Jonah 3

Jonah preaches to Nineveh (vs. 1-11)—Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian empire. It was a huge city, as indicated by Jonah 3:3. It extended about 30 miles along the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and, at places, about 10 miles back away from the river. It was perfectly located on the great highway between the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. It was a very old city, being mention in Genesis 10:11 as having been established by Nimrod, the “mighty hunter before the Lord” (Genesis 10:9). The area today which Nineveh occupied is nothing but ruins, as the city was destroyed by the Babylonians and Medes near the end of the 7th century B.C., an event predicted by the prophet Nahum in his book. Zephaniah also mentions it.

Jonah 3 records a remarkable story. The prophet had gotten the hint from the happenings as recorded in chapters 1 and 2 that the Lord really wanted him to go to Nineveh, so when “the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee” (vs. 1-2), Jonah “arose and went to Nineveh” (v. 3). Verse 2 provides one of the greatest descriptions in the Bible of the responsibility of a preacher of God: “preach…the preaching that I bid thee.” Nothing more, nothing less than the word of God. How much better would our world be if only all men who claimed to be God’s spokesmen would heed this command to Jonah.

The message Jonah was to preach was “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (v. 4). It’s interesting that there is no “unless you repent.” It’s just a prophetic pronouncement of doom. Later in the chapter, the king of Nineveh commands all his people to “turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands,” (v. 8), for “who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” (v. 9). The city was obviously in some peril at the time, because “in forty days” was not much time for a disaster to arise against Nineveh. It’s possible that the Lord could have rained down fire and brimstone like He did against Sodom and Gomorrah, or sent some other sort of natural calamity, but I think the best explanation is that the Ninevites were being sore pressed by some foreign foe who was on the verge of conquering, or at least severely damaging, the city. Thus, with that bit of providential working, God was able to persuade the people of the city to turn to Him in true contrition. And when “God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way,” He “relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and did not do it” (v. 10). Even though there was no statement of repentance in Jonah’s preaching (at least as recorded, and as implied in the king’s statement in verse 9). still, when anyone truly turns from sin, Jehovah will always forgive. And this great, powerful city was ripe for His word, and that’s why He wanted a prophet to go and preach to them. It’s a remarkable story, but it also tells us that we must keep preaching, regardless of how wicked people seem to be. For we never know what the Lord is doing behind the scenes to prepare a people to receive His word and be cleansed from sin. Things may not look good to us, but we are to keep our faith in God, obey His commands, and trust Him to do as He pleases.