Useful Bible Studies > Jonah Commentary > chapter 3
We can learn much from our past experiences and especially from our mistakes. Jonah knew that he was wrong not to obey God on the first occasion. He knew that he had a serious duty now to obey this second message from God.
That does not mean that Jonah now wanted to go to Nineveh. He knew that Nineveh’s people were evil and cruel people. He thought, therefore, that they deserved to suffer God’s punishment. So, he did not want to warn them about their evil deeds. He did not want them to turn from their evil behaviour at once, because he wanted God to punish them first.
Still, Jonah went, because he now understood the importance of God’s word. He carefully recorded the words that God spoke to him. They are slightly different from God’s words in the first message (1:2). God sent Jonah because God cared about the people in Nineveh. Jonah went although he did not care about them.
It is the duty of God’s people to obey him with a glad and willing heart (Psalm 100:2). Also, they should learn to have attitudes that are like God’s attitudes (Matthew 5:48). Jonah had not yet learned those lessons.
It was not easy to go from Israel to Nineveh. Almost certainly, Jonah had to walk the entire distance. It was about 600 miles (1000 kilometres); it took about 2 months to walk there. On the way, Jonah had to pass through Aram, the nation which was Israel’s most important enemy at that time. There were robbers on the road. Jonah needed to buy food and to find places to stay.
After this difficult journey, Jonah finally reached Nineveh.
Next part: How Nineveh developed into a great but wicked city (Jonah 3:3)
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