plunder is exposed.
Ending
Everyone claps
All who hear the news clap their hands, for who has not felt its cruelty?

Starts as a man from an unknown village. Ends as the prophet who saw a tyrant fall.

Where Nahum lived and went

Only places Scripture records. Softer, dotted pins are traditional or uncertain sites. Tap a pin for the passage.

HomeMinistryKey momentTraditional or uncertainPinch or use + to zoom. Tap a cluster to spread it out.

How Nahum is wired

Why there's no type here

Nahum tells us nothing about himself except his hometown, so a type would be guesswork.

Strengths & struggles

What's good in Nahum

Confident in God's justice (). Comforting to the oppressed ().

Where Nahum struggles

Scripture records nothing about him.

What Nahum wanted most

Justice for the oppressor, and peace for Judah ().

What Nahum feared most

Scripture does not say.

Nahum's people

Jonah

The Lord

The LORDRevealed himself as slow to anger and a stronghold ().

Friends

JonahPreached to Nineveh a century earlier, when it repented (Jonah 3).

Opposed

NinevehThe city whose fall he announced ().

Family of Faith

See where Nahum fits

AbrahamJesus

c. 680–620 BC (debated). No recorded connection yet.

Open the timeline

Where this points to Christ

Nahum saw a messenger running on the mountains with good news. Paul says that is the gospel.

Nahum wrote, Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news (), and Isaiah used the same picture (). Paul applies it to those who preach Christ (). God will by no means clear the guilty (), yet at the cross he is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus ().