Jonah 3:4, commentary and pictures

Jonah obeyed God's renewed command after fleeing from duty and entered the mighty, wicked city of Nineveh, crying from street to street for three days and nights that in forty days it would be overthrown. The warning reached all from least to greatest, and when they believed God, humbled themselves in fasting and sackcloth and turned from evil, He accepted their repentance, spared the city and lengthened their probation. The message was conditional and truly from God, fulfilled in its testing purpose even though the overthrow did not come at the end of the forty days, and preaching such definite time is of God to test hearers, lead to diligent searching of Scripture and purify believers. As with Nineveh, the Advent warning of judgment was led by God and did its appointed work, the mistake being in expecting the event as first understood rather than in proclaiming the time, with later light showing Christ entering the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and the delay revealing mercy granting longer time to prepare and be tested. After such disappointment the duty is not discouragement and selfish sorrow over humiliation when scoffers deride, but trust in God's wisdom, rejoicing in the reprieve, and patiently laboring as providence opens the way to bring sinners to repentance, for God means what He says and extends probation to all who truly repent and reject sin.

The Warning Proclaimed

Jonah delivered the message God gave him to preach, without reservation, in obedience to God's renewed command after he had fled from duty. When God commands men to bear His message to the people it means something, and those commanded must move out and declare what He gives them although obstacles of a forbidding character stand in the way. For a time Jonah had refused to speak the words given him, fainting with fear and wild with the awful message committed to him, hurrying away as a disobedient prophet fleeing from duty from the place where he was sent.

He began as soon as he entered the city, and carried the cry from street to street throughout Nineveh for three days and nights. It was a great city whose wickedness had come before God, a great, wicked and godless city, a marvel of wealth and magnificence. At that time it was the mightiest nation on earth.

The content of the cry was definite time: yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. It was God's message against the wicked city, a warning of coming destruction with a forty-day deadline.

Mercy Through Repentance

The cry reached every inhabitant from least to greatest, and they believed God, humbled themselves in fasting and sackcloth from the king downward, turned from their evil ways, and sought mercy and forgiveness. The king himself believed the warning and laid his humiliation upon his people before the Lord.

God saw their humiliation and repentance, accepted it, spared the city, turned away His fierce anger, lengthened their days of probation, and waited for the fruits of their humiliation, giving them opportunity to repent before judgment fell. Their deliverance withheld the threatened destruction and extended their probation.

The warning was conditional and sent by God to test the city according to His will, so it remained truly from God, valid and fulfilled in its purpose even though the threatened overthrow did not occur when the forty days ended. Though the predicted destruction did not come after Nineveh humbled itself, the warning still accomplished its intended purpose and did not fail in reality. Its nonfulfillment did not make Jonah a false prophet.

Preaching such definite time is of God because it tests hearers, leads them to search the Bible diligently and discover truths not before perceived, and purifies believers from dross and refines them like gold. The forty days belong to Nineveh and give no date for the end of the world.

Jonah dreaded being called a false prophet and a deceiver, murmured at God's compassion in sparing the warned people, and in personal humiliation over his unfulfilled prophecy overlooked God's great mercy. He could not bear standing as a deceiver, feeling made a byword and an object of jest among his neighbors when the check of fear was removed and scoffers derided.

The repentance lasted only a season, for the people were granted forty years of probation to show genuine turning and to turn from sin. But they returned to image worship and idolatry, and their iniquity became worse because they had received light and failed to heed it. Emboldened by Assyrian successes in capturing Samaria and scattering the ten tribes, they became defiant in opposition to the purposes of Heaven, and by Hezekiah's time had long since rejected the message and defied Heaven. Their sins reached to heaven, and destruction came.

The verse proves God means what He says, and stands as an example of His forbearance toward a wicked city and of how He extends probation to one who truly repents and rejects sin. Through that warning the law was revered and God was honored and exalted throughout the heathen world. Their repentance made the repentant Ninevites an example in judgment against the generation that heard One greater than Jonah, even Christ present among them, yet did not respond as they had.

Prophetic Pattern and Duty

The forty-day cry against Nineveh stands as the pattern for the disappointment of 1844, for in both cases the warning of judgment was truly led by God and did its appointed testing work even though the expected overthrow did not come as first understood. The mistake lay not in proclaiming the prophetic time but in expecting the event to happen as anticipated, and later light showed that Christ as High Priest had entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to complete the atonement. Though the announced destruction did not occur, the message was none the less from God and accomplished the purpose He designed, so its nonfulfillment did not make the messenger a false prophet.

As with Nineveh, the delay reveals mercy granting the world longer time to prepare for His coming. That reprieve allows the warning of judgment to be heard more widely, gives people opportunity to be tested with greater light, and draws a line revealing in each hearer either love for the Lord's appearing or hatred of His coming. Because the Ninevites humbled themselves, God accepted their humiliation and lengthened their probation, and in the same way further time is now granted for sinners to repent and prepare.

After such disappointment the duty is not discouragement and selfish sorrow over humiliation, but trust in God's wisdom and mercy. When the appointed time passes without the expected event, the check of fear that restrained people is removed and scoffers deride those who looked in vain for fulfillment, leaving the prophet feeling humiliated as a byword and object of jest among neighbors. Instead of dwelling on that humiliation, the prophet is to cast aside discouragement, gather up the precious rays of light God has given, rejoice that the world is granted a reprieve and longer time to prepare, and patiently labor as providence opens the way to bring sinners to repentance and salvation.

Nineveh's history teaches the duty to help people who are ignorant and in need, for its people humbled themselves, turned from evil, sought mercy, and God spared them. When God commands men to bear His message it means something, and those commanded must move out and declare without reservation what He gives although obstacles of a forbidding character stand in the way. Those who claim to know the truth yet lay every obstacle in the way so that light shall not come to the people will have an account to settle with God that they will not be pleased to meet, for God manages His own work. Nineveh stands among cities facing destruction, and its approaching overthrow serves as a comparison for the excitement and moral disorder of the present world.