We do not know a whole lot about Jonah. This we know....after fleeing God's command he boards a ship at Joppa. A storm develops and the ship almost breaks up. Jonah winds up in the sea....and then in the fish belly for three days....and then on land. Now...the sea immediately calmed down....and the ship probably returned to Joppa....and what a story they would have had to tell! Jonah is probably still in the fish belly. The story of Jonah probably went in all directions....and most certainly would have reached Nineveh since Nineveh was in the story. By the time Jonah walked maybe five hundred or more miles to Nineveh....the people were probably laughing about the Hebrew God's warning. And then Jonah shows up...maybe his hair and skin was bleached white from the belly of the fish. When the Ninevites saw in person the man who was thrown overboard they were no longer laughing.
So how big a city was Nineveh? Well it was a....three day journey....whatever that means. Some say that it generally means about twenty miles a day....or sixty miles in all. If that was the case then 'Nineveh' would have had to include some of the smaller cities around it....for Nineveh itself was not sixty miles long. Whatever it was....it was a "great city"....and a wicked city....and they repented....but how long did that repentance last? We do know that a hundred or more years later they were back to their old ways. There was no Jonah sent to them this time....but Nahum. Jonah's message was short and sweet in 48 verses....repent or else....and Nahum's message was only 47 verses....'get ready....it's coming!'This prophecy of judgment was odd in that it was not sent to Israel or Judah....but to the most powerful city in the world. When I was still working I had Nahum 1:7 on the front of my locker...."The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him." I have always naggingly felt that we in America have become like Nineveh...."Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery"....(3:1)...."Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot"....(3:7)....'Behold I am against you' says the LORD of hosts.....I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle....are you better than No Amon that was situated by the river, that had waters all around her, whose rampart was the sea,whose wall was the sea....you also will seek refuge from the enemy"....(3:5,6,8,11)....Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies....you have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven....your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, your nobles rest in the dust.....your peoples are scattered on the mountains....and no one gathers them....your injury has no healing, your wound is severe....all who hear news of you will clap their hands over you, for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?" (3: 13, 16,18,19)
That verse 16...."You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven"....describes our influence on the world. When you see South Korean boy rock stars....or Taylor Swift mania in Tokyo....or ABBA in 1974 setting their career on rocket mode by winning that European Song Contest....it all started here! And our shepherds slumber....and our nobles rest....and our people are scattered or divided....and we are ruled and cowered by feminist and woke ideology.
Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus!
