Journal: Grace Theological Journal
Volume: GTJ 09:1 (Spring 1988)
Article: Literary Analysis and the Unity of Nahum
Author: Richard D. Patterson

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Literary Analysis and the Unity of Nahum

Richard D. Patterson

Michael E. Travers

Exegesis that includes careful attention to internal matters—theme and development, structure, and features of literary style—can help resolve perennial problems of interpretation. One such difficulty involves the unity and authorship of the book of Nahum. Conclusions reached from the shared contributions of biblical and literary data argue strongly for the unity of the whole prophecy that bears Nahum’s name. The literary devices are so demonstrably a necessary and integral part of the theme and structure of the work that this book is best viewed as the production of a single author whose literary skill and artistry rival those of any of the OT prophets.

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Introduction

Most modern higher critical interpreters conclude that of Nahum’s forty-seven verses, at least one-third are spurious. Critics are generally agreed in denying Nahum’s authorship of parts of the title, the “acrostic poem” at 1:2–10 ,1 the “hopeful sayings” of 1:12–13; 2:1, 3, and the closing dirge at 3:18–19 .2 Thus, literary analysis of Nahum has often been attended by the uniform denial of the unity of the book.3

Although conservative scholars have defended the disputed portions of the book,4 little has been done to demonstrate its essential

GTJ 9:1 (Spr 88) p. 46

unity on purely internal grounds.5 By focusing primarily on the literary aspects of Nahum’s prophecy—its theme and development, its basic structure, and its stylistic features—it will be shown that Nahum is the work of a single author. The appropriateness of such a point of inquiry, besides being a natural part of the investigative process, is underscored by Nahum’s generally recognized high literary artistry. Thus Bewer remarks: “Nahum was a great poet. His word-pictures are superb, his rhetorical skill is beyond praise…”6 , and J. M. P. Smith points out,

Though the rhythm and metre of Nahum are not so smooth and regular as is the case with some Heb. prophets, yet in some respects the poetry of Nahum is unsurpassed in the OT. His excellence is not in sublimity of thought, de...