The Animals of Nineveh

Why are the last recorded words from G-d to the prophet Jonah about the animals of Nineveh?
These animals are referred to earlier in the book as part of the penitence declared by the King of Nineveh after word of Jonah's prophecy of the destruction of Nineveh reaches him.

This is the only instance in the Tanakh where a fast and donning of sackcloth is called not only for people but for animals.
It seems then that G-d will recognize the city's animals as much as the people of Nineveh! How can we make sense of this bizarre aspect of the story?

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Animalistic Humans
Before speculating on the significance of Nineveh's animals, we should ground ourselves in what our tradition already has to say about their special place in the book of Jonah.
Rashi clarifies what the text means when it refers to the 'animals' of Nineveh in the final verse of the chapter:

Here, according to Rashi, the verse in Jonah refers to children of Nineveh as those who"do not know their right from their left" (Jonah 4:11), while the mention of animals in fact refers to human beings of low intelligence (meaning, they have no sophisticated spiritual recognition of their Creator).
Rashi was not alone in thinking that the mention of animals in Jonah 4:11 really refers to a certain kind of human being. Indeed, in the Midrash Tanchuma, it writes:

Here we see that the Nineveh's animals are considered to be human beings whose actions (as opposed to intelligence or spiritual aspects, as Rashi interprets) are like those of animals, which is why the actions they perform are wicked. These wicked people are contrasted by the "Adams" - the righteous ones, who are righteous despite their lacking basic knowledge.
In addition to begging the question of how people who lack basic knowledge could be righteous and able of fully repenting of their evil ways, the Midrash Tanchuma begs us to ask: What about the actions of animals are wicked when human beings mimic them?
I suggest that the actions of animals are defined by a neglect of intention and purpose beyond satisfying their base physical and emotional needs. Translated into the life of a human, actions based on these simple motivations could include hedonistic pleasure-seeking, unrestrained consumption, and failure to reflect on one's behaviors and those of others. Perhaps the violent, theft-ridden ways of the people of Nineveh were rooted in their society's lack of critical self-introspection and failure to create order around higher principles of any kind.
Animalistic behaviors such as these could be exemplified by the Ninevites' including their animals in their fasts. The Babylonian Talmud offers an interpretation on how and why the people of Nineveh included their animals in their repentance:

Here, the Talmud tells us, the Ninevites knew no other way to ask forgiveness except to take animals - innocent of the sins they had committed - and to make them suffer by confining them away from food, water and their offspring.
What kind of society asks G-d for forgiveness by being cruel to their animals? An even more pressing question is: How could G-d have spared Nineveh of destruction if this is how they repented? Could G-d have not instead only spared the few 'righteous' souls in Nineveh (as G-d also spared Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah), or even spared just the animals?
Below, I will suggest an alternative to the above interpretations, one that imagines the treatment of the animals of Nineveh as a crucial aspect of their repenting for their specific sins.

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Two Faces of G-d and Humans
Turning to another aspect of the story of Jonah can help us make sense of the perplexing treatment of animals in Nineveh: the words it uses to refer to G-d.
The book of Jonah uses two different names to refer to G-d: "אלקים" (Elokim) and "יהוה" (Adonai). These names are each associated with different aspects of the divine. Elokim is a name evoking reminders of G-d's power and strength. Elokim imposes order and justice on the world. Adonai, however, evokes the more ineffable and compassionate side of G-d.
These two different names for G-d show up each in one of the two different creation narratives in the book of Genesis. The first narrative (Gen. 1:1 - 2:3) depicts Elokim creating Adam, the first human, and commanding Adam to 'fill the earth and master it':

This creation narrative casts the creation of humans as an act of Elokim, the G-d of divine order and justice. Elokim created the humans in Their own image. The word the text uses for 'image' is "צֶלֶם", which denotes a physical likeness. The human created in this physical this image of G-d is charged with a specific, kinetic task - to 'master' the earth. The root of the word 'master' (כָּבַשׁ) is used to indicate subduing, forcing into bondage, and dominating something. The relationship between humans and the rest of natural creation put forth by this first creation narrative is one of physicality and power, with humans standing atop the rest of creation.
The second creation narrative (Gen. 2:4 - 2:25) shows Adam created and tasked by Adonai differently than by the Elokim of the first creation narrative:

In this narrative, Adonai creates Adam using two ingredients, dust from the earth and Their own breath of life. This image depicts a G-d who creates humans not only with physical matter but also with a nonphysical breath, adding to the story of the creation of humans a spiritual aspect that is lacking in the first narrative.
Additionally, Adonai creates man not to subdue the creation but to 'till and tend' them. The words the text uses for 'to till' (לְעׇבְדָ֖הּ) and 'to tend' (וּלְשׇׁמְרָֽהּ) both have physical and spiritual aspects to them. The former connotes service to something greater than the human, and the latter (coming from the root 'שמר' meaning 'to guard') casts the task of Adam as one of protecting something holier than he is and helping it flourish.

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The Logic of Nineveh's Teshuva
This background on use of "אלקים" (Elokim) and "יהוה" (Adonai) in Genesis helps us understand the significance of their use in the book of Jonah by clarifying the logic behind Nineveh's repentance and why it involved fasting their animals.
In Jonah, the name 'Elokim' is used when G-d is performing an act of judgement or referred to as the one who will judge. Important examples of this include when:

• the King of Nineveh tells his people to repent so that G-d will spare them (3:9)
• G-d decides to spare Nineveh (3:10)
• G-d sends a worm to kill the gourd Jonah uses for shade (4:7).

By contrast, the name 'Adonai' is used when G-d tries to communicate with people, bring them to new understanding or motivation, or issue forgiveness. It is also used when people attempt to evoke G-d's compassion. Examples of situations in which G-d is referred to as 'Adonai' include when:

• Jonah cries out to G-d to complain of his dissatisfaction over Nineveh's being spared (4:2)
• G-d asks Jonah how one could care more for the gourd than for the 120,000 people of Nineveh, and their animals (4:11).

Among these examples, we see that Elokim sends the worm to destroy Jonah's gourd, but Adonai is the one who responds to Jonah's second plea for death afterwards. Even in the face of Jonah's misery, this second response from G-d insists on showing compassion to the people of Nineveh.
The root of this compassion may lie in the comparison Adonai makes between Nineveh and Jonah's gourd:

Here, Adonai chastises Jonah for caring more about a plant, one that he did not grow himself, than about the people and animals of Nineveh. The Hebrew word used for 'grow' (עָמַל) literally translates to 'toil'. Through the symbolic link between the gourd and Nineveh, it becomes clear that G-d sees Jonah has failed to live up to the primary commandment of the second creation narrative to ceaselessly serve and protect creation. The implication Adonai makes is that while Jonah did not toil for the plant, G-d in fact did. G-d works hard to cultivate nature and creation. Instead of aiding G-d in this endeavor, Jonah becomes a victim of nature after the death of the gourd:

Here we see Jonah fails to fulfill the commandment from Elokim in the first creation narrative - instead of mastering the earth, Jonah is overtaken by it. Perhaps Elokim sent the worm to destroy his plant, and perhaps Elokim allowed the wind and sun to wear on Jonah to show him that he was in fact not fulfilling his obligations. He was not was not working to create order in his surroundings, and he was rejecting G-d's judgements about Nineveh. Certainly, he was no more succeeding at serving Elokim than the Ninevites who did not know right from left.
In contrast to Jonah, the people of Nineveh, by fasting their animals and themselves, they demonstrate control over the natural world around them and over their own natural physical desires for food, drink, and comfort.
But, were the people of Nineveh in fact cruel to their animals by fasting them as a part of their repentance, or can we understand proclaiming a fast for their animals differently?
Recall the sinful, animalistic behaviors of the Ninevites involved not only outright violence and dishonesty but also a negligenct, unexamined, and undisciplined approach to living. With the understanding that Adonai in the second iteration of the creation narrative demands human beings to relate to the earth as protectors and guards (and not necessarily as masters), the repentance of the people of Nineveh could be interpreted as an attempt to halt the normal systems that upheld their life. Perhaps they did this not just to demonstrate a mastery over nature but to instead interrupt (and begin dismantling) what may have been damaging cycles and habits that had until then carried the wicked rhythms of their society.
What could these damaging practices have included? Perhaps out of negligence or a desire to increase their wealth, they had previously allowed their animals to proliferate too much. Their agricultural practices may have been responsible for environmental degradation, spread of disease and pestilence, territorial or economic conflicts between people, or other situations that could have contributed to Nineveh's violence and widespread theft.
I suggest that Nineveh's decision to fast their animals was their way of repenting for their failure to relate to natural creation as careful guardians and thoughtful cultivators. The Ninevites recognized that by proclaiming a fast for their animals, they were giving their environment a kind of shmita and were beginning a process of transformed living featuring a controlled and respectful relationship with the earth and its creatures.