The Reluctant and Angry Prophet
The name Jonah means dove. The Bible says Jonah was from a
town named Gath-Hepher near Nazareth. This town according to Joshua 19:13 was
in the tribal land of Zebulun in the north country. Jonah prophesied during the
reign of Jeroboam II king of Israel (793-753 B.C.) according to 2 Kings 14:25.
This would make him an eighth century prophet. God commanded Jonah to go east to
Nineveh the capital city in Assyria and prophesy against it. Jonah is the only
prophet in the Old Testament told to travel to a foreign nation to prophesy.
Jonah refused and decided to travel far west to Tarshish which scholars claimed
was in the region of Spain. Jonah simply wanted to get as far away from Nineveh
as he could.
A brief history of the Assyrians
The nation Assyria gets its name from Asshur the son of Shem
(Gen 10:22). Assyria was located on the west bank of the Tigris River which today
is northern Iraq.[1]
The original name of the region given by the Greeks was Mesopotamia which means
land between two rivers. The Bible says Nimrod built Nineveh (Gen 10:11) which
was the capital city of Assyria. The Assyrians were brutal warriors. They not
only defeated their enemies, but they also mercilessly tortured their victims
by dismembering them, impaling their naked bodies on stakes through the ribs,
and beheading them and stacking their heads on stakes like totem poles as way
of humiliation. They would also flay their enemies’ bodies and put their
skins on walls. They bragged about burning their victims’ small children.
They wrote inscriptions and created countless reliefs displaying images of their military victories and barbarities. These brutalities served as murals on Assyrian palaces. The time of Jonah was during the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The first Assyrian king to deal with Israel was Shalmaneser III (858-824 B.C.) He received tribute from wicked King Ahab (874-853 B.C.) the husband of Jezebel, and King Jehu (841-814 B.C.) Assyrian King Pul aka Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 B.C.) demanded and received tribute from Menahem King of Israel (752-742 B.C.) -1000 silver talents[2] which translates to 37.5 tons or 75,000 lbs. (2 Kings 15:19-20). The tribute money provided peace and protection of Menahem’s brief reign. Assyrian King Sargon II (722-705 B.C.) defeated the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. He displaced the northern tribes and exiled them to eastern territories (2 Kings 17:5-33). According to Assyrian records, they exiled 27,290 Hebrews. Sargon replaced the northern territory called Samaria with foreigners. They intermarried with Hebrews which produced a mixed group of people called Samaritans. The Hebrews / Jews of Jesus’ day hated Samaritans (Matt 10:5; Luke 10:29-37; John 4:9). It was during the end of the seventh century after the ministry of Jonah that Assyria began to decline in power. Assyrian King Sinsarruiskun (627-612 B.C.) and the city of Nineveh were eventually defeated in 612 B.C. by King Nabopolassar of Babylon (625-605 B.C.), the father of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 B.C.) The prophet Nahum predicts Nineveh’s destruction.
Now one can understand why Jonah did not want to travel to Nineveh and pronounce a message of doom against the city. He hated the city. They were bitter enemies of Israel. He knew of the brutalities of the Assyrians and wanted nothing to do with them.
Assyrians Kings that mostly likely reigned during the prophetic ministry of Jonah
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Chapter 1 – Jonah’s disobedience and attempt to run from God
The Lord commands Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to that
great city. Jonah, as I indicated earlier, refuses and decides to go the
seaport of Joppa (modern day Jaffa), pay the fare, and gets on a ship headed to Tarshish. Immediately
God causes a tempest on the sea. The men who are expert sailors never seen a
storm like this are terrified and began to cry out to their gods to no avail.
Jonah who is sleep in the bottom is awakened by the captain who tells him cry
out to your God hoping he may calm the storm and save them.
The sailors decide to cast lots. Casting lots was an ancient way
to make decisions and perhaps implicate perpetrators. Casting lots is like
rolling dice or flipping a coin. One is relying on fate. The Bible never
indicates what objects were used. The lot fell on Jonah. In this case God
determined the lot would fall on Jonah since he was the cause behind the
sailors’ fear. Jonah was running from the Lord in disobedience. The sailors
asked Jonah where he was from, what nation he belonged to and what his
occupation was. Once Jonah revealed who he was why they were in trouble was
because of him.
In terror they cried to the Lord begging Him not to punish
them for Jonah’s sin. Jonah told them to throw him overboard so the sea would
be calm. First, they attempted to sail back to the land. But when the storm
continued to rage, they threw Jonah overboard and the sea was calm. The sailors
offered a sacrifice and took vows. A huge fish swallows Jonah where he dwells
in its belly for 3 days and nights.
Commentary
When we do not obey God, we may put innocent people at risk
of harm like our family and friends. Always be mindful of your actions so that
others do not become collateral damage because of your sins. Because Jonah was
initially selfish, he risked the lives of pagan sailors who proved to be more
righteous than him. What Jonah also learned, as we will discover as we follow
his journey is that no one can run away from God. If things are going wrong in
your life, it may be you are in disobedience to what God has commanded
you to do. Repent and be restored to God.
Chapter 2 – Jonah prays while in the belly of the fish
Jonah thanks God for his deliverance. Without God causing the
fish to swallow him, he would have drowned. Jonah does say, “Out of the belly
of Sheol I cried” (vs 2). Sheol is the Hebrew word for hell or the grave. Jonah
knew God rescued him from sure death. He didn’t realize God had a prepared a
fish to swallow him he expected to drown. Once he was miraculously preserved in
the belly of the fish, he thanked God and said he would pay what he vowed (vs
9).
Commentary
It was as if Jonah was dead in the belly of the fish. He was cut off from the world and dwelt in darkness for three days and nights. Jonah did the only thing he could do and that was cry out to the Lord. The only help he had was from the Lord. The Lord is the only help any of us have. Once Jonah acknowledged this, God caused the fish to belch Jonah out on dry land.
Chapter 3 – Jonah preaches to Nineveh and the whole city
repents
The Lord commands Jonah a second time to travel to Nineveh.
Jonah obeys. It is a three-day journey and Jonah travels on foot. When he arrives,
he utters eight words, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed” (vs 4). All
the people believed God’s word. The King proclaimed a fast, took off his royal
clothes, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes to express his grief for the
nation’s sins. The king commanded everyone to fast, put on sackcloth, sit in
ashes and afflict their souls. From the greatest to the least of them. This
even included the animals (vv 5-9). King commanded all to cry out to God and
confess their sins. God saw their contrition and did not harm them because they
were sorry for their sins and begged for mercy.
Commentary
The eight words above are the only recorded prophetic words
we have of him speaking. It is not in the length of the message or the style
and personality or charm of the messenger, but only in the power of God (Romans
1:16). The most powerful city on earth at that time repented at the preaching
of Jonah who at first refused to go. What God needed Jonah to see was that he
loved all people – event the vilest of sinners. And the Ninevites definitely fit
that category.
Chapter 4 – Jonah is angry with God because He forgave his
enemies
Jonah is angry at the Lord because He showed mercy to the
Ninevites. Jonah reveals the reason why he never wanted to go to Nineveh, “Ah,
Lord, was not this what I said when I was in my country? Therefore, I fled to
Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger
and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now,
O Lord take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” God asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be
angry” (vv 1-5)?
Jonah left and sat outside the city, prepared a shady place to
sit to see if perhaps God may change his mind and destroy the Ninevites anyway.
His insatiable desire for their destruction was deep seeded. God caused a plant
to grow to cover Jonah’s head which he was happy for. In the morning God caused
a worm to destroy the plant. God also sent a strong east wind to blow which
exposed the sun which beat on Jonah’s head. This made him so tired that he began
to complain and asked to die. God asked him a second time, “Is it right for you
to be angry?” Jonah said yes, I should be angry even to death!
God told Jonah you cared more about a plant that you had
nothing to do with that grew and died in one night. Here is the moral of the
whole story, “And should I not have pity on Nineveh that great city in which
are more than one hundred twenty thousand children who do not know between their
left and right hand along with much livestock?”
I could imagine God saying to Jonah, “Are you serious right now my son? You love the fact I am merciful to you, but you hate the fact that I am merciful to your enemies who repented?”
Commentary
The book ends on that cliff hanger question.
So, all along Jonah did not want to travel to Nineveh because
he knew there was a chance God would spare his enemies whom he hated with a
passion. Jonah would have been content to have them destroyed like Sodom and
Gomorrah. Jonah is like any other ungrateful sinner; they want mercy for
themselves, but not for others. They want God to forgive them of their sins,
but not forgive those they hate. Jonah learned the hard way that God is not a
respecter of persons. As the apostle Peter learned at Cornelius the Roman
Centurion’s house, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in
every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him”
(Acts 10:34-35).
Jonah allowed his sinful anger to cloud his judgment. He
hated the Ninevites for their wickedness and desired for them to repent (while
others may argue he only desired their destruction). When they did repent, he
is even more enraged and desires to die. Here is another reality Jonah had to
face: Nineveh repented with just eight words from Jonah's lips. God through his
prophets had been preaching to the nations of Israel and Judah for centuries yet
they refused to repent. An unchosen pagan nation received forgiveness and his
own people were apostate. This made Jonah burn with jealousy. He did want God
to spare Nineveh.
Nineveh believed and feared God and worked righteousness when
they heard the words of Jonah. It is a shame that Jonah despised his prophetic
office and preferred to die than live because he hated his enemies so much. Let
me be clear, the Ninevites deserved to be wiped out for their wickedness and
would have been had they not repented. As I mentioned above, the next
generation of Ninevites were destroyed due to their unrepentance. Nahum was the
prophetic voice during that later generation.