Jonah 3:3

Having learned that he must fulfill the Lord’s commission or suffer the most unpleasant consequences, Jonah this time obeyed and traveled east to Nineveh rather than west (cf. Jonah 1:3). For all he knew, he might end up impaled on a pole or skinned alive, which is how the Assyrians often dealt with their enemies. Nevertheless, such a fate was preferable to suffering divine discipline again.

The writer’s description that Nineveh "was" a great city has led some interpreters to conclude that it was not great when the book was written. Some of them take this as evidence for a late date of writing, even during the postexilic period. However it seems more likely that the writer was simply describing Nineveh as it was when God sent Jonah to it. Probably "was" implies that Nineveh had already become a great city when Jonah visited it. The Hebrew syntax favors this view. Roland de Vaux estimated that Israel’s largest city, Samaria, had a population of about 30,000 at this time. [Note: Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions, p. 66.] Nineveh was at least four times larger (Jonah 4:11).

The meaning of "a three-days’ walk" remains somewhat obscure. The Hebrew phrase is literally "a distance of three days," which does not solve the problem. It may mean that it took three days to walk through the city from one extremity to the opposite one, but the extent of Nineveh’s ruins argues against this interpretation. It may also mean that it took three days to walk around the circumference of the city, though this seems unlikely (cf. Jonah 3:4). Whether the size refers to the area enclosed by the major eight-mile wall, which seems improbable, or includes the outlying suburbs is also unclear. Apparently at this time "Nineveh" referred to (1) the city and (2) a complex of four cities including the city in question. [Note: See Keil, 1:390; T. D. Alexander, "Jonah and Genre," Tyndale Bulletin 36 (1985):57-58; and Hannah, p. 1468.] Probably the "three-days walk" describes the time it took to visit the city and its outlying suburbs. [Note: Stuart, pp. 487-88.] In any case, the description clearly points to Nineveh’s geographical size as being large and requiring several days for Jonah’s message to reach everyone (cf. Jonah 4:11).

Another explanation is that the literal meaning of the phrase, namely, "a visit of three days," describes the protocol involved in visiting an important city such as Nineveh. It was customary in the ancient Near East for an emissary from another city-state to take three days for an official visit. He would spend the first day meeting and enjoying the hospitality of his host, the second day discussing the primary purpose of his visit, and the third saying his farewells. [Note: Wiseman, "Jonah’s Nineveh," p. 38. See also Stuart, pp. 487-88.] If Jonah was such an emissary, he went as a divine representative to Nineveh’s king and other government officials as well as to the people. This explanation suggests that Jonah’s preaching may have started with the king and then proceeded to the people rather than the other way around. This view may account better for the king’s repentance and his decree to all the people to repent (Heb. sub; Jonah 3:6-9) compared to the traditional view.