Nahum appears in Luke 3:25 as part of the post-exilic genealogical chain linking Jesus to David and Abraham. The name is identical to that of the minor prophet Nahum, who prophesied Nineveh's fall in the seventh century BC, though the genealogical Nahum is a distinct individual. In Hebrew, the name means 'comfort' or 'consolation,' sharing a root with Nehemiah and the verb נחם (nacham). Luke's inclusion of otherwise obscure ancestors emphasizes the historical particularity of Jesus' incarnation—God's Messiah comes through real people in real time, not through myth or legend.