Jonah

Everyone knows about Jonah, swallowed by a sea monster. People who don’t know the Bible has “major” and “minor” prophets, know about Jonah.

Though the Bible’s prophets can be challenging reading, Jonah is straightforward, simple, brief, and delightful to read.

The overriding message of the Book of Jonah is …

God is reluctant to punish, and anxious to forgive. He is anxious to forgive anyone who will receive it, including those we think don’t deserve it.

But that lesson was hard on Jonah, who was not so interested in forgiving his enemies, and smiled upon the potential punishment coming to them.

Historical Context

Far to the east of Jonah’s home in Israel, the Assyrian Empire was the rising new power. Though they had not yet invaded Israel, everyone had heard of them. Their cruelty toward people they conquered was legendary. Assyria had already invaded nations near Israel, and everyone anticipated – correctly – that Israel would one day be in Assyria’s cross-hairs.

In that setting, God spoke to His prophet Jonah about the great evil done in the Assyrian Empire, and especially in their capital city, Nineveh. Jonah must have agreed heartily.

But then God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and announce, “If you don’t change your ways, God will destroy the city!”

Jonah was in favor of destroying Nineveh, but the “if” in God’s pronouncement implied some chance that God would relent and spare Nineveh.

Jonah was determined not to let that happen.

Jonah’s Disobedience and Punishment

The Book of Jonah opens with

The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it, because their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship that was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and boarded it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord – Jonah 1:1-3

Why would Jonah “flee from the Lord”? Farther down he explains:

Lord, that [because You forgave, and didn’t destroy Nineveh] is why I fled to Tarshish in the first place! I knew you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and inclined to forgive. I didn’t want Nineveh forgiven! – Jonah 4:2, paraphrase

Jonah was so determined not to help the people of Nineveh, he boarded a ship heading away from his mission from God – as far to the west as Nineveh was to the east.

But God wouldn’t let Jonah shirk His mission.

However, the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to break up – Jonah 1:4

Everyone else on the ship, of course, didn’t know the cause of the storm. Given their beliefs, they surmised God was punishing someone on board.

Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried out to his god, and they hurled the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them – Jonah 1:5a

We notice that Jonah was not the only one hurt by his disobedience. Wrongs committed always affect the surrounding community. And here, people who put cargo aboard the ship lost it all. For some, it may have been their life’s savings.

But Jonah wasn’t even paying attention.

But Jonah had gone below into the stern of the ship, had lain down, and fallen sound asleep – Jonah 1:5b

Everyone was praying for survival, and someone noticed Jonah wasn’t praying.

So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.” – Jonah 1:6

In those days, a common practice when asking God a question, was to cast lots, in the belief God would control the outcome as His way of answering. And sometimes, He did.

And each man said to his mate, “Come, let’s cast lots so that we may find out on whose account this catastrophe has struck us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah – Jonah 1:7

Jonah, of course, fully understood why God’s punishment had come.

And he said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, because I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” – Jonah 1:12

The sailors were very reluctant to throw a man to his death. They tried everything. They rowed harder, but the storm just got worse. Finally, after praying God’s forgiveness for throwing a man overboard,

they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging – Jonah 1:15

As Jonah floated in the sea, he listened to events on the ship he had just left.

Then the men became extremely afraid of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows – Jonah 1:16

These gruff sailors had never heard of Israel’s God, nor of God’s forgiveness. But they were deeply impressed with their act of obedience and its outcome.

Jonah’s Rescue

Being a prophet of God was serious business. Every prophet vowed obedience to God, Who had once said,

I [God] will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him ... But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name, a word which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die – Deuteronomy 18:18,20

By fleeing to Tarshish, Jonah violated his vow to speak everything God commanded him. And having violated, he deserved to die.

And Jonah must have assumed that, being abandoned at sea, he would die there.

But God had a rescue in mind.

And the Lord designated a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish for three days and three nights¹ – Jonah 1:17

The fish was no Ritz Hotel. Even so, Jonah was grateful.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said,
“I called out of my distress to the Lord,
And He answered me.
I called for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.”

– Jonah 2:1-2

Drifting at sea, Jonah had appealed to God for rescue.

“While I was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
And my prayer came to You,
Into Your holy temple.”

– Jonah 2:7

And in response to the rescue, Jonah renewed his prophetic vow.

“But I will sacrifice to You
With a voice of thanksgiving.
That which I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation is from the Lord.”

– Jonah 2:9

… meaning, he agreed to go to Nineveh, as God had commanded.

And once that was settled, God completed His rescue of Jonah.

Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land – Jonah 2:10

The Revival at Nineveh

The rescue complete, God took Jonah back to square one.

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” – Jonah 3:1-2

This time Jonah obeyed. He made the 500+ mile trek to Nineveh. And upon arriving, he delivered God’s message.

Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.” – Jonah 3:4

Imagine yourself a citizen of Nineveh. You have perhaps heard stories about a fellow who, hundreds of miles away on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, was coughed up on land from the mouth of some sea monster. And here he is! His skin is redder than any sunburn, having been digested away in the monster’s belly. He speaks with great authority; having once disobeyed God’s command, he now fulfills it with all his heart.

The people of Nineveh, until now committed to their evil behaviors, were stunned into action.

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them². When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his robe from himself, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the dust – Jonah 3:5-6

In their culture, that was a way of expressing great grief, such as at a funeral for someone close. The people of Nineveh were in grief, not because of a funeral, but because of their own impending doom.

And he [the king] issued a proclamation, and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: No person, animal, herd, or flock is to taste anything. They are not to eat, or drink water. But every person and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and people are to call on God vehemently, and they are to turn, each one from his evil way, and from the violence which is in their hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent, and turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.” – Jonah 3:7-9

God is reluctant to punish, and anxious to forgive. And God heard. As He always does, God forgave people who repented and changed their ways.

When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, then God relented of the disaster which He had declared He would bring on them. So He did not do it. – Jonah 3:10

Jonah’s Angry Reaction

Jonah, a prophet whose job it was to promote God’s message, should have been delighted that people listened and changed their evil ways. After all, every faithful prophet knew the frustration when people refused God’s message.

But Jonah was furious! He wanted Nineveh destroyed, not forgiven.

So God and Jonah had a conversation about that.

But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. Then he prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was this not what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore in anticipation of this I fled to Tarshish, since I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and One who relents of disaster.” – Jonah 4:1-2

God loves even his enemies, and He wants to teach His prophet to love them too. But Jonah isn’t ready yet. So God wants to ease Jonah into a certain train of thought.

But the Lord said, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?” – Jonah 4:4

Jonah did not answer. Instead, he waited to see what would happen. He wasn’t yet sure if God would forgive, or ultimately destroy Nineveh.

Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen in the city. – Jonah 4:5

Jonah, weary from his many-days-long walk to Nineveh, skin still healing from stomach acid burns while in the sea creature, sat in the middle eastern desert, hot, exposed to sun and wind, unable to be comfortable.

So the Lord God designated a plant, and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to relieve him of his discomfort. And Jonah was overjoyed about the plant. – Jonah 4:6

Jonah could not find comfort. But God provided comfort. And Jonah was rightly grateful.

But that was just the first step in God’s lesson.

But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered. And when the sun came up God designated a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint, and he begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life!” – Jonah 4:7-8

Jonah sees himself as a failure, disgraced. The revival was a success from God’s perspective, but to Jonah, it elevated enemies who would later destroy his people. Plus, he is exhausted, unwell (“faint”), suffering from the sun and wind; perhaps in danger of dying a painful death.

God’s goal here is to teach Jonah about God’s values – which should also be Jonah’s values, and ours.

So God repeats his earlier question:

But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant?” – Jonah 4:9a

Jonah thinks yes, he has a good reason. God has comforted the enemy but refused comfort to His own prophet.

And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to the point of death!” – Jonah 4:9b

God does not dispute Jonah’s point. Instead, He drives home His own point:

Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant, for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not also have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many animals?” – Jonah 4:10-11

God cares about people. He has invested deeply in people’s well-being. Even people committed to evil, like those at Nineveh. And because He cares, he wants them to hear the truth and have the opportunity to change their ways.

Jonah cared, too. But not about everyone. Jonah’s care had boundaries. God’s care encompasses everyone.

By the way … God said He has compassion on people “who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left”. What kind of people are those?

The short answer is: no one knows. But one common interpretation is: children.

Wrongs committed always affect, not just the wrongdoer, but also the surrounding community. If God, quite properly, punished the adults in Nineveh as they deserved, the punishment would also horribly impact their children, who had not done anything wrong.

And so God tells Jonah: you care deeply for some things; even for a plant. If you can’t bring yourself to care for the violent people of Nineveh, you can at least care about their innocent children.

Epilogue

God is reluctant to punish, and anxious to forgive.

We, by contrast, often have different, more self-serving, motives.

But as God’s people, we ought to aspire to God’s motives.

The Book of Jonah narrates a simple story of the contrast between God’s noble viewpoint and our, unless we are careful about it, hostile viewpoint.