The Reluctant Prophet - Part 4

‘I’ve got some good news, and some bad news,’ says Jonah to Nineveh. ‘What do you want to hear first?’ Carla Lindsey explains that in Chapter Four, Jonah finally becomes the prophet God called him to be.

God is a God of second chances. Phew … just as well. Sometimes he’s a God of third, fourth and 78th chances too, because sometimes his children are quite slow learners! It is quite comforting to know that many of the ‘heroes’ of the Bible got it wrong the first time, but God didn’t give up on them. Instead, he graciously gave them another go. There was Abraham, Moses, Peter and, of course, Jonah.

Second chances

The first two chapters in the book of Jonah tell the story of how Jonah blew it the first time. God told Jonah to deliver his message to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah ran in the opposite direction. He ended up on a boat, then off the boat … then in the ocean … then drowning. But God rescued Jonah via a large fish that spewed him back on shore.

As we move into Jonah chapter three, we see God didn’t just rescue Jonah so he could go back to his old life. No! He was rescued for a purpose. There was still a message that needed delivering and Jonah was still God’s man to do it. Yes, Jonah had made a bad choice, but that didn’t mean it was all over. God didn’t give up on Jonah. Instead, God gave Jonah a second shot.

We’re picking up the story at Jonah chapter three, which interestingly starts with words almost identical to the start of chapter one. It reads, ‘Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you” ’ (3:1–2).

History repeats itself. The story begins again as Jonah is called for a second time.

But what will Jonah do this time? Run again? Will he go? There is almost a dramatic pause between verse two and three while the audience hold their breath wondering if the second time would be different.
And was it? Yes! This time ‘Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh’ (3:3).

Superlatives

Here the narrator interrupts the flow of the story for a moment to give his readers some information about Nineveh. He tells us, ‘Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it’ (3:4). We can presume from this that the book of Jonah was written down sometime after the fall of Nineveh (612 BC) and that memories of Nineveh’s greatness had faded.

So, what does the writer tell us about Nineveh? Firstly, that the city was large. This phrase could also read that Nineveh was ‘important’, ‘great’ or ‘great to God’. In Hebrew, the phrase was used to show that something was superlative.

Secondly, it took three days to go through it. This is puzzling, as the city walls have been excavated and unless you were going very slowly, walking across Nineveh did not take three days—more like less than a day.

So what was meant here? It might be that the greater Nineveh region was included. It could be an exaggeration meant to convey that it was big. Or perhaps, that going into every square proclaiming the message would take three days. The book of Jonah reveals a couple of other pieces of information about Nineveh. Jonah 1:3 tells us the city was wicked and Jonah 4:11 tells us that there were 120,000 people living there.

So, the picture we get is of an important, large and wicked city. A city full of people—people that mattered to God. And that’s why Jonah needed to go there.

The good news and bad news

So he did. Jonah began ‘by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown’’ ’ (3:4). The narrator takes us straight back to the action. We skip Jonah’s journey to Nineveh and simply find Jonah boldly proclaiming his brief message.

Was it really that short? Just eight words in English and only five in Hebrew! Surely more explanation was needed? Maybe the author just gives us the main point? A point that was important for them to hear. God had had enough and was counting to three … so to speak.

There would be consequences! Nineveh would be overturned, but that overturning, or turning around, could happen two ways: Erther God would overturn Nineveh. Or Nineveh itself would turn around, repent and turn towards God. Either way, a change of direction was going to occur for Nineveh.

Jonah had now done his part. Mission complete. The message he had been given was delivered and the rest was out of his hands. Here, Jonah steps out of the story for a while and our focus moves to the people of Nineveh. What would they do with Jonah’s message?

The Ninevites heard Jonah’s message and believed it. In fact, they took it very seriously. ‘A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth’ (3:5). What a surprising response! The whole community instantly joined together, expressing their sorrow and begging for mercy by fasting and wearing sackcloth. They had heard, they believed—and because they believed, action followed.

The response didn’t stop with the people. ‘When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust’ (3:6). For the King to respond with such humility is remarkable!

But did it really happen?

Some would say this account is unbelievable. Understandably, many have been sceptical of the sudden conversion of all of Nineveh and her king. Would a pagan king really respond like that to one crazy prophet? Would a whole city convert so easily?  Extra-biblical sources show no evidence of it ever having happened.

But are extra-biblical sources likely to contain such information? No, they’re not. Ancient records (with the exception of the Bible!) didn’t evaluate their own kings negatively, and for the king to get off his throne, exchange his robes for sackcloth and sit in the dust would definitely have been seen as negative. Such behaviour was not the way a king should be remembered. Nor did extra-biblical sources list every visiting prophet, there were lots of them.

Perhaps the most important factor here is that ancient people like the Ninevites were very superstitious. They lived in a world where, to avoid calamity, gods needed to be appeased. Because Jonah gets a mention in 2 Kings 14:15, we know he prophesied during the rule of Jeroboam II, which was 753–793 BC. During this time there were several wars, famines and earthquakes in Nineveh. There were severe plagues in 753 BC and 765 BC, and there was an eclipse of the sun in 763 BC.

These were all things that were seen as a bad omen or sign sent from the divine realm showing the gods’ displeasure. In that climate, having so many calamities already happen to them, would the Ninevites want to take a chance? What if Jonah’s God sent a really big earthquake this time? What if Jonah’s God finished them off completely?

That was not a chance the Ninevites were prepared to take. We don’t know if they completely gave up their other gods, but Jonah records that they did turn towards God.

Calling on God

The king issued a decree: ‘Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish’ (3:7–9).

Similar decrees from the same period exist outside the Bible. Another Assyrian decree has been found that was addressed to Governor Mannu-ki-Assur and reads, ‘Decree of the King. You and all the people, your land, your meadows will mourn and pray for three days before the god Adad and repent. You will perform the purification rites so that there may be rest.’ 

So serious was the fast in Jonah chapter three that not even water was allowed! And even the animals were included. Poor animals, what had they done? This seems a bit extreme. Including animals in a fast was rare, but it did happen (see Judith 4:9 and Joel 1:19–20). If the people died, the animals would as well—they too were part of the community. The bellowing and moaning from the hungry animals would have risen up and echoed the sorrow of the desperate people.

Not only was the whole community to fast, but they were to wear sackcloth. Sackcloth was uncomfortable. People wore it to make themselves miserable and show how sincerely they were sorry.

They were also to call on God. Just as the opening words of chapter three parallels chapter one, here we see the king’s role runs in parallel to the role of the ship’s captain. Both the captain and king are the leaders, and both ask people to call on God. The Ninevites parallel the ship’s crew in their actions.

The decree takes it one step further, which suggests the genuineness of the response. The king asked his people to give up the evil ways and violence that Assyrians were known for. The king seems to have known this behaviour was displeasing to God.

‘Give up’ here means repent, or turn and go in the opposite direction. In chapter one, Jonah chose to turn and run away from God,’ but here the Ninevites choose to turn and move towards God.

The King had hope that by doing these things Jonah’s God could be appeased and that he would not overturn them. And, indeed, God did hear the cries of the king and the Ninevites and chose not to overturn them.

Crisis averted

Jonah’s mission was a success. Jonah should be delighted, right? We’ll have to wait to find out how Jonah felt about his mission. But in the meantime, some lessons from Jonah chapter three: These 10 verses that are often skipped over when the story of Jonah is told have lots to teach us. They remind us that Jonah’s job was simply to do what God called him to do, the rest was out of his hands. They remind us that true repentance requires a change of behaviour. And, finally, they remind us of God’s character.

This chapter isn’t about Jonah’s amazing preaching, but about God’s extravagant love and grace to Jonah and to the Ninevites. That grace is extended to us, too, if we choose to turn in his direction.

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by Carla Lindsey (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 25 June 2016, pp20-21
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