Jonah 3:10, commentary and pictures

God saw that Nineveh turned from its evil way, and He withheld the destruction He had said He would bring and spared the city. The turning He regarded was change shown in actions and wholehearted belief with all the heart and might, not merely fasting and outward signs of grief, and He heard their plea for mercy with compassion toward those needing help to learn what is right. The warning was conditional in effect on their response, revealing His mercy, compassion, long-suffering and slow-to-anger kindness, and it stands as the model for how He regards every sinner who truly recognizes sin and turns from it by granting another chance and another trial. Though the proclaimed overthrow did not occur at the stated time, the message was truly sent by God and accomplished His purpose in testing the city, and in accepting their humiliation He turned away His fierce anger and lengthened their probation to wait for its fruits. That humility lasted only for a season, for they were tested during years of probation yet returned to idolatry and worse iniquity so that destruction followed after the earlier doom had been averted, leaving the account as the example that wicked cities in any age may escape judgment by changed conduct and repentance.

Nineveh's Turning and Pardon

God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and He did not bring upon them the destruction He had said He would do. When they turned from evil He withheld the announced judgment and spared the city, and the warning still accomplished the purpose He designed, revealing His grace among the heathen. His compassion toward the repentant city displeased Jonah, who knew Him to be gracious and merciful and willing to relent from judgment.

The turning He regarded was change shown in actions and in changed conduct, not merely fasting and outward signs of grief. It was repentance with all their might and belief with all their heart, including turning from evil, which moved Him to withhold what He had announced and to turn away His fierce anger. He heard their plea for mercy and showed compassion when they changed their ways, sparing people who needed help to learn what is right. Averting woe and fierce anger is still possible in the same way through wholehearted repentance and belief.

Genuine repentance can lead God in mercy to withhold announced judgment and to grant a sinner another chance and another trial. The sparing of Nineveh is a model for how He regards one who truly recognizes sin and turns from it, its changed conduct being taken as evidence of turning from the evil way. Even after great rebellion another trial could still be given where there is such true and sincere repentance.

The warning was conditional in effect on their response, and sparing them reveals His mercy, compassion, long-suffering, and slow-to-anger kindness toward transgressors who turn. His relenting from the announced calamity showed His mercy toward the repentant rather than preventing judgment when they would later return to sin. If wicked cities today repented as Nineveh did, they would receive warnings like Jonah's, for His compassion and long-suffering extend to all who turn from their evil ways.

Nineveh at that time was the mightiest nation on earth, which had corrupted its ways before Him. From the king to the humblest servant the people believed the warning that in forty days the city would be overthrown, and humbled themselves before Him in fasting and sackcloth and cried to Him for mercy. He accepted their repentance and humiliation, averted their doom, and did not destroy them, its purpose being accomplished when it led them to repent so that the predicted destruction did not occur. The city held more than sixscore thousand persons who could not discern between their right hand and their left hand and had not been educated to do right, yet in His gracious, merciful, slow to anger, compassionate kindness He repented of the evil He said He would do to them and did it not.

Conditional Warning and Probation

The warning that in forty days the city would be overthrown was truly sent by God even though the proclaimed destruction did not occur at the stated time. It accomplished the purpose He designed, for Nineveh was tested by it according to His will. That preaching of definite time also led men to search the Bible diligently and discover truths they had not before perceived.

A merciful God accepted their repentance and humiliation when from king to humblest servant they humbled themselves in fasting and sackcloth and turned from their evil way. He turned away His fierce anger and did not bring the threatened destruction upon them. He lengthened the days of their probation and extended their period of probation, waiting for the fruits of their humiliation instead of destroying them.

The reprieve stands as a parallel to the disappointment of 1844, teaching that God in mercy grants the world longer time to prepare for His coming. The delay allows the warning of judgment to be heard more widely, the people to be tested with greater light, and sinners to be brought to repentance and salvation. God's mercy toward the repentant mattered more than the prophet's fear of appearing false when the announced judgment did not occur. Jonah's discouragement and selfish sorrow over his own humiliation when his proclamation did not come to pass, like that of Elder Morse after proclaiming the Lord would come in 1844, should give way to casting aside selfish sorrow, rejoicing that a reprieve was granted, gathering up the precious light given, and patiently laboring to carry forward the work of bringing sinners to repentance as providence opens the way.

Their repentance brought mercy and averted their doom, for God saw their changed conduct shown in actions and withheld what He had said He would do. Their turning led the heathen world to honor Israel's God and to revere and exalt His law. The Jews kept that experience ever in remembrance, yet Christ declared that a greater than Jonah was present in Himself.

Temporary Reprieve and Present Warning

Nineveh's turning aside from evil led God to withhold the destruction He had said He would bring, yet that humility and appeal for forgiveness lasted only for a season and was temporary. The people were to be tested during forty years of probation, but they failed to heed the light received and later rejected the message that had spared them. They returned to image worship and idol worship and to world conquest, and their iniquity grew worse because they did not continue in the light. The earlier doom had been averted by changed conduct, but destruction followed when they went back into idolatry and sin.

As Nineveh escaped by repenting, the people before the Flood could likewise have escaped wrath and destruction if they had believed the warning and repented and obeyed. They resisted the warnings and continued in sin instead of turning from evil deeds. Even after the rebellion over the spies' report Israel could still have received another trial with true and sincere repentance, but they sank into despondency and tried to earn acceptance by their own works in seizing the land. Eli was given a chance to correct failure but did not repent as the Ninevites did when warned.

The sparing of Nineveh is an example of how wicked cities in any age may escape judgment if they repent, with repentance and change of conduct as the means by which danger is averted. The same compassion and long-suffering extends to transgressors who turn, so that if wicked cities today repented as Nineveh did they would receive warnings like Jonah's. God's forbearance now spares men in cities visited by judgment to give opportunity to acknowledge mercy, show heartfelt repentance, abolish the liquor saloons, and prepare to meet death with Christ's armor on. When men thus spared continue wicked works and legalize and carry on the liquor traffic that brought rebuke and devastation, after receiving time and rebuke, the next stroke will destroy life. Because Nineveh repented at Jonah's preaching, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it.

Averting woe and fierce anger is still possible through wholehearted repentance and belief with all the heart and might, including turning from evil, and God's people must now do as Nineveh did. When men and women humble self as Nineveh humbled herself, God fills them with His Spirit and fits them for His work. Every member of the church therefore needs conversion and spiritual regeneration, putting no confidence in men but looking to the One who is mighty to save all who come to Him.