He Learned a Lesson in Mercy

A Contrast Between Divine Mercy and Human Rigidity

How did Jehovah react to the Ninevites' repentance?  Jonah later wrote: "The true God got to see their works, they they had turned back from their bad way; and so the true God felt regret over the calamity that he had spoken of causing to them; and he did not cause it." - JONAH 3:10.

Does this mean that Jehovah decided that his own judgment  about Nineveh had been in error?  No.  The Bible explains that Jehovah's justice is perfect.  (Read Deuteronomy 32:4.) Jehovah's righteous anger against Nineve simply abated.  He observed the change in those people and saw that the punishment had intended to bring on them would no longer be fitting. This was an occasion to show divine mercy.

Jehovah is nothing like the rigid, cold., even  harsh God so often portrayed by religioius leaders.  On the contrary, he is reasonable, adaptable, and merciful.  When he determines to bring punishment on the wicked, he first uses his representatives on earth to issur warnigns, for he is eager to see the wicke do what the Ninevites did-repent and change their ways.  (Ezekiel 33:11)  Jehovah told his prophet Jeremiah:"At any moment that I may speak against  nation and a kingdom to uproot it and to pull it down and to destroy it, and thaty nation actually turns back from its badness against which I spoke, I will also feel regret over the calamity that I had brought to execute upon it." - JEREMIAH 18:7, 8. 

Was Jonah's prophecy a false one? No; it fulfilled its purpose as a warning. That warning was based on the Ninevites' bad ways, which subsequently changed. Should the Ninevites resume their wicked ways, God would bring the same judgment against them/ Thjat is exactly what happened later on. - ZEPHANIAH 2:13-15.

Next time: He Learned a Lesson in Mercy -  A Contrast Between Divine Mercy and Human Rigidity-Conclusion

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