“And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?”(Jonah 4: 11). Jonah was told by God to go and preach to the Ninevites. In the Book of Jonah, we are told that they had wickedness and evil. Jonah did not want to preach to the Ninevites and tried to run away. God had a great fish swallow Jonah after Jonah was thrown into the sea. Jonah spent 3 days in the belly of the great fish and then was thrown up by the fish. Jonah finally went to Nineveh and preached unto them. The Ninevites repented of their evil and turned to God.
What was the wickedness of Nineveh? We may not know all of it, but we can know some of it. Nineveh was built mostly by the spoils from their conquered enemies. The Ninevites enjoyed killing those they conquered. The people were a vicious people. The Assyrian kings boasted about the awful things they did to those they conquered. One king wrote the following about his capturing the city of Tela. “Many captives I burned with fire. Many of their soldiers I took alive; of some I cut off hands and limbs, of others the noses, ears, and arms; of many soldiers I put out their eyes. I reared a column of the living and a column of heads. I hung up on high their heads on trees in the vicinity of the city. Their boys and girls I burned up in the flames. I devastated the city, dug it up, in fire I burned it. I annihilated it.”
Some of the Assyrian kings placed cages along the street leading to the royal palace. Kings and princes of conquered provinces were placed in these cages. As the Assyrian king passed by, he would stop at times and heap ridicule on them. Sometimes he would even take them out of the cage and harness them to his chariot. Then, they would be lashed and beaten before being put back in their cage.
As evil as the Ninevites were, God was willing to forgive them. As evil as they were, they could find salvation from God. We can learn from the example of Nineveh that God is always willing to forgive. No matter how evil someone may be, if he will repent and turn to God, He will forgive them. Everyone needs to hear the Gospel.
If you know someone who does much evil, try to take the opportunity to preach the Gospel to him. God will forgive him if he will repent and obey God. If you have done some very bad things in your life, repent of them and obey God. Study your Bible. You can learn what to do in it, and if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
