The Lord is jealous, but the Lord is also good. Failure to follow His direction can only result in punishment. This is the message that Nineveh ignored….at great cost.
Nineveh was the premiere city of it’s day. It’s still in modern day Iraq (Mosul), located north of Babylon about 260 miles (5 hour drive). It’s said that the walls around it’s circumference were 8 miles long. That’s enormous. Within the city there were libraries, theatres and all the attractions and comforts that a wealthy city could provide in a time of peace. And there was peace for the most part, across the whole land. But underneath this facade, trouble was brewing. The rulers of the Assyrian empire were notoriously cruel and mean spirited. They had been warned by Jonah some time earlier that they needed to repent or they would be destroyed. At that time, they did repent…but now they were back to their same old habits. Remember how Jonah didn’t want them to be rescued? That’s how brutal they were…and in this passage at the end of Chapter 3 we see that all the nations surrounding them “clapped their hands” when they heard the city had fallen. The collapse of the wicked is cause for celebration.
This account reminds us that even though the wicked prosper, and seem to get away with being evil, they are simply storing up judgment for another day. If there were no judgment day, then maybe it would make sense to treat others unfairly, or with ruthlessness…whatever you need to do in order to get ahead. But that train of thought doesn’t make sense if you are going to pay for your rebellion with your eternal life. Why bother to advance your own cause in a temporary location at the cost of your permanent dwelling? Who would sell their home to live in luxury for a week? That’s ignorant.
But that’s what Nineveh has done. They have treated others with contempt, and more importantly they have ignored the Creator. Now the account is being called in, and the people will pay dearly.
These chapters correctly predict the fall of the Assyrian empire. The Babylonians were in control first, and then the Assyrians conquered them. Now the Babylonians have begun working with the Medes and Persians in order to overthrow their enemy…and it works. The Assyrians are crushed, the city of Nineveh is overrun, and the Medes and Persians usher in a new dynasty.
King Hezekiah was victorious against the Assyrians, but now that they are defeated, and the Medes are on the throne, there is a new threat. The scouts that came to visit Hezekiah were from Babylon, and represented the new order.
2 Chronicles 32:31 shares a quick detail of that meeting. They Medes and Persians would eventually possess the land, and lead the Israelite’s into a 70 year captivity, all because of their pride and disobedience.
God is good, and God is also Jealous. That holds true for Assyria, for Israel….and for us.
Faithfully,
PR