Rebbetzin Chava Kuperman
Neither Nahum nor Habakkuk, the prophet who follows him, gives any indication of when they received their prophecies (just as in the case of the prophet Joel).
According to one opinion—we discussed it earlier—Joel was the son of the prophet Samuel. But there is another opinion. It suggests that Joel, Habakkuk, and Nahum lived during the reign of King Manasseh, and since this king was wicked, he is not mentioned in their prophecies.
We do not know the name of Nahum's father, which means that his father was not a prophet. Nahum's prophecy describes the fall of Assyria.
We know that only prophecies relevant for all time were included in the Tanakh. This raises a question: why was a prophecy about the fall of Assyria preserved for us, when it happened so long ago?
We have a tradition that Assyria's influence on the world in its time, and what happened to that kingdom, correspond to what will happen at the time of Mashiach's coming.
The scenario for future events will be similar to the one played out in the past. King Hezekiah, who ruled in Judah, could have become Mashiach, while Assyria itself and Sennacherib, the king who ruled it, represented “Gog and Magog.”
How did Sennacherib act? After conquering another country, he would resettle its inhabitants elsewhere: let them mix with other peoples, and then they will not rebel.
We know that before Mashiach comes, all peoples will be mixed to some extent, and the world will become a "big village" (which is happening literally before our eyes).
Precisely because of this, anyone who converts to Judaism will be able to be considered Jewish. Indeed, there are no longer any Moabites or Ammonites; marriage to converts is not forbidden, and any male convert may marry a Jewish woman, and any female convert may marry a Jewish man.
To be continued