Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Jonah, for the First Time | Part 3: Exemplary Pagans | Part 4: A Psalm
Act II of this morality play, as we’ve noted, follows the same structure as Act I. It begins with God’s command to Jonah to go to Nineveh and prophesy (Jon 3.1-2). In chapter 1 the command was the same, but it was accompanied by a reason: Nineveh’s wickedness. The explanation obviously isn’t necessary the second time.
This second time, in stark contrast, Jonah obeys immediately. No doubt his experience of disobedience has motivated him to behave himself. So off he goes to Nineveh (Jon 3.3).
There’s considerable discussion about the statement that “Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.” That sounds at first as though it took three days to get there; but following the Fertile Crescent, which was the only way anyone could survive the trip, Nineveh was over 500 miles from the nearest part of Israel, a distance well over “three days’ journey.” Some scholars think the city was so large that it would take someone three days to travel through it, preaching along the way (cf. Jon 3.4). Others have held that it would take three days to travel its circumference. I’m inclined to agree with a recent theory that on official visits to highly important cities, diplomats would spend three days there:
“On the first day a state visitor (ambassador, visiting royalty, etc.) would arrive, get settled, locate the appropriate government officials and present credentials to them. On the second day the visitor would be received by the official(s) in charge and the desired business would be conducted. On the third day an official send-off would be provided, with any responses to the government of the visiting state handed over to the emissaries at that time” (New Bible Commentary).
Thus it’s a measure not of distance, but of geopolitical significance.
Makes sense, but I note that Jonah didn’t follow that procedure.
At any rate, it’s safe to say that nobody’s really sure at this point what the phrase means.
When Jonah arrives, he gets right to work, going directly downtown, so to speak, and delivering his exceedingly brief message:
Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown (Jon 3.4).
And once again, the pagans respond better than the prophet does. They repent and believe (Jon 3.5). I note that those two actions are the very definition of conversion. The author seems to say that this repentance was universal in the city. Even the king repented (Jon 3.6) and proclaimed citywide repentance (Jon 3.7-8).
And he gives his reason: perhaps this foreign god will show them mercy (Jon 3.9).
I suppose we could question whether everyone was completely sincere; when an ancient Near Eastern potentate issues a proclamation, it’s wise to do whatever he says if you value your life. But God does respond favorably to this remarkable mass repentance (Jon 3.10); apparently it was good enough for him. Centuries later, Jesus would use their repentance as an example of what God wanted from his own chosen people (Mt 12.38-41).
Now, that raises a question. God didn’t say his threat was conditional, did he? Jonah, the prophet, had simply promised judgment. Did God break his threatening promise?
There are hints even in the prophecy that it might not be literally fulfilled—that God was offering them a chance at deliverance. First, he sent a prophet. Second, he gave them forty days to think about it. Both of those facts imply that mercy was available. And apparently the Ninevites didn’t need the whole forty days to make up their minds.
Why did they respond so quickly and decisively?
Assyrian inscriptions indicate that the Assyrians viewed certain omens as calling for fasting: invasion, eclipse, famine, and flood. One commentator notes,
“Before Jonah arrived at this seemingly impregnable fortress-city, two plagues had erupted there (in 765 and 759 B.C.) and a total eclipse of the sun occurred on June 15, 763. These … may help explain why the Ninevites responded so readily to Jonah’s message, around 759” (Bible Knowledge Commentary).
So did God change his mind (Jon 3.10)? I’ve written on that here before.
This account makes it clear that God responds with mercy to people who genuinely seek it. We know that judgment did indeed come to a later generation of Ninevites, but to those who pled, God was kind.
That’s part of what we’ll learn here in this series about how to think about our enemies.
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