When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. – Jonah 3:6

Today's Scripture Reading (February 19, 2023): Jonah 3 & 4

There is never a time when we are more susceptible to change than when we are in trouble. Unfortunately, as we discussed when considering Jonah 2:1, that change is often momentary. As soon as the disaster passes, so does our desire to make a change. Lasting change often happens only when we decide to make a change during the better times in our lives.

So, having said that, one thing about the story of Jonah that has always surprised me is the relative ease with which the people of Nineveh accept Jonah's message. And it was not just the people; the author of Jonah tells us that the king believed as well. All of this seems unusual for a power such as Assyria, an Empire used to ruling and not accepting the message of itinerant prophets.

The trouble with dating Jonah also makes understanding the Assyrian's acceptance of Jonah's message a little harder. The book of Jonah doesn't tell us the name of the reigning King in Assyria, but we can make some good guesses. To the best of our knowledge, Jonah's adventures took place during the reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.E.). Taking those dates into consideration and looking at the Assyrian Empire, the dating leaves us with a probability that the King in the Book of Jonah was one of three brothers who reigned during that time; Shalmaneser IV (783-773 B.C.E), Ashur-dan III (773-755 B.C.E.), and Ashur-nirari V (755-745 B.C.E.), all of whom were the sons of Adad-nirari III (811-783 B.C.E.). This is significant because these four kings represent a dark age in Assyria. We have very few records from this period of the Assyrian Kingdom. As well, Assyria was going through a period of significant decline. During their reigns, the king's power decreased in relation to the power of important officials in the Empire. And that meant that the situation in Assyria made it a perfect moment for the message carried by Jonah.

But it also meant that the change would be short-lived. Because of a lack of records, we can only make an educated guess, but it seems likely that Tiglath-Pileser III would end this period of decline by murdering Ashur-nirari V. And any repentance that had occurred in the Kingdom as a result of Jonah's message would have died with the murder of the King. Under Tiglath-Pileser III, the Empire would see a resurgence in power, and they would find out that the reprieve they had received from God was over, and the nation, once again, was under His judgment.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Hosea 1