NAHUM (Hebrew *Nahum* «consolator»). — Seventh of the minor prophets in the canon of the Vulgate.
He was from ‘Elqôš (Nah. 1:1), which St. Jerome (PL 25, 1232) places in Galilee (Driver, Cornely, Crampon); but St. Epiphanius (PG 43, 409), St. Cyril of Alexandria (ibid. 71, 780) and all modern scholars place it in Judea, as suggested by internal evidence from the book itself (Bir el-Qaws near Beit Guvrin).
N. announces to Judah the ruin of its most terrible enemy: Assyria.
In chapter 1 he celebrates the power of Yahweh, just and avenging, who saves His people and strikes His enemies. Divine justice is particularly emphasized. In chapters 2–3 he describes the imminent fall of Nineveh and, as a type, recalls the already accomplished ruin of Thebes (*Nô’-Amôn: Nah. 3:8 ff.; cf. Ezek. 30:14 ff.; erroneously St. Jerome PL 25, 1260 translates *Alexandria populorum*). These two indications allow the prophecy of N. to be dated: after 663 (destruction of Thebes by Ashurbanipal) and before 612 B.C. (fall of Nineveh); but more precisely (*Nah. 3:18*) after the latter (625–615).
N. is contemporary with Zephaniah and Jeremiah. Among modern critics there is a tendency to distinguish in N. a psalm (chapter 1) and the prophecy; the latter is authentic, while the former, according to many (including A. van Hoonacker [V. BIBLICA.], p. 420 sq.), would be by a later author. The arguments adduced do not appear decisive. The alphabetic character of the psalm would document its later date (but cf. the *Lamentations* and *Prov. 31:10–31*); nor is such a character certain here: it is only hypothetically deduced from vv. 1–8. Its theoretical and abstract nature, in contrast to the living and concrete prophecy, is sufficiently explained by the characteristics of the theme developed.
Some have wished to contrast N. with the other prophets: N. would lack any moral thought; but how is such a judgment possible when only this very brief oracle of N. is extant? (J. Touzard [V. BIBLICA.], p. 59). “The poetry of N. is exquisite; of all the prophets he is the one who most closely approaches Isaiah in nobility and vigor. His descriptions are rather precise and vivid; his thought is expressed in a sculptural manner” (S. R. Driver).