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?”