Verse
Context
Sermons
Dai Patterson
Alan Redpath
Welcome Detweiler
St. John Chrysostom
Peter Hammond
David WilkersonSummary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
And Gods saw their works - They repented, and brought forth fruits meet for repentance; works which showed that they did most earnestly repent. He therefore changed his purpose, and the city was saved. The purpose was: If the Ninevites do not return from their evil ways, and the violence that is in their hands, within forty days, I will destroy the city. The Ninevites did return, etc., and therefore escaped the threatened judgment. Thus we see that the threatening was conditional.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
But however deep the penitential mourning of Nineveh might be, and however sincere the repentance of the people, when they acted according to the king's command; the repentance was not a lasting one, or permanent in its effects. Nor did it evince a thorough conversion to God, but was merely a powerful incitement to conversion, a waking up out of the careless security of their life of sin, an endeavour to forsake their evil ways which did not last very long. The statement in Jon 3:10, that "God saw their doing, that they turned from their evil ways; and He repented of the evil that He had said that He would do to them, and did it not" (cf. Exo 32:14), can be reconciled with this without difficulty. The repentance of the Ninevites, even if it did not last, showed, at any rate, a susceptibility on the part of the heathen for the word of God, and their willingness to turn and forsake their evil and ungodly ways; so that God, according to His compassion, could extend His grace to them in consequence. God always acts in this way. He not only forgives the converted man, who lays aside his sin, and walks in newness of life; but He has mercy also upon the penitent who confesses and mourns over his sin, and is willing to amend. The Lord also directed Jonah to preach repentance to Nineveh; not that this capital of the heathen world might be converted at once to faith in the living God, and its inhabitants be received into the covenant of grace which He had made with Israel, but simply to give His people Israel a practical proof that He was the God of the heathen also, and could prepare for Himself even among them a people of His possession. Moreover, the readiness, with which the Ninevites hearkened to the word of God that was proclaimed to them and repented, showed that with all the depth to which they were sunken in idolatry and vice they were at that time not yet ripe for the judgment of extermination. The punishment was therefore deferred by the long-suffering of God, until this great heathen city, in its further development into a God-opposing imperial power, seeking to subjugate all nations, and make itself the mistress of the earth, had filled up the measure of its sins, and had become ripe for that destruction which the prophet Nahum predicted, and the Median king Cyaxares inflicted upon it in alliance with Nabopolassar of Babylonia.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
God repented of the evil--When the message was sent to them, they were so ripe for judgment that a purpose of destruction to take effect in forty days was the only word God's righteous abhorrence of sin admitted of as to them. But when they repented, the position in which they stood towards God's righteousness was altered. So God's mode of dealing with them must alter accordingly, if God is not to be inconsistent with His own immutable character of dealing with men according to their works and state of heart, taking vengeance at last on the hardened impenitent, and delighting to show mercy on the penitent. Compare Abraham's reasoning, ; ; . What was really a change in them and in God's corresponding dealings is, in condescension to human conceptions, represented as a change in God (compare ), who, in His essential righteousness and mercy, changeth not (; ; ; ). The reason why the announcement of destruction was made absolute, and not dependent on Nineveh's continued impenitence, was that this form was the only one calculated to rouse them; and at the same time it was a truthful representation of God's purpose towards Nineveh under its existing state, and of Nineveh's due. When that state ceased, a new relation of Nineveh to God, not contemplated in the message, came in, and room was made for the word to take effect, "the curse causeless shall not come" [FAIRBAIRN]. Prophecy is not merely for the sake of proving God's omniscience by the verification of predictions of the future, but is mainly designed to vindicate God's justice and mercy in dealing with the impenitent and penitent respectively (). The Bible ever assigns the first place to the eternal principles of righteousness, rooted in the character of God, subordinating to them all divine arrangements. God's sparing Nineveh, when in the jaws of destruction, on the first dawn of repentance encourages the timid penitent, and shows beforehand that Israel's doom, soon after accomplished, is to be ascribed, not to unwillingness to forgive on God's part, but to their own obstinate impenitence. Next: Jonah Chapter 4
John Gill Bible Commentary
And God saw their words, that they turned from their evil way,.... Not their outward works, in putting on sackcloth and ashes, and fasting; but their inward works, their faith in him, and repentance towards him; and which were attended with fruits and works meet for repentance, in that they forsook their former course of life, and refrained from it; and these he saw not barely with his eye of omniscience, as he sees all persons and things, good and bad, but so as to like them, approve of them, and accept them, in which sense the word is used, Gen 1:4; and so the repentance of these men is spoken of with commendation by Christ, and as what would rise up in judgment, and condemn the men of that generation, Mat 12:41; and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not; this is spoken after the manner of men, as Aben Ezra observes; and is to be understood, not of any such affection in God as repentance; but of an effect done by him, which carries in it a show of repentance, or resembles what is done by men when they repent; then they change their course and conduct; so, the Lord, though he never changes his will, nor repents of or revokes his decrees, or alters his purposes; yet he sometimes wills a change, and makes an alteration in the dispensations of his providence, according to his unchangeable will. God, in this case, did not repent of his decrees concerning the Ninevites, but of what he had said or threatened respecting the overthrow of Nineveh, in case of their impenitence; it was his will that they should be told of their sin and danger, and by this means be brought to repentance, and the wrath threatened them be averted; so that here was a change, not of his mind and will concerning them, but of his outward dispensations towards them; see Jer 18:7. Next: Jonah Chapter 4
Tyndale Open Study Notes
3:10 he changed his mind: Had the people of Nineveh not repented, God would have destroyed them (3:4). But God was ready to meet their repentance with mercy (see 4:2, 11). In God’s mind, the change did not reverse his original intention, because his disposition always included the possibility of mercy. Nor does this change in God’s mind say anything about God’s foreknowledge. Historically, the church has believed that God knows the future fully (see Ps 139:4; Isa 46:10; Dan 2:28-29; Matt 24:36). Nothing in this account contradicts that belief.
The Ninevites Repent
9Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”10When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
Jonah - Part 4
By Dai Patterson84700:00GEN 7:16JON 3:4JON 3:10MAT 6:33MAT 24:36In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of Jonah and his anger. He highlights three instances in chapter 4 where Jonah is angry. The preacher emphasizes that it is the ordinary things in life that can blind people to their true spiritual need. He also mentions the importance of being watchful and prepared for the second coming of Jesus, emphasizing that it is the ordinary, mundane things that can distract people from recognizing the signs of the end times. The preacher concludes by discussing Jonah's simple yet powerful message to Nineveh and the importance of faithfully delivering the message that God gives.
Jonah - the Training of a Disciple - Part 1
By Alan Redpath78147:03DiscipleshipJON 1:17JON 3:3JON 3:5JON 3:10JON 4:2MAT 6:33JHN 1:14In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the theme of grace and the story of Jonah from the Bible. He highlights the gracious nature of God, emphasizing that God is slow to anger, full of mercy, and quick to pardon. The preacher also points out the importance of having both grace and truth in preaching, as sometimes truth can be presented without grace. He then discusses the significance of God recommissioning Jonah after his failures and rebellion, highlighting the matchless grace of God. The sermon concludes by mentioning some key events in the book of Jonah, such as the disciples' rebellion, repentance, reward, reaction, resurrection, and the word of the Lord coming to Jonah the second time.
Ministry From Jonah 02
By Welcome Detweiler37310:09JON 1:1JON 2:10JON 3:5JON 3:10MAT 6:33ROM 10:9In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Jonah and the city of Nineveh. He emphasizes that despite the wickedness of Nineveh, God loved and cared for the sinners in that city. The preacher explains that Jonah initially disobeyed God's command to deliver a message of warning and forgiveness to Nineveh, but eventually became obedient. The sermon highlights the importance of heeding the gospel call and the consequences of disobedience, as well as the opportunity for sinners to repent and receive salvation.
Homily 10 on Ephesians
By St. John Chrysostom0ISA 43:26JON 3:10ROM 16:20EPH 4:4PHP 2:5John Chrysostom emphasizes the importance of unity in the Church, drawing parallels between the body of believers and the physical body, highlighting the need for each member to fulfill their role without envy or pride. He warns against the destructive nature of seeking personal glory and honor within the Church, likening it to a consuming fire that threatens the spiritual well-being of all. Chrysostom urges repentance, fasting, and a turning away from selfish desires, calling for a collective effort to seek God's mercy and restoration for the Church.
Bible Survey - Jonah
By Peter Hammond0JON 2:9JON 3:10MAT 12:38ACT 10:34EPH 4:31Peter Hammond preaches on the story of Jonah, a prophet from Galilee, who was called to a mission to Nineveh, a great city of wickedness. Despite Jonah's initial disobedience and anger towards God's mercy on Nineveh, the people's repentance and God's compassion are highlighted. The sermon emphasizes the importance of responding to God's Word and works with humility, repentance, and gratitude, rather than being consumed by anger, selfishness, and a sense of entitlement.
Dealing With Failed Expectations
By David Wilkerson0God's MercyExpectationsPSA 34:18ISA 41:10JER 29:11JON 3:2JON 3:10MAT 7:7ROM 8:28PHP 4:6HEB 11:61PE 5:7David Wilkerson addresses the dangers of harboring resentment toward God, particularly among believers and ministers who feel disillusioned and burned out due to unmet expectations. He illustrates this through the story of Jonah, who, after obeying God's command, was disappointed when Nineveh was not destroyed as he anticipated. Jonah's expectations led to grief and anger, but God’s mercy prevailed, showing that His plans often differ from ours. Wilkerson emphasizes that God understands our struggles and encourages believers to seek Him for healing from bitterness and disappointment, reminding us that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
And Gods saw their works - They repented, and brought forth fruits meet for repentance; works which showed that they did most earnestly repent. He therefore changed his purpose, and the city was saved. The purpose was: If the Ninevites do not return from their evil ways, and the violence that is in their hands, within forty days, I will destroy the city. The Ninevites did return, etc., and therefore escaped the threatened judgment. Thus we see that the threatening was conditional.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
But however deep the penitential mourning of Nineveh might be, and however sincere the repentance of the people, when they acted according to the king's command; the repentance was not a lasting one, or permanent in its effects. Nor did it evince a thorough conversion to God, but was merely a powerful incitement to conversion, a waking up out of the careless security of their life of sin, an endeavour to forsake their evil ways which did not last very long. The statement in Jon 3:10, that "God saw their doing, that they turned from their evil ways; and He repented of the evil that He had said that He would do to them, and did it not" (cf. Exo 32:14), can be reconciled with this without difficulty. The repentance of the Ninevites, even if it did not last, showed, at any rate, a susceptibility on the part of the heathen for the word of God, and their willingness to turn and forsake their evil and ungodly ways; so that God, according to His compassion, could extend His grace to them in consequence. God always acts in this way. He not only forgives the converted man, who lays aside his sin, and walks in newness of life; but He has mercy also upon the penitent who confesses and mourns over his sin, and is willing to amend. The Lord also directed Jonah to preach repentance to Nineveh; not that this capital of the heathen world might be converted at once to faith in the living God, and its inhabitants be received into the covenant of grace which He had made with Israel, but simply to give His people Israel a practical proof that He was the God of the heathen also, and could prepare for Himself even among them a people of His possession. Moreover, the readiness, with which the Ninevites hearkened to the word of God that was proclaimed to them and repented, showed that with all the depth to which they were sunken in idolatry and vice they were at that time not yet ripe for the judgment of extermination. The punishment was therefore deferred by the long-suffering of God, until this great heathen city, in its further development into a God-opposing imperial power, seeking to subjugate all nations, and make itself the mistress of the earth, had filled up the measure of its sins, and had become ripe for that destruction which the prophet Nahum predicted, and the Median king Cyaxares inflicted upon it in alliance with Nabopolassar of Babylonia.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
God repented of the evil--When the message was sent to them, they were so ripe for judgment that a purpose of destruction to take effect in forty days was the only word God's righteous abhorrence of sin admitted of as to them. But when they repented, the position in which they stood towards God's righteousness was altered. So God's mode of dealing with them must alter accordingly, if God is not to be inconsistent with His own immutable character of dealing with men according to their works and state of heart, taking vengeance at last on the hardened impenitent, and delighting to show mercy on the penitent. Compare Abraham's reasoning, ; ; . What was really a change in them and in God's corresponding dealings is, in condescension to human conceptions, represented as a change in God (compare ), who, in His essential righteousness and mercy, changeth not (; ; ; ). The reason why the announcement of destruction was made absolute, and not dependent on Nineveh's continued impenitence, was that this form was the only one calculated to rouse them; and at the same time it was a truthful representation of God's purpose towards Nineveh under its existing state, and of Nineveh's due. When that state ceased, a new relation of Nineveh to God, not contemplated in the message, came in, and room was made for the word to take effect, "the curse causeless shall not come" [FAIRBAIRN]. Prophecy is not merely for the sake of proving God's omniscience by the verification of predictions of the future, but is mainly designed to vindicate God's justice and mercy in dealing with the impenitent and penitent respectively (). The Bible ever assigns the first place to the eternal principles of righteousness, rooted in the character of God, subordinating to them all divine arrangements. God's sparing Nineveh, when in the jaws of destruction, on the first dawn of repentance encourages the timid penitent, and shows beforehand that Israel's doom, soon after accomplished, is to be ascribed, not to unwillingness to forgive on God's part, but to their own obstinate impenitence. Next: Jonah Chapter 4
John Gill Bible Commentary
And God saw their words, that they turned from their evil way,.... Not their outward works, in putting on sackcloth and ashes, and fasting; but their inward works, their faith in him, and repentance towards him; and which were attended with fruits and works meet for repentance, in that they forsook their former course of life, and refrained from it; and these he saw not barely with his eye of omniscience, as he sees all persons and things, good and bad, but so as to like them, approve of them, and accept them, in which sense the word is used, Gen 1:4; and so the repentance of these men is spoken of with commendation by Christ, and as what would rise up in judgment, and condemn the men of that generation, Mat 12:41; and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not; this is spoken after the manner of men, as Aben Ezra observes; and is to be understood, not of any such affection in God as repentance; but of an effect done by him, which carries in it a show of repentance, or resembles what is done by men when they repent; then they change their course and conduct; so, the Lord, though he never changes his will, nor repents of or revokes his decrees, or alters his purposes; yet he sometimes wills a change, and makes an alteration in the dispensations of his providence, according to his unchangeable will. God, in this case, did not repent of his decrees concerning the Ninevites, but of what he had said or threatened respecting the overthrow of Nineveh, in case of their impenitence; it was his will that they should be told of their sin and danger, and by this means be brought to repentance, and the wrath threatened them be averted; so that here was a change, not of his mind and will concerning them, but of his outward dispensations towards them; see Jer 18:7. Next: Jonah Chapter 4
Tyndale Open Study Notes
3:10 he changed his mind: Had the people of Nineveh not repented, God would have destroyed them (3:4). But God was ready to meet their repentance with mercy (see 4:2, 11). In God’s mind, the change did not reverse his original intention, because his disposition always included the possibility of mercy. Nor does this change in God’s mind say anything about God’s foreknowledge. Historically, the church has believed that God knows the future fully (see Ps 139:4; Isa 46:10; Dan 2:28-29; Matt 24:36). Nothing in this account contradicts that belief.