Jonah 3.1-10 - JONAH AROSE AND WENT TO NINEVEH
INTRODUCTION: Today we will begin a new quarterly study on four of the twelve Old Testament Minor Prophets: Jonah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah, in that order. This morning we'll commence with the Book of Jonah in Chapter 3, verse 1-10. Jonah is one of the oldest OT prophetic books, written sometime between 750-800 B.C., during the reign of Jeroboam II (Jonah is named in 2 Kings 14:25). Jonah originally came from the village of Gath-Hepher, just west of the Sea of Galilee, in the region of northern Israel originally allocated to the Tribe of Zebulon. The two key themes of the book are disobedience and revival. We're skipping Chapters 1 and 2, which report one of the best known stories in the OT; however, to provide some background for today's lesson, I will summarize the highlights: (1) After God's first call to "go to Nineveh to preach against it," Jonah boarded a ship bound for Tarshish, approximately 2,200 miles in the opposite direction. At that time, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, a pagan nation known for its barbarity and violence. (2) After Jonah boarded the ship, God sent a violent storm that threatened to destroy them. (3) When the sailors cast lots to discover whether someone aboard the ship had been cursed, the lot pointed to Jonah-and he told them to throw him overboard to pacify God's wrath, and when they did, the storm abated immediately. (4) God appointed "a great fish" (not a whale) to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Chapter 2 reports Jonah's prayer of repentance from the belly of the fish that ends with Jonah's vow to obey God, following which God spoke to the fish, and Jonah was vomited-up on dry land. This is where we come into today's story.
Read Jonah 3:1-4 - THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO JONAH THE SECOND TIME
1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you." 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. 4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown."
v. 1: "Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying," - This verse essentially repeats the text of Chapter 1, verse 1. But in the interval between the two verses, much as happened in Jonah's life and he's rapidly come up the learning curve. Where he was unwilling to obey God in the first chapter, he is now a fully willing subject and realizes that his very life is hanging in the balance. This verse also demonstrates the principle that our God is the God of the Second Chance. As we'll see, the central irony of the book is that Jonah, who has been given a second chance, does not want God to give the Ninevites a second chance. Yes, he'll go to Nineveh, but his heart's not in it: He obviously felt that Second chances should be reserved for good folks like the Israelites, not blood-thirsty idolators like the Assyrians.
v. 2: "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you." - Again, this verse repeats the command of 1:2 and tells Jonah to preach the message "I am going to tell you." God identifies Nineveh as a "great city." As the capital of the Assyrian Empire, it had an estimated population of 120,000, enormous by the standards of that day. It was located on the Tigris River (see map) about 500 miles northeast of the kingdom if Israel. The Assyrian Empire, the regional super-power of Jonah's day, was notorious for being a very violent and cruel culture.
v. 3a: "So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD." - Despite his earlier misgivings, Jonah obeys. For all he knew, he might end up impaled on a pole or skinned alive, which was the way that Assyrians customarily dealt with their enemies. Even so, it's obvious he thought that it was preferable to suffering divine discipline again! Since there was no water route between Israel and Assyria, Jonah was forced to travel overland, a journey that would take a month at minimum by caravan (camels or donkeys, moving between 15-20 miles per day).
v. 3b: "Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk." The exact meaning of "a three days' walk" is unclear, whether it refers to the width or the circumference of the city or simply the time required to walk all the way through it. It might have included outlying suburbs.
v. 4a: Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk;" - The traditional view holds that as soon as Jonah arrived at the edge of the city, he immediately began proclaiming his message, and the verse implies that he was able to deliver it to about one-third of the city from sun up to sundown. Scholars suggest that Jonah's preaching may have begun with the king, then to the people at large.
v. 4b: "and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." - Jonah's sermon is decidedly brief and to the point, only eight words in the NASB (five in the Hebrew Bible). The essence of the message was that Nineveh would be "overthrown" in 40 days. The word used here for overthrown (Heb. haphak [haw-fak']) can also mean being turned into something else, as when the Nile River was turned into blood (Ex. 7:14-25). Also, the time-frame "forty days" often denoted a period of testing in Scripture (Gen. 7:17; Ex. 24:18). Finally, We must notice that Jonah's message was an announcement of impending doom, not a call to believe in the God of Israel.
Read Jonah 3:5-9 - THE PEOPLE OF NINEVEH BELIEVED
5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. 7 He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8 But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9 Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish."
v. 5a: "Then the people of Nineveh believed in God;" - Notice first that the people of Nineveh "believed in God," not Jonah. Jonah was merely God's mouthpiece. The people fully understood that the message-40 days until certain doom-came directly from God. So, what exactly, did they believe? Well, as nearly as we can tell from the limited text, that Jonah was telling them the truth and they were facing something terrible. It certainly can't be attributed to Jonah's preaching skills.
v. 5b: "and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them." - This is every preacher's dream come true! Jonah preached his little message and the entire city-"from the greatest to the least"-repented. Fasting and wearing sackcloth were acts of self-effacement that demonstrated humility and penitence in the ancient Near Eastern cultures. The irony here is that the Ninevites did not want to perish any more than the sailors on the ship with Jonah in Chapter 1.
v. 6: "When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes." -That the king of Nineveh repented and showed individual humility in response to Jonah's message is even more remarkable than the reaction of the people. Ordinarily, kings and high-ranking officials would never, never disgrace themselves in a public display of humility and shame, lest they appear weak and inferior. Despite this show of penitence, we must keep in mind that this Assyrian king was a syncretist who believed in many gods, as opposed to the One True God. It certainly wasn't a conversion to Judaism.
v. 7: "He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water." - Besides showing genuine personal fear and respect for the God of Israel, the Assyrian king went the extra mile of issuing a city-wide proclamation that not only included all people, young and old and rich and poor, but even extended to the animals, which would be made to suffer in the spirit of their owners.
v. 8: "But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands." - Clearly the Ninevites connected the threatened judgment of God with their own standards of personal behavior, which were characterized as very wicked and violent. They were known as merciless conquerors. So, it's no wonder that Jonah was afraid of coming to this place. The reference to "violence" in this verse calls to mind God's reasons for destroying the world in Noah's day (Gen. 6:11-13).
v. 9: "Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish." - The Ninevites lived under an ancient Near East worldview that saw all life as being under the sovereign control of divine authority-the gods. Even though they were polytheistic and pagans, they believed in a god of justice who demanded justice from his human inferiors. They also believed that their actions or inactions affected their god's actions for or against them. However, despite the mass repentance seen on the part of the Ninevites reported in vv. 5-8, it cannot be seen as a conversion to Jewish monotheism. We should notice that when people of Nineveh believed in "God," (v. 5a), the Hebrew word Elohim was used, which translates to God, as opposed to God's covenant name Yahweh, which translates to LORD.
Read Jonah 3:10 - GOD RELENTED
10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
v. 10: The word used here for "relented" (Heb. nacham (naw-kham')] can variously mean to repent or to consol, or to change your mind. In any case, both the scope and the genuineness of the Ninevite's repentance for their actions moved God sufficiently for Him to withhold the judgment He would have sent if they had ignored Him and persisted in their wicked and violent ways. As one commentator noted, "The king repented, so God relented." Repentance in the general sense is essentially a change in one's thinking that leads to a corresponding change in ones' behavior.
Observation: We shouldn't be surprised at this outcome. God never would have insisted that Jonah go to Nineveh if He had not wanted to spare the Ninevites the destruction He was considering. This story has been front-loaded with grace since the first verse. The irony is that Jonah's story parallels that of the Ninevites: When God gave him a second chance, and he obeyed by going to Nineveh and preaching the message that God gave him, he not only saved the life of the Ninevites; he saved his own life, too.
APPLICATION-Running Toward God
1. One of the great lessons of Jonah's failure and forgiveness is that God can continue to use those who return to Him. Fortunately and thankfully, we serve the God of a second chance. If we fail God but then repent of our sin and submit to Him, He is faithful to restore and empower us to accomplish the work He's given us. Jonah's example in this text serves to remind us that authentic revival impacts both the individuals who proclaim it as well as the culture that receives it.
2. Jonah's successful preaching campaign had nothing to do with Jonah's ability or the Assyrian's worthiness. All we can say about it is that God had a sovereign purpose for it which exceeded human understanding. If we take John 3:16 seriously, we can only conclude that God simply extended them his unmerited grace and love as human beings. And the lost people of this fallen world need the same consideration from us, Amen?
3. While spiritual renewal/revival can happen without a preacher or a prophet, it never occurs without divine truth. In today's text, Jonah simply proclaimed the "Word of God." He didn't try to tone it down for fear of angering his audience but simply proclaimed God's truth. Our job as witnesses to a lost world is simply to proclaim the truth of God's Word. We don't need a clever sales pitch or attention-getting gimmicks, because God's Word can speak for itself.
4. From a human perspective, the revival of the Assyrians was totally inexplicable. Objectively, the likelihood that this brutal king and his violent people would suddenly repent and turn to God would have seemed ridiculous to any thinking person. But we must remember that revival is always brought by the Spirit of God, not by His human agents. This gives us hope, yes? God can move very suddenly and decisively, even for whole nations like Assyria. It can happen anywhere.
5. That God "relented" in response to the repentance of the Assyrians was a picture of pure grace. The text showcases God's grace because the Assyrians, typically a barbaric and violent people, certainly didn't deserve God's mercy. But we need to be mindful of the fact that when God saved us, we didn't deserve His mercy any more than these Assyrians. We also need to remember that our duty to share the gospel of Jesus Christ is God's means for extending His grace to a fallen world that's largely opposed to Him. That's our job description as disciples of Jesus Christ.
