Jonah in Nineveh

Good morning! Last Sunday we began our study of the book of Jonah. In the first half of this book we saw that the Lord called Jonah to preach to the people of Ninevah, one of the key cities in the Assyrian Empire. Now, Assyria was a violent empire that had already oppressed Jonah’s people in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
Over the past week, more than one person has reminded me of the Veggie Tales Jonah movie where the Ninevite vegetables were slapping each other with fish. It may be understandable to simplify this story for children, but we need to remember that the nation of Assyria was guilty of far worse things than fish slapping. This was an incredibly cruel, “terrorist regime”.
And Jonah didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites. So, he tries to run from the Lord by sailing to a place as far from Ninevah as you could possibly go. But the Lord pursues Jonah and sends a storm. The pagan sailors on the ship confront Jonah and he tells them that he is running from God and that they should throw him overboard. When they do throw him overboard the water gets calm, and then the sailors worship Jonah’s God.
When Jonah is in the sea, the Lord is merciful to Jonah and sends a large fish to swallow him. While he is in the fish, Jonah finally cries out to the Lord. Though Jonah is thankful for the Lord rescuing him, he doesn’t repent from his futile decision to run from the Lord. Chapter two ends by telling us that God caused the fish to vomit Jonah onto the shore. That is where we pick up our story in chapter 3;
3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
The beginning of chapter 3 closely reflects the beginning of chapter 1. The Lord comes to Jonah and asks him to go preach in Ninevah. And this time instead of running, he does what the Lord asks him to do. Jonah’s obedience is a good sign, and while we only have a brief summary of his preaching, it appears that he gave the message the Lord told him to give.
Jonah’s message was clearly a message of impending judgement. Jonah’s message was a fire and brimstone message. The language used here reminds us of two other significant judgements in the Bible, the Flood in Genesis 7, and God’s judgment on Sodom and Gamora in Genesis 19. In the flood narrative, it rains for 40 days and 40 nights. And the cities of Sodom and Gamora were also “overthrown”. In these cases, God eliminated a group of people because they had become extremely wicked.
I said last week that while we don’t know the author of Jonah, this book was artfully constructed. I just want to point out two examples of this in the first few verses. First, in verse 3 Ninevah is called “an exceedingly great city”. In Hebrew, that phrase literally says, “a great city to God”. Now this was a standard way of describing a big, significant city. The ESV isn’t wrong to translate it this way. But my suspicion is that the author might want us to see that this city is not only big but is also important to God. And the rest of the book will show us that God does indeed care about all those living in this pagan, gentile city.
Secondly, I mentioned earlier that the term “overturned” reminds us of the language used in Genesis 19 about the judgement of Sodom and Gamora. In Hebrew, overturned often means destruction, but it can be used in other ways. It can also mean “to change oneself” Again, I think it is possible that the author might be hinting that Ninevah could go one of two ways. Either they will turn from their sin, or their city will be overturned. Which way will Ninevah go? Well, let’s keep reading…
 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
In our culture, we generally have such low respect for street preachers that we find it hard to imagine how a whole city could respond so positively to someone preaching judgement. Scholars have pointed to some natural events (like an eclipse), and political challenges that could have made the Ninevites more open to this Jonah’s message. I don’t know what role these things may have played, but what we do know is that these people “believed God”. They recognized their sin, the realized they were worthy of judgement, and they publicly repented. “from the greatest of them to the least of them.” And the ruler of Ninevah leads the way!
The practice of sitting in ashes was a public sign of sorrow. You may remember that Job sat in an ash heap after all his troubles. The practice of wearing sackcloth was also a way of public mourning and repentance. We might think of a coarse fabric like burlap. The rough fabric on the skin reflected the distress the people felt inside. And fasting was a way of recognizing that these people needed God’s mercy even more than they needed food.
Jonah may have been a reluctant preacher, but his preaching was very effective! Scholar Edwin Good puts it this way; “Like a dry haystack meeting a pine-knot torch, Ninevah explodes into repentance.” And this was a city-wide repentance. And did you notice in the king’s decree, in verse 8, that even the animals were included!? I can only imagine what the cows and goats were thinking when their owners put sackcloth on them.
The book of Jonah raises some interesting questions about animal life. Scripture doesn’t teach that animals are morally responsible in the same way humans are, but like the rest of creation, they are under the curse of sin. Animals often suffer because of the sinfulness of people, and there is also corruption in the animal kingdom. If you observe animal behavior, you will see a lot of things that look like cruelty. In highlighting the animals, the author is going out of his way to show that the entire city was involved in public repentance.
We hear a lot of bad apologies today. When celebrities are caught doing something wrong, they will often issue insincere press releases filled with excuses. In our personal relationships we sometimes hear things like “I am sorry you felt that way”, “I was just kidding”, “mistakes were made” or “I am sorry if you were offended.”
In contrast to these bad apologies, the Ninevite’s repentance seems deeply genuine. Not only do they collectively cry out to God, but they also confess their specific sin. In verse 8 the king says, “Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.” Remember what I read last week about the violence and brutality of the Assyrian empire? Violence and cruelty were their calling card, and the king admits this and tells his people to turn away from their “evil way”. Real repentance comes with real change.
Now when we compare the Ninevite’s response to the sailor’s response back in chapter 1, we can see some differences. While the sailors cry out to the Lord, Jonah’s God, the city repents to God in general. In Ninevah we also don’t see any specific reference to vows or sacrifices. It’s possible that the sailors were genuinely converted to worshiping Jonah’s God, but this doesn’t seem to be true of the Ninevites. We also don’t see historical evidence that this public repentance led to a long-term change in the Assyrian culture. Their repentance may have been limited, but it was clearly genuine.
And how does God respond to their repentance? Chapter 3 concludes by saying; 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Everyone involved in this situation understood that God would have been justified to judge the people of Ninevah for their sin. God is perfectly capable of pouring out judgment on a sinful city. He could have rained down fire and brimstone has he did in Sodom, but he doesn’t. The Ninevites weren’t sure if God would relent, but he did. He showed incredible mercy to a sinful but repentant city. So how does our reluctant prophet respond to God’s act of mercy? Our story continues in chapter 4;
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Here in the final chapter, we get a much clearer view of Jonah’s thought process. Jonah is furious, and he tells us why. He says to the Lord; “I knew you would show mercy to the that Ninevites, that’s why he ran!” Then he asks the Lord to take his life. Again, we might be tempted to be hard on Jonah, but try to understand where he was coming from. His preaching had just rescued a violent city that had oppressed his own people.
Jonah didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites because he knew God’s merciful character. He didn’t want this city to have a chance to repent! Like before, Jonah declares what is true about God. He repeats a truth that the Lord revealed long ago in the books of the Law. This truth is found in Exodus 34:6-7; “…the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…”
The Lord originally spoke these words to the Hebrew people during a covenant restoration ceremony. They had just made a golden calf to worship, and the Lord was prepared to judge them, but he showed mercy when Moses interceded on their behalf. Jonah knew this story. He knew the forgiving character of his God. And the Lord had literally just saved him from drowning. Both he and his people had experienced God’s mercy; but he didn’t want God to show mercy to these people.
Like Jonah, we are people with double standards. We only get angry at the refs when they don’t call the other team’s fouls. When a politician from the opposite party does something wrong, we say they are unqualified for office. But when a politician from our party does something wrong, we make excuses. When someone speeds by us on road and then gets pulled over, we gleefully celebrate. But when we get pulled over for speeding, we hope the officer shows us mercy. This is what sinful human nature looks like.
We are people with double standards. But the Lord will not submit to our double standards. He shows mercy to those that he wishes. Jonah doesn’t like this, but the Lord is about to give him an object lesson to show him the darkness in his own heart…
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.  So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
Jonah is still angry and sulking. He goes outside the city and watches, hoping that the Lord’s judgement will still come. In the same way that the Lord appointed a fish to swallow Jonah, the Lord appoints a plant to grow and shield Jonah from the sun. And the text says that Jonah is “exceedingly glad”. (Do you notice how extreme Jonah’s emotions are in this chapter?) He thinks this plant is the best thing that ever happened to him.
But then the next day God, who is always in control, appoints a worm to attack the plant and then he appoints a scorching wind to blow down on Jonah. In his discomfort Jonah again asks the Lord to take his life. Jonah is in pain, but he kind of comes across like a whiny toddler here. He sulks and pouts, and says he wants to die. His current focus is the plant, but ultimately, he is still angry at God. Jonah would rather be dead than live with a God who would show mercy on the Ninevites.
Notice how much patience the Lord has with Jonah here. Jonah is being emotional, impulsive, and unreasonable, and the Lord calmly asks him questions about his emotions. God continues to show Jonah mercy, even in the middle of his temper tantrum.
And the Lord gently points out the twisted nature of Jonah’s priorities. Jonah is more concerned about the life of this plant than he was concerned about all the residents of Ninevah. He values his own comfort more than thousands of lives. Jonah wines about his sunburn while he wants God to burn this city full of people.
Jonah didn’t do anything to help the plant grow, but he grieves when it is gone. Jonah wants God to wipe out all these people, but each of those lives were lives that God had made. The Lord describes the people of Ninevah as not knowing “their right hand from their left” and I think this is probably referring to moral ignorance. Jonah, on the other hand, does know right from wrong, because he knows the Lord.
And did you notice that in his final question, the Lord brings up the animals again? I am often bothered when I see ways that our culture values animal life over human life. It is wrong to value animal life over human life. But the Bible consistently shows us that God values animal life. In Matthew 10:29 Jesus says; “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” Now animals are not made in the image of God, like people are, but God cares about all his creatures. This is why we should treat our pets with kindness, and why we should oppose the needless suffering of animals.
The story of Jonah ends on an uncertain note. We wonder if he ever gets it, we wonder if he ever truly repents. I hope so, but we don’t know. And I think the uncertainty is intentional. In this story, Jonah stands in for his people. The Bible tells us that, like Jonah, the Hebrews were a stubborn, rebellious, proud people. When they heard Jonah’s story, they would have been challenged to avoid Jonah’s attitude. In leaving Jonah’s story open ended, God gives all of us space to consider our own lives. We don’t know the end of Jonah’s story, but there is still time to write the end of our own stories.
As we conclude the book of Jonah I want to end with three challenges:
Don’t underestimate the reach of God’s mercy.
Jonah didn’t want to preach to pagan gentiles. He knew the Lord, but he didn’t want others to know the Lord. He didn’t consider them to be worth saving, but the Lord did. And this shouldn’t have been a surprise to Jonah, because God’s plan was always bigger than the nation of Israel.
In Genesis 12:2-3 God tells the patriarch Abram (Abraham); “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing… in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” From the very beginning it has been God’s desire to rescue people from every nation and ethnic group. In the Old Testament we don’t see a lot of evangelism, but we do see how God welcomes foreigners like Rahab and Ruth into the family of God. Then in Matthew 28 Jesus tells his followers to preach the gospel to the whole world.
Perhaps there are people that you don’t think God will save. Maybe there are people you don’t want God to save. Brothers and sisters; don’t make the mistake of thinking God can’t or won’t reach someone. In the Bible we see God saving prostitutes, adulterers, and murderers. God’s power to save is unlimited. So, share Gospel Hope generously, and see God work.
Trust that God’s justice will come.
Jonah was angry that God didn’t immediately pour out his judgement on the Ninevites, but God’s mercy is not opposed to God’s justice. Remember how I said earlier that Jonah’s statement about God’s mercy was based on what God told Moses in Exodus 34? But Jonah left something out. The Lord says he is “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…” (Ex. 34:7)
Jonah made the mistake of thinking that God’s mercy canceled out God’s justice, but this isn’t true. Ninevah would face God’s judgment for their evil, just not on Jonah’s timetable. The Lord shows mercy, but the Lord won’t ignore sin. The prophet Nahum later predicted God’s judgement on Assyria, and in 612 BC the city of Ninevah plundered and burned by the Medes and Babylonians. Today Ninevah is in ruins.
God’s ultimate justice is good news for vulnerable people who have been harmed by evil people. No murder, no abuser, no cheater, no enslaver, will escape from God’s ultimate justice. But the uncomfortable reality is that all of us deserve God’s righteous judgement. Like Jonah we want to think we are better than others. We pick a ruler where we measure up, and other people fall short. But God’s ruler is the only ruler that matters, and all of us have disobeyed his perfect law. All of us have run from him. So, what then can we do? We can…
Throw yourself on God’s mercy.
In this book, how does God respond to those who call out to him for rescue? Every single time, he extends his mercy. Friends, that is who our God is! He is ready and willing to save. To receive God’s salvation, we just need to confess our sin and look to him as our only hope. Turning to God is not some complicated puzzle. You don’t need to say the magical words in the right order. You don’t need to know all the theological language. You can just call out to him.
But how can we be safe with the Lord forever if his justice must be satisfied? Well, it’s because God’s perfect Son Jesus faced the justice of God on our behalf. He endured God’s fiery wrath against sin, so we wouldn’t have to. Jonah valued his comfort more than the people God sent him to. But Jesus gave up every comfort, and willing endured immense suffering on the cross because he loved us.
Without Jesus, all of us are living in Ninevah, a city where God’s mercy has delayed his righteous judgement. But we don’t need to be there when judgement falls. God calls us to a new city, an eternal city where he rules with mercy and justice. God’s city isn’t filled with plunder and slaves stolen from other places. It is filled with God’s children, who have been redeemed from every tribe, tongue, and nation. It’s a place where Gospel Culture grows, because we have all admitted our desperate need.
God’s city is a place for former pagans have turned from their violent ways, and it’s a place for prophets who have turned from their religious pride. You may be more pagan, or more prophet – but most of us are a mix of both. No matter who you are, God’s been after you. Just call out to him and receive his mercy.