Jonah 3:6-9 (NKJV)

Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

The king of Nineveh takes the popular response and makes it mandatory. Plus, just to put an exclamation point on it, he includes all the livestock. He isn’t first in recognizing the truth of Jonah’s preaching, but he’s still showing true leadership in “leading from behind”.

His taking off his robe and covering himself with sackcloth is very symbolic and surprisingly humble. The king of Nineveh is a major king. Nineveh has a population of over 120,000.

Yet when he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes, he declared his subservience to Yahweh.

The LORD is the king of kings.

As we showed in yesterday’s lesson, Jonah was probably familiar in Nineveh, but that only explains why they listened to him. That doesn’t explain why they repented. How is it possible that a people, and their king, could be so evil and yet so ready to repent?

Obviously, something inside of them was a walking contradiction. They were aware of what is right but had suppressed it. Jonah didn’t teach them about right and wrong, he reminded them. They were in a state of denial.

But remember, Jonah was in denial too. In fact, as we’ll soon see, he’s still in denial. That’s the great irony of this book—and it’s lesson.

There are two parallel plots going on here: Jonah’s and Nineveh’s. While their sins are very different, their need to repent is the same. Nineveh responded well to their wake-up call and thus avoided a lot of pain. Unfortunately for Jonah, he still doesn’t get it. More suffering is coming.

The lesson for us is to remember that we’re no better than Jonah. Sometimes our sinful nature turns us into walking contradictions too. You do it. I do it. Great saints did it.

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. — Romans 7:15 (NKJV)

The struggle with sin never ends.

All the weekly study guides, which include all five devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

The Job book is on Amazon and is eligible for Amazon Prime. The Kindle edition will be out soon.

https://www.amazon.com/Higher-Purposes-Lesson-God-Job/dp/1684719534