Jonah

JONAH

Background of Jonah: A prophet.
Background of Nineveh: Assyrian city of great warriors, renowned for their cruelty towards their hostages. History reports that they skinned their prisoners alive, cut off various body parts to instill fear and terror in their enemies (which obviously worked with Jonah). They also pulled out their tongues and displayed mounds of human skulls on the streets. An ancient drawing depicted them putting out the eyes of an enemy king. They led their officials in captivity with hooks on their lips. They were so vicious that 10 tribes of Israel went under their captivity and never re-emerged, as it was the Assyrians’ policy to deport conquered peoples to other lands within the empire. This was so that their sense of nationalism would be destroyed, breaking any pride or hope of rebellion and replace them with strangers from far away.

Why did Jonah run away? 2 possibilities:
i. Feared the Ninevites. After all, there was a high chance that he might not come out of the city alive!
ii. Feared the mercy of God. Ninevites had probably killed a lot of his friends or countrymen, and he wanted them blasted instead of blessed by God.

After being stuck in a smelly, suffocating whale/fish’s stomach for 3 days…

Jonah finally conceded that salvation is the Lord’s, and he will therefore choose to obey (2:9) God gave him a second chance to obey. Had he not, God would have sent someone else in his place (Est 4:13-14). We are not indispensable! God raised us up for such a time as this, so that He may bless us. If we refuse to accept out lot, God will simply send someone else in our place.

3:1 Jonah went to Nineveh and preached God’s impending judgment, then left the city (to be continued in 4:5). Word got around Nineveh to the king, who ordered a time of national confession and repentance. Yet, as we see in 4:1, Jonah wasn’t happy. Why?
Because ‘his’ judgment that Nineveh will be destroyed was not fulfilled. He valued his sense of honour more than the goodness and mercy of God. He cared little whether the 120,000 Ninevites were destroyed or not. In other words, he was self-centred, as he was concerned about how others would perceive him ie. possibly as a liar. Full of pride!

4:5 brings us on a flashback to the point where Jonah left Nineveh after announcing God’s judgment. In Hebrew, this section was written in the past tense, so it’s meant to be understood as a reference to the past, not a narrative about the present.
When he had delivered his message he left the city, and went and made himself a tent, or got under some shelter on the east side of Nineveh, and there he was determined to remain till he should see what remained or became of the city. basically, he was sitting at the sidelines waiting for the big Armageddon show to start. As he left immediately, he did not see the people repent, so he did not expect a national revival of any sort.
Are you also sitting in the sidelines waiting for the action to take place, enjoying the show? Or are you going out there to save these people?

V6a “So the LORD God appointed a plant F28 and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort.” We shouldn’t take this literally to mean that the plant shot up overnight, or that Jonah saw the miraculous sprouting of the plant. Instead as God creates all things, and allows all things to happen, so, we can take it that years before Jonah was born, God caused this plant to grow in this exact spot for Jonah n number of years down the road. This speaks volumes of the sovereignty, and the will of God. If God has his eye on this plant, and has a plan for it, what more us? His will is purposeful, not accidental.

What is God trying to tell Jonah in the analogy of the plant? It can be a bit hard to understand in the first reading, but hope this paraphrasing will be useful-
“how much is a city better than a shrub? There are a 120,000 people in that city! Should I destroy them, who are now turned from their sins, now fasting and afflicting their souls, covered with sackcloth, lying in dust before me, bewailing their offenses and supplicating for mercy – shall I rather preserve your shade which makes you comfortable ie. save your face, than make your word of judgment against them fail? Is it not better that a 120,000 lives are saved and your word fail, than that your word comes true, and a 120,000 people perish?”

God will not reject those with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and who trembles at His word. God is here exposing Jonah’s flaw, which is his self-centredness, self-righteousness, anger and unforgiveness towards the Ninevites, and pride. He is not grounded in God’s word as well (he tried to run away from the presence of God, for goodness’sake!). Though God gave him a second chance, he immediately forgot and was unhappy when God gave the Ninevites a 2nd chance as well. Perhaps he thought them, as pagans, undeserving of God’s salvation, and thought himself (as a Jew), deserving.

Application/Reflection:
Before we go on to further criticize Jonah’s egotistical attitude and disobedience, think on our selves. Are we also being a Jonah? Are there areas in our lives that God is calling us to give up, but we choose to shut Him off or run away from Him? Remember who gave you these gifts, and remember the reason why. Do we also really love our enemies as we should? Or do we curse them under our breath?

Remember the question that I asked you all: If you were actually obedient to God in every area of your life, what would that mean? What would change? What would your present look like? How about your future?