Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jonah 3:5
So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
5 10. The Happy Result of Jonah’s Preaching
5. believed God ] Or, believed in God. Three things their faith certainly embraced. They believed in the God of the Hebrews, as the true God. They believed in His power to execute the threat which He had held out. They believed in His mercy and willingness to forgive the penitent. And this was marvellous faith in heathen, contrasting favourably with that of the chosen people. “So great faith” had not been found, “no not in Israel.” What they knew of the Hebrews and their God (for doubtless they recognised in Jonah a Jewish prophet) may have contributed to the result. That they knew also the miraculous history of Jonah’s mission to them, and so were the better prepared to credit him, appears to be plainly taught us by our Lord. It is difficult to understand how Jonah should have been “a sign unto the Ninevites,” corresponding in any way to the sign, which by His resurrection the “Son of man” was to “the men of that generation,” (Luk 11:30 with Mat 12:38-41,) unless they were aware that he had passed, as it were, through death to life again, on his way to preach to them. How that information reached them we have no means of judging certainly. Of course it may have come to them from the lips of Jonah himself, though we have seen reason (see note on Jon 3:4) to regard that as improbable. Alford speaks of “his preaching after his resurrection to the Ninevites, announcing (for that would necessarily be involved in that preaching) the wonderful judgment of God in bringing him there, and thus making his own deliverance, that he might preach to them, a sign to that people.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the people of Nineveh believed God; – strictly, believed in God. To believe in God expresses more heart-belief, than to believe God in itself need convey. To believe God is to believe what God says, to be true; to believe in or on God expresses not belief only, but that belief resting in God, trusting itself and all its concerns with Him. It combines hope and trust with faith, and love too, since, without love, there cannot be trust. They believed then the preaching of Jonah, and that He, in Whose Name Jonah spake, had all power in heaven and earth. But they believed further in His unknown mercies; they cast themselves upon the goodness of the hitherto unknown God. Yet they believed in Him, as the Supreme God, the object of awe, the God ‘elohym Jon 3:5, Jon 3:8, ha’elohym Jon 3:9, although they knew Him not, as He Is , the Self-Existent One. Jonah does not say how they were thus persuaded.
God the Holy Spirit relates the wonders of Gods Omnipotence as common everyday things. They are no marvels to Him Who performed them. He commanded and they were done. He spake with power to the hearts which He had made, and they were turned to Him. Any human means are secondary, utterly powerless, except in His hands Who Alone doth all things through whomsoever He doth them. Our Lord tells us that Jonah himself was a sign unto the Ninevites . Whether then the mariners spread the history, or howsoever the Ninevites knew the personal history of Jonah, he, in his own person and in what befell him, was a sign to them. They believed that God, Who avenged his disobedience, would avenge theirs. They believed perhaps, that God must have some great mercy in store for them, Who not only sent His prophet so far from his own land to them who had never owned, never worshiped Him, but had done such mighty wonders to subdue His prophets resistance and to make him go to them.
And proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth – It was not then a repentance in word only, but in deed. A fast was at that time entire abstinence from all food until evening; the haircloth was a harsh garment, irritating and afflictive to the body. They who did so, were (as we may still see from the Assyrian sculptures) men of pampered and luxurious habits, uniting sensuality and fierceness. Yet this they did at once, and as it seems, for the 40 days. They proclaimed a fast. They did not wait for the supreme authority. Time was urgent, and they would lose none of it. In this imminent peril of Gods displeasure, they acted as men would in a conflagration. People do not wait for orders to put out a fire, if they can, or to prevent it from spreading. Whoever they were who proclaimed it, whether those in inferior authority, each in his neighborhood, or whether it spread from man to man, as the tidings spread, it was done at once. It seems to have been done by acclamation, as it were, one common cry out of the one common terror. For it is said of them, as one succession of acts, the men of Nineveh believed in God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from their great to their little, every age, sex, condition . Worthy of admiration is that exceeding celerity and diligence in taking counsel, which, although in the same city with the king, perceived that they must provide for the common and imminent calamity, not waiting to ascertain laboriously the kings pleasure. In a city, 60 miles in circumference, some time must needs be lost, before the king could be approached; and we know, in some measure, the forms required in approaching Eastern monarchs of old.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jon 3:5-9
So the people of Nineveh believed God.
Belief inspired by fear
How came the Ninevites to believe God, as no hope of salvation was given them? For there can be no faith without an acquaintance with the paternal kindness of God; whoever regards God as angry with, him must necessarily despair. Since, then, Jonah gave them no knowledge of Gods mercy he must have greatly terrified the Ninevites, and not have called them to faith. The answer is, that the expression is to be taken as including a part for the whole; for there is no perfect faith when men, being called to repentance, do suppliantly humble themselves before God; but yet it is a part of faith, for the apostle says in Heb 11:1-40., that Noah through faith feared; he deduces the fear which Noah entertained on account of the oracular word he received from faith, showing thereby that it was faith in part, and pointing out the source from which it proceeded. At the same time, the mind of the holy patriarch must have been moved by other things besides threatenings when he built an ark for himself as the means of safety. We may thus, by taking a part for the whole, explain this place–that the Ninevites believed God; for as they knew that God required the deserved punishment, they submitted to Him, and at the same time solicited pardon; but the Ninevites derived from the words of Jonah something more than mere terror, for had they only apprehended this–that they were guilty before God, and were justly summoned to punishment, they would have been confounded and stunned with dread, and could never have been encouraged to seek forgiveness. Inasmuch, then, as they suppliantly prostrated themselves before God, they must certainly have conceived some hope of grace. They were not, therefore, so touched with penitence and the fear of God but that they had some knowledge of Divine grace; thus they believed God, for though they were aware that they were most worthy of death, they yet despaired not, but betook themselves to prayer. They must therefore have derived more advantage from the preaching of Jonah than the mere knowledge that they were guilty before God. (John Calvin.)
Nineveh brought to repentance
Analyse and examine the main features of this repentance of the men of Nineveh.
I. The people of nineveh believed god. The men of Nineveh saw at once the reason for this sentence, for the very first impression produced on them was a belief in God. By this is implied not merely the acceptance of Gods message as truth, but the much greater belief in God. Israels God could not have been unknown to the Ninevites.
II. Mourning in the city became universal. The sin had been universal, and so now became the mourning.
III. They turned from their evil way. Mourning was merely the outward expression of sorrow and repentance. The grand fact is the sincerity of the repentance. They were led to alter their conduct and change their whole manner of life.
IV. They cried mightily unto God. And that cry of Nineveh was not unheard. It came up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. (James Menzies.)
The nature and result of true repentance
The Book of Jonah illustrates mans perverseness, Gods love to sinners, Gods tenderness to His people. It contains a type of our Lords work. It shows God ever the same, whether dealing with Gentile or Jew: stern against sin; yearning over sinners; faithful to promises. As to the repentance of the Ninevites, mark–
I. Its origin. They believed God. Repentance starts from faith and leads to faith. No true repentance till there is belief–
1. That sin is hurtful.
2. That life is fleeting.
3. That Gods Word is true.
Faith of Ninevites very simple,–perhaps ignorant, yet they were led on. It came from God. The Holy Spirits work thus to convince of sin.
II. Its symptoms.
1. Self-abasement.
2. It was universal.
3. It was thorough.
The next symptom was earnest prayer.
(1) They did not stop at humiliation; they cried for pardon.
(2) They looked to the right source for help.
(3) They cried mightily, as if they meant it.
The next symptom was reformation. They turned from their evil way. They brought forth fruits meet for repentance. The only proof of true repentance is to give up sin utterly. Not only fast for sin, but abstain from sin.
III. The result, God repented; that is, He changed His dealings. This was foretold as possible. Yet forty days,–a time of grace given. There is room in the all wise decrees for answers to faithful prayer. Application–
1. Gods laws are the same for all. We have more light, more responsibility than had the Ninevites; but for us the path is the same. Contrition, faith, pardon.
2. Have we repented? A greater than Jonas calls us. By His Word, His work, His death. Let us turn to Him while the day of salvation lasts.
3. What an encouragement to the true penitent. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (A. G. Hellicar, M. A.)
The repentance of the Ninevites
Notice the substance of Jonahs proclamation, and the strong effect which it was made instrumental in producing. Most probably, while with the zeal of an awakened spirit Jonah began to execute his commission, the burden of it, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed, was but used by him as a general theme suggestive of enlargement. To the eye of sense the enterprise thus commenced might seem most formidable and dangerous. But, in the view of faith, difficulties vanished. The effect produced was remarkable. All ranks were pervaded by feelings of disquietude and alarm. The woeful tidings spread from mouth to mouth. God gave unwonted power to the message of His servant, so that the inhabitants of this great and dissipated city were roused to deep concern, and its myriads bowed themselves in penitence and prayer. The impression produced might be partly the mere result of apprehension, as the sinner is often scared for a time, but without lasting and salutary effect. We must distinguish between such transient and partial feelings and genuine penitence. The latter issues in return to Him who has been so grievously offended. Its reality is shown in amendment of life. Notice the general nature of the Ninevites penitence here described, in which We must recognise the exertion of a Divine influence and power. Fear is contagious: faith is the result of Divine influence upon the heart; and it shows the influence of prevailing wickedness in a community that, while some are roused by the preaching of the Gospel to religious earnestness and activity, a much larger proportion too often remain indifferent and slothful. The penitence of the Ninevites was in many cases genuine. We are reminded by this narrative of the propriety of rulers, in their official capacity, employing their influence with a view to promote the interests of righteousness and truth. Civil eminence is to be consecrated to Gods service. We have ground for judging of the pervading and thorough character of the transaction. The vast city was filled with fear and lamentation. The outward signs of abasement were everywhere discernible. Had the repentance of the Ninevites been confined to external indications it would have been exclusive of that homage which God requires, and has alone declared His readiness to accept. The most important feature of the sorrow consisted, not in the covering of the limbs with sackcloth, but in their crying mightily unto God, and in turning every one from their evil way, and from the violence that was in their hands. Godly sorrow will be followed by amendment, the view of sin by its loathing and detestation. We gather from this narrative the propriety of a nation, when threatened by disaster, turning to the great source of sufficiency and strength. And also the happy results that may be expected to follow from such a public recognition of the Ruler of the universe. Stand in awe of Gods mighty power, and admire the wonders of Divine mercy and patience. This history is fitted to remind Christians of their duty and their strength. The duty is to Go into all the world and preach,–not the thunderings of wrath, nor the avenging sentence merely of a broken law, but–the Gospel to every creature. (A. Bonar, D. D.)
Repentance
1. Note the renewed charge to the penitent prophet, and his new eagerness to fulfil it. It is Gods mercy that gives us the opportunity of effacing past disobedience by new alacrity. The second charge is possibly distinguishable from the first as being less precise. The substance of the message is set forth. The preaching which I bid thee,–not his own imaginations, nor any fine things of his own spinning.
2. Note the repentance of Nineveh. The impression made by Jonahs terrible cry is perfectly credible and natural in the excitable population of an eastern city, in which even now any appeal to terror, especially if associated with religious and prophetic claims, easily sets the whole in a frenzy. The specified tokens of repentance are those of ordinary mourning, such as were common all over the East, with only the strange addition which smacks of heathen ideas, that the animals were made sharers in them. There is great significance in that believing God (verse 5). The foundation of all true repentance is crediting Gods Word of threatening, and therefore realising the danger as well as the disobedience of our sin. We learn from the Ninevites what is true repentance. The deepest meaning of the whole narrative is set forth in our Lords use of it when He holds up the men of Nineveh as a condemnatory instance to the hardened consciences of His hearers. The story was a smiting blow to the proud exclusiveness and self-complacent contempt of prophetic warnings, which marked the entire history of Gods people. But if repentance be but transient, it leaves the heart harder than before.
3. Note the repentance of God. All Gods promises and threatenings are conditional God threatens precisely in order that He may not have to perform His threatenings. He repents of the evil which He said He would do when they repent of the evil which they have done. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Jonah at Nineveh
I. Ninevehs sin. Nahum describes Nineveh as the bloody city, all full of lies and robbery. Zephaniah calls it filthy and polluted, the oppressing city. The Ninevites were gross and sensual, cruel in war, eagerly self-indulgent; a people of splendid physique and surprising courage, but cultivating bodily excellences and seeking physical pleasures without thought of their higher nature.
II. Jonahs preaching. Dove-like, he was timid and despondent. He naturally shrank from delivering a message which might save a godless and hostile people from destruction. Jonahs mission was one of great risk.
III. Ninevehs repentance. The Ninevites stand aghast before Jonah. Though an immoral, yet they are a religious people. They believe in a higher power. They are moved by the voice of prophets. Jonahs terrible words are not unheeded. A panic seizes the inhabitants. The king also heard and believed; but he and his advisers discerned a ray of hope. A possibility of pardon seemed to be hinted in the very language of the message, and had foundation in the teachings of natural religion. What causes human misery?–Sin, nothing but sin. If the cause be removed may not the result cease? Still, in this chain of reasoning there is one broken link, and the Ninevites were not certain it could be welded. To stop present sin is indeed to stop the cause of woe; but repentance does not affect the past, and the momentum of sins before committed may hurl a train of miseries far into the future. Repentance is, in fact, of itself an insufficient ground for forgiveness. It does not touch the past. The wonder is, how God, on the ground of mans repentance, can make it consistent to forgive him. Had not God at this very hour of Ninevehs sin had it in His plan to send His Son to earth to die for man there could have been no forgiveness for Nineveh. The turning or repentance was the condition on which God would forgive. Was this repentance sincere and lasting? It did not produce permanent results upon the nation. But this is no reason to suppose that the reformation in Jonahs time was not thorough. A nation easily relapses into sin. There is no evidence that pains were taken to confirm the work at Nineveh.
IV. Gods forgiveness. God repented. How shall we reconcile this statement with Gods unchangeableness? It is man that changes, not God. How shall we reconcile the state-merit with Gods veracity? When God threatens, if the condition of things be changed which makes the evil necessary, the threatening may be mitigated, if not given up entirely. How shall we reconcile Gods forgiveness with Gods justice? Repentance does not atone for the past. It simply is mans part in making Christs work efficacious. Repentance stops the entrance of further evil into the heart. The narrative strikingly illustrates Gods love, His eagerness, we may say, to forgive. The love-side of Gods nature is peculiarly prominent in the Christian dispensation. Notice, in conclusion, the contrasts suggested by the text. The case of Nineveh stands before the impenitent to-day as an expostulation and a rebuke. (Sermons by Monday Club.)
Genuine reformation
The end of all providential mercies, the theme of all Divine teachers, the indispensable condition of all true human power, dignity, and blessedness, is genuine reformation.
I. Its method.
1. It was effected through man. Why did the Almighty require the services of Jonah? Why did He not speak with an audible voice to the men of Nineveh Himself? Or why did He not dispatch an angel from His throne? Or still, why did He not write what He had to say to them in red flame above their heads? All we answer is, Such is not Gods method with man. He makes man the organ of blessing man. This plan serves several important purposes.
(1) It serves to deepen mans interest in his race.
(2) It stimulates men to seek the improvement of their race. If they are to advance they must look to themselves, etc.
(3) It confers signal honour on the race.
(4) It shows Gods wisdom and power in the race. We have this treasure in earthen Vessels.
2. It was effected through man speaking, Jonah was sent to speak, he was to preach unto the city. Truth spoken is the converting force. Christianity written, as compared with Christianity spoken, is as the winter to the summer sky. It may give as much light, but not as much heat; and without the summer radiance the landscapes will wither and the fountains freeze.
3. It was effected through man speaking what God said. Preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. Had he spoken his own thoughts, no valuable effect would have been produced. Gods thoughts are the converting forces. Gods thoughts are always reasonable and universally benevolent.
II. Its development.
1. This reformation began with the intellect. So the people of Nineveh believed God. All moral reformation begins with the intellect–the beliefs. Men must believe what God says, or no saving effect can be produced.
2. This reformation proceeded to the heart. They put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. As they thought upon what they heard, deep contrition seized them, etc.
3. This reformation extended to the outward life. They turned from their evil way. They renounced their old habits of wickedness, and adopted a new and virtuous course of life. Such is ever the natural development of true reformation. Divine ideas first enter the intellect, they are believed, they pass to the heart and generate emotions, and these emotions come forth in new actions. True reformation works from the centre to the circumference, from the heart to the extremities.
III. Its value. And God repented of the evil that He had said He would do unto them; and He did it not. Though this wonderful language is in accommodation to our modes of thought and action, it has a profound significance. It does not mean that God changed His mind towards them;–this would be impossible.
1. It is Gods immutable purpose to pardon repentant sinners. When the impenitent therefore become penitent, Gods conduct so far as they are concerned is changed. (Homilist.)
Effect of Jonahs preaching
In this chapter we have the prophets second call, and what came of His obedience to it.
I. A new spirit (verses 1-3). In part, the command is the same as before. In part, it was unlike the first. Before it was, Cry against it. Now it is, Preach unto it. Here is an intimation of just that mercy against which the prophet before rebelled. Jonah implicitly obeyed it. Here was a new spirit. God had just given him needed discipline. No doubt He now gave him needed grace. It is by both that He prepares us for usefulness.
II. A faithful sermon (verse 4). In this sermon two things are noteworthy.
1. It was direct, simple, plain. There is no enlargement, no argument, no exhortation. There is great power in simplicity. It is Gods own truth, not human additions to it, or commendations of it, which stirs the consciences and wins the hearts of men.
2. It was also alarming. It sounded just one note, and that was a note of warning. It was an unqualified announcement of coming judgment. Denunciations and threatenings alone can never win and subdue to repentance. But Gods denunciations and threatenings never are alone. There was mercy, as well as justice, in the alarm which Jonah sounded. But neither the plainness nor the faithfulness of Jonahs preaching can fully account for the results which followed.
(1) Behind the message was the messenger.
(2) Our Saviour tells us that He was Himself a sign to the Ninevites.
(3) God was with the message spoken, to make it effective by the influence of His Spirit.
III. A repentant city (verses 5-9). Those that heard gave heed. The people seem to have moved first.
1. There was first the fasting, together with the sackcloth and ashes. What did these signify but confession of sin and grief therefor?
2. The supplication for mercy.
3. A moral change.
4. This repentance had its root in faith.
IV. Judgment averted (verse 10). How widespread and deep the work was we cannot tell. (Sermons by Monday Club.)
Gods purpose of grace in the salvation of sinners
The purpose of God unfolds itself gradually in the course of His providence; and when we see the end from the beginning, we see that it is a purpose of grace. He wished to save the men of Nineveh and the only way of salvation with God was repentance unto life. The history of their repentance is therefore the revelation of Gods purpose of grace in the salvation of sinners. God renewed His commission to Jonah, but He does not upbraid the prophet with his former refusal. All that is required is the doing of duty. That is the fruit meet for repentance. If there be any difference between this call and the former, it is that the terms of the second are more absolute and less definite. Jonah now yielded to the Spirit of the Lord. He went according to the Word of the Lord. That was all the difference between Jonah a sinner and Jonah a saint, between the old man and the new. The old resists the Spirit and yields to the flesh; the new resists the flesh and yields to the Spirit. Gods will, not his own nor mans, was now the law of Jonahs life. The Lord said Go; go therefore he must, go in spite of the world, go in spite of self, go whatever should be his fate or his reception at Nineveh. All the ancients speak of Nineveh as an exceeding great city. It must have been a sublime spectacle, to see this single man going from one end to another of this great heathen city, and at every step, or at every street, repeating the same awful message of God. The terms of the prophecy were most absolute. No proof was offered of the prophets divine commission. No call to repentance was addressed to their consciences. No promise was made, or hope held out. The people believed God, and the immediate effect of their faith was repentance. They proclaimed a national and universal fast. They thus humbled themselves as sinners before God. In so doing they obeyed the voice of conscience. By the joint authority of the king and his government a proclamation was issued for public fasting, prayer, and penitence on the part of the people. While they cast themselves on Gods mercy, they were to turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that was in their hands. Their faith was but a peradventure; their hope was in Gods mercy. And God repented when they repented. He did not change His purpose, He only changed His method of outworking His purpose. His are purposes of grace, even when they seem to be nothing but proclamations of wrath to the uttermost. They are given for the very purpose of bringing the sinner to salvation by bringing him to repentance. Why is there no such humiliation before God on account of sin, personal and national, nowadays?
1. Because there are few like Jonah to preach repentance: if they are called to preach, to be Gods witnesses, in whatever place or way or walk of life, they are called to testify against the world that has not come to repentance.
2. Because the message of God is not seen to be a matter of fact as personal, and to those who are sinners like the men of Nineveh as terrible as that of Jonah to Nineveh.
3. Because Gods purpose of grace revealed in the Gospel is little realised in its fulness and freeness of grace. Two things in relation to salvation which this history sets in the clearest light.
(1) Repentance is the fruit of faith, not the root. The men of Nineveh believed God, and therefore they repented. So must all sinners.
(2) Faith in God, when it is living and genuine, ever works by such repentance, where there is such sin, personal or national. Faith brings the sinner to God, as a man who must bear his own burden, and answer to God for his own personal guilt. (N. Paisley.)
Jonahs preaching
God had delivered Jonah; but Gods pardoning mercy was no plea for negligence of duty. The Lord requires Jonah to consider again the message with which he was originally charged. God will have His people obey His will instantly, unreservedly, and with a full desire to carry it out in all things.
I. The substance of the message which Jonah was bidden to deliver. He has to proclaim that destruction is nigh at hand, that evil awaits the city, and that this evil is the immediate act of God. Second causes there may be, but they are only second. Most people talk in their time of trouble about God being all-merciful. It is true, but He is also holy and faithful and just. Men speak of Gods mercy as if it were to set aside Gods truth.
II. The conduct of the Ninevites. They acknowledged that the message must have come from the Lord. External signs of repentance were used, anal external signs are useful when they express internal feeling. Here we find that these outward signs were to be accompanied by prayer for pardon and for the averting of judgments, and also by cessation from sin.
III. The mercy of the Lord. He is indeed more ready to forgive than to punish. Though there are fearful threatenings spoken in Gods Word against the impenitent, there are full and free offers of mercy and pardon to every soul that turns from his wickedness and believes in Jesus. (Montagu Villiers, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. The people of Nineveh believed God] They had no doubt that the threatening would be fulfilled, unless their speedy conversion prevented it; but, though not expressed, they knew that the threatening was conditional. “The promises and threatenings of God, which are merely personal, either to any particular man or number of men, are always conditional, because the wisdom of God hath thought fit to make these depend on the behaviour of men.” – Dr. S. Clarke’s Sermons, vol. i.
Proclaimed a fast] And never was there one so general, so deep, and so effectual. Men and women, old and young, high and low, and even the cattle themselves, all kept such a fast as the total abstinence from food implies.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So, Heb. And,
the people of Nineveh; the inhabitants who heard; they first believed who first heard, and successively others as soon as they heard.
Believed God, speaking by his prophet; they knew their own sins. Though Jonah were a stranger to them, yet because, coming in Gods name, he did very particularly, fully, and to the life enumerate, decipher, and lay open their sins, with what they deserved, what might be expected, what God threatened from heaven, all which concurring wrought them to believe their danger, Gods mercy, and the possibility of escape if they repent. Whether the fame of Jonahs deliverance came to Nineveh before him appears not, nor is it likely it should come so far and so fast, though it were known on the Syrian coast, and about Tyre and Zidon; possibly Jonah might publish it in Nineveh.
Proclaimed a fast; every one called upon other to fast, of cried out it was high time to fast, repent, and supplicate God, so some think; but this passage is an anticipation, tells us what was done, and will tell us afterwards on what grounds, authority, and example it was done.
Put on sackcloth; a ceremony very usual in mournings, private or public, in those countries, and a token of their true mourning; this all did, great and small, rich and poor.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. believed Godgave credit toJonah’s message from God; thus recognizing Jehovah as the true God.
fast . . . sackclothInthe East outward actions are often used as symbolical expressions ofinward feelings. So fasting and clothing in sackcloth were customaryin humiliation. Compare in Ahab’s case, parallel to that of Nineveh,both receiving a respite on penitence (1Ki 21:27;1Ki 20:31; 1Ki 20:32;Joe 1:13).
from the greatest . . . tothe leastThe penitence was not partial, but pervading allclasses.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So the people of Nineveh believed God,…. Or “in God” r: in the word of the Lord, as the Targum; they believed there was a God, and that he, in whose name Jonah came, was the true God; they believed the word the prophet spake was not the word of man, but, the word of God; faith came by hearing the word, which is the spring of true repentance, and the root of all good works. Kimchi and R. Jeshuah, in Aben Ezra, suppose that the men of the ship, in which Jonah had been, were at Nineveh; and these testified that they had cast him into the sea, and declared the whole affair concerning him; and this served greatly to engage their attention to him, and believe what he said: but this is not certain; and, besides, their faith was the effect of the divine power that went along with the preaching of Jonah, and not owing to the persuasion of men;
and proclaimed a fast; not of themselves, but by the order of their king, as follows; though Kimchi thinks this was before that:
and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them; both, with respect to rank and age, so universal were their fasting and mourning; in token of which they stripped themselves of their common and rich apparel, and clothed themselves with sackcloth; as was usual in extraordinary cases of mourning, not only with the Jews, but other nations.
(Jonah would be a quite a sight to behold. The digestive juices of the fish would have turned his skin to a most unnatural colour and his hair was most like all gone. Indeed, anyone looking like that would attract your attention and give his message more credence, especially after he told you what had happened to him. A God who creates storms, prepares large fish to swallow a man and preserves him in the fish, would not likely have too much trouble destroying your city. Editor)
r “in Deum”, V. L.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Ninevites believed in God, since they hearkened to the preaching of the prophet sent to them by God, and humbled themselves before God with repentance. They proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth (penitential garments: see at Joe 1:13-14; 1Ki 21:27, etc.), “from their great one even to their small one,” i.e., both old and young, all without exception. Even the king, when the matter ( had – dabhar ) came to his knowledge, i.e., when he was informed of Jonah’s coming, and of his threatening prediction, descended from his throne, laid aside his royal robe ( ‘addereth , see at Jos 7:21), wrapt himself in a sackcloth, and sat down in ashes, as a sign of the deepest mourning (compare Job 2:8), and by a royal edict appointed a general fast for man and beast. , he caused to be proclaimed. , and said, viz., through his heralds. , ex decreto , by command of the king and his great men, i.e., his ministers ( = , Dan 3:10, Dan 3:29, a technical term for the edicts of the Assyrian and Babylonian kings). “Man and beast (viz., oxen and sheep) are to taste nothing; they are not to pasture (the cattle are not to be driven to the pasture), and are to drink no water.” , for which we should expect , may be explained from the fact that the command is communicated directly. Moreover, man and beast are to be covered with mourning clothes, and cry to God b e chozqah , i.e., strongly, mightily, and to turn every one from his evil ways: so “will God perhaps ( ) turn and repent ( yashubh v e nicham , as in Joe 2:14), and desist from the fierceness of His anger (cf. Exo 32:12), that we perish not.” This verse (Jon 3:9) also belongs to the king’s edict. The powerful impression made upon the Ninevites by Jonah’s preaching, so that the whole city repented in sackcloth and ashes, is quite intelligible, if we simply bear in mind the great susceptibility of Oriental races to emotion, the awe of one Supreme Being which is peculiar to all the heathen religions of Asia, and the great esteem in which soothsaying and oracles were held in Assyria from the very earliest times (vid., Cicero, de divinat. i. 1); and if we also take into calculation the circumstance that the appearance of a foreigner, who, without any conceivable personal interest, and with the most fearless boldness, disclosed to the great royal city its godless ways, and announced its destruction within a very short period with the confidence so characteristic of the God-sent prophets, could not fail to make a powerful impression upon the minds of the people, which would be all the stronger if the report of the miraculous working of the prophets of Israel had penetrated to Nineveh. There is just as little to surprise us in the circumstance that the signs of mourning among the Ninevites resemble in most respects the forms of penitential mourning current among the Israelites, since these outward signs of mourning are for the most part the common human expressions of deep sorrow of heart, and are found in the same or similar forms among all the nations of antiquity (see the numerous proofs of this which are collected in Winer’s Real-wrterbuch, art. Trauer; and in Herzog’s Cyclopaedia). Ezekiel (Eze 26:16) depicts the mourning of the Tyrian princes over the ruin of their capital in just the same manner in which that of the king of Nineveh is described here in Jon 3:6, except that, instead of sackcloth, he mentions trembling as that with which they wrap themselves round. The garment of haircloth ( saq ) worn as mourning costume reaches as far back as the patriarchal age (cf. Gen 37:34; Job 16:15). Even the one feature which is peculiar to the mourning of Nineveh – namely, that the cattle also have to take part in the mourning – is attested by Herodotus (9:24) as an Asiatic custom.
(Note: Herodotus relates that the Persians, when mourning for their general, Masistios, who had fallen in the battle at Platea, shaved off the hair from their horses, and adds, “Thus did the barbarians, in their way, mourn for the deceased Masistios.” Plutarch relates the same thing (Aristid. 14 fin. Compare Brissonius, de regno Pers. princip. ii. p. 206; and Periz. ad Aeliani Var. hist. vii. 8). The objection made to this by Hitzig – namely, that the mourning of the cattle in our book is not analogous to the case recorded by Herodotus, because the former was an expression of repentance – has no force whatever, for the simple reason that in all nations the outward signs of penitential mourning are the same as those of mourning for the dead.)
This custom originated in the idea that there is a biotic rapport between man and the larger domestic animals, such as oxen, sheep, and goats, which are his living property. It is only to these animals that there is any reference here, and not to “horses, asses, and camels, which were decorated at other times with costly coverings,” as Marck, Rosenmller, and others erroneously assume. Moreover, this was not done “with the intention of impelling the men to shed hotter tears through the lowing and groaning of the cattle” (Theodoret); or “to set before them as in a mirror, through the sufferings of the innocent brutes, their own great guilt” (Chald.); but it was a manifestation of the thought, that just as the animals which live with man are drawn into fellowship with his sin, so their sufferings might also help to appease the wrath of God. And although this thought might not be free from superstition, there lay at the foundation of it this deep truth, that the irrational creature is made subject to vanity on account of man’s sins, and sighs along with man for liberation from the bondage of corruption (Rom 8:19.). We cannot therefore take the words “cry mightily unto God” as referring only to the men, as many commentators have done, in opposition to the context; but must regard “man and beast” as the subject of this clause also, since the thought that even the beasts cry to or call upon God in distress has its scriptural warrant in Joe 1:20.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Nineveh’s Repentance. | B. C. 840. |
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Here is I. A wonder of divine grace in the repentance and reformation of Nineveh, upon the warning given them of their destruction approaching. Verily I say unto you, we have not found so great an instance of it, no, not in Israel; and it will rise up in judgment against the men of the gospel–generation, and condemn them; for the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonas, but behold, a greater than Jonas is here, Matt. xii. 41. Nay, it did condemn the impenitence and obstinacy of Israel at that time. God sent many prophets to Israel, and those well known among them to be mighty in word and deed; but to Nineveh he sent only one, and him a stranger, whose aspect was mean, we may suppose, and his bodily presence weak, especially after the fatigue of so long a journey; and yet they repented, but Israel repented not. Jonah preached but one sermon, and we do not find that he gave them any sign or wonder by the accomplishment of which his word might be confirmed; and yet they were wrought upon, while Israel continued obstinate, whose prophets chose out words wherewith to reason with them, and confirmed them by signs following. Jonah only threatened wrath and ruin; we do not find that he gave them any calls to repentance or directions how to repent, much less any encouragements to hope that they should find mercy if they did repent, much less any encouragements to hope that they should find mercy if they did repent, and yet they repented; but Israel persisted in impertinence, though the prophets sent to them drew them with cords of a man, and with bands of love, and assured them of great things which God would do for them if they did repent and reform. Now let us see what was the method of Nineveh’s repentance, what were the steps and particular instances of it.
1. They believed God; they gave credit to the word which Jonah spoke to them in the name of God: they believed that though they had many that they called gods, yet there was but one living and true God, the sovereign Lord of all,–that to him they were accountable,–that they had sinned against him and had become obnoxious to his justice,–that this notice sent them of ruin approaching came from him, and consequently that the ruin itself would come from him at a time prefixed if it were not prevented by a timely repentance,–that he is a merciful God, and there might be some hopes of the turning away of the wrath threatened, if they did turn away from the sins for which it was threatened. Note, Those that come to God, that come back to him after they have revolted from him, must believe, must believe that he is, that he is reconcilable, that he will be theirs if they take the right course. And observe what great faith God can work by very small, weak, and unlikely means; he can bring even Ninevites by a few threatening words to be obedient to the faith. Some think the Ninevites heard, from the mariners or others, or from Jonah himself, of his being cast into the sea and delivered thence by miracle, and that this served for a confirmation of his mission, and brought them the more readily to believe God speaking by him. But of this we have no certainty. However, Christ’s resurrection, typified by that of Jonah’s, served for the confirmation of his gospel, and contributed abundantly to their great success who in his name preached repentance and remission of sins to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
2. They brought word to the king of Nineveh, who, some think, was at this time Sardanapalus, others Pul, king of Assyria. Jonah was not directed to go to him first, in respect to his royal dignity; crowned heads, when guilty heads, are before God upon a level with common heads, and therefore Jonah is not sent to the court, but to the streets of Nineveh, to make his proclamation. However, an account of his errand is brought to the king of Nineveh, not by way of information against Jonah, as a disturber of public peace, that he might be silenced and punished, which perhaps would have been done if he had cried thus in the streets of Jerusalem, who killed God’s prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her. No; the account was brought him of it, not as of a crime, but as a message from heaven, by some that were concerned for the public welfare, and whose hearts trembled for it. Note, Those kings are happy who have such about them as will give them notice of the things that belong to the kingdom’s peace, of the warnings both of the word and of the providence of God, and of the tokens of God’s displeasure which they are under; and those people are happy who have such kings over them as will take notice of those things.
3. The king set them a good example of humiliation, v. 6. When he heard of the word of God sent to him he rose from his throne, as Eglon the king of Moab, who, when Ehud told him he had a message to him form God, rose up out of his seat. The king of Nineveh rose from his throne, not only in reverence to a word from God in general, but in fear of a word of wrath in particular, and in sorrow and shame for sin, by which he and his people had become obnoxious to his wrath. He rose from his royal throne, and laid aside his royal robe, the badge of his imperial dignity, as an acknowledgment that, having not used his power as he ought to have done for the restraining of violence and wrong, and the maintaining of right, he had forfeited his throne and robe to the justice of God, had rendered himself unworthy of the honour put upon him and the trust reposed in him as a king, and that it was just with God to take his kingdom from him. Even the king himself disdained not to put on the garb of a penitent, for he covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, in token of his humiliation for sin and his dread of divine vengeance. It well becomes the greatest of men to abase themselves before the great God.
4. The people conformed to the example of the king, nay, it should seem, they led the way, for they first began to put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them, v. 5. The least of them, that had least to lose in the overthrow of the city, did not think themselves unconcerned in the alarm; and the greatest of them, that were accustomed to lie at ease and live in state, did not think it below them to put on the marks of humiliation. The wearing of sackcloth, especially to those who were used to fine linen, was a very uneasy thing, and they would not have done it if they had not had a deep sense of their sin and their danger by reason of sin, which hereby they designed to express. Note, Those that would not be ruined must be humbled, those that would not destroy their souls must afflict their souls; when God’s judgments threaten us we are concerned to humble ourselves under his mighty hand; and though bodily exercise alone profits nothing, and man’s spreading sackcloth and ashes under him, if that be all, is but a jest (it is the heart that God looks at, Isa. lviii. 5), yet on solemn days of humiliation, when God in his providence calls to mourning and girding with sackcloth, we must by the outward expressions of inward sorrow glorify God with our bodies, at least by laying aside their ornaments.
5. A general fast was proclaimed and observed throughout that great city, v. 7-9. It was ordered by the decree of the king and his nobles; the whole legislative power concurred in appointing it, and the whole body of the people concurred in observing it, and in both these ways it became a national act, and it was necessary that it should be so when it was to prevent a national ruin. We have here the contents of this proclamation, and it is very observable. See here,
(1.) What it is that is required by it. [1.] That the fast (properly so called) be very strictly observed. On the day appointed for this solemnity, let neither man or beast taste any thing; let them not take the least refreshment, no, no so much as drink water; let them not plead that they cannot fast so long without prejudice to their health, or that they cannot bear it; let them try for once. What if they do feel it an uneasiness, and feel from it for some time after? It is better to submit to that than be wanting in any act or instance of that repentance which is necessary to save a sinking city. Let them make themselves uneasy in body by putting on sackcloth, as well as by fasting, to show how uneasy they are in mind, through sorrow for sin and the fear of divine wrath. Even the beasts must do penance as well as man, because they have been made subject to vanity as instruments of man’s sin, and that, either by their complaints or their silent pining for want of meat, they might stir up their owners, and those that attended them, to the expressions of sorrow and humiliation. Those cattle that were kept within doors must not be fed and watered as usual, because no meat must be stirring on that day. Things of that kind must be forgotten, and not minded. As when the psalmist was intent upon the praises of God he called upon the inferior creatures to join with him therein, so when the Ninevites were full of sorrow for sin, and dread of God’s judgments, they would have the inferior creatures concur with them in the expressions of penitence. The beasts that used to be covered with rich and fine trappings, which were the pride of their masters, and theirs too, must now be covered with sackcloth; for the great men will (as becomes them) lay aside their equipage. [2.] With their fasting and mourning they must join prayer and supplication to God; for the fasting is designed to fit the body for the service of the soul in the duty of prayer, which is the main matter, and to which the other is but preparatory or subservient. Let them cry mightily to God; let even the brute creatures do it according to their capacity; let their cries and moans for want of food be graciously construed as cries to God, as the cries of the young ravens are (Job xxxviii. 41), and of the young lions, Ps. civ. 21. But especially let the men, women, and children, cry to God; let them cry mightily for the pardon of the sins which cry against them. It was time to cry to God when there was but a step between them and ruin–high time to seek the Lord. In prayer we must cry mightily, with a fixedness of thought, firmness of faith, and fervour of pious and devout affections. By crying mightily we wrestle with God; we take hold of him; and we are concerned to do so when he is not only departing from us as a friend, but coming forth against us as an enemy. It therefore concerns us in prayer to stir up all that is within us. Yet this is not all; [3.] They must to their fasting and praying add reformation and amendment of life: Let them turn every one from his evil way, the evil way he has chosen, the evil way he is addicted to, and walks in, the evil way of his heart, and the evil way of his conversation, and particularly from the violence that is in their hands; let them restore what they had unjustly taken, and make reparation for what wrong they have done, and let them not any more oppress those they have power over nor defraud those they having dealings with; let the men in authority, at the court-end of the town, turn from the violence that is in their hands, and not decree unrighteous decrees, nor give wrong judgment upon appeals made to them. Let the men of business, at the trading-end of the town, turn from the violence in their hands, and use no unjust weights or measures, nor impose upon the ignorance or necessity of those they trade with. Note, It is not enough to fast for sin, but we must fast from sin, and, in order to the success of our prayers, must no more regard iniquity in our hearts, Ps. lxvi. 18. This is the only fast that God has chosen and will accept, Isa 58:6; Isa 58:9. The work of a fast-day is not done with the day; no, then the hardest and most needful part of the work begins, which is to turn from sin, and to live a new life, and not return with the dog to his vomit.
(2.) Upon what inducement this fast is proclaimed and religiously observed (v. 9). Who can tell if God will turn and repent? Observe, [1.] What it is that they hope for–that God will, upon their repenting and turning, change his way towards them and revoke his sentence against them, that he will turn from his fierce anger, which they own they deserve and yet humbly and earnestly deprecate, and that thus their ruin will be prevented, and they perish not. They cannot object against the equity of the judgment, they pretend not to set it aside by appealing to a higher court, but hope in God himself, that he will repent, and that his own mercy (to which they fly) shall rejoice against judgment. They believe that God is justly angry with them, that, their sin being very heinous, his anger is very fierce, and that, if he proceed against them, there is no remedy, but they die, they perish, they all perish, and are undone; for who knows the power of his anger? It is not therefore the threatened overthrow that they pray for the prevention of, but the anger of God that they pray for the turning away of. As when we pray for the favour of God we pray for all good, so when we pray against the wrath of God we pray against all evil. [2.] What degree of hope they had of it: Who can tell if God will turn to us? Jonah had not told them; they had not among them any other prophets to tell them, so that they could not be so confident of finding mercy upon their repentance as we may be, who have the promise and oath of God to depend upon, and especially the merit and mediation of Christ to trust to, for pardon upon repentance. Yet they had a a general notion of the goodness of God’s nature, his mercy to man, and his being pleased with the repentance and conversion of sinners; and from this they raised some hopes that he would spare them; they dare not presume, but they will not despair. Note, Hope of mercy is the great encouragement to repentance and reformation; and though there be but some glimmerings of hope mixed with great fears arising from a sense of our own sinfulness, and unworthiness, and long abuse of divine patience, yet they may serve to quicken and engage our serious repentance and reformation. Let us boldly cast ourselves at the footstool of free grace, resolving that if we perish, we will perish there; yet who knows but God will look upon us with compassion?
II. Here is a wonder of divine mercy in the sparing of these Ninevites upon their repentance (v. 10): God saw their works; he not only heard their good words, by which they professed repentance, but saw their good works, by which they brought forth fruits meet for repentance; he saw that they turned from their evil way, and that was the thing he looked for and required. If he had not seen that, their fasting and sackcloth would have been as nothing in his account. He saw there was among them a general conviction of their sins and a general resolution not to return to them, and that for some days they lived better, and there was a new face of things upon the city; and this he was well pleased with. Note, God takes notice of every instance of the reformation of sinners, even those instances that fall not under the cognizance and observation of the world. He sees who turn from their evil way and who do not, and meets those with favour that meet him in a sincere conversion. When they repent of the evil of sin committed by them he repents of the evil of judgment pronounced against them. Thus he spared Nineveh, and did not the evil which he said he would do against it. Here were no sacrifices offered to God, that we read of, to make atonement for sin, but the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, such as the Ninevites now had, it what he will not despise; it is what he will give countenance to and put honour upon.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
One thing, escaped me in the third verse: Jonah said that Nineveh was a city great to God. This form of speech is common in Scripture: for the Hebrews call that Divine, whatever it be, that is superior or excellent: so they say, the cedars of God, the mountains of God, the fields of God, when they are superior in height or in any other respect. Hence a city is called the city of God, when it is beyond others renowned. I wished briefly to allude to this subject, because some, with too much refinement and even puerility says that it was called the city of God, because it was the object of God’s care, and in which he intended to exhibit a remarkable instance of conversion. But, as I have said, this is to be taken as the usual mode of speaking in similar cases.
I now return to the text: Jonah says, that the citizens of Nineveh believed God (44). We hence gather that the preaching of Jonah was not so concise but that he introduced his discourse by declaring that he was God’s Prophet, and that he did not proclaim these commands without authority; and we also gather that Jonah so denounced ruin, that at the same time he showed God to be the avenger of sins that he reproved the Ninevites, and, as it were, summoned them to God’s tribunal, making known to them their guilt; for had he spoken only of punishment, it could not certainly have been otherwise, but that the Ninevites must have rebelled furiously against God; but by showing to them their guilt, he led them to acknowledge that the threatened punishment was just, and thus he prepared them for humility and penitence. Both these things may be collected from this expression of Jonah, that the Ninevites believed God; for were they not persuaded that the command came from heaven, what was their faith? Let us then know, that Jonah had so spoken of his vocation, that the Ninevites felt assured that he was a celestial herald: hence was their faith: and further, the Ninevites would never have so believed as to put on sackcloth, had they not been reminded of their sins. There is, therefore, no doubt but that Jonah, while crying against Nineveh, at the same time made known how wickedly the men lived, and how grievous were their offenses against God. Hence then it was that they put on sackcloth, and suppliantly fled to God’s mercy: they understood that they were deservedly summoned to judgment on account of their wicked lives.
But it may be asked, how came the Ninevites to believe God, as no hope of salvation was given them? for there can be no faith without an acquaintance with the paternal kindness of God; whosoever regards God as angry with him must necessarily despair. Since then Jonah gave them no knowledge of God’s mercy, he must have greatly terrified the Ninevites, and not have called them to faith. The answer is, that the expression is to be taken as including a part for the whole; for there is no perfect faith when men, being called to repentance, do suppliantly humble themselves before God; but yet it is a part of faith; for the Apostle says, in Heb 11:7, that Noah through faith feared; he deduces the fear which Noah entertained on account of the oracular word he received, from faith, showing thereby that it was faith in part, and pointing out the source from which it proceeded. At the same time, the mind of the holy Patriarch must have been moved by other things besides threatening, when he built an ark for himself, as the means of safety. We may thus, by taking a part for the whole, explain this, place, — that the Ninevites believed God; for as they knew that God required the deserved punishment, they submitted to him, and, at the same time, solicited pardon: but the Ninevites, no doubt, derived from the words of Jonah something more than mere terror: for had they only apprehended this — that they were guilty before God, and were justly summoned to punishment, they would have been confounded and stunned with dread, and could never have been encouraged to seek forgiveness. Inasmuch then as they suppliantly prostrated themselves before God, they must certainly have conceived some hope of grace. They were not, therefore, so touched with penitence and the fear of God, but that they had some knowledge of divine grace: thus they believed God; for though they were aware that they were most worthy of death, they yet despaired not, but retook themselves to prayer. Since then we see that the Ninevites sought this, remedy, we must feel assured that they derived more advantage from the preaching of Jonah than the mere knowledge that they were guilty before God: this ought certainly to be understood. But we shall speak more on the subject in our next lecture.
(44) ויאמינו באלהים, “And they believed in God. The verb אמן in Hiphil is ever followed by ב or ל, except in one instance by את in Jud 11:20. When followed by ב it seems to mean, to give credit to what is said, to believe one’s testimony, or the truth of what is referred to. To believe then in God is to believe the truth of what he declares, to believe his word. Hence in 2Ch 20:20, Jehosophat said to the people, “Believe in the Lord your God,” האמינו ביהוה אלהיכם; and he adds, “Believe [in] his Prophets,” האמינו בנביאיו. It is the word of God, and the word of the Prophets, which was the same, or the truth or veracity of God and of his Prophets, that they For I have believed [in] thy commandments,” במצותיך, that is, in the truth of thy commandments. — When the verb in Hiphil is followed by ל, the idea of reliance or dependance is more especially conveyed, though in many instances there is hardly a difference tobe recognized, except the context be minutely observed.
Among other passages, the verb in its Hiphil form is followed by ב, in Gen 15:6, Exo 14:31, Num 20:12, 2Kg 17:14, Pro 26:25, Jer 12:6; — and by ל in Exo 4:1, Deu 9:23, 1Kg 10:7, Psa 106:24, Isa 43:10, Jer 40:14
The Septuagint renders believing in God by επίστευσαν τω θεω : so does Paul in Rom 4:3, Gal 3:6; but he retains the Hebrew form in Rom 4:5, πιστευοντι επι τον, etc. Calvin here conveys the same meaning by “ crediderunt Deo — believed God:” that is, the Ninevites gave credit to what God declared by Jonah, they believed God’s word. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
GODS MESSENGER RUNNING WITH GOD THE CONSEQUENCE OF REPENTANCE
TEXT: Jon. 3:5-10
5
And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6
And the tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7
And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water;
8
but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from the violence that is in his hands.
9
Who knoweth whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them; and he did it not.
QUERIES
a.
How would the Ninevites know God and to fast?
b.
Why have the animals fast also?
c.
Does God change His mind (repent)?
PARAPHRASE
When Jonah preached what God said He was going to do to Nineveh, the people of Nineveh believed God. Then they decreed a certain period of abstinence from eating or drinking called a fast. At this time, as a sign of mourning over their sins, they dressed themselves in harsh, irritating garments of haircloth. Even men of luxury, ease and importance did these things, as well as the people of low estate. News of Jonahs preaching and the penitence of the people reached the king of Assyria and he was moved to repentance. He stepped down from his throne, took off his royal robes and dressed in haircloth and sat in ashes, a further act of humiliation to atone for his sins. And the king made an official proclamation, saying, Let no one, not even the animals, eat or drink any thing during this time of fasting. Let this be a time of national penitence. Let everyone, even the animals, be dressed in robes of haircloth manifesting our repentance, and let everyone cry mighty prayers of supplication for forgiveness unto Jehovah God. Let every man and woman stop doing the violent and wicked things they are doing and turn to doing good. Then it may be that Jehovah God will fulfill His promise to be merciful to those who repent and will withhold His fierce wrathwe do not wish to perish. And God took account of their works of repentance as they stopped their wickedness and turned to doing good and He was pleased. Just as He had already decreed from the beginning, God withheld the wrath He said He was going to visit upon Nineveh. Because they repented, God spared them.
SUMMARY
Ninevehs repentance is nationwide, in high and low places, and is manifest in cessation of wickedness as well as in religious acts.
COMMENT
Jon. 3:5 . . . AND THE PEOPLE OF NINEVEH BELIEVED GOD; AND THEY PROCLAIMED A FAST . . . It is interesting to note that belief came before repentance in this case. In fact, it is a scriptural principle taught throughout the Bible that belief must always precede repentance. How can a man be motivated to perform works of repentance if he does not believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (cf. Heb. 11:6). Too much of the time preachers are guilty of expecting nominal Christians to lead lives of repentance when their belief is only nominal! Conviction must come before conversion! Persuasion precedes penitence!
After assent comes action. Jonah uses the same word for believed that is used to describe Abrahams faith (Gen. 15:6; cp. Exo. 14:31; 2Ch. 20:20). It is a word that signifies saying yea and amen to Gods Word as it is revealed. A fast was declared by all the people of Nineveh. It was a national penitence. Men of fame and importance and wealth mourned their sins, as well as the poor and unknown. The sackcloth was a prickly, coarse garment woven of goats hair. It was usually worn over other garments but sometimes next to the skin. It was designed to be irritating and afflicting to the flesh.
Jon. 3:6 . . . THE KING OF NINEVEH . . . COVERED HIM WITH SACKCLOTH . . . That the mighty king of the mightiest nation on earth would humble himself so is evidence of the tremendous impact of Jonahs work. Fasting is abstinence from food and drink. It is a form of afflicting or chastening the flesh and in this way chastening the soul. The second external sign of repentance was wearing sackcloth. The third sign was the use of ashes. All of these religious acts go back to the time of the patriarchs (cf. Gen. 37:34; Job. 16:15; 2Sa. 13:19). Ashes upon the head signified mans recognition of his own insignificance (cf. Gen. 18:27) and was a sign of self-abasement.
It would be well to discuss here the question, in what respect was Jonah a sign to the Ninevites (Luk. 11:30)? Jesus said there, For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The words in the original Greek are somewhat more expressive than the English version. The Lord and Jonah were not merely equally signs to the people among whom respectively they delivered the message of God, but they were signs of the same kind (kathos egeneto Ionas), according as, or in the same manner as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be . . .
In what respect, then, was Jonah a sign to the Ninevites? We are inclined to agree with Fairbairn, that Jonah was not simply as the Lords prophet to the Ninevites, but as himself a wonder in the earth; being one who had, in a manner, tasted of death, and yet had not seen corruptionwho had been sent into Sheol because of sin, and now again returned to witness for righteousness among the living, and show them the way of salvation. We believe that some way or another the people of Nineveh must have had evidence by eyewitnesses (other than Jonah himself) of Jonahs miraculous experience. Fairbairn, again, Unquestionably if Jonah, in respect to that portion of his history, was appointed to be a sign to the Ninevites (of Gods merciful dealing with him after his repentance); then as such, the thing wrought (the miracle) must have been open at least to their inquiries, and capable of being ascertained, so as to produce its due effect upon their minds. We cannot imagine the people of Nineveh (including the king himself) to be motivated to fasting and cessation of violence and wickedness on the mere cry of impending ruin by a stranger, of whom they were totally ignorant! By all the experiences we have had with motivating human belief and conduct we are compelled to suppose that before these Ninevites would make such a thorough-going response they would have investigated the credibility of Jonahs authoritativeness.
Jonahs being a sign of Gods punishment of sin on the one hand and Gods forgiveness of the sinner on the other hand peculiarly fitted him to be also a type, symbol, sign to a future generation of his own countrymen in respect to the history of the Messiahs work and kingdom. The Lord refers especially to Jonahs humiliation or punishment (being in Sheol for three days and nights) as being the sign like unto which He Himself would be a sign. Jonah, whom they justly revered as a true prophet, had been sent to the depths of Sheol, but the Ninevites did not stumble at his humiliating experiencethey listened and obeyed his message. I will suffer a like humiliating experience. I am going in precisely the opposite direction you desire of the Messiah, Jesus tells the Jews of His generation, and you do not receive Me. This is why the Ninevites would stand up and condemn the Jews of Jesus generationthey repented at Jonahs preaching. Jesus meant to tell them that they were looking in the wrong direction for an undoubted seal of his divine commissionthe circumstances and nature of His Messianic work required that he should bear upon him the signs, not of heavenly splendor and power, but of profound humiliation, even to going down into Hades (death).
But there is another aspect to the sign of Jonahthat of his resurrection. And this is intended to be included in the similarity Jesus makes of Himself and Jonah. He was to become to the world the sign that Jonah was to Nineveh only when He exhibited the power of God at the resurrection.
There is manifestly a great difference between Christ and Jonah, as well as a similarity. Christ did what Jonah could not be said to dobore, in His humiliation and death, the burden of all mens guilt and condemnation, and by His resurrection justified all who will believe.
So the miracle of Jonah became a sign to his contemporaries of the wrath of God and the power of God and the love of God. He also typified the ultimate sign of God in Jesus Christ of the wrath of God upon all sin; the power of God over death; the love of God for penitent believers.
Jon. 3:7-8 AND HE MADE PROCLAMATION . . . LET NEITHER MAN NOR BEAST . . . TASTE ANY THING . . . LET THEM BE COVERED WITH SACKCLOTH . . . AND . . . CRY MIGHTILY UNTO GOD . . . TURN EVERY ONE FROM THE VIOLENCE THAT IS IN HIS HANDS. Why were animals involved? To show total repentance. The beasts were property and, as such, were considered a part of the person who owned them. Furthermore, animals live with men and are affected by the deeds of men (cf. our comments on Joe. 1:18-20). Causing the animals to participate in the time of mourning and repentance is an ancient Asiatic custom. Herodotus relates that the Persians, when mourning for their general, Masistios, who had fallen in the battle at Platea, shaved off the hair from their horses, and adds, Thus did the barbarians, in their way, mourn for the deceased Masistios. K & D say, This custom originated in the idea that there is a biotic rapport between man and the larger domestic animals . . . the thought is that just as the animals which live with man are drawn into fellowship with his sin (Rom. 8:19-23), so their sufferings might also help to appease the wrath of God. It is evident that withholding food and water from the animals would cause them to groan and cry out to God. This biotic rapport is expressed in Joe. 1:18 ff. The kings order to put sackcloth on the animals shows how intense his desire for total repentance was. One of the most interesting things about the kings decree is that of everyone turning from the violence that is in his hands. Their repentance was to be made manifest in ceasing to do evil and learning to do good (cf. Isa. 1:16-17; and our comments on Joe. 2:12-13). Repentance means a change of life and a change of attitude.
Jon. 3:9-10 WHO KNOWETH WHETHER GOD WILL NOT TURN AND REPENT . . . AND GOD REPENTED. We come now to one of the most perplexing problems of the Bible. Does God repent? The words who knoweth are not so much a question as they are an expression of hope. The very fact that Jonah, a prophet of Jehovah God, had come to warn Nineveh was an indication there would be hope if they should repent. God does not repent or change His mind! His will is immutable (Heb. 6:17; Heb. 12:8; Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17; Psa. 33:11, Pro. 19:21; Isa. 14:24; Isa. 46:9-10; I Sam. 5:29; Psa. 110:4; Eze. 24:14; Zec. 8:14, etc.). On the other hand, many scriptures may be cited which speak of God repenting (cf. Gen. 6:6; Exo. 32:14; 2Sa. 24:16; Jdg. 2:18; 1Sa. 15:11, etc.).
In the first place, often in the O.T. we find human characteristics attributed to God. This is called anthropomorphism which means to describe God after the manner of men. For example, we see with our eyes, and since we know that God sees all things, therefore we say God has eyes. This manner of describing God is a condescension or accommodation to our finite incapability of understanding and describing the infinite. This holds true with regard to God repenting. God is not ignorant, weak, fallible. He does not make mistakes which He regrets. He does not change His mind. He knows all things and sees all things from the beginning to the end. But events may take place which appear, from mans viewpoint, to be changes in Gods mind. When in Gen. 6:6-7 God is represented as repenting that He had made man, does this mean God suddenly decided He had made a mistake in creating man and now regrets it and wishes He had never done so? No! Whatever God does is right and good. When He made man He saw that it was good. But, being a God of love, He made man with a freedom of choice. What pained the heart of God was that man had made the wrong choice.
Mans freedom of choice brings us to the second point in this consideration. Gods moral law is immutable and unchangeable. When man abides within the revealed will of God it is Gods immutable decree that whatever happens to him will turn out for his blessing. When man, of his own free choice, insists upon rebelling against the will of God it is Gods immutable decree that whatever happens to him shall turn out to his condemnation and judgment. The repentance is up to manit is mans responsibility, yes, PRIVILEGE, to change, so long as God shall grant him life and opportunity to do so! Man may change, but God does not for He is perfect in all His ways. To say that God does not change is not to say that God does not act!
Fairbairn, in pointing out the pronouncement of God upon sin and then His compassion upon repentance, says, . . . this manifests Him to be unalterably the same. Conducting his administration in righteousness, he must change his procedure toward men when their relation toward Him becomes changed . . . Abraham knew this principle of the Divine government when he said, That be far from thee to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that righteous should be as the wicked; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen. 18:25) Ezekiel also, Hear now, O Israel! Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquities and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. So when Nineveh repented and changed their minds and deeds, for God to have gone ahead and punish them would have displayed Him as a God indifferent to the very basic distinction between right and wrong.
It is in connection with this and other eternal principles of the Righteous, Holy, Just, Compassionate, Longsuffering God that the Bible says God changes not,
Someone will say, If God does not change, why pray? Prayer is not to tell God what we needHe already knows that! Prayer is not to change the mind of GodHe is unchangable! Then what is prayer for? Prayer is both an inward and an outward manifestation of a dependent love for God. Prayer is an expression of relationship. That relationship is one of faith, trust, surrender, dependence, adoration, gratitudeof abiding in the will of ones Heavenly Father. This is why prayer is of the utmost necessity! Man, being free to choose which relationship he will have toward God, must choose the relationship of abiding in His will in order to receive the blessings God has already determined to give him (cf. 1Jn. 5:14-15). God has anticipated our prayers before the foundation of the world. He has built the answer to our prayers into the very providential government and structure of the universe. He knows that we will pray and that we will pray in a spontaneous manner as a helpless child cries to his mother or father. God has put the universe together on a principle of personal relationships in which He answers prayer, Parents know how to answer petitions of children in anticipation. Even with their limited knowledge parents are able to anticipate the future to a certain degree. For example a mother, caring for the fevered little body of a sick child, provides the medicine, the drink of water and other comforts, before the night comes on, knowing that there will be a cry in the night. When the little one cries out in helpless dependence, the mother has planned the answer.
It is interesting to note in Jon. 3:10 that God saw their works. It was not until the repentance of the Ninevites was manifested through works that their salvation was effected by God! Works are both necessary for salvation and a result of salvation. This is a very plain doctrine of both the Old and New Testaments. Even belief is said to be a work by the Lord Himself (cf. Joh. 6:29 and see comments in The Gospel of John, Vol. 1, pg. 238, by Paul T. ButlerCollege Press).
QUIZ
1.
What personal response of the Ninevites toward God preceded their repentance?
2.
How did the Ninevites manifest their penitent attitude?
3.
How was Jonah a sign to the Ninevites?
4.
How was Jonah a sign to the Jews of Jesus day?
5.
Why did the king of Nineveh decree that the animals should wear sackcloth?
6.
Does God repent? Explain!
7.
Why pray?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5) Believed God.Or, believed in God. Notice again an implied contrast to the dulness of the Jews, who were slow to believe the prophetic warnings addressed to themselves.
Proclaimed a fast.Apparently on a spontaneous resolution of the people themselves. (See Note to Jon. 3:6.) The fast would no doubt be for one day, according to the Jewish and the general Oriental custom.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5-9. The effect of the preaching. The effects were immediate. The Ninevites believed God and humbled themselves before him in sincere repentance.
Believed God Or, believed in God (Gen 15:6). They regarded him as the supreme God, to whom they owed allegiance. This recognition made them conscious of their past transgressions, and immediately they set about to secure divine forgiveness. How Jonah, a Hebrew, made himself understood in Nineveh is not stated; some refer, in explanation, to Isa 36:11, as if he had used the Aramaic language, but the passage does not prove that in Jonah’s days the common people, either among the Hebrews or among the Assyrians, spoke or understood that language.
Proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth See on Joe 1:8; Joe 1:13-14.
Greatest least In rank as well as in age; all without exception.
For word came This translation seems to imply that the acts of mourning mentioned in Jon 3:5 were instituted at the royal command, which does not seem to be the thought of the author. The Hebrew is simply, “And the word came”; R.V., “And the tidings reached”; which marks a new step in the proceedings. When the report of Jonah’s preaching and of its effect reaches the king he also immediately humbles himself before Jehovah.
King of Nineveh For the more common “king of Assyria”; see Introduction, p. 335.
Arose from his throne In order to descend from it. His acts are recorded in detail, so as to portray more forcibly the humility and sincerity of the king’s repentance.
His robe The splendid garment of royalty. What a contrast between it and the garment of mourning!
Sackcloth See references on Jon 3:5 (compare Jer 6:26; Eze 27:30-31).
Sat in ashes Another sign of deepest mourning (Job 2:8). A.B. Davidson, commenting on the latter passage, says, “By the ‘ashes’ is probably meant the Mazbalah, the place outside the Arabic towns where the zibl, that is, dung and other rubbish of the place, is thrown.”
In addition to this personal renunciation the king proclaimed, by royal decree, a day of fasting and supplication, and exhorted all to bring forth “fruits worthy of repentance,” in the hope that God may yet be merciful.
7a, the introduction to the decree itself, may be rendered more accurately, “And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh. By the decree of the king and his nobles, thus: .” The first clause contains the words of the narrator; the second those of the heralds by whom the proclamation was made, indicating the authority for the command about to be given.
Decree The Hebrew word occurs only here in this sense; it is found quite frequently in the Aramaic portions of Ezra and Daniel; evidently it was a technical term for royal edicts, at least for those of Babylonian and Persian kings.
Nobles The ministers associated with the king in the government.
Man and beast are to join in the fast.
Beast The domestic animals; defined more closely in “herd nor flock,” that is, cattle and sheep. They are not to taste anything; the beasts are not to be driven to pasture, nor are they to drink water. Both man and beast are to be clothed in sackcloth and “cry mightily” unto God in penitent supplication.
God The proclamation does not use the name Jehovah.
Turn The repentance is to be real; a godly sorrow that impels men to turn from their evil ways. Even the Assyrian idolater is represented as realizing the essential requirements of the God of the Hebrews (Mic 6:8; compare Joe 2:13). R.V. presents a more accurate rendering of Jon 3:8 a, “But let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily.” Some modern commentators consider “both man and beast” in this passage a later interpolation. If this view is correct, Jon 3:8 speaks of men only, while Jon 3:7 joins the beasts with the men. With reference to the participation of animals in the mourning G.A. Smith says, “The beasts are made to share in its observance, as in the Orient they always shared and still share in funeral pomp and trappings.” Herodotus (Jonah 9:24) records that the Persians, after the fall of their commander, allowed horses and beasts of burden to participate in the mourning.
Jon 3:9 is the concluding portion of the royal edict. The king expresses the hope that the evidences of grief and repentance may move God to stay the judgment.
Who can tell Perhaps. He does not want to presume too much.
Turn and repent The same words as in Joe 2:14 (see on Joe 2:13).
His fierce anger The holiness of God manifests itself in hatred for everything that is impure. The fierceness of the divine wrath is due to the greatness of the wickedness of the Ninevites (Jon 1:2), which the king seems ready to acknowledge.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the people of Nineveh believed God, and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.’
But the impact of the message was huge, for the people responded to ‘God’ with all their hearts. Note the change from ‘YHWH to ‘God’. They were responding to Jonah’s God. They knew nothing of the covenant with YHWH. We do not know what humanly speaking had prepared their hearts for this message. Perhaps it was the recent plagues (which certainly occurred around this time). Perhaps it was bad news with respect to their war with Urartu, their northern neighbour, causing great fear among the populace. But whatever it was it was kick-started by Jonah’s preaching, taking him totally by surprise. It would not have taken God by surprise. He had known what the situation was.
The impact may have been made all the greater by Jonah’s ‘unearthly’ appearance caused by his sojourn in the large fish, and have been backed up by rumours which were going around of how this strange prophet had come out of a large fish. In a superstitious age such factors would be very telling, and if war was looming it would have had an even greater impact. But, of course, in the end it was all due to YHWH. ‘Salvation is of YHWH.’
The result was that the people proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, both of which were common evidences of mourning in the area. And it is stressed that this was done by the whole people. They were convicted of sin, and were seeking mercy.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jon 3:5. So the people of Nineveh believed God The fame of the wonderful works which God had wrought for the Jews, was spread over the eastern parts of the world. This might induce the Ninevites to hearken to a man of that nation, who came to them as sent from God; especially as he, doubtless, gave them an account of the miraculous circumstances which attended his mission. But certainly a sense of their own guilt, and of their deserving whatever punishment heaven could inflict, was a principal reason that moved them to have a regard for his message. Moreover, by the men of Nineveh’s repenting at the preaching of Jonah, God designed to upbraid the stubbornness of his own people; and shame them, as it were, into repentance, lest the men of Nineveh should rise up in judgment against them, as our blessed Saviour speaks of the Jews in his time. Houbigant reads the last clause of this verse, From the highest to the lowest of the people, or from the nobles to the commonalty.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
What! But the sovereign grace of God could have induced such effects! What nation, what kingdom or people shall we look to, for similar humblings, at the preaching of a poor despised Prophet? Do we not see in it the Lord’s Almighty hand disposing all orders of the people to this conduct!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jon 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Ver. 5. So the people of Nineveh believed God ] See the mighty power of God’s holy word. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds,” 2Co 10:4 , to the laying flat those walls of Jericho, making the devil fall as lightning from the heaven of men’s hearts, Luk 10:18 . These Ninevites, though rich, great, peaceable, prosperous, profane above measure (as great cities use to be), &c., yet, at the preaching of Jonah, they believed God, and repented of their evil ways; whether truly and seriously I have not to say. There is a historical faith, an assent to the truth of what God speaketh, and trembling thereat, Jas 2:19 ; there is also a natural and moral repentance wrought by natural conscience, such as was that of Pharaoh, Saul, Ahab, Alexander the Great, when, having killed Clitus, he was troubled in conscience, and sent to all kind of philosophers (as it were to so many ministers) to know what he might do to appease his conscience, and satisfy for his sin. There are very good authors that hold this conversion of the Ninevites to have been sound and serious (and for this they allege that of our Saviour, Mat 12:41 ), flowing from a lively faith in God, which is the root of all the rest of the graces, the very womb wherein they are received; the fountain also and foundation of all good works, as the apostle Peter hinteth when he saith, 2Pe 1:5 , “add to your faith virtue,” which is nothing else but faith exercised.
And proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth
From the greatest, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jon 3:5-9
5Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. 6When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. 7He issued a proclamation and it said, In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.
Jon 3:5 the people of Nineveh believed God This is a shocking verse. The people of Nineveh had such little information about God (Elohim). They had less than the sailors of chapter 1. Yet, God accepted their faith and turned away His judgment (see Jon 4:11)!
What does this VERB (BDB 52, KB 63), believe, mean? Originally it referred to something firm, stable, sturdy. It developed a metaphorical extension of that thing or person who is faithful, loyal, dependable, trustworthy.
Notice its usage in the writings of Moses (which Paul uses as his OT evidence for justification by grace through faith in Romans 4 and Galatians 3).
1. Abraham believed YHWH about a child to come (Gen 15:6).
2. Israel believed in God’s message and messenger (Exo 19:9).
3. Moses is faithful (Num 12:7).
4. God is faithful (Deu 7:9).
5. trust
a. negatively
(1) Israel did not believe God and His words (Num 14:11; Deu 1:32; Deu 9:23).
(2) Moses and Aaron did not believe in God and His words (Num 20:12).
(3) Jacob did not believe Joseph was alive (Gen 45:26).
(4) Israel did not believe Moses (Exo 4:1; Exo 4:5; Exo 4:8-9; Exo 4:31).
(5) Israel has no assurance (Deu 28:66).
b. positively
(1) Israel believed in God and His spokesperson (Exo 14:31).
This brief list shows the variety and importance of the Hebrew word. See a brief article in NIDOTTE, vol. 1, pp. 427-433. This same variety is followed in the Koine Greek New Testament (see Special Topic below).
SPECIAL TOPIC: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the OT
fast. . .sackcloth. . .sat on the ashes These were signs of mourning (e.g., 2Sa 3:31; 1Ki 21:27; 2Ki 6:30; Neh 9:1) and a public sign of repentance (e.g., Deu 9:9; Deu 9:18; Deu 9:25; 1Sa 6:7; Ezr 10:6; Neh 9:1; Jer 36:6-9; Joe 2:12). See Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol. 4, pp. 302-307.
from the greatest to the least of them This included not only all of the people, but even the domestic animals (cf. Jon 3:7-8).
This phrase also adds evidence to the hyperbolic nature of Jonah. In the history of revivals never has every person in a society repented and believed!
Jon 3:7 Do not let man, beast, herd or flock taste a thing. . .or drink water This was a serious, total fast! No time limit was given, but life could not be sustained without fluids much past three or four days.
Jon 3:8
NASB, NKJVbeast
NRSVanimals
TEVcattle and sheep
NJBall (implying man and animal)
Apparently animals were to have a relationship with humans (Genesis 1-2), but the fall (Genesis 3) affected this and replaced friendship with fear. This friendship will be restored (e.g., Isa 11:6-9; Isa 65:15; Hos 2:18). God created (cf. Job 38:39 to Job 40:24) and loves (cf. Jon 4:11) the animals. If the description of Genesis 1-2 is literal and the consummation of Revelation 21-22 is literal then heaven will be a restored Eden (intimate fellowship between the angelic realm, the human realm, and the animal realm)!
call on God. . .each turn from his wicked way This phrasing expresses both the corporate and the individual aspects of this repentance. The two aspects of salvation are faith and repentance (e.g., Mar 1:15; Act 3:16; Act 3:19; Act 20:21). Jesus affirms the need for true repentance in Mat 12:41 and Luk 11:32. This is something even Israel refused to do (cf. Jer 18:8). Notice the general name for God, Elohim, is used. See Special Topic: The Name of YHWH .
Jon 3:9
NASB, NRSV,
NJBWho knows
NKJVwho can tell
TEVperhaps
This is the INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN who (BDB 566) and the VERB know (BDB 393, KB 390, Qal PARTICIPLE), which is an idiom expressing a possibility (e.g., 2Sa 12:22; Est 4:14; Joe 2:14).
turn This term is used of the Ninevites and of God (it was used in the king’s edict in Jon 3:8, twice in Jon 3:9, and again in Jon 3:10). This is the general OT term for repentance (BDB 996, KB 1427). God is affected by (1) mankind’s response to His Word and (2) the prayers of believers. Biblical repentance involves a change of mind (Greek term) followed by a change of actions (Hebrew term). See Special Topic: REPENTANCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT .
relent This root (BDB 636, KB 688, Niphal PERFECT) literally means to sigh. It denotes heavy breathing. This is the same root as the name of the prophet, Nahum.
This is an anthropomorphic phrase describing God (e.g., Exo 32:14; Psa 106:45; Jer 18:8; Amo 7:3; Amo 7:6 and note Hos 11:8-11). This is a good example of
1. the freedom of God
2. conditional covenants requiring an appropriate human response
Predestination must be balanced with the choices of human free will. God surely knows, but He has created mankind as free moral agents. God’s future actions are in some sense conditioned on current human motives, choices, and actions. This is why prophecy (not Messianic) is conditional. Jonah’s prophecy will not be fulfilled! All prophecies have a conditional element (cf. F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions, pp. 129-130 and Hard Sayings of the Bible, pp. 70-75).
that we will not perish This is exactly parallel to the ship captain’s statement in Jon 1:6.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
people = men. Hebrew pl of ‘enosh. App-14.
believed. Heb Aman. App-69.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
proclaimed a fast. Professor Rawlings has shown just at this time Nineveh was in a time of trouble, and Assyrian history was “shrouded in darkness for forty years”. Hope was given to all the neighbouring countries which were asserting their independence. This explains the readiness of Nineveh to hearken and obey, as was done on another occasion when the prophet of Nineveh declared it needful. (see Professor Sayce, The Higher Criticism and the Monuments, (pp 489, 490) by the Persians in a national trouble; in Greece, a fast which included cattle (Herodotus, ix. 24) and by Alexander the Great (Plutarch, Pelop && 33, 34). This decline of Nineveh gave hope to Israel: which hope had been encouraged by the prophet Jonah himself (2Ki 14:25-27). This may have been the reason for Jonah’s not wishing to avert the overthrow (Jon 3:4) of Nineveh, by giving it the opportunity to repent and thus secure Jehovah’s favour (Joe 2:14). We thus have veritable history, and not allegory.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jon 3:5-10
GODS MESSENGER RUNNING WITH GOD-
THE CONSEQUENCE OF REPENTANCE
TEXT: Jon 3:5-10
Ninevehs repentance is nationwide, in high and low places, and is manifest in cessation of wickedness as well as in religious acts.
Jon 3:5 . . . AND THE PEOPLE OF NINEVEH BELIEVED GOD; AND THEY PROCLAIMED A FAST . . . It is interesting to note that belief came before repentance in this case. In fact, it is a scriptural principle taught throughout the Bible that belief must always precede repentance. How can a man be motivated to perform works of repentance if he does not believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (cf. Heb 11:6). Too much of the time preachers are guilty of expecting nominal Christians to lead lives of repentance when their belief is only nominal! Conviction must come before conversion! Persuasion precedes penitence!
After assent comes action. Jonah uses the same word for believed that is used to describe Abrahams faith (Gen 15:6; cp. Exo 14:31; 2Ch 20:20). It is a word that signifies saying yea and amen to Gods Word as it is revealed. A fast was declared by all the people of Nineveh. It was a national penitence. Men of fame and importance and wealth mourned their sins, as well as the poor and unknown. The sackcloth was a prickly, coarse garment woven of goats hair. It was usually worn over other garments but sometimes next to the skin. It was designed to be irritating and afflicting to the flesh.
Zerr: Jon 3:5. Voluntary fasting and wearing of sackcloth was a custom in ancient times on occasions of grief or anxiety. The only reason this verse assigns for the acts of these people is that they believed God. This justifies us if we “read between the lines, for the preceding verse says nothing about God or of any reason why the city was to be overthrown; but some following verses report the acknowledgement of the evil way of the citizens. A mere prediction of some calamity to come upon a place would not have to mean that it was to be a punishment for sin. hence there was some-thing said or done that informed these Ninevites what it was about.
Jon 3:6 . . . THE KING OF NINEVEH . . . COVERED HIM WITH SACKCLOTH . . . That the mighty king of the mightiest nation on earth would humble himself so is evidence of the tremendous impact of Jonahs work. Fasting is abstinence from food and drink. It is a form of afflicting or chastening the flesh and in this way chastening the soul. The second external sign of repentance was wearing sackcloth. The third sign was the use of ashes. All of these religious acts go back to the time of the patriarchs (cf. Gen 37:34; Job 16:15; 2Sa 13:19). Ashes upon the head signified mans recognition of his own insignificance (cf. Gen 18:27) and was a sign of self-abasement.
It would be well to discuss here the question, in what respect was Jonah a sign to the Ninevites (Luk 11:30)? Jesus said there, For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The words in the original Greek are somewhat more expressive than the English version. The Lord and Jonah were not merely equally signs to the people among whom respectively they delivered the message of God, but they were signs of the same kind (kathos egeneto Ionas), according as, or in the same manner as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be . . .
Zerr: Jon 3:6. This verse tells us that the foregoing actions of the people had been by the direction of the king. He also set the example of penitence by temporarily deposing himself and putting on the customary sackcloth and sitting in the ashes.
In what respect, then, was Jonah a sign to the Ninevites? We are inclined to agree with Fairbairn, that Jonah was not simply as the Lords prophet to the Ninevites, but as himself a wonder in the earth; being one who had, in a manner, tasted of death, and yet had not seen corruption-who had been sent into Sheol because of sin, and now again returned to witness for righteousness among the living, and show them the way of salvation. We believe that some way or another the people of Nineveh must have had evidence by eyewitnesses (other than Jonah himself) of Jonahs miraculous experience. Fairbairn, again, Unquestionably if Jonah, in respect to that portion of his history, was appointed to be a sign to the Ninevites (of Gods merciful dealing with him after his repentance); then as such, the thing wrought (the miracle) must have been open at least to their inquiries, and capable of being ascertained, so as to produce its due effect upon their minds. We cannot imagine the people of Nineveh (including the king himself) to be motivated to fasting and cessation of violence and wickedness on the mere cry of impending ruin by a stranger, of whom they were totally ignorant! By all the experiences we have had with motivating human belief and conduct we are compelled to suppose that before these Ninevites would make such a thorough-going response they would have investigated the credibility of Jonahs authoritativeness.
Jonahs being a sign of Gods punishment of sin on the one hand and Gods forgiveness of the sinner on the other hand peculiarly fitted him to be also a type, symbol, sign to a future generation of his own countrymen in respect to the history of the Messiahs work and kingdom. The Lord refers especially to Jonahs humiliation or punishment (being in Sheol for three days and nights) as being the sign like unto which He Himself would be a sign. Jonah, whom they justly revered as a true prophet, had been sent to the depths of Sheol, but the Ninevites did not stumble at his humiliating experience-they listened and obeyed his message. I will suffer a like humiliating experience. I am going in precisely the opposite direction you desire of the Messiah, Jesus tells the Jews of His generation, and you do not receive Me. This is why the Ninevites would stand up and condemn the Jews of Jesus generation-they repented at Jonahs preaching. Jesus meant to tell them that they were looking in the wrong direction for an undoubted seal of his divine commission-the circumstances and nature of His Messianic work required that he should bear upon him the signs, not of heavenly splendor and power, but of profound humiliation, even to going down into Hades (death).
But there is another aspect to the sign of Jonah-that of his resurrection. And this is intended to be included in the similarity Jesus makes of Himself and Jonah. He was to become to the world the sign that Jonah was to Nineveh only when He exhibited the power of God at the resurrection.
There is manifestly a great difference between Christ and Jonah, as well as a similarity. Christ did what Jonah could not be said to do-bore, in His humiliation and death, the burden of all mens guilt and condemnation, and by His resurrection justified all who will believe.
So the miracle of Jonah became a sign to his contemporaries of the wrath of God and the power of God and the love of God. He also typified the ultimate sign of God in Jesus Christ of the wrath of God upon all sin; the power of God over death; the love of God for penitent believers.
Jon 3:7-8 AND HE MADE PROCLAMATION . . . LET NEITHER MAN NOR BEAST . . . TASTE ANY THING . . . LET THEM BE COVERED WITH SACKCLOTH . . . AND . . . CRY MIGHTILY UNTO GOD . . . TURN EVERY ONE FROM THE VIOLENCE THAT IS IN HIS HANDS. Why were animals involved? To show total repentance. The beasts were property and, as such, were considered a part of the person who owned them. Furthermore, animals live with men and are affected by the deeds of men (cf. our comments on Joe 1:18-20). Causing the animals to participate in the time of mourning and repentance is an ancient Asiatic custom. Herodotus relates that the Persians, when mourning for their general, Masistios, who had fallen in the battle at Platea, shaved off the hair from their horses, and adds, Thus did the barbarians, in their way, mourn for the deceased Masistios. K & D say, This custom originated in the idea that there is a biotic rapport between man and the larger domestic animals . . . the thought is that just as the animals which live with man are drawn into fellowship with his sin (Rom 8:19-23), so their sufferings might also help to appease the wrath of God. It is evident that withholding food and water from the animals would cause them to groan and cry out to God. This biotic rapport is expressed in Joe 1:18 ff. The kings order to put sackcloth on the animals shows how intense his desire for total repentance was. One of the most interesting things about the kings decree is that of everyone turning from the violence that is in his hands. Their repentance was to be made manifest in ceasing to do evil and learning to do good (cf. Isa 1:16-17; and our comments on Joe 2:12-13). Repentance means a change of life and a change of attitude.
Zerr: Jon 3:7. The king even went so far as to include their service beasts in the fasting. They were dumb creatures and could not be morally responsible for any wrongdoing, so why penalize them? It was not for that purpose, but as a further restriction upon the people. If the beasts were deprived of food it would render them unable for work, and hence the condition would actually be a sacrifice for the owners. Jon 3:8. This verse is a direct confession that the people of Nineveh, from the greatest of them even to the least of them (including the king), were guilty of wrong doing. Moreover, they were told what they had been doing that, was wrong, else they could not know what “evil way it was from which they were to turn.
Jon 3:9-10 WHO KNOWETH WHETHER GOD WILL NOT TURN AND REPENT . . . AND GOD REPENTED. We come now to one of the most perplexing problems of the Bible. Does God repent? The words who knoweth are not so much a question as they are an expression of hope. The very fact that Jonah, a prophet of Jehovah God, had come to warn Nineveh was an indication there would be hope if they should repent. God does not repent or change His mind! His will is immutable (Heb 6:17; Heb 12:8; Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17; Psa 33:11, Pro 19:21; Isa 14:24; Isa 46:9-10; I Sam. 5; Psa 110:4; Eze 24:14; Zec 8:14, etc.). On the other hand, many scriptures may be cited which speak of God repenting (cf. Gen 6:6; Exo 32:14; 2Sa 24:16; Jdg 2:18; 1Sa 15:11, etc.).
In the first place, often in the O.T. we find human characteristics attributed to God. This is called anthropomorphism which means to describe God after the manner of men. For example, we see with our eyes, and since we know that God sees all things, therefore we say God has eyes. This manner of describing God is a condescension or accommodation to our finite incapability of understanding and describing the infinite. This holds true with regard to God repenting. God is not ignorant, weak, fallible. He does not make mistakes which He regrets. He does not change His mind. He knows all things and sees all things from the beginning to the end. But events may take place which appear, from mans viewpoint, to be changes in Gods mind. When in Gen 6:6-7 God is represented as repenting that He had made man, does this mean God suddenly decided He had made a mistake in creating man and now regrets it and wishes He had never done so? No! Whatever God does is right and good. When He made man He saw that it was good. But, being a God of love, He made man with a freedom of choice. What pained the heart of God was that man had made the wrong choice.
Zerr: Jon 3:9. See the comments on verse 4 for the explanation of this.
Mans freedom of choice brings us to the second point in this consideration. Gods moral law is immutable and unchangeable. When man abides within the revealed will of God it is Gods immutable decree that whatever happens to him will turn out for his blessing. When man, of his own free choice, insists upon rebelling against the will of God it is Gods immutable decree that whatever happens to him shall turn out to his condemnation and judgment. The repentance is up to man-it is mans responsibility, yes, PRIVILEGE, to change, so long as God shall grant him life and opportunity to do so! Man may change, but God does not for He is perfect in all His ways. To say that God does not change is not to say that God does not act!
Fairbairn, in pointing out the pronouncement of God upon sin and then His compassion upon repentance, says, . . . this manifests Him to be unalterably the same. Conducting his administration in righteousness, he must change his procedure toward men when their relation toward Him becomes changed . . . Abraham knew this principle of the Divine government when he said, That be far from thee to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that righteous should be as the wicked; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen 18:25) Ezekiel also, Hear now, O Israel! Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquities and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. So when Nineveh repented and changed their minds and deeds, for God to have gone ahead and punish them would have displayed Him as a God indifferent to the very basic distinction between right and wrong.
It is in connection with this and other eternal principles of the Righteous, Holy, Just, Compassionate, Longsuffering God that the Bible says God changes not,
Someone will say, If God does not change, why pray? Prayer is not to tell God what we need-He already knows that! Prayer is not to change the mind of God-He is unchangable! Then what is prayer for? Prayer is both an inward and an outward manifestation of a dependent love for God. Prayer is an expression of relationship. That relationship is one of faith, trust, surrender, dependence, adoration, gratitude-of abiding in the will of ones Heavenly Father. This is why prayer is of the utmost necessity! Man, being free to choose which relationship he will have toward God, must choose the relationship of abiding in His will in order to receive the blessings God has already determined to give him (cf. 1Jn 5:14-15). God has anticipated our prayers before the foundation of the world. He has built the answer to our prayers into the very providential government and structure of the universe. He knows that we will pray and that we will pray in a spontaneous manner as a helpless child cries to his mother or father. God has put the universe together on a principle of personal relationships in which He answers prayer, Parents know how to answer petitions of children in anticipation. Even with their limited knowledge parents are able to anticipate the future to a certain degree. For example a mother, caring for the fevered little body of a sick child, provides the medicine, the drink of water and other comforts, before the night comes on, knowing that there will be a cry in the night. When the little one cries out in helpless dependence, the mother has planned the answer.
It is interesting to note in Jon 3:10 that God saw their works. It was not until the repentance of the Ninevites was manifested through works that their salvation was effected by God! Works are both necessary for salvation and a result of salvation. This is a very plain doctrine of both the Old and New Testaments. Even belief is said to be a work by the Lord Himself (cf. Joh 6:29 and see comments in The Gospel of John, Vol. 1, pg. 238, by Paul T. Butler-College Press).
Zerr: Jon 3:10. God repented means he changed his mind or plan as at first threatened. However, even that was no change in His established principles of dealing with mankind. He has always given man the opportunity of repenting and “making his wrongs right, with the promise that if it was done, the punishment threatened would be remitted. The reader should see Jer 13:7-10 on this important subject.
Questions
1. What personal response of the Ninevites toward God preceded their repentance?
2. How did the Ninevites manifest their penitent attitude?
3. How was Jonah a sign to the Ninevites?
4. How was Jonah a sign to the Jews of Jesus day?
5. Why did the king of Nineveh decree that the animals should wear sackcloth?
6. Does God repent? Explain!
7. Why pray?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
believed: Exo 9:18-21, Mat 12:41, Luk 11:32, Act 27:25, Heb 11:1, Heb 11:7
and proclaimed: 2Ch 20:3, Ezr 8:21, Jer 36:9, Joe 1:14, Joe 2:12-17
from: Jer 31:34, Jer 42:1, Jer 42:8, Act 8:10
Reciprocal: Gen 37:34 – General Exo 9:20 – General Lev 23:2 – proclaim Jdg 20:26 – wept 1Ki 20:31 – put sackcloth 2Ch 20:13 – all Judah Neh 9:1 – children Isa 37:1 – he rent Isa 58:5 – to spread Eze 3:6 – of a strange speech and of an hard language Joe 1:13 – lie Jon 3:7 – caused Mic 6:9 – hear Zec 12:12 – the family of the house of David apart Rom 10:14 – shall they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jon 3:5. Voluntary fasting and wearing of sackcloth was a custom in ancient times on occasions of grief or anxiety. The only reason this verse assigns for the acts of these people is that they believed God. This justifies us if we “read between the lines, for the preceding verse says nothing about God or of any reason why the city was to be overthrown; but some following verses report the acknowledgement of the evil way of the citizens. A mere prediction of some calamity to come upon a place would not have to mean that it was to be a punishment for sin. hence there was some-thing said or done that informed these Ninevites what it was about.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jon 3:5-6. So the people of Nineveh believed God, &c. The fame, says Lowth, of the wonderful works God had wrought for the Jews, was spread over the eastern parts of the world. This might make the Ninevites hearken to a man of that nation, that came to them as sent by God. And it is likely that he gave them an account of the miraculous circumstances which attended his own mission. But, without question, a sense of their own guilt, and their deserving whatever punishment Heaven could inflict, was a principal reason that moved them to have a regard to this message. And by the men of Ninevehs repenting at the preaching of Jonah, God designed to upbraid the stubbornness of his own people, and shame them, as it were, into repentance; lest the men of Nineveh should rise up in judgment against them, as our Saviour speaks of the Jews in his own time, Mat 12:41. And proclaimed a fast The king and his nobles, or those in authority, ordered that every one should fast for three days, and put on habits of sorrow and humiliation. For word came unto the king of Nineveh Archbishop Usher, in his Annals ad A.M. 3233, supposes this prince to have been Pul, the king of Assyria, (Nineveh being then the capital city of that empire,) who afterward invaded the kingdom of Israel, in the days of Menahem, 2Ki 15:19 : it being very agreeable to the methods of Providence to make use of a heathen king, that was penitent, to punish the impenitence of Gods own people Israel. And he arose from his throne, &c. He laid aside all his state, and put on the habit of a penitent.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:5 So the people of Nineveh {d} believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
(d) For he declared that he was a Prophet sent to them from God, to make known his judgments against them.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. The Ninevites’ repentance 3:5-10
Jonah’s proclamation moved the Ninevites to humble themselves and seek divine mercy.
"Although Nineveh was not overturned, it did experience a turn around." [Note: Alexander, p. 121.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The people repented, apparently after only one day of preaching (Jon 3:4), because of the message from God that Jonah had brought to them. [Note: See Steven J. Lawson, "The Power of Biblical Preaching: An Expository Study of Jonah 3:1-10," Bibliotheca Sacra 158:631 (July-September 2001):331-46.] Fasting and wearing sackcloth demonstrated self-affliction that reflected an attitude of humility in the ancient Near East (cf. 2Sa 3:31; 2Sa 3:35; 1Ki 21:27; Neh 9:1-2; Isa 15:3; Isa 58:5; Dan 9:3; Joe 1:13-14). Sackcloth was what the poor and the slaves customarily wore. Thus wearing it depicted that the entire population viewed themselves as needy (of God’s mercy in this case) and slaves (of God in this case). This attitude and these actions marked all levels of the city’s population (i.e., the chronologically old and young, and the socially high and low). The Ninevites did not want to perish any more than the sailors did (cf. Jon 1:6; Jon 1:14).
Some commentators believed that two plagues, a severe flood and a famine, had ravaged Nineveh in 765 and 759 B.C., plus a total eclipse of the sun on June 15, 763, and that these phenomena prepared the Ninevites for Jonah’s message. [Note: Wiseman, "Jonah’s Nineveh," p. 44; and Stuart, pp. 490-91.] The Ninevites probably viewed these phenomena as indications of divine displeasure, a common reaction in the ancient Near East. [Note: Ibid., p. 494.] However this providential "pre-evangelism" is not the concern of the text. It attributes the Ninevites’ repentance to Jonah’s preaching.
Some commentators have credited the repentance of the Ninevites at least partially to Jonah’s previous experience in the great fish’s stomach. They base this on Jesus’ statement that Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites (Mat 12:39-41; Luk 11:29-32). Jonah was a sign in a two-fold sense. His three days and nights in the fish foreshadowed Jesus’ three days and nights in the grave (Mat 12:40), and his ministry as a visiting prophet delivering a call for repentance to an evil people under God’s judgment previewed Jesus’ ministry (Mat 12:41; Luk 11:30; Luk 11:32). These commentators note that the Ninevites worshipped Dagon, which was part man and part fish. [Note: E.g., Feinberg, p. 33.] They have also pointed out that the Assyrian fish goddess, Nosh, was the chief deity in Nineveh. Some of them have argued that Jonah came to the city as one sent by Nosh to proclaim the true God. However the text of Jonah attributes the repentance of the Ninevites primarily to the message that God had given Jonah to proclaim. Whatever the Ninevites may have known about Jonah’s encounter with the fish-the text says nothing about their awareness of it-the writer gave the credit to the word of the Lord, not to Jonah’s personal background.
One writer saw this text as support for the historic evangelical doctrine of exclusivism in salvation and used it to argue against religious inclusivism (pluralism). [Note: Wayne G. Strickland, "Isaiah, Jonah, and Religious Pluralism," Bibliotheca Sacra 153:609 (January-March 1996):31-32.]
"God delights to do the impossible, and never more so than in turning men to Himself. Instead, then, of denying on the grounds of its ’human’ impossibility the repentance that swept over Nineveh, let us see it as an evidence of divine power. For this, not the episode of the sea monster, is the greatest miracle in the book." [Note: Gaebelein, p. 103.]