“Nineveh, That Great City”
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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. And he causeth 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 anything: let them not feed, nor
drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry
mightily unto God: yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and
from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn
and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?”
Verses 5-9
.
As king and nobles, with the common people, the high and the low,
“repented at the preaching of Jonas” (
Matthew 12:41
) and united in
crying to the God of heaven, His mercy was granted them. He “saw
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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.”
Jonah 3:10
. Their doom was averted, the God of Israel was
exalted and honored throughout the heathen world, and His law was
revered. Not until many years later was Nineveh to fall a prey to the
surrounding nations through forgetfulness of God and through boastful
pride. [For an account of the downfall of Assyria, see chapter 30.]
When Jonah learned of God’s purpose to spare the city that,
notwithstanding its wickedness, had been led to repent in sackcloth
and ashes, he should have been the first to rejoice because of God’s
amazing grace; but instead he allowed his mind to dwell upon the
possibility of his being regarded as a false prophet. Jealous of his
reputation, he lost sight of the infinitely greater value of the souls in
that wretched city. The compassion shown by God toward the repen-
tant Ninevites “displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.”
“Was not this my saying,” he inquired of the Lord, “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.”
Jonah 4:1, 2
.
Once more he yielded to his inclination to question and doubt, and
once more he was overwhelmed with discouragement. Losing sight of
the interests of others, and feeling as if he would rather die than live to
see the city spared, in his dissatisfaction he exclaimed, “Now, O Lord,
take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die
than to live.”
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