Nahum

1 a Hebrew minor prophet of the 7th century BC

2 an Old Testament book telling Nahum's prophecy of the fall of Nineveh [syn: Book of Nahum]

English

Proper noun

1. A book of the Old Testament of the Bible, and of the Tanakh.

Related terms

• Nah.

Translations

Nahum (Hebrew: נַחוּם Naḥūm) was a minor prophet whose prophecy is recorded in the Hebrew Bible. His book comes in chronological order between Micah and Habakkuk in the Bible. He wrote about the end of the Assyrian Empire, and its capital city, Nineveh, in a vivid poetic style.

The name Nahum means “comfort.”

Little is known about Nahum’s personal history. His name means "comforter," and he was from the town of Alqosh, (Nah 1:1) which scholars have attempted to identify with several cities, including the modern `Alqush of Assyria and Capharnaum of northern Galilee. He was a very nationalistic Hebrew however and lived amongst the Elkoshites in peace. His writings could be taken as prophecy or as history. One account suggests that his writings are a prophecy written in about 615 BC, just before the downfall of Assyria, while another account suggests that he wrote this passage as liturgy just after its downfall in 612 BC.

Historical context

Archaeological digs have uncovered the splendor of Nineveh in its zenith under Sennacherib (705-681 BC), Esarhaddon (681-669 BC), and Ashurbanipal (669-633 BC). Massive walls were eight miles in circumference. It had a water aqueduct, palaces and a library with 20,000 clay tablets, including accounts of a creation in Enuma Elish and a flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Babylonian chronicle of the fall of Nineveh tells the story of the end of Nineveh. Naboplassar of Babylon joined forces with Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and laid siege for three months. Assyria lasted a few more years after the loss of its fortress, but attempts by Egyptian Pharaoh Neco II to rally the Assyrians failed due to opposition from king Josiah of Judah, and it seemed to be all over by 609 BC.

The tomb of Nahum is supposedly inside the synagogue at Alqosh, although there are other places outside Iraq that lay claim also to being the original 'Elkosh' from which Nahum hailed. Alquosh was abandoned by its Jewish population in 1948, and the synagogue that purportedly houses the tomb is in a poor structural state, to the extent that the tomb itself is in danger of destruction. The tomb underwent basic repairs in 1796. A team of US/UK construction engineers, led by Huw Thomas, is currently planning ways to save the building and the tomb. Money has been allocated for renovation in 2008. 2008 is the proposed year.

Liturgical commemoration

The Prophet Nahum is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity. On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, his feast day is December 1 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, December 1 currently falls on December 14 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). He is commemorated with the other minor prophets in the Calendar of saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 31.

References

External links

• Nahum article from The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Renovation - Al Qush Synagogue and the Tomb of Nahum
• Prophet Nahum Orthodox icon and synaxarion