Jonah 3:6

For word came unto the king of Nineveh,.... Who was not Sardanapalus, a very dissolute prince, and abandoned to his lusts; but rather Pul, the same that came against Menahem king of Israel, 2 Kings

For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

This now accounteth for the people’ s proclaiming a fast, , they did it because it was commanded, and they had the king’ s example herein. Word came to the king: whether Jonah did particularly speak to his hearers to send word to the king, or whether the strangeness of the thing might move some or other to report it to the courtiers, and they to the king, is not specified; certain it is that the king had word brought him, and it was considered by him: nor is it said who this king was; Sardanapalus seems too early, Pul-belochus is with more probability thought to be this king. Arose from his throne; came down from his royal seat. Laid his robe from him; put off his rich, gorgeous, and luxurious apparel. Covered him with sackcloth; put on the rough and uneasy garments of a mourner. And sat in ashes, as 42:6.

Jonah 3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered [him] with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.Ver. 6. For word came unto the king of Nineveh] I can hardly believe that this was Sardanapalus, as some will carry it, but some other better prince, that, Vespasian-like, was patientissimus veri, very tolerant of the truth, one that had those about him that would tell him the truth of things, and he was content to hear it, and submit to it (Quintilian). Like enough it is, that this was but harsh news to him at first hearing; but when he had well considered it, and taken advice upon it, he set upon a reformation. Our chroniclers tell us of a poor hermit that came to Richard I, A. D. 1195, and, preaching to him the words of eternal life, bade him be mindful of the overthrow of Sodom, and to abstain from things unlawful. Otherwise, said he, the deserved vengeance of God will come upon thee. The hermit being gone, the king at first seemed to slight his words. But, afterwards falling sick, he more seriously bethought himself; and, waxing sound in soul as well as body, he grew more devout and charitable to the poor, rising early and not departing from the church till divine service were finished. If the King of Nineveh had ever heard of Jonah’ s being in the whale’ s belly, it might well be some inducement to him to believe his preaching, it might do him no less good than John Frith’ s book, called "A Preparation to the Cross," brought in a fish’ s belly to the University of Cambridge a little before the commencement, did to some good people here, that had hearts to make use of it. One grave divine (Mr Jeremiah Dike) gave this note upon it in a sermon before the parliament, over 20 years since: That such a book should be brought in such a manner, and to such a place, and at such a time, when by reason of people’ s confluence out of all parts notice might be given to all places of the land, in mine apprehension it can be construed for no less than a Divine warning, and to have this voice with it, England, prepare for the cross. He arose from his throne] Laid aside his state, as the Great Turk also doth, at this day, when he entereth into his temple to pray. Jeremiah 13:18, "Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even to the crown of your glory." This great king could not but know himself to be a great sinner; and that his sins had done much harm: 1. By imputation: for plectuntur Achivi, the people often pray for their rulers’ follies, as in David’ s days, 2 Samuel 24:2.

(6) For word came.—Rather, And the matter reached. The Authorised Version treats the royal edict that follows as the same with the proclamation in Jonah 3:5. This is possible, but it is more probable that the writer intended to describe the effect produced on each district of the vast city in succession, and on all grades of people. The piercing cry uttered from street to street, from square to square, reaches at last the king on his throne of state. And he laid . . .—Stripping off the state mantle (the Hebrew word implies amplitude. See 1 Kings 19:13.) It is interesting to find it used of the “Babylonish garment,” found in Achan’s tent. See Joshua 7:21), the monarch assumes a mourning dress. To form a conception of the change involved, the descriptions of Assyrian royal magnificence should be studied in Layard, or their representations in the Assyrian courts of the Crystal Palace. For the usual signs of Oriental mourning, comp. Genesis 37:34; 2 Samuel 3:31; Job 2:8; Psalms 35:13; Ezekiel 26:16, &c.

Verse 6. Word came unto the king] This, some think, was Pul; others, Sardanapalus his son, king of Assyria, who flourished in the reign of Jeroboam the Second: but it seems more probable that the monarch here alluded to was a king of Assyria contemporary with Joash, king of Judah. It was by the decree of the king that the fast was instituted, and became general.

6. For word came unto] Rather, And the tidings reached, R.V. The introduction of the word “for” for “and” in A.V. is of the nature of a gloss. Our translators appear to have taken the view that Jonah 3:5 states generally the effect of Jonah’s preaching upon the Ninevites, and that Jonah 3:6-9 relate more particularly how the fast mentioned in Jonah 3:5 was brought about. “They proclaimed a fast,” I said, “and it was by a royal edict that they did so, for the report of what was going on was brought to the king, and he too was moved like his people, and both inaugurated in his own person and instituted by his authority a national fast.” The statement in Jonah 3:5, however, is not necessarily proleptical. It may be intended by the writer to describe the effect produced in each district of the city as Jonah reached it, before the Court had any knowledge of what was going on. The people were first impressed, and then their rulers. The tide of penitence and humiliation rose higher and higher, till it reached and included the king and his nobles, and what had been done by spontaneous action, or local authority, received the final sanction and imprimatur of the central government. Whichever view be adopted, the literal translation should be retained. he arose from his throne, &c.] It is in favour of the view that the people did not wait for the royal edict to commence their fast, that the king himself seems to have been the subject of immediate and strong emotion, as soon as the tidings reached him. He first, as by a resistless impulse, humbled himself to the dust, and then took measures, out of the depth of his humiliation, that his subjects should be humbled with him. The outward form which the humiliation both of king and people took was that common in the East (comp. Ezekiel 26:16; and see Dictionary of the Bible, Article Mourning), as we know both from sacred and secular writings. In the case of the king of Assyria it is the more remarkable both because of his characteristic pride as “the great king” (2 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 18:28), and because of the pomp and luxury with which he was ordinarily surrounded. No greater contrast could well be conceived than between the royal “robe” and “sackcloth,” or between the heap of “ashes” and the king’s “throne.” “In the bas-relief I am describing,” writes Layard, “the dress of a king consisted of a long flowing garment, edged with fringes and tassels, descending to his ankles, and confined at the waist by a girdle. Over this robe a second, similarly ornamented and open in front, appears to have been thrown. From his shoulders fell a cape or hood, also adorned with tassels, and to it were attached two long ribbons or lappets.

For word came - , rather, “And the matter came,” i. e., the “whole account,” as we say. “The word, word,” throughout Holy Scripture, as in so many languages stands for that which is reported of.

5-9. The effect of the preaching. The effects were immediate. The Ninevites believed God and humbled themselves before him in sincere repentance. Believed God — Or, believed in God (Genesis 15:6).