Nineveh was
the largest city in the world in its day, but it was also one of the most
ancient. The Assyrians who lived there in the time of Jonah did not build it. When they conquered it and drove out
the resident Amorites, Nineveh had already been around for more than a
millennium, having been built, rebuilt, occupied and re-occupied under
different names first by the Hatti, then the Akkadians and Amorites. This
constant building and rebuilding was not just necessitated by the endless wars
fought for the city over the centuries; the original city was also built on a fault line and was therefore subject
to regular damage from earthquakes.
Other great
walled cities of the Ancient East may have inspired a measure of overconfidence
in their citizens. Nineveh probably did not. When Jonah announced Nineveh’s
imminent doom to its people, it is very likely that his prophecy sounded all
too plausible.
The
reaction of the Ninevites may have been something like “Not again!”