וַיִּהְי֣וּ ׀ הַגּוֹיִ֣ם הָאֵ֗לֶּה יְרֵאִים֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֔ה וְאֶת־פְּסִֽילֵיהֶ֖ם הָי֣וּ עֹֽבְדִ֑ים גַּם־בְּנֵיהֶ֣ם ׀ וּבְנֵ֣י בְנֵיהֶ֗ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשׂ֤וּ אֲבֹתָם֙ הֵ֣ם עֹשִׂ֔ים עַ֖ד הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃ (פ)
Ces peuples adorèrent donc l’Éternel tout en rendant un culte à leurs Idoles. Pareillement, leurs enfants et petits-enfants agissent comme leurs pères encore aujourd’hui.
Bartenura
והכותי – From the those who worship idols and constellations which the King of Ashur brought [with him] from Cuth (a Babylonian town whence Assyrian colonists were introduced into Samaria) and from the other lands and dwell with them in the cities of Samaria who converted out of fear of lions that would eat them as explained in II Kings 17:24-41. And they observed the written Torah and all the commandments that they took hold of, they observed punctiliously more than the Israelites, therefore, people accepted them in some of the commandments until they examined them [more closely] and found among them the image of the pigeon at the top of Mount Gerizim that they would worship and from then on, they considered them as those who totally worship idols and constellations. Therefore, nowadays, we do not invite a Cuthean to participate [in the group recitation of ברכת המזון; see especially verse 41 of II Kings 24.)
Depths of Yonah
Abarbanel and Malbim note that Yonah Perek 3 describes the people of Nineveh restoring stolen property. However, nowhere in Perek 3 do we find that they corrected their sin of Avodah Zarah (idol worship). Yonah is infuriated that Hashem would forgive Nineveh without the people correcting the cardinal sin of Avodah Zarah92One may pose a serious question on this approach - did not the people of Nineveh fully embrace Yonah’s message and wholeheartedly (according to many opinions) repent? Doesn’t this express an acceptance of Hashem and rejection of Avodah Zarah? We may answer that while it indicates a wholehearted acceptance of Hashem it does not necessarily imply that they forsook their gods. After all, there are many instances of people who both serve Hashem and worship Avodah Zarah. Examples include the majority of the Jews of Northen Israel in the time of Eliyahu HaNavi (Melachim I 18:21) and the Samaritans of Melachim II (17:41). . In other words, Yonah in the fish reconciled himself to the idea of Teshuvah. However, he is upset that Hashem forgave Ninenveh for an incomplete Teshuvah.