The word why is a very powerful word. Asking why is a great tool to get to the heart of a matter and discover true intent. Therefore, when studying a book of the Bible, it’s helpful to ask why the book even exists. In this lesson I’m going to talk about the book of Nahum and discuss why Nahum was written and why it’s in the Bible.
Watch the video to learn more or scroll down to read the transcript.
Transcript:
The word why is a very powerful word. Asking why is a great tool to get to the heart of a matter and discover true intent. Therefore, when studying a book of the Bible, it’s helpful to ask why the book even exists. In this lesson I’m going to talk about the book of Nahum and discuss why Nahum was written and why it’s in the Bible.
The answer to the first question is found in the very first verse of Nahum. Let’s read that verse.
Nah. 1:1 The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
I’m going to focus on four words: oracle, Ninevah, vision, and Nahum.
Let’s start with the word oracle.
The word oracle can be used in a couple ways. Sometimes the word oracle refers to a person who is an oracle. An oracle is another term for a prophet. An oracle is a person who communicates messages from a divinity.
The word oracle can also refer to the message that an oracle or a prophet delivers. We see examples of this in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet. Isaiah communicated messages from Yahweh. Sometimes the message Isaiah communicated was called an oracle.
Is. 15:1 The oracle concerning Moab.
The rest of that chapter contains a message from Yahweh about Moab that was delivered by Isaiah the prophet.
Is. 17:1 The oracle concerning Damascus.
Is. 19:1 The oracle concerning Egypt.
Each of those passages is a message that Isaiah communicated on behalf of Yahweh.
Let’s go back to the book of Nahum. The first sentence is “The oracle of Ninevah”. The book of Nahum contains a message about Nineveh that was communicated by Nahum the prophet and recorded in the book of Nahum.
Let’s talk about Nineveh. Nineveh is a city that is mentioned multiple times in the Old Testament. It was located in the Mesopotamian Valley. The Mesopotamian Valley is the valley formed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Babylon is at the lower end of the Mesopotamian Valley. Nineveh was halfway up the Mesopotamian Valley. Nineveh was located in the area known today as the country of Iraq.
Nineveh figured somewhat prominently in the events of the Old Testament. The book of Nahum is an oracle, or a message, about Nineveh.
Now let’s look at the word vision. The word vision is very similar to the word oracle. There were many prophets in the Old Testament time period who communicated messages from Yahweh. Sometimes the prophets received their messages via a vision. Sometimes the word vision was used to refer to the message that was received from Yahweh. Let’s look at some examples.
1Sam. 3:1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.
A vision was a method by which men received messages from Yahweh.
1Chr. 17:15 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.
Here the word vision was used to refer to the message that Nathan delivered to David.
2Chr. 32:32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of devotion, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 3
Here the word vision was used to refer to things that were written by Isaiah the prophet.
Let’s go back to the first verse of Nahum. Oracle and vision are synonyms. They both refer to the message regarding Ninevah. We can say that Nahum is an oracle about Nineveh. We can say that Nahum is a vision about Ninevah.
The fourth word I want to look at is Nahum. Nahum was a prophet. He was the prophet through whom this oracle or vision about Nineveh was delivered. We know very little about Nahum. The book of Nahum is the only place in the Old Testament that Nahum is mentioned, and the book doesn’t tell us much about Nahum himself.
Let’s answer the question about why Nahum was written. Nahum was written to communicate a message from Yahweh about Nineveh. For the most part, that message was negative. Nineveh had attacked God’s chosen people, the Israelites, and oppressed them. For that they were judged. The book of Nahum criticizes Nineveh for what they did and how they treated Israel. Nahum declared that Nineveh was going to be punished for what they did.
Why is this in the Bible? What’s the value to you and me? The book of Genesis tells us Yahweh made a statement to Abraham that whoever blessed Abraham would be blessed and whoever cursed Abraham would be cursed. There are examples of that throughout Bible history. The book of Nahum is one of the books of the Bible that gives us an example of people who were punished because they attacked or oppressed the descendants of Abraham.
When we look at Nahum in the context of the Old Testament, we see that it is a lesson that God fulfills His promises. It may take centuries or millennia for those promises to be fulfilled, but Yahweh always fulfills His promises.
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