Spoken

“And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey,

and he cried, and said,

Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

These are the words that God directly passed on to Jonah

to tell the Ninevites,

so of course, these are the words

that Jehovah wished to say to the Ninevites.

I

When Nineveh’s king heard the news,

he rose up from his throne, took off his robe,

put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.

He then proclaimed no one in the city would be allowed to taste anything.

Man and livestock were to don sackcloth,

people were to earnestly implore God.

The king proclaimed that each one would turn from evil ways,

forsake the violence in their hands.

Judging from this series of actions he took,

the king of Nineveh had true repentance;

he truly accomplished what a ruler should.

No other king achieved these things;

indeed, throughout history,

such things have proved difficult for any king.

They’re unprecedented, worthy of man’s commemoration and emulation.

II

Since the dawn of man,

all kings have led their subjects to resist and oppose God.

No one had ever led his subjects to entreat God

to seek redemption for their evil deeds,

to receive Jehovah God’s forgiveness and avoid imminent punishment.

But the Nineveh’s king could lead his subjects to turn to God,

to leave their evil ways behind

and abandon the violence in their hands.

He was also able to put aside his throne,

and in return, Jehovah God had a change of mind

and felt regret, retracting His wrath,

felt regret, retracting His wrath.

This allowed the people of the city to survive,

keeping them from destruction.

This allowed the people of the city to survive,

keeping them from destruction, keeping them from destruction.

The king’s actions can only be called a rare miracle in human history,

and even a model example of corrupt mankind

repenting and confessing their sins before God,

a model example of corrupt mankind

repenting and confessing their sins before God.

from The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II