Nineveh

One of the most well-known books in the bible is the one of Jonah, The book is a great and inspirational story of how God calls on Jonah to go and preach to the Ninevites and warn them of the coming destruction. Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian empire whose notorious reputation was well known. Owing to the history of the Assyrian empire and Israel, Jonah didn’t want to warn them. His personal view was that they deserved everything coming to them. This leads Jonah to leave his home and travel

Jonah and Nineveh Last week, we discussed the moment that Jonah has had with God in the belly of a huge fish. This heartfelt prayer saved Jonah and reminded him who is boss! This week, we will pick up in Jonah chapter three. We will dive in and see what God wants us to see and hear. Literary Markers As stated above we pick up in Jonah chapter three. At this point, Jonah’s mission is renewed and we see further evidence that God and Jonah have made amends even though the disagreement between them

Lord at the bottom of the sea, Jonah obeyed the Lord. He walked into the gates of Nineveh and began his mission. The message Jonah was told to preach was that the city of Nineveh was doomed because “The Lord has seen their terrible sins.” (1:2) Jonah walked around for a day and told people that in 40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed.” (3:4). I can’t imagine the fear going through Jonah of how the people of Nineveh would react to this message. I can assume a large fear of rejection was on his mind

among the Jewish people cannot be understated and it is read every year “during the solemn hours of the Day of Atonement.” Its significance lies in its reference to the repentance of the people of Nineveh. Nineveh’s repentance in Jonah 3:5-10 highlights the poignant episode in the history of Nineveh where God sent Jonah to warn them of the impending disaster because of their wickedness. But before the city could be destroyed they repented and God showed them His grace and compassion. This period

of God. He was famous for going around, and telling people his word. And one day he was told by God “go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But like God said, Nineveh was a very wicked place, and Jonah didn’t want to go any were near it. So Jonah ran away, and got on a boat going to the furthest place from Nineveh, Tarshish. But while he was on the boat God got angry with Jonah and sent a great wind that threatened

The people simply humbled themselves before God and He had mercy on them cancelling His judgment. Jonah had wanted Nineveh to be destroyed by God and this would prolong the life of the kingdom of Israel. But instead he was the main source of them hearing the message of repentance. He had preferred to die instead of fulfilling his divinely appointed mission. Now he had no one to "blame" for Nineveh's survival except himself and God's mercy. This made Jonah so angry that he was inconsolable and wanted

oving forward to chapter three, God has now given Jonah a second chance to redeem himself. And the word of the lord came to Jonah a second time and commands him to “arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and proclaim the message that I tell you” What is interesting about this chapter in contrast to chapter one and two is that God doesn’t mention nor scorn Jonah about running way or being disobedient. It is as if He has open a new beginning or flip to unwritten pages. This is probably one of the best

God looks for a reason NOT to judge Nineveh. Jonah looks for a way NOT to see mercy and compassion come upon them. Jonah acts like a child throwing a temper tantrum because he is forced to share a toy with someone he didn’t like. He did not want to share. And for good reason! Nineveh was the capital city of an empire known as Assyria. Jonah didn’t like Assyria because Israel had experienced first-hand what Nahum called its endless cruelty (Nah 3:19). They certainly didn’t deserve God’s love. Jonah

his every command but His grace when they don’t. Disobedience was also another repeating theme. Jonah is instructed to go to the city of Nineveh, instead he flees to Tarshish. Jonah’s act of fleeing was rebellious and showed a lack of

Assignment 11 - Jonah and Nahum assignment Nineveh is described as a very large city (it took three days to go through it), the capital of the Gentile nation of Assyria; God calls it “the great city”. Jonah does not wish to go to Nineveh to preach repentance to the people- as God has commanded- because he is convicted that God will not carry out his threat to destroy the city and he doesn’t want to preach against them. In Jonah chapter one, the sailors learned that God does what he pleases; They