Background
1. II Kings 14:25 dates Jonah with the reign of Jereboam II (793-753 BC)
2. This means that Jonah was a contemporary of Amos and Hosea.
3. This was a time of power and prosperity for Israel (the Northern Kingdom) but also of widespread idol worship and economic injustice.
4. The nation of Assyria was rising in prominence and power.
5. This is the only time a prophet of Israel was sent to a foreign country.
Jonah the Man
1. Jonah’s name means dove.
2. Jonah’s Character:
a. He must have been a courageous man to go to Nineveh, the capital city of a fierce, powerful, godless nation.
b. He was patriotic but narrow minded. He loved his native Israel but believed that Gentiles were undeserving of the blessings of God. However, this was typical of the mindset of his day.
c. He did not understand the heart of God to bring all people to repentance and the experience of His forgiving grace.
d. He was not entirely dedicated to God, a truth revealed when he ran from his calling.
e. He must have been a powerful witness when under the prophetic anointing — an entire city repented when he preached.
Message of Jonah
1. God desired to lavish His mercy on all people groups, not just Israel. God had chosen and separated Israel, not to exclude the world, but to prepare Israel as His messenger to the world. Far from ignoring the world, God intended to send the Gospel of salvation to all Gentiles. Israel, as the nation centrally involved in God’s redemptive purpose, needed seasons of special preparation to be God’s witness. But God wanted to remind the world, through Jonah, that He had not forgotten about them nor had He excluded them.
2. The message of grace to Gentiles is a rebuke to the narrow mindedness of Israel. Jonah received this rebuke in his personal experience with the great fish. The written record served as a rebuke to the Israelite nation.
3. Jonah serves as a type of Christ. Jesus Himself spoke of Jonah's experience with the great fish as typifying His own three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt 12:39-41).
Lessons from the book
1. God’s pursuit of Jonah when he ran from God’s calling reveals how serious the Lord is about His calling and purpose in our lives.
2. We are not to allow selfish personal or national interests to interfere with our obedience. There is no room for racial or national bigotry in our ministries. We need more than a calling to be truth-speakers. We need the character of Christ.
3. God’s warnings can be conditional: God said he would destroy Nineveh but the people repented and God relented.
4. When God’s word is preached under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, in God’s perfect time, that Word will have a profound, destiny-changing impact on people and nations.
5. God’s truth-speakers should be more intent on saving souls than exacting revenge for real or imagined hurts or crimes or sins against us personally or against our society.
Jonah’s Message:
“Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (3:4).
The response:
The king and the entire city repented.
Reasons for Success:
1. The conditioning of the people by historical events. Jonah ministered around 760 BC. The people would have been more receptive for three reasons:
a. Weak kings and political instability in Assyria had created a feeling of insecurity, lack of faith in their national power, a loss of self-reliant pride.
b. A serious plague had swept through the land in 765 BC.
c. A total eclipse of the sun occurred on June 15, 763 BC which created fear.
2. The power of the prophetic presence:
Jonah not only proclaimed God’s impending judgement but also by His presence, proclaimed God’s power to bring about that judgement. Jonah must have borne some physical marks from his time in the fish’s belly. This would have spoken of the power of God to execute His justice.
3. The power of prophetic witness:
Under the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit, the prophetic word penetrated the hearts of the people and brought about a spirit of repentance.
Outline:
1. Assignment and flight 1:1-17
2. Prayer of Jonah 2:1-10
3. Ministry call renewed, ministry and Nineveh's repentance 3:1-10
4. Jonah's displeasure, God’s reproof: 4:1-11
Exposition:
1:1 “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,”
Jonah is not sharing his opinions, theories or personal philosophy. The Word of the Lord came to Jonah. God is not hiding truth. He reveals truth to His prophet so that people can know the truth and order their lives accordingly. Peter reminds us, For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (2 Peter 1:21).
The phrase, Jonah the son of Amittai identifies the prophet with the Jonah of 2 Kings 14:25. This was during the reign of King Jeroboam (793-753 BC) and was a time of economic prosperity for some in Israel, but also a time of terrible corruption characterized by the worship of false gods, economic injustice and immorality.
This was also a time of fervent nationalism in Israel. The wealthy and the powerbrokers wrongly assumed that their power and prosperity were proof of the favor of God on their nation. In fact, the judgment of God was looming on the horizon and would soon be proclaimed by the prophets Amos and Hosea. But the political, religious and economic leadership of the nation was oblivious to any threats.
The calling of God on Jonah’s life testifies that he was not a worshipper of idols, nor an oppressor of the poor nor an immoral man. However, he was deeply impacted by the pro-Israel, anti-foreigner pride of his day. Love of country is not wrong but there is a brand of patriotism which blindly ignores the sins of one’s nation and fosters a hatred for other cultures. As we will see, this made it difficult for Jonah to answer the prophetic call on his life.
As we said in the introduction, there can be no room for personal, national or racial bigotry in ministry. Jonah needed more than calling. He needed character that reflected the heart of God.
There is an obvious personal note here for each of us. As we pray for the Lord to show us our calling and our giftings, we also need to ask Him to develop in us His heart. We need more than a prophetic word from God. We need the heart and eyes of God to see ourselves and our world as He sees; and grace to accept the truth.
1:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
God calls Jonah to proclaim a prophetic word of warning in Nineveh, the capitol city of Israel’s adversary, Assyria. Other prophets spoke words of warning and judgment against Gentile nations but this is the only time a prophet was sent to prophesy in person to a Gentile people.
The phrase, their wickedness has come up before Me reveals two important truths about God:
1. All nations and people groups are morally accountable to God. The fact that the people of Nineveh worshipped false gods does not exclude them from moral accountability before the true and living God. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 1:18-20 that God has revealed His existence to all people through the grandness of creation and the inner witness of conscience. The problem is not that God cannot be known but that people suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). Therefore, God holds all people accountable.
2. We also see in God’s concern for Nineveh a God who is involved in human affairs, whose compassion extends to every tribe and tongue and nation, a God who is bigger than our national or religious prejudices.
We will see later that Jonah is given a message of the love of God which, like a river at flood stage, bursts through the narrow boundaries of religious and national prejudice. Jonah has encountered the God who is so much greater than the small religious, cultural and national cathedrals we have often built for Him.
1:3 “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
Jonah’s response to the call of God is to flee. Tarshish is identified by some commentators as a city in what today is Spain. That was as far west as a man could run using the transportation available at that time.
Jonah was not running from the office of prophet but from a message that exposes and violates his prejudice. He hates the people of Nineveh because they are not Jews and they are the enemy of his nation. He doesn’t want to proclaim the word of God to them because they might turn from their sin and experience the mercy of God. He wants them to be destroyed and he cannot fathom God’s love for them.
So the message of judgement for Nineveh becomes a message of judgement for the prophet. God has exposed Jonah’s sin. When God exposes our sin, He is also seeking to reveal to us that He is the only One who can cleanse us of our sin and make us holy. In fleeing the God who reveals our sin, we flee the only One who can set us free.
Again, Jonah is not fleeing his prophetic calling but he is experiencing a conflict of wills between himself and God. He does not understand God’s love for Gentiles and he surely does not grasp the relationship between judgement and mercy: God is slow to judge, quick to forgive and only judges those who have refused mercy.
Jonah wanted a God who would be on his side, a God who would vote for his party, a God who will destroy “those other folks”, the folks different from him. Someone asked President Abraham Lincoln if God was on the side of the Union. Lincoln replied that the correct question is: Are we on God’s side?
When Jonah realized that God’s purpose was to save and not destroy, he rose up to flee. Some seek the will of God to do it. Some, discerning the will of God, flee from it. But as David asked, Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night’, even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You (Ps. 139:7-12).
It is impossible to escape the call of God pressing into our lives but Jonah is not the only person who recoiled from the call of God: Jeremiah said, Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth (Jer 1:6). Moses also protested God’s call on the grounds that he could not speak well (Ex. 4:10). Each eventually surrendered.
How can we escape the One in Whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28)? Indeed, where can I flee from the presence of the God who spoke a universe into being, who fills and encompasses all He created and has created each of us for special purpose?
1:4 “The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.”
This was not an ordinary storm but a great wind, so great that the ship was about to break up. Notice the divine intentionality of this storm. It was no random event. The Lord hurled a great wind. God created this storm.
Jonah cannot possibly escape when all things are God’s instrument. The storm, the sea, the fish — all creation serves God’s purpose. The storm was a God-directed circumstance, motivated by God’s mercy toward the people of Nineveh and to Jonah. God has an assignment for him, wants him to enjoy the fulfillment of living out his life-purpose. The God who loves Jonah will not allow him to miss his life purpose. And God will not allow the wicked citizens of Nineveh to go to hell without hearing the declaration of His love for them.
1:5 “Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.”
The sailors had faced many storms but the fierceness of this one evokes fear. They cry out to their personal gods which, because they do not exist, cannot save them.
Meanwhile, Jonah is fast asleep. He is also asleep to his separation from God and the resulting judgement of God breaking around him. He is asleep to the consequences of his rebellion, asleep to the lostness of the people of Nineveh, asleep to his ministry calling, asleep to the irony that though he is a prophet of God, he hates the Word of God so much that He flees from it.
How tragic when anyone sleeps through the unique design and purpose of God for their life. How terrible to reach the end of life and realize, “I missed the reason God created me.” I read about a man had spent his life pursuing wealth and power. He was asked, “Now that you have reached the top of the mountain, what would you tell yourself if you were just starting out?
He replied, “I would tell myself that there’s nothing at the top of the mountain.”
Jonah is in danger of missing the reason God created him. He is in danger of spending his life climbing the wrong mountain. How potentially tragic!
Also, there is a sense of false peace in his sleep. Does he imagine he has evaded God, evaded the calling of God on his life, evaded the mercy God would extend to the Ninevites? Does he really believe God will let him go so easily, allow him to miss the most fulfilling experience in this life — living out God’s design for him? Does he believe the Lord will allow the Ninevites to perish so easily? Jonah underestimates the relentless mercy of God.
1:6 So the captain approached him and said, ‘How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.’
Get up, call on your god, the heathen captain exhorts the man of God. How ironic, that a pagan man who does not know God exhorts a prophet of the living God to rise up and pray. How much better to be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. God grant us prophetic eyes and ears to know ourselves and our times with holy insight and to carry a burden for prayer.
1:7 Each man said to his mate, ‘Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.’ So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
The violence of the storm has convinced the crew that someone on the ship has offended one of the gods. This is all they know — a universe dominated by capricious gods who need to be bought off with ritual and offering. There belief was that some god would somehow direct the falling of the lot on the guilty party. The true and living God causes the lot to fall on Jonah.
1:8,9 Then they said to him, ‘Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’ He said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.’
They ask Jonah to identify himself. He identifies himself as a Hebrew and confesses his fear (yare — worship, reverence, awe) of the Lord God of heaven — Yahweh Adonai. Yahweh is the eternal God, the great I Am. Adonai is the God of majesty and authority, the God who made the sea and the dry land.
Jonah’s confession of faith is in sharp contrast to his action. He reverences God but runs from God, evades doing or obeying the known will of this mighty, everlasting Creator. He confesses reverence while expressing rebellion. Like the nation he represents, he believes he can disobey God and call himself a worshipper, both at the same time.
Note also Jonah’s faith that God is Creator of the sea and the dry land yet he evidently thinks he can flee from this God, who encompasses all He created. Jonah has not thought through the implications of his faith or else he does not really believe that God is who he says God is.
Meanwhile, Jonah is caught in a storm which he and all the crew of the ship believe is the work of God. Obviously, God is requiring that Jonah re-evaluate his thinking and surrender to the calling of God. It is as if the Lord is saying, “You can surrender here on this ship or in the next place I have designed for you. How far down do you want to go?”
This relentless pursuit of Jonah is an act of love. God loves him too much to allow him to run from the calling and purpose of God. The deepest fulfillment Jonah will ever know is in fulfilling the purpose of God for his life. He is a prophet. His fulfillment will be found in carrying out the duties of that office. He can run but he cannot escape the God who designed him for this time, for this office, for this word.
The good news is that the God who pursues him, who will not let him escape his calling, is also the God who will be with him all the way down to the bottom of his flight.
1:10 “Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.”
This revelation of God’s sovereignty cause the crew to be even more afraid.
1:11 “So they said to him, ‘What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?’ — for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.”
The men demonstrate kindness toward Jonah and reverence toward God in asking, What shall we do to you? They believe something must be done for this is surely a great God and the storm is growing in its intensity. But they don’t want to act rashly toward Jonah. Such is the humanity of these pagans whom Jonah would exclude from the mercy of God.
1:12 “He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.’”
Throw me into the sea, Jonah suggests. He understands that the justice of God will not be satisfied through some vain ritual — Jonah himself must be given up to God. But he is motivated by more than an understanding of divine justice. He also shows mercy to the crew — he would not see them perish for his own sin. This is surely a more merciful attitude to non-Jews than he had exhibited before.
But this also exposes the hardness of Jonah’s heart. He would rather die than surrender to God. He doesn’t understand that the way into life is by dying to our selfish rebellion against God.
Jesus said, If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26).
The way into life is by dying to self and living to God, denying our own purpose, dethroning our self-centered agenda and enthroning the Lord and His purpose. The way into life is by dying to our life and living for God. But Jonah is not yet willing to surrender to this.
Ironic that Jonah can show mercy to heathen sailors yet he could not conceive of God having mercy on millions of heathen Ninevites. How sad, that he believes God to be less capable of mercy than himself.
However, note the slow melting of his prejudice. He had been “a gentleman of prejudice,” a religious man who hated all foreigners as faceless masses — the Ninevites, for instance. He was unable to see them as individual persons but as “those people.” Now in the company of a few heathen men with faces and names, he finds mercy rising up from his soul. He is learning to see through the eyes of God, to love with the heart of God.
Racism and bigotry are a failure of the imagination, a disease of soul and spirit which robs us of the capacity to see other people as beings created in the image of God, people whom God loves. God restores and renews our soul by introducing us to those we once hated.
On account of me this great storm has come upon you, Jonah confesses. He recognizes his complicity and sees the hand of God in this storm but still shows no repentance. He may be sorry for the circumstance but not for the sin that caused it.
1:13 “However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.”
Again we see the kindness of the sailors. They try to row out of the circumstance rather than give Jonah up to the storm. But God will not allow them to row out of the judgment which He has designed. Jonah has run from God but only so far as God allows. Now he will run no further.
1:14 Then they called on the Lord and said, ‘We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.’
Though blessed with little revelation, the sailors cry out to Jonah’s God — Yahweh. They are sure that if they cast Jonah overboard, he will die and they ask God not to hold them accountable for innocent blood. Not that Jonah is an innocent man but he has done nothing to merit death at their hands.
They also recognize the sovereignty of God: You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.
God did as He pleased in Jonah's life. But this should be pleasing to Jonah and to us, to be kept by the hand of God from wandering off into unfruitfulness, to be arrested and confined in the ultimate fulfillment of living out God’s design for our lives.
1:15 “So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.”
When they cast Jonah into the sea, the sea stopped its raging. This appears to have taken place immediately, again proving the sovereignty of Jonah’s God over creation.
1:16 “Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.”
The immediate calming of the storm produced great reverence for Yahweh. This doesn’t mean that they came to a place of faith, only that they believe Jonah’s God is a player who needs to be reckoned with and satisfied just like the other gods, so they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. However, the responsiveness of the pagan sailors shows how reachable they are, if Godly people would only reflect the light of God into their hearts.
1:17 “And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
The word for fish is dag which is not the usual Hebrew word for whale. That word is tannin, which can be translated dragon, monster, whale. This is not the word leviathan, which is translated sea monster.
This is simply a great fish, a creature evidently created and appointed by God to serve His special, unique purpose. Like the storm, this is a God-directed circumstance, the purpose of which is to arrest Jonah, to prevent him from evading and nullifying God’s purpose for his life.
If Jonah had been successful in running from God, he would not only have missed the joy of serving God in his generation. He would also have denied thousands of people in Nineveh the blessing of eternal salvation. God, in His mercy and His sovereignty, will not allow this.
How did Jonah survive in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights? We are not told. The same God who in His sovereign power created the storm, calmed the storm and created this sea creature, also ordained Jonah’s survival for seventy two hours.
I believe this narrative for two reasons. First of all, All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). All Scripture includes this record from the life of Jonah.
Second, Jesus testifies to the truthfulness of this account. He said, For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt 12:40). Jesus compares the time between His death and resurrection to the time Jonah spent in the belly of the whale.
Scripture does not lie. Neither does our Lord. We can trust that God has revealed this narrative to us so that we may learn and grow in our capacity to answer the call of God in our lives, in our generation.
Study Questions:
1. The Ninevites were pagans. Why does God want Jonah to preach to them?
2. Why is Jonah running from the call of God?
In the final verse of chapter one we read, And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights (1:17).
2:1 “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish,”
After three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, Jonah held a prayer meeting. It’s incredible that it took that long to break down his stubbornness and his rebellion against God. That’s a man with significant resistance to God.
Up to this point, we do not read that he had prayed to God about any of this — his calling, the message, the storm. It took supernatural incarceration in a fish to bring him to a willingness to even communicate with God. Aren’t you glad that God loved Jonah and the people of Nineveh enough to patiently contend with this stubborn, rebellious prophet? Aren’t you glad that the Lord loves each of us enough to continue to call to us and work with us even when we are resistant and rebellious?
2:2 “and he said, ‘I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.’”
Jonah speaks of a God who hears him and answers him, even though he called out from the depth of Sheol. Sheol was the Hebrew concept of the abode of the dead but can also refer to an extreme, life-threatening circumstance. This is Jonah’s meaning — he’s as good as dead and locked into a situation he can’t run away from.
How reassuring to know that there is no place we can run, no crisis we can experience that will remove us from God’s ever-present willingness to respond to us. We are reminded of the words of the Psalmist, I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm (Ps. 40:1.2).
And again the Psalmist says, He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy (Ps. 18:16,17). In Jonah’s case, the strong enemy was his own pride, prejudice and stubbornness. And the Lord delivered Him.
Jonah is in the belly of the fish because he has sinned against God but even in his sin, God is still present, still hears him when he prays. What a gracious God!
2:3 “For You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.”
Jonah recognizes that it is God who has cast him into the deep. The waves and billows are Your waves and billows. The storm, the fish — these are not random coincidence. He has encountered the power of the God who is sovereign over time and creation and circumstance.
2:4 “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’”
Jonah knows now that although he cannot escape the omnipresence of the God who hears him and answers him, he realizes that he is separated relationally from God and far removed from God’s calling on His life. I have been expelled from Your sight is a testimony of the judgment of God. God is present in all places at all times but we can separate ourselves from fellowship with Him, from His blessing and His favor. We can separate ourselves from His design for our lives and the anointing, the wisdom, the empowerment and resources that will enable us to fulfill His purpose.
Jonah realizes that though God is present and hears him, he is under God’s judgment and separated from the intimacy of relationship with God.
I will look again toward Your holy temple is an expression of repentance. The Jerusalem temple is the place where God manifested His glory on earth and Jonah is ready now to turn his gaze toward God’s glory. This indicates a humble heart, a heart willing to confess sin and turn again to the Lord.
This is a lesson for all humanity. Though we cannot be separated from the God who is omnipresent (present in all places at all times), we can be separated by our sin from the manifest presence and glory of God. We can be separated from meaningful relationship with God. We can be separated from what God is doing and blessing. We can be separated from His grace and thereby separated from His wonderful design and purpose for our lives. But we may call out to God and He will hear us. We may turn our eyes again to His glory.
2:5,6 “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head. I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.”
Though Jonah is captured in the deeps of this watery prison, he speaks as though God has already delivered him, You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. He is still in the belly of the great fish, still encompassed by the sea, still has seaweed wrapped around his head, yet he speaks of deliverance as taking place from the time that he calls out, for that is when God hears and answers.
The Lord said to Isaiah, It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear (Isa. 65:24).
God said to Moses, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings (Ex. 3:7).
The Psalmist said, I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears …This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles (Ps. 34:4,6).
As the Lord said to the Psalmist, so he says to each of us, Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me (Ps. 50:15).
Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jere. 33:3).
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him (Ps. 91:15).
And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God’ (Zech. 13:3).
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry for help before Him came into His ears (Ps. 18:6).
God is full of grace and compassion, quick to forgive and deliver when we call on Him in true, humble repentance and faith. The Apostle John said, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I Jn. 1:9).
Jonah understood that God’s delivering grace and power were released in the moment He called out. Though he is still in the belly of the fish, he confesses, You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. Great miracles are released when we praise God for what He has promised.
2:7 “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.”
Though his soul and body were fainting away (overwhelmed), though he is separated from the presence of God in the Jerusalem temple, though he is still in the belly of the fish, still he could say, My prayer came to You, into Your temple. Physical separation from God (and whatever spiritual separation he has experienced due to his sin) cannot prevent his prayer from coming before God when he truly repents of his sin and calls on God with a humble heart. Though he has disobeyed God, rebelled, incurred the judgement of God, he knows his prayer has come before God because now his heart is right.
2:8,9 “Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness. But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.”
Those who regard (or cling to) vain idols refers to the worship of false gods. How tragic in the crises and storms of life to hang on to gods that are not gods. Though the gods of human invention do not exist, the rituals and belief systems undergirding them are infused with demonic presence and power. And how dangerous, how treacherous to cling to demonic presence and power which is far more deadly than the storm or the crisis.
Those who do cling to vain idols forsake or miss their faithfulness. In worshipping vain idols, they forfeit their faithfulness to God and then forfeit the faithful mercy and delivering power which the true and living God desires to pour out on them.
Jonah contrasts himself with those who cling to gods that are not gods, who walk away from the only source of true mercy. Instead, he offers to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. In the following verse we see that Jonah was delivered when he began to praise God with this offering of praise. The heart of his thanksgiving is that God alone is the Source of true deliverance.
That which I have vowed I will pay means that Jonah is ready now to take up the ministry of prophet, obey God, go where God sends and say what God says.
2:10 “Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.”
Verse 10 follows the prayer and song of thanksgiving which began in verse 2. Jonah prayed to the Lord, praised the Lord and then the Lord commanded the fish which then vomited Jonah out on dry land. God is Lord of all creation, moving all of creation toward the fulfillment of divine purpose.
There is a principle here which we see throughout the Bible: when we praise God before He has answered our prayer, we place ourselves in a setting where God’s answer can be released.
This is why the Apostle Paul exhorts us, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (Phlp. 4:6). Encase your prayer with thanksgiving.
King David, in the midst of some crisis, cried out, O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us; You have been angry; O, restore us (Psalm 60:1). But then he pauses for a moment, remembers the faithfulness of God and concludes his prayer with these words, Through God we shall do valiantly, and it is He who will tread down our adversaries (60:12). David praises God for the answer before God has answered.
In Psalm 130, the Psalmist pleads with the Lord, Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord (130:1). But he closes the Psalm with these words, O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities (Ps. 130:7,8). He praises God for the answer before God has answered.
Through Isaiah the Lord exhorted Israel, ‘Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,’ says the Lord (Isa. 54:1). During a time of national defeat, God tells a barren, desolate Israel, Shout for joy … break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud. The phrase, shout for joy is the word ranan which can be translated sing, as in Psalm 59:16, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning. It is a joyful cry, a shout of triumph, the song of a victorious warrior.
In Isaiah 54:1, God promises the barren one that abundance will come after the people break forth or break out in joyful worship and praise. There is a breaking out, a breaking through when we praise God, not just for what we have seen or known of God in the past but for what He has promised — even though it has not yet happened.
The barren one would see great blessing as she broke out / broke through in joyful praise. Praise precedes the blessing, anticipates the blessing. It is prophetic praise, telling forth the wonderful promises of a God who is faithful to fulfill all of His kind purpose toward us.
So it was with Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. Though they had been falsely accused, beaten, denied justice and thrown into the prison, About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened (Acts 16:25,26). They praised God before they were set free and their praise opened a way for God’s mighty deliverance.
So it is with us. When we turn from our sin and give thanks to God, He will hear and He will answer. Again Paul reminds us, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phl. 4:6,7).
Jonah called on the Lord from the belly of the great fish. God heard him and we will see in chapter three, the Lord restored him to his prophetic office, restored him to the divine call to be the voice of truth in a land of lying idols, to be a light shining in a dark place. This is the Lord of whom Isaiah speaks, I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison (Isa. 42:6). This is God’s word to each of us.
Study Questions:
1. When did Jonah call on the Lord?
2. When he turned to the Lord and praised Him, what did the Lord do?
3:1,2 “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.’”
The Word of the Lord came a second time. This is the same God speaking the same Word revealing the same purpose to the same prophet. How patient and gracious is our God! Jonah refused his ministry assignment, rebelled against the Lord, ran from the Lord but God never rejected or abandoned Jonah. Instead, the Lord contended with Jonah so that he would not miss the most wonderful of all gifts — the opportunity to serve God and thus fulfill the purposeful design for his life.
You see, it’s not just that the people of Nineveh needed Jonah. Surely they did. But Jonah needed Nineveh. Preaching to the lost souls of Nineveh was the reason for his existence.
The storm was a gift of mercy. The great fish was a gift of mercy. God was mercifully arresting Jonah’s flight from purpose, meaning and fulfillment. And now this most wonderful mercy — a second chance.
Jesus told a parable about a father calling two sons to come and work in his vineyard. The first answered, ‘I will not’ but afterward he regretted it and went (Matt. 21:29). There was still room for him in the vineyard of his father.
Our God is the God of new tomorrows, second chances, new opportunities to bring Him glory. We have all failed God at various times in our life. We should never wrap ourselves in the darkness of condemnation and guilt. Instead, thank God for His restoring grace and look for the new, open door. With Jeremiah we celebrate, The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness (Lam. 3:22,23).
And with the Apostle Paul we confess, One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phlp. 3:13,14).
3:3 “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.”
Jonah arose and went to Nineveh — the man of God now chooses to obey the call of God. He has experienced the gracious pursuit of the God from whose kindness there is no escape. He has experienced, in the Gentile sailors on the ship, a kindness which pierced his prejudice. He has experienced the grace of God forgiving him, releasing him from prison, renewing the call on His life. Now Jonah is willing to rise up and serve God.
However, we will also see that this is the same Jonah in many ways. It is a reluctant obedience fueled, apparently, by something less than pure devotion.
The phrase, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, may be translated, Nineveh was a great city to God or a city important to God. Though filled with worshippers of demonically inspired idols, though the Assyrian conquest of nations had been characterized by terrible violence and cruelty, nevertheless, the souls of these people were precious to God.
3:4 “Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’”
Jonah proclaims imminent judgement and destruction. Notice the justice of God. Though these people are not worshippers of Yahweh, they are still accountable to the moral truth of a morally just God. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans chapter one that God is not hiding. He has made His existence known through creation and conscience. The problem is that people have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18) and invented false religions to replace the worship of the one, true God which rejection then resulted in all manner of sin and depravity (Rom. 1:18-32). However, even though people do not worship God, they are accountable for their refusal to worship and obey Him and God is just in His judgment.
But notice also the mercy of God. There is still time to turn, to repent, to call on the Lord. Forty days is a season of grace. God is just and God is merciful but His preference is mercy, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
3:5 “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.”
Though Jonah is a reluctant preacher, there is a Holy Spirit anointing upon him because he is speaking the word of God.The word of God is powerful, Living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebr. 4:12).
The Lord said to Jeremiah, ‘Is not My word like fire?’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer which shatters a rock?’ (Jere. 23:29). The Apostle Paul commended a church for hearing his preaching, Not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe (I Thess. 2:13).
God’s word performs work in those who hear and receive it because that word is powerful and God empowers the prophet so that, in spite of the weakness of the man, The people of Nineveh believed in God. They believe what God said and respond with repentance and fasting.
It is always this way — God works through imperfect vessels to achieve His powerful, life-transforming results. Paul reminds us that the treasure of Christ has been deposited in earthen vessels (jars of clay), so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves (2 Cor. 4:7). Jonah is not the most devout, committed preacher who ever proclaimed the truth of God but the word of God, anointed by the Spirit of God, always has life-changing impact on the souls of those who listen and receive.
We see here an intensity of response in the repentance and faith of the people — they called a fast and put on sackcloth. God takes this word of warning and pierces the heart of the people. How similar to Acts 2 when Peter preached so powerfully under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the people, Were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins’ (Acts 2:37,38).
One sermon from Simon Peter and 3,000 souls were added to the church (Acts 2:41). Likewise, the witness of one prophet turned the city of Nineveh right side up.
3:6 “When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.”
The king himself came down from his throne and humbled himself before the sovereign majesty of Almighty God, acknowledging his submission to a greater King. What would our world be like today if the word of God were proclaimed with holy anointing to the mighty men and women of power? Can you imagine the incredible changes that would take place if world rulers came down from their enthronement and humbled themselves before the true and living God?
So it will be some day when our Lord returns. May it also be in our day.
3:7,8 “He issued a proclamation and it said, ‘In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.’”
The repentance which had been a spontaneous response to the Word of God now becomes mandatory, the law of the land. All are commanded to repent and fast and call on God earnestly.
Notice that repentance is not limited to fasting and sackcloth but is to include a turning from wickedness and violence. Repentance is not a matter of mere ritual — there must be moral transformation made visible in relationship to others and to society. There is nothing wrong with fasting and sackcloth but ritual itself is meaningless if not accompanied by inner, spiritual reality. Jesus had harsh condemnation for religious people who honor God with their lips but their heart is far from Him (Matt: 15:8).
3:9 “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
Who knows if God may relent of His judgment? They did not know the mercy of God but they hoped for it. They did not know that the mercy of God was already at work among them and in them, sending them a truth speaking prophet, granting them repentance and changing their hearts.
This is evidence of the presence, power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who opens eyes and ears to see and hear truth, who opens hearts and minds to believe truth. It is the Holy Spirit who convict(s) the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). When the word of God is preached with clarity, the Holy Spirit will use that word like a laser scalpel and pierce down to the deepest recesses of our being, revealing truth about God, about ourselves and our world. And where there is a receptive, humble response, the Holy Spirit will produce change.
3:10 “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.”
When God saw changed lives, Their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, He turned back His judgement. They turned from their wicked way— the word turn is sub (shub). It’s the same word used when the prophet Ezekiel called Israel to repent, Thus says the Lord God, ‘Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations’ (Ezkl. 14:6). Sub (shub) means to repent, to turn back.
When God saw this, He relented of the judgment of which He had warned them. God is merciful and is moved by humble repentance. True repentance is always revealed in changed lives, transformation. It is God who produces true repentance in us and God responds when we allow Him to do this work in us.
The old King James says that when God saw this, God repented. But this is a different word. The word used used here in reference to God is naham (nacham) and is best translated relent. God does not repent in the sense of repenting of sin or there being a transformation in God’s character. God does not change (Mal. 3:6) because He is eternally perfect in all that He is. But when we change, when we humble ourselves before Him and ask forgiveness for our sin, this allows God to relent of His purpose to judge. Then, instead of encountering His judgment, we encounter Hie grace. The people repented and God relented.
The Lord said to Jeremiah, At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it (Jere 18:8).
So it is not that God changed His mind regarding the evil ways of the people of Nineveh. God is holy and must judge sin. But when the people turned from their sin, God responded with mercy. Repentance released the mercy and grace which God passionately desired to lavish upon them. It is not that God suddenly became merciful. It was always His desire to be merciful — that is why He sent Jonah.
Verse 10 establishes a primary thesis of this book: God’s love and mercy are offered to all people who turn to Him in true, humble repentance. This was not a popular idea in Israel at that time, in fact was a stumbling block, an offense to Israelites who believed God to be as prejudiced toward other people groups as they were.
But it was always God’s intent to reveal the way of salvation to all people groups, to lavish forgiving grace on every tribe and tongue and nation. When the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, the Lord said, Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex. 19:5,6). Israel was intended by God to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a specially prepared covenant people through whom the Lord could shine His light, reveal His truth and release His grace and mercy among the nations. Israel was called into a unique covenant relationship with God, given special revelation through the holy Scriptures and through holy prophets so they could be God’s holy servant, God’s chosen instrument to call this fallen world back to Himself.
Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord said, Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other (Isa. 45:22). That was always God’s intent, to pour out His grace to the ends of the earth.
In a prophecy of the coming Messiah, the Lord said through Isaiah, It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth (Isa. 49:6).
And again, Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising (Isa. 60:1-3)
So it was that Simeon prophesied over the baby Jesus, that He would be a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel (Luke 2:32)
So it was that when Jesus commissioned His disciples and all the church of the redeemed, He said, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:18,19).
It has always been God’s purpose to redeem fallen humanity, beginning in Eden. When Adam and Eve fell from grace and created the reality of death and decay, it was God who came to them, called to them, covered them and promised a Redeemer to the human family. But how often people born in grace fall from grace and become opponents of grace.
So it was that when Jonah first heard the call of God to go to Nineveh, he ran from God’s call. He did not want to preach grace to a people group whom he hated.
This national and racial prejudice was still an issue in New Testament times. When the Gospel went forth and bore fruit among the Gentiles, many Jewish followers of Yeshua, Jesus, were offended. And so it is today in the church. Racism and nationalism have too often hindered the mission of God’s people. Whenever we discover in our own hearts a reluctance or resistance to share the Gospel with other races or cultures, when we consider them to be less deserving of the grace we have received, we must quickly repent of our sin, asking the Lord’s forgiveness and receiving His restoring grace.
Then and only then can God use us to reach others. Jonah may not have entirely repented of his prejudice but he did turn back to God, preached the word of God and the people of Nineveh believed in God.
Study Questions:
1. What did the people of Nineveh do when Jonah preached God’s message?
2. What was God’s response?
4:1 “But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.”
Jonah had run from God, returned to God and proclaimed the word of God in Nineveh. The result was an entire city turning from their sin and calling on the Lord for mercy. It was a city-wide revival from the king to the shopkeeper. True repentance called forth the mercy of God and an outpouring of forgiving grace.
Jonah’s response was anger. Why? God’s mercy provoked, aroused Jonah’s prejudice. Rather than rejoicing at the Word of God received in humility, the gift of salvation received by an entire city, Jonah is enraged. How far his heart is from the heart of God!
Mercy made Jonah angry.
1. This proves that there was no real joy or love in his obedience to God — he did the right thing for the wrong motive. He submitted to the calling of God out of a legalistic sense of duty, motivated by a sense of religious obligation, nothing more.
2. This proves that Jonah knew God but did not like what he knew. He was standing in judgment of the character of God! We will see in verse two that he fully expected God to forgive the Ninevites and he did not like this about God. He understood that God is holy and just but also full of mercy, that God always makes a way of escape for people and societies, always offers saving grace before He releases judgement, always shows us our sin and gives us time to repent, is always slow to judge and quick to forgive. Jonah knew the heart of God and did not like what he knew.
3. This proves that Jonah was very much a man of his times, sharing the cultural / racial prejudice of his countrymen. He simply did not believe that God should be merciful to non-Jews.
4. This proves that Jonah did not understand the redemptive purpose of Israel. Israel was chosen, not to be the only saved people on earth, but to be an instrument of salvation to a lost world, a light shining in a dark place, a nation of priests (Ex. 19:5,6), a servant-people who could receive Messiah and go forth bearing the Gospel. Jonah did not understand this.
5. This proves that Jonah did not reverence the love of God for the lost, the purpose of God to reach the lost, the heart of God to hear the lost, the mercy of God to forgive the lost when we sincerely call upon Him. Jonah knew this about God but did not reverence it.
6. This proves that Jonah did not understand or accept his own terrible sin and need of grace. He saw himself in a different category from non-Jewish sinners. In one sense he was in a different category — he was living in covenant with God. But it was a covenant based on mercy and grace extended to him irrespective of his own merit. He was as much in need of saving grace as the Ninevites but did not understand or accept this.
4:2 “He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘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 has no sense of his rebellion, his own distance from the heart of God. He knows the qualities that comprise the heart of God: I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. He knows the heart of God but when God acts consistently with His mercy, Jonah is enraged. He has no discernment of his own sin and his distance from the heart of God.
In fact, the Ninevites are closer to God than he is. When they encountered God, they repented. Jonah has far more light — he has the holy Scriptures, he has received prophetic revelation from God. He knows much more about God, yet his heart is so hard.
Jonah has a head knowledge of the character of God, that God has a bias toward compassion and grace, but was angered when he saw grace in action. He has experienced grace but has not been transformed into a man of grace. What he wanted to see was destruction of the Assyrians, “They deserve it,” he was thinking to himself. Anyone who thinks that other sinners deserve destruction more than one’s own self, has not truly understood his own sin and his need for mercy nor been transfigured by that mercy.
4:3 “Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.”
Jonah would rather die than live and see God’s mercy in action. What a hard, ungrateful heart! He has experienced the mercy of God but when he sees mercy lavished on other sinners, he is angry. The grace of God outpoured on non-Jews has violated his religious and national prejudice. He would rather die than give up his prejudice.
4:4 “The Lord said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?”
Jonah would have said, “Yes, I do.” And we do understand something of his motive. He was a patriot, he loved his nation and Assyria was a dangerous enemy of Israel. He wanted to see the destruction of his nation’s enemy. Patriotism is a healthy virtue but when it blinds us to the heart of God and hardens us to those whom God wants to redeem, then our patriotism has become prideful poison. When the Lord reveals this in our hearts, we need to confess it as sin, ask His forgiveness and receive His restoring grace.
4:5,6 “Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.”
Jonah found a good vantage point east of the city, makes a little shelter and sits down to see what would happen in the city. But even with his home made shelter, it is still terribly hot, the sun is beating down and he is uncomfortable. So the Lord in His compassion provides better shade for Jonah. What a beautiful example of the kindness of God to a man who is in rebellion against God.
But isn’t it this way with us also? The Lord provided a shelter of grace when we were in sinful rebellion against Him. The Apostle Paul reminds us, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) (Eph. 2:4,5).
God poured out His grace on us while we were His enemies. When we were separated from Him by sin and dead in our sin, God poured out His saving grace on us, provided the shelter of His grace.
4:7,8 “But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, ‘Death is better to me than life.’”
God removes His provision to set up a teaching opportunity. Jonah now experiences what it feels like to be judged, to lose the blessing and covering of God. Note that God is Lord over the plant and the worm, the sun and the wind.
What irony. The people of Nineveh are probably rejoicing in their salvation. Jonah is angry and ready to die. We recall how Elijah despaired unto death because so few people heeded his word (I Kings 19:4). But Jonah despairs unto death because so many people have heeded his word.
Let’s review Jonah’s record up to this point. He rebelled against God’s prophetic calling on his life, and though he gave sincere thanks to God for his deliverance from the prison of the great fish, he then obeyed God out of a sense of religious obligation. When God poured out grace on the people of Nineveh, Jonah became angry, judged God’s heart of compassion and now wishes to die.
God, in His relentless mercy, questions Jonah.
4:9-11 “Then 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.’ Then 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. 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 expresses pity for the destruction of the plant but felt no pity for the potential destruction of an entire city. He feels more pity for plant life than for human life.
Further, he believes it is alright for himself to have mercy on a plant but it is wrong for God to have mercy on people. Again he is judging God. His prejudice has robbed him of all reason. In fact, prejudice always drives us to a place of unreasonableness, irrationality.
There was a message here for Israel, whom God had called to be a light to the nations. But national prejudice had caused the people to reject their calling, even as Jonah had struggled against his calling.
You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow. Jonah did not create the plant — God did. God may do with that plant as He chooses because it is His creation. God created the people of Nineveh and has the right to judge or save — they are His creation. God has the right to exercise sovereignty over His creation, whether with judgment or with grace.
Those who do not know the difference between their right and left hand may refer to children who cannot yet tell right from left. Or it may be a way of speaking of people who are spiritually ignorant, lost in the darkness of idol worship and sin and helpless to deliver themselves. Without a word from God, they would be lost forever.
We are reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul, How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? (Rom. 10:14,15). Should not God have mercy on these Ninevites? He is Lord of all the earth, His mercy broods over the earth and extends to all people. But how will they hear of God’s mercy unless someone brings them the message of Good News? So God sent Jonah to them.
So it is that we who have experienced the saving grace of God are called to share it, proclaim it. Jesus said, Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give (10:8). And as Isaiah said, How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ (Isa. 52:7).
We do not know what became of Jonah, whether in fact he ever became the whole-hearted prophet God called him to be. But this book is not only about him. It is about Israel.
Israel, as with Jonah, was called to be a prophet to the nations, proclaiming judgement and grace that the nations might repent and live. Eventually rebellious, disobedient Israel was crushed and exiled in a foreign land. But God still purposed high calling for the covenant nation. So it was that in time the Messiah was born, calling Israel to God’s high purpose. And though Jesus Messiah was rejected and killed, he rose from the dead and commissioned His church to go and proclaim the Good News of salvation.
God’s purpose through this narrative of Jonah is to redeem a prophetic people who will go forth and proclaim the Gospel throughout the nations. And even though much of Israel is still in rebellion against God, to this day, the book of Jonah is read on the Day of Atonement.
Someday there will be a massive turning of Jews to Jesus Messiah. Someday people from every tribe and tongue and nation will stand before the throne of God and praise the Lamb and give Him glory. They will be present and we will be present because someone obeyed God, went forth and preached the word of God. May we be willing and obedient messengers in our generation.
And may the Lord cleanse and deliver us from anything in our hearts that would limit our obedience.
Study Questions:
1. Why was Jonah angry with God?
2. What did he not understand about the heart of God?