In the Old Testament book of Jonah, the Hebrew prophet was sent by the Lord to the wicked city of Ninevah — the capital of the Assyrian empire — in order to preach a message of imminent judgment. I asked the leaders to set aside for a moment the fact that Jonah didn’t want to obey the Lord and preach this messsage, and thus fled on a ship headed in the other direction. The point I wanted to make that night was that when Jonah finally did obey the Lord and did start preaching in Ninevah, he didn’t call the people to repentance. Rather, Jonah declared, “Forty days and Ninevah will be overthrown.” (Jonah 3:4) However, even though Jonah never called the people to plead to the One True God of Israel to have mercy on their souls and on their city, even though Jonah never called on the people to beg for forgiveness and turn away from their wickedness, that is, in fact, exactly what the Ninevites did.
IS AMERICA FACING A “JONAH” MOMENT, OR A “NAHUM” MOMENT? « Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog
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