Jonah: Repentance of an entire city

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Repentance of an entire city

 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: - Jonah 3:5-7

Jonah did not want to preach to Nineveh for fear that they would repent and God would offer them forgiveness.  We read about Jonah’s reasons in Chapter four.  This is the reason that Jonah ran from the presence of the Lord, or at least why he tried.  Upon hearing about the judgment to come, the entire city of Nineveh, from King down, all repented.  The King proclaimed a fast that included even the animals.  This is the response that everyone should have when confronted with their sin.  Unfortunately, most people will respond in the same manner that the nation of Israel did to Stephen when confronted with their sin.

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. - Acts 7:51-60

Instead of believing God, and responding appropriately to his message, they decided to stop their ears and shut down the message so that they would not have to face their sin.  You can not avoid judgment, by stopping your ears or by getting rid of the preacher.  Just because you refuse to recognize the debt that you owe, does not make the fact that you owe it any less of a reality.  The leaders that Stephen was speaking with refused to repent, while the leaders of Nineveh decided that repentance was their only hope.  Therefore Jesus said that Nineveh would stand in Judgement of the generation of people that he was speaking to:

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. - Matthew 12:39-41

A fast is proclaimed

 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. - Jonah 3:7-8

Fasting is the act of abstaining from food and or drink for a predetermined amount of time.  Some fasts will abstain from food only and some will abstain from both food and drink at the same time.  Fasting is observed to mark a religious commitment and devotion or as an expression of repentance for sin.

Duration of a fast

As mentioned above, the length of a fast is of a limited amount of time that is predetermined by the individual that is fasting. In Scripture, we have different fasting durations recorded:

One-day fast

The one day fast is the normal length of a fast and is recorded in the following passages:

It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath. - Leviticus 23:32
Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. - Judges 20:26
And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword. - 2 Samuel 1:12

Three-day fast

The three-day fast is recorded of two individuals, Esther (Queen of a Gentile nation) and Paul (Apostle to the Gentiles).

Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. - Esther 4:15-17
And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. - Acts 9:8-9

Seven-day fast

The seven-day fast is normally associated with the mourning of a death:

And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.
And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan.
And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;
All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.
And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days. - 1 Samuel 31:8-13
They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. - 1 Chronicles 10:12
David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?
But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. - 2 Samuel 12:16-20

Forty-day fast

Only recorded of Three individuals: Moses, Elijah and the Lord Jesus Christ:

 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. - Exodus 34:27-28
 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? - 1 Kings 19:8-9
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. - Matthew 4:1-2

A call to turn from violence

In conjunction with a fast, the King of Nineveh also called for the entire city to turn from their violence.

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. - Jonah 3:8

Violence is a part of the sin nature and the only way that anyone is going to be able to turn from this violence is to have our nature changed.

We will discuss this in more detail next week.