the genre - The opening line, vayehi, "and it happened," appears only in Jonah among the twelve prophets and is a term used that signals the genre of story or narrative and thus, probably not historical reality.

arise, go, call -The second time a God’s word comes to Jonah, replicating the imperatives, arise, go, call of the divine speech in chapter one. But here, this second word functions more than mere replication; it stresses divine authority over Jonah. The power struggle between God and Jonah continues. [1]

a remarkable repentance - The proclamation of Jonah to Ninevites uses the language that had been used of Sodom and Gomorrah ("overthrown;" Gen. 19:24-25); not only that, but we don’t even have a certified word from God, and no sins are enumerated. Just out of the blue Jonah announces the city’s overthrow. On the other hand, notice how surprising the Ninevites are: they begin a city-wide humble campaign through fasting and get proactive about cleaning up Gotham city. All of this repentance in half-hope that God will avert overthrowing them. "Who knows?" they wonder. [2]

Did you ever have that an experience of being in a huge, strange city in the world and wondering about its street population and their future?

• What do we learn about God in this passage?
• When has someone given you another chance? Ever have that experience in your relationship with God?
• What circumstances would you consider "fasting" or demonstrating your sense of repentance?

Please refer the DPS homily for this week.

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[1] New Interpreter’s Bible VII (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), page 510.
[2] James Limburg, Interpretation Series: Hosea-Micah (Atlanta: John Knox Press), page 151.