Jonah Preaches to Nineveh

The word of the LORD comes to Jonah again with the same basic command: go to Nineveh and proclaim the message given to him. This time Jonah goes.

He enters the great city and announces impending judgment. The warning is brief, but the response is sweeping.

The people of Nineveh believe God and proclaim a fast. The movement reaches from ordinary citizens to the king, who removes his royal robe, puts on sackcloth, and sits in ashes.

A decree calls people and animals into the fast and urges everyone to turn from evil and violence. The king expresses hope that God may turn from fierce anger.

When God sees their response, the announced destruction does not occur.

Jonah is furious. In prayer he reveals that this outcome is exactly why he fled in the first place. He knew God to be gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in steadfast love.

Jonah leaves the city and waits to see what will happen. God provides a plant that gives him shade, and Jonah is delighted by it. The next day a worm destroys the plant, and a hot wind leaves Jonah miserable.

God uses Jonah’s concern for the plant to expose the prophet’s values. Jonah cares deeply about a plant he did not grow, while resenting compassion toward a vast city filled with people.

The book ends with a question rather than Jonah’s answer: should God not pity Nineveh? The unresolved ending leaves the reader, not merely Jonah, to answer.