he was born at Elkosh, or Elkosha, a small village in Galilee, of which St. Jerom professes to have seen the ruins. Nahum is said to have been of the tribe of Simeon; but amidst a variety of opinions, it is difficult to determine what precise time should be assigned for the period of his existence. The most probable opinion is, that he prophesied between A. M. 3283, when Shalmaneser carried Israel captive into Assyria, and A. M. 3294, when Sennacherib was meditating the destruction of Jerusalem. Nahum, in his two last chapters, foretels the future downfal of the Assyrian empire; renewing those denunciations wrath which, about ninety years be

of

fore, Jonah had uttered against Nineveh, whose repentance was but of short duration; and predicting in the most descriptive manner that final destruction which was effected probably by Nabopalasser and Cyaxeres, A. M. 3362, but certainly by the Medes and Babylonians, whose confederate forces assaulted the Assyrians unexpectedly, and took an endless store of spoil of silver and gold, making an utter end of the place of Nineveh. So totally, indeed, was this city destroyed, that in the second century after Christ, not a vestige of it remained to ascertain the spot on which it stood. Its situation has long been a matter of uncertainty and dispute.

This illustrious prophecy, thus remarkably accomplished in little more than a century after it was delivered, affords a signal evidence of the inspiration of Nahum, and a striking lesson of humility to human pride.

HABAKKUK.

HABAKKUK prophesied under Jehoiakim, who ascended the throne A. M. 3395, and reigned over Judah eleven years. As the prophet makes no mention of the Assyrians, and speaks of the Chaldean invasions as near at hand, he probably lived after the destruction of the Assyrian empire in the fall of Nineveh, A. M. 3392, and not long before the devastation

of Judæa by the victories of Nebuchadnezzar. Habakkuk was then nearly contemporary with, and predicted the same events as Jeremiah; and he probably lived to witness the completion of that part of his prophecy which related to the afflictions of his country. Habakkuk is said, as well as Jeremiah, to have chosen to remain amidst the sad scenes of à desolate and deserted land, rather than follow his conquered countrymen into captivity, and even to have refused to accompany those who afterwards retired into Egypt. There are no proofs, however, that, as some writers have asserted, he lived till within two years of the return of the

Jews under Zerubbabel, which happéned A. M. 3468; but he appears to have died in his own country, and possibly he was buried at Cela, in the territory of Judah, where his tomb was shown in the time of Eusebius.

ZEPHANIAH.

THE prophet Zephaniah informs us that he was the son of Cushi; and that the word of the Lord came to him in the days of Josiah, king of Judah. He is supposed to have been of the tribe of Simeon; and as he traces back his pedigree for four generations, he was doubtless of a noble birth, though not of the royal family, as some have imagined from the re