CHAPTER 3

(862 B.C.)

JONAHS SECOND COMMISSION; HIS OBEDIENCE

¹And the Word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying (Chapter 1 is the story of Jonahs call and rebellion, while Chapter 2 portrays his Repentance and Salvation from what looked like certain death. Chapter 3 proclaims Jonahs preaching in Nineveh and the Repentance of that city.

The second time, seems to imply that Jonah earnestly sought the Lord regarding his continued commission; fearful he would do something the Lord did not desire, he waited until there was a definite re-commission. Such does not show a reticence on his part, but rather a compelling desire to please God),

²Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid you. (The commission given here is basically the same as that given in Verse 2 of Chapter 1. There the Holy Spirit said, Cry against it, where here He says, Preach unto it.

And preach unto it the preaching that I bid you, refers to the Lord being the Author of all that Jonah was to say.)

³So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the Word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. (Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey, concerns the size of the city and not the distance of Jonahs travel. The city was about 64 miles around, which would take a man about three days walking to get around the city.)

⁴And Jonah began to enter into the city a days journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. (The first phrase probably means that Jonah came into the city about 12 miles distance. And he cried, proclaims him standing possibly in some marketplace or at a busy intersection, lifting up his voice, loudly shouting the Message the Lord had given him. His Message was as follows: Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

As recorded in Mat. 16:1-4 and Lk. 11:30, Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites; that is, he was a personal illustration of the Wrath and Grace of God.)

NINEVEH REPENTED; GRANTED MERCY

⁵So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. (We have here one of the few times in history where people, even heathen, actually believed the Prophet sent by the Lord. As such, they repented, from the greatest of them even to the least of them, i.e., from the king down to lowest servant.)

⁶For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. (For word came unto the king of Nineveh, proclaims the fact that the tokens of penitence mentioned in Verse 5 were not exhibited in obedience to any royal command; rather, as the impression made by the Prophet spread among the people, and as they adopted these modes of showing their sorrow, the news of this movement reached the king, and he put himself at the head of it.

The reigning Monarch was probably either Shalmaneser III or one of the two who succeeded him, Asshur-Danil or Asshur-Nirari.

And he arose from his throne, proclaims a heartfelt disposition which abdicated his lofty position as the leading Monarch of the world in favor of Jehovah. In other words, he was saying, Lord, You are King, and not I.

And he laid his robe from him, also signifies a total commitment to the Commands of the Lord.

⁷And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water (to be sure, the decree of the king and his nobles in no way caused the Repentance, but was rather a result of what was already happening. Repentance cannot be legislated, and Salvation cannot be legislated. Such action always must be a result of rather than a cause of):

⁸But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. (True Repentance always involves separation from evil. And cry mightily unto God, refers to all people, from the least to the greatest, admitting their sin before God and that they deserve destruction, but were pleading for mercy.

Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, is, as we have said, the very ingredient of Repentance. The idea is to turn from the evil way to Gods Way. God does not save in sin, but instead from sin. Therefore, the idea that the Blood of Jesus Christ is the only difference between the saved and the unsaved is facetious indeed!

And from the violence that is in their hands, refers to the acts of violence that their hands had committed. This was, in fact, the special sin of the Assyrians always grasping after empires, oppressing other nations, and doing so with great violence. They were an extremely cruel people!)

⁹Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? (His terminology, in the form of a question, Who can tell if God will...? proclaims an understanding of God that is of far greater dimension than most. Even though the Scripture is silent, still, it seems that Jonah may have had a personal audience with the king, for Verse 6 says, For word came unto the king of Nineveh. It is unlikely that he would have had merely by hearsay a firm grasp of Spiritual matters, which it seems he did have.

That we perish not, concerns the Monarch truly believing the Word of the Lord, which is not the case with most presently!)

¹⁰And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not. (Fear and a sense of guilt cause a man to repent; love and a sense of pity, God; for He reserves liberty of action to Himself. With God, Repentance means a change of purpose or action and never wrongdoing on His Part. With man, Repentance also means a change of purpose or action, but always refers to wrongdoing on his part.

The phrase, And God saw their works, does not refer to Salvation being of works, but that their faith had works, which was Repentance [James 2:26].)