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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
If
you recall, Jonah’s core message that was to be delivered to Nineveh was this,
Yet
forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown (Jon 3:4b)!
You
will find various interpretations on this phrase, Yet forty days: in forty days, within
forty days, at the end of forty days, forty more days, forty days from now.
This time frame is familiar (Deut 9:18, 25).
It
is interesting to see conservative scholars interpreting some of the details
differently. There are two major schools of thought on how much time was spent
in Nineveh by Jonah to preach Yahweh’s message. Both schools maintain that
Jonah started preaching the moment he hit the city limits, the outlying suburbs
surrounding the walled-portion of Nineveh proper, but one school holds to the
idea that Jonah only preached for three days and left the city and positioned
himself east of the city to see what would happen 37 days later.
Another school believes Jonah left the city after forty days which better
explains the correlation between Jonah 3:10 and Jonah 4:1-5. They insist that Yahweh
would not have declared His intent until the end of the fortieth day; I concur
with that opinion.
Even
though Yahweh knew what would happen in His foreknowledge, He kept the window
open according to His message from Jonah. Why would Jonah be displeased exceedingly and become angry (Jon 4:1), knowing that
the window was open for another 37 days? This anger fully developed after the
forty days had expired, and there was an assumption of Jon 3:10 (Jonah’s fear,
Jon 4:2) taking place at the very end of day-40 or early on the 41st
day. His anger would have been premature if he had left the city after three days.
Did
Yahweh personally share His intentions with Jonah (Jon 3:10)? There is no record of
it. But Jonah could see repenting going on among the people all throughout the
forty days but could not discern if they were going through the motions or genuine in their sorrow. The forty days had expired, and he was still in Nineveh.
The reason
Jonah had no fear of perishing with the inhabitants of Nineveh was because he
knew that God would not kill His prophet along with the wicked, and he continued
there because he had not received orders to leave Nineveh, though day-40 had expired. He did not want to be guilty of another desertion; the first one was traumatic enough! Jonah had seen after
day forty that the people were still alive, rejoicing that they had not perished.
Knowing who Yahweh is (Jon 4:2), Jonah needed no further evidence to conclude that
Yahweh relented from doing harm. This would bring us naturally to
Jonah 4:1,
But
it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
Actually,
I can see both views. Both schools cannot be right in their assessment, however.
The incorrect view doesn’t make that school guilty of heresy for there are no
major doctrines involved, only minor details on timing and differences of
opinion of how it all went down with Jonah’s visit in Nineveh. I have seen both
sides and lean more towards Jonah being in Nineveh for forty days. Now, if we
want to talk about heresy, there is a third school of thought that claims none
of this ever happened; the contention is that it is a fable, and
the minute details are inconsequential and a waste of mental energy.
Nineveh
shall be overthrown
It
doesn’t take much imagination to understand this. Depending on how the
Ninevites understood yet forty days and they would be destroyed. God didn’t need forty days to
make a decision; this was the window given for the Assyrians to consider their wicked
ways. That’s a long time to be in a pressure cooker, but they took themselves
there with their wicked machinations; forty days in a pressure cooker is far better than God nuking the place without warning and cooking in hell for eternity.
He
could have done that and still have been just and right in His actions towards
their wickedness. God in His omniscience and wisdom knew this was an appropriate
and fair amount of time before judgment. We know why Jonah was concerned Yahweh
might possibly relent from doing harm because he knew Him (Jon 4:2); bluntly
speaking, he wanted them all dead. This provides us with some rich insight into
Jonah’s faith, but we also see the coldness of his heart. No spring yields both
fresh and saltwater or hot and cold.
The
content of the preach to it [Nineveh] the message that I tell you (Jon 3:2) is terse – Yet forty days, and Nineveh
shall be overthrown (Jon 3:4b). This generated several questions for me. The one I struggled
with the most was how did the Ninevites connect this strictly burn message with
belief in Yahweh, So the people of Nineveh believed God (Jon 3:5) if there was
no more given than that?
Some
assert this was not a message of repentance only a judgment to come in forty
days. Based on the biblical data, it is difficult to argue against that. There
has to be some kind of connection in order to process that, however. The only thing we have on record is that they didn’t know what to do other than continue with their mourning and doing what the king had declared,
(Jon
3:8) But
let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let
every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands [emphasis mine].
(Jon
3:9) Who
can tell
if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so
that we may not perish [emphasis mine]?
Now
what I find very interesting is that the connection may be found in the king’s
decree – let
everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
Imagine
if our only message to a wicked world today was – “You will go to hell when you
die.” No more or no less is given. Are we expecting the Holy Spirit to fill in the blanks on what to do to live? We know there is more to the gospel
message than that. What are they supposed to do with that terse message?
In
Jonah’s message, it may have been simply that “in forty days you will die” and
that’s it. After further consideration, I think it was limited to a burn-message because of what the king said above. Consider his words.
1.
There was an innate sense of good and evil, and of peace and violence. These
are moral values that were understood in society. Their polytheistic culture
had them obsessing over death and cruelty to others. It wasn’t normal, and it
was abhorrent and contrary to other civilized societies. They took the initiative
based on Jonah’s message and humbled themselves and begged for mercy.
2.
For forty days they were clueless if they would perish or not.
3.
There was a strong sense of foreboding that people were gripped in the horror of
possible doom.
How
this translated into salvation given the context as we know it is beyond me but as Abraham
believed Yahweh, so the people of Nineveh believed God, and Yahweh accounted it
to Abraham and to those people of Nineveh who truly believed for righteousness (Gn 15:6). You could
interpret this as delaying the inevitable for in the end, they would all die
because of their sin.
However,
that is too stringent and self-righteous. Though Jesus didn’t come right out
and say that Jonah’s message was a message of repentance, their actions
indicated they repented because of Jonah’s message – they repented at the
preaching of Jonah (Mt 12:41), and why did they do it? The people of Nineveh believed God (Jon 3:5).
Then
God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented
from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do
it (Jon
3:10).
They were already acting on their beliefs. This
is most compelling because He who knows the heart searches the heart and tests
the mind to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of
his doings (Jer 17:10). Something took place within the hearts of those who embraced
God’s message to the inhabitants of Nineveh through Jonah.
So,
in some sense, it is proper to say Jonah was the only prophet in the Old
Testament to preach on foreign soil a message that led to repentance. The only
thing he prophesied was – Yet forty days, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown! Do we go technical on a prophet of God and call him a
false prophet because his only “prophecy” in the matter did not come to
fruition?
The difference between a true and false prophet is that a true
prophet’s predictions are right 100% of the time.
For those who believed (God
knows the hearts), in some sense, the Nineveh of old was overthrown in their
lives. It was time to live out a new Nineveh; it didn’t mean the Assyrian empire had changed; it didn’t, but for those that day who took Jonah’s message to heart, it did. How their lives ended up only God knows.
The
people had no idea if they would die or not for forty days – who can tell (Jon
3:9)? Jonah had no idea what God would do until the forty days expired. Getting
angry prior to knowing for sure would be senseless. Day 41 was proof (cf. Jon
4:1). For us, who place our faith in God, we do not have to wait until our days
are expired to know our eternal destiny. I love the words of the Apostle John,
But these
are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that believing you may have life in His name (20:31).
These things
I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you
may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of
God (1 Jn 5:13, emphasis mine).
Who
can tell?
We can know by placing our faith in Jesus Christ! <><
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