Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus said, “every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by you words you shall be condemned. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”, and in chapter twelve and verse forty-one of his book, Matthew shared how Jesus said, “the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and condemn it” where we read:
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
The verse reads, “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it:” Matthew began with the words, “the men” which means “the male human beings” “of Nineveh” or “belonging to the city of Nineveh which means fish and was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq” “shall rise which means “will cause to raise, be born, appear and bring forward” “in judgment” or “within separating, sundering, condemnation and damnatory judgment” “with this generation” which means “alongside several ranks of natural descent, a group of people who are very like each other in endowments, pursuits and character or successive members of a genealogy”, “and shall condemn it” or “and will give judgment against the people to whom Jesus was speaking”. Matthew shared how Jesus said the people who were in the city of Nineveh at the time of Jonah would “condemn” the generation to whom He was speaking.
The verse continues, “because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.” Matthew added the word, “because” which means “since, on account of and for this reason” “they repented” or “the people of Nineveh changed their minds and amended with abhorrence their past sins” “at the preaching” which means “at the heralding, crying and proclamation” “of Jonah” which refers to “ the prophet whose name means dove and was the fifth minor prophet, the son of Amittai, and a native of Gath-hepher and lived during the reign of Jeroboam II king of Israel”; “and behold” which means “and lo and see”, “a greater than” or “a more part in quality, excellence and superiority than” “Jonah” which refers to “the prophet whose name means dove and was the fifth minor prophet, the son of Amittai, and a native of Gath-hepher and lived during the reign of Jeroboam II king of Israel” “is here” or “is in this place”. Matthew shared how Jesus referred to the way the people of Nineveh “changed their minds and abhorred their past sins” when Jonah preached to them, however, Jesus, who is much “greater” than Jonah was among them.
When we consider Matthew's words in this verse, we see how Jesus told the Pharisees and the crowd of people surrounding Him that the city of Nineveh would “condemn” them because they “repented” at Jonah's preaching, and though Jesus was among His crowd, the crowd around Him did not turn from their wicked ways. God desires to have a loving relationship with every person through His Son Jesus, and when they hear His call to “repent”, the best action is to receive the “Savior of mankind's” message and turn from “evil and wicked” ways.
Next time Matthew shares how Jesus says, “the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
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