Read Nahum 1:1; Nahum 3:1–4; and 2 Kings 17:5, 6; 2 Kings 19:32–

37. What do these verses reveal about Nineveh and the relationship

between Assyria and Israel? How might this relationship have

impacted Jonah’s decision to go to Tarshish instead?

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One of the reasons Jonah may have been unwilling to go to Nineveh

was fear. The Assyrians were a formidable foe, and Nineveh served as

the capital of the kingdom.

“Among the cities of the ancient world in the days of divided Israel one

of the greatest was Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian realm. . . . In the

time of its temporal prosperity Nineveh was a center of crime and wicked-

ness. Inspiration has characterized it as ‘the bloody city, . . . full of lies

and robbery.’ In figurative language the prophet Nahum compared the

Ninevites to a cruel, ravenous lion. ‘Upon whom,’ he inquired, ‘hath not

thy wickedness passed continually?’ Nahum 3:1, 19.”—Ellen G. White,

Prophets and Kings, p. 265.

Nineveh was a magnificent city. Historians tell us that Sennacherib

greatly expanded the city, including building the huge southwestern

palace that alone measured 1,650 feet by 794 feet. (503 by 242 meters)

and contained at least 80 rooms. He also built 18 canals to bring water

to the city from as far away as 40 miles (65 kilometers). Its size alone

would have been intimidating.

But the Assyrians were also ruthless. In his account of the conquest of

Babylon, Sennacherib boasted that he filled the streets with the corpses

of its inhabitants, young and old, and relief carvings found during excava-

tions depict scenes of soldiers impaling victims. These were not people you

wanted to cross; they were not averse to using violence, and gratuitously

cruelly, too, against those they didn’t like. Indeed, at the thought of walking

among the masses of people in Nineveh, Jonah must have quaked with fear.

In spite of all of this, we often read Jonah’s story with disapproval for

letting fear get in the way of carrying out God’s instructions. What we

fail to realize is that we can do the same thing (i.e., allow ourselves to

be controlled by our fears rather than by God).

Think back to a time when you felt strongly that God was direct-

ing you to do something that you, out of fear, really didn’t want to

do. What lessons have you learned from that experience?

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