Nineveh repents and is spared
3:1 The Lord said to Jonah a second time,
The Hebrew word for “Lord” is יְהוָ֛ה (Jehovah), meaning the covenant-keeping-promise-keeping-God. This was not Jonah's personal opinion or human speculation.
The Hebrew word for “second time” is שֵׁנִ֥ית (shanit), meaning second (thing). The English word “time” is not in the original text. However, it is implied. This is similar to the “seventy sevens” of Daniel 7. Michael, the arch-angel, predicted to Daniel that the Messiah would be born 490 lunar years after Cyrus made the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. The English word “years” is not in the original Hebrew, but the context of the sentence implies it. This was one Hebrew way of writing 490 years.
3:2 “Go immediately to Nineveh, that large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”
The Hebrew word for “large” is גָּדוֹל (gadal), meaning massively large. One of the ancient writers, Ctesias, described Nineveh as a city whose circuit was 480 stadia (or 27 miles in circumference). The city possessed a population of several thousand.
The Hebrew word for “proclaim” is קְרִיאָה (karah), meaning to cry out in a loud voice. Jonah was to cry out a divine message to Nineveh.
3:3 So Jonah went immediately to Nineveh, as the Lord had said. (Now Nineveh was an enormous city—it required three days to walk through it!)
Critics used to laugh at this Scripture, but historians have confirmed the large size of this city. Nineveh was a metroplex triangle of three different cities. The three cities were Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen. It took Jonah three days to walk around the city. The average person can usually travel about 20 miles per day. This was a 60-mile triangular metroplex.
3:4 When Jonah began to enter the city one day’s walk, he announced, “At the end of forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
Jonah's appearance may have been marred from the digestive juices of the fish. Jonah was a resurrected man from the dead. He came from the belly of the fish. The Assyrians worshiped the fish-god Dagon. Jonah would not have any problem getting a crowd to hear his message. Out of curiosity, they came to hear what this man who rose from the dead had to say.
The Hebrew word translated as “overthrown” is הָפַך (haphak), meaning to be overthrown in the same way as Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah was a warning to all nations. Assyria knew that if they did not repent, then they would receive the same punishment as Sodom and Gomorrah. Nineveh was given forty days to repent, or change their attitudes about God.
3:5 The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
Notice that God used a Jewish prophet to give a message of salvation to the Gentiles in Ninevah. This is reverse evangelization of the church.
The Hebrew word for “believed” is אָמַן (amin), a hiphil third person masculine verb, meaning that the people were caused to believe. They were caused to believe, because of the doctrine of election and predestination. The Hiphil verb rules out any false Arminian teachings. Arminians believe that man is good enough to believe in his own volition.
The evidence of their belief was their immediate fasting. It is interesting to note that God sent many prophets to Israel, but only a small remnant believed. He sent one little reluctant prophet to Assyria and the entire city of several thousand believed. This was the largest revival in history. Only two thousand Jews believed at Pentecost!
3:6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes.
The King of Nineveh was Adad-nirari III. According to Assyrian records, he was known for his monotheism. Monotheism was very rare for pagan kings. Also, he ruled during the reign of Jeroboam II.
The king left his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on burnt ashes. These were all signs of repentance. The King of Assyria repented, while the 19 kings of Israel would never repent.
3:7 He issued a proclamation and said, “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water. 3:8 Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly to God, and everyone must turn from their evil way of living and from the violence that they do.
The King of Assyria made a new law. First, the people of Nineveh were to fast. Second, they were to wear sackcloth. Third they were to cry to God. Fourth, they were to cease from evil.
3:9 Who knows? Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we might not die.”
This Gentile king took Jonah’s prophecy as conditional. Otherwise, there would be no need for the warning. God never sent prophets to Sodom and Gomorrah to warn them of the coming destruction.
3:10 When God saw their actions—they turned from their evil way of living!—God relented concerning the judgment he had threatened them with and he did not destroy them.
The Gentile Assyrians, unlike rebellious Israel, actually listened to God’s prophet and repented. Repentance means to change one’s attitude about God from bad to good.