Jonah 3.10-God Does Not Destroy Nineveh Because The Ninevites Repented Of Their Wicked Behavior
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 23, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 3:10-God Does Not Destroy Nineveh Because The Ninevites Repented Of Their Wicked Behavior
Lesson # 47
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 3:1.
This evening, we will complete our study of chapter three by noting verse 10, which records that when God saw the actions of the Ninevites and that they repented from their wicked behavior, He relented concerning the judgment He threatened them with.
Jonah 3:1, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.’ 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. 4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ 5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. 7 He issued a proclamation and it said, ‘In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8 But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9 Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.’ 10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” (NASU)
“God” is the articular masculine plural form of the noun ʾělō∙hîm (אֱלֹהִים) (el-o-heem), which emphasizes the transcendent character of God and in particular His attributes of omnipotence, sovereignty and love.
The word refers to the Lord’s complete sovereign power over the city of Nineveh in that He could relent from destroying the city if He wanted to or not.
The narrator uses ělō∙hîm rather than Yahweh since he wants to emphasize that the Ninevites who were Gentiles were not members of the covenant nation of Israel.
“Saw” is the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb rā∙ʾā(h) (רָאָה) (raw-aw), which means “to observe,” i.e. watch carefully especially with attention to behavior for the purpose of arriving at a judgment.
This indicates that God watched carefully with attention, the behavior of the Ninevites in order to determine if He would carry out His threat to destroy the city.
“Their deeds” refers to the Ninevites turning from their evil way of living, which is indicated by the epexegetical clause that follows “that they turned from their wicked way.”
Notice that the narrator does not mention any of the other actions that the Ninevites performed as recorded in Jonah 3:5-8.
There is no mention of the fast, the putting on of sackcloth or crying out earnestly to God for mercy and forgiveness.
The reason this is the case is that God is more concerned about the Ninevites obeying Him, which demonstrates their faith in Him.
Not only as it relates to Him but also with others.
He is more concerned about their behavior with each other and their fellow human beings from other nations than with their sacrifices, which He in fact did not call for.
Fasting was a self-imposed sacrifice as well as the putting on of sackcloth.
However, God is more concerned about obedience than sacrifice since sacrifice without obedience to Him is meaningless.
He takes no pleasure in sacrifices when there is no obedience to Him.
This is what the prophet Samuel taught king Saul after his disobedience.
1 Samuel 15:22, “Then Samuel said, ‘Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as he does in obedience? Certainly, obedience is better than sacrifice; paying attention is better than the fat of rams.’” (NET)
Jonah 3:10, “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” (NASU)
“That they turned from their wicked way” is an epexegetical clause that identifies for the reader the specific actions of the Ninevites that caused God to relent from destroying them.
“They turned” is the third person plural qal active perfect form of the šûḇ (שׁוּב) (shoob), which means “to turn,” i.e. to repent, to change one’s behavior, to change the manner in which one lives his or her life.
This indicates that the Ninevites “turned” from their wicked behavior and obeyed God’s law, i.e. Ten Commandments, which is inherent in them (Romans 2:14-15).
“Their wicked way” describes the Ninevites’ conduct in relation to each other and other nations 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.
It describes the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh as conducting their lives independently of God as expressed in their brutality and immoral degeneracy.
“Relented” is the third person masculine singular niphal passive imperfect form of the verb nā∙ḥǎm (נָחַם) (naw-kham), which means “to relent” in the sense of ceasing from taking a particular course of action, usually with emphasis upon a gracious act.
The verb refers to God graciously not acting upon His decision to overturn Nineveh at the end of forty days as a result of observing the Ninevites turning from their evil way of living.
“Concerning the calamity” refers to the execution of divine judgment against the Ninevites.
“He had declared” is composed of the third person masculine singular piel active perfect form of the verb dā∙ḇǎr (דָּבַר) (daw-bar), which means “to threaten” in the sense of announcing something as intended.
Here is refers to God “threatening” to overturn Nineveh at the end of forty days.
The announcement that God proclaimed through Jonah that He was going to overturn the city of Nineveh at the end of forty days was a warning in the sense that it was an announcement of judgment that was conditional rather than an unconditional decree of God.
It is therefore not a prophecy or a decree since the forty days obviously implies to the Ninevites that the Lord wants them to repent since He could have destroyed them immediately without warning.
The forty days leaves room open for repentance.
This is also indicated by the fact that the verb hā∙p̄ǎḵ, “will be overturned” is ambiguous since it can signify “judgment, a turning upside down, a reversal, a change, a deposing of royalty, or a change of heart.”
“He would bring” refers to God overturning Nineveh at the end of forty days.
Jonah 3:10, “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” (NASU)
“And He did not do it” is an emphatic clause that emphasizes that God did not carry out the judgment He had threatened against Nineveh.
Some contend that the Ninevites did not exercise saving faith.
However, the Scriptures make clear that they were saved through their faith, which was manifested by their repentant conduct.
That the Ninevites’ faith in God was a “saving” faith or a faith that delivered them from eternal condemnation is indicated by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 12:41.
The Lord’s comments, the people of Nineveh will in fact stand up at the judgment and condemn those Jews who rejected Him during His First Advent since they repented when Jonah preached to them.
They repented in the sense that they trusted in the message that the Lord conveyed to them through the prophet Jonah.
Further indicating that the Ninevites exercised saving faith in the Son of God, Yahweh is that the Lord would not have relented and withheld judgment if the Ninevites had not acted in faith.
Since the First Advent of Christ, the object of saving faith is the Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies of a Savior for not only Israel but the entire world.
He was the object of faith in the Old Testament since He is the Yahweh and ělō∙hîm of the Old Testament.
He is the object of faith to be delivered from eternal condemnation and receive justification during the church age and the dispensations to follow right up to the end of human history.
Jonah 3:10 also demonstrates how awesome God’s love is in that He saved wicked sinners who had absolutely no merit with Him whatsoever.