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The Tale of Two Cities

Nineveh     and     Sodom

– Nineveh – 

A city that Repented to the Lord God Almighty and Lived and Thrived!

The Book of Jonah, chapter 3 primarily. 

Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 

Jonah 3:1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. 

Jonah 4:11 The Lord said, And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

Jesus answered people of his day with the example of Nineveh. Luke 11:29-32; Matthew 12:38-42

A Small Bible Study -  Please read the above Bible verses and answer the questions after thoughtful reflection. You may do this with other people for discussion, also. You may also Contact us. 

How big a city was Nineveh? Jonah 3:3 + Jonah 4:11 

What did God command Jonah? John 1:1 + Jonah 3:1-2 + 4.  

What caused God to command this to Jonah? Jonah 1:2 + Jonah 4:11

What was the reaction of the people of Nineveh to God's Word and warning? Site the verses where you found your answers. 

Who was the ruler of Nineveh? What did he do? Site the verses where you found your answers. 

Were the animals involved? How? Site the verses where you found your answers. 

Did the people of the city take God seriously? How do you know? Jonah 3:9 

What was God’s reaction to the city dwellers? Jonah 3:10 

What qualities of God do you see demonstrated here? 

What does God hate? (answers below) 

What causes perishing?  (answers below) 

What causes living and thriving?  (answers below) 

What warning to you read here? 

What encouragement do you receive? 

How will you be different? What will you maintain? Who will you share your lessons with?  

For a deeper study, read Jonah chapters 1 + 2 + 4.

Some Answers – 

What does God hate? (sin, Jonah 1:2) 

What does God love? (people, Jonah 4:11) 

What causes perishing? (Rebellion against God, Jonah 3:4) 

What causes living and thriving? (Repentance to God, Jonah 3:6-8)  

- Sodom -

A city that Perished!

The Book of Genesis, chapter 18 and 19 primarily

Genesis 18

¹⁶ Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. ¹⁷ And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, ²¹ I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

²² Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.

²³ And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶ So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: ²⁸ Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” ²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”

³⁰ Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

³² Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”

And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” ³³ So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place. 

Genesis 19, NIV

The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ² “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”

“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

³ But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. ⁴ Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. ⁵ They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

⁶ Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him ⁷ and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

⁹ “Get out of our way,” they replied. And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

¹² The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³ because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵ With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

¹⁶ When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. ¹⁷ As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! ¹⁹ Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰ Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

²¹ He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²² But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)

²³ By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵ Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

A Small Bible Study - Please read the above Bible verses and answer the questions after thoughtful reflection. You may do this with other people for discussion, also. You may also Contact us.

What type of a relationship did the Lord God have with Abraham? Genesis 18:16-23  Site examples. 

What type of character or personality does the Lord God of the Bible demonstrate? Is He close, intimate, on speaking terms, friendship, trusting (on both parts), chooses to reveal His plans, personal, relational? Or is He cold, impersonal, unpredictable, unstable, not compassionate, distant and harsh? Or a combination?  

Did God want to share His plans with Abraham? Genesis 18:17 

Did Abraham draw near to God? Genesis 18:23  

Did God listen to Abraham and act on Abraham's behalf? Genesis 18:23-32 + Genesis 19:29  

What type of a God did Abraham worship? Was the Lord God personal or cold and distant? Use examples for your answer. 

What did Abraham ask the Lord to do? What number of people did Abraham started with? What number did Abraham end with? How many people were rescued out because of Abraham’s plea?

“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. James 2:23

Regarding Sodom, what was “their sin is very grave”? Genesis 18:20  Hint: Genesis 19:5 + 7  

What happened in Genesis 19:10-11? Who did what and why? What was the outcome? What does this show about the Power of God?

What decision was made regarding Sodom? Genesis 19:13 

To Whom was the outcry made? Against whom was the outcry made? (2 different entities) Genesis 19:13

Who destroyed the city? Genesis 19:13-14

What word was used at the end of Genesis 19:15 that reveals what occurred to the city?

What word was used at the end of Genesis 19:16 that reveals how Lot and his family were treated by the Lord?

A Short Interjection - Reading about it from another section of the Bible - 2 Peter 2:6-11

6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. 2 Peter 2:6-11

How does God describe Lot in 2 Peter 2:6-11? 2 Peter 2: 7-8

How did Lot feel? Why did he feel this way? 2 Peter 2: 7-8

Do you think Lot spoke about how he felt to those around him? 

Do you think Lot told them to stop and labeled their activities "wicked"?  Genesis 19:7

Do you think the people of Sodom valued Lot's thoughts and took him seriously? Genesis 19:14, 2 Peter 2:10 

What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? For what purpose did God do this? What type of people are suppose to learn from this? (end of verse 6) 2 Peter 2:6 

What warning to you read here? 

What encouragement do you receive? 

How will you be different? What will you maintain? Who will you share your lessons with? 

Back to the regular Bible Study - 

In Genesis 19:24-25 + 28 describe what physically happened. Can you illustrate this or act it out?  

What did the angels tell Lot and his family to DO and to Not do? Genesis 19:17

Who in Lot’s family disobeyed this command? What happened to her? What did she look like afterwards? Genesis 19:17 + 26.

Who was faithful to remember His conversation and honor Abraham with action? What did He do? Genesis 19:29 

What qualities of the Lord God do you see here? 

What qualities do you see of the inhabitants of Sodom?

What qualities of Lot’s and of his wife do you see?

Who do you relate with most? Abraham, Lot, Lot’s wife, the city dwellers, the angels? In what ways?

What warning and blessing do you read here? How will you be different? What will you maintain? Who will you share your lesson with?   

Answers to Question #1 = 50, 10, 4

Present Day Nations and Communities that have Repented to the Lord God Almighty  

Blessed Communities By The LORD God 

Please let us know how you are and how you liked the Bible Study at Contact.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6 ~~ God is love. 1 John 4:16  ~~  Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. John 17:17 ~~ The entirety of Your Word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. Psalm 119:160 

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