Category: Jonah

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry.” What’s that you say? The “it”, the repentance of Nineveh and the relentance (not a real word) of God. The thing that generally makes us rejoice (and that we find ourselves part of not all that often) has pissed Jonah off. It all comes together here. Up to this point, we haven’t been told why Jonah fled from God’s command. He doesn’t mention it on the boat, he doesn’t mention it in his prayer and it doesn’t come up as part of his explanation of what happened in the city. Up to now, we just have a dude who heard God and thought he’d do the other thing. Now he speaks.

“That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Ah, this seems outlandish, but as with the rest of the story, I think there is more here for us than perhaps we first note. You see, at its core this is a gap between our sense of justice and God’s. It’s a gap between what we think people deserve and what God does. You might not be currently plotting to flee Christ to deny a major city God-offered salvation, but it’s possible that there are certain people who you think deserve the full force of whatever justice God has coming because of how they’ve treated you. It’s possible that you are surrounded by one or more people who are inept, selfish, lazy, stupid, evil, deceitful, rude, hurtful, prideful baboons (or any combination therein) and you can think of nothing better than they receive their comeuppance.

I’m not saying that any of those adjectives don’t accurately and adequately describe these people that are around you. However, picture that person or persons in your mind. And now imagine what it would be like for you to approach them straight on with an offer from God for all of their ineptness, selfishness, laziness, evilness, pride, deceit, etc. to be forgiven. And as part of that, realize that they won’t get the comeuppance they truly deserve. They will not feel the weight of the hurt they have caused others, they will not suffer for their foolishness, they will not “learn their lesson”. In short, in your eyes, justice will not be done.

Will you make the offer? Will you take the good news to this baboon who doesn’t deserve it? Who, if all was right in the world, would face the consequences they have earned? And before you answer, consider whether that is true of your life. You have sinned against man and God. Every deceit, every harsh word, every dirty thought, all of it. The cost of this is death (I know, you think it’s harsh, but all of these degrade a perfect creation, one God has intended to live forever. This sin has tainted it, separating you from a perfect Creator and trashing the perfect Creation around you with selfish things that are intended to either serve or protect you and you alone at the expense of those around you.) So you deserve death. That’s just. It’s right. It’s the truth.

But you, follower of Jesus, will not die. Because you did something to redeem yourself? No, we both know you haven’t done anything that could put all that you’ve done wrong back to right. You couldn’t do it even if you wanted to, and if we’re honest, you don’t spend all that much time wanting to and even less time actually trying. No, you will live forever because at some point, through someone or some circumstance, you came to hear of the good news; the news that Jesus came to pay the penalty for all that you have done. That Jesus came to deny you your comeuppance, to refuse your enemies the satisfaction of everything you’ve done wrong piling upon your head and squashing you unto death. That, if you would trust him and pledge fealty to the Him as your King, he would declare you “not guilty” and insist that everyone in His Kingdom treat you as such.

Did you deserve that? Of course not, you deserved to be buried under the weight of all you’ve done to jack up a perfect world. But God disagrees. He says justice is the offering of forgiveness. He says justice is the chance to repent and be redeemed and to have your offenses forgiven forever. That’s what God says is just. Do you agree with that for you? Do you agree with God’s justice when it comes to those inept baboons? And do you agree with God’s call that it is likely you personally who is to take the good news of God’s justice to those very baboons? Now you understand Jonah’s position better. It’s still ridiculous, but perhaps how you view those around you shares a bit of that as well.

Back to Jonah. He proposes that because God has shown mercy to the Ninevites, it is better that he die. And the Lord casually asks whether his anger is really appropriate. No answer from Jonah, who heads outside of the city, prepares a tent for himself (that’s the booth), and hangs out to see what would happen to the city. He seems to still be hopeful that God will destroy it, otherwise why wait and watch? Perhaps he thinks God’s question about anger to him is rhetorical, like, “don’t overreact Jonah, you know I’m going to lay waste to these posers anyhow. West Coast!” (I hope we would all agree the Lord would not react like a Cali gangster.)

In response to this, God calls nature into action. He “appoints” this plant just like he “appoints” the fish to get Jonah from the sea. The Lord has this thing under control. Anyway, he creates a giant plant to give Jonah shade while he waits. Jonah is “exceedingly glad” for this personal comfort (mirroring his “exceedingly angry” reaction to Ninevah’s repentance.) Then, God puts the plant under siege by a worm, exposing Jonah to a harsh east wind and sun. Jonah then returns to the thought that death might be the right answer given how uncomfortable all of this is for him.

God asks him the same question as before, except for this time it’s directed at whether it seems ok for Jonah to be angry that the plant has been destroyed. Giving up all pretense, Jonah affirms that he indeed is right to be angry, even unto death!” This is what you look like when arguing with God about justice as well.

God makes a pretty reasonable argument in response. Basically, you pity the plant that you had no part of creating or sustaining and that was only around for day. It’s perishing is enough to anger you so that you think dying is the right reaction. Yet, God shows pity on over 100,000 folks who were blind to knowing the true God and you’re upset at that? Perhaps the presence of a bunch of cattle could at least rile up from sympathy from you?

And the book ends with no answer from Jonah to God’s question.

Notice that even the fish is obedient to God, along with the pagans and the sea; basically everyone obeys God in this book except His prophet. 

In chapter 2, Jonah prays. I think we should read this with a bit of skepticism, especially in light of his actions later on. That said, his full commitment and right submission to God in one breath and a total flip-flop with his actions in the next is something we’ve already seen in chapter 1 and is kind of the M.O. of most Christians so perhaps it’s not that far fetched.  

Jonah prays from the belly of a giant fish. His situation is a desperate one as he starts to feel the weight of being chased down by God Himself. Although the “…belly of Sheol” is obviously figurative (since he wasn’t literally in the place of the dead), any situation without God sending a giant fish to give him refuge would have ended up there so it’s certainly a relevant perspective.  

I do wonder if we’re supposed to get an image of those who were not Noah and his family from the “…and the flood surrounded me, all your waves and your billows passed over me” stuff. Jonah was thrown into an existing body of water, not a flash flood or something. He could be using the language to reflect the positioning of him not repenting and basically facing God’s consequences (although God’s patience and persistence are the prime aspects of this whole book.)  

In fact, the back half of the prayer trades between a reminder of the circumstances Jonah has brought upon himself through rebellion and God’s patience within it. Jonah has hope that he will pray again, on dry land, towards the Temple (like a good Jewish boy.) Then  back to the situation, which pictures nature surrounding him, almost attacking him, and being near death (that’s the “…land whose bars closed upon me forever”, which is again Sheol action.) Then the  reminder that God brought him up from the pit (not literally, he was rescued from death by the fish/whale/creature.)  

The temple image shows back up again, with God hearing the prayers of the man who was perishing in his own rebellion. (Ah hem, like the mariners. And the Ninevites. Will this lesson be lost on him? Yes, yes it will.) He brings in a reference to those who follow false idols as bad and his thanksgiving voice and sacrifice as good. This is ironic, of course, because the only folks who have sacrificed so far to God in the story are those who were likely vain idol-followers prior to this Jonah incident on their boat. 

Regardless of whether Jonah lacks integrity here, his words about God are still true. Salvation does indeed belong to the Lord. And, as we will see again in a story of Jesus asking for a fish to spit something out, God talks to the fish and Jonah gets expelled onto dry land, hopefully to fulfill what God told him to do in the first place. Notice that even the fish is obedient to God, along with the pagans and the sea; basically everyone obeys God in this book except His prophet. 

The opening cuts to the quick. The word of the Lord comes to Jonah (in some way or another) instructing him to head to Nineveh and call out their evil because God has caught wind of it (as He tends to do). Nineveh is in the heart of Assyria, and although they are weakened at the moment, it’s not an intriguing proposition to be sent to in effect “serve” the city by warning them on God’s behalf. So, Jonah decides to haul tail the other way.

God tells him to “arise” and do what he’s told to do (kind of the prophet’s job) and Jonah instead decides to rise and go to the port city of Joppa so he can catch a skiff heading due west, the opposite direction of Nineveh which lies to the north and east. This man, who supernaturally received the word of the Lord appears foolish enough to think he will physically flee from the “presence of the Lord”. Silly prophet.

Now, we laugh at Jonah for being ridiculous, but given the calls to serve others and make disciples that are clear words from the Lord to us, I’m confident you’ve hitched a boat to Tarshish many a time instead of doing the thing that God called you to do. That’s not a clever anecdote, boys, put the think on it.

God, of course, wants this thing accomplished and he appears to want Jonah to do it. So, he sends a storm to bring attention to that matter. The other sea-faring folk, a superstitious group as sailors tend to be, start chucking stuff off to reduce weight and crying out to their respective “gods”. Jonah, on the other hand, is taking a snoozer in the inner part of the boat. (This story should sound familiar, Jesus kind of does the same thing. Although, he was being obedient and Jonah was being a doofus, so, there’s that.)

Again, someone has to come to Jonah and say, “Arise…”, a call to a legit prophet who actually does work for the legit Lord God to wake up and pray so that people could be saved. He’s already bailed on this responsibility once to work with God and save the Ninevites, he’s now given chance number 2. Note, here, that the pagan sailors have a better concept of the power and sovereignty of “god” (in principle), even if this concept may not have them thinking in the beginning of the true God. Of course, the one guy on the boat who could speak to that is sleeping. (Ah hem, application, ah hem, for you…yes you.)

Then they cast lots, kind of like picking marbles out of bag and the dude who gets the black marble is the trouble maker. This isn’t just for pagan action, God’s people did this as well and just trusted God would handle the outcome. Scripture seems to at least passively affirm this practice, although I’m not sure if that has implications for whether we are to carry around a bag of marbles for similar occasions or not. Either way, Jonah gets pegged, sailors interrogate him and find out that he is Hebrew who “fears” the Lord God of heaven “…who made sea and the dry land.” Jonah is a real piece of work. His actions don’t obviously match his supposed “fear” of God and his belief that He controls the land and sea (which ironically is after him at the moment).

And the reaction of the mariners seems fitting. “What is this that you have done?” I get that we’re surrounded by a bunch of people who currently don’t know God, but once they start to open their eyes to it they’ll look at the Christians around them who haven’t said anything to them and who largely bailed on what God had them up to and say, “What is this that you have done?”

Either way, the problem is solved by them chucking Jonah out of the boat, a suggestion made by Jonah himself. Although he didn’t just jump in, I do wonder if that was an option. Was it important that he be thrown in by the boat bros? It’s unclear. They first tried to solve problems the man way, rowing harder, trying to get away from the problem. That fails. Then they, the pagan sailors, cry out to the Lord, ask for forgiveness for the throwing of a man overboard that is about to commence, and hope that it pleases Him. Then they chuck Jonah, offer a sacrifice and make vows (kind of a thing that happens when people rightly fear God.)

Then Jonah gets swallowed by a giant fish and is trapped in there for the 3 days. You know, like can happen.