Jonah

Jonah 3

Chapter III · Vol. III, p. 1449

1 Jonah, being sent again, preached the overthrow of Nineveh. 5 Upon their repentance, 10 God repenteth him of the evil.

Margin referencesNotes ↓

1 And the word¹ of the LORD came unto Jonah the ^asecond time, saying,

1 See ch.1.1.—C.

a ch.1.2. Ex.4.8,21.

2 Arise, go unto ^bNineveh, that great city, and ^cpreach² unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

b ch.1.2. Ge.10.11,12. Zep.2.13,15. Na.2.1,8.

c Je.1.17. Eze.2.7. Ac.20.20,27.

2 Preach. 'Cry unto it the cry.'—C.

3 So ^dJonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding ^egreat city³ of three days' journey.⁴

d Ps.119.63,67. Ge.22.3. Ps.119.32.

e ver.2; ch.1.2.

3 Heb. a city great to God, Ge.30.8.

4 The dimensions of Nineveh may be definitely ascertained alike from ancient and modern testimony. Diodorus writes—'It was well walled, of unequal lengths. Each of the longer sides was 150 furlongs, each of the shorter 90. The whole circuit being 480 furlongs,' or about 60 miles. The site is now marked by great mounds of rubbish, four of the largest—Nimroud, Kouyunjik, Khorsabad, and Karamles, being disposed in the form of a parallelogram. 'From the northern extremity of Kouyunjik to Nimrud,' says Layard, 'is about 18 miles, the distance from Nimrud to Karamles about 12, the opposite sides the same. The recent trigonometrical survey of the country by Captain Jones proves that the great ruins of Kouyunjik, Nimrud, Karamles, and Khorsabad form very nearly a perfect parallelogram.'—P.

4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, ^gYet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.⁵

g 2 Ki.20.1,6. Je.18.7-10. ver.10.

5 It is not to be supposed that these were the only words that Jonah uttered, but merely that this was the text, sum, or import of all his preaching.—C.

5 So the people of Nineveh ^hbelieved God, and ⁱproclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

h Mat.12.41. Lu.11.32. 2 Co.10.4. Ex.14.31.

i 1 Sa.7.6. 1 Ki.21.27. Joel 1.14; 2.15,16. Ezr.8.21; ix.x. Ne.ix.

6 For word came unto ^jthe king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and ^ksat in ashes.

j 1 Ki.21.27. Je.13.18.

k Job 2.8; 42.6. Mi.1.10. Je.6.26. La.3.29.

7 And ^lhe caused it to be proclaimed and published⁶ through Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles,⁷ saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

l 2 Ch.20.3. Ezr.8.21; x. Ne.ix.

6 Heb. said.

7 Heb. great men.

8 But let man and beast be covered with ⁿsackcloth, and ^ocry mightily unto God: yea, ^plet them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

n Joel 2.15,16.

o ch.1.6,14. Ps.130.1; 34.6.

p Eze.33.11. Is.55.6,7; 1.16-19. Da.4.27.

9 Who^q can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

q Joel 2.13,14. ch.1.6. Am.5.15. 2 Sa.12.22. Nu.14.8. Is.55.7. Ps.106.45.

10 And^r God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented⁸ of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

r Lu.11.32. Je.18.8. Am.7.3,6. 1 Ki.21.27,29. ch.4.2.

8 See Joel 2.14. Ex.32.14. Je.18.8.—C.

**CANDY SELLER, BEYROUT—THE SEAPORT TOWN OF DAMASCUS, AS TYRE WAS IN THE DAYS OF SOLOMON. [Jonah, iv:11.]** "And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that can not discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle." Here we have the truth plainly taught that God was interested in, and planned for the welfare of cities outside of the domain of the promised land. From the fact that He specially raised up the Jewish race to teach the great truths of His nature and kingdom, many have thought He left cities among the heathen nations to themselves. But we learn from the Scriptures that God's oversight encompassed all peoples and cities. The above picture, "A Candy Seller" in Beyrout, was taken in a city built up outside the limits of Palestine. This city, however, is destined to be a Christian city, for already, through the influence of missionary work, many of its inhabitants are Christians.

Notes

Ver. 3. Three days' journey in circumference—being upwards of sixty miles: twenty miles being an average day's march for an army or journey for a traveller. C.

Ver. 4. He cried—that is, occasionally as he advanced through the whole length of the city—probably the principal street. C.

Ver. 5. The people of Nineveh believed God. Therefore they believed him to be such as he had proclaimed himself to Moses; and as Jonah knew him to be, ch. 4. 2, and should have declared him; that is, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty,' Ex. 34. 6-9. And from this it unquestionably follows, that the predicted overthrow was subject to all the limitations of this 'great name,' of which God can never come short in any of his dealings with men. C.

Reflections.—God often tries the sincerity of men's repentance by assigning to them that very work which they had formerly evaded: and marks his favours to true penitents in honouring them with important trusts. And it is a mercy even to be scourged into cheerful obedience. What alarming messages of unexpected wrath must God's ministers sometimes bear! And his Word must not be bent either to the humours of preachers or hearers.—It bears a promising appearance when kings obtain proper notice of God's warnings, and seriously attend to them; when they and their subjects concur in repentance and reformation; and when believing fears of judgment, and hopes of mercy, jointly excite to it. While sinners are stirred up to prayer, there is hope in their end. God favourably regards even external reformation, that he may encourage to that which is truly evangelical.