Chapter three if very short and straight forward. The book seems to be written in a wave of call and response: what God says/does; what Jonah says/does; what God says/does; what Jonah says/does and so on. God directs Jonah to Nineveh, Jonah goes the other way; God sends a great storm, Jonah instructs the sailors how to respond to the storm; God sends a big fish, Jonah prays; God delivers Jonah and directs him again to Nineveh, Jonah goes and preaches; God responds to Nineveh with grace, Jonah responds to grace with a tantrum…and so on.
Context
Jonah 1:1 – The word of the Lord came to Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and speak against it. After Jonah’s own rebellion and experience of God’s mercy and salvation, the word of the Lord comes again to Jonah.
Narrative Structure and Commentary
The Beginning
3:1 – The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time. Since we are in the middle of the whole story of Jonah, the scene setting is very minimal. Jonah is on dry land again (2:10) and the story has been reset back to the beginning. 1:1 and 3:1 mark the two parts to the whole story. The similarity of the two verses stand out. Nineveh is described again as that great city. The task for Jonah is to go there and preach right across the city. The context of the story also hints at what the problem will be: will Jonah do it and how will Nineveh receive the message?
The Problem
3:2 – “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
There appears to be two problems given to us in this story:
- will Jonah obey God?
- will Nineveh listen?
Note that the very fact that God is sending a message to Nineveh shows that God wants Nineveh to repent. Patience means salvation.
There is less information in this word from the LORD compared to 1:2. Jonah needs to proclaim the message that God gives him to send. We aren’t told what the message is, what words he should use etc. In 1:2 we know that it is a word against Nineveh. Here the emphasis is that it must be what God has given Jonah to speak.
In 2:9 Jonah vowed (promised) to say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’ He may have meant that he will speak this generally throughout his life or specifically to return to Nineveh or wherever God sends him and to preach that word.
So, will Jonah go?
The Quest
3-9 – Jonah does go and Nineveh repents!
Verse three answers our question straight away. So, the major problem of this story is the one that takes up the rest of the narrative: will Nineveh receive the message and will they repent? After all, it is a great city!
The problem is not just how Nineveh will respond but how will Jonah get the message to such a large city.
The solution to this problem appears to be a social and cultural miracle.
Verses 4-5 – Jonah’s mission begins and is an immediate success.
Verses 6-9 – How the message of Jonah travelled throughout the city to generate a city-wide revival.
“it took three days to go through it.” Historians have pointed out that Nineveh was not actually as big as this sentence suggests. Diggings in the area have uncovered the ancient city and it would not have taken three days to travel from one end to the next. The narrative, however, is raising the problem of how one man is going to get a single message across an entire city. It would be a three day exercise to preach in key areas of the town. 4:11 gives us an estimated population of 120,000 people.
‘Jonah began…’ two simple words that every procrastinator needs to recite… although the task looked mountainous, Simon began…. Note Luke 3:23 – ‘Jesus began’.
The work seemed a challenge for Jonah but he got to work. How big a mission it is to take the gospel to Campbelltown, let alone the Macarthur region. If God wants us to take the gospel to everyone (Matt 28), where do we start? We can wait for a master plan to be created and driven by a charismatic leader, or we can just begin.
On Jonah’s first day on the job, he preached his message and it was sent across the city for him. It reached the ears of the king who then became the mouthpiece for Jonah.
The recurring theme in this book is the message that God hears the cries of repentance and relents from judgement. The storm was stopped when the sailors obeyed the word of God. Jonah was rescued from both the waves and the fish when he called on the name of the LORD. Nineveh repented with mourning and acts of turning their lives around from evil.
The gospel, which is the information for salvation, must always be accompanied with repentance for it to be confirmed in the believer. That is, the gospel calls us to repent and believe – not just to believe.
The Close
10 – God shows compassion on Nineveh
The word of the LORD had reached Nineveh and they responded with hope that God would relent. He saw their repentance and showed mercy. Does this mean that the whole city were saved? That is, are they now God’s people? I think what we see here is a city-wide revival in response to hearing the word of God. Whether this repentance touched the hearts of individuals or not, is not clear. The city, however, responded to the fear of the Lord and were saved.
The End
4:1 – But Jonah…
The story of the book could really have ended at chapter 3. It’s a happy ending. Jonah is obedient now to the call of God and the gospel has gone to the nation of Assyria. God’s word has achieved its purpose in converting both a rebellious city and a rebellious prophet – plus some sailors thrown in!
But chapter four gives us the reality of Jonah’s ongoing need for sanctification. He still has a lesson to learn…but more on that next time.
The Message
The LORD is compassionate and the word of the LORD is stronger than the strongest of us. One man couldn’t change a great city, but it only takes one God to pierce the heart and soul of a rebellious multitude. It’s not the size of the church that matters, it’s the message it brings.
Application
- Remember that we are all on the same mission of God: to take the gospel to all people. That may seem like a massive and impossible task but we need simply to begin. Where will you begin?
- Hearing the word of God is only useful if it leads to obedience. Don’t be merely listeners of the word but be doers also (James 1:22). Jesus said those who love him will keep his commandments – to love one another!
- What the Ninevites needed to hear was that there is a God who is much bigger than them. They acknowledged that their size was no match for the authority of God – so they surrendered themselves to God. We need this constant reminder that God is stronger, wiser, bigger than us and that peace with him matters.
- Like the sailors in chapter one, the Ninevites heard the message and repented and it seems that Jonah did very little. Jonah was proactive this time but it took a miracle to get the message through that great city. The task of preaching is less about strategy and much about speaking the truth in love.
- Are you great? Or do you serve a great God? We can easily make ourselves and our lives as idols that we worship instead of surrendering ourselves to God.
Prayer for the week
God of all creation, help us to surrender our lives to you in trust and obedience. May we, like the people of Nineveh, repent of our sins and turn to you for life. May we, like the prophet Jonah, begin the mission of obeying you and proclaiming the good news to the world that you love so much. Amen