S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

In Jonah 4:11 God speaks of "more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left." Who are these 120,000 people?First, it is obvious from the context that these people were r...

Login or Sign Up to view the rest of this answer.

July 01 2013 • 4 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Leslie Coutinho Supporter

Jonah 4:11: "And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"

The greatest were the “elders” more advanced in age and the “least” were younger to them than the elders of Nineveh, and they were the ones just like the cattle who could not discern their right hand from the left. (Jonah 3:5) The Word of the Lord came unto Jonah, for the wickedness that came up before the Lord to cry against it, and if they didn’t repent in forty days’ time Nineveh would be overthrown. The Lord knew the hearts of these people who would repent and come back to Him if Jonah preached to them what he proclaimed. 

The people believed in God when the Word was proclaimed; also the word came to the King, for then they proclaimed for neither man nor beast, herd nor flock to taste anything nor feed, nor drink anything and they put on sackcloth and cried out to the Lord. God saw the works that they turned from their evil ways. He then relented from the disasters that he planned to bring upon them. (Jonah 3:5-10)

When the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, Moses sent men to spy on the land of Canaan. However, it only took them forty days to accomplish this task. (Numb 13:25) Despite this, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. The elders who murmured against the Lord in the wilderness, from twenty years and upwards, did not come into the promised land. (Num 14:29-33) They failed to discern and believe in God the Father who brought them out of Egypt, for they went out whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land and broke the covenant that He made with them. (Deut 31:16)

Numbers 14:34: "After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise."

January 16 2024 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Billy P Eldred Supporter

Have you ever been in the middle of a forest and completely lost? You literally do not know which way to turn.

In this, the last verse in the book of Jonah, God was teaching (and yes chastising) Jonah for his stubborn uncaring attitude toward the people of Ninevah. Whether it was prejudice or hatred or something else, Jonah did not want God to have compassion on Ninevah.

So God closed the book of Jonah with this rebuke. Here is my paraphrase: "Jonah, these people are lost! They do not know which way to turn. I am the God of all people. There is no other God but me! How can I ignore them!" He even adds one last rebuke in the verse. Again, my paraphrase: "If you don't care for these people, what about the thousands of animals there. I, God, care and provide for them as well! How can you not?"

November 13 2025 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report