I read through Nahum (the prophet) this morning. I’d studied Nahum’s oracle earlier in the year as part of my participation in The Kings & Prophets study at Wheaton EV Free. At any rate, I’m struck by the fact that Nahum writes this oracle based on a vision he has received of Ninevah (the capital of Assyria), but addresses his oracle to Judah. This comes around 650 BC. About 100 years after Jonah went to Ninevah. About 70 years after Ninevah destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel (aka Samaria). About 45 years before Babylon will lay siege to Jerusalem and the first of the three exiles. Clearly Nahum wasn’t warning Ninevah, though the oracle focuses on the judgment of Ninevah. It is hard to believe the Nahum is offering hope to Judah by providing assurance that God is going to deal with those pesky Ninevites. After all, Jerusalem’s behaviors are only mildly better - a problem for which her judgment is forthcoming. No, I think perhaps the purpose of this book is to let Judah know that the fall of Ninevah is (was) God’s doing. By delivering this prophecy Nahum provided his audience with proof that the eventual downfall of Ninevah (which came around 612 BC, I think) was God’s doing alone. The warning “the guilty might no means go unpunished” in Nahum chapter 1 would have then carried even more weight with the Jews guilty of neglecting God.