Jonah 3

Jonah 3:1-4

In this chapter we have, 1. Jonah’s mission renewed, and the command a second time given him to go preach at Nineveh, ver. 1, 2. 2. Jonah’s message faithfully delivered, ver. 3, 4. 3. The repentance and reformation of the Ninevites hereupon, ver. 5—9. 4. God’s gracious revocation of the sinterness, and the preventing of the threatened ruin, ver. 10.

1. AND the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2. Arise, go unto Nineveh that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 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) 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.

No more disobedient to the heavenly vision, we now find Jonah ready to go; and God, though he might justly have dismissed him from his service, employs him again. 1. God sends him the second time to Nineveh, commanding him to preach what he had before ordered him; and herein he gave him a fresh token of his reconciliation and regard, and put him once more on the proof of his fidelity.

2. Jonah instantly proceeds on his journey, no longer deterred by any considerations: his afflictions had effectually wrought upon him, and his ready obedience shewed the truth of his repentance. Boldly therefore he delivered his message, going into the streets of that vast city, which, by hitherto, is said to have been sixty miles in compass; and crying aloud, as God’s herald, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown, by some immediate stroke of divine vengeance, and most probably he informed them that their sins were the cause of this terrible judgment denounced against them: the time is short, yet it is im-

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3. He heard a great city of God, he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord, and he was a great city of the Lord,

B. I. (1) The mercy that they have this space allotted them to repent: one day’s journey be advanced with this awful warning, and waited the returning day to proceed farther through the city. Note, (2.) God’s servants must apply themselves to his work according to his word, however dangerous or difficult the service may appear. (3.) God’s messages to his prophets cannot alter; the impenitent sinner must perish, but those who return to him shall find mercy. (4.) They who carry God’s warnings to a carefully world must cry aloud, and by their earnestness shew how deeply they are affected with the dangers they forfeit. (5.) Great and wicked cities have need to tremble; an offended God can at his pleasure instantly swallow them up, or devour them as Sodom with fire from heaven. (6.) What sinner would not tremble, if assured that forty days should bring him to the grave? and yet he sits unconcerned, though uncertain whether so many hours or minutes are allotted him.

r Mat. 16. 41. Luke in 36. d Job ii. 8. Ibid., Great men, Joel ii. 19, &c. b Jer. xxii. 8. Amos xx. 5, &c.

5. ¶ So the people of Nineveh’ believed GOD, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the lead of them. 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 ‘fat in albes. 7. And he raided it to be proclaimed, and published through Nineveh (by the decree of the king and his + nobles) saying, ‘Let neither man nor beall, herd nor flock, taffe any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water. 8. But let man and beall 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. 9. ‘Who can tell if GOD will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 10. ¶ And ‘GOD’ for 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.

6. 5—10. One day’s preaching effectually wrought upon the Ninevans, and rendered it unnecessary for the prophet to proceed any farther. Astonishing to tell: they repented at the preaching of Jonah; whilst Israel, under so many prophets, so long rifling up and speaking to them, repented not. Therefore shall these Ninevans rise up in the judgment, and condemn them with all others, who enjoying richer means of grace, continue hardened and impenitent under them.

7. They believed God. Such divine power and efficacious grace accompanied the prophet’s word, that conviction seized their consciences; and they instantly began to consider how they might avert their impending doom, and obtain mercy with this offended God. Note, it is a blessed symptom for good when the sinner attends to God’s word, and receives it as true, bowing in deep conviction under the charge laid against him.

8. A general fast is immediately proclaimed and observed. ‘Tidings of this dreadful sentence were quickly carried to the palace; and far from representing the prophet as a madman, or dishonor of the peace, the nobles and people received him as an ambassador from God, and reported his suffrage with deep fericuteness to their king, probably Pal, 2 Kings xx. 10, whereupon he rose from his throne, deeply affected with the prophet’s word, and laying aside the enigma of royalty, covered himself with sackcloth, and for in albes; a noble example for his people’s mission, and a becoming expression of his own unfeigned humiliation. And all the people at his command, from the greatest to the least, copied after their royal master, and lay in sackcloth, depressing that vengeance which all had provoked, and which was ready to confume them together. According to the decree of the king and his nobles, a fast is kept most strict and solemn, nor man nor beall may taffe ought, not so much as water; but, covered with sackcloth, they are enjoined to cry mightily to God; even the beall, for lack of food, would lift up their inarticulate voices: and men, women, and children must unite in their prayers for mercy, if yet mercy may be found. Nor are they merely to make profession of penitence, but instantly must amend their lives; without which, their prayers would be but hypocrisy: let them turn every one from his evil way, whatever his peculiar sin hath been, and especially from the violence that is in their hands, fraud and oppression being their reigning iniquities. And when this is done, if he can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? The wrath was great, their provocations aggravated, their judgment just; but God is not inexorable, there is yet hope, and that should encourage and hasten their repentance. Note, (1.) The higher our station is, the more exemplary should be our conduct. (2.) The way not to break under the sword of God’s judgment, is to bow under the rod of his admonitions. (3.) Percent prayer is mightily effectual; as long as a sinner is stirred up to cry to God, there is yet hope. (4.) In tones of national distress, all must unite, to deprecate the wrath which is threatened. (5.) They who fast for sin, must turn from the practice and love of it, else the more afflicting the body available

not. (6.) The great encouragement to the sinner to turn to God is, that there is not only a peradventure of mercy, but an assurance of it confirmed by the unchangeable oath of the God who cannot lie.

3. God saw their words, and heard their prayers; he observed their faith in his word, and the change wrought amongst them; he compassionated their distress, he received his throatsings, and extended to them the mercy they so earnestly besought. He delighteth not in the death of any sinner, it is only by their own wilful impetience that they bring down his wrath upon them.