Nahum in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

"consolation" and "vengeance", to Israel and Israel's foe respectively. The two themes alternate in Nahum 1; as the prophecy advances, vengeance on Assyria predominates. Country. "The Elkoshite" (Nahum 1:1), from Elkosh or Elkesi a village of Galilee pointed out to Jerome (Preface in Nahum). Capernaum, "village of Nahum," seemingly takes its name from Nahum having resided in the neighbourhood, though born in Elkosh. The allusions in Nahum indicate local acquaintance with Israel (Nahum 1:4; Nahum 1:15; Nahum 2:2) and only general knowledge of Nineveh (Nahum 2:4-6; Nahum 3:2-3). This confutes the notion that the Alkush (resembling the name Elkosh), E. of the Tigris and N. of Mosul, is Nahum's place of birth and of burial, though Jewish pilgrims visit it as such. DATE. Hezekiah's time was that in which trust in Jehovah and the observance of the temple feasts prevailed as they did not before or after. So in Nahum 1:7; Nahum 1:15, "Jehovah is a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth (with approval) them that trust in Him ... O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts." Moreover Nahum has none of the reproofs for national apostasy which abound in the other prophets. Nahum in Elkosh of Galilee was probably among those of northern Israel, after the deportation of the ten tribes, who accepted Hezekiah's earnest invitation to keep the Passover at Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30). His graphic description of Sennacherib and his army (2 Chronicles 1:9- 12) makes it likely he was near or in Jerusalem at the time. ..