Equip: Resources on Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah

The so-called “Minor Prophets” typically are neglected by preachers and teachers in churches today. And yet even compared to many of the other Minor Prophets, the books of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah really get the short shrift.

In one of my undergraduate preaching classes, our professor offered extra credit to anyone who preached a sermon from the book of Nahum. No one took him up on that offer. When I preached through the book of Habakkuk at my previous church, none of my congregants ever had heard a sermon from Habakkuk before. And poor Zephaniah is so often confused with Zechariah.

These three prophets all ministered in roughly the same place and period of time: the kingdom of Judah during the mid-to-late 600s B.C. The Northern Tribes had been conquered and dispersed by Assyria roughly a century earlier in 722 B.C. The Babylonian conquest and exile of Judah was still years in the future. King Josiah would temporarily stymie—but not ultimately stop—the kingdom’s descent into idolatry and apostasy.

Nahum is a word of God’s judgment against the city of Nineveh, whose repentance at the preaching of Jonah apparently didn’t stick for more than a generation or two. Habakkuk bemoans the increasing wickedness of Judah and Jerusalem in a profound, passionate dialogue between the prophet and God. And Zephaniah predicts the great, future “day of the Lord.”

Despite their very different contents, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah often are covered together in a single volume by commentary writers because of these prophets’ short length and general contemporaneity. And there are some excellent commentaries out there on these books. Here are a few of my favorites.

Tyndale Old Testament Commentary by S.D. Snyman

For those seeking a short, accessible work on Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah still informed by careful scholarship, S.D. Snyman’s 2020 volume in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries is the place to go.

Snyman’s work replaces the older Tyndale volume by David Baker from 1988, which is an excellent resource in its own right. The Tyndale series is well-known for synthesizing and summarizing the best of evangelical biblical scholarship and distilling it down into volumes preachers, Sunday school teachers and regular readers can understand easily.

Snyman was my “first off the shelf” choice when I preached through Habakkuk. Despite its relatively short length, this commentary was still incredibly helpful. Above all else, Snyman helped me get “the lay of the land” and figure out which questions needed more in-depth research.

If you are an academically trained preacher or Bible teacher working through one or more of these prophetic books, or you are writing a research paper, you obviously will need more than just Snyman’s Tyndale commentary. But it is an excellent place to begin and probably will be sufficient for most Sunday school teachers and general Bible readers.

Eerdmans Classic Biblical Commentary by O. Palmer Robertson

This volume by O. Palmer Robertson originally was published as part of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament in 1990, and used copies of that printing still are available. However, with the major revisions to the New International Commentary in recent years, many older volumes from that series no longer are in print.

Thankfully, some particularly esteemed and beloved volumes from the New International Commentary on the Old Testament and other series have been preserved and reprinted in the new Eerdmans Classic Biblical Commentaries. And there is a reason Robertson’s work has received that special reprinting.

Robertson’s analysis of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah is much more in-depth and academic than Snyman’s, but not to a ridiculous degree. Readers with some academic training in biblical studies will be able to make good use of Robertson’s work even if they lack a firm grasp on Hebrew. This volume is the best “next step up” from Snyman’s commentary.

In addition to in-depth analysis of the text itself and its historical context, Robertson provides thoughtful theological reflection on these three prophets. He highlights various New Testament connections that will be invaluable for those wanting to understand how we can interpret Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah as Christian scripture.

Even though it’s a bit older, Robertson’s work on these three prophets has been reprinted in the Eerdmans ClassicBiblical Commentaries for very good reason. This volume is indeed a classic and well worth consulting for those wanting to dive deeply into Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah.

New International Commentary on the Old Testament by Thomas Renz

I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the page count for this commentary back when its publication first was announced. Snyman’s Tyndale volume is just more than 160 pages. Robertson’s commentary is just more than 360 pages. But Thomas Renz’s work on Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah is 743 pages long.

This commentary, published in 2021 as the replacement for Robertson’s volume in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series, is a behemoth. Renz probably has given us the most thorough and up-to-date scholarly commentary on these three prophets currently available, and Renz’s work likely will be a standard for years to come.

As you probably can guess, this work is not for the faint of heart and would not be my first recommendation for anyone except those doing academic research. However, Renz’s commentary still provides incredible value for the preachers and Bible teachers tenacious enough to work through it.

Renz has extensive pastoral ministry and preaching experience in addition to his academic credentials, and much of his commentary’s length comes from the theological and practical reflections he includes throughout. Yes, this volume is enormous, but that’s because it is absolutely full of excellent material.

Honorable mentions

For those seeking a more devotional and application-focused commentary on these books, the late James Montgomery Boice has an excellent two-volume set on all twelve of the Minor Prophets. Also, The Gospel Coalition has published very brief but helpful commentaries for free online.

Although Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah often are covered together in a single volume, a few commentary series have done individual volumes on each book.

Daniel Timmer’s Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on Nahum is fantastic. Heath Thomas has written a profound volume on Habakkuk for the Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary. And Jason DeRouchie’s forthcoming Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on Zephaniah likely will be excellent.

Joshua Sharp is the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Orange, and a graduate of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., and Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary in Waco. The views expressed in this resource article are those of the author.