JONAH 4:9-11 - GOD SPARED THE CITY FOR WHICH JONAH HAD NO PITY

JONAH 4:9-11

GOD SPARED THE CITY

FOR WHICH JONAH HAD NO PITY

Jonah 4:9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

Susie: God asked Jonah if he had good reason to be so concerned and angry about the demise of the plant.

Susan: I thought I could be an osmium head at times, I regret to admit; but Jonah makes me seem like a cream-puff when it comes to being hard-headed and ridiculously obstinate. Jonah defended his stance of anger against the worm who ate the plant to the point of stupidity, saying he was so angry he could die.

Susie: Ultimately, Jonah is angry that God was merciful to the Ninevites, angry that God chose to kill the plant He sent to shade Jonah, angry that God included Gentiles in His mercy. Like many Israelites, Jonah viewed the Jews as an exclusive group who alone deserved the mercy of God rather than a group that was supposed to be God’s light to the world. God’s promise to Abraham was that ALL nations would be blessed. We know that “seed” in the verse below refers not only to Abraham’s offspring but particularly to Jesus the Messiah, but this promise does indicate that God was not planning to be the God of Israel exclusively:

Genesis 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

Jonah 4:10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

Susie: Jonah did not plant the shade plant nor did he water it. It just “appeared” overnight.

Susan: God provided the shade plant, controlled its growth to spring up overnight, and orchestrated its withering by sending the worm.

Susie: Jonah was angry about the death of a single plant, but showed no concern for the souls living in Nineveh.

Susan: I think Jonah needed King David to come and play the harp for him and sooth his fiercely angry soul.

Susie: Perhaps Jonah was a bit loony like King Saul. God chooses to use all kinds of people, and he used Jonah’s story to teach us about the grace God extends even to disobedient people and especially to those who do not yet know Him.

Jonah 4:11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

Susie: Jonah did nothing to create the plant yet felt it should have been spared. God created the people of Nineveh and in His sovereignty allowed it to become a great city. Therefore, He had the right and the incentive to spare them when they repented. What about the 120,000 people who did not know their right hand from their left? What does that mean?

Susan: One point of view, is that this indicates that the Ninevites were like children, not knowing right from wrong, because they had received no instruction in regards to the Law given to Moses or the nature and character of the Israelites’ God.

Susie: Others interpret this as meaning that there were 120,000 children under the age of knowing their right hand from their left, in other words, children under the age of about four years. Either way, God is indicating that He spared Nineveh, in part, because He did not want innocents to be slaughtered.

Susan: Animals can no more discern right from wrong than an infant. They are innocent of wrong-doing and did not deserve to die.

Susie: What ever became of Jonah after this? The Bible does not tell us. We will have to wait until Heaven to find out! Talk about a man who can share a fish story!

QUESTIONS

1.        Jonah was so angry he could _____.

2.        Was Israel supposed to hog God’s mercy for themselves? Use scripture to back up your answer.

3.        What did Jonah care about more than he cared about the Ninevites?

4.        What are two explanations of “persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand?”

JONAH 4:7-8 - SHADE PLANT DIED: JONAH CRIED

JONAH 4:7-8

SHADE PLANT DIED:

JONAH CRIED

Jonah 4:7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

Susan: Earlier the Lord prepared a humongous fish to save Jonah from the raging sea. Now He sends a lowly worm to gnaw at the plant until it shrivels up and dies.

Susie: God’s sovereignty runs the gamut of the animal kingdom. He controls the entire world. Jonah himself said, “I fear Adonai, the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land,” (Jonah 1:9b).

Psalm 104:13-14 He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth

Jonah 4:8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

Susie: The region where Nineveh was located was known for fearsome, hot winds called siroccos. The omnipotent (all-powerful) God brought that wind out of His storehouse and pointed it directly at Jonah’s meager shelter, now without the added protection of the plant. Jonah became faint and wanted to die.

Jeremiah 10:13 (NIV) When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Susan: Jonah is quite dramatic. I think he may have been going through male menopause. Once again Jonah thought he would be better off dead. Jonah really put God’s patience and His ability to contain His anger to the test!

Susie: I am afraid I have been like Jonah at various stages in my life. Praise the Lord for His mercy and grace! In our next lesson, we will see God’s explanation of the plant illustration.

QUESTIONS

1.        How did God cause the plant to die?

2.        What force of nature did God use next to get Jonah’s attention?

3.        What did Jonah wish in verse 8?

4.        Did God grant Jonah’s wish this time?

5.        Have you ever had a time that in retrospect you were glad God did not give you what you asked for?

JONAH 4:4-6 - JONAH DESIRED DESTRUCTION BUT NEEDED THE LORD’S INSTRUCTION

JONAH 4:4-6

JONAH DESIRED DESTRUCTION

BUT NEEDED THE LORD’S INSTRUCTION

Jonah 4:4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?

Susie: The Lord asked Jonah if it was a good thing for him to be angry. Notice that Jonah did not answer the Lord.

Susan: God was asking, “How is being angry working for you, Jonah?” It is not good for anyone to be in this type of unjust anger. He was not capable of cohesive, rational thought because he was ablaze with this anger and it consumed him.

Susie: Jonah stomped off like a pouting child.

Asbury Bible Commentary

Jonah was angry because his prejudice toward the Ninevites as a people was deep seated. He did not want them to repent and change their evil ways. He wanted them dead, period. That was not right, and the Lord wanted Jonah to see his sin.

Susie: The entire article from the Asbury Bible Commentary may be found here:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah+4%3A11&version=AMPC

Jonah 4:5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

Susie: Jonah headed east which was the opposite direction from his home in Israel. He found a spot and built a temporary shelter from the hot sun.

Susan: Jonah still harbored a sliver of hope, an insatiable desire, that God would utterly destroy Nineveh, and he wanted a ring-side seat to watch its fall. However, as a prophet, Jonah knew that God overflowed with mercy, grace, and forgiveness for anyone who was truly repentant, but he did not want to admit it to himself at the moment. Jonah did not want God to extend mercy and grace to anyone but the Israelites.  

Jonah 4:6 And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

Susie: God set up the illustration He was using to teach Jonah about his unmerciful attitude. He caused a plant to rapidly grow up over Jonah’s shelter in order to provide more shade from the sweltering heat.

Susan: God continued to extend grace overwhelmingly to Jonah even though Jonah demonstrated an exceedingly unacceptable  attitude toward God and His sovereign decision to spare Nineveh.

Susie: Part one of the lesson was that God still gave grace to Jonah. The last few verses of the book of Jonah deal with God’s continued lessons to Jonah using the plant.

QUESTIONS

1.        God confronted Jonah about his anger. Has the Lord ever confronted you about an attitude either by the Holy Spirit’s prompting within you, a particular scripture verse jumping out at you, or a brother or sister speaking the truth in love? Write about that experience and thank the Lord for His correction.

2.        Why did Jonah hang around instead of going home to Israel?

3.        Why did God cause a plant to grow up overnight?

4.        Do you think Jonah realized the super plant was a gift from God? Why or why not?

JONAH 4:1-3 - JONAH DESPAIRED BECAUSE NINEVEH WAS SPARED

JONAH 4:1-3

JONAH DESPAIRED

BECAUSE NINEVEH WAS SPARED

Jonah 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

Susie: Why was Jonah excessively angry?

Susan: Jonah was seething with anger because God forgave the Ninevites, the arch enemy of the Israelites, His people, the crown jewel of His heart.

Jonah 4:2 And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore, I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

Susie: Jonah prayed, but it was more like he yelled at God! It was the Lord’s actions that upset him, and he had the audacity to be angry with God. In fact, The Message paraphrase renders Jonah’s prayer like this:

Jonah 4:2 (MSG) He yelled at God, “God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!

Susan: Jonah displayed the height of arrogance in his prayer. Back in the belly of the smelly fish, Jonah hoped and prayed he would receive mercy and grace from God. However, he now admitted that he did not want the evil-doers of Nineveh to have that same opportunity to repent and receive mercy extended to them. Jonah was so mad I’m surprised God did not see smoke wafting out of his every orifice!

Susie: In fact, in his anger he got very real with the Lord and admitted the reason he ran away to Tarshish in the first place—to avoid giving the Ninevites God’s message because he was afraid they would repent and God would not destroy them.

Susan: Jonah did not believe the fierce enemies of Israel deserved the opportunity for repentance. He was putting himself in the place of God, as if Jonah had the authority to decide who deserved mercy and who did not, a right reserved for God and God alone.

Susie: Jonah reveals that he had a clear understanding of the nature of his God. However, he did not seem to think God should display these same attributes with Gentiles.

Susan: God, in His very essence, is love.

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Susan: He restrains His anger rather than squashing us like bugs or vaporizing us the first time we disobey. Praise the Lord!

Susie: Even when God is angry, He is righteous and just:

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV) Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Susan: God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness extend to all who believe and trust in Him, Jew or Gentile, man or woman, slave or free.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Susie: Yes, in chapter three, we saw that the Ninevites believed God. It does not say they believed Jonah but that they discerned that God’s words through Jonah were true. They demonstrated their belief by outward acts that represented their inward repentance.

Susan: The Ninevites’ acts of contrition demonstrated a change of heart towards the one, true God. God responded to their repentance with mercy and grace.

Susie: The psalmist expressed God’s gracious, merciful, forgiving nature well:

Psalm 103:8-14 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

Jonah 4:3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Susan: God had delivered Jonah from death by providing the two-ton fish to swallow him and then spew him out on the shore. Jonah repented and did what God had asked him to do in the first place. Why on earth would Jonah ask God to kill him now? It makes my head go tilt because it is ten ways of wrong.

Susie: I believe Jonah would rather die than see his enemies forgiven. He was rooting for their demise.

Susan: It seems the Ninevites truly had a heart adjustment and that Jonah was in need of a heart tune-up himself.

Susie: In the next lesson, we will see God begin to illustrate for Jonah how absolutely absurd his attitude really was.

QUESTIONS

1.        Why was Jonah so angry?

2.        Why had Jonah fled toward Tarshish?

3.        What do we learn about the nature of God from Jonah’s prayer/rant?

4.        What right was Jonah trying to usurp from God?

5.        Jonah did not approve of God’s mercy to the Ninevite Gentiles. List at least 2 scripture verses that show that Gentiles are included in God’s grace.

      6.   In verse 3, what does Jonah ask God to               do? Did God honor his request?

JONAH 3:7-10 - THE NINEVITES REPENTED AND GOD RELENTED

JONAH 3:7-10

THE NINEVITES REPENTED

AND GOD RELENTED

Jonah 3:7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

Susie: When the news of Jonah’s prophecy reached the ears of the king, he not only replaced his own robe with sackcloth, but made an official decree that all of Nineveh repent as well.

Susan: The king and his nobles declared no water or food of any measure was to be eaten by any individual or even given to their animals. The intended duration of this extreme fast is not recorded in scripture.

Susie: Fasting as a sign of repentance and intense prayer was common among many people groups, but imposing a fast on the animals was a drastic measure. It became a custom in Persia to include domestic animals in mourning and repentance rituals. In this instance it showed the sincere seriousness of the king’s repentance.

Jonah 3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

Susan: The inhabitants of Nineveh covered themselves with sackcloth and ashes right down to their livestock. The king commanded the people to cry out to the God of Jonah, the one, true God.

Susie: Their intense prayer was not only for deliverance but was to be a confession and repentance of their sin. The king specifically mentioned repenting of “violence” which was the most well-known and prevalent sin of Ninevites as a people group.

Jonah 3:9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

Susan: The king’s reasoning was that if the people truly, sincerely repented, Jonah’s God might relent and spare the city and its residents.

Susie: As noted above, there is no recorded message of Jonah even insinuating that there was a chance for mercy. However, the king may have been familiar with the God of the Jews, to know that He was merciful. Also, most pagan religions had deities that could be appeased to prevent them from harming the people. The king surmised that it couldn’t hurt and certainly might help if they changed their evil ways.

Susan: Appeasement was a religious paradigm the Ninevites would have understood.

Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Susie: God, who sees all and knows all, knew the repentance of the Ninevites was sincere and that they were truly committed to doing a complete turn-around, ceasing to be violent and do evil.

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Susan: I am not fond of the King James Version’s use of the word “repent” in Jonah 3:10. God cannot sin, and therefore, has no need to repent. Other translations use the word “relent” which is better. We liked the Amplified Classic Version:

Jonah 3:10 (AMPC)    And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God revoked His [sentence of] evil that He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it [for He was comforted and eased concerning them].

Susie: Our belief in a sovereign Lord who has complete control over His creation makes it difficult to comprehend that He could change His mind. We felt the explanation below satisfied our question about God’s sovereignty versus His change of heart after Nineveh’s repentance:

Reformation Study Bible notes:

The Lord’s change of mind (i.e., His sovereign choice to make His own action depend upon human response) is fully compatible with God’s sovereignty and immutability, since He ordains the means as well as the ends of His sovereign will (Jer. 18:7–10).

Susie: The result of true repentance, turning away from sin and back toward the Lord, is forgiveness and joy. David expressed this in Psalm 30:

Psalm 30:11-12 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

Susan: The result of Nineveh’s awakening and city-wide repentance was that their city was spared from being overthrown by conquering forces and that their lives were spared by God’s mercy and grace.

Susie: I am confident this resulted in exceedingly great joy!

QUESTIONS

1.        What actions did the king of Nineveh require in his decree to all the people of the city?

2.        What specific sin did the king name in his decree?

3.        What was the king’s reason for issuing these instructions?

4.        What was God’s response to the Ninevites’ inward repentance as evidence by their outward symbolism?

JONAH 3:4-6 - JONAH PROPHESIES NINEVEH’S DEMISE

JONAH 3:4-6

JONAH PROPHESIES

NINEVEH’S DEMISE

Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Susie: Jonah walked into the city on the first day and preached to them as he went 1/3 of the way through the great city.

Susan: God gave Jonah a specific message to proclaim to the Ninevites that within forty days’ time Nineveh would conquered. I wonder what is the significance of the specific time-frame of forty days?

Encyclopedia of the Bible:

FORTY. One of the favorite numbers of the Israelites, often having symbolical significance. It was frequently used as the approximate time span of a generation and to designate an extended period of testing, repentance, vigil, or punishment. It is associated with important new developments in the unfolding drama of redemption (e.g. the Flood, the Exodus, Elijah and the prophetic era, the life of Christ, and the birth of the church).

The following are a few of the many examples of the use of the number forty in Scripture: At the time of the Flood it rained for forty days, and the waters subsided for an equal period (Gen 7:4, 12, 17; 8:6); Moses was forty years old when he visited his brethren (Acts 7:23), was forty years in Midian (Acts 7:29, 30), was on the Mount forty days (Exod 24:18), and prayed for Israel for forty days (Deut 9:25). The Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness (Num 14:33; 32:13). David and Solomon each reigned forty years (2 Sam 5:4; 1 Kings 11:42). Jonah called on Nineveh to repent within forty days (Jonah 3:4); Jesus fasted in the desert forty days (Matt 4:2) and remained on earth forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3).

Susie: Note that he was not instructed to offer a way out of this calamity or to teach them about the mercy and grace of God. He was simply to prophesy their doom. However, forty days was an amount of time sometimes set for repentance, so perhaps that is our first hint that God may extend grace to them.

Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

Susan: They believed Jonah as the prophet of God and instituted a national fast from the king to the peasant.

Susie: As we noted in the introduction, Jonah may have told them or they may have heard that Jonah had been spit out on shore by a humongous fish. Since they worshipped Dagon, an idol half human and half fish, this may have peaked their interest. For whatever reason, though, they believed Jonah was delivering a message from his God and responded in mourning and repentance.

Susan: “What exactly is sackcloth,” you may ask, “and why the ashes?” Good questions. We looked up sackcloth in a Bible dictionary:

Sackcloth [N] [T] [S]

cloth made of black goats' hair, coarse, rough, and thick, used for sacks, and also worn by mourners (Genesis 37:34; 42:25; 2 Sam. 3:31; Esther 4:1 Esther 4:2; Psalms 30:11, etc.), and as a sign of repentance (Matthew 11:21). It was put upon animals by the people of Nineveh (Jonah 3:8).

These dictionary topics are from

M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition,

published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain, copy freely.

Susie: We found a good article on the use of sackcloth and ashes which listed more biblical instances of this custom. You can find it at the link below.

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionary-of-bible-themes/6742-sackcloth-ashes

Jonah 3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Susie: Historians and biblical commentators seem to be divided on whether “the king of Nineveh” was a governor of that province only or king of all Assyria. However you slice it, he was the top dog in the city of Nineveh.

Susan: Jonah may have had an audience with the king of Nineveh; or the king’s chief advisors may have come to the king and said, “This prophet Jonah has a message from God,” and shared it with him. When he was made aware of Jonah’s prophecy of doom, he took action immediately.

Susie: He threw off his splendid royal robes and donned coarse, ugly, uncomfortable sackcloth. He stepped down from his mighty throne and sat on a pile of wood ashes on the ground.

Susan: The leader of Nineveh set the example of a repentant and contrite heart for the people of his province.

QUESTIONS

1.        What was the message God told Jonah to proclaim to Nineveh?

2.        Did that message itself offer any hope of avoiding this calamity?

3.        How did the Ninevites respond to Jonah’s message?

4.        What did the king of Nineveh do as soon as he became aware of Jonah’s prophecy?

5.        How do you respond when God makes it clear you need to repent (to turn away from) a sin or complete wrong direction in your life?

JONAH 3:1-3 - JONAH’S SECOND CHANCE

JONAH 3:1-3

JONAH’S SECOND CHANCE

Jonah 3:1-2 And the word¹⁶⁹⁷ of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

Susan: For the second time, the command, the decree of God, came to Jonah. He instructed Him to get up and go to declare the message that the Lord inspired him to say.

Susie: Commentators note that Jonah was the only prophet sent to give a message to a foreign city. Prophets are categorized as prophets to Israel (the northern kingdom) or Judah (the southern kingdom). But Jonah was a prophet to Israel AND Nineveh.

Susan: The book of Jonah is not primarily about the message he was ordered to give to Nineveh. It is primarily about Jonah—his disobedience and reconciliation with God.

Susie:  It is about the tenacious love and grace of our Lord. I like how Priscilla Shirer described Jonah’s rescue as being “a fish called Grace,” in her study Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted.

Susan: God referred to Nineveh as a “great” city which could denote its importance to the Lord as well as its size.

Susie: It was also a great center of trade due to its location on the Tigris river.

Susan: God gave Jonah a personalized message tailored to the Ninevites about their evil ways.

Susie: Jonah was not to go there and preach in general terms about God, nor was he to preach what the Ninevites wanted to hear. He was to prophesy their destruction, as we will see.

Jonah 3:3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

Susie: After three days of being near death in the tomb-like belly of the smelly fish, Jonah had an attitude adjustment. This time, he immediately rose to obey God and head out on the journey to Nineveh.

Susan: No delayed obedience this time. It was immediate, precise, and complete.

Susie: His heart toward Nineveh had not changed as we will read later, but he obeyed anyway. He chose obedience to God’s will over his own will and emotions.

Susan: In his humanity, Jonah may have harbored secret enjoyment at preaching to the Ninevites about their evil disposition and imminent demise.

Susie: However, his joy would be curtailed when he remembered the merciful nature of his God and realized the Lord was warning the Ninevites to give them opportunity to repent.

Susan: Even though the Lord had just given Jonah that opportunity to repent of his disobedience, Jonah still could not grasp that Nineveh should be extended that same grace. We need to remember the words of the hymn, “Grace, grace, God’s grace. Grace that is greater than all my sin.”

Susie: Nineveh was described as a city of three days’ journey. Historians say it could have had a circumference of 60 miles and would take three days traveling 20 miles per day to preach to all the city.

Susan: Another point of view is that Nineveh was such a significant city that it would have been diplomatic protocol to spend a minimum of three days for an official visit.

The Reformation Study Bible notes:

The second expression (lit. “journey of three days”) could indicate the duration of visit appropriate (in terms of ancient Near Eastern diplomatic protocol) for an emissary to such an important city.

QUESTIONS

1.        The Lord repeated His initial instruction to Jonah. Has the Lord ever needed to get your attention and then repeat what you were to do? Write about that experience to remind yourself of God’s grace to you.

2.        What did Jonah do when the Lord repeated His command for Jonah to go to Nineveh?

3.        What are the possible meanings of Nineveh being a city of “three days journey?”