I'll also paste the text in the post using the NET Bible from http://bible.org since their copyright rules are crafted for the internet age.
When I started Blog Through the Bible, I could have started from Genesis and blog toward Revelation.
However, I opted to "jump" around for the sake of variety.
And so, now, let's go back to the Hebrew Scriptures and visit a book that probably doesn't get preached on very often. Have you heard a sermon in Nahum?
image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nahum-prophet.jpg
Image is an 18th Century Russian Orthodox icon of Nahum.
Nahum 1:1 introduced us to the book.
The oracle against Nineveh; the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
(NET)
The nation of Israel was formed out of the people that left Egypt, one of the big powers in the region. As Israel grew, they faced threats from various nations. One of them was the Assyrians based in Nineveh. Israel was unified under Saul, David and Solomon but they divided and eventually, the northern part was conquered by the Assyrians with the fall of Samaria in 722 BC. The Assyrians would be supplanted by the Babylonians when Nineveh fell in 612 BCE. Nahum made reference to what appeared to be a conquered Thebes in Nahum 3:8 which suggests that this book was written at some point after the fall of Thebes in 663 BCE and prior to the fall of Ninevah. To get a good overview of the historical timeline, be sure to check out Bill Creasy's web page.
I took a look at Walter Kaiser's commentary that covered Micah to Malachi (pp. 97-98) to find out what we know about Nahum. Kaiser reported that all we know is his name from this verse! The name in Hebrew means "comfort" or "consolation." Kaiser added that the location of Elkosh is uncertain but is suspected to be 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
Lord, thank you that you have sent prophets through the ages to warn, comfort, challenge and teach us. Amen.
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