Two of the minor prophets we read today (Jonah and Nahum) are focused toward Ninevah, or Assyria. Jonah's focus is on God extending salvation to Nineveh by his grace and mercy while Nahum focuses on the destruction of Nineveh by God's coming wrath.
At first this may not seem like such a big deal to us as readers. But we can gain a much great appreciation for these two books when we try to understand the pain and suffering Israel experienced at the hand of Assyria.
Remember, Sennacherib came from Assyria to lay siege against Jerusalem during King Hezekiah's reign. His intention was so fierce that he hoped to drive Judah to eat their own dung and drink their own urine (2 Kings 18:27).
Furthermore, Assyria was the country Amos prophesied would "take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks" (Amos 4:2). Assyria did come and did lead them away captive. Today, the northern Kingdom is known as the 10 lost tribes of Israel because they disappeared somewhere in the captivity.
Israel did not like Assyria. They hated Assyria. They loathed Assyria. They wanted God to completely destroy Assyria.
Can you understand Jonah's reaction when God called him to "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me" (Jonah 1:2). Imagine if God called you to go and preach the word of God to the greatest terrorist nation on earth. Would you go, or would you run?
But God's grace and mercy are for anyone. He saves whom he will, or, as the Bible puts it, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Exodus 33:19 & Romans 9:15).
So Jonah went, Nineveh repented, and God saved them. Even Jesus affirmed this truth when he said to Israel "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here" (Matthew 12:41).
Jesus did not die for the slightly bad or the semi-decent folk. He died to wash the vilest sinner clean by his blood. He does not grant salvation only to those who deserve it, but extends it to an undeserving world regardless of nationality or history.
Jay
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