Nineveh Believed God

The city of Nineveh is very ancient being first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 10 where it is said to have been built by ‘Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD’. While Nimrod may have hunted animals he likely hunted men, too. He is closely connected in scripture to Babylon and Assyria, two warring dynasties used by God to scourge Israel. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire. For power, population and size it was for many years the largest and most important city in the world. It was located on the eastern bank of the Tigris river close to modern-day Mosul in northern Iraq.

The long way round

It was to this Gentile city of great wealth and wickedness that God had originally sent Jonah. Jonah refused to carry the Lord’s message of judgment and fled instead from the face of the Lord. His flight to Tarsus was halted by a storm and the disobedient prophet was thrown into the sea by his fellow travellers. There he was swallowed by a great fish prepared by God. After the fish vomited Jonah up on dry land he was again commanded by the Lord to fulfil his commission and carry God’s warning to Nineveh.

God’s patience

The first thing to notice in today’s passage is God’s mercy in speaking again, a second time, to Jonah. ‘The word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time.’ No doubt this message was conveyed by the Lord Jesus, the living Word. It is a mark of God’s longsuffering towards His people that even in disobedience the Lord remains faithful to His elect. The Saviour’s disciples often treated their Master spitefully, as we do, yet in great grace He forgives and restores.

Jonah obeys

Jonah was told to bear the same message to the ‘great city’, as before. This time the prophet obeys. He arose at once and went to Nineveh. If we criticised Jonah for his former defiance we must now acknowledge his compliance. Jonah’s experience had, as intended, taught him a valuable lesson. The Lord did not cast Jonah away. He was still a prophet of God, and, having been humbled, was recommissioned to carry out his task. In His love, the Lord invested a great deal of time and effort in turning His servant around.

Guessing size

From being ‘that great city’ we are now told Nineveh was an ‘exceeding great city of three days’ journey’. Some have suggested this is the length of time it would take a man to walk around the edge of the city, perhaps encompassing sixty miles. Others say it took three days to pass through it from one side to the other. If the reference in chapter four to ‘six-score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand’ indicates infants too young to know their right hand from their left, it implies a population approaching a million.

Impending woe

Upon his arrival Jonah at once begins to declare the Lord’s imminent judgment. He enters the city a day’s journey, no doubt stopping along the way to announce his message loudly and publicly as he ‘cries’. Some have suggested Jonah may have looked strange from being in the fish’s belly but there is no suggestion of this in the text. It is the message of the prophet that comes with power. God carried Jonah’s words from the prophet’s lips to the ears of his hearers and straight to their hearts. God’s Spirit convicted them of sin under the preaching of His word.

A lesson for ministers

In this Jonah is a picture of the Lord’s apostles and God’s ministers of the gospel. God did not need Jonah but He graciously employed this sinful man to carry His saving word to sinners. Jonah’s message was that within forty days, or at the end of forty days, the city would be overthrown, perhaps by some natural disaster. 

A space for repentance

Likely this period was granted for the repentance of the Ninevites. Destruction would come unless Nineveh repented, otherwise why is any time fixed? Let every person take note. The sending of a preacher and the giving of a warning is the opportunity for repentance. God could have been destroyed Nineveh without notice and justice would have been served. Now is the day of salvation.

An astonishing awakening

The men and women of Nineveh believed God. Taking this statement at face value suggests a great outpouring of mercy upon these Gentile people. Heathen, idol-worshippers as they were the grace of God broke through. They were convicted of sin and led to seek forgiveness. Fasting and repentance were acts of faith. Faith is the fruit of divine power that attends preaching. 

A greater than Jonas

The record of this event in scripture revealed God’s will to include the Gentile peoples in His saving purpose. It is mentioned by the Lord Jesus several times in the Gospels. The Lord tells His hearers in Matthew 12:41, ‘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’.

Amen.