Jonah 3:7

"And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water."

We shall not bother with noting various and sundry objections as to how Jonah might have known certain words used in this passage, such as robe, decree, etc. Jonah was an eyewitness of what he described in this passage; and the various unusual words used entered his vocabulary upon the same occasion as the events related.

What a bellowing must have gone up to God when none of the cattle were watered or fed. Anyone who ever witnessed the lowing of thirsty cattle can never forget the terrible impact of it. This action initiated by the king was evidently designed to achieve just such an impact upon the whole population. The king's decree is continued in the next verse.

The involvement of animals in the general mourning was not due to any notion that the animals had sinned; it was merely an Oriental custom.

"Herodotus relates that the Persians, when mourning for their general, Masistios, who had fallen in the battle of Platea, shaved off the hair from their horses, and adds, `Thus did the barbarians in their way, mourn for the deceased Masistios.'"[34]

This ancient custom of causing the animals to participate in the occasions of public mourning is still evidenced in the world by the custom of reversing the harness or saddles of horses in some funeral cortege of a president or some other famous person.