The Destruction of Nineveh
Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
We are familiar with this story. Jonah reluctantly proclaims a warning of impending destruction against one of the capital cities of the Assyrian empire, though, as we know, only after running away to avoid doing so. Known for their cruelty and because of the history of their oppression of Israel, Jonah feared that God would have mercy on this pagan kingdom. He wanted to see them all destroyed.
Ironically, though the city was not devastated by a natural disaster or its inhabitants killed by an invading army, nevertheless Nineveh was overthrown as Jonah had predicted, but not as he expected. The king commanded that every person repent, and at the end of forty days the old Nineveh was no more. It had been destroyed and a new city raised up in its place.
Jonah, however, couldn’t see it. He wanted physical annihilation, not spiritual transformation. God had not shown the mercy Jonah feared to “old Nineveh” in all its wickedness, but to a humbled and contrite king and city.
Jonah is a mirror for us, helping us to see a our own tendencies. We too may fantasize about the fury of divine retribution to be poured out on those who do evil, rather than hoping for their transformation through eternal love!
But do we really want to live in resentment for God’s apparent laxness? The bitterness of longing for evil and oppressive empires to be ground to dust, which often does not happen as we might want, nor quickly, eats away at us. We ourselves are wounded and held captive.
Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.” Jonah 4:10
Consider the end of the story, the incident about the plant that shaded Jonah and then withered. Why is it included? At first, it may seem like an opportunity for God to scold Jonah. Rub his sin in his face. Shouldn’t he be ashamed for having more compassion on a plant than a city full of people? But perhaps this final part is a guide for our own transformation.
If read this way, our new growth begins with the compassion that we already have, as Jonah had for the plant. We start here, but must learn to expand that merciful love so that it is not narrowly focused on those we think deserve it, but becomes a hope for all.
“Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” Jonah 4:11
God is having compassion on his obstinate and sulking prophet, lovingly teaching him, not shaming him. Like Jonah, our journey, from wanting destruction to having mercy, involves knowing that ignorance underlies our evil human actions. If we truly know God and his love, would we do evil? Are there not the innocent to consider as well?
Our longing for the total annihilation of those who do evil needs overthrowing as much as evil systems themselves. All needs to be remade into the new heavens and earth which are born by transforming love. As we are changed, then we can be midwives to the process.