What sort of a place was this Nineveh to which Jonah was being sent?
Few cities go so far back in history. The archaeologists think they have found a reference to it in a tablet dated about B.C.3000 (sic!) And an inscription by Shamshi-adad (about B.C.1700) suggests that at Nineveh the worship of Ishtar was instituted there, a long time before that. Another archaeological mention goes back roughly to the time of Abraham.
By far the most informative ancient account of Nineveh is Genesis 10:11,12: “And out of that land (Shinar, Babylon) went forth Asshur, and built Nineveh and the city Rehoboth (even the city of broad places), and Calah and Resen (Larissa, Kuyunijik?) between Nineveh and Calah: the same (Nineveh) is a great city.” This Genesis statement should almost certainly read: “He (Nimrod; v. 8,9)went forth to Asshur, and built…”. Such a reading is supported by Micah 5:6, where a parallelism describes Assyria as “the land of Nimrod.” In “Abraham” (H.A.W.), page 10f, it has been suggested that “Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord” was a persecutor of the faithful. These three cities were sufficiently close together to grow into one enormous metropolis including in its compass not only splendid temples to Ashur, the special god of this empire, and to a variety of other deities, but also even more splendid palaces erected and adorned by conquering Assyrian monarchs.
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Author: Harry Whittaker
Keywords: Khorsabad, Nimrod, Korsabad, Assyria, Fall of Nineveh, Ninevah, Nahum, Burden of Nineveh, Resen, Rehoboth-Ir
Bible reference(s): Genesis 10:11, Genesis 10:12, 2 Kings 19:36, Isaiah 37:37, Jonah 1:2, Jonah 3:2, Jonah 3:3, Jonah 3:4, Jonah 3:5, Jonah 3:6, Jonah 3:7, Jonah 4:11, Nahum 1:1, Nahum 2:8, Nahum 3:7, Zephaniah 2:13, Matthew 12:41, Luke 11:30, Luke 11:32, Tobit 1:3, Tobit 1:10, Tobit 1:17, Tobit 1:19, Tobit 1:22, Tobit 7:3, Tobit 11:1, Tobit 11:16, Tobit 11:17, Tobit 14:4, Tobit 14:8, Tobit 14:10, Tobit 14:15, Judith 1:1, Judith 1:16, Judith 2:21
Source: The Prophecy of Jonah.
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