Meaning of NAHUM

"compassionate".
(a) Prophet born in Elcos, undoubtedly a town in Canaan. Nahum does not address the ten deported tribes, but rather Judah (Nah. 1:15).

It is found among the minor prophets, in seventh position, after Micah and before Habakkuk and Zephaniah, which is an indication that this book must have been written between the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah and the end of that of Josiah (Mt. 1 :1; Zeph. 1:1).

Nahum cites the destruction of No-amon (Thebes) in Egypt (Nah. 3:8-10), destroyed by the Assyrians in 663 BC. He predicted the fall of Nineveh (Nah. 3:7), which took place in 612 B.C. Thus, the book has to be situated between these two events. Kuenen suggests that the siege of Cyaxares before Nineveh, in the year 623, was the occasion for the utterance of the prophecy. At this time, the inhabitants of Judah were discouraged because of the insistent raids of the Assyrians.

(b) Ancestor of Christ; was born a little less than three centuries before Him.