Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jonah 3:3
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
3. arose, and went ] Before, he arose and fled. He is still the same man. There is still the same energy and decision of character. But he is now “as ready to obey as before to disobey.”
was ] It has been asserted that the use of the past tense here, “according to all sound rules of interpretation, must be understood to imply that, in the author’s time, Nineveh existed no longer,” (Kalisch). Nothing, however, can safely be determined from the use of a tense in such cases. The clause “Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city,” &c., is evidently a part of the narrative, and prepares the way for Jon 3:4. It simply states what Nineveh was, and what Jonah found and saw it to be, when he visited it. It is not a historical note, like that which is introduced with reference to the building of Hebron, Num 13:22. St John writes (Joh 5:2) “Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep-gate a pool.” It might be argued (as it has been) that because he uses the present tense, Jerusalem must have still been standing when he wrote his Gospel. Yet it might with equal force be concluded (and it is a proof of the unsatisfactory nature of this sort of criticism) that because he says that Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem (Joh 9:18), that “Jesus went forth with His disciples over the brook Kedron, where was a garden” (Joh 18:1), and that “in the place where He was crucified there was a garden” (Joh 19:41), the city and its environs were already laid waste when he wrote.
exceeding great ] Lit., great to God. The expressions of this kind which occur in the Bible may be divided into two classes. They all alike spring out of the devout habit of the Hebrew mind, which recognises God in everything, and sees Him specially in whatever is best and greatest upon earth. But this habit of mind finds expression in two somewhat different ways. Sometimes, at the contemplation of what is more than ordinarily grand or beautiful, the pious mind rises at once to God, and recognises Him in His works. A thing so great, so fair, must be the work of His hands. “By the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen.”
“Who made you glorious as the gates of Heaven
Beneath the keen full moon?
God! let the torrents, like a shout of nations,
Answer! and let the ice-plains echo, God!”
Hence such expressions as “mountains of God,” Psa 36:6; “cedars of God,” Psa 80:10; “trees of Jehovah,” Psa 104:16; the explanation being added in the last of these instances (comp. Num 24:6), “which He hath planted.” The other class of expressions are those in which the excellence of the object contemplated appears to suggest to the mind that it will bear the scrutiny of God’s judgment, that even before Him, or as referred to Him, it is what the writer asserts it to be. To this class the expression here belongs. “Nineveh was a city, great, not only to man’s thinking, but to God’s.” (Comp. ch. Jon 4:11.) In like manner we have, “a mighty hunter before the Lord,” Gen 10:9; “fair to God,” Act 7:20.
of three days’ journey ] The most probable and most generally received opinion is that these words refer to the circuit of Nineveh, and that the writer intends by them to say that the city was so large, that it would take a man, walking at the usual pace, three days to go round it. This would give about 60 miles for its circumference. See note B.
NOTE B. NINEVEH
It is evidently the design of the writer of this Book to give prominence to the vast size of Nineveh. when he speaks of it, it is with the constant addition, “ the great city,” (Jon 1:2; Jon 3:2; Jon 4:11), and the addition is justified by the statements that it was “great to God,” that it was a city “of three days’ journey,” and that it contained “more than sixscore thousand persons unable to discern between their right hand and their left, and also much cattle” (Jon 4:11). In seeking to verify this description and to identify, with some reasonable degree of probability, the Nineveh of Jonah, we have first to determine what is meant by the expression “a city of three days’ journey.” It has been held that the “three days’ journey” describes the time that would be occupied in traversing the city from end to end; along “the ‘high street’ representing the greatest length or ‘the diameter’ of the town, which ran from one principal gate to the opposite extremity.” (Kalisch.) But unless we are prepared to regard the “figures given in the text” as “the natural hyperboles of a writer who lived long after the virtual destruction of the city, and who, moreover, was anxious to enhance the impressiveness of his story and lesson, by dwelling on the vastness of the population whose fate depended on their moral regeneration” (Ib.), we shall find it difficult to accept the gratuitous assumption that Nineveh is here described as a city “about fifty-five English miles in diameter,” with a “high street” fifty-five miles long. Nor is it more satisfactory to suppose that by a city of three days’ journey is meant a city which it would require three days to go all over. No intelligible idea of size could possibly be conveyed by such a definition. Adopting, then, the more reasonable view that the “three days’ journey” refers to the circumference of the city, and estimating a day’s journey at about twenty miles, we have Nineveh here described as comprising a circuit of about sixty miles. Whether this large area was inclosed by continuous walls we cannot certainly say. One ancient writer, indeed, (Diodorus Siculus) asserts that it was, and that the walls were “100 feet high, and broad enough for three chariots to drive abreast upon” ( Dict. of Bible, Article Nineveh); and he, moreover, gives the dimensions of the city as an irregular quadrangle of about 60 miles in circuit. But without relying too much upon his testimony, which may be regarded as doubtful, we may conclude that an area such as has been described was sufficiently marked out to be known and spoken of as the city of Nineveh. This vast area was not, however, completely covered as in the case of our own cities, with streets and squares and buildings. That was a feature unusual, and almost unknown, in the ancient cities of the East. It was perhaps the feature which, belonging to Jerusalem by virtue of the deep ravines by which it was surrounded, and which “determined its natural boundaries,” and prevented its spreading abroad after the fashion of other oriental cities, called forth the surprise and admiration of the Jews after their return from Babylon. “Jerusalem,” they exclaim, “(unlike Babylon where we so long have dwelt) is built as a city which is compact together.” Like Babylon, Nineveh included not only parks and paradises, but fields under tillage and pastures for “much cattle” (Jon 4:11) in its wide embrace. The most probable site of the city thus defined will be seen by reference to the accompanying plan. It lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris in the fork formed by that river and the Ghazr Su and Great Zab, just above their confluence. The whole of this district abounds in heaps of ruins. Indeed, “they are found,” it is said, “in vast numbers throughout the whole region watered by the Tigris and Euphrates and their confluents, from the Taurus to the Persian Gulf.” “Such mounds,” it is added, “are especially numerous in the region to the east of the Tigris, in which Nineveh stood, and some of them must mark the ruins of the Assyrian capital.” ( Dict. of the Bible.) Four of these great masses of ruins, which will be found marked on the plan, Kouyunjik, Nimrud, Karamless, Khorsabad, form together an irregular parallelogram of very similar dimensions to those mentioned in the text. From Kouyunjik (lying opposite Mosul) on the Eastern bank of the Tigris, a line drawn in a S. E. direction, parallel to the course of the river, to Nimrud is about eighteen miles. From Nimrud, in a northerly direction, to Karamless is about twelve. The opposite sides of the parallelogram, from Karamless to the most northerly point Khorsabad, and from Khorsabad to Kouyunjik again, are about the same. These four vast piles of buildings, with the area included in the parallelogram which they form, are now generally identified with the site of the Nineveh which Jonah visited. For fuller particulars the reader is referred to Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, Article Nineveh, and to the well-known works of Mr Layard and Professor Rawlingson.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh – , ready to obey, as before to disobey. Before, when God said those same words, he arose and fled; now, he arose and went. True conversion shows the same energy in serving God, as the unconverted had before shown in serving self or error. Sauls spirit of fire, which persecuted Christ, gleamed in Paul like lightning through the world, to win souls to Him.
Nineveh was an exceeding great city – literally great to God, i. e., what would not only appear great to man who admires things of no account, but what, being really great, is so in the judgment of God who cannot be deceived. God did account it great, Who says to Jonah, Should not I spare Nineveh that great city, which hath more than six score thousand that cannot discern between their right hand and their left? It is a different idiom from that, when Scripture speaks of the mountains of God, the cedars of God. For of these it speaks, as having their firmness or their beauty from God as their Author.
Of three days journey – , i. e., 60 miles in circumference. It was a great city. Jonah speaks of its greatness, under a name which he would only have used of real greatness. Varied accounts agree in ascribing this size to Nineveh . An Eastern city enclosing often, as did Babylon, ground under tillage, the only marvel is, that such a space was enclosed by walls. Yet this too is no marvel, when we know from inscriptions, what masses of human strength the great empires of old had at their command, or of the more than threescore pyramids of Egypt . In population it was far inferior to our metropolis, of which, as of the suburbs of Rome of old , one would hesitate to say, where the city ended, where it began. The suburban parts are so joined on to the city itself and give the spectator the idea of boundless length.
An Eastern would the more naturally think of the circumference of a city, because of the broad places, similar to the boulevards of Paris, which encircles it, so that people could walk around it, within it . The buildings, it is related of Babylon, are not brought close to the walls, but are at about the distance of an acre from them. And not even the whole city did they occupy with houses; 80 furlongs are inhabited, and not even all these continuously, I suppose because it seemed safer to live scattered in several places. The rest they sow and till, that, if any foreign force threaten them, the besieged may be supplied with food from the soil of the city itself. Not Babylon alone was spoken of, of old, as having the circumference of a nation rather than of a city.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jon 3:3
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the Word of the Lord.
Obedient at last (for children)
Introduce by description of Jonahs conduct and history. Dwell on his call, flight, peril, humiliation, prayer, restoration, and second call. Also on–
(1) The city.
(2) The preacher.
(3) The message.
(4) The fast.
(5) The proclamation.
(6) The Divine mercy.
Impress that the long-suffering and forgiving grace of God are shown–
1. In giving Jonah another commission.
2. In hearing the penitent prayer of the Ninevites.
Show that penitence must, of necessity, precede forgiveness. Make this question the point of the address,–In what spirit should Gods servants go forth to do His work?
1. They should be strictly obedient.
2. They should be simply trustful; quite sure that God would will the right, and give them grace as they needed.
3. They should be prompt and ready, going at once and cheerfully.
4. They should leave with God the results of their mission. Illustrate, from one Bible character, each of these divisions.
(1) By Abraham.
(2) By David.
(3) By the missionaries who could say, Immediately we conferred not with flesh and blood, etc.
(4) By the apostle Paul. (Robert Tuck, B. A.)
Obedience
Erastus Corning, when a little boy, applied at a shop for employment. The foreman looked down at the frail, lame boy, and asked, Why, my little fellow, what can you do? I can do what I am bid, sir, was the answer. His willingness to obey secured a place, and was the beginning of his successful career as a merchant. (Sunday School Teacher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Nineveh was an exceeding great city, of three days’ journey.] See on Jon 1:2. Strabo says, lib. xvi., , “it was much larger than Babylon:” and Ninus, the builder, not only proposed to make it the largest city of the world, but the largest that could be built by man. See Diodor. Sic. Bib. l. ii. And as we find, from the lowest computation, that it was at least fifty-four or sixty English miles in circumference, it would take the prophet three days to walk round upon the walls, and announce from them the terrible message, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be destroyed!”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So, Heb. And; as God commands and directs, so Jonah with ready, resolved, and obedient mind sets about the work.
Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh; though it was a long journey, yet three weeks or three months travel by land is more eligible than three days in the belly of hell.
According to the word of the Lord; every way complying with the command of God, speeding thither resolved to preach whatsoever sermon God should put into his head, encouraged with assurance that God who did send would be with him whithersoever he was sent.
An exceeding great city; the greatest city of the known world at that day; it was then in its flourishing state greater than Babylon, whose compass was three hundred and sixty-five or three hundred and eighty-five furlongs, but Nineveh was in compass four hundred and eighty, her walls a hundred feet in height, and broad enough for three coaches to meet and safely pass by each other; it had fifteen hundred towers on its walls, and these towers two hundred feet high; and one million and four hundred thousand men employed continually for eight years to build it, if our author be not mistaken. There is some difference in accounting how this city was
three days journey: if we account the length of it at one hundred and fifty furlongs, this will amount to eighteen miles and three quarters; this seems too little to be three days journey, unless it be supposed the prophet accounts his leisurely progress, and takes in the many stops that would necessarily and unavoidably retard him in his walking and preaching such strange news; if we consider this, it is not unlikely six miles would be as far as he could go in a day, preaching to all and discoursing with many. Others will account it three days journey to go through the streets and lanes of this city; but on the supposition it was eighteen miles in length, and eleven miles in breadth, it will be more than three days journey, or a weeks journey; for supposing in a miles breadth but eight streets, from end to end, through eighteen miles length, it will amount to four hundred and sixty-four miles. Others account by the compass of the walls sixty miles, and allow twenty miles to each days journey, too far for any one to walk, preach, dispute or reason, and account for himself: the first account seems most probable.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. arose and wentlike the sonwho was at first disobedient to the father’s command, “Go workin my vineyard,” but who afterwards “repented and went”(Mat 21:28; Mat 21:29).Jonah was thus the fittest instrument for proclaiming judgment, andyet hope of mercy on repentance to Nineveh, being himself a livingexemplification of bothjudgment in his entombment in the fish,mercy on repentance in his deliverance. Israel professing to obey,but not obeying, and so doomed to exile in the same Nineveh, answersto the son who said, “I go, sir, and went not.” In Lu11:30 it is said that Jonas was not only a sign to the men inChrist’s time, but also “unto the Ninevites.” On the latteroccasion (Mt 16:1-4)when the Pharisees and Sadducees tempted Him, asking a sign fromheaven, He answered, “No sign shall be given, but the signof the prophet Jonas,” Mt12:39. Thus the sign had a twofold aspect, a directbearing on the Ninevites, an indirect bearing on the Jews in Christ’stime. To the Ninevites he was not merely a prophet, but himself awonder in the earth, as one who had tasted of death, and yet had notseen corruption, but had now returned to witness among them for God.If the Ninevites had indulged in a captious spirit, they never wouldhave inquired and so known Jonah’s wonderful history; but beinghumbled by God’s awful message, they learned from Jonah himself thatit was the previous concealing in his bosom of the same message oftheir own doom that caused him to be entombed as an outcast from theliving. Thus he was a “sign” to them of wrath on the onehand, and, on the other, of mercy. Guilty Jonah saved from the jawsof death gives a ray of hope to guilty Nineveh. Thus God, who bringsgood from evil, made Jonah in his fall, punishment, and restoration,a sign (an embodied lesson or living symbol) throughwhich the Ninevites were roused to hear and repent, as they would nothave been likely to do, had he gone on the first commission beforehis living entombment and resurrection. To do evil that good maycome, is a policy which can only come from Satan; but from evilalready done to extract an instrument against the kingdom ofdarkness, is a triumphant display of the grace and wisdom of God. Tothe Pharisees in Christ’s time, who, not content with the many signsexhibited by Him, still demanded a sign from heaven, He gave asign in the opposite quarter, namely, Jonah, who came “out ofthe belly of hell” (the unseen region). They looked for aMessiah gloriously coming in the clouds of heaven; theMessiah, on the contrary, is to pass through a like, though a deeper,humiliation than Jonah; He is to lie “in the heart of theearth.” Jonah and his Antitype alike appeared low andfriendless among their hearers; both victims to death for God’s wrathagainst sin, both preaching repentance. Repentance derives all itsefficacy from the death of Christ, just as Jonah’s message derivedits weight with the Ninevites from his entombment. The Jews stumbledat Christ’s death, the very fact which ought to have led them to Him,as Jonah’s entombment attracted the Ninevites to his message. AsJonah’s restoration gave hope of God’s placability to Nineveh, soChrist’s resurrection assures us God is fully reconciled to man byChrist’s death. But Jonah’s entombment only had the effect of a moralsuasive; Christ’s death is an efficacious instrument ofreconciliation between God and man [FAIRBAIRN].
Nineveh was an exceedinggreat cityliterally, “great to God,” that is, beforeGod. All greatness was in the Hebrew mind associated with GOD;hence arose the idiom (compare “great mountains,” Margin,“mountains of God,” Ps36:6; “goodly cedars,” Margin, “cedars ofGod,” Ps 80:10; “amighty hunter before the Lord,” Ge10:9).
three days’ journeythatis, about sixty miles, allowing about twenty miles for a day’sjourney. Jonah’s statement is confirmed by heathen writers, whodescribe Nineveh as four hundred eighty stadia in circumference[DIODORUS SICULUS,2.3]. HERODOTUS defines aday’s journey to be one hundred fifty stadia; so three days’ journeywill not be much below DIODORUS’estimate. The parallelogram in Central Assyria covered with remainsof buildings has Khorsabad northeast; Koyunjik and Nebbi Yunus nearthe Tigris, northwest; Nimroud, between the Tigris and the Zab,southwest; and Karamless, at a distance inward from the Zab,southeast. From Koyunjik to Nimroud is about eighteen miles; fromKhorsabad to Karamless, the same; from Koyunjik to Khorsabad,thirteen or fourteen miles; from Nimroud to Karamless, fourteenmiles. The length thus was greater than the breadth; compare Jon3:4, “a day’s journey,” which is confirmed by heathenwriters and by modern measurements. The walls were a hundred feethigh, and broad enough to allow three chariots abreast, and hadmoreover fifteen hundred lofty towers. The space between, includinglarge parks and arable ground, as well as houses, was Nineveh in itsfull extent. The oldest palaces are at Nimroud, which was probablythe original site. LAYARDlatterly has thought that the name Nineveh belonged originally toKoyunjik, rather than to Nimroud. Jonah (Jon4:11) mentions the children as numbering one hundred twentythousand, which would give about a million to the whole population.Existing ruins show that Nineveh acquired its greatest extent underthe kings of the second dynasty, that is, the kings mentioned inScripture; it was then that Jonah visited it, and the reports of itsmagnificence were carried to the west [LAYARD].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord,…. He was no longer disobedient to the heavenly vision; being taught by the rod, he acts according to the word; he is now made willing to go on the Lord’s errand, and do his business, under the influence of his power and grace; he stands not consulting with the flesh, but immediately arises and sets forward on his journey, as directed and commanded, being rid of that timorous spirit, and those fears, he was before possessed of; his afflictions had been greatly sanctified to him, to restore his straying soul, and cause him to keep and observe the word of the Lord; and his going to Nineveh, and preaching to a Heathen people, after his deliverance out of the fish’s belly, was a type of the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles by the apostles, according to the commission of Christ renewed unto them, after his resurrection from the dead, Ac 26:23; and after many failings of theirs;
now Nineveh was an exceeding great city: or “a city great to God” m; not dear to him, for it was full of wickedness; not great in his esteem, with whom the whole earth is as nothing; but known by him to be what it was; and the name of God is often used of things, to express the superlative nature and greatness of them, as trees of God, mountains of God, the flame of God, c. Ps 36:7 it was a greater city than Babylon, of which [See comments on Jon 1:2];
of three days’ journey; in compass, being sixty miles, as Diodorus Siculus n relates; and allowing twenty miles for a day’s journey on foot, as this was, and which is as much as a man can ordinarily do to hold it, was just three days journey; and so Herodotus o reckons a day’s journey at an hundred fifty furlongs, which make about nineteen miles; but, according to the Jewish writers, a middling day’s journey is ten “parsas” p, and every “parsa” makes four miles, so that with them it is forty miles: or else it was three days’ journey in the length of it, as Kimchi thinks, from end to end. This is observed to show the greatness of the city, which was the greatest in the whole world, as well as to lead on to the following account.
m “magna Deo”, Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version, Mercerus, Drusius, Cocceius. n Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 92. o Terpsichore, sive l. 5. c. 53. p T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 94. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jonah, by saying that he went to Nineveh according to God’s command, proves in the first place, as I have said, how great was the power and energy of his faith; for though Jonah had considered the greatness and pride of the city, he seems to have forgotten that he was an obscure man, alone, and unarmed; but he had laid hold on weapons capable of destroying all the power of the world, for he knew that he was sent from above. His conviction was, that God was on his side; and he knew that God had called him. Hence then it was, that with a high and intrepid mind he looked down on all the splendor of the city Nineveh. Hence John does not without reason say, that the victory, by which we overcome the world, proceeds from faith, (1Jo 5:4.) Jonah also proves, at the same time, how much he had improved under God’s scourges. He had been severely chastised; but we know that most of the unbelieving grow hardened under the rod, and vomit forth their rage against God; Jonah, on the contrary, shows here that chastisement had been useful to him for he was subdued and led to obey God.
He went, then, according to the command of Jehovah; that is, nothing else did he regard but to render obedience to God, and to suffer himself to be wholly ruled by him. We hence learn how well God provides for us and for our salvation, when he corrects our perverseness; though sharp may be our chastisements, yet as this benefit follows we know that nothing is better for us than to be humbled under God’s hand, as David says in Psa 119:1. This change then, he went, is to us a remarkable example; and this is what the Lord has ever in view whenever he roughly handles us; for he cannot otherwise subdue either the haughtiness or the rebellion, or the slowness and indolence of our flesh. We must now also take notice how Jonah attained so much strength; it was, because he had found by experience in the bowels of the fish, that even amidst thousand deaths there is enough in God’s protection to secure our safety. As then he had by experience known that the issues of death are at the will and in the hand of God, he is not now touched with fear so as to shun God’s command, even were the whole world to rise up against him. Hence the more any one has found the kindness of God, the more courageously he ought to proceed in the discharge of his office, and confidently to commit to God his life and his safety, and resolutely to surmount all the perils of the world.
He then says, that Nineveh was a great city (43) , even a journey of three days. Some toil much in untying a knot, which at last is no knot at all; for it seems to them strange that one city should be in compass about thirty leagues according to our measure. When they conceive this as being impossible, then they invent some means to avoid the difficulty, — that no one could visit the whole city so as to go through all the alleys, all the streets, and all the public places, except in three days; nay, they add, that this is not to be understood as though one ran or quickly passed through the city, but as though he walked leisurely and made a stay in public places: but these are mere puerilities. And if we believe profane writers, Nineveh must have been a great city, as Jonah declares here: for they say that its area was about four hundred stadia; and we know what space four hundred stadia include. A stadium is one hundred and twenty-five paces; hence eight stadia make a mile. Now if any one will count he will find that there are twelve miles in a hundred stadia; there will then be in four hundred stadia forty-eight miles. This account well agrees with the testimony of Jonah. And then Diodorus and Herodotus say that there were 1500 towers around the city. Since it was so, it could not certainly be a smaller city than what it is represented here by Jonah. Though these things may seem to exceed what is commonly believed, writers have not yet reported them without some foundation: for however false are found to be many things in Diodorus and Herodotus, yet as to Babylon and Nineveh they could not have dared to say what was untrue; for the first was then standing and known to many; and the ruins of the other were still existing, though it had been for some time destroyed. We shall farther see about the end of the book that this city was large, and so populous, that there were there 120,000 children. If any one receives not this testimony, let him feed on the lies of the devil. But since there were so many children there, what else can we say but that the circumference of the city was very great?
But this seems inconsistent with what immediately follows; for Jonah says, that when he entered the city, he performed a journey in the city for one day and preached. The answer is this, — that as soon as he entered the city, and began to proclaim the command of God, some conversions immediately followed: so Jonah does not mean that he went through the city in one day. He then in the first day converted a part of the city; he afterwards continued to exhort each one to repentance: thus the conversion of the whole city followed; but not in the second or the third day, as it may be easily gathered. Let us now proceed to what remains —
(43) The original is, “And Nineveh was a city great to God” — לאלהים עיר-גדולה. The remark of Henry is, “So the Hebrew phrase is, meaning no more than as we render it, exceeding great; this honor that language doth to the great God, that great things derive their denomination from him” Though the form of the expression here is different from what we find in other places, when God is taken in this sense, as in Psa 80:10, ארזי-אל, cedars of God, that is, tall or great cedars, — yet there is no other sense that comports with this place. This is the view of Dathius, Drusius, Newcome, and many others. Some render it, great through God, and Grotius seems to have taken it in this sense, for he explains it by “ Deo eam augente — God having increased it.” Henderson considers ל here in the sense of לפגי, before, and refers to Gen 10:9. But this has hardly a meaning in this connection. — Ed..
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Jon. 3:3. Went] I am made wiser by correction. Great city] Lit. great to God. Some great through God, i.e. through his favour; others great before God. It was most natural to refer the size of a city, of which the Hebrews could form no adequate conception, to the Divine estimation. I have accordingly rendered the words literally, as our preposition to is often used to note opinion, or estimate [Henderson]. The Hebrews expressed superlative ideas by using the name of God, e.g. mountains of God, cedars of God, &c. Three days] in circumference, or the length of Jonahs journey through it. Expositors differ.
Jon. 3:4. A days journey] commenced, when he found opportunity to preach. No time to loiter, nor gratify curiosity. Cried] as a herald. Forty days] The measure of delays in Gods visitations. A number of frequent use in Scripture. Overth.] Lit. overturned (evertere), turning upside down, total destruction, as Sodom (Gen. 19:25; Isa. 1:7).
HOMILETICS
JONAHS OBEDIENCE.Jon. 3:3-4
Gods chastisement brings forth fruit, and secures dutiful obedience. Weak parents correct their children, and leave them to please themselves afterwards. The results of discipline are lost. Chastisement is an evil unless it produces obedience. Happy is the man whom God correcteth.
I. Jonahs obedience was prompt. The command was arise, and Jonah arose. He consulted not his own interests as before. Impressed with the mercies of God, and the obligation of his vows, he promptly obeys. He goes in no restless, turbulent spirit. He is hearty and enthusiastic. We are commonly reluctant, especially when danger threatens. We are too formal and time-serving. True, ready obedience to God is liberty and blessedness. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
II. Jonahs obedience was complete. He neither delayed nor stopped short of his destination. He went to Nineveh. When he got there he lingered not at the gates, nor gratified curiosity by surveying the lofty towers, the gorgeous temples, and the princely palaces. Neither did he modify his message, nor falter in its delivery. Before the mansion of the rich, and the doors of the poor, in the marts, and in the streets, he gave the alarm (Pro. 1:20). Like Caleb, we must follow the Lord fully (Num. 14:24), or wholly. This requires (a) decision of character, (b) unreserved obedience, (c) undaunted fortitude, (d) unwearied perseverance. My foot hath held his steps, his ways have I kept and not declined.
III. Jonahs obedience was divinely directed. According to the word of the Lord. Fear, self-will, and prejudice had influenced him before; now Gods law is supreme in his heart and life. Religion is the same now; for no man can guide himself, nor be a law to another. We require a rule, (a) Divine in its sanctions, (b) practicable in its requirements, (c) plain in its directions, and (d) beneficial in its results. Gods commands are not grievous. but easy and delightful; in keeping them there is a great reward.
His adorable will let us gladly fulfil,
And our talents improve,
By the patience of hope, and the labour of love.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Jon. 3:3. According, &c. Did you ever pass through a painful crisis, a sore probation of patience, faith, or constancy, keeping in view all the while that your purpose and procedure, your temper and policy, should be according to the word of the Lord? And did you fail? No; and you never will fail while the desire of your heart, and the doing of your hand, are ruled and ordered thus. This is the essence of Christianitythe essence of faith [Martin].
Great city. Great cities have manifested the pride of man, in their erection, enlargement, strength, and splendour; the corruption of human nature, in the enormous mass of sin which they foster, having often proved moral pests; vortexes swallowing up the wealth of a nation, and vomiting out the crimes of mankind; and the power, justice, and holiness of God, in their total annihilation (Nah. 3:8; Isa. 13:19; Eze. 27:32-36) [Sibthorp]. Nineveh, the city of God. God cares also for the heathen (2Ki. 5:1; Jer. 25:9) [Luther].
Jon. 3:4. Speak promptly, and delay not. In Gods kingdom every moment is precious. The time when he puts his word in thy mouth is the right time; not that which thou fanciest for thyself [Lange].
1. God is able to reach and overthrow the greatest persons or places when he has a controversy against them.
2. The Lord often sees it fit, in great wisdom, to conceal any thoughts of love to a people, and holds out only threatenings and severity to induce them more seriously to repent [Hutcheson].
If God had meant unconditionally to overthrow them, he would have overthrown them without notice. Yet, always denotes some longsuffering of God [Pusey].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Jon. 3:1-3. This is substantially the same commission, and yet different. The second call to a man is never exactly the same as the first. The third is never a repetition of the second. Another tone is in the voice of the speaker, firmer or milder. Other shades of meaning are in the message. If it is the second time, still more if it is the seventh time, or the seventy-and-seventh time, there will be changes in the message corresponding with changes which time has brought in circumstances and in character. It may seem a refinement, but, properly understood, it is but a simple truth, that he never receives exactly the same command or invitation from God more than once. If slighted once, the season fair can never be renewed [Raleigh].
A great city. Nineveh covered a great extent of ground. Historians say that its walls were 480 stadia, or 60 miles, in circumference. It was great in population. Jonah mentions 120,000 who could not discern between their right hand and their left. It was great in splendour and power. The researches in the mounds have astonished Europe with the barbaric grandeur of the statuary, and the full details of life and history sculptured on marble, or stamped in arrow-headed characters upon the bricks. But it was morally great to God on account of the human souls, and their spiritual condition. In Gods sight, grandeur, territory, and architectural beauty, are nothing to immortal souls, and the influence which they exert. The material worlds, the sun with its satellites, are not so great as a man. Try to realize how great you are in the sight of God.
Jon. 3:4. Yet forty days. Delay in the execution of sentence is sometimes an encouragement to sin (Ecc. 8:11); but gives space for repentance, and displays the long-suffering of God (see Exo. 34:5-6; Psa. 103:8; Joe. 2:13-14; 1Pe. 3:20).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(3) Now Nineveh was . . .The past tense here certainly seems to imply that at the time in which the author wrote the city was no longer in existence, but the force of a Hebrew tense is not to be estimated by the analogy of modern languages.
An exceeding great city.Literally, A city great to God; an expression equivalent to a divinely great city, and taken, as Ewald thinks, from the language of the people, like the Arabic to Allah, in the saying to Allah (i.e., divine) is he that composed this. In the Hebrew poetic and prophetic writings a finer form is found, e.g., mountains of God, cedars of God (Psa. 36:6; Psa. 80:10), trees of Jehovah (Psa. 104:16), but in Gen. 10:9 a precisely similar proverbial use shows itself, also belonging to the Mesopotamian region, Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.
Of three days journey.Hitzig takes this as giving the diameter of the city, but most commentators refer it to the circumference. The circuit of the walls was the most obvious measurement to give of an ancient city. Herodotus variously reckons a days journey at about eighteen or twenty-three miles (v. 53, iv. 101), and the circuit of the irregular quadrangle composed of the mounds of Koujunjik, Nimrud, Karamless, and Khorsabad, now generally allowed to represent ancient Nineveh, is about sixty miles. This agrees sufficiently with the obviously vague and general statement of the text.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of YHWH. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, of three days’ journey.’
Jonah, now obedient to YHWH, arose and went to Nineveh in accordance with His word. If ‘three days journey is the correct translation we are then told of the size of Nineveh. It was a ‘three days journey’, presumably in width. ‘Three days journey’ is a set phrase that indicates a relatively short journey in contrast with a longer one of ‘seven days journey’ (compare the usage in Genesis). It theoretically represented the distance the average person could travel in a relatively short period (‘three days’ regularly means a short period). Some would take longer, others would do it in less. It is simply an approximate indicator of size. Taking into account the four sister-cities the description is quite reasonable, even if necessarily inexact.
It is, however possible that we should translate as ‘for a three day visit’, with the indication being that visiting Nineveh could not be done in a day. It required following the accepted protocol. In Neh 2:6 the word used here certainly means ‘visit’ (the king was not interested in the literal length of his journey, but rather in the length of his visit).
‘An exceedingly great (or important) city.’ or more strictly, ‘a city great/important to God’. In other words even God saw it as a large one, or even God saw it as important (possibly because it contained a large number of people – Jon 4:11).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jon 3:3. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city The account here given of Nineveh is confirmed by the testimony of heathen authors. Strabo says, that Nineveh was much greater even than Babylon: and Diodorus Siculus affirms, that its builder, Ninus, proposed to build a city of such magnitude, that it should not only be the greatest of the cities which were then in the world; but that none of those who should be born after that time, attempting the like, should easily exceed it: and a little after he subjoins, that nobody afterwards built such a city, either as to the greatness of the compass, or the magnificence of the walls. It is here said, that it was of three days’ journey; that is to say, of three days’ journey in circuit. Diodorus asserts, that the whole circuit of Nineveh was four hundred and eighty furlongs, which make somewhat more than sixty miles; and sixty miles were three days’ journey, twenty miles a day being the common computation for a foot-traveller in the eastern countries. See Bishop Newton, vol. 1: p. 254.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
According to all historians, this city was greater than Babylon, and yet in gross darkness respecting divine things. Reader! think of the mercies of our land! And then stand amazed at the wonderful subject of our abuse of them, and the Lord’s forbearance! I admire the faithfulness of Jonah. See how the Lord can, and the Lord doth, and will, strengthen his people!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jon 3:3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
Ver. 3. So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh ] He went not home first to bid them farewell, as Luk 9:61 , neither went he another way, as once; it was enough of that once, and he had learned obedience by the things that he had suffered. To Nineveh he goes, though a mere and a lowly stranger, unknown, unregarded, and with a harsh message; such as he might fear would cost him his life from that fierce and furious people. But Jonah feared nothing now but disobedience; and seems to say, as afterwards Luther did, Inveniar sane superbus, excors et mode impii silentii non arguar, Let me be called and counted proud, mad, anything, everything that naught is, so that I be not found guilty of sinful silence, and of betraying the trust committed unto me, by a dastardly deserting the cause of God. Jonah was now of another spirit, and fulfilled after God ( implevit post me ), as Caleb, Num 14:24 ; for what reason? he had now received not a “spirit of fear,” and of bondage ( , , Rom 8:15 ), “but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” 2Ti 1:7 ; his Spirit of grace had sanctified to him his afflictions, which else would have been but as hammers to cold iron; as they were to Pharaoh, Ahaz, the railing thief. Aben Ezra saith that as soon as ever the whale had vomited up Jonah he got up and took the direct way to Nineveh; that if God should command him thither again he might be ready, and show his forwardness. It is a very good sign when men are the better for what they suffer; when thereby the iniquity of Jacob is purged, and this is all the fruit, the taking away of their sin, Isa 27:9 .
According to the word of the Lord
Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city
Of three days’journey] Not such a journey as a traveller could despatch in no less time; but such as a preacher, pedetentim obambulando, by leisurely walking, might in three days go through (Theodoret); see Joh 3:4 . This is added to set forth further the greatness of the city.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
three days, &c. i.e. in circuit.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
So: Gen 30:8, *marg. Psa 36:6,*marg. Psa 80:10, *marg.
arose: Gen 22:3, Mat 21:28, Mat 21:29, 2Ti 4:11
an exceeding great city: Heb. a city great of God
Reciprocal: Exo 5:1 – and told Isa 37:37 – Nineveh Dan 6:18 – and passed Jon 3:2 – Nineveh Jon 4:11 – Nineveh Nah 1:1 – Nineveh
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jon 3:3. This time Jonah went in the direction of his duty according to the word of the Lord. Three days’ journey might have referred to the distance round the city or across it either, as far as the expression of the text goes. But the rule of consistency indicates that the latter is meant, for the same days journey is used in the next verse in connection with Jonahs entry into the city and across it. As to what a days journey is would depend upon the means of journeying that is being used at a given time. Journey is from mahalak which Strong defines, A walk, i.e. a passage or a distance. It is the word for “walk in Eze 42:4 where we know it was a place in which men traveled on foot. So the conclusion is that a man would walk across the city of Nineveh in three days at the ordinary speed of such a mode of travel.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
3:3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding {b} great city of three days’ journey.
(b) Read Geneva (c) “Jon 1:2”
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Having learned that he must fulfill the Lord’s commission or suffer the most unpleasant consequences, Jonah this time obeyed and traveled east to Nineveh rather than west (cf. Jon 1:3). For all he knew, he might end up impaled on a pole or skinned alive, which is how the Assyrians often dealt with their enemies. Nevertheless, such a fate was preferable to suffering divine discipline again.
The writer’s description that Nineveh "was" a great city has led some interpreters to conclude that it was not great when the book was written. Some of them take this as evidence for a late date of writing, even during the postexilic period. However it seems more likely that the writer was simply describing Nineveh as it was when God sent Jonah to it. Probably "was" implies that Nineveh had already become a great city when Jonah visited it. The Hebrew syntax favors this view. Roland de Vaux estimated that Israel’s largest city, Samaria, had a population of about 30,000 at this time. [Note: Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, p. 66.] Nineveh was at least four times larger (Jon 4:11).
The meaning of "a three-days’ walk" remains somewhat obscure. The Hebrew phrase is literally "a distance of three days," which does not solve the problem. It may mean that it took three days to walk through the city from one extremity to the opposite one, but the extent of Nineveh’s ruins argues against this interpretation. It may also mean that it took three days to walk around the circumference of the city, though this seems unlikely (cf. Jon 3:4). Whether the size refers to the area enclosed by the major eight-mile wall, which seems improbable, or includes the outlying suburbs is also unclear. Apparently at this time "Nineveh" referred to (1) the city and (2) a complex of four cities including the city in question. [Note: See Keil, 1:390; T. D. Alexander, "Jonah and Genre," Tyndale Bulletin 36 (1985):57-58; and Hannah, p. 1468.] Probably the "three-days walk" describes the time it took to visit the city and its outlying suburbs. [Note: Stuart, pp. 487-88.] In any case, the description clearly points to Nineveh’s geographical size as being large and requiring several days for Jonah’s message to reach everyone (cf. Jon 4:11).
Another explanation is that the literal meaning of the phrase, namely, "a visit of three days," describes the protocol involved in visiting an important city such as Nineveh. It was customary in the ancient Near East for an emissary from another city-state to take three days for an official visit. He would spend the first day meeting and enjoying the hospitality of his host, the second day discussing the primary purpose of his visit, and the third saying his farewells. [Note: Wiseman, "Jonah’s Nineveh," p. 38. See also Stuart, pp. 487-88.] If Jonah was such an emissary, he went as a divine representative to Nineveh’s king and other government officials as well as to the people. This explanation suggests that Jonah’s preaching may have started with the king and then proceeded to the people rather than the other way around. This view may account better for the king’s repentance and his decree to all the people to repent (Heb. sub; Jon 3:6-9) compared to the traditional view.