Why did God send Jonah to Nineveh?
God sent a prophet to preach doom over a brutal Gentile superpower, and then forgave the whole city the moment it repented. Jonah ran from the call, raged at the mercy, and sat outside the walls hoping for fire, while the story quietly exposed his small heart beside God's great compassion. Jesus took the name of Jonah and turned it into the sign of His own death and resurrection.
This question arose from studying Why did Israel keep drifting into idolatry?.
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God's word goes to Israel's enemies too
Nineveh was a great city of Assyria, the empire that would one day grind Israel under its boot. Yet God saw its cruelty, 'for their wickedness has come up before me,' and He sent a warning instead of immediate judgment: 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it.' That is the first surprise of the book. God's attention is not bounded by Israel; even a violent Gentile capital receives a preacher before it receives destruction.
You cannot flee from the presence of Yahweh
Jonah 'rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh,' and the verse repeats the phrase twice because that is the whole point: you can buy a ticket away from the assignment, not away from God. A storm chases the ship, and the pagan sailors who started out crying to their idols end in the opposite direction: 'the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.' The prophet running from God's presence becomes the means by which outsiders enter it.
But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
The fish was rescue, not reward
The fish looks like punishment, but the text says God prepared it; the same God Jonah was fleeing pursued him in mercy. Down in the dark Jonah finally prays, and lands on the old confession, 'Salvation belongs to Yahweh.' Centuries later Jesus named this episode as prophecy: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The fish points past Jonah's rescue toward Christ's resurrection.
Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.”But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Forty days, and a city believes God
Jonah's entire sermon was one short sentence: 'In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!' No invitation, no explanation, yet the response shames every stubborn generation of Israel: 'The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.' Even the king left his throne for ashes, and 'God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them.' Jesus confirmed it was real repentance: 'they repented at the preaching of Jonah,' and that faith will rise in judgment on unbelief.
Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Jonah's small heart, God's great compassion
At last Jonah admits why he ran: 'I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.' He could forgive Israel that mercy, just not Assyria. So God contrasts the prophet grieving over a vine he never made grow with His own question: 'Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city?' The book closes with the question hanging over us too: will our hearts grow as large as God's pity?
He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
Yahweh said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
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Did Jesus really rise from the dead?→Jesus Christ trail“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”How does God judge people who never heard of Jesus?→Who We Are trail“For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.”But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.
God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
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