Moses, Samuel and Isaiah may have been the greatest of Israel’s prophets, but Jonah was the most eccentric of all the prophets. He is the only one I know who actually lamented the great success of his ministry at least where Nineveh was concerned. Jeremiah should have been so blessed, but Jonah would have preferred that Nineveh not repent and indeed tried his best to avoid going to Nineveh in the first place. This does not exonerate Jonah but his excuse for such blatant disobedience in the face of such a solemn calling is that the Assyrians (their capital was Nineveh) were hated by their neighbors including Israel because of their ruthless treatment of their enemies. So, when he was called by God to head northeast from Gath-hepher (about 3 miles north of Nazareth) towards Assyria’s capital city to “preach the gospel,” Jonah decided to head due west towards the Mediterranean sea port of Joppa where he would buy a berth on “a slow boat” to Tarshish which was located off the coast of Spain or at the farthest reaches of Jonah’s world. To say that he was running away or sailing away from God is to indulge oneself in a bit of understatement.
But God was not entertained by his prophet’s flight from his calling. As Jonah was hiding his head in a pillow below deck, his ship encountered the mother of all storms. When it was determined that Jonah was the culprit in trouble with his God, his shipmates reluctantly threw him overboard at Jonah’s suggestion. While Jonah finds himself in troubled waters he encounters more trauma as he is swallowed by a big fish. At this point many scholars of a liberal bent waste a lot of ink (or meet their quota of pages in writing about this incident) by presenting “evidence” that Jonah’s stay inside the fish was the stuff out of which myths are made. In so doing they are distracted from mining some deep nuggets of wisdom from this important work. The rest of us observe that God uses this fish to place Jonah in a tight place and when Jonah finally “repents” he is miraculously delivered from his unconventional “prison.”
After that Jonah says all the right things and in the process displays a admirable familiarity with the Psalms and other passages which are a part of his rich spiritual heritage. He promises to go to Nineveh and his “repentance” is seen at least in his fulfillment of his promise to go which is more than a lot of us can be “accused” of doing. When Jonah arrives at his destination he immediately spreads the warning of God’s impending judgment on Nineveh. Their king sets a good example as he repents and his people follow suit as they display works meet for repentance (Luke 3:8 KJV). Meanwhile, Jonah broods about his success and even “holds it against God” that our Lord is “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents sending calamity.” (Jonah 4:2 NIV; see also Exod. 34:6) How dare God be true to his name! How dare God show pity on any Gentile nation let alone a very wicked people even if they repent. Meanwhile Jonah built himself a temporary shelter and from this vantage point located east of Nineveh, he waited out the next few days hoping that Nineveh’s repentance would be short lived only to become more and more angry as his hopes were dashed by Nineveh’s steadfastness in repentance.
What patience, what mercy on the part of our Lord. While in his temporary hideout Jonah is made more uncomfortable by the Lord and becomes so faint and miserable and wishes he could die. He is more concerned with his own creature comforts as he languishes in his pitiful state while he goes on denying any pity for 120,000 people “who cannot tell their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). Lloyd Ogilvie, a prince of expositors, tells us that Jonah was stubbornly engaged in a war of wills with his God and our God. So “what has God called us to be or do that has put us in a contest of wills with Him?” (L. Ogilvie, Jonah, Communicator’s Commentary, Word, 1990, p.431). Also, what is it that we are avoiding or running away from in our own walk with the lord? Then there is this war between the inner core of our ego and God’s sovereign call in our lives. Have we truly surrendered our wills and our lives to the Lord or have we “recruited” him to assist us in the pursuit of our own agenda? These are hard questions which we must address if we are to have an integrity relationship with our God. The tension between Jonah and God is not resolved by the author of Jonah, but we are left to contemplate the future of this sad excuse for a prophet. I believe that he spent the rest of his life meditating on the truth that God does not selectively reserve his grace for one nation or a certain group of people but is calling all peoples to repentance. That is why Jesus came. In the “war of the wills,” it is best that we wave the white flag. In so doing we can avoid heavy waters. So as Lloyd Ogilvie asks, are we sailing on the ship of disobedience or are we heading towards the path of obedience on the good ship Nineveh?
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