What's NAHUM about?

Summary

Nahum is one of the twelve short prophetic books, and was written when the northern part of Israel had been conquered by the Assyrians. The capital of Assyria was the huge ancient city of Ninevah, which in turn was conquered by the Babylonians. Nahum interprets the downfall of Ninevah as God's punishment for their having attacked the northern part of Israel. Of course, the reason for the attack by Assyria was God responding to the people having abandoned the God of justice.

Nahum is attributing to God the character of valuing justice and inclusion above all else, and therefore having to impose consequences for the people being unjust, but God's essential justice ensures that God will not punish forever.

How Nahum is important for us

The book challenges us to view international events of our time from the perspective of justice rather than from the perspective of pure power struggles.