Jon 3:7 | KingComments | STEP | It seems as if this command by the king and his ministers is leading the people to ruin. Not eating and not drinking will result in death. But that is the appearance that deceives. On the contrary, it is an order to life. Whoever takes the place of death before God, whoever acknowledges to be dead before God, is given life. Everything shows that the people take Jonah’s message seriously. There is no delay, on the contrary, there is haste. The command calls for an immediate conversion of the sins to which they have surrendered and over which God’s judgment now looms. The life in hedonism and debauchery is given up. The most essential necessities of life are renounced. Even the animals are withheld from any food. This expresses how much man and animal are connected in the curse that hangs over creation as a result of man’s sin ( ). Man and animal are also united in expressing the grief over sin and the longing to be set free from the curse, from the slavery to corruption ( ). Man and animal will share in that liberation ( ). We see in the last verse of this book that God also takes the animals into account ( ).

‏ Jonah 3:7

A Command of Life

It seems as if this command by the king and his ministers is leading the people to ruin. Not eating and not drinking will result in death. But that is the appearance that deceives. On the contrary, it is an order to life. Whoever takes the place of death before God, whoever acknowledges to be dead before God, is given life.

Everything shows that the people take Jonah’s message seriously. There is no delay, on the contrary, there is haste. The command calls for an immediate conversion of the sins to which they have surrendered and over which God’s judgment now looms. The life in hedonism and debauchery is given up. The most essential necessities of life are renounced. Even the animals are withheld from any food.

This expresses how much man and animal are connected in the curse that hangs over creation as a result of man’s sin (Joel 1:18 ; 20). Man and animal are also united in expressing the grief over sin and the longing to be set free from the curse, from the slavery to corruption (Rom 8:19-25). Man and animal will share in that liberation (Psa 36:6-7). We see in the last verse of this book that God also takes the animals into account (Jona 4:11).