What About The Ninevites?

Jonah 1:1-3

My pastor is kicking off a series from the book of Jonah this week, so I have been reading ahead. (Similarities in what I write here and what he says would be a God-thing, since I am writing this before I hear his message.)

The first few verses of the book, and thus the story, imply the question, “What will happen to the Ninevites?” Think about that with me.

Nineveh was a great city, located in what is modern day Iraq, about 220 miles north of Baghdad. In Jonah’s day, it was a great city, the capitol of Assyria. Now, the Assyrians had earned a terrible reputation. They were arrogant, prideful, sinful and brutal. They didn’t just conquer. They slaughtered. An Assyrian, who was king before Jonah’s time spoke about his cruelty.

“Many of the captives I burned in a fire. Many of them I took alive. From some I cut off their hands from the wrist. From others, I cut off the noses, ears, and fingers. I put out the eyes of many of the soldiers. I burnt their young men and women to death.”*

Israel would later experience the barbarism of Tiglath-pileser (745-727 B.C.) and Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.), but the reputation of the Assyrians preceded them. They were disdained of in Israel. Probably most Israelites thought it a good idea for God to simply annihilate the Assyrians. God had another plan.

To get an idea of Jonah’s mindset, what if God called you to go give a similar message to the Taliban?
    Al-Qaeda?
        The leaders of Iran?
How about somewhere in the mountains of Peru?
    A remote area in South Asia?
        A struggling Eastern European country?
It would be scary, but to follow God’s call is to remain in God’s presence. God is so compassionate toward those outside the faith, even those opposed to Him, that he sends people to tell them the truth.

Most of the two billion who have never heard are not as mean and nasty as the Ninevites. They simply have never heard. Who will tell them?



*From a sermon by David Platt, Senior Pastor of the Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, AL., entitled “Fish Food and the Fourth of July.”