Assignment task:
1. The book of Nahum is one of the short books of the Hebrew Bible. Read Nahum 1-3 and identify to whom YHWH's message is addressed through Nahum. If you could give a subtitle for the book of Nahum, what would that be?
2. Compare Nahum 1-3 with Lamentations 1-2, the text we read last time. What is similar and what is different in terms of description of the destroyed cities, God's involvement, and the degree to which optimism is projected?
3. Jeremiah was the prophet who lived at the time of the fall of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. What is the message/idea that Jeremiah tried to advocate in his temple message in 7:3-15? What challenges do you think Jeremiah would have encountered when he preached such a message?
4. Unlike other prophetic books, the book of Jeremiah portrays the inner struggle of the prophet. Read Jeremiah 20:7-18 and find expressions of Jeremiah's turmoil that especially resonate with you.