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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
(Jon 3:2) Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
and preach to it the message that I tell you.
(Jon 3:3) So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh,
according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a
three-day journey in extent.
(Jon 3:4) And Jonah began to enter the city on the
first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall
be overthrown!
(Jon 3:5) So the people of Nineveh believed God….
____________
(Jon 3:2) Arise,
go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you
(cf. Jon 3:4).
In comparing the second commission with the first one,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out
against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me (Jon 1:2),
it
appears that Yahweh does not repeat the reason in the recommission; the message would be forthcoming. Prophets of God usually do not expand upon the message
of the LORD. Their job is to faithfully proclaim it and leave the results up to
Yahweh. The same Hebrew verb is used for both commissions but translated differently: cry out (Jon 1:2) and preach (Jon 1:3). Both are descriptive, perhaps to cover the nuance of the verb. This is a public proclamation that is demonstrative in
nature but not going through the normal channels of a private meeting with a dignitary
or the head of government first.
Some claim Jonah went through the protocols of an arrival
ceremony on day 1, down to business day 2, and a farewell ceremony on the third
day! Jonah, the prophet assigned to the northern kingdom of Israel, was
Yahweh’s emissary to Nineveh. There was no suggestion of any pomp and circumstance;
no diplomacy is seen. Day 1 reveals this (Jon 3:4). Jonah was already preaching in Nineveh before the king of Nineveh knew anything about it (cf. Jon 3:6). This could disprove my theory that witnesses on the beach that day got word back to the king of a messenger of Dagon. Then again, he had no idea when this messenger was going to appear in his city.
Arise, go to Nineveh
It is good to keep in mind that there is a significant difference between this
clause and the first one (Jon 1:2). Jonah is in Jerusalem with the initial
commission; here, he is somewhere near the coastline of Assyria as we discussed
earlier. We do not know if he experienced anything out of the ordinary prior to
the first commission, but we know a lot of extraordinary things had taken place
before the second commission in Assyria, Arise, go to Nineveh. Now Jonah is moving
forward with a new set of experiences that will give him the impetus to honor
his vow and see that the mission is completed (cf. Jon 2:9). He knows right
well that it doesn’t pay to disobey. He can look down at his skin and recall that truth!
The
travel distance is shorter thanks to the dead sperm whale beached back there on the shore. There was probably an indeterminate amount of time between being
disgorged by the whale and heading off to Nineveh. Obviously, he hadn’t eaten
since cruising in his organic sub, and he needed to clean up and get some sleep,
then off to Nineveh upon receiving his recommission.
(Jon 3:3) So
Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh
was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh
This
was what Yahweh wanted all along, for Jonah to go to Nineveh as he vowed to
do! Contrast arose
and went here
with arose
to flee (Jon
1:2-3). Looking at Jonah’s resume, we get the impression he was a faithful
prophet when God gave him commands that he liked (2 Kgs 14:25).
Concerning
the phrase, arose
to flee,
he wasn’t so faithful, and we know why; God wanted him to do something he
definitely was in disagreement over with Yahweh. On arose and went he was faithful this
time but not because he agreed with Yahweh; he still didn’t like this Nineveh
assignment at all, but between arose to flee and arose and went he learned that it doesn’t pay to disobey.
It is prudent for us to take note of what is going on with Jonah (cf. Rom
15:4), the northern kingdom, and the southern kingdom. Jonah, a prophet
to the northern kingdom, didn’t get it (where is the reward of doing God’s will
with a horrendous attitude of begrudging it?), and neither did the people whose
capital city was either in Samaria or Jerusalem (trading God for Baal and exchanging the will of God for
self-will).
How
about this? Jonah was finally doing the will of God in Nineveh and hating it!
The two kingdoms were not doing the will of God and loving it! Their religious
activities were merely ritualistic, going through the motions, with nothing real
about it.
The divided kingdoms were both guilty of syncretism including their worship of Yahweh with idols. What
part does Yahweh have with devils? This merger was egregious to the holiness of
God. I supposed Ex 20:2-5 was reinterpreted in the name of inclusivity or placed
on the back burner as a lesser priority. It is what false teachers do well; they twist the truth. the result is a pretzel theology and worldview.
Generally
speaking, all twelve tribes (10 in the north/2 in the south) had thrown
holiness out the window for idolatry. As one commentator pointed out that these
pagan peoples, namely, the Assyrians, were more responsive than the Jewish
nation itself to the word of the LORD!
Concerning
the truth that it doesn’t pay to disobey, during the eighth century B.C., the
northern kingdom was going to painfully discover that due to their continued
failures to repent from their wicked lifestyle, that Yahweh will bring
destruction upon their head by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. True to form, the
southern kingdom will fare no better than the Samarians. Their obstinacy and
hardheartedness lingered still and led Yahweh to inflict a series of blows
thrice upon them to understand that it doesn’t pay to disobey Him! They probably felt the kingdom of Israel deserved it for mingling with the nations. Obviously, Judah didn't learn anything either until it was too late.
They
were besieged twice by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 605 and 597 B.C.
The third Babylonian invasion under Neb was the coup de grâce; Jerusalem was
razed in 586 B.C. According to Charles Spurgeon, “Faith and obedience are bound
up in the same bundles. He who obeys God, trusts God, and he who trusts God,
obeys God.” Trust and obey keep the sword away.
according to the word (LXX, logos) of the LORD
As
simple as this may sound, this is another way of saying, “according to the will
of God.” God’s will is always according to His Word, and His Word is always
according to His will. This is how important the Word or the Bible is to our
lives. It has been this way since the ancients (inspiration starting with the
book of Job, considered the oldest book in the Bible); it is a transcendent
thing. This is so fundamental to living out our faith in Jesus Christ on a
daily basis.
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day
journey in extent.
One
of the things liberal archaeologists love to do is to throw digs at the
Bible whenever it collides with their opinions! The Nineveh ruins, surrounded by
modern-day Mosul, Iraq is no exception. There is no little controversy over
this statement in Jon 3:3b.
To
date, the Bible is batting a thousand concerning people, places, and things.
Can you imagine how many secular archaeologists want to be the first to
disprove the Bible categorically? That is Satan’s objective, too. Find an
error, capitalize on it, and create doubt. That seed would germinate faster
than anything known on earth, faster than gossip, how to make money, or a joke.
The challenges to archaeology are verifiability. For the most part, those quoting ancient writers had
only secondhand information. From the biblical record, we have a unique perspective
over archaeologists who do not avail themselves of the biblical text for
whatever reason. Since all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16), Yahweh is an
eye-witness to all the facts, known and not known. The biblical text may not
contain all the data to our liking, but whenever it speaks of people, places,
or things, it is precise and factual.
a
three-day journey
The
reference to Nineveh as a three-day journey refers to the size of the city but it doesn’t
necessarily demand Jonah to make that journey physically in three days.
Goodness, the zigzagging and non-walking conversations would alone make that
very challenging even for an Olympic athlete and keeping his message brief. If
the arbitrary metric of walking distance is 15 to 20 miles a day, this would
mean that the city was at least 45 miles minimum, some hold this as its
circumference. During Jonah’s time, Nineveh was a very sizeable city, if not
the largest city in the world. This would include Nineveh proper (the walled
section) and the expansive surrounding territory and villages.
It
appears that this proclamation by Jonah had spread like a wildfire (cf. word came to the king, Jon 3:6); it is
unclear if Jonah ever spoke to the king personally, which debunks the protocols
of visiting dignitaries. Jonah’s appearance in Nineveh was an act of grace and
mercy on Yahweh’s part; He did not have to send His prophet to provide them
with a heads-up. <><
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| To Part 2 |
