Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
Arise, go to Nineveh - east of the Tigris, opposite the modern Mosul. The only case of a prophet being sent to the pagan. Jonah, however, is sent to Nineveh, not solely for Nineveh's good, but also to shame Israel, by the fact of a pagan city repenting at the first preaching of a single stranger, Jonah, whereas God's people will not repent, though preached to by their many national prophets whom God hath sent, rising early and sending them. Nineveh means the residence of Ninus - i:e., Nimrod (Genesis 10:11, where the translation ought to be, 'He (Nimrod) went forth into Assyria and builded Nineveh'). Modern research into the cuneiform inscription confirms the Scripture account, that Babylon was founded earlier than Nineveh, and that both cities were built by descendants of Ham, encroaching on the territory assigned by God, in his divinely-appointed distribution of races, to Shem (Genesis 10:5-6; Genesis 10:8; Genesis 10:10; Genesis 10:25, "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, afar their families, in their nations. And the sons of Ham, Cush, etc. And Cush begat Nimrod ... And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel ... In his (Peleg's) days was the earth divided").
The great city - 480 stadia in circuit, 150 in length and 90 in breadth (Diodorus Siculus, 2: 3). Taken by Arbaces the Mede, in the reign of Sardanapalus, about the seventh year of Uzziah; and a second time by Nabopolassar of Babylon and Cyaxares the Mede in 685 BC See my note, Jonah 3:3. Just before Jonah were the victorious reigns of Shalmanubar and Shamasiva. Then followed Ivalush or Pul, the first invader of Israel. This was the time of Assyria's greatest power: whence it is here called "that great city."
And cry against it - (Isaiah 40:6; Isaiah 57:1, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression").
For their wickedness is come up before me - (Genesis 4:10; Genesis 6:13; Genesis 18:20-21; Ezra 9:6; Revelation 18:5, "Her (mystical Babylon's) sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities") - i:e., their wickedness is so great as to require my open interposition for punishment. The mission of Jonah to Nineveh was an earnest of God's subsequent opening of the door of repentance and faith to the Gentiles also (Acts 11:18; Acts 14:27). Israel had enjoyed the ministry of many prophets, but had not repented. This very Jonah had borne a message of love to the people from the Lord who pitied their distress, and prophesied the "restoration of their coast" from the entering in of Hamath to the sea of the plain, which came to pass under Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:25-26). But God's kindness and threats alike failed to move his people. So now the Lord sends the same prophet to the Gentile Nineveh, to warn them of the consequences of their "wickedness" - not sin in general, but violent and evil doing toward others [ra`at] (Nehemiah 3:19, "Upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually").