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God’s mercy is on full display here. God showed mercy to Jonah and called him to deliver the message a second time. God was under no obligation to use Jonah a second time. However, Jonah’s ordeal actually may have put him in the best situation to preach this message to Nineveh. He was a dead man walking. Jonah had a testimony.
“When he stopped at a corner and the crowd gathered, they would say, “Brother, where have you been?” Jonah told them, “I am a man from the dead. A fish swallowed me because God had sent me to Nineveh but I tried to run away to Tarshish.” People didn’t ridicule Jonah’s story. They listened to him.””
J. Vernon McGee
I have read many children’s stories about Jonah and the whale over the years. It is probably one of my daughter’s favorite stories. Unfortunately, details can get twisted and sometimes lost in the retelling of such Bible stories. In one of my daughter’s books, God’s message that Jonah speaks to the people of Nineveh goes something like this, “Mend your ways in 40 days or Nineveh will be destroyed.” Unfortunately, that’s not what Jonah said. Here are a few translations of what Jonah actually said…
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
Jonah 3:4 ESV
Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!”
Jonah 3:4 CSB
Jonah entered the city, went one day’s walk and preached, “In forty days Nineveh will be smashed.”
Jonah 3:4 MSG
A careful reading of verse 4 shows us there was no promise of mercy given by Jonah. We read here that there was no guarantee that “mending their ways” would save them from God’s judgment. One could argue that the time given (40 days) was an act of mercy, and I would agree, but it wouldn’t have been out of the question for the people of Nineveh to thoroughly enjoy their last 40 days by partying hard. This wasn’t their response. Everyone from the king down to the animals covered themselves in sackcloth. This is miraculous. Imagine a city like Las Vegas where a street preacher walks the strip warning about the judgment of God. It is nearly impossible to think that this preaching would travel to the city officials and all the way up to the mayor who would respond with a call to repentance!
“Sackcloth and ashes were used in Old Testament times as a symbol of debasement, mourning, and/or repentance. Someone wanting to show his repentant heart would often wear sackcloth, sit in ashes, and put ashes on top of his head. Sackcloth was a coarse material usually made of black goat’s hair, making it quite uncomfortable to wear. The ashes signified desolation and ruin.”
GotQuestions.org
The people of Nineveh lived out Pascal’s wager.
“Pascal argues that a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.), whereas he stands to receive infinite gains (as represented by eternity in Heaven) and avoid infinite losses (eternity in Hell).”
Wikipedia
The entire ordeal demonstrated faith, which by definition is being confident of what we hope for and convinced about things we do not see. Amazingly, the Scriptures tell us that God changed the course He had originally intended because of this act of faith. God gave Jonah a testimony and a second chance. Through Jonah’s preaching, God gave Nineveh a second chance. God is full of grace and mercy and He loves repentance!
“Who would have thought that in the wicked city of Nineveh people would listen to the Word of God and to a man who said, “I’m back from the dead”? By the way, that is the same message we have. We have a message concerning a man who came back from the dead. Paul writes, “… if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom 4:24-25).”
J. Vernon McGee