Jonah
I think Jonah is probably one of the stories in the Bible that has
a history of just being taught wrong.
Jonah is considered a negative prophet.
Most prophets receive the word of the Lord, take it to their audience,
the audience does not receive it, but the prophet and God are still in a great
relationship in spite of the rejection.
In Jonah, Jonah does everything he can to not receive God’s Word, but
eventually takes it to the people, they do listen, and Jonah’s relationship
with God suffers for it! In our culture
we have a tendency to turn Jonah into a cute little children’s tale but it is
really a deep story about the darkness that dwells within the depth of the hearts
of humanity – even God’s own people and called prophets!
History
Jonah is referred to in 2 Kings 14:25. This means that Jonah lived during the reign
of Jeroboam II, who reigned from 793 B.C. to 753 B.C. Since Assyria, whose capitol was Nineveh,
fell to the Babylonians in 612 B.C. there is no reason to believe that Jonah
didn’t live when the Bible claims that he lived. We know from historical records that Nineveh
suffered from two plagues: 765 B.C. and 759 B.C. We also know that they experienced an eclipse
of the sun on June 15th, 763.
{Isn’t science so cool?} What this means is that the people of Nineveh
were likely ripe for a prophet’s message sometime after 759 B.C. Many think that it is around 759 B.C. that
Jonah arrives in Nineveh and the people heed his message. Many believe that Jonah’s stubbornness is
because he doesn’t want to be seen as the guy who helped out the enemy so they
could eventually come and take Israel into captivity. From a human perspective, I can certainly
understand this point of view. After
all, this dating would make Jonah a contemporary of Amos and Hosea – both of
which were making it clear that Israel was headed for exile under Assyria.
The Sin of Nineveh
Nineveh was the capitol of Assyria. As such, they worshipped foreign gods. Chief among the gods were Nabu, Asshur, Adad,
and Ishtar. Certainly God would have an
issue with the worship of things that are not Him.
The Assyrians were also a people who were known for their violent
nature. They were cruel in military
warfare. Rather than taking captives,
they often chose to butcher the innocents.
They would often bring the heads of opposing militaries back to the
towns from which the soldiers came so the people could see the faces of their
slain kin. They would intentionally take
young virgins and burn them alive. They
would also take captives and flay them to such a point that they would never
recover but then leave them so as to experience a slow and excruciating death
as nature finished the process. It was
not uncommon for Assyrian armies to skin their conquered foes and then decorate
the walls of their own city with the skins of their victims. They were an incredibly ruthless and cruel
people. It is one thing to be violent –
ancient warfare was a very violent process.
But it was another thing to be cruel in their violence.
Jonah
It is to this city that God says to Jonah, “Go and announce their
sins.” I’ve already spoken Jonah’s fear
of being seen as a guy who brings aid to the enemy. But take this Assyrian reputation and
consider what Jonah must think will happen to him if they don’t listen. If they don’t listen, he’ll likely be killed
and brought back to Israel and put on display.
So Jonah truly sees this as a lose-lose proposition for him. Either the Ninevites listen and Jonah aids
the enemy or they don’t listen and he likely dies a painful death. No wonder he ran to Tarshish!
I’m not trying to give Jonah a pass here. Clearly he is disobedient. But it isn’t like this is outright rebellion
for rebellion’s sake. I’m willing to bet
that Jonah is merely trying to convince God that there is someone “closer” to
Nineveh who would be better off handling this task. Don’t get me wrong. It is absolutely disobedience. But if I were in Jonah’s shoes, I have to
confess that running away would be an option I would consider, too.
On the Boat
God is none-too-pleased. A
storm overtakes the boat to Tarshish.
The people of the boat all pray to their gods and start throwing cargo
into the sea in hopes that their sacrifice would appease whoever is mad. So, not unlike Jesus who fell asleep in a
boat during a storm, we see Jonah is asleep in the middle of this storm. {This
is not the only comparison between Jonah and Jesus, interestingly enough.} The captain comes to Jonah and urges him to
pray. At this point, you’ve got to know
that Jonah really knows what’s going on.
However, Jonah doesn’t say anything. Jonah is willing to let the crew do what they
think needs to be done. Rather than
solving the problem and confessing, he is willing to let it come to casting
lots. Of course, the lot falls onto
him. Jonah might be willing to hide his
sin from the people around him, but he cannot hide it from God. He refused the
chance to repent; God has him found out anyway.
Jonah does confess. The
sailors try to avoid throwing Jonah into the sea. They try to save Jonah from the wrath of the
Lord, but they are unable to save Jonah.
The only one who can save Jonah is God.
For the record, the only one who can save the sailors on the ship is
God, too. So when the sailors realize
all hope is lost they hurl Jonah into the sea.
The sea immediately calms down and the sailors realize the power of
Jonah’s God. They worship Him. Isn’t it interesting how God can even use
Jonah’s rebellion to spread the glory of His name?
Belly of the Great Fish
A fish swallows Jonah. Here
is another comparison to Jesus. As Jonah
spends three days captive within the belly of the fish, so Jesus spends three
days captive to death in the belly of the tomb.
Both will be freed from their captivity to do the work of the Lord!
While in the fish, Jonah prays to God. Notice something about this prayer,
however. There are no petitions for
deliverance within it. Nor is there any
recognition of guilt within it. This is
not a penitent prayer. This is simply a
prayer acknowledging the great and majestic power of God. This is a prayer recounting the
experience. There is a small confession
of God being Jonah’s God in verse 6, but that was never in question.
Jonah simply turns to God and without repenting he says, “Listen,
God, I know You are more powerful than me or anything in creation. You can do what you want. You can save me if You want. I resign myself to do what I vowed as Your
prophet.”
This is no prayer of repentance.
There is no sorrow or grief here.
Jonah is resigned to God. Jonah
is simply saying that he won’t resist.
He is saying that he will do the will of the Lord, but that doesn’t mean
that he has to enjoy it, like it, or even feel sorrow for trying to run away.
This is one of the saddest and depressing parts of the story. In fact, both even chapters of this book show
us the darkness of Jonah’s heart. Rather
than repent and genuinely make the will of the Lord his own, Jonah resigns
himself to God and does what God asks without any great inherent love for the
work. How sad it is when the work of the
Lord is done through a feeling of resignation rather than joy!
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