Jonah: What I Learned

The worshippers of false gods have given up their only hope

For some reason I always forget how much I like the book of Jonah, until it comes time to read it again.

The full text of Jonah is available on Day 188 of the chronological reading.

This prophet lived at the time of Israel’s King Jeroboam the second. The little we know about him comes from the book named after him, and this one other passage: “[Jeroboam] restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher” (2 Kings 14:25, Day 187).

The book of Jonah opens with the Lord directing Jonah: “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” Nineveh was the capital of the kingdom of Assyria. Subsequent to Jonah’s time, the nation of Israel is conquered by and exiled to Assyria. It is beautiful to realize how God prepared people in this place of exile to fear Him, before He sent His chosen people there, establishing a long history of Jewish and then Christian faith in this part of the world.

Jonah evidently has no love for the Assyrians and tries to run from God’s assignment, going down to Joppa to board a ship for Tarshish. God causes a great storm that has the ship about to break apart, but Jonah, seemingly unconcerned, falls asleep. The astounded captain wakes him up to call on his god. The sailors cast lots to find it’s Jonah’s fault they are at risk of perishing. Jonah’s response is in direct contradiction to his fleeing and sleeping: “I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”

Jonah offers the solution of throwing him into the sea. The sailors appear to fear God more than Jonah because they delay in exercising this option until there is no other. When the sea calms as Jonah predicted, “the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.” I wonder about their sacrifices and vows. We can cry out to God and make promises to God when we need Him, and promptly forget Him and our promises when we are no longer in distress.

The distress of drowning did cause Jonah to cry out to God, and He saved him by allowing a great fish to swallow him up, and keep him alive for three days before vomiting him onto dry land. Jonah puts into words a life-changing response to distress:

While I was fainting away,
I remembered the LORD,
And my prayer came to You, 
Into Your holy temple.
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.

I love the Bible in Basic English (BBE) translation of Jonah 2:8: “The worshippers of false gods have given up their only hope.” Jonah sheds light on the vanity of false gods in comparison to the true God.

The captain of Jonah’s ship asks him, “call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.” The sailors acknowledged a god they did not know, but through Jonah had opportunity to learn about the “LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land,” the God who has the power to save.

After Jonah’s three days in the fish, God re-issues His command to Jonah to go to Nineveh, and this time he obeys. He walks about the city and proclaims, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” There was no dramatic storm. There was no dramatic calming of a storm. Jonah’s words seem incredibly simple. But they were obviously effective.

“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.” The king declared, “let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

God’s response gives us hope in our day: “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.”

Jonah’s reaction is amazing. He is angry at God because He saved a wicked people. He goes outside the city to pout. “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.” I love the ridiculous hilarity of this scene, exposing Jonah’s, and our, selfishness. We are happy with God when He does what we want and unhappy with Him when He doesn’t.

Jonah knew God would be merciful, admitting “for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.” We, like Jonah, sometimes prefer the vengeance of God…for others, of course, but not for ourselves. But God asks, “Should I not have compassion?” Since He does, shouldn’t we?