§ II. AUTHOR, Of the Prophet Nahum nothing definite is known but what he himself says. His name, which means "Comforter," does not occur elsewhere in the Bible, but is found, according to Gesenius (' Mon. Phren.,' pp. 134, 137), in Phronician inscriptions, and under the form Na.ovµ.o-. in one of Breckh's Greek inscriptions (' Corp. Inscript.,' iv. 3). He calls himself '' the El- koshite" (o 'EAK£ua'io-.). This is not a patronymic, but signifies "a native of Elkosh," or Elcesi, which, as Jerome says (' Prol. in Nab.'), was a small village in Galilee, well known to the Jews, but in his time showing very few traces of ancient buildings. It is supposed to be represented by the modern El-Kauzeh, a village a little eastward of Ramah in N aphtali. That Nahum was a native of Galilee is perhaps intimated by the name Caper- naum, which is interpreted, "village of Nahum," and by the faet that he shows special interest in the northern portion of the Holy Land, in his mention of Carmel, Lebanon, and Bashan, as languishing under the rebuke of God. It is probable that, when Esarhaddon repeopled the northern province with a mixed population imported from his own dominions, Nahum with many of his countrymen removed to Jndrea. This may have given direction to his oracle. There is, however, nothing pro- vincial in his language to serve as an indication of his locality, but we should judge that he must have removed from Galilee to J udrea, and uttered his prophecy in the latter province. A late tradition, mentioned by Asseman (' Bibi. Orient.,' i. 525; iii. 352), and adopted by some modern writers, maintains that Nahum was born in Assyria of parents who had been carried thither after the capture of Samaria, and that his sepulchre was to be found at Alkush, ten miles north of Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris, in which spot also, as the story goes, were buried Jonah, Obadiah, and Jephthah. "It is a place," says Layard (' Nineveh,' i. 233), " held in great reverence by Mohammedans and Christians, but especially by Jews, who keep the bnilding in repair, and flock here in great numbers at certain seasons of the year. The tomb is o. simple plaster box, covered with green cloth, and standing at the upper end of a large chamber. The house containing the tomb is a modern building. There are no inscriptions, nor fragments of any antiquity about the place." The story arose some two thousand years after the prophet's time, and was probably invented to Iv INTRODUOTION TO
1\.Ccount for his knowledge of Assyrian affairs, which was supposed to denote a resident and eye-witness, or else was founded simply on the similarity between the name of the village and that of his birthplace, Elkosh and Alkush were near enough in sound to suggest identity, and medimve.l tradition, credulous and uncritical, fastened upon the Assyrian village as the scene of Nahum's birth and labours, and it became a shrine for pilgrims' honour, with no more reason than in the case of Jonah and Obadiah. And as to Ewald's opinion that Nahum was born of parents living in captivity there, we have only to say that the Israelites were not deported to Assyria under Tiglath-Pileser, but into Media, Babylon, and Mesopotamia. That no one living in Canaan at that time could have exhibited Naham's acquaintance with Nineveh and its people, is an assertion utterly groundless. The know ledge displayed is not necessarily that of an eye-witness, and was donbtless also possessed by many Jews who had mixed with Gentiles, or had become acquainted with the foreign soldiers who had too often forced their way into the Holy Land. And if it be said that the prophecy is concerned wholly with Assyria, and contains little or no mention of Judrea, which could scarcely have been the case if the w1·iter had been resident in the latter country, it must be answered that the whole tenor of the ntterance is to 9-emonstrate the destruction of the power hostile to Jndah, the type of the most brutal form of heathendom, and to comfort the Hebrews with the assurance of final victory. But, say the critics, Nahum employs Assyrian words, which a Judrean could never have used. It is true that three such expressions have been found in eh. ii. 7 and iii. 17, bat they prove nothing in favour of the assumption. The first, huzzab, as it is given in our version, may be considered a Hebrew word taken as a verb, and rendered, "it is decreed," or "it is decided," but is more probably an appellative, as shown in the Exposition; the second is probably also a Hebrew word, derived from nazar, "to separate," and meaning "the crowned," or "the levied for war;" the third, taphsar, occurs in Jer. Ii 27, and is an Assyrian official 'title, which might well be known in J udrea, and is here used most appropriately. There is nothing, therefore, to negative the general opinion that Nahum was a native of Palestine, and exercised his prophetical office in that country.
§ III. DATE. The time when Nahum prophesied has always, till quite lately, been considered most uncertain, and critics have variously assigned it to dates differing as widely as those of Jehu and Zechariah. Ewald regards him as a prophet of the Captivity, arguing that the prominence given to Assyria, a.ud the merely cursory mention of Judah, could have proceeded only from a seer who was himself an exile from the promised land, and probably resident in the country which he denounces. It is obvi,ius to remark thut, commissioned a.a he was to prophesy against Nineveh, he must necessarily wake th~ the chief subject of bis utterances; and, in real·ity, comfort and THE BOOK OF NAHUM.