A Handbook on the Book of Nahum (UBS Handbook Series)
Overview
The short prophecy of Nahum is concerned solely with the fall of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. There is no statement within the book about when it was written, but certain limits can be set, based on references to histor¬ical events whose dates are known. In 3.8 10 the prophet speaks of the fall of the Egyptian city of Thebes. This took place in 663 B.C., so the Book of Nahum must be dated later than that. The prophet also speaks of the fall of Nineveh as something which was inevitable at the time of writing and could not be long delayed (2.1).
Nineveh was actually captured by the Babylonians and Medes in the middle of 612 B.C., so it seems most probable that the Book of Nahum comes from a time shortly before that date, say 613 or early 612. Such a date could also explain the fact noted by many scholars that Nahum, unlike almost all the other prophets, makes no mention of the sins of Judah. Under the godly king Josiah a national reform of religion had been started in 621 B.C., and this con¬tinued in effect until Josiah’s death in 609. If Nahum was writning in about 613, the social evils spoken about, both by earlier prophets like Zephaniah and by later ones like Habakkuk, were probably being suppressed by Josiah.
- Exegetical, historical, cultural, and linguistic information on the original text
- Verse-by-verse guides
- An essential tool for Bible translators
Top Highlights
“Nineveh was actually captured by the Babylonians and Medes in the middle of 612 b.c., so it seems most probable that the Book of Nahum comes from a time shortly before that date, say 613 or early 612. Such a date could also explain the fact noted by many scholars that Nahum, unlike almost all the other prophets, makes no mention of the sins of Judah. Under the godly king Josiah a national reform of religion had been started in 621 b.c., and this continued in effect until Josiah’s death in 609. If Nahum was writing in about 613, the social evils spoken about, both by earlier prophets like Zephaniah and by later ones like Habakkuk, were probably being suppressed by Josiah.” (Pages x–1)
“Verses 2–8 speak of the Lord’s righteous anger and greatness” (Page 5)
“In one sense, the destruction of an empire as brutal as that of the Assyrians is a symbol of the final triumph of the Lord over all the forces of evil. The Book of Nahum is rarely quoted directly in the New Testament, but its spirit and attitudes can be seen in the description of the fall of ‘Babylon’ in Revelation 18, where the theme of the final victory of the Lord is taken up and developed more fully.” (Pages x–1)
“The short prophecy of Nahum is concerned solely with the fall of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire.” (Pages x–1)
“An acrostic poem is a poem in which the first word of each new line in Hebrew begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.” (Page 5)
What if you were responsible for translating God's Word into a language that never had a Bible before? Can you imagine the burden you would feel to do a good job?
God takes His Word pretty seriously, and you would certainly do everything in your power to make sure that you were not putting words into God's mouth, but that you were providing a text that clearly communicated God's Word as closely to the original as possible.
This challenge to understand the heart of the original Scriptures, in order to put the original text into a new language, was the impetus for the United Bible Societies to create handbooks for Bible translators working on this very thing. The United Bible Societies' Handbook Series is a comprehensive verse-by-verse guide to understanding exactly what is being communicated by the author in the original Scriptures.
- Title: A Handbook on the Book of Nahum
- Authors: David J. Clark, Howard A. Hatton
- Series: United Bible Societies’ Handbooks
- Publisher: United Bible Societies
- Print Publication Date: 1989
- Logos Release Date: 2004
- Pages: 211
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. O.T. Nahum › Commentaries; Bible. O.T. Nahum › Translating
- Resource ID: LLS:34.0.165
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T18:58:36Z