174
Prophets and Kings
“Yet hast Thou brought up my life from corrup-
tion, O
Lord my God.
When my soul fainted within me I remembered
the
Lord:
And my prayer came in unto Thee,
Into Thine holy temple.
“They that observe lying vanities forsake their own
mercy.
But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanks-
giving;
I will pay that that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.”
Verse 7
to
2:9
.
At last Jonah had learned that “salvation belongeth unto the Lord.”
Psalm 3:8
. With penitence and a recognition of the saving grace of
God, came deliverance. Jonah was released from the perils of the
mighty deep and was cast upon the dry land.
Once more the servant of God was commissioned to warn Nineveh.
“The word 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.” This time he did not stop to question or doubt, but obeyed
[270]
unhesitatingly. He “arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the
word of the Lord.”
Jonah 3:1-3
.
As Jonah entered the city, he began at once to “cry against” it the
message, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
Verse 4
.
From street to street he went, sounding the note of warning.
The message was not in vain. The cry that rang through the streets
of the godless city was passed from lip to lip until all the inhabitants
had heard the startling announcement. The Spirit of God pressed the
message home to every heart and caused multitudes to tremble because
of their sins and to repent in deep humiliation.
“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.