I was hooked from the first “Uh oh, Jonah! You should’ve gone to Nineveh!” to “That’s better Jonah! I’m glad you went to Nineveh!” Amelia loved reading bedtime stories from The Rhyming Bible shared with her by her cousin, Thomas. In fact, she almost entirely memorized this one story. Her mom shared the video made in semidarkness as they read their Bible story together. Amelia stayed one step ahead of her, quoting verbatim, eyes on the camera, grinning from ear to ear.
Jonah is the last story from the Old Testament in several of my grandchildren’s Bible storybooks so I began to wonder where this minor prophet belonged in history. I knew that the major and minor prophets were grouped by their respective lengths rather than their importance and that many of their ministries overlapped. Jonah’s eighth century BC prophetic ministry to the northern kingdom of Israel coincided with the ministries of Hosea and Amos and came before Isaiah’s call and Israel’s exile to Babylon. Only one other message is recorded from Jonah in the Old Testament. He prophesied in favor of one of Israel’s most wicked kings, Jeroboam II and God used the prophet Amos to confront this same king, reversing the message given by Jonah. In the Old Testament book with his name, Jonah was called to announce God’s judgment against Assyria’s capital city of Nineveh but he outright refused.
“The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh.
Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”
But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.
He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish.
He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.”
Jonah 1:1-3 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jon.1.3.NLT
Jonah’s story remains one of the most well known Old Testament Bible stories of our day but like many Bible stories retold, especially for children, we have romanticized Jonah as some sort of hero of the faith. Jonah was far from heroic. He would fit in perfectly with many of today’s comedians and commentators who use tongue in cheek humor to try and make what’s wrong in our world laughable, thus minimizing its seriousness. One commentary called the book of Jonah a mirror, revealing us at our worst if we are willing to face its reality.
“For the word of God is alive and powerful.
It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.
It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”
Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.4.13.NLT
Jesus cited Jonah as a sign to the Pharisees and the teachers or the law who would have been very familiar with this brief prophetic narrative. They, like Jonah, condemned as unrighteous anyone they judged unworthy or unfit for God’s kingdom. Yet on one occasion, Jesus called them blind guides, saying, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.”
Matthew 23:13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.23.13.NLT
“One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”
But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah.
Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.”
Matthew 12:38-41 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.12.38-41.NLT
In the four chapters of Jonah, as in Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan, the people you would expect to act in obedience to God are the ones who refuse to obey while the pagans seem to have God’s Word written on their hearts and respond with faith. Bible story books say Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because the people there were wicked but that’s only part of the story. Jonah tells us himself, though he is speaking to God in chapter four, his reason for disobeying.
“This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry.
So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord?
That is why I ran away to Tarshish!
I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. (Exodus 34:6)
You are eager to turn back from destroying people.”
Jonah 4:1-2 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jon.4.1-2.NLT
Jonah knew God’s heart for His creation even if he didn’t like it. He knew what Peter later wrote. It is not God’s will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. It is true that no one is too far gone to be forgiven. Are there people you hesitate to share Jesus with, not because you’re nervous or afraid, but because you’d rather see them in hell? This was Jonah’s attitude even after God spared him. After delivering his message once, he sat east of the city watching for fire to fall from heaven, though had he remembered the angels directive to Lot and what happened to Lot’s wife when she looked back toward Sodom, he may not have chosen to sit so close.
On the boat, Jonah expected to be released from his duty by death. He said he would rather be dead than to go to Nineveh. When they tossed him overboard, the sailors expected Jonah to die. They asked God not to hold his death against them. But God prepared a fish.
I have a favorite mahi dish that is a meal on its own with a side or a salad. It also makes a great sandwich or tacos and it’s so simple to prepare. This is what comes to mind when I think of preparing a fish. The fish God prepared was Jonah-sized and swam in the right place at exactly the right time. I wonder if God held it at bay just long enough for Jonah to exhaust his final breath before having it swallow him. Did Jonah see it coming or did it scoop him up from behind? Did he even try to resist? Its digestive system was certainly slower than mine for Jonah to have survived intact for three days but then again God stopped the sun once and even caused it to move backward. Nothing is impossible with God.
When Jonah was expelled by the fish and started for Nineveh, his message delivery was halfhearted at best. He offered only condemnation. God will destroy Nineveh in forty days. No way out. No plan of salvation. No repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. He wanted them to perish and knowing that God would forgive them if they truly repented made him furious. So I ask again. Can you think of anyone you deem irredeemable? Have you rejoiced at the prospect of someone else’s demise? Have you ever hoped they get exactly what they deserved?
“He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.”
Psalms 103:10-14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.103.10-14.NLT
“Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.
Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.
Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.”
Psalms 51:1-13, 15 NLT
