Jonah 1.2b-The Lord Commands Jonah To Announce Judgment Against Nineveh Because Of Its Wickedness (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday December 7, 2025

Jonah Series: Jonah 1:2b-The Lord Commands Jonah To Announce Judgment Against Nineveh Because Of Its Wickedness

Lesson # 5

In Jonah 1:1, we have introduced to the reader the principal characters, namely, the Lord and Jonah who function in the narrative as protagonist and antagonist.

All the other human characters in the narrative are unnamed with the exception of course, of Jonah’s father, Amittai.

These unnamed characters are foils to emphasize the relationship between Jonah and the Lord.

Interestingly, the word of the Lord begins the narrative and ends it.

Therefore, the book of Jonah is concerned with the effects and consequences of the word of the Lord.

In Jonah 1:2a, we saw the Lord commanding Jonah to go immediately to the great city of Nineveh.

This journey from Gath-Hepher, Jonah’s hometown to Nineveh is approximately 650 miles east, which would be a rugged journey.

Now, in Jonah 1:2b, the Lord commands Jonah to announce judgment against the Ninevites because of their wickedness.

Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” (NIV84)

“Preach against it” in the Hebrew means “to announce judgment against” Nineveh referring to Jonah making a proclamation against the great city of Nineveh and its inhabitants.

He was to denounce it for its evil in the form of violence against other nations.

This proclamation consisted in the announcement of destruction of the city of Nineveh and its inhabitants within a space of forty days of this proclamation according to Jonah 3:4.

As Jonah knew full well, this proclamation of impending destruction of Nineveh and its inhabitants was designed by the Lord to elicit a response from the Ninevites, namely that they would repent.

“Preach against it” emphasizes with the reader that Yahweh is the Lord of all the nations and is sovereign over all the nations and holds them morally accountable.

The term “sovereignty” connotes a situation in which a person, from his innate dignity, exercises supreme power, with no areas of his province outside his jurisdiction.

As applied to God, the term “sovereignty” indicates His complete power over all of creation, so that He exercises His will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills.

Isaiah 40:15, “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.”

Isaiah 40:17, “All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.”

Psalm 66:7, “He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.”

This language in Jonah 1:2 is reminiscent of that which was used in Genesis of the wickedness of the cities of the plan that were destroyed by fire and brimstone in Genesis 18:20-21.

Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” (NIV84)

“Because its wickedness” presents the reason why the Lord is commanding Jonah to announce judgment against the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh.

It describes the Ninevites as not being morally good with the implication that their actions and way of life is harmful and detrimental to the rest of the human race, which interacts with them.

The New American Commentary: Amos, Obadiah, Jonah writes, “Archaeology confirms the biblical witness to the wickedness of the Assyrians. They were well known in the ancient world for brutality and cruelty. Ashurbanipal, the grandson of Sennacherib, was accustomed to tearing off the lips and hands of his victims. Tiglath-Pileser flayed victims alive and made great piles of their skulls. Jonah’s reluctance to travel to Nineveh may have been due to its infamous violence.” (Page 225)

James E. Smith writes, “The name Nineveh struck terror into the hearts of all those living in western Asia in this period. The Assyrian records bear testimony against them. This citation from the annals of Ashur-nasirpal II is typical. I stormed the mountain peaks and took them. In the midst of the mighty mountains I slaughtered them; with their blood I dyed the mountain red like wool. With the rest of them I darkened the gullies and precipices of the mountains. I carried off their spoil and their possessions. The heads of their warriors I cut off, and I formed them into a pillar over against their city; their young men and their maidens I burned in the fire! … I built a pillar over against the city gates, and I flayed all the chief men who had revolted, and I covered the pillar with their skins; some I walled up within the pillar, some I impaled upon the pillar on stakes, and others I bound to stakes round about the pillar.” (Old Testament Survey Series: The Minor Prophets)

The noun rā∙ʿā(h) describes the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh as conducting their lives independently of God as expressed in their brutality and immoral degeneracy.

Nineveh’s wickedness comprised, besides her idolatry, her inordinate pride (cp. Is. 10:5 19; 36:18 20), and her cruel oppression of the conquered nations in deporting the entire populace to distant lands (2 Kings 15:29; 17:6; Is. 36:16, 17), her inhuman warfare.

Nineveh had temples dedicated to the gods of Nabu, Asshur, and Adad and also worshipped Ishtar, a goddess of love and war.

The crimes of the Ninevites are condemned by the Lord through the prophet Nahum in Nahum chapter three.

“Has come up before Me” expresses the fact that a situation is extreme enough to gain the special attention of God and implies nothing about God’s relative cognitive abilities.

Yahweh thus announces to Jonah that his interest in the situation has been aroused to the point that he has chosen to do something about it. (Word Biblical Commentary, volume 31: Hosea-Jonah, page 449)

This expression indicates that the extreme wickedness of the Ninevites had reached the throne room of God in the sense that this evil had gotten His special attention.

The New American Commentary: Amos, Obadiah, Jonah has the following comment, “Many people in the world today ignore God and assume that he also ignores them. Many believe that God set the world into motion and allows it to continue along unnoticed. This text portrays God as one who notices, as a God who is active, and as a God who takes sin seriously.” (Pages 226)