Jonah Chapter 3

Today we are picking up the story of Jonah after he found himself in a pile of vomit on the beach. Let’s try to imagine that scene for a moment. Jonah has not eaten for three days and reeks of the contents of the fish’s stomach. He was wet, cold, hungry and tired, but deliriously happy to be breathing fresh air and seeing blue sky.

Many of us play Russian Roulette with God’s patience and are left to wonder if our most recent sin will be the final straw. Will God turn his back on us? We can take comfort in the words of Paul, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 | ESV) Jonah was disobedient, but he never quit believing in God’s goodness or his own salvation. His agreement to continue the mission God gave him may have been his backhanded apology and request to be forgiven. “‘What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’” (Jonah 2:9 | NIV)

“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’” (Jonah 3:1-2 | NIV)

We really do not know where Jonah was when God spoke to him the second time. Some commentators believe he was probably near Joppa, the place his odyssey began. If that was the case, he was six hundred miles away from Nineveh. By foot the trip would have taken five weeks and, if he went by camel, almost a month. So, he would have had ample opportunity to change his mind, yet he kept walking east.

Verse 3, “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days.” If that means it took three days to traverse it, Nineveh was, indeed, a large city. A person who is accustomed to walking can cover two to three miles in an hour. If we assume Jonah was reasonably fit and walked eight hours a day for three days, we might assume Nineveh was at least the size Los Angeles is today.

Walking only a third of the way into Nineveh changed the destiny of its inhabitants. To his surprise, they did not respond to him by trying to kill or torture him. Going on to verse 4 of our text. “Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’”

Notice there is neither equivocation nor hope. He did not say “might be overthrown.” He said “will be overthrown.” Jonah was not sharing a message of repentance, salvation or God’s love. He was simply walking the streets proclaiming that the city would be destroyed in forty days. A key lesson we can take from this is God’s plans will always succeed. Isaiah 55:11 reminds us his word will not return to him empty, but it will accomplish what he desires and will achieve his purpose.

In verse 5 we read, “The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. The people were convicted of their sins, repented, fasted and hoped that God would spare them.

If I knocked on your door and told you that you would not live to see the sunrise tomorrow, wouldn’t you have a question or two for me? Yet, there is no indication that anyone asked Jonah what was behind the threat. We know that the Assyrians served gods that were capricious and unpredictable. Also, about that time, historians report Assyria had experienced a series of famines, plagues and even witnessed astrological phenomena. Some have inferred that this was how God prepared the people’s hearts for Jonah’s message.

At any rate, I guess they just figured they were toast, no questions asked. Yet, the people of Nineveh put on sackcloth and fasted, both cultural signs of sorrow and repentance. They even put mourning clothes on their animals and made them fast, too (although some commentators believe this was included to be humorous). This was a grassroots change of heart and direction—the very definition of repentance.

Turning to verse 6
“When the news 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. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast 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.’”

I hear echos of what we read in Jonah 1:6. “The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.’”

Please notice something else. In verse 8, the king declared, “Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.” Nineveh’s evil and violence was not confined to the battlefield. They were a wicked culture living as though there was no God. Isn’t it interesting that Jonah did not say anything about his God and the word repentance was apparently never spoken.  There is something within the heart of all that lets us know when we have crossed the line with God in the way we treat others. The people humbly responded and God took notice.

Verse 10,  “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” We don’t know if there was more to Jonah’s message than what is recorded in the book. I suspect, from what we read in the next chapter, that this was his only message, word for word. In fact, he likely proclaimed God’s threat with no little excitement hoping that Israel’s enemy would be destroyed. Yet, in the back of his mind, he knew his God. We read the only threat that was recorded did not come to pass.


Undoubtedly, the Ninevites breathed a sigh of relief knowing they were ok because they had temporarily, at least, turned from their wicked ways. Yet they continued misplacing their trust and following useless gods. How often do we talk to people who believe that, if there is really a heaven, they are destined to go there because they are good people? As in Nineveh, being a good person may forestall God’s wrath in this life, but not in the next.

We live in a post-Christian nation of wishful thinkers, many of whom believe hell, if it exists, is reserved only for the truly wicked. Even when they concede there may be a God, heaven, or even a hell, they believe they are ok. And they are just following a family tradition.

Such thinking is an inheritance from our forefathers. Before we even existed as an independent nation God sent a revival to America just like he did Nineveh.

A religious revival impacted the English colonies in America in the early eighteenth century. Many historians believe it had a lasting impact on a number of Christian denominations as well as American culture at large. It resulted from the European philosophical movement known as the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason, that had made its way across the Atlantic.

Enlightenment thinkers emphasized a scientific and logical worldview, while downplaying religion. Those who bought into this school of thought believed everything that had previously been attributed to God could or would eventually be explained by science. The stage was set for a renewal of faith, and in the late 1700s, a revival began to take root. Most historians credit Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent as the chief proponents of what has been called the Great Awakening.

Revivals were often raucous, chaotic, hell fire and brimstone events, but Edwards tended to keep his congregation relatively calm, compared to the others. However, he did preach the penalty of sin on occasion, most notably in his sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” which he preached twice, once in his own Northampton, MA church and again on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, CT.

The Great Awakening lasted until the middle of the 19th Century. It was mostly in the northeast and the midwest. Two more awakenings happened. One in the 1850’-1900’s. The other happened in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

As with Jonah’s preaching, the awakenings were short-lived events. Jonah preached to Nineveh and about 100 years later, they had turned from God and were back in their sin. They received their punishment when the prophet Nahum proclaimed Nineveh’s destruction. America too did not stay long in the glory of God.

The Test of a true prophet
One thing to note, by Jonah going to Nineveh and preaching destruction, Jonah may see himself as a false prophet if his words did not come to pass. Jonah, along with other prophets in the Bible, were held to a special standard when proclaiming God’s word. If a prophet stated there would be destruction, but the destruction never happened, then the prophet was neither a true or false prophet. God can turn back from the evil He had proclaimed. If a prophet proclaimed good to the people, but destruction came, then the prophet was known to be a false prophet.

So, if a person wants to be considered a prophet, it is better to proclaim destruction. If the doom and gloom happens, then the prophet was true to his word. If the destruction does not happen, then God relented of the evil and the prophet is still thought to be a true prophet.

Isaiah 38:1-8
The Prophet Isaiah told King Hezekiah he was to set his house in order. He was going to die. Isaiah leaves. Hezekiah prays to the LORD. God hears the prayer and tells Isaiah to go back and let Hezekiah know he will live another 15 years.