Nahum

🏛️ Historical context

Assyria ruled the Near East violently for centuries. Nineveh fell in 612 BC to the Babylonians and Medes, and the subject peoples experienced it as liberation.

🔙 Background

A century earlier, according to Jonah, Nineveh had converted; but its violence overflowed again.

🧭 Structure of the book

⭐ Key events and teachings

1. 1"The Lord is slow to anger and great in power" (1:3)
2. 2"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble" (1:7)
3. 3"Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings" (1:15)
4. 4Description of Nineveh's fall (ch. 2-3)

🏷️ Main themes

📖 Verses to memorize

• Nahum 1:2The Lord is a jealous God, and a revenger: the Lord is a revenger, and hath wrath: the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he is angry with his enemies.
• Nahum 1:3The Lord is patient, and great in power, and will not cleanse and acquit the guilty. The Lord's ways are in a tempest, and a whirlwind, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
• Nahum 1:7The Lord is good, and giveth strength in the day of trouble: and knoweth them that hope in him.
• Nahum 1:15Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: O Juda, keep thy festivals, and pay thy vows: for Belial shall no more pass through thee again, he is utterly cut off.
• Nahum 2:2For the Lord hath rendered the pride of Jacob, as the pride of Israel: because the spoilers have laid them waste, and have marred their vine branches.

💭 For reflection

• Do I trust that God brings justice to the oppressed?
• In what situations do I need God as a refuge?

A poem announcing the fall of Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian empire that had oppressed many peoples. It proclaims that God is good and a refuge for those who trust in him.