Jonah Notes

Jonah

Message and Purpose. Jonah is the story of how God taught a lesson to a narrow-minded, sinful prophet. When Jonah refused to go preach in Nineveh and God retrieved him and mercifully delivered him, Jonah was thankful. But when Jonah preached in Nineveh and they repented and were mercifully spared, Jonah was angry, for which God taught him a lesson.

The Book of Jonah ends with an unanswered divine question regarding compassion, suggesting to the reader that Jonah repented and inviting the reader to do the same. Thus, Jonah’s overall purpose is to stir up compassion in God’s people. God is concerned for all human beings (John 1:7; 1 Tim. 2:1–6; 2 Pet. 3:9) and has the right to show mercy to whomever He wills (Exod. 33:19; Rom. 9:15).

Jonah Flees (1:1–16)

To avoid his divine assignment Jonah tried to get as far away from Nineveh as possible. Nineveh was about five hundred miles to the east, so he headed for Tarshish, probably what is now Spain, the farthest western location he knew, about two thousand miles. But God sent a storm and then a great fish to turn Jonah around. The sailors showed more compassion for Jonah than Jonah showed for Nineveh.

Jonah Prays (1:17–2:10)

Jonah, having been thrown overboard, thought his life was over. Suddenly he found himself alive inside a huge fish. The psalm of prayer Jonah uttered was an expression of thanks to God for saving his life. For his own deliverance Jonah was thankful, but Jonah would show a different attitude toward Nineveh’s deliverance. In view of his rebellion in chapter 1, his anger in chapter 4, and the pagan sailors’ response to God in 1:14–16, Jonah’s vow of thanks in 2:8–9 sounds rather self-serving. Also, there is no confession of sin or expression of repentance in Jonah’s prayer.

The “three days and three nights” of 1:17 alluded to the notion popular at that time that the journey to the land of the dead (sheol) took that long. So Jonah’s retrieval from the fish was like a retrieval from death (Matt. 12:39–40). The fish very likely dropped Jonah off at Joppa, where he had started.

Jonah Preaches (3:1–10)

Perhaps about a month later, Jonah arrived in the great city of Nineveh (“a very important city” is literally “a city great to God”). After Jonah preached for only a day rather than the expected three days, the people repented. The message God gave Jonah to preach did not explicitly call for their repentance. Rather, it told the Ninevites that they had angered Jonah’s God and that punishment was on the way. The Ninevites did not presume that God could be appeased but repented in humility, hoping that “God may yet relent” (3:9; see 1:6), which He did. That God’s judgment message was conditional is clear from His sending the prophet, giving them forty days’ warning, and postponing Nineveh’s destruction (see Jer. 18:7–10).

Jonah Fumes (4:1–11)

Jonah despised the Ninevites so much that he would rather die than live, knowing he helped them escape destruction. Still hoping God would give Nineveh what they deserved, Jonah waited and watched. Through the incident of the plant and the worm (sent by God like the wind and the fish in chap. 1), the Lord chided Jonah for his double standard. Jonah was concerned for the transitory plant that gave him shade but not for the 120,000 people of Nineveh who despite their limited knowledge had trusted God.

Theological and Ethical Significance. God is sovereign over the forces of nature and the affairs of men. God’s favor is always by grace; it is never deserved. His mercy is His to give, and without it we are all corrupt and deservedly condemned. Joy is the appropriate response when God lavishes His grace on the vilest of sinners who put their trust in Him (see Acts 10:34–35). God’s servants should value the human beings whom He created and seek their salvation. We should also acknowledge God’s authority to do what He pleases.

Nineveh

Introduction

Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire during a period of Assyrian dominance throughout the ancient Near East (ca. 703–612 bc). For this reason, it figures prominently in biblical literature. From the ninth century until Assyria’s fall to the Babylonians in 612 bc, Nineveh was an important Assyrian city.

The Bible frames Nineveh as a thoroughly evil city and an enemy of Israel. The book of Jonah describes Nineveh, its inhabitants, and its king as so evil that Yahweh threatens to completely destroy them if they do not repent. The Israelite prophet, Jonah, despises Nineveh and is disappointed when the people repent and Yahweh spares them. The book of Nahum describes Nineveh’s destruction at the hands of the Babylonians in graphic detail. It also describes Nineveh as a city of bloodshed.

The biblical authors of Jonah and Nahum believed that Nineveh was evil and deserved the punishment it finally received. This stance was a result of the historical situation of Assyrian dominance throughout Mesopotamia and Palestine. Both Israel (northern kingdom) and Judah (southern kingdom) were subject to Assyrian rule and experienced the harsh treatment with which Assyria maintained control.

History

The history of Nineveh spans from prehistoric times to its fall in 612 bc. Little is known about the site before the middle of the third millennium bc (circa 2400). Evidence from around this time demonstrates that Nineveh was becoming an important city for the worship of Ishtar, the Assyrian goddess of love and war. During this time period (the Old Assyrian period), Nineveh was a northern outpost under the control of the southern Akkadian kings. Manishtushu (circa 2269–2255 bc) commissioned the rebuilding of the temple to Ishtar at Nineveh. In an inscription, Shamshi-Adad I (circa 1813–1781 bc) mentions that he restored the temple that his predecessor, Manishtushu, had rebuilt.

Following the Old Assyrian period, Nineveh was politically overtaken by the kingdom of Mitanni; it changed hands again when the southern Assyrian city-state Asshur rose in prominence. During the Middle Assyrian period, Nineveh remained under the control of the Assyrian kings who commissioned building projects in the city and maintained the temple of Ishtar (see Stronach and Lumsden, “UC Berkeley’s Excavations at Nineveh,” 233; Smith, Assyria from the Earliest Times, 21–73).

In the Neo-Assyrian period, Nineveh rose in prominence among the Assyrian cities. In this period, Nineveh, Ashur, and Calah (Nimrod) were the most important cities in the region. From the time of Ashurbanipal II (circa 883–859 bc) onward, the Assyrian kings developed and expanded the city. Sennacherib (704–681 bc) made Nineveh his capital and initiated a building project that included a new city plan in which streets and squares were laid out anew. The palace he built for himself bore the epithet “the palace without rival”—the floor plan of which was around 1,650 by 794 feet. The palace contained about 70 rooms.

In one room (room 36), excavators found a relief which boasted of Sennacherib’s defeat of the Judaean city, Lachish. Sennacherib spoke of his subsequent siege of Jerusalem during the time of Hezekiah (Russell, Sennacherib’s Palace, 78–92). Many other reliefs demonstrating Sennacherib’s military victories adorned the walls of the palace. The imposing reliefs depict military sieges, impaling of defeated peoples, Assyrian soldiers carrying off spoil, lion hunting, and other various other images that demonstrate Assyrian dominance.

In addition, Sennacherib created a complex of aqueducts leading to Nineveh to help maintain his gardens. One of Sennacherib’s successors, Ashurbanipal (circa 668–627 bc), created a library in the palace that contained around 22,000 cuneiform texts. Following the reign of Ashurbanipal, Assyrian hegemony in Mesopotamia and Palestine began to wane as Assyria sought to extend its political control into more distant territories. By the time Assyria fell to the Babylonians, Assyrian authority stretched south to Babylonia and west to Palestine and southwest to Egypt. The breadth of territory and the task of maintaining this territory probably overextended the military resources of the Assyrian Empire, allowing the Babylonians to arise as a prominent threat. Nineveh fell to a coalition of Babylonian and Mede forces in 612 bc. The Babylonians burned the palace that Sennacherib built and much of the city (Russell, Sennacherib’s Palace, 32–42).

Jonah

Understanding the historical background explains why the eighth century bc Israelite prophet Jonah would be reluctant to preach repentance to Nineveh. By the time Jonah was incorporated into the Old Testament canon, Nineveh epitomized a great and evil city. Jonah 3:3 describes Nineveh as “an exceedingly great city, three days journey in a breadth.” This description is probably an example of the exaggerated image Nineveh had become. Though Nineveh was a large city for its time, its circumference of 7.7 miles would not have taken three days to traverse. Understanding this historical background also emphasizes the miraculous nature of their repentance.

Nahum

Jonah provides the only biblical word of hope for the city of Nineveh. Yet, this hope is soon eclipsed by Nahum’s prophecy, which speaks in gory and metaphorical images about Nineveh’s fall. In Nahum, Yahweh leads the besieging army which is responsible for Nineveh’s demise. Nahum describes bodies piled high, glittering swords, and rushing chariots—images that mirror Assyrian reliefs. The majority of Nahum was probably written shortly after the fall of Nineveh; in this case, the prophet interprets Nineveh’s destruction at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians as Yahweh’s just judgment.

New Testament

In the New Testament, Nineveh’s miraculous repentance overshadows the gory description of the city’s destruction. For example, in Matt 12:41 and Luke 11:32, Jesus chastises the group around Him by saying, “The men of Nineveh will stand in judgment against the current generation because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, but now, one greater than Jonah is here” (NIV). The New Testament thus acknowledges Nineveh as a paradigm for repentance. It also depicts Jonah’s preaching repentance to the wicked is an analogy for Jesus’ ministry on earth.

For more information on scholarly debate surrounding the presentation of Nineveh in the Bible, see this article: Nineveh, Critical Issues.