FOURTH CHAPTER
Jon 3:1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 Up! go to Nineveh, that great town, and give it the word which I have given you.
3 So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh as the Lord had said. Now Nineveh was a very great town, three days' journey from end to end.
4 And Jonah first of all went a day's journey into the town, and crying out said, In forty days destruction will overtake Nineveh.
5 And the people of Nineveh had belief in God; and a time was fixed for going without food, and they put on haircloth, from the greatest to the least.
6 And the word came to the king of Nineveh, and he got up from his seat of authority, and took off his robe, and covering himself with haircloth, took his seat in the dust.
7 And he had it given out in Nineveh, By the order of the king and his great men, no man or beast, herd or flock, is to have a taste of anything; let them have no food or water:
8 And let man and beast be covered with haircloth, and let them make strong prayers to God: and let everyone be turned from his evil way and the violent acts of their hands.
9 Who may say that God will not be turned, changing his purpose and turning away from his burning wrath, so that destruction may not overtake us?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAgOXPO-5Os
10 And God saw what they did, how they were turned from their evil way; and God's purpose was changed as to the evil which he said he would do to them, and he did it not.
(BBE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGNF8XEq18
Warren W. Wiersbe in Nelson's Quick Reference Chapter-by Chapter Bible Commentary:
"JONAH : How gracious God is to give us another opportunity after we have failed Him.
Ps 103:8 The Lord is kind and full of pity, not quickly made angry, but ever ready to have mercy.
9 His feeling will no longer be bitter; he will not keep his wrath for ever.
10 He has not given us the punishment for our sins, or the reward of our wrongdoing.
11 For as the heaven is high over the earth, so great is his mercy to his worshippers.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our sins from us.
13 As a father has pity on his children, so the Lord has pity on his worshippers.
14 For he has knowledge of our feeble frame; he sees that we are only dust.
(BBE)
"God is as much concerned with the worker as the work. He could have sent somebody else to preach to Nineveh, but Jonah would have missed out on the lessons he needed to learn. God wants to work in us as well as through us."
I suspect God was doing more than teaching Jonah a lesson when he gave him a death and rescue by fish or a capture and salvation by fish or time to think in Hell then get back to us in the fish .
He was showing His mercy to a man who wasn't willing to show mercy. He foreshadowed His Son: "Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Or, even more to the point:
Mt 5:43 ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Lu 6:27 ¶ But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Lu 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and [to] the evil.
J. Vernon MacGee on five of the main themes of the book:
SIGNIFICANT SUBJECTS:
1. This is the one book of the Old Testament that sets forth the Resurrection. Those who assert that the Resurrection is not found in the Old Testament surely are not versed in the magnificent message of Jonah. When a wicked and adulterous generation was seeking after a sign, Jesus referred them to the Book of Jonah for the message: “As Jonah…so Jesus” is the fine comparison made by our Lord.
2. Salvation is not by works. Salvation is by faith, which leads to repentance. The Book of Jonah is read by the Orthodox Jews on the Great Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). One great self-evident truth from the ritual of this day is that the way to God was not by “works of righteousness which we have done” (Titus 3:5), but by the blood of a substitutionary sacrifice provided by God. The most significant statement in the Book of Jonah is in 2:9 — “Salvation is of the LORD.”
3. God’s purpose of grace cannot be frustrated. If Jonah had refused to go to Nineveh the second time, would God have destroyed the city? God would not have been limited by Jonah’s refusal. He would have raised up another instrument, or, more likely, He would have had another fish ready to give Jonah the green light toward Nineveh. The book shows God’s determination to get His message of salvation to a people who will hear and accept it.
4. God will not cast us aside for faithlessness. When Jonah failed the first time, God did not give him up. The most encouraging words that a faltering and failing child of God can hear are, “And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time” (Jonah 3:1).
5. God is good and gracious. The most penetrating picture of God in the entire Bible is in Jonah 4:2. It is wrong to say that the Old Testament reveals a God of wrath and the New Testament reveals a God of love. He is no vengeful deity in the Book of Jonah.
Keeping the themes in mind, let's follow the man.
The man who came from a fish. Recall that legend. "Fish-cloaked." Only three days away, this man was spewed from a fish, out and walking in a fish cover. If he washed, there may well have been some, well, odor from the fish experience. Certainly if that large a fish beached in their territory, the Assyrians heard if it. Certainly if there were fishermen nearby, the story spread.
God used the legend to keep Jonah safe as he walked across the Assyrian land right to their capital. And safe there also. I recalls out study in John of how all then myths point to the true Christ and reminds us that Jonah is a Christ-type in that the power of God acting through him delivers a multitude. And a multitude of Gentiles at that.
The MacLaren's Expositions :
This passage falls into three parts: Jonah’s renewed commission and new obedience {Jonah 3:1 - Jonah 3:4}, the repentance of Nineveh {Jonah 3:5 - Jonah 3:9}, and the acceptance thereof by God {Jonah 3:10}. We might almost call these three the repentance of Jonah, of Nineveh, and of God. The evident intention of the narrative is to parallel the Ninevites turning from their sins, and God’s turning from His anger and purpose of destruction; and if the word ‘repentance’ is not applied to Jonah, his conduct sufficiently shows the thing.
Several commentaries suggest God "repents" in that he turns his wrath away. but please note God is the one that sets the condition of his relenting. It is as always in the Bible. He tells us the conditions we need to live under to establish a relationship with him and lets us know that the acceptance of Christ is that condition which spares us from his wrath. We must repent from our life, turn from our idols, our false gods toward God.
This is what Jonah calls them to do:
4 And Jonah first of all went a day's journey into the town, and crying out said, In forty days destruction will overtake Nineveh.
There's some discussion about the actual size of Nineveh and some more liberal commentaries suggest this huge size (three days journey) helps indicate Jonah is more likely a parable than an actual event while the Family Bible Notes seem to offer a fair example of the argument for a large city indeed:
Jonah 3:3
Of three days' journey; probably, three days' journey in circuit; for this agrees with the account of the ancient historians, who assign to Nineveh a circuit of 480 furlongs, and reckon 150 of these--about seventeen and a quarter English miles--as a day's journey. This was, moreover, the usual mode of estimating the size of cities. Nineveh, like Babylon, enclosed within its walls much cultivated ground.
In true believers, the sure fruit of affliction is obedience to God's word. Ps 119:67
1) He gave the message God gave him. Nothing about God's goodness and greatness or power. Nothing about how God got him out of a fish or even how He put him in it. No hymns sung for a half hour before the speaker. No plea for money so he can keep getting his message out. No story about the healing coming if you just follow Jonah. No ticket sales. No tent. No chorus about revival in the land.
Maclaren again:
The word rendered ‘preach’ is instructive. It means ‘to cry’ and suggests the manner befitting those who bear God’s message. They should sound it out loudly, plainly, urgently, with earnestness and marks of emotion in their voice. Languid whispers will not wake sleepers. Unless the messenger is manifestly in earnest, the message will fall flat. Not with bated breath, as if ashamed of it; nor with hesitation, as if not quite sure of it; nor with coldness, as if it were of little urgency,-is God’s Word to be pealed in men’s ears. The preacher is a crier. The substance of his message, too, is set forth. ‘The preaching which I bid thee’-not his own imaginations, nor any fine things of his own spinning. Suppose Jonah had entertained the Ninevites with dissertations on the evidences of his prophetic authority, or submitted for their consideration a few thoughts tending to show the agreement of his message with their current opinions in religion, or an argument for the existence of a retributive Governor of the world, he would not have shaken the city. The less the Prophet shows himself, the stronger his influence. The more simply he repeats the stern, plain, short message, the more likely it is to impress. God’s Word, faithfully set forth, will prove itself. The preacher or teacher of this day has substantially the same charge as Jonah had; and the more he suppresses himself, and becomes but a voice through which God speaks, the better for himself, his hearers, and his work.
Spurgeon:
2) The message was delivered by a man who didn't want to do anything but obey God. Jonah had no stake in getting these people saved. We'll see next that he indeed didn't want it to succeed. But Jonah had learned to obey. It didn't matter why or if he even understood it. He allowed God to work through him DESPITE his misgivings.
Jon 3:1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 Up! go to Nineveh, that great town, and give it the word which I have given you.
3 So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh as the Lord had said. Now Nineveh was a very great town, three days' journey from end to end.
4 And Jonah first of all went a day's journey into the town, and crying out said, In forty days destruction will overtake Nineveh.
5 And the people of Nineveh had belief in God; and a time was fixed for going without food, and they put on haircloth, from the greatest to the least.
6 And the word came to the king of Nineveh, and he got up from his seat of authority, and took off his robe, and covering himself with haircloth, took his seat in the dust.
7 And he had it given out in Nineveh, By the order of the king and his great men, no man or beast, herd or flock, is to have a taste of anything; let them have no food or water:
8 And let man and beast be covered with haircloth, and let them make strong prayers to God: and let everyone be turned from his evil way and the violent acts of their hands.
9 Who may say that God will not be turned, changing his purpose and turning away from his burning wrath, so that destruction may not overtake us?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAgOXPO-5Os
10 And God saw what they did, how they were turned from their evil way; and God's purpose was changed as to the evil which he said he would do to them, and he did it not.
(BBE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGNF8XEq18
Warren W. Wiersbe in Nelson's Quick Reference Chapter-by Chapter Bible Commentary:
"JONAH : How gracious God is to give us another opportunity after we have failed Him.
Ps 103:8 The Lord is kind and full of pity, not quickly made angry, but ever ready to have mercy.
9 His feeling will no longer be bitter; he will not keep his wrath for ever.
10 He has not given us the punishment for our sins, or the reward of our wrongdoing.
11 For as the heaven is high over the earth, so great is his mercy to his worshippers.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our sins from us.
13 As a father has pity on his children, so the Lord has pity on his worshippers.
14 For he has knowledge of our feeble frame; he sees that we are only dust.
(BBE)
"God is as much concerned with the worker as the work. He could have sent somebody else to preach to Nineveh, but Jonah would have missed out on the lessons he needed to learn. God wants to work in us as well as through us."
I suspect God was doing more than teaching Jonah a lesson when he gave him a death and rescue by fish or a capture and salvation by fish or time to think in Hell then get back to us in the fish .
He was showing His mercy to a man who wasn't willing to show mercy. He foreshadowed His Son: "Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Or, even more to the point:
Mt 5:43 ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Lu 6:27 ¶ But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Lu 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and [to] the evil.
J. Vernon MacGee on five of the main themes of the book:
SIGNIFICANT SUBJECTS:
1. This is the one book of the Old Testament that sets forth the Resurrection. Those who assert that the Resurrection is not found in the Old Testament surely are not versed in the magnificent message of Jonah. When a wicked and adulterous generation was seeking after a sign, Jesus referred them to the Book of Jonah for the message: “As Jonah…so Jesus” is the fine comparison made by our Lord.
2. Salvation is not by works. Salvation is by faith, which leads to repentance. The Book of Jonah is read by the Orthodox Jews on the Great Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). One great self-evident truth from the ritual of this day is that the way to God was not by “works of righteousness which we have done” (Titus 3:5), but by the blood of a substitutionary sacrifice provided by God. The most significant statement in the Book of Jonah is in 2:9 — “Salvation is of the LORD.”
3. God’s purpose of grace cannot be frustrated. If Jonah had refused to go to Nineveh the second time, would God have destroyed the city? God would not have been limited by Jonah’s refusal. He would have raised up another instrument, or, more likely, He would have had another fish ready to give Jonah the green light toward Nineveh. The book shows God’s determination to get His message of salvation to a people who will hear and accept it.
4. God will not cast us aside for faithlessness. When Jonah failed the first time, God did not give him up. The most encouraging words that a faltering and failing child of God can hear are, “And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time” (Jonah 3:1).
5. God is good and gracious. The most penetrating picture of God in the entire Bible is in Jonah 4:2. It is wrong to say that the Old Testament reveals a God of wrath and the New Testament reveals a God of love. He is no vengeful deity in the Book of Jonah.
Keeping the themes in mind, let's follow the man.
The man who came from a fish. Recall that legend. "Fish-cloaked." Only three days away, this man was spewed from a fish, out and walking in a fish cover. If he washed, there may well have been some, well, odor from the fish experience. Certainly if that large a fish beached in their territory, the Assyrians heard if it. Certainly if there were fishermen nearby, the story spread.
God used the legend to keep Jonah safe as he walked across the Assyrian land right to their capital. And safe there also. I recalls out study in John of how all then myths point to the true Christ and reminds us that Jonah is a Christ-type in that the power of God acting through him delivers a multitude. And a multitude of Gentiles at that.
The MacLaren's Expositions :
This passage falls into three parts: Jonah’s renewed commission and new obedience {Jonah 3:1 - Jonah 3:4}, the repentance of Nineveh {Jonah 3:5 - Jonah 3:9}, and the acceptance thereof by God {Jonah 3:10}. We might almost call these three the repentance of Jonah, of Nineveh, and of God. The evident intention of the narrative is to parallel the Ninevites turning from their sins, and God’s turning from His anger and purpose of destruction; and if the word ‘repentance’ is not applied to Jonah, his conduct sufficiently shows the thing.
Several commentaries suggest God "repents" in that he turns his wrath away. but please note God is the one that sets the condition of his relenting. It is as always in the Bible. He tells us the conditions we need to live under to establish a relationship with him and lets us know that the acceptance of Christ is that condition which spares us from his wrath. We must repent from our life, turn from our idols, our false gods toward God.
This is what Jonah calls them to do:
4 And Jonah first of all went a day's journey into the town, and crying out said, In forty days destruction will overtake Nineveh.
There's some discussion about the actual size of Nineveh and some more liberal commentaries suggest this huge size (three days journey) helps indicate Jonah is more likely a parable than an actual event while the Family Bible Notes seem to offer a fair example of the argument for a large city indeed:
Jonah 3:3
Of three days' journey; probably, three days' journey in circuit; for this agrees with the account of the ancient historians, who assign to Nineveh a circuit of 480 furlongs, and reckon 150 of these--about seventeen and a quarter English miles--as a day's journey. This was, moreover, the usual mode of estimating the size of cities. Nineveh, like Babylon, enclosed within its walls much cultivated ground.
In true believers, the sure fruit of affliction is obedience to God's word. Ps 119:67
Ps 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray; But now I observe thy word.
68 Thou art good, and doest good; Teach me thy statutes.
(ASV)
Notice some things:68 Thou art good, and doest good; Teach me thy statutes.
(ASV)
1) He gave the message God gave him. Nothing about God's goodness and greatness or power. Nothing about how God got him out of a fish or even how He put him in it. No hymns sung for a half hour before the speaker. No plea for money so he can keep getting his message out. No story about the healing coming if you just follow Jonah. No ticket sales. No tent. No chorus about revival in the land.
Maclaren again:
The word rendered ‘preach’ is instructive. It means ‘to cry’ and suggests the manner befitting those who bear God’s message. They should sound it out loudly, plainly, urgently, with earnestness and marks of emotion in their voice. Languid whispers will not wake sleepers. Unless the messenger is manifestly in earnest, the message will fall flat. Not with bated breath, as if ashamed of it; nor with hesitation, as if not quite sure of it; nor with coldness, as if it were of little urgency,-is God’s Word to be pealed in men’s ears. The preacher is a crier. The substance of his message, too, is set forth. ‘The preaching which I bid thee’-not his own imaginations, nor any fine things of his own spinning. Suppose Jonah had entertained the Ninevites with dissertations on the evidences of his prophetic authority, or submitted for their consideration a few thoughts tending to show the agreement of his message with their current opinions in religion, or an argument for the existence of a retributive Governor of the world, he would not have shaken the city. The less the Prophet shows himself, the stronger his influence. The more simply he repeats the stern, plain, short message, the more likely it is to impress. God’s Word, faithfully set forth, will prove itself. The preacher or teacher of this day has substantially the same charge as Jonah had; and the more he suppresses himself, and becomes but a voice through which God speaks, the better for himself, his hearers, and his work.
Spurgeon:
How startled must the people have been as they saw the strange, stern man, and heard his monotonous warning cry. The news ran through the city; and the people crowded to hear the terrible voice which declared to them their speedy doom.
Recall the disciples, Christ arisen, coached by Him, listening, told they would be empowered, waiting in a room, praying together, united in one thing: the decision to obey God no matter what. Recall a man named Peter who betrayed his Lord and ran away almost as Jonah had. Recall him rising before a crowd at Pentecost, tongues of fire descending filling believers with the Holy Spirit. A crowd filled with those peter must have at least hated not klong befofreA crowd prepared by stories of wonders of the risen Lord, of stories of dead relatives returned to preach the Gospel, of stories of the Lord going back to the Father. of rumors of miracles on the Feast Day.Peter spoke and everyone understood. Jonah spoke and everyone understood. Because the power of the Spirit lifted both voices, one to pierce a language barrier, another to pierce a culture barrier. Only this crowd was prepared by a story of a man spewed from a fish, like one of their demigods. Of a man risen from the dead and so seeming a god to them.
3) The people responded despite the messenger. A Hebrew whom they hated. Representing the Hebrew God who the Assyrians had come to fear though not know. It wasn't like they liked Jonah any more than he liked them. They kept hands off because of the signs. Recall we previously read that they believed in omens and an omen of a man from a fish HAD to be taken seriously. More, the Holy Spirit seems to have been prodding them all along. They knew their nation had become degenerate. They saw the way their children acted, the way sex and violence had come to dominate their own streets. the way their warlike living had come to make domestic life more intolerable. They may even have been searching their souls for the reason, for a way to turn from all the expense of warfare or even for an excuse to gouge their conquests even more. But this, this was God giving them notice. In 40 days, they would die. 40 is an interesting number in the Bible.
Mentioned 146 times in Scripture, the number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. During Moses' life he lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead his people out of slavery. Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights, on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1 - 28), receiving God's laws. He also sent spies, for forty days, to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).
The prophet Jonah powerfully warned ancient Nineveh, for forty days, that its destruction would come because of its many sins. The prophet Ezekiel laid on His right side for 40 days to symbolize Judah's sins (Ezekiel 4:6). Elijah went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb. Jesus was tempted by the devil not just three times, but MANY times during the 40 days and nights he fasted just before his ministry began. He also appeared to his disciples and others for 40 days after his resurrection from the dead.
The number forty can also represent a generation of man. Because of their sins after leaving Egypt, God swore that the generation of Israelites who leftEgyptian bondage would not enter their inheritance in Canaan (Deuteronomy 1). The children of Israel were punished by wandering the wilderness for 40 years before a new generation was allowed to possess the promised land. Jesus, just days before his crucifixion, prophesied the total destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:1 - 2, Mark 13:1 - 2). Forty years after his crucifixion in 30 A.D., the mighty Roman Empire destroyed the city and burned its beloved temple to the ground
4) They responded immediately. They didn't hesitate and dawdle for 39 days then rush to repentance. They didn't say. "We'll wait for more signs." They didn't act as if they were insulted that some foreign god dared mess in their affairs.
5) They made outward signs of repentance and genuinely repented in their hearts. This included even the king. Wesley:
V. 6. The king-Probably Phul Belochus.
Who we likely see in II Kings:
2Ki 15:17 In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria.
18 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin.
19 There came against the land Pul the king of Assyria; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
20 And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.
(ASV)
So, if the identification is correct, then God chose kindness to a king who chose to stay his hand, bribed or not, and spare Israel. A king who understood that this God did what he said. Phul used force to cow a king who dismissed the Lord and Phul knew he had been used to make the false king pay. Something must have clicked in his mind. If God had allowed such humiliation against a man who besmirched His name, God would surely destroy the king and kingdom who did the humiliating if it suited him.
A Matthew Henry summation:
The king set them a good example of humiliation, Jon 3:6. When he heard of the word of God sent to him he rose from his throne, as Eglon the king of Moab, who, when Ehud told him he had a message to him from God, rose up out of his seat. The king of Nineveh rose from his throne, not only in reverence to a word from God in general, but in fear of a word of wrath in particular, and in sorrow and shame for sin, by which he and his people had become obnoxious to his wrath. He rose from his royal throne, and laid aside his royal robe, the badge of his imperial dignity, as an acknowledgment that, having not used his power as he ought to have done for the restraining of violence and wrong, and the maintaining of right, he had forfeited his throne and robe to the justice of God, had rendered himself unworthy of the honour put upon him and the trust reposed in him as a king, and that it was just with God to take his kingdom from him. Even the king himself disdained not to put on the garb of a penitent, for he covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, in token of his humiliation for sin and his dread of divine vengeance. It well becomes the greatest of men to abase themselves before the great God.
A Matthew Henry summation:
The king set them a good example of humiliation, Jon 3:6. When he heard of the word of God sent to him he rose from his throne, as Eglon the king of Moab, who, when Ehud told him he had a message to him from God, rose up out of his seat. The king of Nineveh rose from his throne, not only in reverence to a word from God in general, but in fear of a word of wrath in particular, and in sorrow and shame for sin, by which he and his people had become obnoxious to his wrath. He rose from his royal throne, and laid aside his royal robe, the badge of his imperial dignity, as an acknowledgment that, having not used his power as he ought to have done for the restraining of violence and wrong, and the maintaining of right, he had forfeited his throne and robe to the justice of God, had rendered himself unworthy of the honour put upon him and the trust reposed in him as a king, and that it was just with God to take his kingdom from him. Even the king himself disdained not to put on the garb of a penitent, for he covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, in token of his humiliation for sin and his dread of divine vengeance. It well becomes the greatest of men to abase themselves before the great God.
And his example was followed by every living thing in the kingdom, man or beast. We need to realize, first, that the animals were accorded almost human status, something you see today in Hindu notions of reincarnation. After all, if everything is made up of god's being or fabric, then everything is answerable to him, including everything that has been placed under the king. And that we need to realize as well: People AND animals BELONGED to the king to be used as he saw fit. We seldom understand that in the USA. We are so concerned with freedom and individual rights, we never realize people in a kingdom especially in that era, were property to be done with as the king saw fit. It was easy for them to understand a God who would tell them what to do and how to do it, to obey out of fear for their lives. It was their WAY of life to exist in fear of the king-god.
So they took their concerns for the kingdom to their king and his response governed their own, This is why we see kings of Israel held to such a high standard of judgement by God. He realized the conditions of the kingdoms around them would make the people look to them for the proper response and, when they led the people astray. He chose instead to bend in humiliation to the Lord.
Then God does his part and responds as he promised. He spares Nineveh. For a time:
Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was destroyed in 612 B.C. by the Medes. This was in fulfillment of the prophet Nahum’s prediction that God would completely destroy the city (Nahum 1). A number of factors combine to determine both the date and manner of Nineveh’s destruction.
During the prophet Jonah’s day, Nineveh was spared by God’s compassion in response to their repentance (Jonah 3). This happened in 760 B.C.
The book of Nahum was written after the destruction of the Egyptian city of Thebes (Nahum 3:8). That event took place in 663 B.C. when it was conquered by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. Therefore, Nineveh was still standing at that time. There is some evidence that Nahum wrote shortly after the destruction of Thebes, because Judah was still under Assyrian control during the time of his writing. This was the situation during the reign of Manasseh (697-642 B.C.) but not during the reign of Josiah (640-609 B.C.). In addition, the city of Thebes returned to power in 654 B.C., meaning that Nahum likely wrote before then. So, Nahum can be dated between 663 and 654 B.C. Therefore, Nineveh must have been destroyed after 654 B.C. but no later than 612, when the Medes are mentioned as the conquerors of the city...
Based on this account, it is clear that the siege of Nineveh came at the hands of the king of Akkad and the king of Media during the summer of 612 B.C. Three months later, the city fell. The king of Assyria died, and the city was plundered until September 14 when the invading army departed. By 605 B.C. the Assyrian Kingdom officially ended, and Babylonia was on the rise.
Despite Nineveh’s great power, the city fell just as Nahum had prophesied. It would not be until the 1800s that archaeologists would excavate portions of the ancient city. Nineveh had indeed been “hidden,” as Nahum predicted long ago (Nahum 3:11).
http://www.gotquestions.org/Nineveh-destroyed.html
Which touches on a promise God gave to his people:
So they took their concerns for the kingdom to their king and his response governed their own, This is why we see kings of Israel held to such a high standard of judgement by God. He realized the conditions of the kingdoms around them would make the people look to them for the proper response and, when they led the people astray. He chose instead to bend in humiliation to the Lord.
Then God does his part and responds as he promised. He spares Nineveh. For a time:
Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was destroyed in 612 B.C. by the Medes. This was in fulfillment of the prophet Nahum’s prediction that God would completely destroy the city (Nahum 1). A number of factors combine to determine both the date and manner of Nineveh’s destruction.
During the prophet Jonah’s day, Nineveh was spared by God’s compassion in response to their repentance (Jonah 3). This happened in 760 B.C.
The book of Nahum was written after the destruction of the Egyptian city of Thebes (Nahum 3:8). That event took place in 663 B.C. when it was conquered by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. Therefore, Nineveh was still standing at that time. There is some evidence that Nahum wrote shortly after the destruction of Thebes, because Judah was still under Assyrian control during the time of his writing. This was the situation during the reign of Manasseh (697-642 B.C.) but not during the reign of Josiah (640-609 B.C.). In addition, the city of Thebes returned to power in 654 B.C., meaning that Nahum likely wrote before then. So, Nahum can be dated between 663 and 654 B.C. Therefore, Nineveh must have been destroyed after 654 B.C. but no later than 612, when the Medes are mentioned as the conquerors of the city...
Based on this account, it is clear that the siege of Nineveh came at the hands of the king of Akkad and the king of Media during the summer of 612 B.C. Three months later, the city fell. The king of Assyria died, and the city was plundered until September 14 when the invading army departed. By 605 B.C. the Assyrian Kingdom officially ended, and Babylonia was on the rise.
Despite Nineveh’s great power, the city fell just as Nahum had prophesied. It would not be until the 1800s that archaeologists would excavate portions of the ancient city. Nineveh had indeed been “hidden,” as Nahum predicted long ago (Nahum 3:11).
http://www.gotquestions.org/Nineveh-destroyed.html
Which touches on a promise God gave to his people:
Ex 20:5 You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship: for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honour to another; and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation of my haters;
6 And I will have mercy through a thousand generations on those who have love for me and keep my laws.
(BBE)
He spared the wrongdoing Assyrians due to their repentance for between three and four of the 40 year generations of the Bible. We mentioned he likely had several reasons, but the important one to us is He honors His word.
Which leads to a discussion of His mercy.
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