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Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
By Julia M. O'Brien Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2004 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-5054-0
CHAPTER 1
Commentary: Nahum
Superscription (1:1)
The superscription to the book of Nahum does not mention the prophet's time period or his place of current residency. Instead, it gives (1) three nouns describing the content of the book (massa', seper, and hazôn); (2) the target of the message; and (3) the name and the geographical origin of the prophet. Together, this material establishes for the reader the divine origin and historical context of the material to follow.
Literary Analysis
Nahum's designation as a massa', "an oracle," connects it with a network of other texts. The same term introduces collections that begin at Zech 9:1, 12:1; Mal 1:1; and, more important, the extended diatribes against foreign nations in Isa 13–23. The Isaiah texts are Oracles against the Nations (OAN), a common prophetic genre in which the prophet announces God's intentions toward nations other than Israel and Judah. The term massa' does not by itself reveal that Nahum fits the OAN genre, since not all OAN texts begin with massa' and not all prophecies marked as massa' are OANs. In being directed against Nineveh, however, Nahum reveals that it is both a massa' and an OAN, the only collection outside of Isa 13–23 that fits both categories.
All massa' texts are characterized by a strong dichotomy between "us" and "them": the wicked stand opposed to the righteous (Hab 1:4; Mal 3:18), and the nations stand opposed to Jerusalem (Zech 9, 12). The label massa', then, invokes a literary world in which punishment for the wicked is necessary for the salvation of the righteous, and it clues its reader to expect harsh words for "them" and promises of salvation for "us."
Exegetical Analysis
The best translation of the term massa' is debated, as reflected in the difference between the NRSV "oracle" and the KJV "burden." A noun form of the verbal root ns', to "lift up," massa' is variously understood (a) to assume "the voice" as its object, thus signifying a technical term for prophecy (best rendered as "oracle"); or (b) to refer to anything that is lifted up ("burden"). Vigorous discussion about the "proper" meaning of the term can be found throughout commentaries, but Jer 23:33-40 suggests that ancient hearers were aware of the connections between the two terms; thus, even if massa' were a technical term for a prophetic utterance, its aural association with "heaviness, burden" would have been common for ancient hearers and readers.
In addition to being described as an "oracle," Nahum is also designated as a seper. The English term "book," by which it is translated, implies one particular technology of collecting writing materials: a bound collection of loose pages, properly termed a "codex." The Hebrew term seper does not carry the same set of associations. In the Bible, it refers to any written document, including a letter; the codex form does not appear until a much later period. Although other prophetic materials are linked with writing (Jer 36:2; Hab 2:2; Ezek 3), no other prophetic superscription identifies the material to follow as a seper. Such an identification not only demonstrates that, as R. Smith suggests, "Nahum is self-consciously a piece of literature" (Smith 1984, 71), but also sets reading boundaries. Authority resides not in the vision itself, not in the experience of a prophet named Nahum, but in the words and letters bounded by the beginning and ending of these particular words.
More precisely, Nahum is called the book of a "vision" (hazôn). On first reading, it appears ironic that the only prophetic material called a book also is described as the result of a vision—a seeming contradiction of media—yet much of the prophetic literature portrays itself as a written version of what a prophet has perceived by the eye or the ear. The frequent use of prophetic messenger speech, "thus says Yahweh," reinforces that perception, as does the frequent use of the term "vision" to characterize what the prophets proclaim.
The word hazôn appears only in the prophetic books, in which it is used almost exclusively for prophecy; its only other referent is to a "night vision" (Isa 29:7). Isaiah and Obadiah are also labeled visions in their superscriptions, and 2 Chr 32:32 calls the book of Isaiah the "vision of the prophet Isaiah." The superscriptions of Amos, Micah, and Habbakuk (which, like Nahum, is also called a massa' ) refer to what the prophet "saw," using the related verbal form hazah. The word hazôn refers not simply to data registered by the eyes, but rather to truth made known by God, as Jer 23:16 makes clear: "They [false prophets] speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord." In apocalyptic contexts, where it is especially prevalent (hazôn appears eleven times in the book of Daniel), it implies an ecstatic vision of the future.
Described both as an "oracle" and as "a book of the vision," Nahum thus opens with two independent phrases describing its contents. Scholars often view a composite introduction as an indication that two independent collections of prophetic materials have been brought together. Amos 1:1, for example, heaps up clauses of introduction, raising the possibility of preliminary collections of (a) the words of Amos, preserved in chapters 1–6; and (b) the visions that he saw concerning Israel, preserved in chapters 7–9. Nahum's dual superscription may suggest that two collections have been merged, or perhaps that multiple headings were given to the book over time. Nogalski suggests that the first (massa') was the original title of the book and that the second (seper hazôn) was added later (Nogalski 1993, 100).
The superscription bears not only these labels but also an indication of the target of the prophet's message. The identification of Nineveh here is important, since Nineveh is not mentioned again until 2:8 (Heb. 2:9). As discussed in the introduction to Nahum, Nineveh was the capital of the powerful neo-Assyrian empire, known throughout the ancient world for its military prowess and fierce warfare practices. Its art and literature affected a "calculated frightfulness" (Grayson 1992, 748). Clarifying that the prophet's words were against this evil empire prepares the reader for the harsh words ahead.
The name Nahum, which follows, may be either a noun meaning "comfort" or a shortened form of Nehemiah, "Yahweh has given comfort." Other names taken from the same Hebrew root appear in the Bible and in related ancient Near Eastern cultures. While most commentators draw no connection between the name and the message of the book, it is indeed appropriate—if at first glance ironic—that a message of such devastation is spoken by one who brings comfort. In the literary world of the OAN and of the massa', harsh words directed against "them" are intended as comfort for "us," striving to convince the reader that an unjust world is soon to be rectified.
Nahum is described as the "Elkoshi," that is, one from the town of Elkosh; Micah's superscription gives a similar kind of designation by identifying Micah as a Moreshite (Mic 1:1). Some scholars have attempted to locate the city in Galilee or in southwestern Judah or even near Nineveh, though the only evidence for its location is derived from the book of Nahum itself. Literally, "Elkoshi" means "the God who makes hard," utilizing the same verb used throughout Exodus to describe the "hardening" of Pharaoh's heart—certainly an evocative etymology in such a "hard," "burdensome" book.
Theological Analysis
Nahum's superscription sets the tone of the book, inviting the reader to interpret what follows as divine will communicated in a particular time and place and to hear its harshness against Nineveh as a word of comfort to Israel. That Nineveh, the ultimate powerhouse of the ancient Near East, is its addressee also suggests that whatever anger God will direct its way will be deserved.
In dealing with the violence of the book of Nahum, some interpreters have drawn comfort in the fact that Nahum's portrait of Nineveh's destruction is labeled not a "word of Yahweh," but rather a vision, which could imply that it is less a concrete battle plan to be waged against the Assyrians than an orienting perspective or fantasy of the fate that awaits all who stand in opposition to God. Such an interpretation might be bolstered by the fact that the only other stand-alone Oracle against the Nations—the book of Obadiah—is also described as a vision.
However, the violence of these books is not so easily controlled by their description as a vision. In Obadiah, for example, the book's description as a "vision" is followed by "thus says Yahweh." Moreover, as we have seen, hazôn is nearly synonymous with prophecy, much of which is very concrete and immediate in its focus (for example, Isa 1:1; 1 Chr 17:15).
Nahum's opening, therefore, introduces its reader into an ethically dualistic world. It encourages its reader to understand the book as divine response to the problem of evil.
A God of Power and Might (1:2-10)
In Nah 1:2-10, the might and power of Yahweh are described in a classic theophany: God marches as a Divine Warrior to crush enemies and rescue friends. Nineveh, mentioned in the superscription, is the most obvious target of Yahweh's anger, but the literary style of the unit suggests that all do well to align themselves with God.
Literary Analysis
This second unit of the book of Nahum is a complex one. Its ending point is debated, variously defined as 1:8, 1:10, and 1:14.
The case for ending the unit at 1:8 has been made by various scholars since the 1850s who argue that Nah 1:2-8 is a partial alphabetic acrostic, its lines successively beginning with the first eleven letters of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph through kaph. This theory has formed so great a consensus that the most popular modern Hebrew Bible, the BHS, prints the alphabetic sequence in the margin of the text.
Floyd (1994), however, has pointed to the difficulties with understanding Nah 1 in this way. To discern even an incomplete acrostic, scholars must emend the text in ways that are not otherwise necessary or desirable—for example, in 1:4, changing a word beginning with aleph to a word beginning with dalet. Floyd suggests that the apparent acrostic is more coincidental than a deliberate compositional strategy.
Floyd also argues the structural coherence of the larger unit of 1:2-10, demonstrating how both 1:6 and 1:9 follow general descriptions with rhetorical questions and how 1:11 signals a new unit by a change in addressee. Nahum 1:9-10 follows the portrait of the divine majesty with a punch line: why would anyone oppose such a powerful deity?
In its description of the character of God, Nah 1:2 employs a series of present participles: Yahweh is "the jealous one," "the vengeful one," "the one who rages." In Nah 1:3a, adjectives perform the same durative function: "Yahweh [is] slow of anger, and [is] great of strength." The one verbal form ("he will indeed not acquit," 1:3a AT) is imperfect, that mood in Hebrew reserved for incomplete, and often continuing, action. By their style, these verbs suggest eternal, changeless features of Yahweh's character.
A series of literary techniques further focuses the reader's attention on Yahweh's vengeance. "Repetition" situates vengeance as the structural and topical center of Nah 1:2: "the vengeful one [is] Yahweh" (AT) appears three times. Allusion also highlights Yahweh's vengeance. Nahum 1:2-3 quotes the most frequent and fundamental characterization of Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible. Found in Num 14:18; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Pss 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; and Neh 9:17 as well, its classic formulation appears in Exod 34:6-7:
Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.
In comparison with Exod 34:6-7, Nahum omits mention of God's mercy, covenant loyalty, and forgiveness and focuses solely on God's vengeance. Nahum 1:3 draws a strong dichotomy between God's friends and God's enemies: God is "slow to anger" and "will not acquit." Further underscoring the dichotomy, 1:6-7 explains that no one can withstand the inferno of God's anger and that God is a place of safety for those who take refuge in divine protection.
Vivid imagery and simile assist the unit in portraying Yahweh as a fierce, unstoppable warrior. Nature itself trembles before Yahweh's advance: mountains quake, the earth lifts up, and rocks break. Yahweh's anger is like fire (1:6), and those who oppose Yahweh are like intertwined thorns and drunkards (1:10). Together, these features stress Yahweh's power. Even though problematic to translate, Nah 1:10 is highly alliterative. Literally reading "like unto intertwined thorns and like their drinking, drunkards, [they are] eaten up like chaff dry full," the verse in Hebrew is full of s, b, and k sounds (sebukîm ûkesob'am sebû'îm).
Exegetical Analysis
Nahum 1:2-8 constitutes a theophany—a description of a visible appearance of God. Here, as in similar Old Testament passages (Judg 5; 2 Sam 22; Ps 18; Hab 3; Amos 1; Isa 29), God appears in a storm: mountains and hills shake, and the earth heaves (Nah 1:5). This imagery of cosmic shaking is frequent in biblical texts that describe God as the Divine Warrior. As helpfully schematized by Hiebert (1992), the Divine Warrior motif evolved over time. Although early Divine Warrior texts (such as Exod 15 and Deut 33) draw from common ancient Near Eastern mythological motifs to portray a deity who triumphs against cosmic forces, and although during the monarchy the images were used to bolster the praise of the Davidic king (as in Ps 18), the distinctive contribution of the prophetic materials was to portray the Divine Warrior as fighting against anyone—both foreign nations and the people themselves. The description in Nahum certainly fits the prophetic model: the Divine Warrior storms in to defeat all opposition.
Here, as in Hab 3, the language resonates with ancient Near Eastern mythological motifs. In both Canaanite and Babylonian mythologies, the world was formed as the result of combat between gods. In the Canaanite account, the god Baal fought and defeated Yamm (Sea) to create order in the world; in the Babylonian myth, the god Marduk slew the chaos monster Tiamat and created the heaven and the earth from her body. In Nahum, Yahweh exerts might by rebuking the sea and drying up rivers. Yahweh also withers Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon, areas famed for fertile land.
Nahum 1:8 is difficult to translate, literally rendered "in a flood overflowing an end he will make, her place, and his enemies he will pursue darkness." Attempting to read with the MT, ASV translates the verse "he will make a full end of her place," and similar translations are NASB ("its site") and NKJV ("its place"). The NIV assumes that "her place" refers to Nineveh and adds the proper name to the text. Both RSV and NRSV follow the reading of the Septuagint: "He will make a full end to his adversaries." These translations, however, do not solve the problem of 1:8. Elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, when used with an object, the phrase "make an end of" takes a "helping" preposition. In cases such as this one in which the phrase appears without a preposition (Isa 10:23; Neh 9:31), it takes no object. As elsewhere in Nahum, the reader is kept guessing about identities and about the precise message of the passage, unclear about the target of Yahweh's anger.
The flood imagery of 1:8 fits well with the Divine Warrior motif. "The flood" represents unstoppable devastation, as in Dan 11:10 and 9:26, the latter close in wording to Nahum: "The troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war" (Dan 9:26). Numerous Divine Warrior texts, including Jer 47:2, also describe devastation as a "flood" (NRSV: "torrent").
Nahum 1:9-10 introduces a problem that plagues the book: pronouns shift in gender and number and often lack clear antecedents. Who, for example, are "you" (1:9), "he" (1:8, 9), and "they" (1:10)? Different than in the unit to follow, "you" is here masculine plural and best understood generically: given Yahweh's impressive might, what can anyone plot against the deity? "He" most logically refers to Yahweh, the one who pursues and makes an end to enemies.
Theological Analysis
Literarily, if not historically, the problem underlying the book of Nahum is the perceived evil of the Assyrians. In a cultural world in which the defeat of a city was seen as defeat of its god, the success of the Assyrian armies was a theological problem: can Yahweh be in charge if hostile armies threaten Judah? Other biblical books wrestle with similar questions and offer diverse answers. Isaiah, for example, claims that the Assyrians are successful because God is temporarily using them as an instrument of punishment against Judah. Habakkuk maintains that those who wait patiently will see the similarly evil Babylonians punished. Apocalyptic materials such as Daniel suggest that the ultimate defeat of evil will come in a future time.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi by Julia M. O'Brien. Copyright © 2004 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
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