Book of Nahum - The Discourse of Nahum

The Discourse of Nahum

The book was introduced in Calvin's Commentary as a complete and finished poem:

No one of the minor Prophets seems to equal the sublimity, the vehemence and the boldness of Nahum: besides, his Prophecy is a complete and finished poem; his exordium is magnificent, and indeed majestic; the preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its ruin, and its greatness, are expressed in most vivid colors, and possess admirable perspicuity and fulness. —Rev. John Owen, translator, Calvin's Commentary on Jonah, Micah, Nahum

Nahum, taking words from Moses himself, have shown in a general way what sort of "Being God is". The Reformation theologian Calvin argued, Nahum painted God by which his nature must be seen, and "it is from that most memorable vision, when God appeared to Moses after the breaking of the tables."

Nahum's writings could be taken as prophecy or as history. One account suggests that his writings are a prophecy written in about 615 BC, just before the downfall of Assyria, while another account suggests that he wrote this passage as liturgy just after its downfall in 612 BC.

The book could be seen as an allusion to the history as described by Moses; for the minor Prophets, in promising God’s assistance to his people, must often remind how God in a miraculous manner brought up the Jews from Egypt.