Jonah 3:4 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 4:11 “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?”
Blowing up the Prophet Jonah’s tomb is not enough for ISIS. They are now proclaiming they are going to blow up the walls of the ancient city Nineveh. The 7.5 mile (one day’s walk) brick wall and rampart surrounds what used to be the ancient city of Nineveh. The majority of the wall is still present and standing. ISIS states the destruction of the wall is necessary because the cultural museum of Nineveh has “distorted” the view of Islam. Works of art and archeology artifacts have been stolen by ISIS from the museum. Nineveh is effectively modern day Mosul, Iraq.
Assyrians claim to be Iraq’s original indigenous people. Their history goes back to 4,750BC. Assyrians are approximately 95% of the country’s Christian population. Close to 200,000 Christians were forced to leave their homes around the Nineveh plain during the summer of 2014 due to ISIS. They are now refugees in the Dohuk and Erbil regions of northern Iraq that border Turkey and Iran. The region is also known as Kurdistan.
The Book of Jonah is dated roughly in the first half of the eighth century BC. The prophet Jonah travelled to the brutally violent people of Nineveh with a message of judgment if their ways were not changed. For intimidation purposes, the Assyrians would tie people to the stake and filet them. The people of Jonah’s day responded to the message of Jehovah. God cared for Gentiles in the Old Testament too; this is not a New Testament phenomenon.
In the Hebrew language, Jonah’s name means “dove”. In the Bible, the dove is a symbol of peace. The dove is likened to the descent of the Holy Spirit onto Jesus at His baptism. Luke 3:22a and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove…
…there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” One can tell by the pictures in the articles referenced, the Assyrians were skilled architects, designers, and laborers who built a massive brick wall with towers. Historically, these people were barbaric but they were not stupid. I take it those who do not know the difference between their right and left hands were children. Animals were included in the context of the ignorant. God does not judge the innocent bystanders with guilt by association. Remember the conversation between the Lord and Abraham in Genesis 18. God swore to Abraham He would spare Sodom and Gomorrah if there were righteous people remaining in the city. God’s messengers removed the righteous, Lot and family. We know the rest of that story.
The Holy Spirit, like a dove of peace, descends on sinners offering a message of mercy and undeserving forgiveness. Just believe in the sign of Jonah: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 12:39-41).
