" ... Nahum the Elkoshite." - Nahum 1:1
NAHUM - II
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Last week we talked about Nineveh, the city. This week, we will try to get a better understanding around the circumstances surrounding the oracle, beginning with the prophet.
Elkoshite, means of Elkosh… and that could mean his fathers/tribes name, or the geographic region he was from or currently residing. Scholars are divided on this issue, but the most popular views can be summarized as viewing it as a town, and located either in Israel ( Galilee, Jordan, Bethabara, Tibnin, Nablus) , or the city of AlQuosh in modern Iraq, located in the Nineveh Governorate, 45 km north of Mosul.
“ The name Alqosh may possibly trace back to the compound Assyrian-Akkadian name Eil-Kushtu, where Eil means “God”, and Kushtu means “righteousness” or “power”. Therefore, the village’s name would translate to "The God of Righteousness" or "The God of Power”. Some have put forward that the name originates from Assyrian Aramaic Eil Qushti, which means “The God of the Bow” or “Arched God”, possibly in reference to the village’s Assyrian history and the ancient Assyrian deity Ashur holding a bow.” - Wikipedia
We will go with the Al Quosh hypothesis for a couple of reasons :
1. The book of Jonah, details the lengths the LORD would go to, to get His message to both Jonah & the Ninevites, making sure, that it was delivered, in-person... and the journey is recorded for us. Nahum's prophecy, if it was a warning, must have been delivered in person as well. While we cannot be sure of this, it is something to think about, and Al Quosh is very close to Nineveh (no big fish for Nahum...).
2. From a timing and geography perspective, it makes perfect sense. The Assyrian empire waxed to its zenith in Nahums' time , stretching from Babylon to Israel and Egypt, and the main cities were Asshur (the traditional capital), Nineveh, Al Quosh, and Harran (Lot's hometown). Checkout the map of the Assyrian empire prior to the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC online, and you will be surprised.
AlQuosh would be in the perfect center of all the goings on!
We have previously remarked on the geo-strategic significance of these cities of the plain, Babylon, Asshur, Nineveh,... Moscow lying directly north of these places. They have been roiled with constant conflict... from World Wars, to the Balkans, to the fights now occurring in the Ukraine.
The history of the Assyrians is even stranger. The King ruled as a --representative-- of the god Asshur, and was first among equals in a council that ruled the city, run by the city elders (usually wealthy businessmen).
Trade was first elevated to an art form in Assyria, and the nation was run by corporate interests, including the military! ?
The empire ranged from the Persian Gulf, to the Mediterranean, and northward from the Black Sea, to Egypt... sitting on the rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates, and trading with the entire ancient world.
This was the situation in which the Word of the LORD, came to Nahum.
What a contrast! A huge civilization, with its origins in antiquity, complex, far flung, and ONE almost ANONYMOUS man....
The Bible is so unique its vision and sweep across the ages, to the foibles and failings of INDIVIDUAL humans, as they struggle to come to grips with the TRUE GOD!
If you ever needed assurance that God sees you in your situation, the Bible tells you, HE DOES!!
What made the LORD pick him? His schooling? His family? He just happened to be close to Nineveh in Al Quosh?
---- It is v interesting that WE DO NOT KNOW!!! and this is true of many of the "Minor" prophets. These were ----not----- formal members of the priesthood...
"Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: And the LORD took me as I ---followed the flock---, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. " - Amos 7:14,15
This is a pattern too... little is known about Hosea, Joel might have been a farmer for whom locusts were a personal symbol as well, Obadiah, all we know of Micah is that he was from Moresheth, Habbakuk is just called a prophet....
( Sidebar : there is also another interesting qualification...
David was the least of his fathers sons, and also a tender of sheep. Jacob, kept sheep for a wife, Moses kept literal sheep for 40 years in the wilderness before leading the people of Israel. Christ called himself the Good Shepherd.
Why? Because taking care of suicidal, ornery sheep is THE training ground for leaders that truly CARE for their flock. Sheep are trouble for everyone that tries to raise and keep them, including the shepherd, who literally, had to give His Life for their ignorance... )
The Word of the LORD is like water underground, or seed growing secretly. You cannot see the magic happening, but when it bursts forth, it is a wonderful thing!
We will turn to the prophecy itself next, but we hope you spend some time looking up the places mentioned today, and familiarizing yourself with the history of Assyria ... the coolest things are the lions with eagles wings and human faces... one wonders where those images came from!!
Have a blessed week, and know that God is always near to you, and in your heart, if His Word lives there!
Hallelujah!