NAHUM'S USE OF AMBIGUITY AND ALLUSION TO PROPHESY THE DESTRUCTION OF

328 Pages·2014·2.12 MB·English

NAHUM’S USE OF AMBIGUITY AND ALLUSION

TO PROPHESY THE DESTRUCTION OF SPIRITUAL POWERS

by

Gregory Dean Cook

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of

WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

In Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

2014

Faculty Advisor: ____________________________________
Mr. Michael B. Kelly

Second Faculty Reader: ____________________________________
Dr. Christopher J. Fantuzzo

Chairman of the Field Committee: ____________________________________
Dr. Vern S. Poythress

Librarian: ____________________________________
Mr. Alexander Sandy Finlayson
Copyright © 2014 by Gregory D. Cook
All rights reserved
To Jesus,
Who fulfilled Nahum
ABSTRACT

The last 120 years of Nahum scholarship have focused on linguistic
difficulties. Nahum features a badly broken half-acrostic, words of debated meaning,
some of the most peculiar grammatical constructions in the Old Testament, and
sentences that do not have a clear subject. The vision changes subject, scene, and
metaphor rapidly, sometimes from one word to the next, and scholars have not been
able to provide satisfactory explanations.
This dissertation asserts that the impasse stems from a faulty presupposition
about Nahum’s purpose. Nahum scholars usually read the book as a judgment against
Assyria for its crimes against humanity. This dissertation contends that YHWH
condemns the spiritual powers of Assyria, and their human agents, for crimes against
YHWH’s honor: seducing, enslaving, and prostituting His people.
Nahum uses terse, ambiguous constructions to declare the fulfillment of
previous prayers and prophecies. The ambiguity allows Nahum to proclaim the fall of
Nineveh in 612 B.C. and the destruction of dark powers, namely, the underworld,
Ishtar, and Assyria’s supreme god, Asshur.
Nahum 1:2 describes YHWH as a wronged husband. The book then begins a
process, by means of multiple allusions, to annul Judah’s covenant with death,
incapacitate Assyria’s human leaders, strip away its seductive power, and break its
military strength.
This theory generates alternate explanations for debated issues in Nahum
scholarship. It proposes that the anti-acrostic elements of Nah 1:2–8 mark allusions to
Ps 9, and other texts, which culminate by cancelling Judah’s covenant with death.
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Nahum 1:9–14 alludes to 2 Kgs 18–19, as well as Assyrian inscriptions, to portray
Assyria as YHWH’s recalcitrant vassal. Nahum 2:8 and 3:4–7 use an extended
allusion to the death of Jezebel to announce the destruction of Ishtar’s power, which
Nineveh used to spiritually seduce and prostitute the ancient Near East. Nahum 3:18–
19 uses allusions to Assyrian ideology, Gen 10–11, and Mic 5, to declare the
destruction of Assyria’s deified patriarch, Asshur the god of war. Therefore, Nahum’s
linguistic difficulties serve the author’s purpose to prophesy YHWH’s vengeance
against evil spiritual powers, and their human agents, for their crimes against
YHWH’s honor.

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CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ xiv

CHAPTER

ONE INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1
History of the Problem ................................................................3
Literary and Thematic Complexity in Nahum ..........................12
Worldview .................................................................................30
Conclusion ................................................................................37

TWO THE VENGEANCE OF A JEALOUS GOD (1:1–3a) .........................39
Superscription ...........................................................................42
Nahum 1:2 .................................................................................61
Nahum 1:3a ...............................................................................77
Conclusion ................................................................................85

THREE ANNULING THE COVENANT WITH DEATH (1:2–8) ...................87
Current Acrostic Theories .........................................................91
An Allusion to Psalm 9 .............................................................95
Implications for the Study of Psalm 9 .....................................103
Other Allusions in Nahum 1:2–8 ............................................105
Judah’s Covenant with Death .................................................118
Sheol Imagery in Nahum ........................................................127
The Netherworld Vision ..........................................................135
Conclusion ..............................................................................137

FOUR HUMAN ENEMIES IN NAHUM (1:9–14) .......................................140
Why? .......................................................................................143
How? .......................................................................................148
When? .....................................................................................150
Who? .......................................................................................154
Conclusion ..............................................................................191

FIVE THE ASSYRIAN PROSTITUTE (2:8; 3:4–7) ...................................193
Feminist Criticism of Nahum ..................................................194
Nahum’s Allusion to Second Kings 9 .....................................198
Nahum 2:8a .............................................................................200
Why Personify Nineveh as a Woman? ...................................204
Why Would YHWH Punish Nineveh This Way? ...................206
Why Call Nineveh a הנוז? ......................................................215
Why Use a Sexual Metaphor for a Foreign Nation? ...............221
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YHWH’s Judgment against Queen Naqia ..............................237
Conclusion ..............................................................................248

SIX KING ASSHUR (3:18–19) .................................................................249
Genesis 10–11 .........................................................................251
The Union of Asshur and Assyria ...........................................256
Nahum 3:18 .............................................................................260
Micah 5....................................................................................266
Nahum 3:19 .............................................................................273
Conclusion ..............................................................................278

SEVEN CONCLUSION ...................................................................................280
Implications for Current Debates ............................................282
Other Contributions to the Study of Nahum ...........................284
Implications for the Transmission of the Text of Nahum .......285
Proposals for Ongoing Study and Predictions Regarding
Future Findings .......................................................................286

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................289

CURRICULUM VITAE

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ABBREVIATIONS

AB Anchor Bible Commentary
ANE Ancient Near East
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament
AOTC Abingdon Old Testament Commentary
ATLA American Theological Library Association
AYB Anchor Yale Bible Commentary
BASOR Bulletin of The American Schools of Oriental Research
BBR Bulletin for Biblical Research
BCOTWP Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms
BDB Brown, F., S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. A Hebrew and
English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford, 1907.
BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
Bib Biblica
BibOr Biblica et orientalia
BibInt Biblical Interpretation
BOl Berit Olam
BSac Bibliotheca sacra
BST Bible Speaks Today
BTCB Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
C&S Children & Society
CAH The Cambridge Ancient History.Edited by John Boardman, et
al., eds. 2d ed.
CAT Commentaire de l’Ancien Testement
viii
CBC Cambridge Bible Commentary
CBQ Catholic Bible Quarterly
CC Continental Commentary
CHANE Culture and History of the Ancient Near East Series
Civ Civilisations
ComV Communio Viatorum
CTR Criswell Theological Review
CurBS Currents in Research: Biblical Studies
DDD Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Edited by K.
van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter van der Horst. 2d ed.
Boston, 1999.
DSB Daily Study Bible Series
EBC Expositor’s Bible Commentary
EGHB Expositor’s Guide to the Historical Books
EPSC Evangelical Press Study Commentary
ESV The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
EvQ Evangelical Quarterly
ExpTim Expository Times
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
FCB Feminist Companion to the Bible
FCI Foundations for Contemporary Interpretation
FOTL Forms of the Old Testament Literature
GC Global Crime
GTJ Grace Theological Journal
HBM Hebrew Bible Monographs
HBT Horizons in Biblical Theology
ix
HCOT Historical Commentary on the Old Testament
HfT Helps for Translators
Hiphil Hiphil
HSZAO Heidelberger Studien Zum Alten Orient
HTKAT Herders theologischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament
IBC Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and
Preaching.
ICC International Critical Commentary
Int Interpretation
Iraq Iraq
ISBL Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature
ITC International Theological Commentary
JAAS Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies
JAMT Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma
JANER Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JBQ Jewish Bible Quarterly
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JPCS John Philips Commentary Series
JEBS Journal of European Baptist Studies
JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient
JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JHebS Journal of Hebrew Scriptures
JPCS John Philips Commentary Series
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