In the OT we read of a reluctant
prophet who was sent to preach to the city of Nineveh. After a series of
misadventures he arrived at the gate of the city and began to proclaim the
message of doom with which Yahweh had commissioned him: “ ‘Yet 40 days,
and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ ” (Jonah 3:4).
The words of the prophet were
unequivocal: the destruction of the city was announced without qualification.
But 40 days passed and Nineveh still stood. What happened? Was Jonah a false
prophet? Did the prophecy fail? The fact that Nineveh later did come to its end
does not relieve the problem, since the message of doom was linked to the
40-day period.
When we look closer at this
story, additional facets begin to appear. First, it emerges that Jonah himself
had doubts about the fulfillment of his prediction. Jonah 4:2 is important:
“And he prayed to the Lord and said, ‘I pray thee, Lord, is not this what I
said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to
Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love, and repentest of evil.’ ”
This verse gives us the reason
for Jonah’s abortive flight in the boat to Tarshish and his subsequent petulant
behavior as he sat in the booth waiting to see if Nineveh would be destroyed.
That is, Jonah’s knowledge of the character of Yahweh—that He is gracious,
merciful, and forgiving—had led him to assume the possibility of a reprieve,
even though the message Yahweh had given him seemed unrelenting.
A second clue is found in the
reaction of the Ninevites to Jonah’s preaching. Instead of fleeing from the
apparently doomed city, they repented. They, too, based their hope in the
character of Yahweh: “ ‘Who knows, God may yet repent and turn from his
fierce anger, so that we perish not?’ ” (Jonah 3:9).
The book of Jonah, therefore,
seems to provide us with a clear example of conditional prophecy. Nor does it
stand alone among the data of biblical prophecy:
1. Isaiah 1:19—“ ‘If you are
willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.’ ”
2. Isaiah 38:1–22—The revoking of
the pronouncement of Hezekiah’s imminent death.
3. Jeremiah 18:7–10—“ ‘If at
any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and
break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken,
turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it. And
if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and
plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I
will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it.’ ”
4. The prophets’—“Who knows if …”
or “perhaps” attached to warnings of impending disaster (for example, 2 Sam
12:22; Zeph 2:3; Exod 32:30).
5. Luke 19:42—“ ‘Would that
even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from
your eyes.’ ”
Further, some Adventists have
seen in Ellen White’s writings support for a conditionality principle in
biblical prophecy as they have underscored her statement from MS 4, 1883: “The
promises and threatenings of God are alike conditional.” (See Selected Messages, book 1, page 67.)
(William G. Johnsson, “Conditionality in Biblical Prophecy with
Particular Reference to the Apocalyptic,” in The Seventy Weeks, Leviticus and
the Nature of Prophecy, ed. Frank B. Halbrook [Daniel and Revelation
Committee Series 3; Washington, D.C.: Biblical Research Institute of the
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1986], 260-62)
Further Reading:
Richard L. Pratt,
Jr. “Historical
Contingencies and Biblical Predictions”