The Ninevites Repent
(Matthew 12:38–42; Luke 11:29–32)
The second part of the book opens as...
The second part of the book opens as the first part did (see 1:1–2).
God again commands Jonah to preach to Nineveh....
God again commands Jonah to preach to Nineveh. This time Jonah obeys, leading to an irony: The city repents, as Jonah had feared, and he is angry at God.
1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
3This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD.
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,† requiring a three-day journey.† 4On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”
For the second time in this short book,...
- For the second time in this short book, pagans respond favorably to the Lord (cp. 1:16).
- In ancient Israel, fasting would often accompany prayer and repentance in times of distress (see 2 Sam 1:12; Neh 1:4). Wearing burlap and sitting on a heap of ashes would often accompany mourning and sorrowful repentance (see Gen 37:34; Job 16:15; Lam 2:10). The Assyrians apparently had similar customs. These activities allowed the participants to express their grief in a tangible way for all, including God, to see.
- The repentance of the Ninevites was an indictment against the hard-hearted in Jesus’ day (Matt 12:41).
5And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
6When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
By extending the fast and the mourning rituals...
By extending the fast and the mourning rituals to animals, the king communicated that this dire emergency required all normal operations to cease so that everyone might pray earnestly and repent of their evil ways. The violence that had come to permeate their society topped the list.
7Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink. 8Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands. 9Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
10When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.