Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city
So it is called; (See Gill on Jonah
1:2). The order runs in the same words as before; and the
same discouragements are presented to Jonah, taken from the
greatness of the city, the number of its inhabitants, its being
the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, and the seat of the
greatest monarch on earth, to try his faith; but these had not
the like effect as before; for he had now another spirit given
him, not of fear, but of a sound mind; he considered he was sent
by a greater King, and that more were they that were on his side
than the inhabitants of this place, who might possibly be against
him: and preach unto it the preaching that I bid
thee;
that he had bid him before, declaring and exposing their
wickedness, and telling them that in a short time their city
would be destroyed. Jonah must not be gratified with any
alteration in the message; but he must go with it as it had
before been given, or what he now bid, or should bid him; the
word of the Lord must be spoken just as it is delivered; nothing
must be added to it, or taken from it; the whole counsel of God
must be declared; prophets and ministers must preach, not as men
bid them, but as God bids them. The Targum is,
``prophesy against it the prophecy which I speak with thee.''
