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The Fast of Nineveh: Bible Readings and Reflections
Jonah's Disobedience and Punishment
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai (Matay), saying,
"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their
wickedness has come up before Me." But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the
presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish;
so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the
presence of the LORD.
The Storm at Sea
But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on
the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the
cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone
down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
So the captain came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise,
call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish."
And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for
whose cause this trouble has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell
on Jonah. Then they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause is this
trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is
your country? And of what people are you?"
So he said to them, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who
made the sea and the dry land."
Jonah Thrown into the Sea
Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "Why have you done this?"
For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told
them. 11Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm
for us?"--for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
And he said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will
become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me."
Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the
sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried out to
the LORD and said, "We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man's
life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it
pleased You." So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea
ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a
sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.
Jonah's Prayer and Deliverance
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the
belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah's Prayer and God's Answer
Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish's belly. And he said:
So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Jonah Preaches at Nineveh
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." So
Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh
was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to
enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty
days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
The People of Nineveh Believe: Nineveh Repents
So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth,
from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh;
and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with
sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published
throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat,
or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry
mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence
that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away
from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented
from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do
it.
Jonah's Anger and God's Kindness
God's Lesson to Jonah
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the
LORD, and said, "Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my
country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a
gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, One
who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me,
for it is better for me to die than to live!"
Then the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"
So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he
made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what
would become of the city. And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up
over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery.
So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day God
prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened,
when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on
Jonah's head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said,
"It is better for me to die than to live."
Then God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?"
And he said, "It is right for me to be angry, even to death!"
But the LORD said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not
labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And
should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred
and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and
their left--and much livestock?" Book of Jonah
Readings from the New Testament
Acts 9: 1-22; Epistle of: 1 Timothy 2: 1-15
The Fast of Nineveh
The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch tradition attaches great significance to
the Fast of Ninevities and three days of Jonah the prophet, which is followed by
the Sunday of the departed priests and the Sunday of faithful departed before we
enter the Great Lent. The story of Jonah the prophet and Nineveh people is
written in this site as it is in the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament. (In
fact, all we know about Jonah himself comes just from his book and a single
reference to him in 2Kings 14:25.) Succinctly put, the Church sees within this
book's simple story an icon of Christ symbolically represented.
The Example Of Jonah
To illustrate how deceptive this attitude of the heart can be, we find that the
even the prophet Jonah was deceived by it. Jonah's Pharisaic attitude surfaced
when God called him to go and preach to the Gentiles living in the city of
Nineveh. To see how wrong this attitude is and how God feels about the lost, let
us read what happened with Jonah, the people of Nineveh and God.
We begin by reading God's call to Jonah to go and preach to the inhabitants of
Nineveh. Jonah 1:1-3
The reason Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh was because he knew that God was
merciful and compassionate, and since the people living in Nineveh (the
Assyrians) were enemies of Israel, Jonah did not want to associate with them or
see them saved. In other words, Jonah did not want to preach in Nineveh because
not only were they not Jewish but they were also enemies of the Jewish faith.
However, God did not allow Jonah to run away from His call. Instead God caused a
major storm to arise and threaten the safety of the ship. Realizing that he was
the reason for the storm and not wanting the people on board to perish, Jonah
insisted that he be thrown overboard. Once in the sea, God commanded a large
fish to swallow Jonah. While in the belly of the fish Jonah cried out to God to
save him. Hearing Jonah's cry, God commanded the fish to vomit Jonah up on dry
land. After Jonah's ordeal in the fish, he obeyed God's command and preached to
the people living in Nineveh. Even though Jonah obeyed God, he still did not do
it motivated by love or mercy for the people in Nineveh. To see this let us read
what happened between Jonah and God after Jonah finished preaching in the city
of Nineveh.
Let us notice the following verses, Jonah 3:10-4:11
• 10 … Because the people of Nineveh repented as a result of Jonah's preaching,
God did not bring upon them the destruction that He had threatened.
• 2 … This was the very reason why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. He knew
that God would do this. In other words, even with seeing God's blessing being
extended to the people of Nineveh, Jonah was still angry. He obviously went and
preached in Nineveh out of pure obedience to God, that is as a sacrifice not out
of love or concern for the people. Remember, to get him to go, God had a large
fish swallow Jonah for three days and nights. In other words, Jonah got the
message that he was to go to Nineveh, but he was not happy about it.
• 6 … In order to teach Jonah and us of how wrong an attitude this is, God first
provided Jonah a vine to shade him from the scorching wind.
• 7-8 … Then God took the vine away so that the heat and wind would bear down
upon Jonah's head. As a result, Jonah became very angry because he no longer had
the comfort from the shade of the vine.
• 9-11 … In other words, God was revealing to Jonah and us that he, Jonah, had
more concern for something that provided him comfort or relief than he did for a
multitude of people who were lost and about to perish. To see this, prayerfully
read what our Lord said in verses 10 and 11.
How could such a "cute" story about an unwilling prophet who gets swallowed by a
fish when he tries to escape doing God's will carry such a profound meaning?
Unlike other prophetic books, the Book of Jonah does not contain "words of
prophecy," as such, but rather it tells a tale of Jonah's personal encounter
with the Lord. Using a story motif, Jonah's prophecy speaks to us not with words
but with symbols as we saw. Reading these symbols spiritually, we behold the
mystery of salvation in Christ exemplified in imagistic types. Indeed, it is no
wonder that this book also portrays a unique instance in the Old Testament of
God's love and concern not just for His own people, Israel, but for a nation of
Gentiles who were actually Israel's enemies. Here again we find an archetype of
Christ's mission of salvation extending beyond Israel to embrace the whole
world, all the enemies of God.
"Let us recall the message arising from readings of the day. The reading from
the Acts bring back our memory of the experience on the Road to Damascus. In
acts the messenger, Saul, was not running away from his errand. On the other
hand he was trying to run it meticulously. However he did not know that he was
moving against God's plan for him. Therefore God intervened directly, as through
the storm and the whale in the case of Jonah. Unlike Jonah who grieved even
after the ship and whale experience Saul willingly surrendered himself to be
made Paul. Jonah had preached halfheartedly as evidenced by his dialogue later,
but Paul did it enthusiastically as we see from the Pauline Reading of the day
(2 Corinthians 4).
The Gospel is the clear path giver in the circumstances for the Jonahs and the
Sauls that we are. In Mark we hear about the response of the early disciples who
left their entire world behind to follow an unknown carpenter. Something told
them that here was a carpenter who could build boats for them to make them
fishers of men. The Church seems to teach that whether we are like Jonah who
rebelled or Saul who went against the Will of God albeit unknowingly God is out
to rescue us, Jesus in search of Peters and Andrews and Jameses and Johns, and
that is the promise and that is where hope finds its origin.
The crux of the message is that we shall not be judgmental in our approach. Let
us concentrate on this aspect week to eliminate the tendency in us to judge
others by our standards. Let God judge. Let us become conduits of his mercy and
compassion, and remove from our personality whatever blocks and barricades we
have erected knowingly or unknowingly which go block God's unending compassion"
(Dr. D. Babu Paul)
Nineveh Fast
The Syriac Orthodox Church called this fast after Nineveh because the Ninevites
were the first to practice such a fast praying for God's mercy and forgiveness.
This fast used to be six days, but now is only three days starting on the third
Monday which precedes Lent. The three day fast of Nineveh commemorates the three
days that Prophet Jonah spent inside the fish. The Fast of Nineveh is
ritualistically similar to the Fast of the Great Lent.
Historically, This fast is one of the most rigorously observed fasts in the
Syriac Orthodox Church, and is unique to this Church. Began to be practiced in
our Church at least towards the fourth century A.D. This can be inferred from
the writings and hymns composed by St. Ephrem the Syrian (+373). Mor Dionysius
Bar Salibi (+1171) states that Mor Marutha of Tikrit (+649) was the one who
enjoined it on the Church of the East first in the region of Nineveh. Mor
Gregorios Bar Hebraeus states that the confirmation of this fast was due to the
crises the Church went through in Hirat. The Syriac people there fasted three
days and three nights, praying constantly according to the demand of their
bishop, and they were rescued from their ordeal by God.
Afterward, the fast of Nineveh passed to other Oriental Churches such as Coptic
and Armenian. The Copts did the same during the reign of the sixty-second
Patriarch of Alexandria, Anba Abram Zaraa the Syrian. The Armenians adopted this
practice of the Syrians, calling it Sourp Sarkis.
This fast is highly favored among faithful. In this fast, faithful traditionally
refrain from food and drink for three consecutive days, from Monday till
Wednesday! Some faithful abstain from food and drink throughout the three days,
receiving Holy Communion on the third day and continuing to eat fasting food
until Thursday morning. The rest of the faithful abstain from having food till
noon or till late afternoon and afterwards eat fasting food. The church enjoins
all faithful to at least refrain from meat, fish and dairy products during the
period of this fast. Prayers which are sung to melodies of Lent usually
accompany this fast.
Usually the faithful who kept this fast are urged to attend the Divine Liturgy
on Wednesday, and receive the Holy Qurbono (the Communion). During this fast it
is mandatory that we observe the feast carry out the celebration of the Holy
Liturgy in the morning as usual. The prayers of Nineveh's Fast are then said at
noon. Abstinence from food ends directly after the Liturgy by eating fasting
food.
Hymns from Sh'heemo (Syriac Orthodox Book of Simple Prayer)
The Ninevites trembled at the voice of Jonah, the son of Matay, and took refuge
in penitence by watching, fasting and prayer; and by tears and groans the
sentence of judgment pronounced by Jonah concerning the destruction of Nineveh
was annulled. Blessed be the Compassionate one who turned them from evil to
good. (Thursday Evening Prayer)
God, who heard the prayer of the son of Matay in the sea and commanded the
mighty fish to cast him up in three days, hear our prayer and be reconciled with
us and respond in your mercy to our requests; and if we have angered you, there
are those who will reconcile you with us, the just who died for your love
(Wednesday Morning Prayer).
Source: soc-wus.org
"I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction,
And He answered me.
"Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
Then I said, "I have been cast out of Your sight;
Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.'
The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O LORD, my God.
"When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.
"Those who regard worthless idols
Forsake their own Mercy.
But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the LORD."
A Message for Nineveh: Jonah - The disobedient
See Also:
Sermons, Bible Commentaries and Bible Analyses for Nineveh Lent
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