ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Nahum 1

1:1 Introduction. This is the only OT book that begins with a “double title.” Oracle describes a prophetic proclamation (see note on Hab. 1:1). Vision indicates how God communicated the contents of the book to Nahum.

Nah. 1:2–8 A Psalm Descriptively Praising the Lord. These verses praise God as he has been and will be throughout world history. It presents God’s attitude toward, and action relating to, his enemies and his people.

Nah. 1:2–3a The Lord is jealous to protect his relationship with his people. avenging. God’s holy anger defends his word and his people. keeps wrath. . . . slow to anger (compare Ex. 34:6). God waits to display his anger until an appropriate time. great in power. If God delays his judgment, it is not due to any lack of power on his part. will by no means clear the guilty. Compare Ex. 34:7.

Nah. 1:4–5 Rebukes the sea . . . dries up . . . rivers recalls the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 14) and the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 3–4). Bashan was famous for its rich pasturelands. Carmel was well known for its beauty and its fruitful countryside. Lebanon was noted for its forests. Hills and mountains are symbols of permanence, but even they cannot stand before God.

Nah. 1:6 Fire is a frequent OT image describing God’s wrath (e.g., Gen. 19:24; Ps. 11:6). Rocks, the hardest objects in nature, are easily shattered by the Lord.

Nah. 1:7 In contrast to his anger, God is good to his people. The Lord is the never-failing stronghold for his people (e.g., Ps. 27:1; 37:39), whom he knows with love and affection.

Nah. 1:8 A striking contrast to v. 7. Like an overflowing flood, God’s judgment is overwhelming; Nineveh was to be destroyed as by a flood (see 2:6, 8). complete end . . . darkness. God’s judgment will end with death and everlasting separation from him.

Nah. 1:9–15 The Lord’s Coming Judgment on Nineveh and Deliverance of Judah. In these verses Nahum alternates between the Lord’s coming judgment on Nineveh and his gracious deliverance of Judah.

Nah. 1:9 plot. Plots to harm God’s people are ultimately against the Lord himself. Trouble (see v. 7) is what Judah experienced from Assyria.

Nah. 1:10 Entangled thorns can be thrown all at once into the fire, just as the Assyrians as a whole will be wiped out. Like drunkards, the Assyrians will be unable to defend themselves against their attackers.

Nah. 1:11 Worthless counselor refers either to a particular wicked Assyrian king or to the series of kings who reigned in Nineveh after Sennacherib made that city the capital.

Nah. 1:12a they. The Assyrians. full strength . . . many. Assyria was likely at the height of its power and size when Nahum wrote. will be cut down and pass away. God would end the military dominance of the Assyrians. See Introduction: Purpose, Occasion, and Background.

Nah. 1:12b Though I have afflicted you. Suddenly God turns his attention to Judah (as he will again in v. 15). This dramatic change in the flow of v. 12 emphasizes the announcement of good news that follows. I will afflict you no more. Since God would overthrow Nineveh, the Assyrians would never again be Judah’s oppressor.

Nah. 1:13 his yoke. The Assyrian monarchs’ burdensome rule over Judah (see 2 Kings 18:13). break . . . burst. Judah was controlled by Assyria from about 734/733 b.c. (during the reign of Ahaz; 2 Kings 16:7–8) until the reign of Josiah (640–609), when Assyria began to decline rapidly and finally ceased to be a nation.

Nah. 1:14 You is masculine singular in Hebrew. Nahum suddenly switches to directly addressing the Assyrian king(s) (see v. 11). The Assyrian monarchy would come to a decisive end. the house of your gods I will cut off. Complete defeat of the Assyrian ruler would also be marked by the defilement of his temple and the destruction or removal of his idols. These represented the gods who he believed gave him power. Archaeologists have confirmed the complete destruction of Nineveh’s temples.

Nah. 1:15 Nahum addresses Judah again, as in vv. 12b–13. Upon the mountains, a messenger brings the good news of Nineveh’s fall (compare Isa. 52:7). peace. Judah does not have to be afraid of any more military action and oppression from Assyria. Keep your feasts. These festivals would remind the people of the Lord’s past acts of deliverance and the future hope of the coming Messiah. the worthless. That is, the Assyrians (compare Nah. 1:11).