Welcome and thank you for taking a Bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

Nineveh, the ancient capital city of Assyria (Syria) which lies on the Tigris river, was a great city and would take a man a three days walk just to cross it (Jonah 3:3). Shortly after the reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.), Assyria, legendary for its cruelty and especially against Israel, attacked Samaria, then the capital city of Israel, and took the ten tribes of Israel into captivity. When the Lord tells us, "What is man, that thou doest take thought of him?" (Psalm 8:4), one would really consider that of those of Assyria and the capitol of that land, Nineveh!

 That brings us to our question, "Who was sent to Nineveh by God?". The word of the Lord came to the son of Amittai saying, "Arise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.". But he goes by way of ship to Tarshish instead , which is in another direction, which he thinks is away from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:3). As they sail, a great storm assails the ship and the captain calls upon the son of Amittai, who had fallen asleep and told him, "How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your God. Perhaps your God will be concerned about us so that we will not perish." (Jonah 1:6). Then the crew cast lots to find out upon whom this storm was sent, and the lot fell to that sleeper, so they asked him who he was and why the calamity has stricken them and he answered, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, 'How could you do this?' For the men knew that he was fleeing for the presence of the Lord, because he had told them." (Jonah 1:9-10). When they asked what they could do to calm the storm, he told them to cast him into the sea, but they rowed desperately to return to land, but they could not, so they called on the Lord, the One true God, and said, "We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man's life and do not put innocent blood upon us; for Thou, O Lord, hast done as Thou hast pleased." (Jonah 1:14). They then cast him overboard and feared the Lord greatly, and then offered sacrifice and they made vows. The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow the son of Amittai for three days and nights. When the son prayed from the belly of the fish, the Lord commanded the fish and he vomited him up.

 Then the word came form the Lord to him a second time to go to Nineveh, and this time he did and cried out, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." (Jonah 3:4). Then the people believed in God and at the beckoning of their King in a proclamation which said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the King and his nobles: Do no let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from violence which isi in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?" (Jonah 3:7-9). And the people did as the Kind declared, and when God saw their deeds, He did not send calamity upon the city, and He did not do it!

 So then, for the answer to our question we turn and read, "But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, 'Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forstall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from, for death is better to me than life." (Jonah 4:1-4). So there we have the answer to our question, as it is Jonah, the son of Amittai! Now Jonah sat outside the city to see what would happen and God appointed a plant to grow up overnight to shade him against the scorching heat of the sun and it greatly pleased Jonah, but the next day it died and he was not happy and said, "'Death is better to me than life.' Then God said to Jonah, 'Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?' And he said, 'I have good reason to be angry, even to death.' Then the Lord said, 'You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work, and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. And should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?'" (Jonah 4:8-11).

 Let us also have compassion on both those we love as well as our enemies so that we may receive compassion by our Lord for life!