Jonah Chapter 3
1 The LORD's word came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you."
3 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD's word. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey across.
4 Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried out, and said, "In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!"
5 The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.
6 The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, "Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;
8 but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?"
10 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn't do it.
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Jonah Chapter 3 Guide
Immediately Jonah was again charged to go to Nineveh. There is a fine revelation of the patient grace of God toward His servant in the statement, "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time." With a new sense of the authority of Jehovah, Jonah arose and obeyed.
It was a strange and startling thing for Nineveh, this arrival of a man who had been cast into the deep; and it is easy to understand how the monotony of his declaration, that within forty days Nineveh would be destroyed, would fill the hearts of the people with terror. They heard; they believed; they were filled with fear, and repented, from the greatest to the least. Their repentance was answered by the repentance of God, so that the doom was averted and the city spared.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Jonah Chapter 3 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Jonah sent again to Nineveh, preaches there. (1-4)
- Nineveh is spared upon the repentance of the inhabitants. (5-10)
Verses 1-4
God employs Jonah again in his service. His making use of us is an evidence of his being at peace with us. Jonah was not disobedient, as he had been. He neither endeavoured to avoid hearing the command, nor declined to obey it. See here the nature of repentance; it is the change of our mind and way, and a return to our work and duty. Also, the benefit of affliction; it brings those back to their place who had deserted it. See the power of Divine grace, for affliction of itself would rather drive men from God, than draw them to him. God's servants must go where he sends them, come when he calls them, and do what he bids them; we must do whatever the word of the Lord commands. Jonah faithfully and boldly delivered his errand. Whether Jonah said more, to show the anger of God against them, or whether he only repeated these words again and again, is not certain, but this was the purport of his message. Forty days is a long time for a righteous God to delay judgments, yet it is but a little time for an unrighteous people to repent and reform in. And should it not awaken us to get ready for death, to consider that we cannot be so sure that we shall live forty days, as Nineveh then was that it should stand forty days? We should be alarmed if we were sure not to live a month, yet we are careless though we are not sure to live a day.
Verses 5-10
There was a wonder of Divine grace in the repentance and reformation of Nineveh. It condemns the men of the gospel generation, Mt 12:41. A very small degree of light may convince men that humbling themselves before God, confessing their sins with prayer, and turning from sin, are means of escaping wrath and obtaining mercy. The people followed the example of the king. It became a national act, and it was necessary it should be so, when it was to prevent a national ruin. Let even the brute creatures' cries and moans for want of food remind their owners to cry to God. In prayer we must cry mightily, with fixedness of thought, firmness of faith, and devout affections. It concerns us in prayer to stir up all that is within us. It is not enough to fast for sin, but we must fast from sin; and, in order to the success of our prayers, we must no more regard iniquity in our hearts, Ps 66:18. The work of a fast-day is not done with the day. The Ninevites hoped that God would turn from his fierce anger; and that thus their ruin would be prevented. They could not be so confident of finding mercy upon their repentance, as we may be, who have the death and merits of Christ, to which we may trust for pardon upon repentance. They dared not presume, but they did not despair. Hope of mercy is the great encouragement to repentance and reformation. Let us boldly cast ourselves down at the footstool of free grace, and God will look upon us with compassion. God sees who turn from their evil ways, and who do not. Thus he spared Nineveh. We read of no sacrifices offered to God to make atonement for sin; but a broken and a contrite heart, such as the Ninevites then had, he will not despise.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.