the following are worthy of special mention:-Billerbeck und Jeremias, Der Untergang Nineveh's und die Weissagungsschrift des Nahum von Elkosch, BAS. III (1898), 87-188. P. Kleinert, Nahum und der Fall Nineves, SK. LXXXIII (1910), 501-533. Thomas Friedrich, Nineve's Ende und die Ausgänge des Assyrischen Reiches, in Festgaben zu Ehren Max Büdinger's (1898), 13– 52. Budde, art. Nahum, EB. III (1902). A. R. S. Kennedy, art. Nahum, DB. III (1900). Volck, art. Nahum, PRE3 XIII (1903). W. Staerk, Das Assyrische Weltreich im Urteil der Propheten (1908), 174-181. Special studies on ch. 1 and on the poetic form of the book are cited in 1 (pp. 270 f.). Miscellaneous. M. Adler, A Specimen of a Commentary and Collated Text of the Targum to the Prophet Nahum, JQR. VII (1895), 630-657. Reinke, Zur Kritik der älteren Versionen des Propheten Nahum (1867). A. W. Greenup, The Yalkut of Rabbi Machir Bar Abba Mari on Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk [Edited for the first time from the unique ms. (Harley 5704) in the British Museum] (1910). Fr. Buhl, Einige textkritische Bemerkungen zu den Kleinen Propheten, ZAW. V (1885), 79-84. E. Mahler, Untersuchung einer in Buche Nahum auf den Untergang Ninives bezogenen Finsterniss (1886). B. Duhm, Anmerkungen zu den Zwölf Propheten, V, Buch Nahum, ZAW. XXXI (1911), 100-107. A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF NAHUM. § 1. THE SUPERSCRIPTIONS (11). These inform us as to the name of the author, his clan, the nature of his book, and the subject of his preaching. In common with the superscriptions to Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Habakkuk and Malachi among the prophetic books, it refrains from any statement regarding the time of this prophet's activity. Nahum is the only book in the OT. carrying two superscriptions at its head and is also the only prophecy entitling itself a 'book.' 1. An oracle on Nineveh] Nahum is pre-eminently a book of one idea, viz. the doom of Nineveh. This title thus exactly fits the contents of the book. This type of superscription is common in Isaiah, viz. 131 151 171 191 211.11 221 231 30°. On the fall of Nineveh, v. pp. 163 f..-The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite] The use of the word 'book' here carries no such special significance as some older commentators imagined; viz. that it shows that the prophecy of Nahum was never spoken but was originally prepared in written form.* The word 'vision' expressly characterises the following message as a revelation. The prophecies of Isaiah (11) and Obadiah (v. 1) are also so designated. The name Nahum occurs only here in the OT.. Everything alleged regarding Nahum, aside from the statement of the superscription, is of late origin and of little value. Other names from the same root and so of similar meaning are Nehemiah, Nehum (Ne. 77; but cf. Ezr. 22=Rehum), Nahamani (Ne. 77), Menahem and Tanhumeth (Je. 40). The name seems to be an appellation meaning 'comforting' or 'comforter.' Its appropriateness to the author of this prophecy, which brings the promise of such great comfort to Judah, raises the suspicion that the name is not a birth name but one be So Gebhardt, Tarnovius, Pu., Ke.. stowed upon this prophet by a later editor because of the character of his message. The term 'Elkoshite' seems to be a gentilic adjective derived from a place-name. But no thoroughly reliable information is available as to the location of Elkosh (v. i.). The essential accuracy of the superscriptions is generally acknowledged. The first, stating the contents of the book, accords perfectly with the bulk of the subject-matter; while the second, being beyond the possibility of a satisfactory test, and being in no way derivable from the text of the book itself, must be given the benefit of every doubt and be held to rest upon sound tradition. Owing to the twofold character of the heading, however, suspicion has been cast upon its genuineness. Grimm (1791) was the first to see here the work of a later hand. He has had many followers, who have declared the superscription in whole or in part to be of late origin; so Eich. (Einl. III, 371), Ew., Hd., Or., Dav., Now., Arn., Hap., Bu. (EB.), Marti, Kau., Du., Kent. It is probable that the two portions of the legend come from different hands, as Ew., Or., Bu., et al. suggest; but it is unnecessary to regard each as having belonged originally to its own special portion of the book as Hpt. et al. maintain. If any part of the heading be from Nahum himself, it is probably only the last three words, "Vision of Nahum the Elkoshite." The order of the parts would have been exactly the reverse had they both been due to the prophet and the word "book" would surely not have appeared. In view of the extent of the editorial labour upon the beginning of this book, it is more likely that the older portion of the heading came from an editor than that it came from the prophet himself. The addition of superscriptions, as a matter of fact, seems to have been a favourite form of editorial exercise. The information furnished by this editor, however, probably goes back to a relatively early date, for no source whence it might have been obtained is now known. 1. ] λñμμa. Aq. ápμa. m2ḥûthā = 'scourge' or 'affliction,' the only place where so renders the word (Seb.). 'n is here followed by an objective gen.. The rendering 'burden' was favoured by early interpreters and explained by the fact that disaster was the prevailing theme of prophecy, hence the term 'burden' came to be applied to all prophecies. But 'oracle' or 'utterance' (cf. bp ) is a better rendering in superscriptions, where 'burden' is sometimes wholly inappropriate, e. g. Zc. 12.-] Of the same measure as by 'bereaved,' Dan 'compassionate,' 'tame' or 'chief,' an 'merciful,' y 'pillar'; and with transitive force; cf. Barth, NB. §§ 37, 132. An abstract substantive 'comfort' is less suitable as a name and less in accord with the significance of other words of the formation; contra BDB.. The name occurs also in Lk. 325 2 Esd. 14o, Jos. Ant. IX, xi, 3, the Mishnah (Baba Bathra V 2, Shabb. II 1, Nazir V 4, Peah II 6), on Jewish ossuaries (Clermont-Ganneau, Revue Archéol. Ser. III, vol. I, No. 41) and in Phoenician (CIS. I, No. 123; Ges., Mon. Phan. Nos. 3, 7; Boeckh, Corp. Ins. Græc. II, 25, 26). It is likely that the name is a shortened form of inion) or banni (Kennedy, DB. III, 473). Abar. explained it as connected with ns (Gn. 529); cf. Sayce, Exp.T. XV, 514, who treats ▷ as due to mimmation; but such usage is not well attested in Heb..—pbxn] T ΕΠΕΣΕ. (Β τοῦ Ελκεσαίου. (** Ελκαισέου. (. b Ελκεσεον. Eus. Onom. 'EXкeσé. Hesychius (vita proph.) 'Eλкeσeîv. Elcesaei. Four sites lay claim to the honour of having been the home of Nahum. The first claimant is Al-Ķûsh, a village about 25 miles N. of Mosul, where the natives with one consent regard a certain plaster box as the tomb of Nahum (Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains [1849], I, 233). But Assemani (Biblioth. Orient. [1719 ff.], I, 525, III, 352) declares that the tradition dates no further back than the 16th century A.D.; the Ar. form of the name seems to reflect the Ar. period; the name of the place itself is first attested in the 8th century A.D. (cf. Nö. ZDMG. XXXI, 165); Benjamin of Tudela in 1165 A.D. was shown another tomb of Nahum at 'Ain Japhata, S. of Babylon; and the tradition is worth no more than similar traditions as to the graves of Jonah, Obadiah, and Jepthah of Gilead. The acceptance of this site usually carries with it the conclusion that Nahum was one of the exiles from Samaria or a descendant of them, who had been settled N. of Nineveh. But the whole tone of the prophecy points to a scion of Judah as its author. This last objection also holds against the next two applicants. Jerome in his commentary on Nahum says, "Quum Elcese usque hodie in Galilea viculus sit, parvus quidem et vix ruinis veterum aedificiorum indicans vestigia, sed tamen notus Judaeis et mihi quoque a circumducente monstratus." This is generally supposed to have been the modern El Kauze, N.E. of Ramieh and about seven miles W. of Tibnin. But there is no indication of Nahum's Galilaean origin; on the contrary, his utter silence as to any hope for the northern kingdom and its exiles seems fatal to such a theory. His reference to the invasion of Sennacherib in 1" likewise points to his primary interest in Judah and Jerusalem. Hi. identified Elkosh with Capernaum (6 Kapapvaoúμ; S Kaphar Nahum = 'village of Nahum'); but it is by no means certain that in formed the latter part of this name, for Jos. writes Kepapvwun and Jerome on Mt. 1124, Dyı (S of Mt. 413 1123 = din; so also Talmud) and the evidence is insufficient to outweigh the improbability of a Galilaean residence for Nahum. The least difficult tradition locates Elkosh in S. Judah. The de vitis prophetarum, wrongly ascribed to Epiphanius (a native of Judah who was Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus in 367 A.D.), in some mss. says "He (Nahum) came from Elkesei beyond Jordan toward Begabar of the tribe of Simeon." But the tribe of Simeon was located in S.W. Judah and "beyond Jordan" is therefore unintelligible in this connection. The difficulty is solved by two recensions of vitae proph. published by Tischendorf in 1855 and based upon older Greek mss., in one of which the passage runs, "Nahum, son of Elkesaios, was of Jesbe of the tribe of Simeon"; and the other reads, "Nahum was from Elkese beyond Isbegabarin of the tribe of Simeon." The phrase "beyond Jordan" is thus shown to be a gloss. This is also supported by the citations from the Vitae incorporated in the Syriac translation of the OT. by Paul of Tella (617 A.D.), where the reading is "Nahum was of Elkosh, beyond BethGabre, of the tribe of Simeon" (v. Nestle, ZDPV. I, 122 f.= Pal. Explor. Fund's Quarterly Statement for 1879, p. 136; Idem, Marginalien und Materialien [1893], 43 f.). Beth-Gabre is the modern Beit-jibrîn, i. e. the ancient Eleutheropolis. About six miles E. of Beit-jibrîn, at the upper end of the Wady es-Sur, there is an old well named Bir elKaus, which might be a survival of Elkosh. This is an altogether suitable region for the prophet's home and may be tentatively adopted in lieu of a better-accredited claimant. This would make Nahum come from the same district as his predecessor Micah. An ingenious hypothesis is proposed by Hap., viz. that the following acrostic originally fell into two sections, the first including vv. 2-10. The opening word of this section was, the closing one was p. An editor attached as a descriptive heading to this section the words, "vision of Nahum from top." By later misunderstanding, the present text arose. method of designating a portion of a text is not elsewhere used in the OT. and it is difficult to account for the loss of the connecting prepositions. Such a § 2. THE AVENGING WRATH OF YAHWEH (12-10). A fragment of an acrostic poem, the fifteen lines of which begin with the successive letters of the Heb. alphabet in their natural order. Owing to the formal character of the poem, there is no clearly marked logical progress, nor organisation into strs.. The general thought concerns itself with the terrors of Yahweh's anger against his foes. In an ever-changing series of bold and striking metaphors, the poet seeks to create a vivid impression of this divine wrath and thus to quicken the faith and hope of those who have trusted in and obeyed Yahweh. (N) A jealous and avenging God is Yahweh, and filled with wrath. |