Mat 12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign/owth H226 by your hand/yadeak.”
Mat 12:39 But He answering, said to them, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Yonah.
Mat 12:40 “For as Yonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so shall the Son of Aḏam be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mat 12:41 “Men of Ninewĕh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Yonah, and look, a greater than Yonah is here.
Mat 12:42 “The sovereigness of Teyman shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Shelomoh, and look, a greater than Shelomoh is here.
We begin by reading of Yahusha quoting the men of Nineveh rising in judgment against this generation because they repented at the preaching of Yonah. We will touch base a bit later to understand who 'this generation' (hador) is
Who built Nineveh and who were the inhabitants of Nineveh?
Gen 10:8 And Kush brought forth Nimroḏ, he began to be a mighty one on the earth.
Gen 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before יהוה, therefore it is said, “Like Nimroḏ the mighty hunter before יהוה.”
Gen 10:10 And the beginning of his reign was Baḇel, and Ereḵ, and Akkaḏ, and Kalnĕh, in the land of Shinʽar.
Gen 10:11 From that land he went to Ashshur and built Ninewĕh, and Reḥoḇoth Ir, and Kelaḥ,
Gen 10:12 and Resen between Ninewĕh and Kelaḥ, the great city.
Nineveh was built by Nimrod and was a prime city in Ashshur. When the northern tribes were taken into captivity by Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, his son Sargon II had two sons Sanherib and Shalmaneser. Sanherib overthrew his elder brother Shalmaneser and took over the kingdom from him. Hence those carried into captivity under his father and brothers reign were now his.
2Ki 19:36 And Sanḥĕriḇ sovereign of Ashshur broke camp and went away, and turned back, and remained in Ninewĕh.
2Ki 19:37 And it came to be, as he was bowing himself in the house of Nisroḵ his mighty one, that his sons Aḏrammeleḵ and Shar’etser smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And his son Ěsarḥaddon reigned in his place.
Nineveh was in possession of Ashurites and was a great city of a 3 days journey
Jon 3:3 And Yonah arose and went to Ninewĕh, according to the word of יהוה. Now Ninewĕh was a great city before Elohim, of three day’s journey.
Nineveh H5210 (Nun Yod Nun Uau Hey) comes from the root word 'nayan' H5209 which means 'heir/son'
Did Yahuah grant repentance to Ashurites?
At first glance it seems that Yahuah granted repentance to the Ashurites but a closer look shows its Israel dwelling in Nineveh who turned to Yahuah and influenced the Ashshurite king and the people to humble themselves before Yahuah.
Was Israel already in captivity in Ashshur? No they were not yet but then one would say, what was Israel doing in Nineveh? We need some concrete proof to show it was Israel in Nineveh who would stand with this generation/hador and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Yonah.
1. Firstly we must understand that Yahuah never sent his nabi to any pagan country but to Israel
Jer 44:1 The word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the Yehuḏim who were dwelling in the land of Mitsrayim – who were dwelling at Miḡdol, and at Taḥpanḥes, and at Noph, and in the land of Pathros, saying,
Jer 44:2 “Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘You yourselves have seen all the evil that I have brought on Yerushalayim and on all the cities of Yehuḏah. And see, this day they are a ruin, and no one dwells in them,
Jer 44:3 because of their evil which they have done to provoke Me, by going to burn incense by serving other mighty ones whom they did not know, they nor you nor your fathers.
Jer 44:4 ‘And I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Please do not do this abominable matter that I hate!”
Jer 44:5 ‘But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil, not to burn incense to other mighty ones.
Jer 44:6 ‘So My wrath and My displeasure were poured out and burned in the cities of Yehuḏah and in the streets of Yerushalayim, and they became a ruin and a wasteland, as it is this day.’
2. The generation that those of Nineveh would rise in judgment was Israel & Yahudah as Yahusha was sent to the house of Israel and Yahudah but they did not heed his words and didn't turn away from their wicked works.
Mat 23:34 “Because of this, see, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scholars of Scripture. Some of them you shall kill and impale, and some of them you shall flog in your congregations and persecute from city to city,
Mat 23:35 so that on you should come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Heḇel to the blood of Zeḵaryah, son of Bereḵyah, whom you murdered between the Dwelling Place and the altar.
Mat 23:36 “Truly, I say to you, all this shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 “Yerushalayim, Yerushalayim, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her! How often I wished to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not!
Mat 23:38 “See! Your house is left to you laid waste,
Mat 23:39 for I say to you, from now on you shall by no means see Me, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who is coming in the Name of יהוה!’
Hence, the generation rising in judgment to condemn carnal Israel & Yahudah would be the remnant of Israel who turned to Yahuah. We must be consistent in interpreting scriptures.
Proof that it was Israel dwelling in Nineveh to whom Yonah was sent:
Yonah H3124 is from H3123 which means 'dove/pigeon'
We already saw that the name 'Nineveh' means 'Heir/Son will become' Nayan(Heir/Son) and 'uah' which means 'will be/become/fall away'
Hence the picture is of the dove being sent to the son who will fall away
Jon 4:11 “And should I not pardon Ninewĕh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand beings who have not known their right hand from their left, and much cattle?”
If you understand numbers the number 120000 (12 x 10000) which has the number 12 speaks of the 12 tribes of Israel and the number 10 and its multiples speak of their completeness.
If you remember there were 120 disciples in the upper room assembling and on day of Shavout the Ruach ha Qodesh was poured on them. Also the number 144000 which is 12 x 12 x 1000 spoken of in the book of Revelation is Israel from all generations.
Not knowing their right hand from their left:
Matt 6:1 “Guard yourself from doing your righteousness before sons of men to be seen by them. For if so, you shall not have reward with your Father who is in the heavens.”
Matt 6:2 “So when you do righteousness, do not blast a trumpet in front of you, as the hypocrites do in the house of synagogues and in the public squares, so that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
Matt 6:3 “But as for you, when you do righteousness, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,”
Matt 6:4 “so that your righteousness shall be in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret He shall reward you in the open.
KJV translates tsadaqah as alms and so do other translations. Tsadaq/Tsadaqah means righteous/righteousness
Hence, comparing the passages with Yonah 4:11 we see that the 120,000 whose right hand has not known what their left hand is doing is Israel. If you see the order of righteousness spoken of Yahusha ha Mashiyach himself showing the right hand doing the righteousness and right hand in scripture is yamyan H3225: as the stronger hand and more skilfull, whereas the left hand semol (samek mem alaph lamed) H8040 through the idea of wrapping up; properly dark (as enveloped), covering up as a garment
The 120,000 did not know the right hand from their left hand which shows they lacked the skill, they were weak, their sin was not known to them unless someone told them. The order was they didn't know their right hand from the left whereas the righteousness Yahusha spoke of was from the right hand which the left didn't know.
Here is further proof:
2Ki 14:23 In the fifteenth year of Amatsyahu son of Yo’ash, the sovereign of Yehuḏah, Yaroḇʽam son of Yo’ash, the sovereign of Yisra’ĕl, began to reign in Shomeron, and reigned forty-one years.
2Ki 14:24 And he did evil in the eyes of יהוה. He did not turn away from all the sins of Yaroḇʽam son of Neḇat, who had made Yisra’ĕl sin.
2Ki 14:25 He restored the border of Yisra’ĕl from the entrance of Ḥamath to the Sea of the Araḇah, according to the word of יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, which He had spoken through His servant Yonah son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Ḥĕpher.
2Ki 14:26 For יהוה saw that the affliction of Yisra’ĕl was very bitter. And there was no one, neJos 19:10 And the third lot came up for the children of Zeḇulun for their clans, and the border of their inheritance was as far as Sariḏ.
Jos 19:11 And their border went toward the sea, and Maralah, and reached to Dabbesheth, and reached to the wadi that faced Yoqneʽam,
Jos 19:12 and turned back from Sariḏ eastward toward the sunrise, to the border of Kisloth Taḇor, and went out toward Daḇerath, and went up to Yaphiya.
Jos 19:13 And from there it passed over eastward, to the east of Gath Ḥĕpher, toward Eth Qatsin, and went out to Rimmon, which borders on Nĕʽah.
ither shut up nor left at large, to help Yisra’ĕl.
2Ki 14:27 And יהוה had not said that He would blot out the name of Yisra’ĕl from under the heavens, but saved them by the hand of Yaroḇʽam son of Yo’ash
The prophecy of Yonah of restoration of border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of Arabah is not mentioned in the book of Yonah or anywhere else but mentioned in 2 Kings 14
Gath Hepher:
Jos 19:10 And the third lot came up for the children of Zeḇulun for their clans, and the border of their inheritance was as far as Sariḏ.
Jos 19:11 And their border went toward the sea, and Maralah, and reached to Dabbesheth, and reached to the wadi that faced Yoqneʽam,
Jos 19:12 and turned back from Sariḏ eastward toward the sunrise, to the border of Kisloth Taḇor, and went out toward Daḇerath, and went up to Yaphiya.
Jos 19:13 And from there it passed over eastward, to the east of Gath Ḥĕpher, toward Eth Qatsin, and went out to Rimmon, which borders on Nĕʽah.
Gen 49:13 “Zeḇulun dwells at the seashore, he is for a haven for ships, and his border is unto Tsiḏon.
There are two words used for son in scripture. Ben and Bar
Ben is a Hebrew word and refers to the son born in a native tribe i.e. one of the 12 tribes of Yasharal.
Bar H1247 is a Aramaic word and also appears in scripture for sons in dispersion. If you read the book of Ezra & Daniel sons are mentioned as Bar.
We also have proof in scripture that certain emissaries sent out to minister to the Gentiles from Yasharal in dispersion renamed with a Bar in their name
Act 4:36 And Yosĕph, who was also called Barnaḇah by the emissaries (which means Son of Encouragement), a Lĕwite, a native of Cyprus,
Yahusha himself name Shimon as Kepha which means rock. Kepha is an Aramaic name translated as Cephas in Greek. While Kepha's ministry was for the Yahudites he was also renamed as Kepha to have a connection with the Yasharal in dispersion
Act 1:23 And they put forward two: Yosĕph called Barsabba, who was also called Yustos, and Mattithyahu.
There was another disciple contending for the place Yahudah Iscariot lost and he was given two names one Aramaic Barsabba and the other Yustos Greek so that they connect with those is dispersion.
Yahusha calling Shimon Bar-Yonah is an indication that he was referred to being a descendant of the nabi Yonah who was sent to Nineveh which had Yasharalites dwelling in the city, this was because he was also from the same place, or else what was he doing on the shores of Galilee, and scripture also shows he was a fisherman. And it was said of Zebulun dwells by the sea shore and he is a haven for ships. It also says Zebulun by the way of the sea in Matthew 4:15
Let's relook at 2nd Kings 14:25 where Yaroḇʽam son of Yo’ash restored the border of Yasharal from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the arabah
2Ki 14:25 He restored the border of Yisra’ĕl from the entrance of Ḥamath to the Sea of the araḇah H6160, according to the word of יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, which He had spoken through His servant Yonah son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Ḥĕpher.
Before we look at Hamath, lets look at the word arabah H6160
This word comes from the root word arab H6150 which means dark, evening, sundown
The sea of arabah is referring to the dead sea/salt sea where the waters are extremely salty and the waters dont have fish in it. This sea is towards the extreme south near the land of Yahudah whereas Hamath was towards far north.
Deu 3:16 “And to the Re’uḇĕnites and the Gaḏites I gave from Gilʽaḏ as far as the wadi Arnon, the middle of the wadi as the border, as far as the wadi Yabboq, the border of the children of Ammon,
Deu 3:17 and the desert plain, with the Yardĕn as the border, from Kinnereth as far as the Sea of the Araḇah, the Salt Sea, below the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
Jos 3:15 and as those bearing the ark came to the Yardĕn, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark dipped in the edge of the water – now the Yardĕn overflows all its banks during all the time of harvest –Jos 3:16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Aḏam, the city that is beside Tsarethan. And the waters going down into the Sea of the Araḇah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Yeriḥo.
Yasharal’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Tiberias, is also known as the Sea of Tiberias, Lake of Gennesaret, Lake Kinneret, and the Sea of Galilee is towards the north inhabited once by the tribes Zebulun and Napthali.In the half-century during which the prophet Yonah ministered (800–750 b.c.), a significant event affected the northern kingdom of Israel: King Jeroboam II (793–753) restored her traditional borders, ending almost a century of sporadic seesaw conflict between Israel and Damascus.
Yeroboam, in Elohim’s good providence (2Ki 14:26–27), capitalized on Ashshur’s defeat of Damascus which temporarily crushed that center of Aramean power. Prior to that time, not only had Yasharal been considerably reduced in size, but the king of Damascus had even been able to control internal affairs in the northern kingdom (2Ki 13:7).
It was in such a time that Yahuah sent Amos and Hosea to announce to his people Yasharal that he would “spare them no longer” (Am 7:8; 8:2) but would send them into exile “beyond Damascus” (Am 5:27), i.e., to Assyria (Hos 9:3; 10:6; 11:5).
The gourd which grew over night:
Yahuah caused a gourd to grow over Yonah overnight against the law of nature but the next day Yahuah appointed a worm to destroy it. Plant is an incorrect translation
Jon 4:5 Then Yonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and made himself a sukkah/booth there, and sat under it in the shade, to see what would become of the city.
Jon 4:6 And יהוה Elohim appointed a plant and made it come up over Yonah, to be a shade for his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Yonah greatly rejoiced over the plant.
Jon 4:7 But as morning dawned the next day Elohim appointed a worm/tolah H8438 (crimson red/scarlet) which attacked the gourd so that it withered.
Jon 4:8 And it came to be when the sun came up, that Elohim appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun smote on Yonah’s head, so that he grew faint, and asked for his life to die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
Jon 4:9 And Elohim said to Yonah, “Have you rightly become displeased over the gourd?” And he said, “I have rightly become displeased, even to death!”
Jon 4:10 And יהוה said, “You felt sorry for the gourd for which you have not laboured, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.
Jon 4:11 “And should I not pardon Ninewĕh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand beings who have not known their right hand from their left, and much cattle?”
In the Septuagint translation of the Book of Yonah, the Hebrew qiqayon is translated gourd. The intensely bitter colocynth is referred to in the Bible as the Hebrew paqqû‛âh. During a famine, its fruit was gathered from vines in the field and were then mistakenly included in a pottage prepared for the disciples of the prophet Elisha’: And they poured for the people to eat and it was when eating from the pottage that they yelled and said death is in the pot of the man of Elohim and they could not eat (2 Kings 4:39–40). Elisha’ was able to change the taste of the pottage by adding flour.
This word qiqayon is similar to a fruit or like a wild cucumber which grew over his head over night and was destroyed by the worm/tola. Yasharal was like that wild fruit which grew over night and his wildness would be taken by the worm who clung to the tree i.e. Yahusha ha Mashiyach
Psa 22:6 But I am a worm/H8438 tola, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
Pslams 22 is a Messianic Psalms and shows the suffering of our Messiah where he says He is no man but a worm. This worm/tola from where the red/scarlet dye was made was used in the tabernacle curtains, priests clothing etc
The 120,000 we already saw is the number of the people of Yahuah. There were 120 disciples gathered in the upper room, 12 tribes x 100,000 where number 10 and multiples of 10 speaks of completeness. Yasharal in dispersion is like a wild olive branch grafted into the natural olive tree (Rom 11). The worm will not destroy the wild fruit but will take the death upon itself and that worm is Yahusha ha Mashiyach.
Rev 22:2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. And the shoots of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Salvation belongs to Yasharal, not pagan nations.