The book of Nahum opens with the words: “The pronouncement against Nineveh,” the capital of Assyria. Why? Because, as the prophet Nahum later describes, Nineveh was a “city of bloodshed . . . all full of deception and of robbery.” (Nahum 1:1; 3:1) Was he exaggerating? Far from it!

When Nineveh fell, its destruction was so thorough that for centuries even its site was forgotten. Some critics ridiculed the Bible, saying this city never existed. But exist it did! It was rediscovered, and what archaeologists found there was exciting indeed!