How Jonah in the Bible Converted the Evil City of Nineveh

The story of Jonah in the Bible may seem far-fetched. However, records in the British Admiralty suggest it is possible. In 1891, a sperm whale swallowed a 21-year-old named James Barkley near the Falkland Islands. He spent 15 hours in the whale’s belly.

The crew finally winched the whale to the ship; The whale’s stomach acid permanently bleached James’s skin a deathly white. He had lost all his hair and was nearly blind. James said he had felt the huge teeth grate over his body as he slid down its throat.

According to II Kings 14:25, Jonah was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II (800 BC to 750 BC). This was a time of peace and prosperity for Northern Israel.

However, the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, was a dreadful place, its air thick with the stench of blood and fear. The sickening sounds of screams and the clang of metal against bone echoed through the city. The sight of mutilated bodies, limbs severed, eyes gouged, skin flayed, and impaled victims was commonplace; a chilling testament to Assyrian cruelty. The very ground seemed to tremble with the weight of such barbarity. In Nahum, chapter 3, Nahum describes Nineveh as “The city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims.”

It is not surprising Jonah in the Bible did not want to accept the Lord’s assignment to preach to these evil people. Jonah must have wondered why the Lord wanted him to teach the gospel to these terrible heathens.

Jonah wanted to get as far away from Nineveh as he could.

Jonah in the Bible chose a ship headed to Tarsus; a place in northern Spain. It represented a place as far away from Nineveh as he could go.

The Lord had other plans. He caused a horrendous storm. The sailors feared the ship would break apart. They believed an angry God caused the storm. They cast lots to see which person had enraged their God. The lot fell on Jonah.

The ship’s captain asked Jonah about what evil he had done to anger his God and what he should do to save his ship. Jonah answered, “take me and cast me forth into the sea; for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.” (Jonah 1:12)The sailors did not want to toss Jonah overboard. They showed compassion and prayed to the God of the Hebrews. When the storm did not abate, they cast Jonah into the sea, and a big fish swallowed him.

Jonah in the Bible described his experience as “three days in the belly of hell.” Jesus would later use Jonah’s experience as an example of his own three days in the grave. (Matthew 12:40)

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

In Jonah chapter 2 we read Jonah’s prayer: ”I have been banished from your site. The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed wrapped around my head. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you.”

After Jonah consecrated his all to the Lord, the whale vomited Jonah out on dry land.

Nineveh was a large city with about 120,000 people. Miles of walls 50 feet high surrounded the city. Jonah walked around the city preaching for three days.

What if Jonah in the Bible had a similar experience to James Barclay? Jonah would be his own best visual aid. His skin was bleached a deathly white. His hair gone. Probably the smell of fish is still on him. His message was simple: do things God’s way or pay the consequences.

The message was so graphic to the king that all the people repented. Following Hebrew tradition, they repented. They removed their fine garments and put on uncomfortable goat-hair sackcloth. They fasted. They required their animals to fast as well.

Historical records show that for 40 years Assyria stopped making war on other people. When their appetite for conquest returned, one of the first countries they conquered was Northern Israel. They annihilated it and carried away the people, who later became known as the lost 10 tribes of Israel.