Nahum's name means “comforted,” or “the one com­forted.” But Nahum's message was anything but com­forting—at least to the people of Nineveh, to whom the message was directed.

Nahum had just one theme: the coming destruction of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. God's patience had finally run out: the pride, the cruelty, the idolatry—it must all be destroyed. And so Nahum thundered his message of doom. To him, the seas, the hills, the storms, the clouds, and the river were symbols of God's coming fury. The widespread brutality of the Assyrians would finally end.

Our world still lives with the problem of cruel dic­tatorships. So Nahum's message is still a timely one. Nations that show a monstrous disregard of God's princi­ples will be judged accordingly. Nahum's book is a terri­ble indictment of any nation that seeks glory by war and oppression. God still hates brutality, violence, and injustice.