From the Sea to the City

And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. 

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.

Jonah 2:10-3:3

From inside the belly of the great fish, Jonah prays to the Lord and, not surprisingly, the Lord answers him. However, we should note that the text provides no information as to when during these three days Jonah prayed the prayer in Jonah 2:2-9. We also don’t know how long it took for God to respond to Jonah. All we know is that amid all that damp and darkness, Jonah is eventually moved to repentance. His prayers are those of one confident that salvation does indeed belong to the Lord alone. Even before his feet touch dry land, Jonah is assured that the Lord has already “brought him up from the pit” and that he will yet again “look upon Your holy temple.” Sometimes when we rebel, the Lord is gracious to quickly move us to repentance without much hardship or trial. Other times, like with Jonah, our stubbornness will require more drastic action to pull us back to Him. But whenever conviction comes, our response should mirror Jonah’s: a sincere belief that the Lord will meet us in the midst of our trouble and has the power to bring us safely home.

Now, in Jonah 2:10, we see, as before in Jonah 1:4 and 1:17, the Lord speaks authoritatively to His creation. As a result, the giant fish listens to the Lord (humorously, the fish seems quite a bit better at this than Jonah) and spits Jonah back up onto the shore. At no point was Jonah’s situation out of God’s sovereign control. This is further evidenced by the Lord immediately clarifying His desire for Jonah. Jonah was brought back for a purpose, and this purpose remains unchanged from before Jonah’s rebellion: he is to “arise and go to Nineveh.” Thankfully this time, Jonah listens. Likely still covered in seaweed, Jonah starts walking.

His time spent running from the Lord and reflecting while in the belly of the great fish seems to have convinced Jonah of the Lord’s authority and trustworthiness. There is no debate or push-back from Jonah now. He merely acts according to the word of the Lord. We will later see, however, that while Jonah is moved here to obedience, his heart may not yet truly understand the Lord’s mercy. The same can often be true for us. Obeying the Lord can sometimes be a lot easier than allowing ourselves to feel for others as God feels for them. We can often brute force ourselves into “doing the right thing,” but doing it for the right reasons matters too.

At the crux of Jonah’s mission is the city of Nineveh itself. Nineveh was, for both Jonah and many others in Israel, a city undeserving of the Lord’s mercy. Here in the beginning of Chapter 3, we get a little more detail about it: simply that it is both an “exceedingly great city” and a rather large one, taking a “three days’ journey” to traverse. These attributes may have moved some like Jonah to displeasure, so great was the city and its wickedness. However, I think these details are included to challenge us. Nineveh includes some 120,000 souls; all made in God’s image. Regardless of their morality, this vast amount of human life should prompt compassion in us. We, too, should desire their repentance and salvation.

Here in 2025, there may be cities that stir in us similar emotions to those of Jonah. Maybe the immensity of cities like New York, LA, or even Dallas fills us with skepticism and frustration about humanity. So many people and so many living in sin. However, we should be mindful that we view these cities as God views them: capable of repentance and profound change. Note that Nineveh was “exceedingly great” even before its people repented of their wickedness. Our response to the “Nineveh” of our day should be compassion and prayer. Let us come to God expectant that our modern cities respond to the good news as Nineveh did in Jonah.