Jonah 3 · NIVAC

Jonah 3

1THEN THE WORD of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

3Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” 5The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Original Meaning

Jonah Proclaims and the Ninevites Believe God (3:1–5)

THE WORD OF Yahweh comes to Jonah “a second time.” This second time harks back to the first time (1:1–2), using the same Hebrew words (in italics):

1:1–2: The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3:1–2: Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

The prophet receives a second chance to participate in God’s mission of reconciling enemies. The command “go” is expressed in Hebrew with two verbs (lit., “rising, go”). Together they mean “Go now!” or “Go immediately.” In 1:1–2 Jonah rose to run away, but here Jonah has been reconciled to God’s call. The mission to Nineveh can begin again, because God has called again. The content of Jonah’s prophecy will not be given to him until he is actually in the city: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you” (3:2). Jonah knows it will be a message against its wickedness (see 1:2: “because its wickedness has come up before me”; cf. also 3:8, 10).

“Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh” (3:3a). The first story of reconciliation (between Jonah and God) concludes and the second story of reconciliation (between Nineveh and God) begins. Jonah does not hesitate this time. The Hebrew expression is (lit.) “rising, Jonah went,” implying his immediate departure. Why does he go this time? God has pursued him to the gates of death and brought him back. Jonah cannot escape the assignment.

The “greatness” of Nineveh (1:2; 3:2; 4:11) is explained in 3:3b (a visit required three days) and in 4:11 (120,000 people with many animals). The question of Nineveh’s size can also be answered in historical terms. Tiglath-Pileser III built it into a large city by 730 B.C. Later, Sennacherib (who besieged Jerusalem in 701 B.C.) made it the capital of Assyria. Archaeologists have discovered a walled city with a total urban perimeter of seven and a half miles.

The text expresses Nineveh’s importance with a significant idiom that is literally translated, “Nineveh was a great city to God” (NIV: “Now Nineveh was a very important city”). “To God” (leʾlohim) can be an idiom for “very,” but it is worth noting in this context that it reinforces a main theme of the book, namely, that Nineveh is important to God, even if not to Jonah! God has created its greatness in size and has compassion on his beloved creation (4:11).

Readers have wondered what “a visit required three days” (lit., “a three-day walk”) means. Some have considered it hyperbole, in keeping with the exaggerations of the book (great fish, great city, great plant, etc.). Others have suggested that it took three days to cross the municipality or province of Nineveh (including pasture lands and towns that typically surrounded large ancient cities). Perhaps the most convincing is that it required three days to proclaim the message in all the public squares.1 It would take three days to walk and preach in every neighborhood and to complete the proclamation to everyone in the city.

“On the first day, Jonah started into the city.” Hebrew has an interesting word pair for “started” (lit., “began to go”: ḥalal + laboʾ ). Ḥalal (“began”) connotes “letting loose” or “untying.” It implies that Jonah “let go.” The most basic form of the verb means “pierce.” The implied radical nature of his “starting” into the city echoes the difficulty he has with preaching to the enemy Ninevites from the beginning of his call. For him it is not simply a matter of “getting started,” but of releasing to God his (justified) reservations about this mission.

Jonah’s prophecy to Nineveh is succinctly delivered in eight words (only five in Hebrew!): “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned [hapak]” (Jonah 3:4b).2 Jonah preaches an amazing message. The Hebrew root hapak can mean “turn over,” that is, “destroy” (as with Sodom in Gen. 19), or “turn around,” meaning “bring to repentance.”3 Sherwood notes that hapak, therefore, refers either to “evil” (catastrophe of destruction) or to “live” (new structure of a repentant life).4

At first glance this message seems to be only one of gloom and doom. The Ninevites certainly understand “overturned” to mean “destroyed.” Everyone in the text understands, however, that this word of destruction contains the possibility of Yahweh’s mercy if they repent.5 This word concept is crucial to understanding this chapter (and will be discussed in more detail in Bridging Contexts section). The double meaning of “overturned” is not lost on Jonah. He knows that Yahweh’s message implies that the people may repent and God will forgive. Such a possibility is exactly why Jonah initially fled to Tarshish (see Jonah 4:2). The Ninevites also seem to understand this when they immediately repent and hear about the hope of forgiveness from the king (3:9).

It is important for the reader to see both perspectives in “Nineveh will be overturned.” The conflict between the two possibilities (“destroyed” or “changed through turning to God”) is the primary subject of the book of Jonah and of the argument between the prophet and God. God sends Jonah to Nineveh in hope that the Ninevites will be “overturned” through their repentance. Jonah faithfully proclaims this two-edged message but hopes (as we see in ch. 4) that “overturned” means the annihilation of the Ninevites. He understands both aspects of the word. The Ninevites, by contrast, do not fully understand it but believe it to mean “destruction.” They repent in the hope that it may mean something other (and better) than their annihilation.

“The Ninevites believed God” on the first day (3:4–5). They declare a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. Fasting is a means of seeking God’s mercy, while sackcloth is a symbol of repentance. The Ninevites believe that Jonah’s words are God’s words, so the text says that they “believed God.”6 The sense is that they trust the word they have heard to be a true and reliable word for them.

The King Responds in Hope (3:6–10)

Bridging Contexts

JONAH 3 PRIMARILY concerns God and the Ninevites, with Jonah as God’s agent. Jonah’s dispute with Yahweh is not evident. He is called once again, goes to Nineveh, and preaches; the Ninevites repent, and God forgives them.11 Jonah fulfills his calling (apparently against his own ideals) in obedience to the word of Yahweh that comes to him a second time.

This chapter may be encapsulated in three words: “overturned” (hapak), “repentance” (šub), and “compassion” (naḥam). These words represent the three major actions in the text: Jonah’s preaching, the Ninevites’ giving up their evil ways, and Yahweh’s compassion. They also point to the enduring truth of a real relationship between sinners and Yahweh. Reconciliation with God is a threefold movement.

The three-part pattern is common in God’s relationship to Israel. In 1 Samuel 7:3–11, Israel was threatened by the Philistines. They put away their Baal and Ashtoreth idols and gathered at Mizpah for repentance. They came under attack, but Yahweh delivered them with a thunderstorm. This pattern is repeated in Esther 4 in Persia, in Ezra 8:21–23 at the Ahava Canal, and in Joel 2:11–19. In each of these cases, the Israelites were under the threat of being “overturned” in destruction. They turned to Yahweh (in repentance) and were delivered (by God’s compassion). In Jonah the same pattern is described for the Assyrian enemy. They are welcomed into the possibility of deliverance. Jeremiah 18 declares this possibility for all peoples:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. (Jer. 18:7–10)

Nations that are under the threat of destruction may include those who consider themselves chosen or established by God and those who do not. In Jonah, as in Jeremiah, the possibility of turning in repentance to the Creator is revealed. Hope in God’s compassion is demonstrated in both cases.

Overturning. Overturning has two possibilities in this text: “destruction” (raʿah) or “repentance” (šub). The word carries this dual meaning throughout Scripture.12

On the first day, Jonah starts into the city. He proclaims: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned [hapak].” When the Ninevites hear the word hapak, they assume that God means “destruction.” The word raʿah in Jonah 3:10 is translated in various ways in English versions: “the evil” (KJV, RSV), “calamity” (NRSV, NASB), and “destruction” (NIV).

It is useful to look at several translations to see the possible range of meaning behind the NIV’s “destruction” (raʿah). God does not do “evil,” which is a basic meaning of raʿah. The verdict that something is “evil” in the Bible depends on the eye of the beholder. God called Jonah to preach because of Nineveh’s raʿah (“wickedness,” 1:2). The sailors considered the storm a raʿah (“calamity,” 1:7; “trouble,” 1:8). The king knew his people were engaged in ways of raʿah (“evil,” 3:8). God saw that they gave up their raʿah (“evil ways”), and he did not bring about the raʿah (“destruction”) he threatened (3:10). God’s “destruction” was not “evil” in the same way as the Ninevites’. Because they were engaged in evil, they experienced the possibility of their own destruction (a just judgment) as evil rather than just.

This sort of experiential verdict is an enduring reality today. Do we experience all calamities as evil or some of them as just? On what basis do God’s people decide about their experiences and the experiences of others? When “calamity” falls as a just judgment on the wicked, do the people of God rejoice or hope for another kind of overturning? Jonah does not approve of a God who “relents from sending calamity [raʿah]” to the wicked (4:2). But another kind of overturning is offered to those who recognize justice, even the justice of God’s destruction. It included both repentance (šub) and God’s compassion (naḥam).

The law and the gospel work together in this way. The law “kills” the self-justification of our sin by convincing us of our need to be overturned by God. The gospel resurrects us as a new creation, with a new perspective on the positive value of God’s judgment toward us, even when it involves calamity. The Ninevites no longer have the same culture after their repentance. They “put away” their evil ways. A new kind of life within a transformed culture has begun.

This transformation, likened to baptism by Paul, is also like dying and rising again:

Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. (Rom. 6:1–7, italics added)

“Overturning” is also used in Jonah 3 to describe repentance (šub): “Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up [šub] their evil ways and their violence” (3:8b).“When God saw what they did and how they turned [šub] from their evil ways, he had compassion” (3:10).

Repentance is repentance before Yahweh, regardless of race or culture. Jonah did not preach specifically to Gentiles but against wickedness (which included vilifying other cultures). God makes the same call to “turn from evil practices” for all of his human creation (2 Chron. 7:14; Jer. 25:5; 26:3–6). What “God saw” was not the sackcloth and fasting, but “how they turned from their evil ways” (Jonah 3:10). Since about A.D. 200 the “bottom to top to bottom again” repentance of first the Ninevite people, then the king, and then the people has been the afternoon reading in synagogues celebrating the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). It is read as a model for the proper attitude for repentance with Isaiah’s description (Isa. 58:4–7) of proper fasting.13

The observance of Yom Kippur is outlined in Leviticus 16. Once a year God’s people confessed their sins, fasted for twenty-four hours, and prayed for forgiveness. After being purified through the sacrifice of a bull, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle/temple to be sanctified by God for his following role. After sprinkling blood in front of the kippur or “cover” of the ark, he emerged, sacrificed a goat, reentered the veil, and sprinkled the blood of the goat the same way, this time for the purification of all the people. Emerging again, he put more of the goat’s blood on a second goat (the scapegoat), which was led to the desert to walk off a cliff. The goat carried the symbolic sins into the desert, removing those sins from their midst of the people.14

The theme of repentance focuses on the transforming power of repentance and forgiveness. This yearly use and interpretation of Jonah nullifies any Christian notions that Jonah should be understood as a type of rebellious Israel in contrast to the willingly repentant pagans. Jesus refers also to the Ninevites’ repentance as a witness against peoples who hear the call to repentance but do not repent (Matt. 12:41; Luke 11:32).

The reading of Jonah in the Day of Atonement service “reflects the view that this book depicts the concept of repentance so starkly and completely that it can stir hearers to repent of their ways and even modifies their conduct.”15 The Ninevites’ repentance and Yahweh’s forgiveness “reject the ancient view, expressed by Jonah … that only punishment can cleanse sin.”16 In his sovereign freedom, God accepted the Ninevites’ repentance of their violent ways as a transformation. They were forgiven. The people’s turning in repentance (šub) is mirrored by God’s turning with compassion (šub + naḥam): “[God] had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10b).

The combination of the two words results in an averted calamity. The turning of the Ninevites is essentially different, however, since God’s turning came on his own terms whereas the people said, “Who knows?” 17 The basic difference is marked in the text by the word naḥam (cf. discussion above, on the translation of this word as “repent,” “relent,” and “have compassion”).

Nineveh hoped in God’s compassion, God had compassion, and Jonah complained that God relented from sending calamity. These italicized words come from the same Hebrew word, naḥam. In Israel, to “repent” was to turn from pride to compassion. To turn toward God meant to comfort the oppressed and dispossessed (cf. Isa. 40:1). To “comfort” the widow, fatherless, and foreigner meant “repenting” of one’s self-serving ways of pride. To have compassion was to turn from one’s own competing ideals concerning wealth toward God and to acknowledge his agenda in the world. True repentance meant that compassion and comfort would increase in the world.

The enduring truth demonstrated in Jonah 3 is that compassion is a primary attribute of God. When it comes to justice, God is willing to sacrifice his reputation for strict constancy. He would rather be known as a God who forgives and is just. This is precisely what Jonah rails against in 4:2.

Divine “repentance” as “open to change strict judgment” keeps God’s primary attribute in focus: his steadfast love and mercy. By giving attention to God’s openness to change his judgment, his unchangeable attributes are brought more sharply into focus. His steadfastness is centered in his love for the world. His faithfulness is centered not in judgment but in his promises of salvation. Divine repentance enables us to place these immutable attributes in proper perspective.18

God’s openness to change strict judgment is part of his character from the beginning of his dealings with Israel. At Sinai, during the golden calf incident, Moses pleaded with him to “relent” (naḥam) and have compassion in the midst of that calamity. God did relent, in striking similarity to his action in Nineveh. “Then the LORD relented [naḥam] and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened” (Ex. 32:14). In Jonah, “[God] had compassion [naḥam] and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10b; cf. also Joel 2:13).

God’s will to change and save the world that he loves is immutable: “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” (Ezek. 18:32). Scripture is not embarrassed, however, to say that God does change his mind when it comes to granting compassion even when his justice and righteousness in the world require death. The people made a golden calf and credited it, rather than God, for their deliverance from Egypt. God justly decided to destroy them (Ex. 32:7–10). In compassion, however, he changed his mind (see also Jer. 18:7–11; 26:2–3; Amos 7:3–6). He changes his mind precisely because his will to change and save the world is unchangeable, and the world is continually turning away from him. If he did not turn in compassion, who would be saved?

God is not like us. God is free to judge the rebellious by strict justice and not forgive them when they repent. God is also free not to judge the rebellious by strict justice and to forgive them when they repent. This does not mean that God is capricious. When Scripture says that “God does not change his mind” (see 1 Sam. 15:28–30), it means that the wages of sin are death. The strict justice of the created order rules, and God is free to judge, but he is also free to relent.

The expression used by the king of Nineveh directs our attention to this freedom to judge according to a strict justice. He says, “Who knows?” The king knows that it is in the hand of God to judge. King David knew the same enduring truth. When his son by Bathsheba was ill as a result of his murder and adultery, he said the same thing: “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live’” (2 Sam. 12:22). In David’s case, Yahweh judged according to strict justice.

When God does change his mind, as is clear in Hosea, it is because God is not a human being. He is free to extend his primary attributes of compassion and steadfast love.19

How can I give you up, Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, Israel?

How can I treat you like Admah?

How can I make you like Zeboiim?

My heart is changed [hapak] within me;

all my compassion is aroused.

I will not carry out my fierce anger,

nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.

For I am God, and not man—

the Holy One among you.

I will not come in wrath.” (Hos. 11:8–9, italics added)

God’s constancy longs for his people to return to him even when they are wicked. He is free to judge sin according to his righteousness or to forgive according to his compassion. God’s change of heart stands in contrast to Jonah’s consistent desire to see “justice done” and the wicked punished. This inclination is common to human experience, especially when the enemy has perpetrated terror on civilian populations and boasted of it. When it comes to forgiveness for one’s own country, no one complains if God has a change of heart.

The prophet Joel employs the “Who knows” freedom refrain when Israel is starving because a “nation” of locusts continually destroys its crops:

“Even now,” declares the LORD,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart

and not your garments.

Return to the LORD your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in love,

and he relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and have pity

and leave behind a blessing—

grain offerings and drink offerings

for the LORD your God. (Joel 2:12–14, italics added)

God is free from the necessity of strict justice and can pursue a better justice in his unrelenting love for his creation. The king of Nineveh also acknowledges God’s freedom with his “Who knows?” God’s judgment of destruction is just, but his compassion may prevail. The fact of Jonah is that the Ninevites of that day were not punished for their wickedness. They were forgiven without punishment. They did not effectively force God’s hand, however, nor were they certain of God’s response. It could have justly gone the other way.

The primary foundation for understanding God’s compassion is to understand our need and desperate situation. That fact leads us to humbly acknowledge, “Who knows?” Even the certainty of Christ’s love and forgiveness cannot be received by the heart that reserves a suspicion of its own righteousness.20 The fact that the hearts of the violent can be overthrown by the mere possibility of God’s compassion is exactly the subject matter of Jonah’s argument with God in Jonah 4.

Contemporary Significance

MISSION TO THE world in Jonah. Assyria was a long way from Jerusalem (about 500 miles). It dominated the ancient east for about 270 years (c. 1356–1197 and 745–621 B.C.) including a harsh domination of Israel and Judah. Yet, the Old Testament records God’s concern for this distant and wicked people. This surprising fact has led interpreters to consider the Creator’s “mission to the world” as a key theme of Jonah. The Creator seeks reconciliation with the whole creation.

When God calls a person to a specific mission, the task and the journey do not always make sense. God is, nonetheless, often persistent in such calling. Moses repeatedly argued with Yahweh concerning the Exodus (Ex. 3:11–4:17). When Elijah suffered the consequences of his confrontation with Baal’s prophets, Yahweh had to encourage him more than once to continue (1 Kings 19:1–18). Jeremiah struggled with Yahweh concerning his call (Jer. 20:7–9). Jonah was never convinced by Yahweh’s argument about the need to transform Nineveh’s wickedness.

God does not mention Nineveh’s “wickedness” in his second call (Jonah 3:1–3). Like a child with a parent, Jonah is simply told to proclaim what God says (“because I said so!”). God saves his more lengthy warrant until the end of the book. We never hear Jonah’s response. By ending with an open question, the book challenges to reader to examine whether God’s argument is convincing (see the Original Meaning section of ch. 4). Even when Jonah obeys (3:3), he seems halfhearted in his effort, speaking the short message God gave him and walking only the first necessary day into the city. Chapter 4 demonstrates that even in obedience, Jonah is not in complete agreement with the possible outcomes of this mission.

The book of Jonah offers several opportunities to see the ready and willing response by people who are distant and ignorant of Yahweh. The pagan sailors and the Ninevites make rapid conversions (1:14–16). All of Nineveh repents after only one day of a three-day preaching tour (3:4–6). These responses to Yahweh have been interpreted as an early harbinger of God’s reaching toward the Gentiles with a word of reconciliation and forgiveness.

Some have observed that the repentance of the Ninevites seems like a nonevent in the Bible as a whole. Admittedly, from a historical perspective, their repentance is momentary. Assyrian records only record their pride, never any repentance. Nahum (two books after Jonah) correctly prophesies the Ninevites’ destruction for their violent and boastful ways. Their repentance does not seem believable. What does it mean for interpreting Jonah? Is the canonical message that the Ninevites’ repentance wasn’t worth the trouble? Jonah never says that, nor does God. Their concern was that the people would repent and find mercy.21

Theologically, the message (in the context of Nineveh’s short-lived repentance) is that God in all times and in all places desires that all creation be reconciled to him. Whether that preaching is unsuccessful in the long term or even unsuccessful in the short term (as in Jeremiah) is beside the point. Through the prophet Jonah, God is asking for our faithfulness in proclaiming the message he gives. This is framed twice by the lack of a message given to Jonah (1:2; 3:2). God simply says, “Go and proclaim.” The message is given when he arrives (see comments on 3:2).

The repentance of Nineveh seems unbelievable in a second experiential way. When in the history of the world has such a spontaneous, thorough, and complete reversal of a violent and arrogant people ever been recorded? Jonah only “began” to go into the city, yet the whole city was converted, neighbor to neighbor. It was incredible that the Ninevites gave Jonah, a prophet from a people they dominated, any credence at all. His message was short, offensive, and vague (five Hebrew words). He never mentioned their sins or God, only their doom. It is certainly incredible that they recognized the magnitude and systemic nature of their guilt (3:8); that they were so sincere, courageous, and thorough in their repentance; that everyone in the city agreed and repented; that only one-third heard the actual word from God through Jonah but all believed; that the livestock were included in the fasting and wearing sackcloth; and that it was an intergenerational repentance (3:5). Nevertheless, the Ninevites “believed God” and radically repented to a person. It is common for commentators to be suspicious of the “never-never land” quality of Nineveh’s mass repentance.22

Jonah himself finds that their repentance is incredible. It infuriates him to the point of self-destruction. Yet, in spite of the incredulity of readers, Jewish tradition and Jesus each lift up this incredible repentance as an example for others (Yom Kippur and Matt. 12:41; Luke 11:32). The point of the examples in each case, however, is not the greatness of the Ninevites’ faith. If that were the case, their eventual return to terror certainly undermines their example. Rather, the point is the extravagant love of God that welcomes the sincerely repentant. A God who is intensely interested even in the salvation of animals (along with the wicked Ninevites) must be interested in anyone. A God interested in a people who will not sustain their repentance over time is an extravagant God who will welcome anyone who will turn to him. It reveals a wild and off-center God who really does love the wicked in spite of their wickedness or foolishness.

This accounts for the popularity and the canonization of Jonah long after Nineveh is destroyed by God (612 B.C.). It is not about the Ninevites’ faith, but about the unbelievably true possibility that God would care enough to overthrow their hearts. For the believing community, it stands as a reminder of the incredible love of the Creator for the creation and his radical willingness to seek out the most distant person and restore them to his grace.23

That Nineveh was converted to the God of Israel through Jonah’s preaching remains historically unbelievable. That such an enemy should be transformed cannot be explained in ordinary human terms. This is, in fact, the portrait that the text paints for us: that this is not accomplished in ordinary human terms. It is an extraordinary, even a supernatural event. It is not based on spectacular preaching. It is a work of God and of his extravagant love. This is the hope of the book of Jonah. May God act to overthrow all of his enemies.

Jesus comes under the same scrutiny. The resurrection of the body of Christ is deemed unbelievable by most people today. The message of salvation and God’s grace was then, and still is, considered foolishness.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. (1 Cor. 1:17–25; cf. Isa. 29:14).

Colonization and the gospel. A great barrier to missions today is the conflation of the call to missions with the Western colonialism of past centuries. No one wants to be accused of being colonial or having a colonial attitude. This history often makes Christians in the West reluctant missionaries. Mission training has become more culturally sophisticated than it once was, seeking to understand cultures and peoples and respecting them as created and loved by God. It is possible to present the gospel of Jesus Christ without being an ambassador for an American way of life, with its own set of sins and corruptions.

Nonetheless, presenting the good news of the gospel and Yahweh as Creator of all the earth to an unreached people is a kind of colonization. Its goal is that the resurrected Christ will transform people and cultures by reconciling them to a relationship of love with the Creator. Christ is the colonizer of our lives, challenging values by his teaching and changing hearts with his love. The goal of missions is to “overthrow” all people and cultures, so that all the people of the world experience the blessings of knowing and being known by God.24

The difficult issue of the colonizing tendency of the gospel can be sorted out in part by the meanings of hapak and by understanding the ways Scripture uses the phrase “being overthrown by God.” On the more difficult side of the word’s meaning (“destroy”), Sodom and Gomorrah are the main examples (Gen. 19:21, 25, 29). God engaged Abraham in a dialogue (see Gen. 18:16–33). He was about to overthrow Sodom (like Nineveh) for its violent behaviors (Gen. 19) and wanted Abraham’s participation. Abraham tried to talk him out of it, but even after he bargained with God, ten righteous men could not be found in all of Sodom. Sodom was overthrown/destroyed for its challenge to God’s word in their midst.

But this is not the only possibility of being overthrown (hapak). The transformational meaning of hapak by God is seen in 1 Samuel 10. When the prophet Samuel anoints Saul as the first king over Israel, he explains to Saul how Yahweh will “overthrow” (hapak) him by changing him into a different person.

“The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed [hapak] into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”

As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed [hapak] Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying. (1 Sam. 10:6–10)

Saul is not “destroyed” but is “colonized” by the Spirit of God. His heart is overthrown (“changed”). In the Torah, Prophets, and Writings, “overthrown” is used to describe the “transformation of deliverance” rather than “destruction.” All transformation involves the end of something.

• In Deuteronomy it is the end of a curse: “However, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam but turned [hapak] the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you” (Deut. 23:5).

• In Jeremiah mourning comes to an end and becomes gladness. “For the LORD will ransom Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they … Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn [hapak] their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow” (Jer. 31:11, 13).

• In Psalm 66 the sea that was a barrier to the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery is transformed: “Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf! He turned [hapak] the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot—come, let us rejoice in him” (Ps. 66:5–6).

The four examples cited here are the substance of proclaiming the gospel in the cultures of the world. Like Saul, individual leaders will be transformed from self-serving individuals to people speaking God’s word. As with Balaam, the community’s curse for God’s presence will be turned into a blessing. As when Israel fled slavery following Yahweh, barriers to transformation will also be transformed into pathways. Like Jeremiah people of every culture will proclaim the hope of Yahweh’s transformation of the future when mourning will become gladness.

Typology and “the reluctant prophet.” Jonah certainly is a reluctant prophet: “But Jonah ran away from the LORD” (Jonah 1:3); “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry” (4:1). Why is he so reluctant?25 Is it because the (Gentile) Ninevites are not Israelites? That issue is never mentioned in the book, but it has been a common theme among interpreters. This is referred to as the “typological” interpretation of Jonah. In it, Jonah is seen as Israel, reluctant to share the knowledge of God with the world. Nineveh (and the pagan sailors) are said to represent all Gentiles, who are simply eager to receive the knowledge of his justice and mercy.

The argument made is that the welfare of Israel is Jonah’s highest value. He wants to see Nineveh destroyed and knows that they will repent and be forgiven if he preaches. He knows the evil that their continued existence will bring on Israel. It lifts up the eagerness of the Gentiles to hear a word from Yahweh. Their simple and humble piety in repenting is easily contrasted with Jonah’s complicated and apparently selfish reservations. It has also been contrasted with Israel’s lack of repentance despite its many prophets. The facts of the text, however, simply do not support this symbolic reading. This interpretation has no bearing in the text, undermines its gospel word (forgiveness of the wicked), and tends to promote anti-Semitism.

The issue Jonah has with the Ninevites is not their status in relation to Israel but their wickedness (their status in relation to God). God, Jonah, and the king all recognize that wickedness, not race, is the issue: “Its wickedness has come up before me” (1:2b); “let them give up their evil ways and their violence” (Jonah 3:8b); “when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened” (3:10a).

As Gentiles reading a Jewish Bible, we too quickly identify with the Ninevites and focus on our inclusion in God’s gracious actions and his compassion. Certainly the book of Jonah is an opportunity for us to see Yahweh’s love for outsiders. (See similar demonstrations toward Hagar and Ishmael in Gen. 21:17–21, Naaman in 2 Kings 5, and Hazael in 2 Kings 8:9–15). If, however, Jonah’s racism is addressed by interpreters as implied in the text, care should be taken to own the accusation: The present-day Christian is in the role of Jonah, bearer of the word in the analogy, not in the place of the Ninevites.

Jonah’s protest, which is against forgiving wickedness, is a legitimate concern, and to dismiss it as racism subverts the gospel message of the text. God’s issue is his love for the whole creation, including the rebellious (Jonah) and the wicked (Ninevites). This is an affront to Jonah, whose theology (and common sense) tells him that the wicked deserve punishment. He was even willing to die for his rebellion. His theology of strict justice is a problem in the text that addresses the present-day reader. Racism (although also a very real modern problem) is not addressed in the historical text.

God calls Jonah a second time in the same way because he wants the lost saved. God has determined that his kingdom will come to the whole earth (Ezek. 18:32; John 3:16) and that it will come to Nineveh through Jonah. When God opens his eyes to see the great need in Nineveh, Jonah does not want to see it. The contemporary application of this text is in the great need of the world today. God’s call does not allow for the privatization of religion. Whether at home or abroad, God reveals his mission to his people. God’s call cannot be ignored by those who pray that his kingdom will not pass them by. God calls a second time because he wants the lost delivered and he wants human participation.

Original Meaning

The King Responds in Hope (3:6–10)

THE KING OF Nineveh hears how the city has responded to Jonah’s preaching. Believing the word from Jonah, he leaves his throne with the traditional signs of repentance. His decree approves what the people have already done and adds the commission to pray and give up their evil ways. He hopes that God will “with compassion turn from his fierce anger” (3:9). God does (3:10).

The king takes four immediate steps in response to the prophecy of Jonah. He is “overthrown” from his throne and his dignified clothing. A small chiastic structure is commonly observed in his rising-sitting, unclothed-clothed actions.

A He rose from his throne

B took off his royal robes

B′ covered himself with sackcloth

A′ sat down in the dust

The king responds very differently than Jonah when he hears the word of Yahweh. Both believe the word of Yahweh (and “rose”), but Jonah “ran away” (1:3) while the king “rose from his throne,” the first of his self-humbling actions. The king humbled himself when he “took off his royal robes,” while Jonah was “swept over” by the waves. The same Hebrew verb describes both actions (ʿabar).

After the “overthrow” of the king’s life before God, he takes a fifth step. He and his nobles issue a proclamation, which has five important parts:

• intensification of the general fast

• expansion of the sackcloth of repentance

• command to cry out to the God of Israel

• command to repent from evil ways and violence

• the possibility of hope and God’s compassion offered

The king’s proclamation (3:7–9) begins with a general fast: “Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything” (3:7b). The people have already declared a fast, but the king intensifies it. Usually a fast includes only abstinence from food; the king adds drink to the prohibition. Moreover, the people must not even taste food, and animals must observe the fast too.

The people are already in sackcloth, but the king’s decree extends the sackcloth of repentance to the animals (3:8a).7 The radical earnestness of the decree is odd, even humorous, but it is sincere in the context. This intensification demonstrates that the nobles and king are fully convinced of their danger and want to ensure that the people are not lax in repentance. Not feeding the animals will jeopardize the city’s economy, especially if the fast lasts forty days. The animals join in “crying out” because they are hungry. Even after one day without food the protests of twenty head of cattle can be heard from half a mile away. The bleating and bellowing would have been cacophonous.

The king adds a command for the people to “call urgently on God” for their salvation (Jonah 3:8b). Like the sailors (1:14–16), the Assyrians are converted. No longer praying to their own gods, they call upon haʾelohim, “the true God.” In the case of the Assyrians, the significant change may be from self-reliance to an acknowledgment of God (cf. the Assyrian’s “I am” statement in Zeph. 2:15). This astounding turn toward God would have been shocking to the original readers. Assyria was known for its false gods and its self-worship. Now the king himself commands them to “call urgently” on Israel’s God, whom have already “believed” (Jonah 3:5).

Salvation is possible only through calling or “crying out” (Heb. qaraʾ ) to God. God told Jonah to cry out against Nineveh (“preach, proclaim,” 1:2; 3:2). The ship captain told Jonah to cry out to his god (“call on,” 1:6). The sailors “cried” to Yahweh (1:14). Jonah cried out to Yahweh in his distress (“called to,” 2:2). Jonah cried out in Nineveh (“proclaimed,” 3:4). The people believed and cried out for a general fast (“declared,” 3:5). Finally the king told the people to cry out to Yahweh (“call urgently,” 3:8b).

The king also commands repentance from evil ways and violence (3:8c). Religious signs of repentance (fasting, sackcloth, prayer) are accompanied by a true turning from the cause of their peril. The Hebrew here is more personal and graphic. Literally translated it says, “Let each person repent of his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.” Violence and evil toward others were widely known as Nineveh’s primary point of boasting (see “The Terror Mongers” in the introduction). It is the reason God called on Jonah in the first place (1:2).

The king offers the possibility of hope and God’s compassion. He does not know whether God’s compassion is certain (“Who knows?”), but repentance in turning from offending a god was generally thought to be effective in averting doom. “Who knows” is an expression of humility. The believing king can rely only and humbly on the compassion of the true God for forgiveness of the violence that he has been administrating.

Jonah’s mission is complete. The effect of his preaching has been stunning. The Assyrians have acknowledged the true God. They have sought him through fasting and repented of their “evil ways and their violence” (3:8). “Evil ways” refers to the way they walk (“foot-path”) day to day. “Violence” is (lit.) “the violence that is in their hands.” Jonah has been believed as a true prophet of God.8 The Ninevites have been converted. In humility and repentance, they hope for compassion and deliverance (3:5, 9): “Who knows? God [haʾelohim] may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger.”

“Down” was a major thematic word and action in chapter 1. Now chapter 3 presents the theme of “upside down.” In 3:5–6 several amazing upside down actions occur. (1) The people proclaim the fast before the king. Declarations usually begin at the top and come down. This one begins in the street and reaches the king. (2) The king leaves his throne and removes the kingly robes, preparing for the possibility of the kingship of Yahweh. He joins the common people (“from the greatest to the least”) in sackcloth and sits in the dust in his humility (3:6). This is an “up-ended” king. (3) The king’s proclamation calls for everyone to “call urgently on [Israel’s] God” (3:8). The mighty Assyrians are now, like the sailors, crying for their lives. In two short verses the Ninevites are “overturned”—not yet “destroyed” but in every other way, “turned upside down.”

Jonah 3 concludes with Yahweh’s compassion and forgiveness (3:10). This is a key verse in the book of Jonah. It not only saves the Ninevites, it is also the subject of Jonah’s protest from chapter 1, and it will be the point of contention to the end of the book. God sees what they have done to humble themselves and how, according to the word of the king, they “turned [šub] from their evil ways.” God sees their sincerity in repentance and has compassion.

God’s move toward compassion for the violent who repent is sometimes unnecessarily confused by the use of the word “repent” as a translation for naḥam in 3:10.

KJV:	and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them.
RSV:	God repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them.
NASB:	then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them.
NRSV:	God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them.
NIV:	he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

When God is the subject of naḥam, it is best translated “had compassion” or “relented.”9 The basic meaning of the Hebrew word is “have compassion” or “feel sorrow.” When people feel sorrow, the context of sin often warrants the translation “repent.” The ordinary word for repent (šub) is also used in this text, but it carries the implication of “turning around,” as in changing the way you live. Naḥam is “repentance” in the internal sense of sorrow. When God feels sorrow, however, the word cannot mean “repent” since God does not sin. Rather, it indicates God’s sorrow for the consequences people must face as a natural result of their sin and his justice in the world order. This “sorrow” is expressed in “compassion.”10

God’s move toward compassion is what Jonah has suspected. God’s compassion hidden inside his absolute judgment and Jonah’s protest against it are the fulcrum of the book (see 4:2b). Jonah knows that God’s judgment always implies the possibility of mercy, even when the language of judgment sounds absolute (“Forty more days …” 3:4). Chapter 4 is an extended conversation between God and Jonah on this and other arising issues.