3:1,2Jonah had run away from God but was given a second chance to participate in God’s work. You may feel as though you are disqualified from serving God because of past mistakes. But serving God is not an earned position. No one qualifies for God's service, but God still asks us to carry out his work. You may yet have another chance.
Life Application Study BibleJonahChapter 3
Jonah 3
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1461, 1462
3Jonah 3
2. Jonah fulfills his mission
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
1Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time: 2“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” 3This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.* 4On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” 5The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. 6When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat ona heap of ashes. 7Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” 10When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
Textual footnotes
- 3:3 Hebrew a great city to God, of three days’ journey.
Life Application Notes 6 notes
3:1,2Jonah was to preach only what God told him—a message of doom to one of the most powerful cities in the world. This was not the most desirable assignment, but those who bring God's word to others should not tet social pressures or fear of people dictate their words. They are called to preach God's message and his truth, no matter how unpopular it may be.
3:3Nineveh was a huge city. The Hebrew text makes no distinction between the city proper (the walls of which were only about eight miles in circumference, accommodating a population of about 175,000 persons) and the administrative district of Nineveh that was about 30 to 60 miles across.
3:4-9God's word is for everyone. Despite the wickedness of the Ninevite people, they were open to God’s message and repented immediately. If we simply proclaim God’s message Of salvation, we may be surprised at how many people will listen.
3:10The pagan people of Nineveh believed Jonah's message and repented. What a miraculous effect God’s words had on those evil people! Their repentance stood in stark contrast to Israel’s stubbornness. The people of Israel had heard many messages from the prophets, but they had refused to repent. The people of Nineveh only needed to hear God’s message once. Jesus said that at the judgment, the people of Nineveh will stand up to condemn the Israelites for their failure to repent (Matthew 12:39-41). It is not our hearing God’s word that pleases him, but our responding obediently to it.
3:10God responded in mercy by canceling his threatened destruction. God had said that any nation on which he had pronounced judgment would be saved if it repented (Jeremiah 18:7, 8). God forgave Nineveh, just as he had forgiven Jonah. The purpose of God's judgment is correction, not revenge. He is always ready to show compassion to anyone willing to seek him.
Charts, profiles & sidebars from the printed pages
Study feature · page 1462
God's mercy and forgiveness. God’s forgiveness was not only for Jonah or for Israel alone; it extends to all who repent and believe. 4:3 Jonah may have been more concerned about his own reputation than God's. He knew that if the people repented, none of his warnings to Nineveh would come true. This would embarrass him, although it would give glory to God. Are you more interested in getting glory for God or for yourself? 4:5-11 God ministered tenderly to Jonah just as he had done to Nineveh and to Israel—and just as he does to us. God could have destroyed Jonah for his defiant anger, but instead he gently taught him a lesson. If we will obey God, he will lead us. His harsh judgment is reserved for those who persist in rebellion. 4:9 Jonah was angry at the withering of the plant, but not over what could have happened to Nineveh. Most of us have cried at the death of a pet or when an object with sentimental value is broken, but have we cried over the fact that a friend does not know God? How easy it is to be more sensitive to our own interests than to the spiritual needs of people around us. 4:10, 11 Sometimes people wish that judgment and destruction would come upon sinful people whose wickedness seems to demand immediate punishment. But God is more merciful than we can imagine. God feels compassion for the sinners we want judged, and he devises plans to bring them to himself. What is your attitude toward those who are especially wicked? Do you want them destroyed? Or do you wish that they could experience God’s mercy and forgiveness? 4:11 God spared the sailors when they pleaded for mercy. God saved Jonah when he prayed from inside the fish. God saved the people of Nineveh when they responded to Jonah’s preaching. God answers the prayers of those who call upon him. God will always work his will, and he desires that all come to him, trust in him, and be saved. We can be saved if we heed God’s warnings to us through his Word. If we respond in obedience, God will be gracious, and we will receive his mercy, not his punishment.