Monday, December 4, 2023

Deena E. Grant on God Turning His Anger Away from the people of Nineveh

  

Nineveh’s repentance is a pre-requisite for God to turn his anger. This is reflected in the fact that God relents only after the people of Nineveh turn from their evil ways (3:10). Nonetheless, it is divine sentiment that causes God to relent, not Nineveh’s repentance. This is apparent in God’s explanation of why he turned his anger and decided not to destroy Nineveh, “You are concerned about the busy . . . and should I not be concerned about Nineveh?” אתה חסת על הקיקיון . . . ואני לא אחוס על נינוה (4:10-11). The root ḥws (“concern”) tends to occur in the company of roots for mercy (rḥm and ḥml) and appears to connote a sense of pity and compassion. (It describes God’s compassion for his adopted child in Ezekiel 16). The root indicates that God’s concern for Nineveh is so great that he is compelled to refrain from destroying its inhabitants in his anger. (Deena E. Grant, Divine Anger in the Hebrew Bible [The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 52; Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2014], 146)