Key Verse:
Jonah 3:10 NASB
10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, then God relented of the disaster which He had declared He would [c]bring on them. So He did not do it...
Get the setting….
2 Kings 14:23-27 NASB
23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and reigned for forty-one years. 24 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not abandon all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel. 25 He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke [n]through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. 26 For the Lord saw the misery of Israel, which was very bitter; for there was neither [o]bond nor free spared, nor was there any helper for Israel. 27 Yet the Lord did not say that He would wipe out the name of Israel from under heaven, but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
This week we complete the survey of the Prophets and we complete the quarter with a glimpse of the life of Jonah. Jonah ministered in Israel from around 780 BC to around 750 BC. He prophesied during the reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel. Jeroboam II was a wicked king, yet he oversaw a time of great expansion and prosperity in Israel. However, he refused to bring to Israel the religious reform required by God. Additionally, during his reign, while the very wealthy prospered, the poor were oppressed under the weight of crushing poverty. Jonah was called by God to preach to Nineveh at the beginning of the reign of King Jeroboam II, around 780 BC, which slowed Assyria’s aggressive expansion into surrounding regions and ushered in the period of peace and prosperity during Jeroboam’s reign.
Jonah 1:1-3 NASB
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it, because their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship that was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and [a]boarded it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord.
Today’s lesson will begin by making note of the fact that God came to Jonah a second time and ordered him to go to Nineveh. The reason for this? Because Jonah refused to go to Nineveh the first time the Lord instructed him to. In fact, when God instructed him to go east to Nineveh, Jonah took a ship west, toward Tarshish, which is present-day Spain. To the jews, Tarshish was the farthest known point of civilization, literally the edge of the known world. The only thing west of Spain was the vast, unending… Atlantic Ocean. In essence, Jonah wanted no part of Nineveh. He certainly did not want to be the instrument God would use to bring Nineveh to repentance. God would bring about the circumstance of Jonah’s return and subsequent obeisance. Thus begins our lesson.
Jonah 3:1-2 NASB
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.”
Once God returned Jonah to land, He instructed him a second time to go to Nineveh and preach. Nineveh was an entirely wicked society, barbaric in reputation. Its origins date back to Ashur, the grandson of Noah and founder of the nation of Assyria, and Nimrod the great-grandson of Noah who was the original builder of the city, Nineveh.
Prior to the time of Jonah, Assyria pursued ruthless, expansionist policies, as did many of the nations surrounding Israel. At this peculiar moment in time, God’s plan for Israel was for a period of peace (see 2 Kings 14:23-27 above). He sent Jonah to turn the hearts of the people of Nineveh, for a time, toward Him.
Jonah 3:3 NASB
3 So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was [a]an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk.
A walled city nearly the size of Dallas, Tx. (proper), it was not yet the capital of Assyria, but within a century would become so. The royal palace was in neighboring Calah, or Nimrud, which was the capital, but there may have been royal residences in Nineveh as well. Thus, it would not have been unusual for the current king for the current ruler of Assyria to maintain a residence there.
Jonah 3:4 NASB
4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Note the brevity of Jonah’s message: “Forty more days and Ninevah will be overthrown!” Typically, we think of a message from God as a call to repentance, but that does not seem to be what Jonah had in mind. His seemed to be a message entirely consisting of judgment and total annihilation. Remember, Jonah did not want to come to Nineveh in the first place. He wanted nothing to do with them. But was Jonah’s obvious disdain for the Ninevites about the sin of Nineveh? Or, was it about Jonah?
Jonah 3:5 NASB
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.
The Good News? In spite of Jonah, the Holy Spirit infused Jonah’s words with God’s intended purpose and the people of Nineveh repented and turned their hearts to God. Jonah’s God. The bible records that they humbled themselves “from the greatest to the least.” We see a similar response to the words of Jesus when, in defense of the un-named adulterous woman, Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone!” Upon hearing Jesus’ words, the bible records that her accusers, beginning with the elders, dropped their stones and walked away.
John 8:9 NASB
9a Now when they heard this, they began leaving, one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman where she was, in the center of the courtyard.
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Jonah 3:6 NASB
6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his robe from himself, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the [b]dust.
Indeed, when the king of Nineveh got wind of Jonah’s preaching, he internalized it before he did anything else. He left his throne, left the palace, left all of his royal accouterments; robes, scepter, etc,. He forsook everything, covered himself with sackcloth and ashes, went somewhere, probably away from palace grounds, and sat down in the dust and humbled himself before the God of Heaven. His behavior was very similar to how the Jews were called to humble themselves before God during the annual observance of the Feast of Tabernacles, where they humbled themselves in makeshift tents with no roofs so that there would be nothing (figuratively) between them and God. (Note to self: this was the same feast being celebrated when Jesus encountered the adulterous women at the Temple (mentioned above)). The Jews humbled themselves at other key times. The other key event steeped in an attitude of repentance was the Day of Atonement.
On an individual basis, it was common for Jewish leaders to don sackcloth and cover themselves in ashes during times of great distress. Job, Jacob, David, Hezekiah, and Daniel all humbled themselves before God in this manner. And now, so also did the king of Nineveh. Jesus spoke thusly against the hard-heartedness of Israel thusly…
Matthew 11:21 NASB
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
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Jonah 3:7-8 NASB
7 And he issued a proclamation, and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: No person, animal, herd, or flock is to taste anything. They are not to eat, or drink water. 8 But every person and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and people are to call on God vehemently, and they are to turn, each one from his evil way, and from the violence which is in their hands
The subsequent actions of the king of Nineveh indicate how serious he was in response to the Word of God. He proclaimed. He proclaimed a period of fasting for every person and domesticated creature in the realm. No food. No water. Additionally, every person and every domesticated animal in the realm was to be covered in sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth was typically made of goat hair. It must have been uncomfortable and itchy. Additionally, ashes heaped on oneself could not have been a pleasant experience. This was an act of total humiliation before God. Where Jonah was humiliated in the belly of the great fish by the God of his ancestors, the people of Nineveh voluntarily humbled themselves before a God they did not know.
Then there is this: the people prayed. They prayed vehemently. They prayed constantly, without ceasing. And they turned. The Bible says that they turned, each one of them, from their evil and their violence. They put away their barbarism and their weapons and sought the God of heaven in search of His great mercy.
Jonah 3:9 NASB
9 Who knows, God may turn and relent, and turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
Genesis 1:1 NASB
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
They didn’t know, did they? The people of Nineveh didn’t really ‘know’ what the outcome would be. The name used for “God “ in verse nine (above) is the very name used in Genesis 1:1.. ‘Elohim’. When this name is used, it connotes exactly what is described in Genesis.. God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. The nations surrounding Israel were primarily polytheistic. They worshipped many gods for a variety of reasons. However, they all acknowledged that there was an un-named God, who was responsible for everything, including the creation, in most cases, of their many gods. Even the Greeks, in Paul’s day, acknowledged this by building an altar to ‘an unknown God’ on Mars Hill in Athens. Paul preached Christ to them on that very day.
Acts 17:22-23 NASB
Sermon on Mars Hill
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the [a]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects. 23 For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
The people of Nineveh didn’t know whether or not God would extend mercy. How could they? Undoubtedly, their worship and religious practices were steeped in the very evil and bloodshed that marked their society’s wickedness and barbarism. To humble themselves before an unknown God in this humble fashion displayed an inward desire on all of their parts for hope. A hope for the mercy of a good, compassionate, merciful God. The God (YAHWEH) of the Jews. After all. The heavens declare his mercy.
Psalms 103:11 NASB
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.
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Jonah 3:10 NASB
10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, then God relented of the disaster which He had declared He would [c]bring on them. So He did not do it.
The Good News? God saw the humility of Nineveh and did not bring disaster on Nineveh. God accepts a humble and contrite spirit as the greatest and most important sacrifice anyone can make. Though they did not know God, the actions of the people of Nineveh afford them the greatest gift one could receive from God: Grace, God’s unmerited favor.
Romans 2:14-16 NASB
14 For when Gentiles who do not have [q]the Law [r]instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having [s]the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus.
Epilogue
Jonah 4:1-3 NASB
1 But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. 2 Then he prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was this not [a]what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore in anticipation of this I fled to Tarshish, since I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and One who relents of disaster. 3 So now, Lord, please take my [b]life from me, for death is better to me than life.”
I can’t close this lesson without returning to the person who is the subject of this book: Jonah. Jonah’s prayer to God demonstrates that he is intimately familiar with the character and nature of God. The God of his ancestors. The God of the Hebrews. He knew! He fully understood that God was compassionate and full of mercy. Yet, he wanted none of it! Not for Nineveh. He would rather have died than to see Nineveh saved. In this moment, we fully understand the depth of Jonah’s unadulterated hate for people who are not like him. In this moment we should be able to see the darkness of Jonah’s heart in our own lives. Can we? Beloved, the very mercy God extended to Nineveh, has been extended to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Are we willing to extend that same mercy to those who are not like us? Asking for some friends…
Romans 2:14-16 NASB
14 For when Gentiles who do not have [q]the Law [r]instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having [s]the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus.
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Jonah 4:11 NASB
11 Should I not also have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many animals?”
God’s response to Job’s continued obstinance gives us but a glimpse of the vast difference in how God viewed Nineveh .vs how Jonah viewed Nineveh. Jonah wanted them dead. God wanted them saved. Let us please take care that we align our hearts to the heart of God in regards to ‘others’, All of ‘us’ were created by God for His good pleasure. We must remind ourselves thusly and act accordingly.
The term “do not know their right hand from their left hand” is a Hebrew idiom that means, “they do not know right from wrong.” Beloved, that included all of us before we came to the knowledge of Christ. Every person you meet, regardless of ethnos, sexual preference, or even, religious persuasion is a candidate for God’s great Grace. As His ambassadors in the earth let us always be reminded of that fact… and walk in it.
Ephesians 5:1-2 NASB
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved [a]you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God [b]as a fragrant aroma.
Selah
wb
p.s. (Denoting, but not writing of the difference in the ministry thrust between Jonah and Amos during the reign of Jeroboam II. See Amos 5:24 (You’re free to ask me about it))
Amos 5:24 NASB
24 But let justice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
