The City of Nineveh

In Jonah's time, Nineveh was a stronghold of the terrorist of that day. The Assyrians were a cruel people who tried to cultivate a reputation that would intimidate all their enemies. They were bent on conquest and terrorism. Yes, the story of Jonah definitely has application to modern times.

The Assyrians were obsessed with waging wars and invading the nations around them. They were known to cut out the tongues of prisoners, skin men alive, split open torsos, and I won't mention what they did to the women. They executed people at will and stacked their skulls into pyramids outside the city gates. In fact, they often made close relatives carry the severed heads of their loved ones in parades through the city. As part of their worship to pagan gods, they burned children alive. The list of atrocities go on and on.

The Assyrians had also built a large capital city. It took three days to walk across Nineveh. Yet, as spread out as it was, a 200-foot high wall so thick that three chariots with horses could drive side by side on top of it encompassed the city. This wall also had 1,500 towers on it, and Nineveh had about 120,000 inhabitants. All this would be impressive in our day, much less in Old Testament times.

These things contributed to why Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh and give them a chance to repent. First of all, he feared for his life. He felt they were very likely to skin him alive too. And these were his enemies, the enemies of Israel. He didn't think this cruel, barbaric people deserved forgiveness. When you get down to it, Jonah was prejudiced and thought he knew better than God. He hadn't understood the message that God wants all people to come to Him. God didn't treat Jonah like he deserved either, and He's ready to give grace to anyone who repents and turns to Him. Are we following God or following what we think about the world around us?

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