So Ninevah repents.
On Sunday, Calvin described what kind of people these Assyrians were and it wasn't pretty. He told of the horrific torture methods they used before killing their enemies, and without going into detail I can summarize by saying they were ruthless, godless and fearless.
Until God warned them and they repented.
It's as if they knew they were horrible people and as long as they could get away with it, they would. But as soon as God spoke into their lives, they knew their time was up and then turned from their wickedness and repented.
So why do you think God bothered with the Assyrians? Why was their wickedness worth His attention, more than, say, the Babylonians? Why would God go outside the borders of His chosen ones and warn the Assyrians?
Well, it is far from me to claim to fully understand the mind of God, but I do have a theory that I want to share. You see, about 30 years after this story, God is going to use the Assyrians to take the Northern Kingdom of Israel into captivity because of their rebellion and sin. The captivity itself will be painful enough, but when a ruthless, godless, fearless nation takes you, then you're really in trouble.
Perhaps God brought these people to repentance so that when they took Israel captive they would be less ruthless, a bit more god-fearing and civilized in how they treated the chosen people of God.
Is it possible that God thinks that far ahead?
What a ridiculous question...technically He's already written the end of the story...of course He plans ahead...
Just a thought...
The amazing mind of God, who can compare??? He knows each life He has created and the plans for each one in detail. How do we comprehend that ???
ReplyDeleteI think you are on to something. God's grace really is the theme of Jonah, isn't it, reaching into every aspect of this story, which is His story.
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