The author sets up Chapter 3 to roughly parallel Chapter 1 (to a lesser extent the same is true of Chapters 2 and 4):

God calls Jonah                                        1:1-2                  3:1        God calls Jonah
Jonah responds to the call                    1:3                      3:3        Jonah responds to the call
Jonah travels to the ship                        1:3                      3:3        Jonah travels to Nineveh
Jonah warns of God’s judgment           1:9-12                3:4        Jonah warns of God’s judgment
Sailors cry for God’s mercy                    1:14                    3:7-9    King issues proclamation
Sailors throw Jonah overboard            1:15                    3:5-6    Ninevites repent
God calms the storm                              1:15                    3:10      God relents from judgment

In this structure, the ship is actually a microcosm of Nineveh and the pagan sailors representatives of the residents of Nineveh (if Jonah stays quiet on the ship, the ship perishes – if Jonah stays quiet in Nineveh, Nineveh perishes) [This thought is from James M. Grier].  Jonah alerted the sailors as to how they could escape the judgment of God.  He is about to cry out to Nineveh that the judgment of God is coming and they have a short time to escape it.  Jonah welcomed the grace of God that saved him from the ocean and the sailors from the storm.  How will he respond to the grace of God poured out on the Ninevites?

1-3
There is no way to know how much time passes between 2:10 and 3:1.  Whether Jonah traveled back to Israel for a time or he receives the call of God immediately after being vomited by the fish is unknown.  Regardless, God calls him in almost the exact same way as He did in Chapter 1 to go to Nineveh and preach to its people.  This time He tells Jonah to preach the proclamation which I am going to tell you.

Note that God does not call him vindictively.  He does not mention anything about the prior experience.  The reader could read this passage and have no idea anything has happened between God and Jonah at all.  God mercifully decides to give Jonah a second chance and mercifully does it in a way that truly gives him a fresh start.

Not surprisingly, Jonah has a different response to this second call.  Amazing what a few days in the belly of a fish will do for one’s attitude.  He begins immediately to travel to Nineveh to fulfill God’s commands.  Nineveh is between 500 and 600 miles away and roughly a month’s journey by caravan.

Verse 3 says that Nineveh is a very large city – a three day’s walk.  There is some controversy as to what this means.  The city is not large enough to require three days to traverse it – it is roughly 7½ miles in circumference and three or so miles across.  What the three days could refer to is the time it takes to travel to all of the metropolitan area of Nineveh which includes the smaller cities around it (see Gen 10:11-12 where this area is referred to as a great city).  The three days could also refer to the time it will require for Jonah to complete the mission of preaching against it.  The city is large enough that by the time he visits all the major public locations it will take three days.

Note what Jonah is attempting to do.  Assyria at this time is somewhat in decline (about 30-40 years from rising again to be a world-dominant power), but Nineveh is still one of the major cities in the world.  It is populated by a violent, pagan people.  It is a very old city (going back to 6000 BC) and very advanced and cosmopolitan.  It is imposing, with walls up to 148 feet thick in places, running for 7½ miles around its circumference.  It is beautiful, on the banks of the Tigris River with the Khawsar River flowing through its center.  Jonah has NO support structure in place as he starts his mission.  He is a foreigner proclaiming imminent judgment from an unknown God to a people with no background or context that would lead them to listen.

There is another side to the situation, however.  The recent history of Assyria likely makes the Ninevites open to a word of divine judgment.  Ashurdan III rules Assyria from 773 to 755 BC.  This corresponds roughly to the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel (793-753 BC) during which Jonah is mentioned in II Kings 14:25.  It could be that Ashurdan III is in power when Jonah comes to Nineveh.  During Ashurdan’s reign, Assyria has suffered two plagues (765 and 759), an ongoing revolt (763-759), and a solar eclipse (763).  All these events have likely been interpreted by the Assyrians as signs of divine wrath.

4-9
Jonah proceeds into the city for one day and cries out that the city has 40 days until it is overthrown.  The word overthrown (Hebrew = hapak) is the same word used to describe the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:24-25.  It carries with it the connotation of destruction by fire.  Hapak can also mean, however, to turn around or turn upside-down (as in Deut 23:5).  Thus, Jonah’s message can be understood in two ways – either Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days or Nineveh will completely change its ways in 40 days.  It is perhaps their understanding of the multiple connotations of the word that leads the Ninevites to respond as they do.

The word “overthrown” has two senses, good and bad.  If they do not repent they will be “destroyed.”  But if they repent they shall indeed be “overthrown,” for they will have changed from evil to good.  – Rashi, Assembly of Rabbis

God has told Jonah to tell the Ninevites His judgment is coming, but He mercifully gives them 40 days to respond.  He wants them to know His judgment is sure and imminent, but He also genuinely wants them to repent (II Pet 3:8-9).  Interesting to note that God did not give warning to Sodom and Gomorrah; He is sovereign and does not always deal with everyone in the same way (see Matt 11:23-24).

The 40 days is most likely what bothers Jonah when he complains to God in Chapter 4.  It is a sign of God’s mercy that is completely unmerited and completely unnecessary in his mind.

Note what Jonah does NOT say.  He does not tell the Ninevites how to escape the coming wrath.  He does not tell them the name of the God who is threatening judgment.  He does not tell them what they have done that deserves judgment.  He simply tells them their city will be destroyed in forty days.  The Spirit of God acting through the Word of God does the rest.  [Perhaps this is why God tells him to proclaim such a short message – there is no doubt that its effectiveness is from God and not from Jonah.]

The Ninevites’ reaction is amazing.  They immediately believe Jonah’s message and take action.  Instead of reacting with disdain or with violence, they humble themselves by putting on sackcloth and declare a fast.  Perhaps even more than the great fish, this is the most surprising part of the story.

The text in verse 5 says they believe God (Elohim).  It does not say they proclaim faith in Yahweh.  Jonah does not preach Yahweh to them and does not try to convert them to Judaism.  They simply believe the message Jonah has brought to them and ascribe it to a supreme God – presumably One who surpasses all other gods.

By putting on sackcloth the people lay aside any signs of status, class, or wealth.  All people are the same when covered in sackcloth.  All people show that they are under judgment – no one is innocent, and no one is more or less guilty than any other.

Word of the actions of the populace reaches the king.  It is not clear why the author calls him the king of Nineveh instead of the king of Assyria.  Perhaps because the story concerns Nineveh and not all of Assyria it makes sense to specify that the king is ruler of Nineveh in particular.  Regardless, what is going on in the city is reported to him along with the message of Jonah.

The king’s reaction is perhaps even more startling than the general population’s.  He rises from his throne and takes off his royal robes and puts on sackcloth and sits back down not on the throne, but on ashes.  He humbles himself just like the people and even adds the ashes to signify that he is guilty and deserving of the coming judgment of fire.  All this without apparently hearing from Jonah directly at all.

The king then issues a decree that NO ONE (including livestock) is to eat or drink (he does not say for how long, but perhaps for forty days?) and EVERYONE (again including livestock) is to wear sackcloth and turn from evil and violence and earnestly call on Elohim (as the sailors called on God in 1:6 and 1:14).  He ends the decree by stating, “Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?” (Thus showing that Jonah has not promised them anything beyond his recorded proclamation).

Something to consider – after a day or two of not feeding the livestock throughout the city, the sound of the hungry animals is most likely both deafening and maddening.

Interesting that the king and the people know implicitly what behavior they need to turn away from.  Jonah did not identify anything for them – they simply know they are wicked and violent and that they must change in order to escape judgment.

It is amazing how God’s Spirit works in the hearts of the Ninevites.  Jonah makes the simplest of proclamations and does not even get through the whole city and yet the entire populace including the king responds and repents.  Contrast this to Noah who warned of God’s judgment for perhaps 100 years while building the ark and convinced exactly no one; he entered the ark with only his family.  God calls His servants to proclaim His words but in no way are His servants responsible for the harvest.

10
God sees the deeds of the Ninevites and their turning from wickedness and has compassion on them.  He relents concerning the judgment He threatened and leaves them in peace.

It is difficult to fully comprehend what this teaches us about God.  Have the Ninevites converted to following Yahweh?  They do not know about Yahweh.  Have they decided to leave behind their false gods and worship the true God?  We have no way of knowing, but the text does not say this.  Is this a short-term change of heart or are they committed to righteousness and obedience to the moral law of God?  They will destroy Israel and deport or enslave its people in approximately 30 or 40 years.  God will actually wipe out Nineveh in roughly 140 years (612 BC).

So what does the text tell us?  The Ninevites truly repent.  Note that verse 10 does not say that God relents simply because they humble themselves.  It says He relents after seeing their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way.  Their repentance is not simply words or displays – they reverse course and change their behavior.  True repentance involves a change of direction. 

Verse 5 says they believe God.  Does this mean they believe IN Him the way we think about belief?  Again, it is hard to know but history teaches us they do not stay true to their changes for long.

So why does God relent? 

• Because He wants to.  God is merciful and gracious and compassionate – as Jonah will point out in Chapter 4 – and longs to extend mercy to His creatures. 
• Because He said He would.  Jeremiah prophesied that when God plans calamity on a nation He will relent of that calamity if the nation turns from its evil ways (Jer 18:7-8).

The Ninevites’ repentance and humiliation are comparable to the actions of Ahab when he heard of the impending judgment of God on his house (I Kings 21:20-29).  Elijah tells him of the awful things God will do to Ahab and his family and Ahab immediately humbles himself and fasts and puts on sackcloth.  As a result, and even though God knows Ahab’s heart and that he will never truly and permanently turn from his ways, God delays the punishment until after Ahab’s death. 

God longs to save rather than punish.