Hello John and Doves,
In this letter I wanted to look at the city of Nineveh
and the "Sign of Jonah". What was this sign? An
eclipse? A great earthquake? Plagues?
Famine? All of these may have contributed to the mass
repentance of Nineveh. But I believe THE 'sign' was
the total solar eclipse - that may well have happened while
Jonah was in the midst of Nineveh with his "forty day
warning from God".
Nineveh:
At worldhistory.org, Nineveh was located where modern
day Mosul, Iraq is. Nineveh was one of the "oldest and
greatest cities in antiquity....The area was settled as
early as 6000 BCE and, by 3000 BCE, had become an important
religious center for worship of the goddess Ishtar.
(It is believed that some 120,000 people resided in
Nineveh.)
During the rule of Sennacherib, Nineveh was made the
capitol of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Prior to its fall,
is was "the largest urban center in the world, ornamented by
gardens, statuary, parks and a zoo and was regarded as a
great cultural center. In 612 BCE the city was
destroyed by the Babylonians and Medes who also "toppled the
Assyrian Empire."
Nineveh was built upon a previous city which
was built on a fault line. Many
damaging earthquakes resulted in numerous cities being
built on the site. Nineveh and the
surrounding area changed hands several times being
controlled by Assyrians, Amorites (under King Hammurabi of
Babylon), the Assyrians, the Akkadians. The
Neo-Assyrian Empire was the "last phase of Assyrian rule in
the region." King Sennacherib made Nineveh the
capital. "He built great walls around the city with
fifteen gates, crated public parks and gardens, aqueducts,
irrigation ditches, canals, a zoo and greatly expanded upon
and improved the structures of the city. His palace
had eighty rooms and he proclaimed it "the palace without
rival"....The building's main axis was one-third of a mile
in length. It featured a portico consisting of solid
bronze columns resting on the backs of solid bronze lions
and bulls, each of which weighed 43 tons. Inside, the
palace was adorned with carved reliefs showing the kind in
the process of erecting colossal monuments or waging war
against Assyria's enemies."
We've all heard of the famous Hanging Gardens, one of
the Seven Wonders of the World. Some believe these
were here in Nineveh and not in Babylon. Sennacherib's
grandson, Ashurbanipal, created a famous library that
contained over 30,000 inscribed clay tablets - all the
written works of Mesopotamia. His "love of
learning and interest in written works (especially
divination texts) drew scholars and scribes to
the city in great number and the stability of his reign
allowed for the development of the arts, sciences, and
architectural innovations." When Ashurbanipal died in
627 BCE, his sons fought for control - the Assyrian Empire
was so large - too large - and almost every region was
struggling to break free.
The Persians, Babylonians, Scythians, Medes began
military campaigns against the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
"In 612 BCE the city of Nineveh was sacked and burned by the
allied forces of the Persians, Medes, Babylonians and others
who then divided the region between them. The
population greatly decreased and "the ancient ruins became
buried in earth."
"The Book of Jonah was written between 500 - 400 BCE
depicting events from hundreds of years earlier in the
region of the Hebrew King Jeroboam II (786
- 746 BCE)." So the king of Israel at Jonah's time was
Jeroboam II.
"Although the writers of the biblical narrative may
have thought poorly of the city, it was among the greatest
intellectual and cultural centers of its time and there were
no doubt many who mourned the city's destruction."
((This will happen when that 'great city, mighty Babylon' is
destroyed - many will lament and say "Was there ever a city
like this great city?" They will weep and mourn
and throw dust on their heads Rev 18:18 - 19))
"The ruins of Nineveh lay buried until they were
uncovered and excavated by Austin Henry Layard in 1846 and
1847...The site is known today by the two mounds which cover
it: Kuyunjik and he Nebi Yunus....Today the ruins of
Nineveh are in danger of encroaching urban sprawl from the
suburbs of Mosul and have been damaged by further acts of
vandalism."
Nineveh -
World History Encyclopedia
In Genesis 10:11, we are told that Ashur built
Nineveh.
Ishtar was the most famous Mesopotamian god. She
was closely tied to love and war. She was worshipped
over a broad region in the ancient area called Mesopotamia
(modern Iraq, Kuwait, parts of Syria, Iran and Turkey) for
thousands of years. Ishtar is in the "Epic of
Gilgamesh". She appears in iconography as an
eight-pointed star, often shown with a sun-disk and a
crescent shaped moon. She has appeared alongside
scorpion imagery, "such as on Babylonian cylinder
seals." "The goddesses' affections were deemed to
protect those she cared for, binding together families,
communities, and empires in powerful ties that persevered
even beyond death."
Ishtar -
World History Encyclopedia
What is "The
Sign of Jonah"?
When the Pharisees told Jesus that they wanted to see
a sign from Him, Jesus answered, "A wicked and adulterous
generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it
except the sing of the prophet Jonah." Matthew 12:38 -
39
The parallel verses in Luke 11:30 are "For as
Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man
be to this generation." 'This generation' could
refer to the final generation.
Jesus was in the tomb for three days and nights, like
Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and
nights. When Jesus was crucified there was a
great earthquake and the sun was darkened - a
miracle! These were signs to the people. (A
solar eclipse occurs on a new moon. A lunar eclipse
occurs on a full moon Jesus was crucified on a full
moon.)
The Greek word for sign in the above verse is the same
Greek word for sign in the verse Matthew 24:3 "what shall be
the sign of Thy coming" and Matthew 24:30 "And then shall
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven."
Could this 'sign of Jonah' be more than "the Son of
Man - three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth". Could it be referring to what happened to
Nineveh to get the people to repent after Jonah confronted
them with 'God's destruction in 40 days'? Could this
'sing of Jonah' be for the last generation - us now?
Jonah was chosen by God to go to Nineveh - "Arise, go
to Nineveh, that great city and cry against it, for their
wickedness is come up before me." Jonah
1:2. Nineveh was the city of the goddess Ishtar.
After the episode with the fish, God again told Jonah to
"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and preach to it
the message that I tell you." Jonah 3:2
Jonah went to Nineveh and it "Nineveh was an
exceedingly great city, of three-days
journey." Jonah 3:3 It took three
days to traverse this city it was so big.
"And Jonah began to enter the city a day's
journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown." Jonah 3:4
"So the people of Nineveh believed God, and
proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the
greatest of them even to the least of them." Jonah
3:5
"For word came unto the king of Nineveh
(Ashur-Dan III), and he arose from his throne, and he
laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth
and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be
proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree
of the king and his nobles, Let neither man nor beast,
herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not
feed, nor drink water: But let men and beast be
covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God:
lea let them turn every one from his evil way, and from
the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell
if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his
fierce anger,
that we perish not?" Jonah 3:6 - 9
So here we have one of the greatest cities of
the time, the most powerful king, actually listening to
Jonah. This great city of the goddess
Ishtar. Turning from their patron goddess to
pray to Jonah's God. What caused this miraculous
event to happen? What could have moved the king
and people to take Jonah's words to heart?
Was The Sign of Jonah A Total
Solar Eclipse?
This website mentions a solar eclipse
occurring when Jonah was preaching in Nineveh - that
this occurred on "the first day of the seventh month of
the Hebrew calendar." This was called the Assyrian
eclipse or the "Bur-Sagale eclipse which occurred on
June 15th, 763 BC. Nineveh is right on the path of
totality...Eclipses are still viewed as a message from
God in today's world." In Joel 2:31 and Acts 2:20
we are told that 'the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood before the great and notable day
of the Lord'. "Eclipses appear to be the signature
of God in both of these prophecies.
A
Total Eclipse Of The Sun On The Day That Jonah
Preached In Nineveh
The
Bur-Sagale eclipse:
The
Bur-Sagale eclipse was one of the most famous solar
eclipses.
"The Assyrian eclipse, also known at
the Bur-Sagale eclipse, is a solar eclipse
recorded in Assyrian eponym lists (Assyrian Eponym Canon
written on cuneiform tablets) that most likely dates to
the tenth year of the reign of King Ashur-dan
III. The eclipse is identified with the
one that occurred on 15 June 763 BC in the proleptic
Julian calendar." This eclipse occurred
over Nineveh - the Assyrian capital.
"According to 2 Kings 14:25, the prophet Jonah lived and
prophesied in Jeroboam's reign. The biblical
scholar Donald Wiseman has speculated that the eclipse
took place around when Jonah arrived in Nineveh and
urged the people to repent, otherwise the city would be
destroyed. This would explain the dramatic
repentance of the people of Nineveh as described in the
Book of Jonah. Ancient cultures, including
Assyria, viewed eclipses as omens of imminent
destruction, and the empire was in chaos at this time,
struggling with revolts, famines and two separate
outbreaks of plague."
Assyrian
eclipse - Wikipedia
"Solar eclipses, especially full eclipses that
were visible to everyone in the empire (as was the case
for this eclipse) were always interpreted as bad omens
and as such the epidemic (see below) and the eclipse may
have been interpreted as the gods withdrawing their
divine support for Ashur-dan-s rule.
Ashur-dan
III - Wikipedia
Nineveh
and Plague:
"Plaque is reported in
both 765 and 759 BCE and a revolt
in the Assyrian heartland is
recorded from 763 - 762
BC...Perhaps the many revolts were
in response to the plague epidemic
as well as the Bur-Sagale solar
eclipse on 15 June 763 BC.
Ashur-dan
III - Wikipedia
Nineveh and
Famine:
Along with the total
solar eclipse and the plague,
there was a famine.
Nineveh
and Earthquakes:
We
don't know how many earthquakes the city of
Nineveh experienced back in Jonah's day
And in Amos 1:1,
Amos reported a massive earthquake - it had to be of great
significance to write about it - in the days of Jeroboam king
of Israel. "The words of Amos, who was among the
sheepherders of Tekoa - what he saw concerning Israel two
years before the earthquake, in the days when Uzziah was king
of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of
Israel."
"Like plagues
and famine, most Ancient Near Eastern peoples interpreted
earthquakes as indicative of divine judgment... In the
Assyrian text, it's written "When the god of Adod is angry the
earth trembles." "It is significant to note that
earthquakes are reported to have occurred during the reign of
Assur-Dan III..."
Behind
the Scenes | Christ and Culture | Anchorage Grace Church
Signs
and Omens For Nineveh:
The people of Nineveh had been 'prepared' to
accept Jonah's message - with signs and omens. The
total solar eclipse, plague, famine, earthquakes, civil
unrest, wars and rumors of wars....their world was
falling apart around them. Their city was facing a
coming disaster, a divine judgment - according to what
they were witnessing.
In Luke we are told "And there will be signs
in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay
among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea
and the waves." Luke 21:25
The signs in the sun and moon - could be a
total solar eclipse. Aaron of God a Minute uses
stellarium to look at the stars and the placements of
the eclipse and sun and moon....((and the roaring of the
sea and the waves could be due to a huge
earthquake. Not necessarily all at the same time -
maybe in succession.))
(373)
The 2024 Eclipses Tell A Story ☀️🌚 - YouTube
run time 4:46
Is what happened to Nineveh - the total
solar eclipse, the revolts, the wars, famine, plague,
the earthquakes....paralleling what's happening to the
U.S.?
June 8, 1918 a
total solar eclipse crossed over the U.S. - the Spanish Flu
hit the U.S. - worldwide it's estimated some 50 - 100
million people died.
In the U.S. there was a total solar eclipse on
August 21, 2017 - seven years later on April 8, 2024
there will be another total solar eclipse. The
next total eclipse over the U.S. won't be until
2045. The U.S. just experienced the Covid-19
plague. The U.S. is experiencing unprecedented
food prices. The country is divided...and this is
getting worse by the day. Texas governor Abbott is
standing up to the federal government about securing the
texas border - right now - several states are standing
with Texas. Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho,
Tennessee, Louisiana...and who knows how many more will
stand with Texas. And THEY are threatening us with
Disease X - 20 x more dead than with Covid.
"The sun is a sign to the Gentile nations, and
the moon is a sign to the Jews. A solar eclipse is
a warning of judgment to the Gentiles. The
Ninevites were Gentiles, and Jonah declared these words
to them: "Jonah began to enter the city, going a
day's walk. And he cried out, "In forty days'
time, Nineveh will be overthrown." Jonah 3:4
Solar
Eclipses Omens of Significant Historic Events —
Charisma News
Could the U.S. be facing the same series of
signs and omens today? Have we been given a 7 year
warning? And will we have a forty day warning like
Nineveh?
God prepared Nineveh with the Sign of Jonah -
are we seeing that sign now that Jesus warned us
about?
Forty days from April 8, 2024 is May 18, 2024.
About 10 Iyyar. (Looking at a calendar with April
8 as start of Passover).
"It appears like a seven-year countdown
between the solar eclipse of 2017 and 2024. Could
these seven years make a take of preparation for the
church and even the nation? Will we be like the
evil and adulterous generation that seeks signs, but
still will not repent and believe or will we be like
Nineveh and humble ourselves in sincere repentance?"
Solar
Eclipses Omens of Significant Historic Events —
Charisma News
We have a
government that voted God out of their platform. We have
a government that is destroying the country from within.
We have a government that is flooding the country with people
with no love of this country. We have a government that
vaccinated us with a manufactured poison that is causing
excessive morbidity and mortality - because there are too many
of us. We have a government that wants to take away all
of our freedoms. We have a government that has
weaponized itself against it's people. We have a
government that is pushing for the division of Israel.
We have a government that will NOT repent and turn to
God. So, that answers that question.
Nineveh ended up
being destroyed in 612 BC by the Medes and Babylonians -
during the time of Nahum. The fall of it was so great
"that it was written about for several subsequent centuries in
the Babylonian cuneiform annals, the writings of Greek and
Roman historians and even in the Old Testament of the
Bible. ....In the end, the Assyrians' enemies saw
Nineveh as a symbol of their overlords, so they wiped it from
the face of the earth."
How
Did the Ancient City of Nineveh Fall - DailyHistory.org
Pray for the
peace of Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance