Beyond Racial Barriers

MEMORY VERSE: “Should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand?” —Jonah 4:11

JONAH 1 through 4

OUR lesson concerns Jonah’s message to the Ninevites that their wicked city would be destroyed in forty days if they did not repent of their evil ways. The people of Nineveh, however, were impressed by the prophecy of doom, repented of their sinful course, and sought divine forgiveness.

This indeed is a strange story, and an interesting one, for skeptics have long doubted the authenticity of the Book of Jonah. This skepticism arises because of Jonah’s experiences in the belly of the great fish that God had prepared to deliver from the sea; and also because it seems a bit strange to some that the citizens of Nineveh should have been so impressed by the message of doom that Jonah brought to them that they were suddenly anxious to repent of their wrongdoings, and worship a new God.

A possible solution to the unusual response accorded Jonah concerns the historical fact that the Ninevites were worshipers of a fish god, who had learned of the manner in which Jonah had been conveyed to their city in the belly of a fish. Realizing this, the citizens of Nineveh no doubt believed that their god had brought Jonah to warn them of the impending destruction and had great respect for his message.

Furthermore, the historical authenticity of the Old Testament account is proven by the words of our Lord Jesus (Matt. 12:38-41), who relates Jonah’s experiences as being prophetic of his own life, and teaching the great lesson that the Son of man would spend three days in the bowels of the earth.

Jonah was not obedient in starting out on his journey to Nineveh as God had directed, but instead boarded a ship that was sailing in the opposite direction—to Tarshish. There may have been deep feelings in his heart toward the people of Nineveh; however, on his journey a storm arose in which the ship and its passengers were in great danger. After casting lots as to who may have been guilty of the ship’s distress, the sailors threw Jonah overboard, and the storm ceased immediately. For three days he remained in the fish’s stomach, which swallowed him, and then he was cast up on the shore near Nineveh. After this experience Jonah was prepared to proclaim the word of the Lord as he was directed.

When the king heard what had happened he made a proclamation that man and beast should be covered with sackcloth, and that everyone in the city should cry mightily unto the Lord and repent of their evil ways. The Lord heard the Ninevites, accepted their repentance, and permitted their national life for a time.

God, knowing the end from the beginning, realized that the Ninevites would turn from their evil course, and that they would not be blotted out of existence within forty days in accordance with Jonah’s prophecy. In time, of course, the city of Nineveh did pass away, but not in fulfillment of this particular prophecy.

Jonah was very unhappy because God accepted the Ninevites’ repentance and did not destroy them. There is, perhaps, a lesson in this experience, too, that man is not as sympathetic toward other people as God is.

But Jonah believed that he had been made a fool of in proclaiming that the city would be destroyed in forty days. Human pride had entered his heart and he was, so to speak, disgraced. Thereupon he withdrew outside the city and remained in a booth to pout, waiting and hoping in vain to see the execution of the judgment which he had proclaimed from the Lord. Then, by an object lesson in mercy and compassion, God reproved the moody prophet by preparing a gourd vine to shoot up to shelter Jonah from the intense heat of the sun. The shade was greatly enjoyed, but the next morning God had prepared a worm to smite the gourd and its shade was taken away.

Jonah was more interested in himself and his own reputation than he was in the salvation of the Ninevites and their desire to worship God. And the Lord taught him many lessons, including his apparent sympathy for a gourd—an inanimate object—and his lack of sympathy for the people who lived at Nineveh.

In due time, when the kingdom of Christ is established in all the earth, then the Ninevites will once again witness the mercy of God, for they, along with all the other countless millions of humanity, will have the blessed opportunity of knowing God and the power of his might to sustain them. The call at that time will be to repent and receive life—everlasting life in a perfect society without sin.

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