Jonah

We've studied Jonah 3 times in the past month at church and Sunday School, so I thought I'd start there. I'll sketch it out briefly, then fill in as I have opportunity.

1. God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach a message of judgement. Jonah instead heads to Tarshish, which is at the opposite end of the known world.


2. God sends a mighty storm against the boat Jonah is travelling in. The sailors cast lots and find Jonah is to blame. He asks that they throw him overboard and they do. The storm stops.

Reading this part of the book, I get the feeling Jonah knew this was coming. Did he really think he could go where God couldn't reach? The gods of the sailors were like this, deities of a specific area, which is why they were calling out to any god they could think of, hoping one might hear and rescue them.

3. Jonah is swallowed by a big fish. He prays to God and the fish vomits him up on dry land. Jonah heads to Nineveh.

Jonah gets all poetic and thankful in the belly of the fish, as is befitting a miraculous rescue. But I wonder if he was as thankful when he ended up back on shore? I can't help but suspect that when the sailors threw him overboard Jonah thought: Well, God is punishing me for my disobedience, but at least I won't have to go to Nineveh. Then he's spit up on the shore: Aww, crap.

4. Jonah preaches the Lord's message in Nineveh and the people repent, fasting and wearing sackcloth.

Given Jonah's reluctance about the whole enterprise, I wonder how much heart he put into preaching this message. I imagine something Pythonesque. Jonah walks into a crowded marketplace in Nineveh:

Jonah: (quietly) "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown."
Old Woman: "What did you say?"
Jonah: "Well, umm, I said..."
Old Woman: "Did you say, 'Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown'?"
Jonah: "Err, yeah, something like that..."
Old Woman: "Woe is me! We're doomed, doomed! Find the king! Perhaps if we humble ourselves this Lord will have mercy? Where's the sackcloth?"
Jonah: "Aww, crap."

That's the end right? Well, no.

5. Jonah is angry with the Lord.

"Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity." (Jonah 4:2, NASB)

Jonah finds a place outside the city and waits, hoping for the destruction of the city. The Lord causes a vine to grow up that offers Jonah shade. The next day the vine withers and the sun and wind cause Jonah to feel faint. He begs to die. Then:

9Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death."

10Then 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.

11"Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" (Jonah 4:9-11, NASB)

The main point? Jonah just doesn't get it. He cannot see the Ninevehites as God sees them. He has no mercy, he only wants to see them destroyed. He can't bear the thought that God cares about someone other than His chosen people. In this way Jonah is a type of Israel. They had become puffed up by their status and had little concern for those around them, despite the fact that Israel was generally as wicked as its pagan neighbors.

Application:
How have you tried to evade God's calling?

Does your standing as one of the "chosen" make you care more for the lost around you, or do you find yourself despising them?