The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Preaching” it comes from the Hebrew Word “qeriah” which means “preaching, proclamation.”
Jonah finally obeys, and an entire pagan city responds with remarkable, genuine repentance. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Jonah 3.
Jonah receives the word of the Lord a second time, telling him to arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the “preaching,” “qeriah” in Hebrew, that He bids him, so Jonah arises, and goes to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord, Nineveh being an exceeding great city of three days’ journey, Jonah beginning to enter into the city a day’s journey, and crying, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
Jonah describes how the people of Nineveh believe God, and proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them, the word coming to the king of Nineveh, who arises from his throne, lays his robe from him, covers himself with sackcloth, and sits in ashes, causing it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, that neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything, nor feed, nor drink water.
Jonah describes the king decreeing that man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God, and turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands, asking who can tell whether God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that they perish not, describing how God sees their works, that they turn from their evil way, and God repents of the evil that He had said He would do to them, and He does not do it, this remarkable, city-wide repentance from Nineveh, one of history’s most notoriously cruel empires, standing as one of Scripture’s most striking examples of genuine, widespread turning toward God.
This chapter’s remarkable account, an entire pagan city, from king to commoner, responding to a foreign prophet’s brief warning with genuine, widespread repentance, offers a striking demonstration that God’s mercy genuinely extends toward even history’s most notoriously cruel nations when they authentically turn toward Him. Nineveh’s swift, thorough response, unlike Israel’s own frequent, prolonged resistance to similar prophetic warning, provides a sobering contrast highlighting how genuine repentance sometimes comes more readily from unexpected sources.
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