Jonah 3:1
‘And the word of YHWH came to Jonah the second time, saying,' In the mercy of God Jonah was being given a second chance. God is gracious with His servants. And so ‘the word of YHWH' came to Jonah a second time.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the word of YHWH came to Jonah the second time, saying,' In the mercy of God Jonah was being given a second chance. God is gracious with His servants. And so ‘the word of YHWH' came to Jonah a second time.... [ Continue Reading ]
A CHANGED JONAH OBEYS GOD AND GOES TO NINEVEH PROCLAIMING ITS OVERTHROW WITHIN FORTY DAYS, WITH THE RESULT THAT (TO JONAH'S CHAGRIN) NINEVEH REPENTS (JONAH 3:1). Jonah was no longer rebellious. He had learned his lesson. So when YHWH came to him again and told him to go to Nineveh to proclaim His w... [ Continue Reading ]
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you,” It was the same word as before, that he should go to Nineveh and proclaim to it the words that YHWH gave to him. As we have seen earlier (Jonah 1:2) ‘the great city' was a conurbation made up of four sister-citi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of YHWH. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, of three days' journey.' Jonah, now obedient to YHWH, arose and went to Nineveh in accordance with His word. If ‘three days journey is the correct translation we are then told of the size... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.” ' Jonah entered the city, presumably Nineveh itself, and walked a short distance into it. ‘A day's journey' simply indicates a few miles in contrast with a ‘three days... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the people of Nineveh believed God, and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.' But the impact of the message was huge, for the people responded to ‘God' with all their hearts. Note the change from ‘YHWH to ‘God'. They were responding... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.' The news of their response reached the king of Nineveh. The fact that the news had taken some time to reach him may suggest that he was in one... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he made proclamation 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 them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily to God, yes,... [ Continue Reading ]
“Who knows whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” The hope then was that God (Elohim) would also ‘turn and repent' in His attitude towards them, in other words would view them in a totally different way because of their change of heart. Note... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil which he said he would do to them; and he did not do it.' And when God saw their change in behaviour, in that they turned from their evil ways, He ‘repented' (altered His approach because they were now chan... [ Continue Reading ]