Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi [1 ed.] 9781405176750, 9781444342796, 9781444342826, 9781444342802, 140517675X

Table of contents :
Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries
Contents
List of Illustrations
Series Editors’ Preface
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
I Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah
Introduction
The Three Among the Twelve
The Manner of Presentation
1 Nahum
Nahum in Literature
Nahum in the Arts
Nahum in Worship
Nahum 1: The Avenging God
Nahum 2: Destruction of Nineveh
Nahum 3: Woe Oracle against the City of Bloodshed
2 Habakkuk
Habakkuk in Literature
Habakkuk in the Arts
Habakkuk in Worship
Habakkuk 1: The Prophet’s Lament and God’s Reply
Habakkuk 2: God’s Counsel of Faith and Woe Oracles
Habakkuk 3: The Prophet’s Prayer
3 Zephaniah
Zephaniah in the Arts
Zephaniah and Dies Irae
Zephaniah in Worship
Zephaniah 1: The Divine Justice and the Day of the Lord
Zephaniah 2: Oracles against the Nations
Zephaniah 3: The Remnant of Israel and the Joy of the Lord
II Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi
Introduction
Linkages
4 Haggai
Haggai 1
Haggai 2
5 Zechariah
Zechariah 1
Zechariah 2
Zechariah 3–4
Zechariah 5
Zechariah 6
Zechariah 7
Zechariah 8
Zechariah 9–14
Zechariah 11–13
Zechariah 14
6 Malachi
Malachi 1
Malachi 2
Malachi 3
Malachi 4
Glossary
Brief Biographies
Bibliography
Online Sources (Select)
Index of Biblical References
Index of Names and Subjects

Citation preview

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Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries

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Blackwell Bible Commentaries Series Editors: John Sawyer, Christopher Rowland, Judith Kovacs, David M. Gunn John Through the Centuries Mark Edwards Revelation Through the Centuries Judith Kovacs and Christopher Rowland Judges Through the Centuries David M. Gunn Exodus Through the Centuries Scott M. Langston Ecclesiastes Through the Centuries Eric S. Christianson Esther Through the Centuries Jo Carruthers

Psalms Through the Centuries: Volume I Susan Gillingham Galatians Through the Centuries John Riches Pastoral Epistles Through the Centuries Jay Twomey 1 & 2 Thessalonians Through the Centuries Anthony C. Thiselton Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han

Forthcoming 1 & 2 Samuel Through the Centuries David M. Gunn 1 & 2 Kings Through the Centuries Martin O’Kane Psalms Through the Centuries: Volume II Susan Gillingham Song of Songs Through the Centuries Fiona Black Isaiah Through the Centuries John F. A. Sawyer Jeremiah Through the Centuries Mary Chilton Callaway Lamentations Through the Centuries Paul M. Joyce and Diane Lipton Ezekiel Through the Centuries Andrew Mein Jonah Through the Centuries Yvonne Sherwood Mark Through the Centuries Christine Joynes

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The Acts of the Apostles Through the Centuries By Mikeal C. Parsons and Heidi J. Hornik Romans Through the Centuries Paul Fiddes 1 Corinthians Through the Centuries Jorunn Okland Hebrews Through the Centuries John Lyons James Through the Centuries David Gowler Genesis 1–21 Through the Centuries Christopher Heard Genesis 22–50 Through the Centuries Christopher Heard Deuteronomy Through the Centuries Jonathan Campbell Daniel Through the Centuries Dennis Tucker

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&

Jin H. Han

Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries

Richard Coggins

A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication

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This edition first published 2011 © 2011 Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell. Registered Office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coggins, R. J., 1929– Six minor prophets through the centuries : Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi / Richard Coggins, Jin H. Han. p. cm. – (Blackwell bible commentaries ; 29) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-7675-0 (hardback) 1. Bible. O.T. Minor Prophets–Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Han, Jin Hee. II. Title. BS1560.C54 2011 224′.907–dc22 2011010585 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDFs ISBN 9781444342796; oBook ISBN 9781444342826; ePub ISBN 9781444342802 Set in 10/12.5pt Minion by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India 1

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2011

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To our families

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Contents

List of Illustrations Series Editors’ Preface Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations

I

Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah

x xii xiv xvi xx 1

Jin H. Han

Introduction The Three Among the Twelve The Manner of Presentation

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3 3 5

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viii

1

Contents

Nahum Nahum in Literature Nahum in the Arts Nahum in Worship Nahum 1: The Avenging God Nahum 2: Destruction of Nineveh Nahum 3: Woe Oracle against the City of Bloodshed

2

Habakkuk Habakkuk in Literature Habakkuk in the Arts Habakkuk in Worship Habakkuk 1: The Prophet’s Lament and God’s Reply Habakkuk 2: God’s Counsel of Faith and Woe Oracles Habakkuk 3: The Prophet’s Prayer

3

Zephaniah Zephaniah in the Arts Zephaniah and Dies Irae Zephaniah in Worship Zephaniah 1: The Divine Justice and the Day of the Lord Zephaniah 2: Oracles against the Nations Zephaniah 3: The Remnant of Israel and the Joy of the Lord

II Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

6 9 11 14 15 27 30 36 38 42 47 50 58 73 92 95 96 99 100 109 114 127

Richard Coggins

Introduction Linkages

4

Haggai Haggai 1 Haggai 2

5

Zechariah Zechariah 1 Zechariah 2 Zechariah 3–4 Zechariah 5

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129 130 135 140 142 150 152 154 157 162

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Contents ix

6

Zechariah 6 Zechariah 7 Zechariah 8 Zechariah 9–14 Zechariah 11–13 Zechariah 14

164 167 167 169 177 183

Malachi

186 188 193 195 198

Malachi 1 Malachi 2 Malachi 3 Malachi 4 Glossary Brief Biographies Bibliography Online Sources (Select) Index of Biblical References Index of Names and Subjects

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202 206 214 248 251 262

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Illustrations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. xxii Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. xxii Fall of Nineveh. Poster for an American educational entertainment. 13 Opening page of the book of Nahum. 16 “The mountains shall quake” (Nah. 1:5). 21 Habakkuk (Lo Zuccone), by Donatello (original). 45 Donatello’s Habakkuk (Lo Zuccone), on the campanile of the Duomo, Florence (copy). 45 8 Habakkuk and the Angel, by Bernini. 47 9 “Their horses are swifter than leopards” (Hab. 1:8). 55 10 The song of faith (Hab. 3:17–18). 89

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List of Illustrations 11 “Those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens” (Zeph. 1:5). 12 The destruction of Assyria and Nineveh foretold (Zeph. 2:13). 13 Nineveh, “the exultant city that lived secure” (Zeph. 2:15). 14 Song of joy (Zeph. 3:14–20). 15 Haggai, by Pisano. 16 Haggai addresses the people (Hag. 1:13). 17 Haggai addresses Zerubbabel and Joshua (Hag. 2:2). 18 Haggai urges the building of the Second Temple (Hag. 1:3). 19 Zechariah, by Michelangelo. 20 Zechariah’s vision of the four horns (Zech. 1:18–19). 21 Zechariah’s vision of the flying scroll (Zech. 5:1–2). 22 Zechariah’s vision of the four chariots, by Doré (Zech. 6:1–8). 23 “Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem … . And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing” (Zech. 8:4–5). 24 The entry into Jerusalem (Zech. 9:9). 25 The great mourning of Hadad-rimmon (Zech. 12:11). 26 Zechariah, in the sculpture The Well of Moses, by Sluter. 27 Presentation of Christ in the Temple with the Prophets Solomon and Malachi, by Duccio. 28 The great day of the Lord (Mal. 4).

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xi

103 112 113 121 137 142 143 144 152 155 163 165

168 176 179 181 196 199

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Series Editors’ Preface The Blackwell Bible Commentaries series, the first to be devoted primarily to the reception history of the Bible, is based on the premise that how people have interpreted, and been influenced by, a sacred text like the Bible is often as interesting and historically important as what it originally meant. The series emphasizes the influence of the Bible on literature, art, music, and film, its role in the evolution of religious beliefs and practices, and its impact on social and political developments. Drawing on work in a variety of disciplines, it is designed to provide a convenient and scholarly means of access to material until now hard to find, and a much-needed resource for all those interested in the influence of the Bible on western culture.

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Series Editors’ Preface

xiii

Until quite recently this whole dimension was for the most part neglected by biblical scholars. The goal of a commentary was primarily if not exclusively to get behind the centuries of accumulated Christian and Jewish tradition to one single meaning, normally identified with the author’s original intention. The most important and distinctive feature of the Blackwell Commentaries is that they will present readers with many different interpretations of each text, in such a way as to heighten their awareness of what a text, especially a sacred text, can mean and what it can do, what it has meant and what it has done, in the many contexts in which it operates. The Blackwell Bible Commentaries will consider patristic, rabbinic (where relevant), and medieval exegesis as well as insights from various types of modern criticism, acquainting readers with a wide variety of interpretative techniques. As part of the history of interpretation, questions of source, date, authorship, and other historical-critical and archaeological issues will be discussed, but since these are covered extensively in existing commentaries, such references will be brief, serving to point readers in the direction of readily accessible literature where they can be followed up. Original to this series is the consideration of the reception history of specific biblical books arranged in commentary format. The chapter-by-chapter arrangement ensures that the biblical text is always central to the discussion. Given the wide influence of the Bible and the richly varied appropriation of each biblical book, it is a difficult question which interpretations to include. While each volume will have its own distinctive point of view, the guiding principle for the series as a whole is that readers should be given a representative sampling of material from different ages, with emphasis on interpretations that have been especially influential or historically significant. Though commentators will have their preferences among the different interpretations, the material will be presented in such a way that readers can make up their own minds on the value, morality, and validity of particular interpretations. The series encourages readers to consider how the biblical text has been interpreted down the ages and seeks to open their eyes to different uses of the Bible in contemporary culture. The aim is to write a series of scholarly commentaries that draw on all the insights of modern research to illustrate the rich interpretative potential of each biblical book. John Sawyer Christopher Rowland Judith Kovacs David M. Gunn

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Preface A singular meaning of a text is like a mirage that quenches no one’s thirst. Ecclesiastical authorities and academic establishments may marshal a certain interpretation as authoritative, dismissing alternative readings as misleading, subversive, or plainly wrong. However, the study of reception history reveals that some of the most creative and interesting readings are the ones outlawed by authorities in churches and scholarship. This commentary on the last six of the Minor Prophets (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) in the Blackwell Bible Commentaries continues the celebration of the riches in various forms of biblical interpretation, gazing into the ways social and cultural contexts nurtured the hermeneutical process interacting with creative human spirits.

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Preface xv Occasionally these Minor Prophets, partly because of their traditional nomenclature, have been mistakenly regarded as less important parts of the Bible. While the Major Prophets and even a few other Minor Prophets may have had a more illustrious reception history than these six Minor Prophets, the multifaceted use of the latter can be observed in various interpretive settings that range from historical documents to the arts and literature. Readers will recognize divergent approaches that we have taken to our commentaries. It was long after Richard completed his manuscript on HaggaiZechariah-Malachi that Jin was assigned Nahum-Habakkuk-Zephaniah. Soon it became clear that it would be most advantageous to have the two parts combined so that readers might have the benefit of having the reception history of these six Minor Prophets readily available in one volume. We believe that our differences in style and approach will illustrate our testimony to the richness of reception history. In addition, we hope that readers may sense our shared deference to this new way of experiencing the biblical text. Richard Coggins Jin H. Han

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Acknowledgments I was first asked to contribute to this very interesting series in about 1997. I worked on Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, and completed what is now the substance of those chapters of this book by 2002. I had already realized that it would not be feasible, in retirement and far from any research library, to do justice to the other prophets, and it was with great pleasure that I heard in around 2007, that the editors had been able to persuade Jin H. Han to work on Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. My thanks to Jin H. Han for all his work. I would also like to thank everyone at Wiley-Blackwell for their professional work on this project. Richard Coggins

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Acknowledgments

xvii

While it is impossible to list everyone who helped in this project, I feel a special obligation to convey my sincere gratitude to Professors J. J. M. Roberts, C. Leong Seow, Norbert Lohfink, Helmut Engel, Markus Witte, Julia O’Brien, Robert Owens, John Sawyer, David Gunn, and Christopher Rowland; faculty, staff, and students at New York Theological Seminary and General Theological Seminary; the Jesuit community at Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt am Main; Frau Beate Müller and other librarians of Wissenschaftlich-Theologisches Seminar and Institut für Europäische Kunstgeshichte of the University of Heidelberg; librarians of the Bodleian Libraries of Oxford University; librarians and staff of the Center for the Study of Religion, the Index of Christian Art, Firestone and Marquand Libraries of Princeton University; librarians of Speer Library of Princeton Theological Seminary; and librarians of Burke and Butler Libraries of Columbia University. I express appreciation to the Warner Fund at the University Seminars at Columbia University for their help in publication, and material in this work was presented to the University Seminar: Religion in America. Thanks are also due to editors at Wiley-Blackwell and Judith Walker Mullin, who proofread every line with meticulous care. Finally, this book made me realize how much I owe to my parents, my wife Kyoung and our children, Eurie, Justine, and Danielle, who have given me a gracious reason to treasure life. Jin H. Han

Illustrations The authors and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce copyright material. Figure 1: 1930. La Bible: Version Synodale. Édition de l’année 1930 de la Concorde à Lausanne. La Société Biblique de France, à Paris. Large octavo. Figure 2: 1930. La Bible: Version Synodale. Édition de l’année 1930 de la Concorde à Lausanne. La Société Biblique de France, à Paris. Large octavo. Figure 3: The Fall of Nineveh. Adam Forepaugh Shows. 1982. From the Collection of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio. Courtesy of Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Figure 4: 1870. Cassell’s Illustrated Bible . . . Illustrated with More than Nine Hundred Highly Finished Engravings. Springfield, Mass. and Chicago, Ill: W. J. Holland & Co. U.S. edition; first published in London. Figure 5: 1839. Scripture History, Designed for the Improvement of Youth, by the Rev. A[lexander] Fletcher. London: George Virtue. 24mo. Figure 6: Donatello (Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi 1386–1466): Habakkuk – 13 × 18 (1) detail (head from the side). Florence, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. © 2010. Photo Scala, Florence.

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xviii Acknowledgments Figure 7: Habakkuk, Donatello, Lo Zuccone (in situ). Used by permission of Justine Han. Figure 8: Bernini, Gian Lorenzo (1598–1680): Habakkuk and the Angel. Rome, 13 × 18 Church of Santa Maria del Popola. © 2011. Photo Scala, Florence/ Fondo Edifici di Culto – Min. dell’Interno. Figure 9: 1735. Physical Sacra. By Johann Jacob Scheuchzer. First published with Latin text in Amsterdam, 1731–1735. Folio, with over 750 full-page copper engravings made under the direction of Johann Andreas Pfeffel. This plate is from the French edition, Physique Sacree, ou Histoire Naturelle de la Bible, vol. 7, 1735. Figure 10: c.1709. ’T Groot Waerelds Tafereel [The great tableau of the world] with engravings by Romeyn de Hooghe. Folio. Third edition. Amsterdam: J. Lindenberg. Figure 11: 1870. Cassell’s Illustrated Bible . . . Illustrated with More than Nine Hundred Highly Finished Engravings. Springfield, Mass. and Chicago, Ill: W. J. Holland & Co. U.S. edition; first published in London. Figure 12: [1851]. Tallis’ Illustrated Scripture History for the Improvement of Youth. By the Editor of Sturm’s Family Devotions, &c. [Thomas Gaspey]. London & New York: J. & F. Tallis. 16mo. Figure 13: c. 1938. The Story of the Bible. Told by Living Writers of Authority. With Upwards of 1200 Illustrations in Colour and Monotone. Volume Two: Hosea to Revelation. London: The Fleetway House. Quarto. c. 1938. Figure 14: c.1709. ’T Groot Waerelds Tafereel [The great tableau of the world] with engravings by Romeyn de Hooghe. Folio. Third edition. Amsterdam: J. Lindenberg. c.1709. Figure 15: Marble bust of the Prophet Haggai, Giovanni Pisano, Italy (Siena), ca. 1285–1297. Photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Figure 16: 1839. Scripture History, Designed for the Improvement of Youth, by the Rev. A[lexander] Fletcher. London: George Virtue. 24mo. Figure 17: 1557. Bohemian Bible. Prague: Girijk Melantrych. With woodcuts borrowed from the first complete edition of the Luther translation into German published by Hans Lufft, 1534. Folio. The woodcuts measure c.150 × 110 mm plus borders. Figure 18: c.1709. ’T Groot Waerelds Tafereel [The great tableau of the world] with engravings by Romeyn de Hooghe. Folio. Third edition. Amsterdam: J. Lindenberg. Figure 19: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564). The Prophet Zaccharia, Details of the Sistine ceiling. Sistine Chapel, Vatican Palace, Vatican State. Photo Credit: Scala/Art Resource, NY. Figure 20: 1790. The Christian’s New and Compleat Family Bible; or, Universal Library of Divine Knowledge . . . By the Rev. Thomas Bankes. London: Printed for J. Cooke.

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Acknowledgments

xix

Figure 21: 1815. The Holy Bible . . . Notes and Practical Observations . . . by Adam Clarke, LL.D.F.A.S. Liverpool: Nuttall, Fisher, and Dixon. Figure 22: 1866. La Sainte Bible selon la Vulgate. Nouvelle traduction. Avec les dessins de Gustave Doré. Tome II. Tours: Alfred Mame et fils. Elephant folio. Zechariah picture is 195 × 245mm. Figure 23: 1870. Cassell’s Illustrated Bible . . . Illustrated with More than Nine Hundred Highly Finished Engravings. Springfield, Mass. and Chicago, Ill: W. J. Holland & Co. U.S. edition; first published in London. Figure 24: 1685. German (Luther) Bible published in Nuremberg by Endter Verlag. First edition, 1670; last edition 1720. 110 × 80mm. Figure 25: 1870. Cassell’s Illustrated Bible . . . Illustrated with More than Nine Hundred Highly Finished Engravings. Springfield, Mass. and Chicago, Ill: W. J. Holland & Co. U.S. edition; first published in London. Figure 26: Sluter, Claes (1360–1406); Well of Moses. Dijon, Charterhouse of 10 × 12 Champmol. © 2011. Photo Scala, Florence. Figure 27: Duccio (di Buoninsegna) (c.1260–1319). Presentation of Christ in the Temple with the Prophets Solomon and Malachi. From the predella of the Maesta altarpiece. Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana, Siena, Italy. Photo Credit: Scala/Art Resource, NY. Figure 28: c.1709. ’T Groot Waerelds Tafereel [The great tableau of the world] with engravings by Romeyn de Hooghe. Folio. Third edition. Amsterdam: J. Lindenberg. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

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Abbreviations AB ACW ANF

AV BZAW CCSL CG CSS

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Anchor Bible Ancient Christian Writers The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to AD 325, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, rev. A. Cleveland Coxe, 10 vols. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1956–62 [1885–96]. Authorized Version (King James Bible) Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Corpus Christianorum Series Latina Augustine, The City of God Cistercian Studies Series

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Abbreviations xxi DJD FC JBL JNES JPS JSOT JSOTSup KJV LBW LHBOTS LNTS LXX MT NEB NETS NIV NPNF1

NPNF2

NRSV OTP PG PL REB RSV SBL SBLMS SBTS UBS Vulg. VTSup WSA WUNT ZAW

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Discoveries in the Judaean Desert Fathers of the Church Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of Near Eastern Studies Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series King James Version Lutheran Book of Worship Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies Library of New Testament Studies The Septuagint The Masoretic Text New English Bible New English Translation of the Septuagint New International Version A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 1st series, ed. Philip Schaff. 14 vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1886–90. A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd series, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. 14 vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1890–1900. New Revised Standard Version Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Patrologiae cursus completus: Series Graeca, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne. Paris: Garnier, 1857–66. (Patrologia Graeca.) Patrologiae cursus completus: Series Latina, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne. Paris: Garnier, 1844–65. (Patrologia Latina.) Revised English Bible Revised Standard Version Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series Sources for Biblical and Theological Study Old Testament Series United Bible Societies The Vulgate Vetus Testamentum: Supplements Works of St. Augustine Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

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Figure 1

Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, from La Bible: Version Synodale (1930).

Figure 2

Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, from La Bible: Version Synodale (1930).

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I Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah

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Introduction

Jin H. Han

The Three Among the Twelve The prophetic corpus in the Old Testament ends in a collection of twelve books (“The Twelve,” Trei Asar in Aramaic), commonly known as the Minor Prophets. The prayer of Ben Sira (second century BCE) provides the earliest reference to the collection of the twelve prophetic writings that apparently included Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. In this prayer, Ben Sira says, “May the bones of the Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, First Edition. Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han. © 2011 Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han. Published 2011 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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4

Introduction

Twelve Prophets send forth new life from where they lie, for they comforted the people of Jacob and delivered them with confident hope” (Sir. 49:10). His words suggest that comfort and hope may have been the religious theme that facilitated the compilation of the twelve books. Other books may have found their way into the scroll for the same reason. The oldest of the fragments of the Twelve from Qumran (4Q76[4QXXIIa]) offers additional support for the idea that the Twelve were on one scroll by the second century BCE (Brooke 2006: 20–34). The Talmud suggests that the Twelve were written by “the Men of the Great Assembly” (b. Baba Batra 15a), which in turn suggests that these books were committed to writing in the land of Israel, even though the verb “to write” here may refer to the activity of interpretation rather than to the preparation of the physical text. The Talmud offers a plausible rationale for the collection when it explains that the book of Hosea was not circulated separately because its size put it at risk of being lost (b. Baba Batra 14b). Though small in size, these prophets have been regarded by readers as significant parts of the Bible. They are minor (Lat. lit. “smaller”), “not because their writings are of any less authority or usefulness than those of the greater prophets, or as if these prophets were less in God’s account or might be so in ours than the other, but only because they are shorter, and less in bulk, than the other” (M. Henry n.d. 4: 1117). The twelve Minor Prophets continued as a collection into the first millennium of the Common Era. In Against Apion 1.8, Josephus (ca. 37–ca. 100) speaks of twenty-two books in the Hebrew Bible, indicating that the twelve prophets were not counted separately (cf. 2 Esd. 14:45). Origen’s list of canonical books does not mention the Minor Prophets, probably because of a scribal error (B. A. Jones 1995: 12). Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260–ca. 339) is the first to refer to the Minor Prophets as “the Twelve in one Book” (to¯n dodeka en monobiblio¯), an epithet he attributes to Melito, Bishop of Sardis (Ecclesiastical History 4.26; Eusebius 1989: 133). In his preface to the Minor Prophets, Jerome also mentions the Jewish practice of treating the twelve as one book (NPNF2 6: 493, 501). The logic behind the present order of the Twelve has been a hotly debated issue in biblical studies. Modern scholars believe that the first six of the Twelve Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Jonah, Obadiah, and Micah) were collected first, followed by the collection of the late pre-exilic prophets (Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah) and the postexilic prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). In content, the two subsets of six prophets complement each other, for the first six (Hosea–Micah) raise the question of iniquity, and the last six propose various resolutions to the problem (House 1996: 205–6). The first of the latter subset, Nahum affirms God’s righteousness displayed in the destruction of Nineveh. Habakkuk advises the people of God to wait for the vision of the end

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Introduction

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time and live by faith until God’s justice is made manifest in history. Zephaniah anticipates horrific devastation on a cosmic scale and concludes with a song that celebrates God’s deliverance of Zion.

The Manner of Presentation The chapter on each prophetic book begins with a brief description of the main themes, followed by a general survey of its reception and a discussion of its role in the arts, literature, and worship. The commentary proper follows the structure of the biblical books and presents for each verse or passage representative interpretations arranged in chronological order, from the Dead Sea Scrolls down to modern popular culture. In deciding what to include and what to leave out, the main criteria were historical importance and impact on other areas of theological thought and religious practice. This book draws upon the main Jewish commentators on the Twelve, such as Akiba (ca. 50–ca. 135), Rashi (1040–1105), Ibn Ezra (1092/3–1167), Moses Maimonides (1135–1204), David Kimh. i (ca. 1160–ca. 1235), Malbim (1809– 79), and others. Important Christian commentators on the Minor Prophets include Irenaeus (ca. 120–ca. 200), Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150–ca. 215), Tertullian (ca. 162–ca. 220), Origen (ca. 185–235), Cyprian (ca. 200–58), Athanasius (ca. 296–373), Gregory of Nazianzus (330–89), Ambrose (ca. 333– 97), Jerome (ca. 340–420), Theodore of Mopsuestia (ca. 350–428/9), Augustine (354–430), John Chrysostom (ca. 347–407), Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 375–444), Theodoret of Cyrrhus (ca. 393–ca. 458), Martin Luther (1483–1546), John Calvin (1509–64), Matthew Henry (1662–1714), John Wesley (1703–91), Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800–82), John Kitto (1804–54), and others. Other important sources for reception history include The Lives of the Prophets, the Qumran pesher commentaries, the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Targum, Seder ‘Olam Rabbah, the Tanh9uma, the Zohar, sermons, hymns, and works of literature and the other arts. Biblical texts are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version, unless specified otherwise.

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1 Nahum The crusher has come up against you. Secure the fortresses; scan the road; strengthen your loins; brace yourself with all your strength. (Nah. 2:1, author’s translation)

Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, First Edition. Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han. © 2011 Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han. Published 2011 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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The book of Nahum is famous for its portrayal of a God who executes vengeance upon enemies, demonstrating “Yahweh’s sovereignty over the nations, illustrated in the specific context of the Assyrian menace” (Coggins 1982: 84). Evoking a brutal vision of hatred toward the adversary nation, Nahum’s oracle expresses jubilation over Nineveh’s demise and Israel’s deliverance in such a way as to make the paradoxical nexus of divine wrath and comfort the focal point of the reception history of the book of Nahum. In the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the book of Nahum is placed immediately after Jonah, as if anticipating the view held by ancients and moderns alike that “the book of Nahum is best read as a complement to the book of Jonah” (Christensen 1996: 187). When the people of Nineveh listened to Jonah and repented, they were saved; however, the book of Nahum shows that Nineveh returned to its sinful ways and once again stood under God’s condemnation. The pseudepigraphal Lives of the Prophets also juxtaposes Nahum and Jonah, stating that “after Jonah [Nahum] gave to Nineveh a portent, that it would be destroyed by fresh water and an underground fire, which also happened” (11:2; OTP 2: 393). In the early church, Theodore of Mopsuestia continued to read Nahum in light of Jonah. In his commentary on Jonah, Theodore argues that the Ninevites listened to Jonah and repented because they “were seized with such dread at a simple threat made by an unknown man” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 245). Theodore attributes Jonah’s forceful ministry to the divine origin of his prophecy rather than the threat of destruction, for “it is obvious that he also mentioned God, the Lord of all, and said he had been sent by him” (ibid., 202). In spite of Jonah’s successful ministry, the repentance of the Ninevites was short-lived, as Nahum shows, and they returned to their old ways, for “when God allowed them to show their true colors, they adopted such a depraved attitude and such ferocity and vicious behavior as to attack all the people of the ten tribes and take them captive; they laid waste their cities, robbed them of all their possessions and advanced even on Jerusalem, which they were anxious to take, showing no respect for the Temple, or the worship of God conducted there” (ibid., 245). Both Martin Luther and John Calvin in the Reformation era castigated Nineveh’s evanescent repentance. Luther complains, “When the punishment ceased, so did the repentance” (1975: 281). In his commentary on Nahum, Calvin agrees that God’s punishment was merely postponed. Nineveh’s backsliding returned after a spurt of repentance “as it is usually the case” (1984–6, 3: 414). A nineteenthcentury preacher, James Randall (1790–1882), thought of the book of Nahum as “a melancholy sequel to that of Jonah” (1843: 71). He submitted that the Ninevites were only guilty of ignoring Jonah, but Christians, who have heard from all prophets and preachers, will incur greater guilt than the people of Nineveh did for failing to heed God’s message (ibid., 97).

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Not every interpretation has focused on the Jonah connection. Jerome observes two layers of meaning in Nahum’s prophecy, the literal and the spiritual, in his Commentary on Nahum (CCSL 76A, Jerome 1970: 535–78). On the literal level, according to Jerome, the prophet sought to “raise the spirits of his fellowJews groaning under the Assyrian yoke” (Kelly 1975: 166 commenting on Jerome [CCSL 76A, Jerome 1970: 533–6]). The words of Nahum have a spiritual lesson for Christians, who “may read them as dire warnings of the doom awaiting those who defy God and spurn the refuge of his Church” (ibid.). Nahum has had particular appeal for those who understand prophetic books as prophecies that await fulfillment. The most important examples of this approach from antiquity are found in the book of Tobit (second century BCE) and a Qumran pesher commentary discovered at Cave 4 (first century BCE). In the Codex Sinaiticus manuscript, Tobit calls to his deathbed his son Tobias and seven grandsons, and asks Tobias to escape to Media with his family, for Tobit is convinced that the word of God prophesied by Nahum (Codex Vaticanus reads “Jonah” instead) is about to come true (Tob. 14:3–4). The interpretative framework of a prophecy fulfilled in due time is also at work in the Qumran pesher commentary (4QpNah [4Q169]). This work follows the typical structure of pesher commentaries, first citing the scriptural text and then offering a commentary introduced by the formula pishro, “its interpretation [is] ….” The Qumran commentary interpreted prophetic words as references to contemporary events that were affecting the life of the community (Horgan 1979: 158–9). The use of the prophecy-fulfillment pattern can be observed even in modern days. For instance, a footnote in the Scofield Reference Bible argues that “Nineveh stands in Scripture as the representative of apostate religious Gentiledom, as Babylon represents the confusion into which the Gentile political world system has fallen,” and “the coming destruction of apostate Christendom is foreshadowed by [the message of Nahum]” (Scofield 1945: 952). Most modern interpreters, however, are more concerned with Nahum’s unbridled jubilation over the enemy nation’s destruction than with prophecy and fulfillment. They note the prophet’s approval of divinely sanctioned violence in the interest of his own nation, for his prophecy does not contain even “a hint of the errors of Israel and their punishment” (Wright 1897: 112). He has been called “a representative of the old, narrow and shallow prophetism” (J. M. P. Smith 1911: 281). Another critic accuses him of casting “the first stone as a militant nationalist, showing no awareness whatsoever of the fact that the sins of the Assyrians were also the sins of the Judeans” (Cleland 1956: 957). Nahum’s gory diction, portraying bloody scenes of war, is eerily reminiscent for modern readers of “physical and ideological battles between Israelis and Palestinians, Hutus and Tutsis, Serbs and Croats, ‘terrorists’ and ‘the West’” (O’Brien 2004: 20). One has to wonder if God’s involvement in the violence that Nahum portrays does not betray “the ‘dark side’ of God” (Christensen 1999: 201).

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A positive assessment of Nahum is not lacking. For some commentators, the prophet articulates the fulfillment of God’s triumph over tyranny. He “proclaimed with passionate conviction the fundamental truth of prophetic religion, that God is in control of the history of the nations and that His moral government manifests itself in the punishment of the brutal tyrant” (Bewer 1949: 22). Biblical scholar Brevard S. Childs comments that the prophet calls attention to “divine justice to suffering Israel, whether suffering from the dominion of Assyria, Babylon, or Rome” (1979: 445). His perspective echoes a sermon preached by a Christian socialist, Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–72), more than a century earlier: “Nahum not only carries on the testimony of Jonah respecting the certain doom of an evil city; he also shows us how the called race in its deepest humiliation, as much as in its greatest prosperity, was still the preacher to the human race … and made the rise and fall of empires, with all the dark crimes that led to both, give out pledges of consolation and hope” (“The Evil City Saved and Destroyed,” Maurice 1853: 347).

Nahum in Literature Modern biblical scholars praise the literary quality of the book of Nahum. The prophet is lifted up as the “poet laureate” of the Minor Prophets (Patterson and Travers 1990), and the book itself as a work of poetry with “no superior within the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible” (Christensen 1999: 201). These contemporary encomiums echo the estimation of eighteenth-century Oxford professor Robert Lowth (1710–87), who gave Nahum superlative praise in his De sacra poesi Hebræorum (1995, 2: 99): None of the minor prophets … seem to equal Nahum, in boldness, ardour, and sublimity. His prophecy too forms a regular and perfect poem; the exordium is not merely magnificent, it is truly majestic; the preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its downfall and desolation, are expressed in the most vivid colours, and are bold and luminous in the highest degree.

The fall of Nineveh, the axis of Nahum’s prophetic passion, is widely depicted in the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Edwin Atherstone’s The Fall of Nineveh (1847, 1: 1) describes the city with unmitigated admiration: Of Nineveh, the mighty city of old; The queen of all the nations. At her throne Kings worshipp’d; and from her their subject crowns,

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Nahum Humbly obedient, held; and on her state Submiss attended; nor such servitude Opprobrious named. From that great eminence How, like a star, she fell, and passed away; Such the high matter of my song shall be.

The first stanza of John Masefield’s “Cargoes” (1903: 18) also extols the wealth of Nineveh: Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir, Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine, With a cargo of ivory, And apes and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

By contrast Nineveh the seat of empire is perennially juxtaposed with Nineveh the doomed city. The Chosen People (1868), Charlotte Mary Yonge’s biblical and church history compiled for schoolchildren, describes Nineveh as “the bloody city” that was preserved only so that the divine will might use it as a means by which to punish God’s own children (1868: 35–6). At the end of the nineteenth century, Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional” (1897) compares the British Empire with Nineveh: God of our fathers, known of old – Lord of our far-flung battle line, Beneath whose awful hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine – Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget – lest we forget! The tumult and the shouting dies; The captains and the kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget – lest we forget! Far-called, our navies melt away; On dune and headland sinks the fire: Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget – lest we forget!

The poem was published on the same page of The Times as a message from Queen Victoria “expressing her gratitude for the spontaneous outburst of

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loyalty and affection” on the sixtieth anniversary of her reign, at the peak of the Empire (Gilmour 2002: 120–23). The title “Recessional” alludes to the last part of the Anglican and Catholic liturgy, sung while the clergy and choir exit the sanctuary. In the poem, Kipling warns that the mightiest empire will fall if it forgets God and trusts in its own power, which is by nature ephemeral. He calls attention to Nineveh, Nahum’s symbol of divine justice, to infuse his poem with a prophetic admonition against nationalistic pomp and pride and self-destructive intoxication with power. Ironically, Kipling’s angst over the empire’s mortality can itself be taken to reflect the imperial dream of an empire where the sun never sets.

Nahum in the Arts Visual representations of Nahum come from the early Christian, medieval, Romanesque, Gothic, Reformation, “Jesuit-Baroque,” and modern periods. An early Christian-style portrait of Nahum is found in the Syriac Bible of Paris (sixth to seventh century, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Syr. 341). The Rossano Gospels codex (sixth century, Diocesan Museum, Rossano, Calabria) has a page that shows Jesus in Gethsemane with three or four Old Testament figures including Nahum, who is displaying the text of Nah. 1:7. Medieval portrayals of the prophets suggest that the illustrators must have worked with iconographic guides, while taking a modicum of liberty with details. One such manual of iconography is a list attributed to Ulpius the Roman (ninth to tenth century). In this list, which appears as an appendix to John Chrysostom’s homilies on Hebrews and Colossians, Nahum is described as “rounded-bearded, smoky [i.e., dark] on the cheeks, with the hairstyle on his forehead like a tall mu, a long head, like a man of forty-five, clipped hair” (Lowden 1988: 52). The mu apparently refers to a hairstyle shaped like the Greek letter. Among medieval Byzantine images, the Codex Vaticanus gr. 699, folio 69v (ninth century) in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana features Nahum and Habakkuk on the same page. Each of them anachronistically holds a codex (a book format not created until the Common Era). On the Pala d’Oro in St. Mark’s in Venice (twelfth century), Nahum holds out a page containing a part of verse 13 of Nah. 3 (“sol ortus e[st] et avolaverunt [the sun rose, and they flew away]”), and his message of disaster is placed next to Isaiah’s promise of hope (Isa. 7:14, “virgo concipiet et pariet filiu[m] [a virgin shall conceive and bear a son]”). A prophet book (twelfth century, New College 44, folio 22v, Oxford) portrays the prophet with a scroll in his left hand, lifting up three fingers of his right hand as if he is about to deliver his oracle. In the prophet’s

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portrait in the Codex Laudianus (twelfth to thirteenth century, gr. 30A, folio 255v, Bodleian Library, Oxford), Nahum holds a scroll in his left hand while making a stern gesture. The Codex Vaticanus gr. 1153, folio 41v (thirteenth century) gives Nahum a full-length portrayal, in which he displays a scroll with both hands. In this picture, the prophet is looking up, and a hand that emits rays of light from the corner suggests the divine origin of the prophetic message. The scroll is unrolled to reveal the words from Nah. 1:9 (LXX) which declare God’s thorough punishment. In addition to these Byzantine works, a medieval Syrian portrait of Nahum, holding a scroll on which the beginning of the book can be read, is found in the Buchanan Bible in Syriac (twelfth century, Cambridge University Library). A pre-Romanesque portrait of Nahum is embroidered on St. Cuthbert’s stole (tenth century, Anglo-Saxon style), housed in the library of Durham Cathedral. The Romanesque period generated a number of works related to the book of Nahum. The Roda Bible (ca. 1000 CE, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, Codex Lat. 6) includes a set of Nahum illustrations in the Romanesque style, which should be studied from bottom to top. The prophet’s words at the bottom of the page depict the base from which disasters rise (Neuß 1922: 96 and fig. 113), and wildflowers pictured on the same page recall the mountains the herald climbed to deliver good tidings, or perhaps they symbolize the possibility of restoration after the destruction (Nah. 1:15). Other Romanesque portraits of Nahum are found in the Darmstadt Tower Reliquary (Schnütgen Museum, Cologne), the Worms-Frankenthal Bible (British Library, London), and the Pamplona Picture Bible (Bibliothèque de la Ville, Amiens). Portraits of Nahum from the Gothic period (thirteenth to fourteenth century) are found in the Bible of Corbie (Bibliothèque de la Ville, Amiens), the Würzburg Psalter (Getty Museum, Los Angeles), the French Vernacular Bible (Morgan Library, New York), the Garrett Bible (Princeton University, Princeton), an archivolt in the Basilica of St. Servatus (Maastricht), the fresco of St. Michael’s Church (Hildesheim), the portal of the Cathedral of Notre Dame (Amiens), the mosaics in the apse and gallery of the Florence Baptistry, and many other settings. In the Reformation era, a scene of Nahum preaching at the port of Nineveh was included in the woodcut illustrations of Luther’s Bible of 1534. In the atrium of the eighteenth-century “Jesuit-Baroque” church of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos in Brazil, Nahum is portrayed among the statues of prophets sculpted by Antônio Francisco Lisboa, also known as O Aleijadinho, “the Little Cripple” (Mann 1967: 120–3). In modern times, John Singer Sargent presented a portrayal of a dark-robed Nahum in his “Frieze of Prophets” on the north wall of Sargent Hall in the

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Figure 3 Fall of Nineveh. Poster for an American educational entertainment drawn from the book of Nahum (1892).

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Boston Public Library. American artist Barry Moser produced a macabre engraving illustrating Nahum’s prophecy and gave it the title “The Heap of Corpses,” derived from Nah. 3:3; the work is found in the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible (Holy Bible 1999: 738). In the performing arts, the nineteenth century saw a grand dramatization in The Sublime Historic Bible Spectacle, Fall of Nineveh (1892). Directed by Cincinatti artist John Rettig, this Adam Forepaugh production was purchased by Barnum and Bailey and performed in Philadelphia. The show’s popularity was boosted by the mid-century discovery of the ruins of Nineveh by Austen Henry Layard. The production, advertised as a piece of religious entertainment and moral instruction, presented the ancient city as a distant, decadent Orient that deserved its fate (Long 2006: 365–78). The book of Nahum has “the mark of original musical composition and performance within an ancient Israelite liturgical setting” (Christensen 1999: 201). The Orthodox liturgical calendar honors the prophet with a special canon. Part of a Byzantine hymn sung during this canon is included in He¯ theotokos en te¯ hymnographia by So¯phronios Eustratiade¯s (Hannick 2005: 73). In the West, Georg Friedrich Handel’s majestic oratorio Messiah featured an aria, “How beautiful are the feet,” that announced a messenger of good news that one might find in Nah. 1:15 as readily as in Isa. 52:7.

Nahum in Worship Modern scholars believe the book originated in a worship setting such as the celebration of the Day of Nikanor in 161 BCE (Haupt 1907), the New Year festival of 612 BCE (Humbert 1926; Haldar 1946; Eaton 1961), or the Zion festival of ancient Jerusalem (J. D.W. Watts 1975). In later liturgical use, Nahum plays an intermittent but significant role in worship. For example, the exhortation in Nah. 1:15 (“celebrate your festivals, O Judah, fulfill your vows”) is often featured in liturgical rubrics of the early church (see commentary). In the Palestinian three-year cycle of Torah readings, whose origin is not known but which was still in use in the thirteenth century of Jewish worship, Nah. 1:12–2:6 and 1:7 served as the Haftarah (reading from the Prophets) to the Seder (order of service) beginning with Gen. 33:18 (Mann 1971: 269–70). In this selection, the Haftarah starts with Nah. 1:12, only to return at the end to verse 7. This change in verse order, unattested elsewhere, goes against rabbinic tradition (b. Megillah 24a), but it seems to be an arrangement designed to end the Torah lesson on a note of hope. Curiously enough, the Tanh9uma associates the Torah portion with banning superfluous talk (dbr ytr). One may wonder what the Genesis passage has to do with the vice of garrulousness on the

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Sabbath, but the key word “fulfill” (šlm ) in Nah. 1:15 (2:1 in the MT) may have recalled Jacob completing the journey safely (šlm) in Gen. 33:18 (Mann, ibid.). Another Jewish liturgical tradition took Nah. 1 as the Haftarah for the Torah lection that began with Exod. 11:1, so that the reading of Pharaoh’s oppression of Israel might be followed by God’s promise to end it (Mann 1971: 403). In contemporary Judaism, Nahum does not appear as the Haftarah for any Torah lesson (Alexander 1984: 180–1). In Christian lectionaries, readings from Nahum have been limited to Ordinary Time, when there was no major feast day. For example, in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, a lectionary listed Nah. 1 for morning prayer and Nah. 2 for evening prayer on September 13, and Nah. 3 for morning prayer on September 14 (Holy Cross Day). The Church of England Lectionary of 1871 turned to Nah. 1 for evensong on the day of St. Barnabas on June 11, and evening prayer on October 10; then Nah. 2 for morning prayer and Nah. 3 for evening prayer on October 11. The Episcopal Church’s lectionary (1979) designates Nah. 1:1–13 in the daily office of Year One for the Tuesday of the week of Proper 29. The Roman Catholic lectionary of 1969 did not include Nahum in Sunday worship; it only listed Nah. 2:1–3; 3:1–3, 6–7 for the Friday of Week 18 in the Year II Weekday Lectionary. In the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary, Nahum is not read on any Sunday and its use as a daily reading has never been prominent. This “absence of Nahum from the lectionary presents an implicit confession that Nahum is a book that makes the church uncomfortable, one that it seldom, if ever, opens” (García-Treto 1996: 619).

Nahum 1: The Avenging God 1:1. Nahum is the only prophetic work that is designated a “book.” The book begins with a two-part heading. First, the book is announced as an “oracle” about Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and then the second half of the verse gives additional details concerning the context and origin of the oracle: it originates in a vision of the prophet Nahum from Elkosh. Translators and interpreters have attempted to bring out the latent meaning of the term “oracle” (Heb. mas´´sa¯’ “burden”). When the Septuagint translates the Hebrew word, it uses the Greek le¯mma (“something that one receives”; cf. Prov. 30:1 LXX using a different Greek verb meaning “receive”), suggesting that the prophet delivers what he has received. The lexical construal of mas´´sa¯’ as “oracle” is found as early as Gesenius’ seminal Hebrew lexicon (1833: 622). The content of the book as divine communication may be better conveyed by “oracle” or le¯mma than “burden,” but until the Revised Standard Version, many

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Figure 4

Opening page of the book of Nahum, from Cassell’s Illustrated Bible (1870).

Bibles retain “burden” (AV; cf. Lat. onus in Vulg.; Last in Luther’s German). Calvin entertains the possibility that prophecy as “burden” has a hint of cynicism pointing to the onerous nature of the prophetic task (1984, 3: 417). His view is later echoed by the Anglican theologian E. B. Pusey, who observes that “burden” is not used as the title of a prophetic book “save when the vision is heavy and full of burden and toil” (1860: 373). Nahum’s oracle focuses on the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire during the reign of Sennacherib (704–681 BCE). The book of Jonah describes Nineveh as a city with a population of over 120,000 as well as “many animals” (1:2; 3:2; 4:11) and so huge that it took three days to walk from one side of it to the other (3:3). The great city Nineveh gained notoriety through Assyria’s imperial policy of terror and cruelty, and the book of Tobit (second century BCE) portrays Nineveh as a place under God’s condemnation (14:3). Assyria’s ominous reputation as a foreign invader lived on, as can be observed in the book of Judith (first to second century BCE), where Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is

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introduced as king of the Assyrians decades after Assyria’s fall to Babylon (Jdt. 1:1; cf. 2 Esd. 2:8). The tenth-century Karaite exegete Japheth ben Ali, in his commentary on Nahum, takes Nineveh as a cipher for Baghdad, the Abbasid capital, hoping that the latter’s demise would lead to the abolition of the harsh laws its caliphs introduced (1911: 10–11). Nineveh as a symbol of brutality has continued into modern times. In the monograph Jonah: A Psycho-Religious Approach to the Prophet, co-written by a biblical scholar and a psychologist, André Lacocque and Pierre-Emmanuel Lacocque call Nineveh “the concentration camp for God’s people,” which is “as gemütlich as a Gestapo torture chamber” (1981: 19). In nuce, Nineveh is “the iconically evil city” (Sherwood 2000: 108) and the ominous anthropological “Other” (Hagedorn 2006: 223–39). In verse 1:1b, the oracle concerning Nineveh is further specified as a “vision.” Theodore of Mopsuestia regards “oracle” (le¯mma) and “vision” (horasis) as complementary, for the former refers to the way the Holy Spirit delivered a message to the prophet, and the latter speaks of “the contemplation of what was shown to him” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 251). The prophet received the “vision” in rapture, in which “the prophet’s mind was seized by the grace of the Spirit and transformed so as to contemplate those things through which he learned of the fate of Nineveh” (ibid.; emphasis added). For Theodore, the “contemplation” (theo¯ria, lit. “looking”) brought discernment as the Holy Spirit controlled the prophet’s mind. Theodore draws upon Acts 10:9–13, in which Peter falls into a trance (ekstasis, v. 10) and “contemplates” (theo¯rei, v. 11; “saw” NRSV) a vision. The prophet’s name Nahum, which means “consoled,” is attested in letters discovered at Tell Arad (Aharoni 1966: 14, 15; Schwiderski 2000: 79) and Tell ed-Duweir/Lachish (Diringer 1941: 42; Thompson 1942: 24), indicating that it must have been a Judean name. This would agree with the tradition, preserved in The Lives of the Prophets, that Nahum was from the tribe of Simeon, always closely associated with Judah (11:1–3; OTP 2: 393). The name is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, although it is etymologically related to other names, including Menahem (2 Kgs. 15:14–23), Naham (1 Chr. 4:19), Nehemiah, Nahamani (Neh. 7:7), and Tanhumeth (Jer. 40:8), all of whom have a certain connection with Judah. It appears once in the New Testament, where Nahum appears as one of the ancestors of Jesus (Luke 3:25). In the Mishnah and the Talmud, several rabbis are mentioned with the name Nahum, notably Akiba’s famous teacher, Nahum of Gimzo (b. Berakot 20a). “Elkosh” (v. 1) is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament and the word has been interpreted as either a genealogical or a geographical detail. Ibn Ezra takes it as an ancestral name (Schapiro 1995/5796: 680). Calvin dismisses a Jewish tradition that Elkos, Nahum’s father, was a prophet (1984, 3: 418). The Lives of the Prophets regards Elkosh as the name of a place in southwestern Judah (11:1; OTP

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2: 393). Both the Targum and the medieval exegete Rashi identify it as Nahum’s hometown (Schapiro, ibid.), and later traditions speak of the prophet’s tomb at Al Qush, an ancient Jewish settlement north of Nineveh, or Ain-Japhata, south of Babylon (Sperry 1941: 128, citing A. Asher’s The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela). Eusebius of Caesarea locates Elkosh in Galilee, and Jerome mentions a place by that name in Galilee (Commentary on Nahum, Preface; NPNF 2 6: 501; see also Kelly 1975: 134). A Syriac tradition, attributed to Epiphanius, refers to Elkosh as a place beyond Bet Gabre in the tribal territory of Simeon (Sperry 1941: 129), agreeing with the Simeon connection in The Lives of the Prophets. An alternative to all these views is the proposal that Elkosh is neither a place name nor a personal name, but an epithet of the prophet meaning “fierce god” (‘l qšy). Thus Nahum, as a gentle comforter (Heb. nh.m), is an Elkoshite (‘lqšy) sent by a ferocious God (cf. O’Brien 2002: 42–3).

The Oracle of Deliverance for Judah (1:2–15) 1:2. Nahum’s notion of a jealous, vengeful, and indignant God in 1:2 represents a particular theological viewpoint that stands in sharp contrast to the biblical traditions that describe the Lord as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (cf. Exod. 34:6–7; Num. 14:18; Ps. 145:8; Jon. 4:2; see Fishbane 1977: 280–1; 1985: vii–viii). The Midrashic traditions make a great deal of effort to relieve the tension between these two portrayals of God. They offer a number of interpretive possibilities: God is angry but is not conquered by anger (Genesis Rabbah 49.8); God’s fury is not against Israel but against idolaters (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 8.4); God does not bear a grudge against the children of Israel but will avenge them (Genesis Rabbah 55.3). Japheth ben Ali distinguishes between “adversaries” (s9rym) and “enemies” (’ybym) in verse 2 by arguing that “the former are idolaters who oppress Israel, whilst the latter show no such hostile feelings” (1911: 33). Christian interpreters, too, have wrestled with Nah. 1:2. Tertullian finds the prophet’s portrayal of God in the verse to be a complex theological discourse in which “God is ‘jealous,’ and is One who is not contemptuously derided – derided, namely, by such as flatter His goodness” (On Modesty; ANF 4: 76). In other words, God is patient, but the phase of patience will end eventually, for the divine demand for justice cannot be compromised by God’s goodness. Theodore of Mopsuestia simply regards God’s “jealousy” as just: it is directed at none but “the impious when [God is] provoked by what is done very wrongly” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 251). The Hebrew root nqm (“vengeance”) is reiterated three times in this verse. Rashi, citing Seder ‘Olam Rabbah, connects this repetition with the repeated exiles

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of the ten tribes of Israel (Talmage 1975: 104, 291 n. 386). David Kimh.i regards them as a case of the biblical technique of repetition for emphasis (cf. Gen. 6:9; 1 Sam. 1:11, etc.; Talmage 1975: 104). Rhetorical effect is clearly behind Luther’s translation, “ein Rächer, ja, ein Rächer … ein Rächer,” which makes the most of the harsh fricative sound of the German. 1:3. The wrathful God exercises restraint. From this verse and Exod. 34:6, a fourth-century collection of teachings on church conduct (commonly known as Constitutions of the Holy Apostles) derives an admonition that church leaders should exercise the same kind of care for the innocent, the guilty, and the penitent. In paragraph 15, the document urges church officers to take note of God’s patience as well as his righteousness, calling upon them to minister to the repentant with eagerness and compassion, for those who do not demonstrate such pastoral discernment may end up destroying “the Lord’s flock” and dishonoring the name of God (ANF 7: 402). Theodoret reads verse 3 as an affirmation of God’s patience manifested by the delay of punishment, since God “does not suddenly and all at once inflict punishment, but only after exercising extreme longsuffering” (2006: 179). However, Theodoret refuses to water down the demands of justice in the name of mercy. He believes that reprieve for the wicked is only temporary; God does not let the guilty go unpunished, for “after putting up with people’s wickedness for a long time, [God] is accustomed to inflict punishment on the unrepentant” (ibid.). A nineteenth-century American educator, Tayler Lewis (1802–77), continues the same line of interpretation, finding in Nah. 1:3 “the awful equilibrium of the Divine character maintained, and apparently opposing attributes of God boldly set forth in the same verse” (1850: 39). Verse 3b portrays God whose way is revealed in the natural phenomena of wind, storm, and clouds. In the Midrashic traditions, the whirlwind is called “God’s horse” (Exodus Rabbah 8.1), which transported Elijah to God (Numbers Rabbah 14.3). In 1703/4, an Anglican preacher, Samuel Prat (ca. 1659–1723), preached a sermon based on Nah. 1:3 during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) after a storm, which he takes as a sign of something more terrible yet to come, but stressing that the Lord will show mercy in the midst of any tempest (1703/04: 19). The striking expression “the dust of God’s feet” in the last half of verse 3b prompted the rabbis to imagine God walking barefoot like a human king grieving for the death of his child (Lamentations Rabbah 1.1; 3.9). 1:4. The prophet describes God, who rebukes the sea and causes it to dry up (cf. Isa. 50:2; 51:10; Ps. 106:9, etc.), as the Divine Warrior going into battle with the sea (Christensen 2009: 181–2). In biblical tradition, the sea often represents

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the power of chaos, which the Lord alone can subdue (Job 9:8, 13; 26:12; Pss. 74:13; 89:9–10; 93:4; 107:29, etc.), as one can observe in the tradition of the crossing of the Red Sea (Exod. 14–15; Pss. 66:6; 77:16–20; Isa. 63:11–14, etc.). The prophetic vision of God unleashing the same power against God’s enemies in Nah. 1:4 is capitalized on by the Qumran pesher commentator (4QpNah [4Q169], fragments 1 and 2, cited in Berrin 2004: 77). Exodus Rabbah (24.1) also associates God’s “rebuke” of the sea in Nah. 1:4 with the crossing of the Red Sea, where God “rebuked” the “Prince Sea” that tried to drown the children of Israel. The theme of God’s triumph over the sea is appropriated in the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ walking on water (Matt. 14:22–33; Mark 6:45–52; Luke 8:22–5; John 6:16–21). The same motif may be found in the scenes of the baptism of Jesus that, from the fifth century on, depict a mysterious figure, half-submerged in the river. The baptism represents Christ’s triumph over the power of watery chaos (Jensen 1993: 34–41, 54–5; Ferguson 2009: 129). Tertullian reiterates Nahum’s portrayal of a sea-rebuking God in his diatribe against Marcion, the heretic who sought to separate the God of love of the New Testament from the Creator God of the Old Testament. Tertullian charges Marcion with deposing the Creator in favor of Christ, “the new master and proprietor of the elements” (cf. Luke 8:25). Arguing his case with a legion of citations from Exodus, Psalms, and Habakkuk, as well as Nahum, Tertullian insists that, when Jesus calmed the sea, the waters were obeying their Maker (ANF 3: 378–80). In Constitutions of the Holy Apostles 8.2.6–7, a Christological prayer for the healing of the possessed contains a petition that God may “rebuke the unclean and wicked spirits” through Christ, “who threatens the sea, and dries it up, and makes all the rivers as desert, and the clouds are the dust of his feet; who walks upon the sea as upon the firm ground” (ANF 7: 483–4). The Lord’s rebuke of the sea and the rivers in verse 4a profoundly affects the regions of Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon “proverbial for fertility and foliage” (v. 4b; Gordon 1952: 564). Cyril of Alexandria describes Bashan and the area bordering the mountains as “home to terrible and warlike races and ‘offspring of giants’ ” and saw in the verse certain confirmation of the impending fall of Nineveh: God destroyed these “countries once teeming with fearsome and warlike men, and luxuriant warriors like many forests, [and they] disappeared and were plundered with the loss of their inhabitations” (FC 116, Cyril of Alexandria 2007–8, 2: 289–90; cf. Deut. 1:28 LXX). So will Nineveh be destroyed. Midrashic commentaries blame the fading of the blossom of Lebanon on Manasseh, the impious king who built an idol in the Temple and incurred divine punishment (Numbers Rabbah 12.4; Song of Songs Rabbah 3.10).

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Figure 5 “The mountains shall quake” (Nah. 1:5), from Alexander Fletcher, Scripture History, Designed for the Improvement of Youth (1839).

1:5. The prophet continues to speak of God’s power, using traditional images of theophany, such as the quaking of the mountains and the melting of the hills (cf. Exod. 19:18; 20:18; Ps. 68:8; Isa. 13:13, etc.). The English verb “to heave” in verse 5b (NRSV) suggests that the translators regarded the root of the Hebrew verb wattis´´sa¯’ as ns´’ “lift up.” The verb “heave” reads smoothly, while the transitive verb “to lift up” invites the question as to what the object of the verb is. The Septuagint sidesteps the problem by using the passive form of the verb (anestale¯ “the earth is raised up” or “rolled up”). The seismic metaphors give the passage an apocalyptic note, and the Vulgate preserves the same flavor, translating contremuit (“trembled”). Kimh.i and Ibn Ezra use a homonym ns´’ meaning “ignite.” They use this construal elsewhere to resolve a troublesome issue in the text. In 2 Sam. 5:21, David and his men “carry away” (ns´’) the idols of the Philistines they have repelled, which raises the question of the violation of the ban (Heb. h.erem; cf. Deut. 7:5, 25). David does not incur any sanction, however, and is able to repel the subsequent invasion of the Philistines with no

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sign of God’s displeasure (2 Sam. 5:22–5). Kimh.i removes the difficulty by reading the verb as “to burn” and achieves agreement with 1 Chr. 14:12 (Fishbane 1996: 42). For Kimh.i, the same verb in Nah. 1:5b completes the picture of theophany with earthquake and fire. His suggestion found its way into the Authorized Version of 1611: “the mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.” 1:6. Nahum sums up the awe-inspiring scene with rhetorical questions: “Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger?” According to Theodore of Mopsuestia, the prophet offers proof that divine judgment “is quite able to smash and utterly destroy both those in position of great influence and those invested with great power” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 253). This interpretation is consistent with the Septuagint translation of verse 6b, which describes how God’s wrath makes archas (“ruling powers, dominions”) melt and shatters the rocks. 1:7. The Lord, who vanquishes chaos and inspires nature to respond in awe, provides protection for those who seek refuge in God. Citing this verse, the Midrash states that God will separate the righteous from the wicked on the day of wrath, in contrast to a human king who may execute the good along with the bad (Numbers Rabbah 5.3). Another Midrashic interpretation interprets Nah. 1:7 as declaring that, “even if the entire generation angers him, and there is only a single righteous one, God delivers him or her” (Tanh.uma Noah 18). Cyprian uses verses 6–7 to contrast God’s anger against the guilty with God’s deliverance, which is available to those who trust in God during troubling times (Treatise 12: Three Books of Testimonies against the Jews 3.21; ANF 5: 541; but this may be an interpolation [see Fahey 1971: 248]). 1:8. The prophet’s message of deliverance in verse 7 is followed by that of God’s victory over enemies in verse 8. According to the Hebrew text, Nahum said, “[The Lord] will make a full end of her place.” The context contains no suitable antecedent for the genitive adjective “her.” Different versions offer a way to circumvent this problem. The Septuagint removes ambiguity by translating “those who are stirred up” (tous epegeiromenous). The Targum constructs two phrases out of the Hebrew word mqwmh: “that rose up” (dqmw) and “his temple” (Heb. mqwmh), and translates, “But in fierce anger and in great wrath he shall make an end of the nations which rose up and utterly destroyed the Sanctuary” (Cathcart and Gordon 1989: 132–3). In the NRSV, the prophet says, “He will make a full end of his adversaries, and will pursue his enemies

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into darkness.” This modern translation seems to conflate various exegetical traditions, for it contains the third person pronoun (MT), the plural noun (LXX), and the lexical meaning of “adversary” (Targum, as well as the implied meaning in the LXX). 1:9. The prophet reinforces verse 8, pointing out the futility of resistance against God, for “no adversary will rise up twice” against the Lord. The phrase “not twice” at the end of verse 9 has yielded rich interpretive traditions. The Targum applies it to the nations that attacked Israel in the past and declares that God will not twice provide them with comfort and restoration as God would for the house of Israel (cf. Gordon 1994: 41). The Talmud explains that storms do not last more than two hours because adversity does not rise twice, recalling Nah. 1:9 (b. Berakot 59a). Among the church fathers, Theodore of Mopsuestia regards the phrase “not twice” as a declaration that God’s justice is so swift that it does not “need a second strike, achieving your sudden ruin at the first blow” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 254), but most other interpreters take it as a prohibition against double jeopardy. Citing the Greek translation, Origen declares that the death penalty resolves guilt, for God does not exact justice from the offenders twice (Homilies on Leviticus 11.5). Constitutions of the Holy Apostles refers to this verse to determine the appropriate punishment for guilty clergy: “Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who is taken in fornication, or perjury, or stealing, be deprived, but not suspended; for the Scripture says: ‘Thou shall not avenge twice for the same crime by affliction’” (ANF 7: 501). The document does not specify the details involved in “deprivation” and “suspension,” but the rule would permit the offenders to plead autrefois convict (French “previously convicted”). Jerome speaks against punishing twice for the same offense in a number of contexts. He points out that God did not hand over Judah to Assyria “in the way that he had given the ten tribes and Samaria into their hands” because God does not doubly punish (CCSL 76A, Jerome 1970; cf. FC 48, Jerome 1964–6, 1: 368; Letter 68.1). For Jerome, Sodom has a chance of ultimate salvation, for it was already punished (see Matt. 11:23–4). In the same way, Lazarus is “in the bosom of Abraham” because God does not punish twice (FC 57, Jerome 1964–6, 2: 11–12; see Luke 16:19–31). The verse is cited in a similar context by Peter Damian (ca. 1007–72; see 2005: 291) and in one of the annotations in the sixteenth-century Antwerp Polyglot Bible (Gordon 1994: 43). Cassiodorus (ca. 490–ca. 585), in a comment on Ps. 38:2 (37:3 LXX), applies it to the Last Judgment, expressing the belief that the psalmist would be spared from further torments at the Last Judgment (ACW 51, Cassiodorus 1990–1, 1: 378). The late seventh-century Bible commentary by Theodore and Hadrian of the Canterbury school uses the notion of “not twice” to explain that Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. 16:32) “were kept living in their

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tents beneath the earth” until the Last Judgment, because “the Lord does not avenge himself twice on the same [person]” (Bischoff and Lapidge 1994: 379). 1:10. This difficult verse, “the climax of the opening canto, the hymn of theophany in Nah. 1:10” (Christensen 2009: 204), taunts God’s enemies as drunkards. This image led Japheth ben Ali to see a correlation between the crime and the punishment, reading the verse as saying that God will make Nineveh drink the “cup of intoxication” that it has given to other nations (1911: 35). The stupor of drunkenness as the backdrop of the fall of Nineveh had already been popularized by the Greek writer Diodorus Siculus (ca. 90– ca. 30 BCE), who described the last days of Nineveh under King Sardanapalus (Bibliotheca historica 2.23–7). The Pictorial Bible (Kitto 1856) offers a lengthy note originally written by John Kitto. The only note for the entire chapter, it explains how the king of Assyria, elated by former successes, abandoned himself to his revelry and sloth, and was chiefly intent on preparing wine and victuals in abundance to feast his army. The allied revolters being apprised by deserters of the intemperance and security of the adverse army, attacked their camp suddenly, in the night, in the midst of revelry and drunkenness; and being in excellent order, while the camp was in the most disordered and helpless condition imaginable, and altogether unprovided for defence, they easily broke into the camp, and made a prodigious slaughter of the Assyrians. (1856: 676–7)

In his tirade against drinking in the Victorian era, Pusey interprets the verse literally, attributing the fall of Nineveh to physical drunkenness and portraying the eve of Nineveh’s capture as a time of listless surfeit intoxicated by success; Nineveh met its demise when “the whole army was negligent and drunken” (1860: 377). 1:11. It is not clear whether God is speaking to Nineveh or to Judah here. Ibn Ezra and Kimh.i suggest that the appellative refers to Sennacherib, the Assyrian king (Schapiro 1995/5796: 684; cf. 2 Kgs. 18–19), while Luther compares the verse with Isa. 49:17 and declares that the Assyrian king was “a worthless fellow, a good-for-nothing” (1975: 292–3). 1:12–13. The prophet anticipates that the Lord will set Judah free, using motifs also found in Isaiah (10:27; 14:24–7; Roberts 1991: 54). Luther observes that the prophet was encouraging Judeans who faced an enemy superior in armor and number (1975: 293), recalling 1 John 4:4 (“the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world”). The oppressor’s power, whether on earth or in heaven, constitutes no cause for panic. Calvin also uses verses 12–13

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to comfort believers in times of hardship: just as the Assyrian invasion was a temporary scourge, so is “God’s displeasure with his elect people and his Church” (1984–6, 3: 441–4). 1:14. The verse sentences to death the Assyrian king or “the Assyrian power personified as a single man” (Keil 1949: 16). Augustine understands verses 14–15 as containing God’s ipsissima verba fulfilled by the gospel of Christ, for Christ saved the believers from “the carved image and the cast image” (CG 18: 31, Augustine 1998: 862; cf. 1 Cor. 12:2; 1 Thess. 1:9). The medieval Biblia Pauperum (for example, the thirteenth-century Codex Vindobonensis 1198, folio 2v) uses Nah. 1:14 along with Zeph. 2:11 and Zech. 13:2 (see commentary) as prophetic texts for God’s judgment of idols on a page that illustrates the incident of the golden calf (Exod. 32), the fall of the Egyptian idols (Pseudo-Matthew 23:1), and the fall of Dagon (1 Kgs. 5:1–5). 1:15. The condemnation of Nineveh calls for celebration. A messenger is dispatched to spread the good news, thereby, as Calvin points out, subverting the Assyrian policy of depriving “Israelites of the freedom of speech” (1984, 3: 449–50). Nahum’s messenger of good tidings (lit. “tidings of peace”) in verse 15a is also found in Isa. 52:7 (cf. 40:9; 41:27). Nahum’s proclamation of deliverance must have resonated with Second Isaiah, who envisioned the imminent end of the Babylonian exile. In Rom. 10:15, the only clear case of quotation from the book of Nahum in the New Testament (Christensen 1996: 188), Paul appropriates the motif of the messenger of good tidings, alluding to Nah. 1:15 (cf. Isa. 52:7), when he features plural messengers (i.e., Christian apostles and preachers) and assigns them a critical role in the chain of commission, proclamation, reception, profession, and deliverance of the gospel (Rom. 10:14–15). In chapter 86 of Proof of the Apostolic Preaching (extant in an Armenian version), Irenaeus also refers to the exultation in Nah. 1:15 as a prophecy fulfilled in the coming of the Son of God and the apostolic preaching: “How beautiful are the feet of them that bring good tidings of peace, and that bring good tidings of good things” (ACW 16, Irenaeus 1952: 101). Irenaeus attributes this declaration to “the prophets,” which may suggest either that he has both Isa. 52:7 and Nah. 1:15 in mind (ibid, 211 n. 346), or that he is quoting Rom. 10:15 (Moyise 2009: 110). Tertullian, preserving the singular in the original text, makes the Christological reference more explicit than Irenaeus did. In Against Marcion 4:13, Tertullian discusses “Christ’s connection with the creator,” linking the verse (along with Isa. 52:7) to the gospel account of Jesus ascending the mountain to pray (cf. Luke 9:28). Tertullian believes that Nahum’s prophecy discloses the Word of God in Christ as “one that brings good tidings of peace … one that publishes good tidings of good” (ANF 3: 364–5). In his

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Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron (12.6), which Syrian Christians called “the gospel of the mixed (euangelion da-mehallete¯),” Ephrem Syrus (ca. 306–73) too identifies Jesus with the one who proclaims peace and deduces the Gentile mission in the same verse, asking “To whom, if not to the Gentiles”? Nahum 1:15b is prominently featured in the festal letters which the bishops of Alexandria sent to the churches soon after Epiphany to inform them of the beginning of Lent and the date of Easter in the year. In such a festal letter, dated 334 CE, Athanasius calls the verse a directive on the celebration of Easter, pointing out that the prophet’s words present God as one who loves the feast of the faithful. He declares that one should look forward to celebrating the resurrection of Christ, not with carelessness but with eagerness, “so that having begun joyfully here, we may also receive an earnest of that heavenly feast” (Festal Letter 6, NPNF 2 4: 519). For Athanasius, the celebratory mood of the verse anticipates the messianic banquet with the risen Lord. Cyril of Alexandria, too, in his festal letter of 414 appealed to verse 15b in order to delineate the proper mode of celebrating Easter: Let us therefore show God the Jew who is hidden and the circumcision which is hidden, circumcising all vice from our hearts, that it may be right that we should hear, “Celebrate your feasts, Judah, and offer to the Lord God your prayers.” (FC 118, Cyril of Alexandria 2009: 37)

Nahum 1:15 has also been employed to suggest divine sanction for events in the political sphere. Nicholas Brady (1659–1726), an Anglican clergyman and poet, chose this verse as the central text of a sermon he delivered in 1713 on the day of public thanksgiving appointed by Queen Anne to mark the Peace of Utrecht. In this sermon, sold at threepence (about £1.50 today), Brady describes the feast as “a Testimony of our Gratitude, with Devotion toward him our prime Benefactor,” and the ensuing sentence seems to direct as much attention to the Queen as to God: “from thence let us turn our Eyes upon our Gracious Sovereign, the Blessed Chief Instrument of our Quiet and Tranquility” (1713: 16–17; italics in the original). Most English Bibles follow the Vulgate in taking Nah. 1:15 as the last verse in chapter 1, but the Hebrew text and the Septuagint make it the beginning of the following chapter. While chapter and verse divisions are occasionally arbitrary, the competing traditions on the verse’s location suggest different ways of analyzing its literary context. While the versions seldom divulge a clue to the basis of their chapter divisions, the Vulgate’s arrangement suggests that peace is being proclaimed on the basis of the avenging God of 1:2–14. By contrast, when the same verse is placed at the top of the next chapter, it showcases “one who brings good tidings” and announces a new oracle in chapter 2 (cf. Roberts 1991: 54).

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Nahum 2: Destruction of Nineveh The Fall of Nineveh (2:1–13) 2:1. Nahum 2 portrays the horrific devastation of Nineveh. The first half of verse 1 describes the agent of destruction, one “who dashes in pieces” (AV), “a shatterer” (RSV, NRSV). The word could be construed as “hammer” – an epithet that has been applied to such historical figures as Judas Maccabeus and Charles Martel – suggesting that it may refer to the historical enemies, the Medes under Cyaxares who laid siege to the city in 625 BCE (Lehrman 1948: 199). Rashi and Ibn Ezra say it refers to Nebuchadnezzar. The Septuagint, with which church fathers worked, offers a significantly different reading: “one who breathes on your face.” Cyril of Jerusalem (ca. 315–87), for example, argues that the prophecy in verse 1 refers to Jesus breathing upon the apostles and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22–3). Cyril argues that this event represents the restoration of creation after the first breathing of the Spirit, which was marred by Adam’s disobedience (Catechesis 17.12; FC 64, Cyril of Jerusalem 1969–70, 2: 104). Using the characteristic Antiochene exegetical method, Theodoret calls the fall of Assyria a “type” of the defeat of “the devil’s tyranny brought to an end through Christ the Lord” (2006: 182). 2:2. The verse is placed in parentheses in the NRSV, indicating that it is only tenuously connected with the surrounding verses (cf. J. J. M. Roberts 1991: 64). It speaks of the restoration of the northern kingdom of Israel (Jacob), which had been destroyed by the Assyrians in 722–721 BCE. The prophet uses “Israel” to include Judah, and the vine whose branches were “ruined” serves as “a proud symbol of majesty, restored to a flourishing condition” for united Israel (Murphy 1968: 294; cf. Isa. 5:1–7; Ps. 80:8–13). 2:3. Nahum’s oracle pictures the shatterer’s warriors at the gates of Nineveh, dressed in red and carrying “red” shields. The color “red” has been interpreted in various ways: stained with blood, as an apotropaic measure, or as a kind of psychological warfare to boost the morale of the troops and cause panic among the enemy (Rudolph 1975: 170). Genesis Rabbah associates the color with Esau, stating that everything about him was red: the porridge he ate was red, his land was red, indeed he himself was red (63.12; 75.4; cf. Gen. 25:30; 32:3–4 [32:4–5 MT] with a play on the word “Edom” [Heb. ’a¯do¯m “red”] in 25:25 and 30). Theodore of Mopsuestia suggests that the warriors’ shields were red because

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they “were exceptionally strong, and had no qualms about risking even fire” on the battlefield (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 256). 2:4–5. The attack on Nineveh is launched, and the city is thrown into chaos. Theodore of Mopsuestia finds the prophet taunting the Assyrians, whose chariots race through the streets of Nineveh and crash into each other as they flee in panic. Theodore argues that the similes in verse 4b (“like torches … like lightning”) also ridicule the Assyrians. It was as if God were saying, “You thought yourselves no different from lightning bolts and fire, resplendent in your weapons and attacking the enemy with great ferocity” (ibid.). The poetic irony is that the Assyrians who used to attack their enemies with lightning quickness are now fleeing “like lightning” as their attackers speedily assault Nineveh. Curiously, the Midrashic traditions turn away from the scene of the invasion of Nineveh and interpret the “torches” and “lightning” as referring to students of the Torah, who may look unappealing as a result of the deprivations resulting from strenuous study, but who in due time will shine like “torches” and “lightning” (Leviticus Rabbah 19.3; Song of Songs Rabbah 5.11.5). 2:6. The besieged city collapses “for all its military defensive precautions” (Murphy 1968: 294; cf. Jer. 6:1–5; 46:3–11), and Nineveh’s fate is sealed as “the river gates are opened.” Ancient Greek writers mention flood damage to Nineveh the impregnable city (Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica, 2.26–7; cf. Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.4.7–9; see also The Lives of the Prophets 11:2; OTP 2: 303), but here the scene of flooding may also be metaphorical, conjuring a spectacle of chaos overwhelming the city as enemy troops rush into the city like water. The palace that “trembles” has a double meaning, referring both to the literal collapse of the walls of Nineveh and to the will of the Assyrian rulers to fight the shatterer’s forces (cf. J. J. M. Roberts 1991: 66). 2:7. Now Nineveh goes into exile. The first word of 2:7 (Heb. hus9sa9 b) has been a Gordian knot for translators: English versions include “Huzzab” (AV), “its mistress” (RSV), “it is decreed” (NRSV; NIV), and “train of captives” (NEB; REB; see G.R. Driver 1964: 296–8). The Septuagint has the “substructure (hypostasis) has been uncovered” (NETS). The Vulgate has “the soldier has been led away captive” (miles captivus abductus est). The Targum, Rashi, and other medieval Jewish commentators read “the queen,” and this seems to be the origin of Luther’s “resplendent in her royal garb … taken prisoner” (1975: 302–3). The Authorized Version also takes the word as the name of a queen or a noble lady, and translates, “and Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering (Heb. lit. “beat a drum,” related to the nouns “tabor, tambourine,” and the rare verb in Ps. 68:25

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[MT 68:26] “tabor,” to beat on a drum) upon their breasts.” However, no queen is known by that name, though the word may have been an epithet for a queen. The Septuagint’s choice of hypostasis (Lat. substantia Vulg.) brings the verse into the Christological debate of the early church. Ambrose points to Nah. 2:6–7a as a key passage about Christ’s “substance”: “the gates of the cities are broken down, the mountains are fallen, and his substance is revealed.” In other words, gates and mountains had to be brought down to reveal a Christ who is of one substance with God the Father (Christian Faith 3.14.115–19; NPNF2 10: 258). 2:8. For the first time in the book, the prophet mentions Nineveh by name. Nineveh’s “mighty streams once inundated Israel and Judah … like the unruly waters of chaos” (Roberts 1991: 66). The bloody city is being dissolved into a watery city (Sherwood 2000: 239; cf. Nah. 3:1; Zeph. 2:13–15). Now the walls of the pool are broken, the water is unstoppable. 2:9. The NRSV places this verse in quotation marks to indicate a change of the speaker, and it repeats the words of the victor who sacks the city. Concerning the wealth (Heb. ka¯bo¯d, usually meaning “glory, honor”) being plundered, Genesis Rabbah finds clarification of the Hebrew word in Gen. 31:1 where it appears in the sense of “abundance” (“wealth” NRSV; 73.12). Theodoret reads the verse as meaning that “what [Nineveh] had wrongly amassed … will be handed over to others” (2006: 184). 2:10. The prophet then resorts to dramatic sound effects to describe the havoc wreaked upon the plundered city (v.10). Translators are clearly struggling to mirror the shape of the Hebrew original (bûqâ ûmeˇbûqâ ûmeˇbulla¯qâ!), when they suggest “devastation, desolation, and destruction!” (NRSV); ektinagmos kai anatinagmos kai ekbrasmo (LXX); dissipata et scissa et dilacerata (Vulg.); pillé, dépouillé, pilonné (French); O Wust, o Wüste und Verwüstung (German); and ¡Desolación, devastación y destrucción! (Spanish). A well-known parallel to this prophetic onomatopoeia may be found in Isa. 24:17, in which the prophet cries, pahad wa3paht wa3pa3h (“terror, and the pit, and the snare!”). 2:11–12. Here follows a dirge over the destroyed city, comparing it to a lion’s den that has been ruined. Ibn Ezra and Kimh.i found in this passage a comment on the Assyrian Empire’s predatory behavior (Schapiro 1995/5796: 690). Theodore of Mopsuestia took Nahum’s imagery as a mockery that declares an end to Assyria (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 258). The Midrash identifies the lion with Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Jer. 4:7) and attributes the devastation of his “den” to the offense of burning down the Temple, destroying the southern kingdom of Judah, and taking Israel into exile (Exodus Rabbah 29.9). The Qumran pesher

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commentary seems to read a singular “den” in verse 12 for the Hebrew text’s plural (QpNah 3-4 i 6; Doudna 2001: 132), suggesting that the commentator was thinking of Jerusalem or the Temple occupied by corrupt priests (Brooke 1987: 89). 2:13. The chapter on Nineveh’s destruction concludes in verse 13 with a judgment speech that echoes verse 3 with its scene of frantic chariots. The Hebrew text indicates a second person feminine singular interlocutor in the phrase “your young lions,” probably in reference to the city of Nineveh. The biblical text in the Qumran pesher commentary, however, has masculine pronouns, and the commentary refers to “his lions” (4QpNah 3–4 i 10), apparently applying the image of the predators to the contemporary nemesis of the community (Brooke 1987: 90). The Qumran community’s appropriation is comparable to that of later interpreters who believe that “the sack of Nineveh is at the same time the defeat of evil itself ” (Christensen 2009: 327).

Nahum 3: Woe Oracle against the City of Bloodshed An Oracle against Nineveh (3:1–17) 3:1. The last chapter of Nahum does not let up. It begins with a woe oracle against “the city,” charging it with bloodshed. The “city of bloodshed” deviously enriched itself by plundering other nations like a beastly predator. Although the city is not named, the context in the book of Nahum and a reference to the king of Assyria in verse 18 make it clear that it is to be identified as Nineveh, whose past acts of violence described in the following verses function as the basis for God’s just judgment (cf. House 2000: 138; cf. Ezek. 22:2). The Septuagint version of verse 1 ends with a cryptic sentence (“prey shall not be groped for” NETS). The Greek verb (pse¯laphao¯ “to touch”) is often used to describe the groping of the blind (Gen. 27:12, 21, 22; Deut. 28:29; Judg. 16:26; Isa. 59:10) or the effort to find one’s way through deep darkness (Job 5:14, 12:25). Based on this Greek text, Theodore of Mopsuestia constructed a scene of utter futility for the former predator. Nineveh will “no longer have the opportunity of snaring prey, and though trying hard [it] will be unable to achieve anything” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 259). 3:2–3. In these two verses, “Nahum switches to a series of quick word pictures that portray the attack on Nineveh and the city’s fall” (Roberts 1991: 72). A mass of corpses in Nineveh was the subject matter of Barry Moser’s illustration of Nahum (see p. 14).

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3:4. The battlefield filled with corpses in verses 2–3 is followed by a no less gruesome spectacle of sexual violence in verses 4–6. In verse 4, the prophet portrays Assyria as a seductive prostitute and sorceress, casting “her” in the most negative way possible (cf. Bellis 1994: 178). The rhetoric of terror feminizes the enemy city (cf. 2:1, 13 [2:2, 14 MT] where the Hebrew pronoun refers to the city as it faces violent punishment, and “her” body is laid bare before the invader (3:5–7). Citing this passage, Rashi condemns Assyria as a harlot who seduces other nations with an offer of friendship, only to destroy them (Schapiro 1995/5796: 691). One of “the countless debaucheries of the prostitute” is “sorcery” (Gk. pharmakon; cf. Exod. 7:11; 9:11; 22:18; Deut. 18:10; 2 Kgs. 9:22; Mic. 5:12; Mal. 3:5, etc.). Pharmakon may refer to either good medicines or harmful poisons, depending on whether they bring health or hurt (cf. Homer, Odyssey 4.230; 10.213, 236, 287), and Assyria “the mistress of sorcery” offered pharmakon which promised healing but delivered death. 3:5. The indictment of Nineveh for its moral and religious pollution is followed by a humiliating punishment. The Septuagint refers to the exposure of the hind parts (ta opiso¯), candidly reproduced by Theodore of Mopsuestia as follows: “Lo, I am against you, says the Lord God almighty. I shall expose your rear as your face, I shall reveal to the nations your shame, and to kingdoms your dishonor” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 260). 3:6. The spectacle of naked horror is followed by the defilement of “filth” (NRSV) or “loathsome things” (JPS), which can also be translated as “excrement” (Lehrman 1948: 204). Nineveh’s punishment contains a series of disturbing images of sexual violence used to describe Nineveh the prostitute’s “punishment by a vengeful God” (Koperski 2002: 473). Nahum’s portrayal of a deity who punishes by means of sexual violence against a target likened to a prostitute has evoked strong criticism from contemporary interpreters, especially feminists and those sympathetic to their approaches (Magdalene 1995: 326–52; cf. Bail 1998a: 356). Sherwood comments bluntly on the brutal scene: “Nineveh-aswoman is raped” (2000: 125). The passage, read in the context of similar images in other prophetic books (Jer. 13:22–7; Ezek. 16; Hos. 2:13), seems to portray God “as a male who proves his manhood and superiority through violent and sexual retaliation against women” (Sanderson 1998: 233–6). Some critics warn against using the text to legitimize and even promote sexual violence (Baumann 1998: 351), and others go as far as to say there is “no alternative but to condemn YHWH’s character in Nahum and the text’s relentless celebration of both sexual and other violence” (Carden 2006: 473). Another feminist reading strategy is to reassess the prophet’s vision of terror and deconstruct the shame it seeks to engender. Borrowing a term from novelist Toni Morrison, the

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proposal is to subvert the Nahum text by using it as a “patriarchal fishbowl” for teaching purposes (O’Brien 2002: 102–3). 3:7. Nineveh’s humiliation creates a paradoxical situation. Nineveh will continue to make other nations cringe and flee (“shrink from you” NRSV), but this time the reason is not the terror of Assyria’s might, but the horror of its plight. Cyril of Alexandria imagines that the prophet asks who will lament Nineveh, “as though there were no one, or no survivor, capable even of contemplating it” (FC 116, Cyril of Alexandria 2007–8, 2: 320). The prophet wonders, “Where shall I seek comforters for you?” Cyril explains, Nineveh “has … been totally captured and totally plundered, and everyone in her has been lost, for the devastation is so thorough that no consolation can be found” (ibid.). 3:8. Nineveh’s demise is compared with the fall of another powerful ancient city, Thebes. Thebes was also known by its Egyptian name No-Amon or No; hence, “populous No” in the AV. Genesis Rabbah (1.1) indicates that “Amon” can also be construed as “great,” reporting that Nah. 3:8 is translated in Aramaic as “Were you any better than the great Alexandria that is situated among the rivers?” (Shuchat 2002: 2). The Targum identifies Thebes with Alexandria (Cathcart and Gordon 1989: 140). The Vulgate also translates No-Amon in the Hebrew text as Alexandria, but Theodore of Mopsuestia dismisses such a view as ruins “a vain display at appearing to identify obscure places” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 261). 3:9. The list of Thebes’ allies in verse 9 is headed by Ethiopia (“Cush” in the Hebrew Bible; Holter 1997: 335). Ethiopia was one of the strongest military powers in antiquity (Mveng 1972: 23–39; Lavik 2001: 45; cf. Ezek. 38:5), and the view that it was one of the despised nations has been criticized as a case of traditional Eurocentrism that “has generally marginalized the African presence in the Old Testament” (Holter 2000: 576–7). 3:10. In spite of the strong support of its allies, Thebes went into exile. The prophet describes the fall of once mighty powers with gruesome imagery (“even her babies were dashed in pieces”), which it shares with other parts of the Old Testament (2 Kgs. 8:12; Isa. 13:16; Hos. 10:14; 13:16; Ps. 137:9; cf. Isa. 14:21). This monstrous image has been perceived by some as a way to vocalize unspeakable perturbation, for “how else can the powerless be rid of the poison of anger and hate, the frustrated wish for revenge, if not by giving verbal expression to it?” (Brenner 2003: 87–8). Whether such rhetoric produces relief or promotes further violence is a question with which readers of Nahum will continue to wrestle.

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Ethiopia was defeated, and its ruling class was taken into captivity. The prophet describes the finality of their fate with the image of casting lots (v. 10b). 3:11. The same irreparable misfortune will strike Assyria. Nineveh’s helpless state is compared to “drunkenness” (cf. 1:10 and commentary). Cyril of Alexandria reads Nineveh’s “drunkenness” allegorically as “ignorance of what is proper” (FC 116, Cyril of Alexandria 2007–8, 2: 322). In a dazed state of “stupefaction caused by calamity” (Christensen 2009: 361), the Ninevites will be forced to “seek a refuge from the enemy.” The Qumran pesher commentary inserts the word “city” (4QpNah 3–4 iv 7), recalling the tradition of the city of refuge (Num. 35; Josh. 20–1; cf. b. Makkot 11a). The commentator’s interest in this sanctuary tradition may point to the Qumran community’s quest for a place of safety, but the additional word does not drastically change the meaning of the text, for the Hebrew word for “refuge” or “stronghold” alone can refer to a city of refuge or an asylum (Judg. 6:26; Pss. 27:1; 28:8; 31:2–4; 37:39, etc.; cf. Brooke 1987: 86). 3:12. The destruction of Nineveh is as inevitable as the fall of ripe figs (v. 12; cf. Mic. 7:1). Rashi and Kimh.i explain the simile as meaning simply that the attackers will easily overcome Nineveh (Schapiro 1995/5796: 693). Assyria’s “hopeless strength” will spell “an easy victory” for Babylonian forces (Luther 1975: 311), and the futility of human strength will vanish before God’s design (Calvin 1984, 3: 496). 3:13. The inevitability of Nineveh’s collapse is visible in its lack of preparedness to engage the enemy. This verse describes Nineveh’s troops as “women” incapable of repelling the invaders. This conventional censure (cf. 2 Sam. 3:29; Isa. 19:16; Jer. 50:37; 51:30) is also attested in the Assyrian king Esarhaddon’s succession treaty: “May all the gods who are called by name in this treaty tablet spin you around like a spindle-whorl, may they make you like a woman before your enemy” (Haddox 2006: 188–9). In feminist exegesis, the prophet’s image of effeminate troops has been called “one of the most insulting threats or curses that could be made” (Sanderson 2000b: 353), and the gates flung wide open may intimate sexual violation (O’Brien 2004: 53). 3:14. The continuing sarcasm in the imperatives can hardly be missed. The imperatives “Draw water for the siege, strengthen your forts; trample the clay, tread the mortar, take hold of the brick mold!” are addressed to women (Heb. second person feminine plural) and intended to be derisive. Luther joins in the mockery of the Assyrian forces: “hiding forever within your walls, trying everything like women” (1985: 311–12).

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3:15–17. The city so weakly defended is heading for conflagration and desolation. The sentence in verse 15 begins with an adverb of place (Heb. ša¯m “there”), “as if the prophet pointed at the doomed city, and by this little word declared the certainty of her overthrow” (Gandell 1876: 647). The prophet’s catalogue of instruments of execution includes not only the fire and sword already mentioned in the book (cf. 2:3, 13), but also locusts, which devastate the land (cf. Joel 1:4; 2:25). Theodore of Mopsuestia observes that locusts play different roles in verses 15 and 17. In the former, they are agents of destruction, whom Theodore associates with mercenary forces “herded together from all quarters to increase power” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 264). In the latter, these locusts, frozen to the rampart, are the subjugated people unable to move under Assyria’s imperial domination, but now they can fly and “relish their separation from [Assyria]” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 264–5). In his nineteenth-century pictorial Bible, Kitto offers a detailed comment on Nahum’s locusts, describing how they cause ruinous destruction in every stage of their life cycle: Their formal and wholesale ravages begin before they are in a condition for flight; and are then indeed far more ruinous than those of the winged invaders. When they leave their native hedges, they march along, as it were, in battalions, devouring every leaf and bud as they pass, and not sparing even the bark of the trees. … At last, when the sun has waxed warm, about the end of June, they acquire their perfect condition by the development of their wings, and “flee away” [Nah. 3:16], to inflict on other places the desolation to which they have reduced the places of their birth. (1856: 679)

His entomological description reflects the encyclopedic interests displayed in nineteenth-century editions of the Bible.

An Oracle against the King of Assyria (3:18–19) 3:18. Nahum’s oracle against Nineveh is followed by the denunciation of the king of Assyria and his nobles, compared to shepherds. “Shepherds” may also refer to the royal family (cf. 2 Sam. 5:2; 1 Chr. 11:2; Ezek. 37:24), and their slumber, to their death (Roberts 1991: 77). With the demise of the noble and the royal alike, Assyria is undone. 3:19. Nineveh’s fall is terminal. Nineveh’s misfortune becomes an occasion of jubilation for “all who hear the news.” They will celebrate the oppressor’s demise by clapping their hands (cf. Ps. 47:1). They are rejoicing because Assyria’s “endless cruelty” is finally over. The book of Nahum ends with a question, as does the book of Jonah. Paradoxically, however, a major difference

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makes the two prophets complement each other. The book of Jonah ends with God’s poignant rhetorical question as to why compassion is a divine necessity. By contrast, the book of Nahum concludes on a note of sarcasm disguised in the interrogative, pursuing to the end its celebration of the raw justice meted out to the empire that ignored divine care and left scars of violence in its wake. The sequence of books in the Septuagint that placed Nahum right after Jonah was, after all, iconic. God’s offer of mercy in Jonah was ignored. The consequence is what we see in Nahum. The Lord’s patience is great. So is God’s strength. But the Lord will never let the guilty go unpunished. (Nah. 1:3a, author’s translation)

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2 Habakkuk O Lord, I have heard what they say about you; O Lord, I am in awe of the work that you do. In the coming years, revive it; In the coming years, make it known. In rage, remember compassion. (Hab. 3:2, author’s translation)

Six Minor Prophets Through the Centuries: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, First Edition. Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han. © 2011 Richard Coggins and Jin H. Han. Published 2011 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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In its present form, the book of Habakkuk has two main parts: (1) laments and oracles in chapters 1 and 2, and (2) a prayer in chapter 3. The first two chapters contain reflections on theodicy, in which the prophet assesses previously available answers to the problem of evil. In this first part of the book, Habakkuk agrees with Nahum about God’s sovereignty over the nations; however, unlike Nahum, he wrestles with the notion that foreign nations can also be “a means of punishing [God’s] own people for their failures in obedience” (Coggins 1982: 88). In the second part of the book, the psalm of Habakkuk counsels and celebrates complete trust in God. The Septuagint shows that the book included all three chapters by the last centuries of the first millennium BCE, but the nature of the relationship between chapters 1–2 and chapter 3 has been disputed among ancient and modern interpreters. The Qumran pesher commentary on Habakkuk (1QpHab) does not include Habakkuk 3, leading many to suspect that the chapter may not have been a part of the biblical book on which the pesher commentary was based; however, it is impossible to determine whether 1QpHab is a complete copy of the pesher commentary (Andersen 2001: 259). The antiquity of the third chapter on its own is confirmed in the manuscripts left by the fugitives of the Second Jewish War in 132–5 CE that were found at Murabba‘ât and Nah9al H9ever, eleven miles south of Qumran (Benoit et al. 1961: 50, 181–205; plates lvi–lxxiii). The book of Habakkuk, although one of the Minor Prophets, casts a long shadow in reception history, and its influence is on a par with that of the Major Prophets. As early as the Qumran pesher commentary one can observe that the book of Habakkuk guided the believing community through difficult challenges. The Hebrew chronicle Seder ‘Olam Rabbah associates the book with the oppressive reign of Manasseh (687–642 BCE), the worst king in Judean history according to the historian of the book of Kings (2 Kgs. 21:2, 9, 11, 16; 23:26), implying that the prophetic book originated in a period when the people of God had to wrestle with troubled times (Guggenheimer 1998: 174–8). In the early church, Theodore of Mopsuestia reads Habakkuk as censuring the powerful who oppressed the poor, and argues that the prophet was anticipating that God would bring the Babylonians to order to punish the wicked, and that the Babylonians themselves would also be punished for “gaining control of Jerusalem and exercising this control improperly” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 266). Martin Luther also regards Habakkuk as “a prophet who prophesied before the Babylonian captivity” (1974, 19: 107). John Calvin agrees with Luther on the sixth-century setting of the prophetic book, while holding that the exact date cannot be determined (1984: xiii). Habakkuk’s ministry of reassurance may also be behind the mysterious note on which The Lives of the Prophets concludes the section on Habakkuk, through the prophet’s words “the Lord will be recognized at the end, for they

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will illuminate those who are being pursued by the serpent in darkness as from the beginning” (12.13; OTP 2: 394). C. C. Torrey juxtaposes this rather cryptic reference to a plague of the serpent with a legend in which the prophet Jeremiah’s bones were brought to Alexandria so that they might drive out poisonous serpents from the region (1946: 35; see Lives of the Prophets 2:5–6; OTP 2: 393; cf. Jer. 8:17). Torrey compares Jeremiah with Saint Patrick of Ireland or the warrior-saint “Uqba ibn Na¯fi” of North Africa – legendary figures who saved their lands from poisonous snakes (1946: 49). The Lives of the Prophets may be alluding to a tradition that Habakkuk too helped to resolve a similar situation, although the story may have been no more than a metaphorical account of how Habakkuk counseled the faithful through critical times. Among modern interpreters, the book is sometimes called “a ragbag of traditional elements … put together in an apparently slapdash fashion” (Carroll 1990: 269), but it derives its unifying theme from persistently pursuing a question as to what God is going to do about the wicked in order to rectify an evil situation. Confronting a course of historical events that defy comprehension, Habakkuk continues the biblical tradition of protesting to God in the name of justice and mercy (Kaufmann 1968: 66–77; cf. Gen. 18:23–33; Ps. 44:24–6; Job 1–42, etc.). The prophetic interrogation results in the famous call to live by faith in Hab. 2:4b, which has a rich reception history (see commentary and Excursus, pp. 71–3). Habakkuk’s counsel of faith has been regarded as the compendium of Judaism, the substance of Pauline theology, and the banner of the Reformation.

Habakkuk in Literature Habakkuk receives the limelight not only as a discourse on divine justice, but also as a piece of literature that promotes spiritual renewal. Habakkuk’s far-reaching impact finds an apt expression in the catalogue of abundance written by the seventeenth-century Anglican priest Edward Marbury, who rated the book as “full of marrow and fatness”: 1. 2. 3. 4.

In the latitude, all the earth over. In the plenitude, the earth shall be filled. In the magnitude, the knowledge of Gods glory. In the profundity, as the waters cover the sea. (1650: 294; cf. Hab. 2:14)

The sublime spirit of Habakkuk is palpable in a poem by the young English poet Thomas Russell (1762–88), entitled “The Books of the Old Testament.” It begins with Genesis and Exodus and ends:

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Next Jonah, Micah, Nahum come, And lofty Habakkuk finds room,— While Zephaniah, Haggai calls, Wrapt Zachariah builds his walls. (1968: 263)

Habakkuk’s lofty vision is deeply rooted in a history that the prophet found hard to comprehend. The same struggle to come to terms with the world that defies human understanding may be behind the enthusiasm that Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) displays for Samuel Richardson’s novel, Clarissa (1748). Stevenson compares himself to “that Frenchman of the eighteenth century who discovered Habakkuk, and would give no one peace about that respectable Hebrew” (1994: 228). Here he is apparently referring to Voltaire, who was credited with praising Habakkuk as a person who can do anything (“Habakkuk, avec un nom comme ça, est capable de tout”; ibid., n. 5). Stevenson may have associated Habakkuk with Voltaire, finding both the prophet and the philosopher to be figures who beard God, openly opposing God with effrontery and refusing to settle for a conventional answer. In the same century, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) uses Hab. 1:13 (see commentary) as the epigraph for Chapter 31 “The Middle Passage” of her abolitionist work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (2010: 306). Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? (AV)

Quoting from Habakkuk, Stowe asks how God, who has pure eyes, can tolerate the rampant evil in the contemporary world. One may struggle in vain to find a better description of what the abolitionist writer wanted to convey through her book than Habakkuk’s prophetic words. In the twentieth century, Wilbur Morris Stine (1863–1934), a physicist and poet, wrote an allegorical rendition of the biblical book, Habakkuk: A Poem (1923), in which Habakkuk studies the evils of social institutions and their relationship with humanity and, because of what he sees, is awakened to the oppression resulting from these evils. Vengeance, a visitor from heaven, appears in answer to Habakkuk’s prayer for the rectification of injustice in the world. The poem describes “the imminent anarchy of the present day: not the lawless and inconsiderate passion of the times manifested in strikes and uprisings of labor, but the righteous anarchy aroused by the insolent and fraudulent opposition of the privileged wrong-doers to amelioration of customary and formal evils” (1923: xvi). Although Habakkuk believes that God desires the end of tyranny, he recognizes the scale of the horrors that would come with divine

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judgment and pleads for God’s compassion. The prophet, who had sought only justice, comes to realize that the gravity of justice must be balanced by the grace of mercy. The Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti (1909–44) is galvanized by the prophet who grieves over excessive violence. In the wake of the 1937 bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, an event portrayed in the dramatic painting by Pablo Picasso, Radnóti wrote a poem called “Marginal Note to the Prophet Habakkuk” (1980: 156). The opening lines of the poem, dated 20 October 1937 (“Cities / stood in flames, / villages / erupted”), make a clear allusion to bombing raids and the suffering they inflicted upon the civilians, recalling the righteous anger voiced by the prophetic book that also begins with a denunciation of violence and destruction (Gömöri 1996: 7). Habakkuk’s discourse on violence also gave birth to one of the most striking metaphors in the prophetic book: “evening wolves” (Hab. 1:8 AV; cf. “wolves at dusk” NRSV; cf. Zeph. 3:3; see commentary on both verses). The figure of evening wolves appears in Benjamin Keach’s poem Sion in Distress: Or, the Groans of the Protestant Church (1681), in which the poet portrays Tory loyalists’ oppression of Protestants in the midst of the Exclusion Crisis of 1679–81, when the Whigs sought to prevent the return of the Catholic monarchy in England (1681: 3–4): In pathless deserts, where the Midnight howls Of hungry Wolves, mixt with the screech of Owls, And Ravens; dismal croaks, salute the Ears Of poor erratick trembling Passengers: So I’m surrounded, so the Beasts of Prey Conspire to take my Life and Name away.

The wolf imagery is featured also in Robert Southey’s epic poem Joan of Arc (1798) to portray France’s enemies (II. 172–7; Southey 2004: 239): Fiercer than evening wolves thy bitter foes Rush o’er the land, and desolate, and kill; Long has the widow’s and the orphan’s groan Accused Heaven’s justice; – but the hour is come; God hath inclined his ear, hath heard the voice Of mourning, and his anger is gone forth.

This poem led Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) to raise his estimation of Southey. Habakkuk’s “evening wolves” lent intensity to a poetic mood “full of tears and virgin-sighs, and yearnings of affection after truth and good, gushing warm and crimsoned from the heart” (Hazlitt 1972: 318).

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In the book of Habakkuk, fearful reality and robust faith strive to strike a balance (Lloyd-Jones 1953), and the same posture of hope can be observed in the literary appropriations of the prophetic book. The English Victorian clergyman and poet John Keble (1792–1866) uses Habakkuk’s metaphor of a translucent oracle that one can read running (Hab. 2:2, see commentary) in “Septuagesima Sunday” (n.d. 50–1): There is a book, who runs may read, Which heavenly truth imparts, And all the lore its scholars need, Pure eyes and Christian hearts. The works of God above, below, Within us and around, Are pages in that book, to show How God Himself is found. … Thou, who hast given me eyes to see And love this sight so fair, Give me a heart to find out Thee, And read Thee everywhere.

The poem, which was originally inspired by Rom. 1:20, has been a popular hymn in English worship (Duffield 1886: 546–7). Habakkuk’s idea of a clear and urgent vision of truth also appears in William Cowper’s poem “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools,” which is dated November 6, 1784 (1967: 244): Truths that the learn’d pursue with eager thought Are not important always as dear bought, Proving at last, though told in pompous strains, A childish waste of philosophic pains; But truths on which depends our main concern, That ’tis our shame and mis’ry not to learn, Shine by the side of ev’ry path we tread With such a lustre, he that runs may read.

The poem, addressed to the Rev. William Cawthorne Unwin, Rector of Stock in Essex, recommends private instruction at home instead of formal schooling: the latter is unnecessary, since the truth is plain like something one can read while running, and the best “tirocinium” (meaning first experience in learning) is available at home.

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Habakkuk in the Arts In early Christian art, Habakkuk was associated with Christ in a variety of ways from nativity to resurrection, and from crucifixion to glorification. The famous artistic motif that features the ox and the ass at the birth of Christ can be traced back to the Greek translation of Hab. 3:2b, which says, “You will be known between two living creatures” (see commentary). The two living animals generated a number of artworks and from the fourth century became an integral part of the nativity scene (West 1903: 879–90). For example, a sarcophagus from the late fourth century shows a nativity scene in which Mary and Joseph are absent, but the ox and the ass are depicted (García-Tejedor 2005: 234, 406 n. 317)! In the fifth-century wooden doors of the Church of Santa Sabina in Rome, Habakkuk is seen at the nativity, and the prophet’s connection with the birth of Christ can be best explained by Hab. 3:2 LXX. A thirteenth-century parchment of a Psalter from Würzburg juxtaposes Habakkuk and Isaiah. The latter holds a scroll that displays the words of Isa. 9:6, which announced the birth of the Child. The former’s scroll reads, in medio duo(rum) animalium cognosceres, from the Latin translation of the Greek variant reading of Hab. 3:2b, though some mistakenly claim that the text is not found in Habakkuk (see Euw and Plotzek 1979: 311; cf. Swarzenski 1936: 155). During the Middle Ages, the ox and the ass became a standard feature in picture Bibles such as Biblia Pauperum (Library of Heidelberg University [Kristeller 1906: 11]; Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden [A. Henry 1987: 49, 51]) and the Book of Hours of Joanna of Castile (GarcíaTejedor 2005: 232). Among other significant examples of the arts related to Habakkuk, there is the seventh-century mosaic in the apse of the church of Hosios David in Salonica, in which Habakkuk stands with Ezekiel below Christ in glory against the backdrop of a mountainous landscape of Greco-Asiatic style (Morey 1942: 189). According to the inscription on the mosaic, the daughter of the Roman emperor Maximinus (235–8) secretly commissioned the construction of the church and a drawing of the Virgin. The picture miraculously transformed itself into that of Christ flanked by the two prophets, Ezekiel and Habakkuk. The furious emperor had his daughter executed and the church burned, but the image survived. Later a monastery was built on the same site, and an Egyptian monk named Senouphios received a vision that instructed him to remove the bricks to unveil the mosaic (Morey 1942: 189–90). Besides the fact that both prophets report events of theophany, the two prophets may have been juxtaposed under the influence of the Jewish liturgical practice of reading Hab. 3 and Ezek. 1 during Shavu‘ot (see pp. 47–8).

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As is the case with other biblical characters, a good number of portraits of Habakkuk are found in early Christian art, and occasionally, on the book in the prophet’s hands, something is written. For example, a page of the Sinope Gospels includes a sixth-century portrait of the prophet, who displays a scroll with Hab. 3:17. The prophet who mentions the fig tree that does not blossom is joined by Daniel, who speaks of the cutting down of a tree in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision (Dan. 4:13–14), and the two prophet figures flank Christ who curses the fig tree and makes it wither (Matt. 21:18–22; Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, Supp. gr. 1286). Though the illustration of the cursing of the fig tree is a common feature in Christian art, the combination of Jesus, Habakkuk, and Daniel is attested nowhere else and apparently highlights the role of Jesus as the Lord and Savior, who brings down the haughty king and provides the joy of salvation for the faithful in times of trial. Among Byzantine illuminated manuscripts, the Codex Vaticanus, gr. 1153 (folio 44v) has the prophet standing with his head tilted and holding a scroll in his left hand that reads Hab. 3:2a (LXX), so that the prophet responds to the revelation, saying, “O Lord, I have heard of your renown, and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work.” In an interesting example on the front cover of a twelfth-century lectionary, the evangelists hold a codex of what is evidently a Gospel book, while the prophets, including Habakkuk but not Jeremiah, have a scroll, displaying historical sensitivity to the fact that the codex was a book format not created until the Common Era (Weitzmann and Galvaris 1990: fig. 648). The monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai preserves the twelfthcentury copy (Codex 339) of Gregory of Nazianzus’ Easter message, which cites Hab. 2:1 in anticipation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Oration 45.1; Gregory of Nazianzus 2008: 161–2). This association of Habakkuk’s vision and the resurrection is reflected in the manuscript illuminations (Oration 45.1; Gregory of Nazianzus 2008: 161–2; see p. 43). The manuscript contains three sets of pictures, which show the prophet and the preacher in various configurations (Weitzmann and Galvaris 1990: fig. 474; colorplate xxi). In a wide frame, a youthful Habakkuk provides an Old Testament lesson that begins the homily, and Gregory of Nazianzus the preacher is seen with all the regalia of a bishop and the authority of age. Both present Christ, borne by four creatures who symbolize the four Gospels. At the head of the body of text, the decorated initial of the Greek letter epsilon provides a niche for another scene, inside of which the bishop is seated with his hand raised in a gesture of teaching. Christ speaks from heaven, and a little Habakkuk joins the bishop. The left margin contains another representation of the vision in which Gregory and Habakkuk appear together and gaze at the heavenly Christ figure. The three figures come together as if formulating yet another sermon by the artist, who offers an analysis of what happens as Gregory begins his Easter homily: “‘I will stand on my watch,’ says the wondrous Habakkuk; and I also will stand with him today, by the authority and vision given me by the Spirit, and I will

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look steadily and observe what will be seen and what will be spoken to me” (Oration 45.1; Gregory of Nazianzus 2008: 161). In sculpture, the most celebrated representation of the prophet Habakkuk is the figure by Donatello (ca. 1386–1466). Completed between 1427 and 1436, this benchmark of Donatello’s realism is known as lo Zuccone, meaning “pumpkin-head” or “gourd-head,” and was rated by Giorgio Vasari (1511– 74) as “a most unusual work and more beautiful than anything Donatello had ever done” (1991: 151). According to Vasari, Donatello used to swear an oath “by the faith I have in my Zuccone,” and strove to infuse it with life, for “while he was working on it, he would stare at it, and keep saying to it: ‘Speak, speak or be damned’ ” (ibid., 151–2). Instead of producing a still image, the sculptor created a persona of the prophet prophesying with oratorical expressiveness. The figure was originally located in the center of the front of the campanile (bell tower) of the Duomo in Florence; it is now in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and its place on the campanile taken by a modern copy. The heavily weathered state of the statue, leaving the figure apparently hairless, led Patricia Rose to suggest that it may be a rendering of Elisha, the bald prophet (1981; cf. 2 Kgs. 2:23–25); however, the proposal did not succeed in throwing doubt on the traditional identification with Habakkuk (cf. Lorenz 2002: 58). A noteworthy work of sculpture in the Americas is a statue of Habakkuk by Antônio Francisco Lisboa (1730–1814), also known as O Aleijadinho (Mann 1967: 124–7). It stands in the atrium of the eighteenth-century church of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos in Congonhas, Brazil. Like Aleijadinho’s other sculptures, Habakkuk’s statue is in the style of the Jesuit-Baroque, which combined elements of indigenous culture with European Baroque style. Graciela Mann observed how “Habakkuk raises his left arm to inveigh against the tyrant and the dissolute: ‘Babylon I accuse! Woe to the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation’ ” (1967: 66). In the contemporary American artist Barry Moser’s picture of the prophet (Holy Bible 1999: 740), Habakkuk is plunged in deep reflection and looking pensively toward heaven. Habakkuk is often depicted with Daniel. Their connection is based on the deuterocanonical addition to the book of Daniel known as Bel and the Dragon (Dan. 14 in the Vulg.), and is introduced in the Septuagint as originating “from the prophecy of Habakkuk, Son of Jesus, from the tribe of Levi.” In the narrative, an angel tells Habakkuk to take the dinner he had prepared for the reapers to Babylon and give it to Daniel in the lions’ den. The angel lifts Habakkuk by his hair and sets him down in Babylon “right over the den with the rushing sound of the wind itself ” (Dan. 14:33–9). A version of the story also appears in The Lives of the Prophets (12:5; OTP 2: 393) and a later Jewish work The Chronicles of Jerahmeel (70.8; Ben Asher ha-Levi 1971: 217).

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Figure 6 Habakkuk (Lo Zuccone) by Donatello, in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence (original; 1427–36).

Figure 7 Donatello’s Habakkuk (Lo Zuccone), on the campanile of the Duomo, Florence (second figure from left; copy).

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One early artwork based on this story is on the cypress doors of the Church of Santa Sabina in Rome (ca. 430 CE), appraised as the “best preserved wood carving” from the period (Weitzmann 1979: 487). The work shows Habakkuk being transported by an angel holding him by the hair of his head (Morey 1942: 139; fig. 149). The motif is also found on a fifth-century ivory “Pyxis with Daniel story” from North Africa or Syria, now in the British Museum, in which Habakkuk arrives while Daniel is praying between two lions whose heads are turned away (Weitzmann 1979: 485; fig. 436). Habakkuk feeding Daniel in the lions’ den becomes a recurring iconographical theme in late medieval illustrated books such as Speculum humanae salvationis. In a manuscript in the British Library (Blockbook G. 11784, Holland, ca. 1470), the picture of the three magi is accompanied by a text that explains what made their travel possible: If anyone wonders how such a distance is covered in a short period of time, it must be remembered that nothing is impossible at the birth of Christ. Whoever led Habacuc from Judea to Babylon (Daniel 14.33–39) is certainly able to lead the Magi from the East to Judea. (Labriola and Smeltz 2002: 34)

Habakkuk’s flight is used again in the Gospel scene of the temptation of Jesus by the devil. [Jesus] is not transported through the air as an angel carried the prophet Habacuc to Babylon … and, likewise, the devil did not carry him to the top of the temple … . Christ wishes to undergo the temptations for us, and he goes up to the top of the temple and ascends the mountain (Matthew 4.1–10). Christ allows himself to be tempted for our instruction to show that no one is able to live in this world without experiencing temptation. (Ibid., 42)

Interestingly enough, the accompanying picture portrays Daniel killing the dragon in Dan. 14:22–31 instead of the story of Habakkuk’s flight in the immediately following passage (vv. 32–5). The story of the prophet’s flight continues to be featured in later centuries. “An Angel Leads Habakkuk to Feed Daniel in the Lions’ Den” by Giovanni Bilivert (1618), housed in the Cathedral Tribune in Pisa, portrays the angel transporting the prophet holding him by a single hair. In the picture Daniel, wearing only a piece of cloth to cover himself, is graphically portrayed in a state of destitution, and one of the three lions in the back is staring at the spectacular arrival of the angel and the prophet. Other examples include two sculptures of “Habakkuk and the Angel” by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), in the Museo Sacro, Musei Vaticani, Vatican (Rome, 1655,

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Figure 8 Habakkuk and the Angel, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome (1655–61).

terracotta) and in the Chigi chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo (Rome, 1655–61, marble); and the picture by Jacopo Guarana (1720–1808), “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” (1757; Museo Civico, Udine, Italy).

Habakkuk in Worship Passages from Habakkuk appear in various liturgical settings, demonstrating how the prophet has inspired worshippers’ search for a meaningful relationship with God and the world. Probably the best-known example is Ani ma’amin based on Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles of Faith in Jewish prayer books (see below, pp. 60–1). One of the most ancient examples is found in the Jewish tradition that assigned Hab. 3 to be read as the Haftarah for the Torah reading of Deut. 15:19–16:17 on the second day of Shavu‘ot, while Ezek. 1 with Exod. 19:1–20:23 is read on the first day (b. Megillah 31a; Fishbane 2002: 324–5).

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The psalm of Habakkuk, which contains a theophany and a farmer’s song, must have made a perfect choice for Shavu‘ot, which celebrates the wheat harvest along with the lawgiving on Mount Sinai (Thackeray 1923: 48). In the Palestinian three-year cycle of Torah reading, Hab. 3 served as the Haftarah for the Torah lesson of Gen. 8:1–14, the two passages apparently brought together because both begin with the verb “to remember” (Hab. 3:2 [MT 3:1]; Mann 1971: 69–70). The combination of the two passages suggests that Habakkuk petitions God to “remember” mercy in the midst of wrath, as God “remembered” Noah in the flood (Gen. 8:1). The images of “a torrent of water” and “the deep” in Hab. 3:10 would also recall the deluge in the days of Noah. The list of scriptural readings for Sabbaths in contemporary Judaism does not include Habakkuk in the Haftarah portions (Alexander 1984: 180–1). In the Christian liturgy, Habakkuk is featured in various settings. Gregory of Nazianzus’ use of Hab. 2:1 (see above, p. 43) was so influential that it contributed to the association of Habakkuk’s vision and the resurrection of Christ in the Byzantine liturgy (Brubaker 1984: 10, n. 75). The fourth-century lectionary of Ambrose includes Hab. 3:8 as an Old Testament reading for funeral services (Willis 1962: 16). The Eastern Orthodox Liturgy of St. James (fourth century) has the words “let all mortal flesh be silent,” recalling Hab. 2:20, even though the Greek liturgy does not follow the Septuagint word for word (Trollope 1848: 49). According to early East Syrian lectionaries (fifth century), some Christian communities read Hab. 3 on the Rogation of the Ninevites or the Rogation of the Virgins (Kannookadan 1991: 36, 73, 79). In later lectionary traditions, Habakkuk is usually read during the Ordinary time of the church year. The 1662 Book of Common Prayer has Hab. 1 for the evening prayer of September 14 (Holy Cross Day), Hab. 2 for the matins on the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity and the morning prayer of September 15, and Hab. 3 for the evening prayer of September 15. The Episcopal Church’s lectionary (1979) designates 1:1–6 (7–11), 12–13 for Proper 22 in Year C, 2:1–4 for St. Thomas (see commentary on 2:3), and 3:2–6, 17–19 for the fifth Sunday after Epiphany in Year A. The Roman Catholic lectionary of 1969 offered Hab. 1:2–3; 2:2–4 for the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost of Year C, and one of the Lesser Canticles that began with Domine, audivi (“O Lord, I have heard”) was based on Hab. 3:2. The current daily lectionary of the Church of England includes portions of Habakkuk, most notably Hab. 1:1–11 to be read on the day that commemorates the beheading of John the Baptist. In the Revised Common Lectionary, Hab. 1:1–4; 2:1–4 is the first reading on Proper 22 and Proper 26 of Year C. In the former, the passage is joined with 2 Tim. 1:1–14 and Luke 17:5–10, both of which promote faith. In the latter, the reading from Habakkuk is paired with the epistle lesson of 2 Thess. 1:1–4, 11–12, which teaches faithful endurance,

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and the Gospel lesson of Luke 19:1–10, which calls for a radical redefinition of a child of Abraham, that is, as a member of the family of God’s people by faith. No popular hymn based on Hab. 1 has been written, but a few verses in chapter 2 are well represented in hymns and praise. Habakkuk 2:2 serves as the basis of John Keble’s poem “Septuagesima Sunday,” which becomes an important part of English worship (see above, p. 41). Charles Wesley (1707–88) incorporated Hab. 2:4b into the hymn “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” (1740), whose seventh verse says, Look unto him, ye nations: own Your God, ye fallen race; Look, and be saved by faith alone; Be justified by grace. (1864: 9)

Through many centuries, the famous quote from Hab. 2:4b (see commentary and Excursus) gave birth to inspirational hymns including “Stand in the Watchtower, Habakkuk the Seer” (Foxcroft 1879; Pick 1908). A call for silence before God in Hab. 2:20 (“the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!”) is reflected in the hymn, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” based on the original Greek from the Liturgy of St. James from the fourth century. It is usually set to a French carol melody. The theme is also found in the 1887 hymn, “God Is in His Temple” by W. T. Matson (1833–99). Thomas Hastings (1784–1872) used the same verse as the basis of his piece, “The Lord Is in His Temple.” Habakkuk 3, which offers the prophet’s prayer, is featured in many hymns and other musical renditions. Luther wrote the following hymn: I will sing in the high range with joy and gladness; at the present I am being afflicted, at the present I am being oppressed, but within a short time I will glory again, I will rejoice and triumph. (1974, 19: 148)

The same passage inspired the 1779 piece by William Cowper, “Sometimes a Light Surprises,” whose first verse describes the joy felt by the Christian when God “grants the soul again / a season of clear shining to cheer it after rain,” and which cites 3:17–19 (Routley 1985, no. 159). In the same year, the psalm of Hab. 3 made a grand appearance in the chorus by François Giroust, Domine audivi auditionem tuam (1779). Albert Midlane, who wrote hymns for children and others, based his “Revive Thy Work, O Lord” on 3:2 (1860). The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have witnessed the appearance of a cantata Habakkuk by György Kósa (1954), a chorus in Symphony No. 42 by Alan Hovhaness (1979),

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a chancel opera The Sacrifice of Isaac by Susan Hulsman Bingham (1981), a madrigal “The Canticle of Habakkuk” in The Plague by Neeley Bruce (1984), a unison piece, “Remember Your Lord God/Prayer of Habakkuk” by Robert J. Powell (1997), “Habakkuk’s Song (I Will Praise You, Lord)” by William Duane Clark (2002), “Yet I will Rejoice” by Sherri Youngward (2008), and many other musical works that allude to the book of Habakkuk.

Habakkuk 1: The Prophet’s Lament and God’s Reply 1:1. The superscription in Hab. 1:1 introduces Habakkuk as a prophet – “a proud, dignified title” (Luther 1974: 108), “superbus titulus” (Krause 1962: 289). The prophet’s name is an uncommon one, and John Kitto comments that “it seems the very worst of all [Hebrew] names” and that “so offensive was it to the delicate organs of the Greeks, that translators and others who had occasion to produce it, modified it almost beyond recognition” (1853: 403). It has a cognate in Akkadian, h}ambaququ or h}abbaququ, which means “a fragrant herb,” a fruit-bearing tree, or, possibly, “cucumber” (Witte 2006: 324). According to a later Jewish legend referred to in the Zohar (thirteenth century), Habakkuk was the son of the woman mentioned in 2 Kgs. 4 (Zohar 1:7; 2:44–5), to whom Elisha said, “at this season, in due time, you shall embrace (h.abaq) a son.” In his early German translation, Luther calls the prophet Habakuk der Herzer “the one who caresses” (Heb. h.abaq “embrace”), summing up his ministry as follows: “he caresses his nation and takes it into his arms … as one fondles a poor weeping child or other person, quieting and pacifying it with the assurance that, if God wills, conditions will mend” (1974: 155–6). A sermon preached by William Talbot (1658–1730) before Queen Mary II and published “by her Majesty’s Command” adds the colorful tint that the prophet embraces like a wrestler (Talbot 1692: 1). E. B. Pusey, on the authority of Jerome, regarded the prophet’s name as meaning both “embrace,” representing the prophet’s love for the Lord, and “wrestle,” as Habakkuk is one who wrestles with God: equaled by none in his boldness for demanding justice, the prophet asks, “why, in human affairs and the government of this world, is there so great injustice?” (1860: 406). The book of Habakkuk provides no information on the prophet’s provenance. The Septuagint version of Bel and the Dragon introduces the prophet Habakkuk as the son of Joshua from the tribe of Levi, though neither Theodotion nor the Vulgate includes these details. The Lives of the Prophets states that Habakkuk came from the tribe of Simeon and locates his hometown in the countryside of Bethzouchar (12:1; OTP 2: 393). According to this

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pseudepigraphal writing, the prophet received a vision of the fall of Jerusalem, which plunged him into deep grief. He prophesied that the curtain of the inner sanctuary would be torn when the temple was destroyed (cf. Matt. 27: 51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). After this vision came true, Habakkuk fled to Ostrakine and sojourned in the land of Ishmael, which may indicate some kind of Arabic connection (The Lives of the Prophets 12:3; OTP 2: 393). The title in verse 1 describes the “oracle” (lit. “burden”) of God as something that the prophet “saw” (cf. Isa. 1:1; Amos 1:1; Mic. 1:1). As is the case with Nahum (see commentary on Nah. 1:1) and Habakkuk, the Hebrew word appears only in superscriptions (Isa. 13:1; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; Zech. 9:1; 12:1; Mal. 1:1). Luther, who translates the word as “burden,” recalls a German maxim (“they make hell hot and paint the devil evil for us”) and concludes that the prophet found it burdensome to deliver the evil oracle that was “poised and suspended over them and would soon strike them” (1974: 157). For Calvin, the burden was what God had to bear, even as the merciful God had been patient with the Jewish people in the past (1984, 4: 15–16).

The Prophet’s Protest (1:2–4) 1:2–3. The prophet’s lament continues the biblical tradition of protest, recalling Abraham (Gen. 18; cf. the psalms of lament, e.g., Pss. 10, 13, 35, 74, 79, 80, 89, 90). The early church fathers also examined Habakkuk’s complaint. Theodore of Mopsuestia, for example, believed that the purpose of his lament was to express indignation not against God but against the perpetrators of evil, arguing that Habakkuk spoke this way only because it was “the custom with people who are in some sort of trouble or who are righteously indignant with those responsible” (FC 108, Theodore 2004: 268–9). Theodoret also defended the prophet and said that Habakkuk was not blaming God for injustice in the world (2006: 191–2; cf. Guinot 1995: 676). Today arguing with God is generally recognized as a characteristic feature of the Hebrew Bible, as well as of Judaism. As the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel said, “a Jew can be Jewish with God, or against God, but not without God” (Telushkin 2001: 16). Cassiodorus, in a comment on Ps. 102:1b (101:2 LXX), says that the psalmist prays that his cry may reach God, as Habakkuk did in his passionate entreaty (ACW 53, Cassiodorus 1990–1, 3: 3). The prophet’s cries to God in Hab. 1:2–3 are marked by typical formulas of lamentation: “how long?” and “why?” Luther attributes the prophet’s frustration to a lack of response from the people and, citing verse 3b (“might goes before right”), calls the powerful people “the bigwigs and masters in the country” (1974: 108, 161). His caustic comment may stem from the rising tension in his own country after the tide of the Reformation

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turned at the Diet of Worms in 1521. Like Habakkuk, he was not afraid of being branded as a rebel, for he too was prepared to take on the powerful. 1:4. Habakkuk diagnoses the root of the problem: disregard of God’s law. When the prophet complains of the law that “became slack,” he is not merely referring to holes in the legal system of Judah, for the Hebrew word for “law” (tôra¯h) is a comprehensive term that refers to God’s governance of the world in its entirety (cf. Lehrman 1948: 214). The Qumran pesher commentary renders it as “the law is weak [and justice never goes forth]” and comments that “this concerns those who have despised the Law of God” (1QpHab i 10–11; Vermes 2004: 509). Apparently, the commentator turns the prophet’s censure of laxity into a charge against the Qumran community’s enemies, who rampantly disregarded God’s law (cf. Van der Ploeg 1957: 29). Luther directs his criticism yet again at his own powerful contemporaries who undermine justice. Quoting Cicero, who said, “Laws must be silent when weapons speak” (Pro Milone 4.10), Luther laments that “justice is not equal for all” (1974: 109). Calvin also generalizes that weak laws represent a corrupt society (1984, 4: 22).

God’s Reply (1:5–11) 1:5. In verses 5–11, God replies to Habakkuk, declaring an imminent divine intervention that will dazzle not only the prophet but all the nations. The Qumran pesher commentary reads “traitors” (bo¯ge˘dîm) in lieu of the Masoretic Text’s “among the nations” (baggôyim) and applies the term to those who were in alliance with the Liar, the nemesis of the Teacher of Righteousness (1QpHab ii 1–2). The Septuagint translates the verse somewhat differently, formulating God’s response as directed to those who hold God’s governance in contempt, presumably because God’s law was being rejected (Hab. 1:4 LXX). Now God declares in verse 5: Look, you despisers, and watch! And marvel at marvelous things, and be annihilated. For I am working a work in your days that you would not believe if someone should tell it. (NETS)

Paul cites this Septuagint version in Acts 13:40–1, “warning his Jewish audience not to repeat the example of their ancestors by refusing to accept God’s most recent activity in Jesus” (Graham 1999: 475; cf. Dodd 1952: 87). Paul’s use of the prophetic words is in consonance with the wider context of Luke–Acts, for

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it enforces the picture of Christ the innocent who died on the cross, in parallel with the innocent who suffered in Hab. 1:2–4 (van de Sandt 2009: 73; Luke 23:47). In Acts 13:41, Paul enlists the reference to “work” (Gk. ergon) in verse 5 to lift up the mission to the Gentiles as the wondrous work God was doing in his time (ibid., 2009: 71; cf. Acts 13:2; 14:26; 15:38). Cyril of Alexandria interprets the “work” as the entire plan of salvation, even as he is particularly moved by the idea that Christ came to work “in the form of a slave” (cf. Phil. 2:7; On the Unity of Christ, Cyril of Alexandria 1995: 61). This notion of God’s incredible work is illustrated in a Syriac legend, “The Story Concerning the King of Edessa,” preserved in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History. In this narrative, “Abgar the Black, sovereign of the country” sends a letter to Jesus in Jerusalem to express his awe of the healing miracles Jesus performed, as well as the raising of the dead. He invites Jesus to come to heal his illness. The document contains Jesus’ reply, in which he commends the king’s faith, citing Hab. 1:5b: Jesus’ contemporaries refused to believe in him even when they were told who he was. Jesus says that he will be taken up when he completes his work, but he will send one of the disciples to heal the king’s illness and bring salvation to his kingdom (ANF 8: 651–3). 1:6. God’s reply calls attention to “the Chaldeans,” who will be brought to address the issue of injustice. In the first century BCE the Qumran pesher commentary consistently replaces “Chaldeans” (kas´dim) with “Kittim” (kittîm), which refers to the Romans who are “quick and valiant in war, causing many to perish” (1QpHab ii 12–14). The pesher commentary shows that the Romans, the instrument of God’s judgment (1QpHab iii 4–6), were not there yet, but were expected to arrive shortly (cf. Ploeg 1957: 34). Long before the Qumran discoveries, biblical scholar Bernhard Duhm proposed “Kittim” (kittîm) in the place of “Chaldeans” (kas´dim), and interpreted the text as a description of the Greeks under Alexander the Great (1906: 20–2). 1:7. The Chaldeans will bring a great deal of dread and will administer “justice and dignity” in their own way. The Midrash attributes the fear to the threat of the Babylonian exile, of which God had spoken to Abraham in Gen. 15:13 (Exodus Rabbah 51.7). Luther detects a paradox in the prophet’s discourse, for “the justice and dignity of the Chaldeans” is set in contrast with the unrighteousness of his audience in Judah, but the Babylonians’ notion of justice turns out to be “ruthless and terrible,” not following “any nation’s laws or customs” (Luther 1974: 112, 169; cf. Calvin 1984, 4: 29–30). Both Reformers anticipate that the Chaldeans will be punished for their pride. 1:8–9. Habakkuk predicts that the Chaldeans’ fierce military power will be displayed through their “horses” and “horsemen.” The prophet compares them

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with “leopards,” “wolves at dusk,” and eagles “swift to devour.” The Qumran pesher commentary uses the animal imagery to construct a vivid portrayal of the swiftly advancing Roman army “who trample the earth with their horses and beasts” (1QpHab iii 10; Vermes 2004: 511). The pesher commentary adds that the invading soldiers “address [all peoples] with anger and [wrath and fury] and indignation” (1QpHab iii 4–9a). Gregory of Nazianzus enlists Habakkuk’s image of the predators in verse 8 in his diatribe against the Arians, who like ferocious animals sought to destroy sound teaching with their sophistry (Oration 28.2; FC 107, Gregory of Nazianzus 2003: 225). Luther is reminded of the drawings of wild beasts on noblemen’s coats of arms and comments: “I have never seen leopards, but travelers report that this is an animal with many spots on its fur and that the females are fiercer than the males” (1974: 170). On the phrase “evening wolves” (see above, p. 40 and commentary on Zeph. 3:3), Luther proposes to read “evening wolves” as “wolves of the desert” and calls them “wolves that are fierce and untamed” (1974: 113), while Calvin believes that the reference to evening means that the wolves were getting frustrated (1984, 4: 30). Commenting on the terrifying advance of the Chaldeans, Calvin extracts the theological teaching that “God thus debilitates the hearts of those who fiercely resist his word” (ibid., 32). 1:10–11. The Chaldean army reduces the monarchy to anarchy, running over any defensive structure. The prophet describes their overwhelming onslaught with verbs of derision (“scoff,” “make sport,” “laugh at” NRSV), interpreted in the Qumran pesher commentary as a Roman military tactic to make besieged fortresses collapse under the crushing weight of terror (1QpHab iv 10–12). The invading army advances at great speed (“they sweep by like the wind,” v. 11a NRSV). The King James Version (AV) seems to construe the Hebrew word for “wind” (Heb. ru