Chapter 3

1 Jonah, sent again, preacheth to the Ninevites. 5 Upon their repentance, 10 God repenteth.

1. The second time. Without rebuke for Jonah’s earlier defection the Lord repeats the commission to preach to the Ninevites. Yielding no more to human inclination, Jonah renders prompt obedience to the heavenly call, and without further delay sets out for Nineveh.

2. Arise, go. Because of the repetition of these words (see ch. 1:2) some Bible scholars believe it is likely that when Jonah was delivered from the “great fish” he went to Jerusalem to “sacrifice” and pay the vows alluded to in his prayer of thanksgiving (ch. 2:9). This is pure conjecture.

In ancient times a ship going from Joppa to Tarshish would probably follow the coast line of Palestine northward. If the incident with the whale occurred early in the voyage, Jonah may have found himself much closer to Nineveh than when he embarked (see on ch. 1:13; see The Ministry of Jonah).

Preach. Heb. qaraХ, the word translated “cry” in ch. 1:2.

That I bid thee. The charge to Jonah is that given to every preacher of the word. Only the word of God is to be proclaimed from the pulpit, and not the word of man (see 2 Tim. 4:1, 2). Anxious and perplexed souls in our troubled world today long to receive the counsel of God and not the uncertain and vain reasonings and philosophies of men fallible like themselves. They prefer a “Thus saith the Lord” to a “Thus saith a man.”

3. Jonah arose. The prophet was now as ready to carry out the commission given him by God as formerly he was prompt to avoid it.

Exceeding. Heb. leХlohim, literally, “for God,” an idiomatic way of designating extreme greatness. On the size of the city see Additional Note on Chapter 1.

4. A day’s journey. We need not infer from this statement that Jonah walked for an entire day before beginning his preaching. The statement is probably a record of the first day’s preaching. Soon after entering the city Jonah doubtless began his message of warning.

Yet forty days. It need not be assumed that these words constituted the entire text of Jonah’s message. They were, however, the dominant theme of his warning.

Overthrown. Heb. haphak, the word used in Gen. 19:21, 25, 29 to describe the destruction of Sodom.

5. Believed God. Or, “believed in God.” On the possible background, interpreted by some as contributing to the success of Jonah’s preaching, see pp. 995, 996.

Sackcloth. A coarse dark material woven from goat’s hair and worn in times of mourning and calamity (see Dan. 9:3; Matt. 11:21; Luke 10:13).

6. The king. Possibly Adad-nirari III (see p. 996). The feeling of contrition and repentance seems to have sprung spontaneously from the people without any official royal command (v. 5). It is a remarkable spectacle to see a king of the mightiest empire of his day humbling himself “in ashes” as a result of the preaching of a foreign prophet. What a rebuke to Israel’s proud rulers and people, who persistently refused to humble their hearts under the impact of an even more extensive and continuous prophetic ministry (see 2 Kings 17:7–18)!

7. Proclaimed. When the wave of penitence and humility that began with the people reached the king, he confirmed the fasting by an official decree. His nobles were associated with him in the issuing of this decree, indicating that their spirit was akin to his in this crisis.

Nor beast. A strange decree, but we must remember that it was issued by a heathen king who had been but partially enlightened. A similar custom is referred to in the Apocryphal book of Judith, written probably in the 2d century b.c.: “And every man of Israel cried to God with great intensity, they and their wives and their children and their cattle and every stranger and hired servant and their slaves put on sackcloth upon their lions” (Judith 4:9, 10). Herodotus reports that on one occasion the Persians cut off their own hair and the hair (manes and tails?) of their horses and beasts of burden in a time of general mourning (ix. 24). But to what extent these practices may have reflected the Assyrian customs we do not know.

8. Let them turn. That is, the men. Outward religious acts are without spiritual value unless accompanied by sincere, inner reformation of character.

Violence. Compare Amos 3:10.

9. Who can tell? It is doubtful that Jonah had given any assurance of a possible reversal of the divine decree. His anger at the sparing of the city (ch. 4:1) indicates that he had not. Nevertheless he was well aware of God’s merciful character (ch. 4:2).

10. They turned. Compare Matt. 12:41; see PK 363.

God repented. God does not change, but circumstances do (see Jer. 18:7–10; Eze. 33:13–16). His pronouncements of judgments are frequently, in effect, conditional prophecies (see on Eze. 25:1). For a discussion of the manner of God’s repenting see on Gen. 6:6; 1 Sam. 15:11. God speaks to men in terms of their own experience.

Ellen G. White comments

1, 2 PK 269

1–5PK 339, 363

3     PK 265

3–9PK 270

3–10LS 62

4     1T 56

9     5T 78

10   PK 271; PP 97