Michael-Grams: M-G: 12.18.19 // Some Observations in Jonah 3:5-10, Part 1 of 3

Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter

(Jon 3:5) So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

Believed

I think that this qualifies for salvation in the most unlikely of places – Assyria; it was time for undeserved forgiveness or judgment. Actually, anytime for anyone is undeserved forgiveness. We call it grace, mercy, and loving on the unlovely by Yahweh! The emphasis is on the verb here. Who would have ever made the connection between the Assyrians and believe? It was quite remarkable, but we worship and serve a remarkable God, yes!

Hobby Lobby Whale

This is the most important and instrumental, lifesaving response to Jonah’s message from Yahweh; for unbelief is the pathway to destruction (cf. Mt 7:13). Imagine entering into a polytheistic society and proclaiming a message from the one and only true God! “Wasn’t this the guy who took an uber whale and parked it on the beach? We thought he was from Dagon, but this guy not only looked scary; his message was scary.”

God

Notice the object of their new belief? God (Elohim). Consider what it doesn’t say, “They believed Jonah.” I yet fail to see the connection between Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown and Nineveh believed God unless more was said. Where do the literalists draw that conclusion from an exclusive burn message – they believed God? Jonah had to have mentioned Yahweh; you can’t have a “They believed in an unknown God!” Given the fact that Jesus cited their response at the preaching of Jonah as repenting is compelling that there was an expansion of the message (cf. Mt 12:41; Lk 11:32).

The belief was sharply focused on a transcendent God of gods amidst the backdrop of a polytheistic culture, not another “god” addition to their religion. It is even more amazing that Jonah had and held their attention. His message had a powerful ripple effect. We know it was the Holy Spirit who went before him.

Five to six years before Jonah was ever on Assyrian soil, Yahweh had started a bombardment campaign to soften up the enemy before the Jonah invasion; the Assyrians were entrenched in unbelief, lurking in the caverns of spiritual darkness. It started with a plague in 765 B.C. On June 15, 763 B.C., an ominous-looking solar eclipse occurred which was perceived as a bad omen. In the same year, there was a revolt that lingered on until 759 B.C when another plague struck Nineveh.1

By the time Jonah had literally landed on the beach in Assyria (Jon 2:10), he probably arrived at the tail end of the second plague. Yahweh called off the shelling, and the Holy Spirit preceded Jonah to Nineveh while Jonah was still making his way toward the capital city; he was physically a troop of one, but the power behind him was the Almighty. Something absolutely incredible was about to take place.

If truth be known, Jonah was completing his vow under some pressure for his attitude had not changed since taking off to Tarshish (cf. Jon 4:1). In that same year, Jonah entered Nineveh. The inhabitants were primed and ready to do something off the Assyrian charts, and ironically, much to the prophet’s chagrin, they were primed and ready to be receptive to repentance before Yahweh!

proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

Noticed that it was the people of Nineveh who proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the top of the rung to the bottom of the rung, regardless of social distinctions, before the king pitched in and issued a royal decree to his kingdom to reinforce and amplify the response of the people. He was sanctioning their actions to prevent any misguided repercussions by his underlings or opponents.

This was an opportune time for the king to support the people and help himself politically and from a perceptional point of view in the process. It is easy to see how the king could be motivated politically, merely going through the motions, but there is a latent possibility that he was sincere and concerned as his people.

Some believe it is possible that it was the king’s decree that initiated the fast and wearing of sackcloth, not the people. It seems more natural to think that it started with the people responding to Jonah’s message rather than waiting on the permission of the king for Jonah started the second phase of his mission: upon getting there, preach (Jon 3:2).

Fast…sackcloth

Visible acts of contrition: hunger, thirst, and uncomfortable from coarse and itchy fabric. Sackcloth is the penitence/mourning garb of choice; it is so fashionable at times like this, right? Okay, God knows the heart (Jer 17:9-10). But this was a cultural thing. Theoretically, it was a reflection of what was going on inside the heart, a symbol of their repentance. They were visibly taking Jonah’s words to heart.

After the last 6 years, they were about to fold under the pounding by Yahweh. After halting the bombardment, Yahweh put boots on the ground with a force of one, Jonah, to conduct a mop-up operation, preaching a “40 days and it’s over” campaign. The Assyrians can’t win for losing. Before feeling somewhat sorry for them, it is good to remind ourselves that these were the people who were notoriously brutal and merciless. God is showing mercy to the unmerciful. It is so predictably God (cf. Jon 4:2).

Their gods had not aided them in the past six years. The time was right to invade and shed some light on the darkness in this neck of the woods to address Assyrian depravity and its sins against the Creator God and humankind.

(Jon 3:6) Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

Notice the change of his vesture; he exchanged his royal robe for sackcloth and a golden throne for a pile of ashes or dust. For a king to descend to the level of his people in contrition was quite a thing to see. It is a sovereign head bowing in view of his people to a greater Sovereign beyond imagination in power and dignity. The yielding king was probably Ashur-dan III, 772-754 B.C. Note how Jonah referred to this monarch,

King of Nineveh

The title of an Assyrian king is found only here in Jonah. All other occurrences to Assyrian kings in Scripture are referred to as the king of Assyria (KJV, 83x; NKJV, 84x; NASB, 84), king of Nineveh (Jon 3:6, KJV, 1x; NKJV, 1x; NASB, 1x). The liberal mindset jumps all over this, “Folks, what we got here is a genuine, bonafide mistake in the Bible!” The southern response would be, “Yo, mama!”

Admittedly, the title assigned to the king is unusual, but it should not be automatically considered an error simply because of those who possess a low view of Scripture. I am of the belief that our view of God cannot be any loftier than our view of Scripture, but I am old school who still believes that the Word of God is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice (cf. Josh 24:15)!

Not surprisingly, the Bible critics are confident that this is a slam dunk, illustrating once again (they have never had a “once again”) that the Bible is not the infallible standard of ancient history as we contend; for them, the warning of Jonah to the Assyrians is nothing more than “pious fiction.”

Due to Hebraic usage, Jonah is not intentionally mistitling the king or being disrespectful as liberal interpreters claim. There are examples in the OT where a king is not referred to as a king of an empire but rather of a capital city. Archer Gleason cites Ahab as the king of Israel (the northern kingdom of Israel), but he is referred to as the king of Samaria (the capital city of Ahab’s realm, 1 Kgs 21:1). He also references Benhadad, the king of Syria (Aram), his royal title referred to as the capital city of his realm, king of Damascus (2 Chron 24:23).2 <><