Jonah's proclamation moved the Ninevites to humble themselves and seek divine mercy.
3:5 The people believed in God because of the message from God that Jonah had brought to them. Fasting and wearing sackcloth were signs of self-affliction that reflected an attitude of humility in the ancient Near East (cf. 2 Sam. 3:31, 35; Isa. 58:5; Dan. 9:3). 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).
Some commentators believe that two plagues that had ravaged Nineveh in 765 and 759 B.C. plus a total eclipse of the sun on June 15, 763 prepared the Ninevites for Jonah's message.51The Ninevites may have viewed these phenomena as indications of divine anger. However that is not the emphasis of the text.
Some commentators have attributed 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 (Luke 11:30). They note that the Ninevites worshipped Dagon, which was part man and part fish.52They 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 gives the credit to the word of the Lord, not to Jonah's personal background.53
"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."54
3:6 Even the king responded by repenting. Evidently he heard the message from other Ninevites rather than directly from the prophet. The king of Nineveh would probably have been the king of Assyria since Nineveh was the capital of the empire.55However the writer described this man as the king of Nineveh. The explanation may be that the focus of Jonah's prophecy was specifically Nineveh (v. 4), not the whole Assyrian Empire. His name, though of interest to us, was unnecessary to the writer.
Who was this king? He was probably one of the Assyrian kings who ruled during or near the regency of Jeroboam II in Israel (793-753 B.C.).
Assyrian Kings Contemporary with Jeroboam II56
Adad-nirari III 811-783 B.C.
Shalmaneser IV 783-772 B.C.
Ashur-dan III 772-754 B.C.
Ashur-nirari V 754-746 B.C.
Of these perhaps Ashur-dan III is the most likely possibility.
"There is something affecting in the picture of this Oriental monarch so swiftly casting aside such gorgeous robes and taking the place of the penitent. He had the virtue of not holding back in his approach to God."57
3:7 This verse further describes how seriously the king and his nobles regarded their situation and to what extent they went to encourage citywide contrition. They did not regard their animals as needing to humble themselves but viewed them as expressing the spirit of their owners.
3:8 Clearly the Ninevites connected the impending judgment with their own conduct. They felt that by abandoning their wickedness they could obtain some mercy from God. The Hebrew word translated "violence"(hamas) refers to the overbearing attitude and conduct of someone who has attained power over others and misuses it (cf. Gen. 16:5). Assyrian soldiers were physically violent (Nah. 3:1, 3-4; cf. 2 Kings 18:33-35), but so were the Chaldeans (Hab. 1:9; 2:8, 17) and others who because of conquest could dominate others. Discrimination against minorities because they are less powerful manifests this sin. We must not forget the violence of our own times and society.
"Violence, the arbitrary infringements of human rights, is a term that occurs in the OT prophets especially in connection with cities: urban conglomeration encourages scrambling over others, like caterpillars in a jar."58
This reference to violence recalls Genesis 6:11 and 13. God had previously destroyed the world in Noah's day because it was so violent. Now Jonah became the bearer of a message of judgment on another violent civilization.
Decorating horses and other animals has long been a popular practice. You may recall that in the funeral of President Kennedy a riderless horse added a poignant touch to the procession.
3:9 The Ninevites lived in the ancient Near East that viewed all of life as under the sovereign control of divine authority, a supreme being.59Even though they were polytheists and pagans they believed in a god of justice who demanded justice of humankind. They also believed that their actions affected their god's actions. This world view is essentially correct as far as it goes. We should probably not understand their repentance as issuing in conversion to Jewish monotheism. It seems unlikely that all the Ninevites became Gentile proselytes to Judaism (cf. 1:16).
God's turning and relenting would result from His compassion, which the Ninevites counted on when they repented (i.e., changed their thinking).
"Though generalities must always be used with caution, we may say that never again has the world seen anything quite like the result of Jonah's preaching in Nineveh."60
"The book is a challenge to all to hear God's appeal to be like the sailors and the Ninevites in their submissiveness to Yahweh."61
3:10 God noted the genuineness of the Ninevites' repentance in their actions. These fruits of repentance moved Him to withhold the judgment that He would have sent on them had they persisted in their wicked ways.62Nineveh finally experienced overthrow in 612 B.C., about 150 years later.
"We may know the character of God only from what he does and the words he uses to explain his actions. When he does not do what he said he would, we as finite men can say only that he has changed his mind or repented, even though we should recognize, as Jonah did (4:2), that he had intended or desired this all along."63
"Helpful also is the analogy of the thermometer. Is it changeable or unchangeable? The superficial observer says it is changeable, for the mercury certainly moves in the tube. But Just as certainly it is unchangeable, for it acts according to fixed law and invariably responds precisely to the temperature."64
Notice that in this section of verses (vv. 5-10) the name "God"(Heb. Elohim, the strong one) appears exclusively. Earlier and later in the story the name "Lord"(Heb. Yahweh, the covenant keeping God) occurs frequently. Jonah did not present God, and the Ninevites did not fear God, as the covenant keeping God of Israel but as the universal supreme being. Likewise God did not deal with the Ninevites as He dealt with His covenant people Israel but as He deals with all people generally. His mercy was part of the "common grace"that He bestows on all people who do right rather than a manifestation of "special grace."Thus the story teaches that God will be merciful to anyone, His elect and His non-elect, who live submissively to natural divine law.
