Runboard.com
Слава Україні!
Community logo


runboard.com       Sign up (learn about it) | Sign in (lost password?)

 
Elim10 Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Registered user

Registered: 10-2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 178
Karma: 7 (+7/-0)
Reply | Quote
Question


I'm just wondering.When do you suppose the book of Nahum was written and how do you know?


Was it 620 B.C.,615 B.C.,or 612 B.C.?

---
We pass out paper facts all week but they won't come around
Apologetic reasoning,but they won't come around,come around
There's only one way they'll come around and it's love ~ Jimmy Needham
2/12/2009, 5:45 pm Link to this post Send PM to Elim10
 
Tim Callahan Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Administrator

Registered: 09-2008
Posts: 387
Karma: 15 (+16/-1)
Reply | Quote
Re: Question


Of course, the book can be no later than 612, when Nineveh fell. We have a clue to the earliest it could be written. Nahum 3:8 - 10 refers to the destruction of the Egyptian city of Thebes in the past tense. Since it was destroyed in 663, the book had to have been written after that date.

Boyond those two absolutes we have the following indication of the state of affairs that may refer to what was the present when Nahum was written. Nahum 3:13 says:

Behold, your troops
      are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
      are wide open to your foes;
      fire has devoured your bars.

This would seem to refer to a time when the empire was tottering, some time after the death of Ashurbanipul in 625. However, given the book's poetic character, it is possible that the present is a metaphorical present. Still, the picture painted throughout this short book is an empire in chaos. There is nothing like, "You are mighty now, but your fall will be great." So, I would place the writting of the book after the death of Ashurbanipul in 625.

However, the picture of Assyria in decline could refer to a period well before Ashurbanipul's death. Psamtic I, whom Ashurbanipul had made tributary king of Egypt after the destruction of Thebes in 663, repudiated Assyrian overlordship in 653, and the Asyrians were unable to muster an expedition to retake Egypt. That in itself was a sign of decay.

Also, beginning in 634, the Scythians, formerly mercenary auxiliaries in the pay f the Assyrians, began ravaging the provinces west of the Euphrates. So, the signs that Assyrian power was begining to break up began in 653 and worsened steadily after 634.

Whether Nahum was written circa 653, 634 or 625, it was written in a period of Assyrian decline, a decline the was precipitous.

Tim


Last edited by Tim Callahan, 2/22/2009, 2:18 am
2/12/2009, 9:51 pm Link to this post Send Email to Tim Callahan   Send PM to Tim Callahan
 


Add a reply





You are not logged in (login)