Jonah

The Book of Jonah is different from most of the prophetic books. It tells the story of Jonah's attitude towards others and his resistance to the call of God.

Jonah 1, we find God calling Jonah to a mission of preaching to the Ninevites in Assyria. Now when God calls you, it is much like when the Army called me back to active duty. My orders to active duty read: "You are ordered to Active Duty as a member of your Reserve Component unit for the period indicated unless sooner released or unless extended ..." Notice that the Army doesn't ask you if you would like to go. The Army doesn't say, "You are cordially invited to . . . . please RSVP . . . " 

Rather than saluting God and saying, "Yes Sir," he went to his local travel agent and asked, "When's the next boat out of here?" Instead of going east to Assyria, he wanted to go as far west as he could, so he boarded a ship bound for Spain. You can imagine the relief he felt as he watched the shoreline disappear in the distance and thinking he was out of the reach of God. 

Jonah 1:4, we find that God decided that He would not let Jonah fail and decided to get Jonah's attention by sending a violent storm. During the storm the sailors were trying desperately to save the ship and themselves while Jonah was down below sleeping. The sailors then cast lots (verse 7) to try to determine who was responsible for this calamity and the lot fell on Jonah. When confronted by the sailors Jonah acknowledged his guilt. He then told them to throw him overboard. God provided Jonah with a life preserver in the form of a "great fish" (not a whale).

Jonah 2:2, reads; "In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the GRAVE I called for help." In verse 6 it says, "To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the PIT." So what happened to Jonah? The words "grave" and "pit" refer to "Sheol" and the word "barred" refers to the bars or gates of Sheol. Jonah actually died and his soul entered Sheol. When he was "brought up from the pit" it refers to his resurrection. In Luke 16:19-30 we find a similar experience when Lazarus died and was in "paradise, which is a place of consciousness after death. When the Pharisees and teachers of the Law came to Jesus and asked for a "sign" that he was the Messiah, Jesus said, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Just as Jesus had died and was resurrected, so was Jonah.

So Jonah was in Sheol, the place for both the righteous and the unrighteous departed spirits. And the only way to get there was to die. Jonah's soul went down to Sheol, and while he was there, he prayed. 

The real miracle was not that Jonah was kept alive in the fish, but that he was resurrected from the dead.

So Jonah had an "attitude adjustment" and agrees to "follow orders." The Lord commanded the fish, and it "vomited Jonah onto dry land. What a mess he must have been. "Man, I need a shower," he must have thought. Imagine what people on the shore must have thought when they saw him.

Jonah 3:1, “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’"

"Yes Sir!" Jonah must have replied with a snappy salute. Jonah went preaching and lo and behold, the Ninevites believed. 

Jonah 3:5, “They declared a fast and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” 

Jonah was actually one of very few prophets who actually had success in turning the people from their sins. He must have been thrilled at his success. This would look great on his resume. But no, he was not happy with the success. 

Chapter 4 tells us that "Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry." He actually wished that he was dead. Now why would Jonah be so disappointed that the Ninevites repented and avoided disaster? Well, imagine that you are an escapee from one of Hitler's death camps. Your family has been murdered and you carry on your arm the tattooed prison number as a constant reminder of your ordeal. Then God calls you to go to Berlin in the hopes of bringing Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler and Hess to repentance. Would you be eager to help bring salvation to these people? Well, the Assyrians were known as a blood thirsty, cruel people who were a constant threat to the Israelites. Jonah would rather see them all die, than be saved.

So here is Jonah sitting outside the city having a pity party for himself. And man, is it hot out there in the sun. So God caused a vine to grow real fast to provide him with some shade. But the plant died. This troubled Jonah. Then God came along and had a little talk with Jonah. 

Jonah 4:10; "Now Jonah, you are concerned about this vine that died. Yet this city has thousands of people who don't know their left hand from their right. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

That's the end of chapter 4. Where's chapter 5? What was Jonah's response? The book leaves us hanging with no answers. Did Jonah change his attitude towards "non-believers"? Did he adopt the attitude that God expressed in Eze 33:11, where it says that He "takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires rather that they turn from their ways and live."?

Can we learn something from Jonah's experiences? We can't run from God and his "orders." Shouldn't we have concern for those who are not saved? 

Another point is that God will not tolerate evil forever. In the next prophetic book, Nahum, we find the prophet going to the same nation as Jonah, but with a different message. This time it is not a call to repentance, but an announcement of their destruction. Apparently the "revival" that took place in Nineveh did not last very long.

One scholar has this to say about this book.

The journey that Jonah takes, we all take. We know that there is a God and what we should do with our lives. But rather than do what we should, we try to escape. As Jonah tried to escape to Jaffa and Tarsis (literally meaning "beauty" and "wealth") we also seek these as substitutes for God's will. Our bodies can be compared to the ship that Jonah was on, frail and with age, failing. The whale can symbolize the grave. As we get older and realize the futility of our lives apart from God and calling, we turn to Him as Jonah turned to God. Hopefully it is not too late for us to turn.