Jonah Week 1

Jonah: Week 1

The Ninevah Governorate

Ninevah was founded by Nimrod in Genesis 10:8-12. The ancient city of Ninevah lies on the outskirts of Mosul - the modern capital of the Ninevah Governorate. I failed to find a suitable map that was readable on the page, but Dur Sharrukin lay 12 miles to the northeast of Nineveh, Caleh 15 miles to the southeast, and Ashur was south of Caleh.

The province of Ninevah extended from Caleh to Dur Sharrukin. Assyrian provinces were named after the principle city and the word "city" included the province, not just the walled compound.

Ashurnasirpal II, 884 BCE - 859 BCE, moved the capital of Assyria from Ashur to Caleh. Ashur remained an important spiritual center, and kings of Assyria were buried in Ashur even after the capital was moved. Why did the neo-Assyrian kings keep moving the capital? In the cases of Caleh and Dur Sharrukin, they wanted a new city. Ashur had a long and proud history over a thousand years. The inhabitants were not easy to keep fully submissive.

Sargon II moved the capital to Dur-Sharrukin ("Fortress of Sargon") northeast of Ninevah. Assyrian records describe the location as "within the quadrangle of Ninevah". Sargon II died unexpectedly in battle, and his successor Sennacherib (705 to 681 BC) abandoned the new city and moved the capital to Ninevah. Sennacherib attacked Hezekiah in Jerusalem and Egypt, and while Assyrian records do not mention a defeat (but do mention the cities of Judah captured), neither do they mention Jerusalem. Both Egyptian and Biblical accounts record that divine intervention defeated his army and sent him home.

Ninevah was destroyed in 612 BC by an coalition led by Nabopolassar of Babylon. While the city was destroyed, the province of Ninevah still exists today as the Nineveh Governorate.

1:1-2 Jonah takes place during the "Lean Years" of the Assyrian Empire (784-745 BC), which began with the death of Adad-Nirari III. Adad-Nirari had restored the empire to the former glory known under his grandfather Shalmaneser III, making Jehu among many other kings, pay tribute. In II Kings 13, "Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him because He saw the oppression that the king of Aram had inflicted on Israel. So the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel lived in their own homes as they had before." That deliverer was Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III, who laid seige to Damascus. This allowed Jereboam II to recover territory lost to the Aramaens, as Jonah had prophesied in II Kings 14:25. Adad-Nirari led a mono-theistic revolution in the empire, erecting a temple to Nabu at Calah, with statues of Nabu inscribed with, "Trust in Nabu. Do not trust in any other god." The mono-theistic period was as short lived as the Aton revolution in Egypt, but it still held sway during the lean years in which Jonah preached, as evidenced by the presence of "nabu" in personal names.
The period following the death of Adad-Nirari is marked by an absence of decrees and grants by the King of Assyria, and by famine, rebellions, and a solar eclipse in 763 BC. The governors of the provinces acted as kings, ignoring the king of Assyria. The empire seemed on the verge of collapse. Why did God send Jonah to the province of Ninevah, and not to the capital at Caleh? Or another province like Gozan? The answer would seem to be that Ninevah was ready to listen, and God had prepared their hearts.
1:3 While it was a relief when Assyria disabled the Aramaens at Damascus, it was even nicer that Assyria itself was disintegrating. Jereboam was still paying tribute to Assyria, but it looked like that might not be necessary much longer. Israel under Jereboam was prospering, and Jonah did not want repentance to halt Assyria's decline.
Tarshish was on the Phoenician trade route which followed the coast of northern Africa. It was past Carthage, on the southern coast of Spain.