Who is the Author?

Nothing is known of the author of this brief prophecy except that he is Nahum the Elkoshite (Nahum 1:1). His name means “consolation” or “comfort,” which is appropriate for his ministry to Judah.1 Nahum’s association with the village Elkosh (1:1) tells us little about him, because its location is uncertain. Although the name Capernaum may come from the Hebrew for “village of Nahum,” 1:15 may imply the prophet was from Judah, an idea supported by tradition. Some have suggested that Nahum was a northern Israelite exile living in Assyria who sent his prophecy to Judah. The prophecy seems to have been delivered in writing rather than orally (based on the word “book” in 1:1, and the partial acrostic in 1:2–8), and perhaps that’s the reason we do not hear of his suffering for his anti-Assyrian ideas. One tradition even locates Elkosh in Assyria (modern Al Qosh, near ancient Nineveh in Iraq).2