In chapter one of this book, Jonah refuses to do God’s work in Nineveh. He decides to run away, to the furthest reaches of the known world, but he soon realizes that he isn’t outside the reach or sovereignty of God. During his flight from Joppa to Tarshish, God sends a great storm, one that only Jonah can quell. He is thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish.
In chapter two, the fish, whether real or metaphor, is a trial for Jonah to endure. While in the belly of the fish, Jonah comes to a great understanding that God is providing for him, even in this strange circumstance, and that He cares, and his goal is for Jonah to understand His mercy. Jonah does and God, the God of second chances, allows the fish to expel Jonah onto the shore.
1 Then 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.”
Jonah is offered a new beginning from God. The only way Jonah gets this new start is through the adversity he had to endure (trials). God didn’t give up on Jonah, and Jonah now sees this, so the new start, to re administer to Nineveh, is seized by Jonah. You see, Jonah needed to be taught how to follow God, and this lesson is open to us also. We sometimes view adversity as something that gets in the way, instead of pausing and attempting to understand that God is doing something in the trial. When we can view our trials as chances to learn and grow, then adversity is something much different than “getting in the way. ” It’s an opportunity to learn how to “follow properly.”
Jonah’s job is simple, but involves the step-by-step method God normally abides by. In the story of Gideon, and Elijah, as well as many other stories, it’s the same idea: we don’t know all the steps. Our job is to follow God’s lead, piece by piece. Why does God operate this way? Because when we don’t know the entire story, we have to rely on Him. His message is this: follow Me and I will provide for you. I will protect you. I will fight for you. But you need to follow me into the heart of the unknown.” This is relayed in verse 2: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah must first go. Then Jonah must wait for the message.
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Jonah goes to the city and given the message: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” God has given him the message of judgment for Nineveh. They have 40 days (which is the symbolic biblical number for a time of judgment/trial/probation).
You’ll notice here that the Ninevites take Jonah’s message to heart. A fast was proclaimed. This proclamation would have come from the king so Jonah’s message reached all the way to the leaders of Nineveh. This decree of a fast, along with the fitting on of sackcloth (the OT way of expressing sorrow and humility) shows that this wasn’t an isolated group, but Nineveh as a whole.
6 When Jonah’s warning 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. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Jonah’s warning reaches the king himself, who is not removed from repentance. He too took the posture of humility. And as we can see, the king, once humbled, then makes it official. All of Nineveh is to repent. The idea is simple: if we repent, perhaps God will spare us.
And we see God’s response too. Because of Nineveh’s sincere repentance, they will be spared God’s wrath. In this chapter, we see again a dual meaning: the lesson had to be learned by not only the Ninevites, but from Jonah too. It is the way God cares for us, gives us time to understand His mercy and repent. He doesn’t want anyone to fail in the relationship.