What Do Nineveh and Jerusalem Have in Common?
The 2005 movie The Kingdom of Heaven, a highly dramatized version of the history of the Crusades, features a scene in which Balian de Ibelin (played by Orlando Bloom) says to Saladin (played by Ghassan Massoud), “What is Jerusalem worth?” The Muslim general replies, “Nothing,” only to turn around after a few steps and add, “Everything!” We may also traverse from nothing to everything, or linger somewhere in between, when we ponder on our question: What do Jerusalem and Nineveh in common?
Many will recognize the question as a parody of Tertullian, De praescriptione haereticorum, chapter 7: “What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?” From this, many theologians argue that the church should have nothing to do with Greek philosophy. However, we cannot comprehend church fathers like Tertullian without looking into the Greek wisdom tradition that nurtured them.
So, to answer our question concerning Jerusalem and Nineveh, we must first ask, “What does Jerusalem represent?” Besides Gen 14, which features King Melchizedek of Salem, we first hear about Jerusalem during Israel’s emergence in Canaan in the last quarter of the second millennium BCE. The Israelites had clashed with the coalition of Canaanite city-states led by Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem (Josh 10) and, even though Joshua won the battle, “the people of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. As a result, Josh 15:63 reports that “the Jebusites live with the people of Judah in Jerusalem to this day” (cf., Judg 1:21; 19:11). “To this day” may refer to the time of David’s monarchy when Jerusalem was captured.
Also, 2 Sam 5 reports the conquest of the Jebusite city. By this time David had united the northern and southern tribes. He needed a capital city for the united monarchy. Prominent options were available, but none without a glitch. For example, if David chose Shechem, the southerners would protest. If he chose Hebron, another good candidate, the northerners would feel alienated. Jerusalem, which belonged neither to the south nor the north, had the potential to unify all the tribes of Israel. David sought to ensure that no one tribe would lay claim to his capital. He used “his men,” not tribal forces, to conquer Jerusalem (v. 6). He instructed his troops to “get up the water shaft” (vv. 8-9)—apparently for a stealth surprise attack.
Later, David wanted to build a temple in Jerusalem to make it the religious center of his empire, but God objected to it (chap. 7). Most likely, the people objected to the launch of a massive building project by such a young nation. Solomon did not ask. He built the temple and a palace, too. “He was seven years in building [the temple]. Solomon was building his own house thirteen years” (1 Kings 6:38-7:1; emphasis added). Given such wording, we cannot help but wonder if the biblical historian does not dab at Solomon’s skewed priorities.
Jerusalem remained as the capital of the southern kingdom when the nation was divided in 922 BCE. The city continued to be the focus of worship after the division, and the first king of the northern kingdom, Jeroboam, built competing shrines in Bethel and Dan to compete with the popular sanctuary in the south. After the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, Jerusalem expanded significantly during Hezekiah’s reign. Through Josiah’s reform (2 Kings 22-23), Jerusalem became the center of worship, which continued to the time of Jesus and even to modern days.
None can miss the admiration that Jerusalem enjoys in the Bible. The Bible is filled with the songs of Zion, another name for Jerusalem. Today, we have many moving poems about Jerusalem. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Ofra Haza’s song, “Jerusalem shel zahav” (“Jerusalem of Gold”), achieved such fame and popularity many proposed it should be Israel’s national anthem instead of the ha-tikvah. An emotional debate ensued, because the ha-tikvah had a long history dating from the 19th century; it gave great hope to the people dying in the concentration camps during World War II.
Further, the fall of Jerusalem is deeply lamented, both in and outside the Bible. A whole book of Lamentations is dedicated to it. In history, Jerusalem has fallen many times, and according to tradition, every time it fell on the same day, Tisha b’Av, the 9th of the month of Av. It is a day of mourning, which many Jews still commemorate as the day of mourning for all tragic events in human history.
In contrast, when Nineveh fell in 612 BCE, it inspired universal jubilation. It is hard to find any tradition kind to Nineveh in the Bible or elsewhere. Why were the Ninevites so hated? Historians answer with gusto. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, an empire known for its cruelty. We learn of the Assyrian military tactics because their kings filled their palaces and libraries with the record of what they had done. For example, Sennacherib wrote of Babylon: “Its inhabitants, young and old, I did not spare, and with their corpses I filled the streets of the city.” Sennacherib made Nineveh the capital city and built new streets, squires, and canals, a “palace without a rival.” The same King Sennacherib invaded Judah in 701 BCE, and shut the king of Judah “in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.” Jerusalem was spared, but Lachish was not so lucky. The terror the king inflicted upon the Judeans is depicted in the palace of Sennacherib, now housed in the British Museum.
The city of Nineveh was sacked in 612 BCE after a bitter inner city battle. It forms the background of the book of Nahum. The prophet calls upon a universal jubilation over the destruction of Nineveh. The book is introduced as “an oracle concerning Nineveh.” Nahum reads like a horror movie with its depiction of mayhem.
Jonah is just about the only document that shows kindness to Nineveh. In the last chapter of Jonah, there is a curious scene in which a plant that comes up overnight and perishes under the sun. The name of the plant is qiqayon. We do not know what it was, for the name of this plant is found only Jon 4:6-10. Hebrew scholars call such a word hapax legomenon. The first part of the word qi recalls another Hebrew word that refers to vomiting, as shown in 2:10, in which the fish spewed out (lit. “vomited”) Jonah. The fish that had to throw up Jonah, who had run away from his mission and was placed in the belly of a large fish (a whale according to Josephus and others), was now praising God as if Jonah were the most pious person ever. The fish must have been disgusted. Even to Jonah’s own surprise, God cares a great deal about disgusting people. There is no denying that Nineveh did not deserve God’s compassion. For a good reason, the book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur. Christianity also associates the book of Jonah with forgiveness. Orthodox Christians observe the fast of Nineveh (the Fast of Ba‘utha) three weeks before Ash Wednesday.
One may be tempted to drive a wedge between the holy city and the unholy city. However, a close look at the Bible reveals there are other voices. For example, the famous Isaiah’s song of the vineyard describes the state of the people of God, “inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah” (Isa 5:3). In v. 7, God says, “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are [God’s] pleasant planting; [God] expected justice (mishpat), but saw bloodshed (mispach); righteousness (tsedaqah), but heard a cry (te‘aqah)!” The pairs of words produce a dramatic sound effect, but their semblance (mishpat and mispach; tsedaqah and tse‘aqah) is telling. It was in the holy place that God found the unholiest things.
Not all southern prophets had the same perspective on Jerusalem’s future. We often use Micah as the champion of justice in urban contexts and elsewhere. However, Micah did not have much confidence with the people of the city, for he found all sorts of bad things coming from Jerusalem’s leaders, including injustice (see Mic 3:11, for example).
Jeremiah finds Jerusalem to be a den of robbers, like King Jehoiakim and the prophet Hananiah. Today we appreciate Jeremiah as the true prophet and rate Hananiah as the false prophet, but in those days, the people welcomed Hananiah and rejected Jeremiah. In his day, Jeremiah was regarded as a danger to society for saying things like: “Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD’” (Jer 7:4). The prophet discouraged the people from saying, “Shalom, shalom,” for there was none (6:14; 8:11).
Jerusalem will never lose its special place in history and in the heart of many who hold it dear, but the world is not a very neat place. Nineveh had a terrible reputation, but it was the home of many for whom God cared (see Jon 4:11). Perhaps, our modern world is more like a mud batter with some from Jerusalem and some from Nineveh. When we think of Jerusalem, the city of peace, there may be oppression that we would rather associate with Nineveh. In a place that many might compare to Nineveh, one may encounter an act of kindness like the cold drink offered to a little one. Jesus of Nazareth noted the profound meaning of such small kindnesses, when he said: “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple – truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward" (Matt 10:42). That will be true whether it is in Nineveh or in Jerusalem.
