And the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Jonah's first orders ended in flight, a storm and a swallowed prophet. Now the same voice reaches the same man on dry land, with the same errand. Why does God speak a second time — to Jonah, to Nineveh, and to anyone who has walked away from what God asked?
The striking thing is not Jonah's return but God's return to Jonah. He speaks again to the man who ran, and hands him back the message he refused.
The word of Jehovah comes to Jonah again. How persistent is His goodness, and how vain for His servant to think of evading! A fresh message is given in these terms: "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you."
The storm and the fish were not God shutting the door. They were correction with a destination: Jonah back on the road to Nineveh.
The moment Jonah was delivered "the word of the Lord came to him the second time." The Lord had pursued His servant with His storm and tempest, and cast him into the deep, in the middle of the seas. But that was for restoration as well as correction. It was to put the prophet into a right condition of soul, fit to be the vessel of the divine will… If we turn back from the path which He marks out for us, we must meet the chastening of His hand. The object of His dealings is never reached until He brings us face to face again with the path we left.
Rescue from drowning would already be mercy. Being handed back the very task he had thrown away is more.
Suppose the mercy of God had delivered His failing servant from the terrible death that threatened him. Even then, who could expect the Lord to give him a second chance at the service he had once been privileged to do for Him? Such is the grace of God. The Lord did not only save His servant from death. He also patiently taught him the lessons he needed. Then, saved and pardoned and better equipped than before through these new lessons, the Lord sent him once more on the very message he had refused before.
The words of the commission hardly change. The man does.
In His great patience and grace, God now repeats the same words of command He had spoken to Jonah the first time. But the prophet had now learned obedience, that chief requirement for every servant. What a difference between the third verse of the third chapter of Jonah and the same verse of the first! In the first we read, "But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa." How different in the third chapter! "So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord."
God sends Jonah without telling him the message in advance. (The ESV reads, "call out against it the message that I tell you"; the writers quoted use older wording.)
That is a great point for preachers. Get your orders from the top. People say to me sometimes, Why do you not preach this and that, in this style, in that manner? Because I have no orders, my friend. You have just to get your orders and obey them, and I have to get mine. "Go and preach the preaching that I bid you," says God. That is the great point for every servant. It is a great principle, and if we miss it our service is spoiled.
The second charge is also vaguer than the first, and one writer sees mercy in that.
Sadly, this did not suit the Galilean prophet! Patience and grace for erring Israel — yes, but not for Gentiles!
One writer sees in Jonah's rescue and second sending a figure of the risen One.
It was not possible that He should be held by death… So He rose on the third day as the firstborn from the dead. It is of Him as the risen One that Jonah becomes a figure. As the risen One He is the faithful and true witness. Israel is now set aside, and He can bear testimony to the Gentiles… The two things are in the chapter — the historical fact of Jonah's mission, and that of which this mission is an emblem.
- Second, not last. The word comes again because God's goodness is persistent, and running from it is useless.
- Correction aims at restoration. The storm was not the end of the errand. God keeps working until we stand again at the path we left.
- The task returns. Grace saved Jonah from death and then handed him back the exact service he had refused.
- Orders from the top. The servant's job is to deliver the message God gives, not to choose it.
- A risen witness. Brought up from the deep, Jonah becomes a figure of the risen One whose testimony reaches the nations.
Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I shall bid thee.
Jonah ran from his orders, went overboard, and came back alive — and now the same order arrives again, word for word. Two things stand out: God repeats a command His servant had refused, and He ties the preacher to a message he does not choose.
(The writers quote an older translation: "preach to it the preaching that I bid you." The ESV reads, "call out against it the message that I tell you.")
The striking thing is not that Jonah survived. It is that God sent him out again, when there was little reason to expect it:
For those of us who have perhaps also turned aside from some service given to us, the first verse of Jonah 3 is a rich mine of comfort. Suppose God's mercy had rescued His failing servant from the terrible death that threatened him. Even then, who could expect the Lord to give him a second opportunity to carry out this service? Such is the grace of God. The Lord did more than save His servant from death. He patiently taught him the lessons he needed. Through those new lessons He saved and pardoned and equipped him more fully than before. Then He sent him once more on the very message he had earlier refused.
The repeated command also shows what God is like. He does not give up, and escape was never possible:
In Jonah 3 we come to another point. The word of Jehovah comes to Jonah again. How persistent is His goodness, and how useless for His servant to think of escaping!
The storm was not only punishment. It had another aim: to make Jonah usable, and to bring him back to the exact point where he turned aside:
If the Lord pursued His servant with storm and tempest, and cast him into the deep, it was for restoration as well as correction. It was also to put the prophet into the right condition of soul to be the vessel of the divine will… It is always so in the Lord's dealings with His people. If we turn back from the path He marks out for us, we cannot avoid the chastening of His hand. His dealings do not reach their goal until He brings us face to face again with the path we left, and makes us willing, by grace, to walk in it.
The first commission gave Jonah a reason. This one does not. That difference is deliberate:
The message is a little more blunt. It does not explain the reason for the warning, as the first message did. The prophet had shown himself unworthy of the closeness of communion that the first command contained… The first message told of God's "ways," and gave the reason for His "acts." The second time God gave no such explanation. Simple, unquestioning obedience is what He calls for. This was right. Simple, unquestioning obedience is exactly where the prophet had failed. The second opportunity offered to him tests whether he will obey without being told the reason.
The messenger does not choose the message. One writer applies this to anyone who preaches:
That is a great point for preachers. Get your orders from the top. People sometimes say to me, Why do you not preach this or that, in this style or that manner? Because I have no orders, my friend. You have to get your orders and obey them, and I have to get mine. "Go and preach the preaching that I bid you," says God. That is the great point for every servant. It is a great principle, and if we miss it our service is spoiled.
The temptation is to fall back on our own favourite subjects:
How often those of us who preach are tempted to preach what we like. Perhaps the Lord has blessed certain subjects in the past. We like to preach on those, instead of listening for what He may tell us to preach… Jonah was very different. He had only one sermon, and he preached it over and over for days on end.
Nineveh was not Israel, and that sets Jonah apart from every other prophet:
Second Kings 14:15 already tells us that Jonah was a prophet. Unlike all the other prophets of the Old Testament, God sent him to the pagan people of Nineveh, not to the people of Israel. The only prophetic message Jonah announced was the one about the coming judgment on Nineveh (Jonah 1:2; 3:2,4). Jonah is therefore the only Old Testament prophet who reveals the grace of God towards the nations.
- Again. God spoke a second time and sent Jonah on the very errand he had refused. He did not replace His failing servant; He restored him.
- Aimed. The storm was correction with restoration in view, bringing him back to the exact path he had left.
- Shorter. This time God gives no reason. He tests whether Jonah will obey without being told why.
- Given. The preacher does not choose his message — orders come from the top, not from what he likes or what hearers expect.
- Wider. The errand runs to Nineveh, a city outside Israel. That makes Jonah the one Old Testament prophet who shows God's grace to the nations.