Today’s
Meditation – Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Read Jonah 3:1-10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2“Get
up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell
you.” 3So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh
was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4Jonah
began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days
more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
5And the people of Nineveh
believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on
sackcloth. 6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his
throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in
ashes. 7Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of
the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall
taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8Human
beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily
to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in
their hands. 9Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from
his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” 10When
God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his
mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did
not do it.
Jonah is restored to life by
God, having been thrust upon the beach by the great fish and is commissioned
once again by God to go to Nineveh.
Reading a little bit ahead to chapter 4, we find that Jonah might not
have had the best attitude going to Nineveh.
He went, however, reluctantly. In
spite of being blessed by God, discharged from an early grave in the belly of a
fish, Jonah’s heart was still not completely changed. Jonah still held resentment towards the
people of Nineveh.
Nonetheless, Jonah walked for
three days through the region of Nineveh and directly into the city-center
proclaiming doom for the people and the city of Nineveh if they did not change their
ways. The people of Nineveh and even the
king himself, believed in the words uttered by Jonah. Having heard that God was displeased with
them and their ways, the people of Nineveh immediately confessed and sought to
assuage God’s anger by leading a time of fasting and prayer. The king himself removed his robe, covered
himself in sackcloth and sat in ashes – a common practice for those who are in
a time of repentance and mourning (see Job).
God immediately accepted their
contrition and changed His mind about the destruction He had planned for
Nineveh. Note that God changed His
mind! A member of my congregation
recently asked me about this subject.
How often in scriptures has it mentioned that God changed His mind? Does God (really) change His mind? A good question to ponder in further depth.
But, we know from the telling
of this story that here, God changed His mind about the destruction He had
planned for Nineveh and that Jonah, a reluctant prophet to them, was
instrumental in proclaiming to the people the need for repentance.
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