Lessons from Jonah
What an interesting and great experience it has been for me looking at this Book of Jonah! Everybody seems to know that this is the man that was swallowed by this huge fish and 3 days later he was miraculously spat out alive again...! And generally that’s where it ends for many. Many even believe that this Book of Jonah is allegorical or just a story or a parable, but there is no doubt that this is a historical fact. Jesus accepts what happens to Jonah as fact, Jonah had a father Amittai, and both of them are mentioned in 2 Kings, so I have no doubt this is factual. The story of the fish is written off by many, but really if you think we serve a God who created the earth, the stars and all the animals, including whales, elephants, who parted the Red Sea, who made the water come out of rock, whose ways are so much higher than our ways, we really cannot say it’s beyond the means of God, just because we just don’t understand it! How arrogant that would be! A Sunday school girl was teased because of her faith in God and belief in the bible. When asked if she believed in the “fish story of Jonah” She answered “Yes” When asked to explain it, she said she couldn’t, but said” When I get to heaven, I’ll ask Jonah about it” The skeptic replied and said “What happens if he is not in heaven?” and the little girl said sweetly” Then you ask him!”
This all happened about 780BC when King Jeroboam II was in charge of Israel. And as it says in 2 Kings “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord” just as his father did, and as did the Kings that followed him until Israel was defeated in 722BC about 58 years later. At this time there were two Kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Judah (capital Jerusalem) in the Southern Kingdom consisted of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin and the Northern Kingdom (Israel) had the remaining 10 tribes, capital Samaria.
So Jonah was in the Northern Kingdom. There were two other prophets around literally within a few years of each other here as well, Amos and Hosea. This I think is significant. They warned Israel repeatedly. Look what Amos says. (Amos 2:6)
Judgment on Israel 6 This is what the Lord says: “…. They sell the innocent for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.7 They trample on the heads of the poor
as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.
8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.
The Book of Hosea is even more confronting to me, warning Israel to change, but God leaves the door open e.g. in
Hosea 6:1,6 (NIV) Come let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us…..
6 For [God] desires mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
So in an era such as this that Jonah hears God and so we begin the story in the Book of Jonah vs1
Jonah 1:1-2 (NIV) Jonah Flees From the Lord
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
Now Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire, a couple of hundred Km NE of Israel, Almost where Mosul is today in Iraq. Adad-Nirari was the King at this time. The Assyrians were known as an aggressive and conquering people. If that was not enough for Jonah to resist, they were also Gentiles and to see God have mercy on them was something that went against every grain in his body and of the Jews at that time. That why he says
Jonah 4:2 (NIV)2 ….. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
He did not want God to have mercy on them! So we pick up the story again where Jonah hears the word of the Lord, rejects it and heads off to Joppa in the opposite direction, to get a ship to take him to Tarshish which is near Spain! Gibraltar some say!
So he gets to Joppa and he happens to find a boat heading towards Tarshish and boards it. So here is something to consider.
Learning point 1: It is dangerous, if not an outright error to follow a path just because circumstance has allowed it to be, or because a door opens. Clearly a red light to any decision must be that the decision must be congruent with the word of God. Clearly it was not in this case!
So Jonah gets on board and off they go. A very severe storm hits and what happens ….Jonah is fast asleep and all the men cry to their gods. The man of God sleeps! I’m told that these were wooden boats with an all-important long piece of wood called the keel which held the boat together. The biggest danger was not only the boat been filled with water and capsizing, but if the waves were big enough, the keel could rest on two peaks of the waves and with sufficient weight in the boat, the keel could snap. So lighting the boat resulted in lifting the boat so water does not come in but also took off pressure on the keel. The men threw out cargo to lighten the boat, and then decided to cast lots to decide who was responsible
Jonah 1:7 (NIV)7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
Learning Point 2: Casting of lots was not only a pagan practice at the time, it was a practice used in the bible as well. Casting lots was a method used by the Jews of the Old Testament and by the Christian disciples prior to Pentecost to determine the will of God e.g.
Leviticus 16:8, “And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat."
1 Chronicles 25:8, "And they cast lots for their duties, all alike, the small as well as the great, the teacher as well as the pupil."
Psalm 22:18, "They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots."
Acts 1:26, "And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles."
In the latter example the lot fell to Matthias, but this was before Pentecost. Since the New Testament does not have any instance of Christians casting lots to discern the will of God after Pentecost, we conclude that after the arrival of the Holy Spirit that we do not need to rely on that method but instead must rely on the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the further revelation found in the New Testament. But nothing would suggest that it would not be appropriate to ask God to confirm a particular path or route, not by casting lots but by guidance either of yourself or through others by the Holy Spirit.
Back to the story.
When the lot falls to Jonah all is revealed and when Jonah says
Jonah 1:9 (NIV)9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
These gentile sailors are terrified and fearful that Jonah has run away from God, yet Jonah is not!! Theses gentiles fear God, yet the Jews and Northern Kingdom as represented by Jonah do not, and the consequences change the history for the Jewish nation forever.
Jonah says “throw me overboard!” (note he does not offer to jump overboard himself- but that’s another topic!) The sailors don’t want his death on their hands and turn the boat around and head back to land. One may think that now that Jonah is heading back in the right direction God would stop the storm, but He doesn’t
This brings us to the next learning point.
Learning point 3: Don’t expect anything to change unless we have a change in heart. Jonah had not changed at all… the men were taking him back to land, until they could no more. What God wants is a change of heart, a circumcision of the heart and Jonah had not changed at all!
Remember in Genesis, Genesis 17:10-11 (NIV)10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
So circumcision is a “sign of a covenant”, but even in Old Testament times God wants circumcision of the heart
Deuteronomy 10:12-16 (NIV) Fear the Lord12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.
Jonah needed to change so much. But how do WE stack up??.. fear, obedience, circumcision of the heart. I believe that if we need our circumstances to change and we’re in a storm and we’re sinking, let’s make sure our hearts are in the right place, soft hearts not hard hearts! Before we are swallowed by a fish!
So Jonah is thrown overboard and he is swallowed by the fish. (Interestingly I don’t think he realises that he is in a fish, there is no mention of the fish in his call to God) And he prays….
Jonah 2:9-3:3 (NIV)9 …What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.
Learning point 4. God is a God of second chances. We may be weak, disobedient, go in the wrong direction, not listen, in the very darkest of places (like Jonah), feel banished (Jonah’s word), God does not give up on us! But do not let us give up on Him!
So Jonah goes off to Nineveh. Notice he has to walk there right across Israel. It’s a long way- no miraculous transport but he goes. Nineveh is a huge city with at least 120 000 people in it (Bunbury only has about 80 000 people!), some commentators say Nineveh had a population of 600 000, as they think the bible indicates 120 000 children. Whatever the number it is a big city. It was built by Nimrod, remember the chap in Genesis, a mighty warrior hunter who also was part of the building of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 10:10, (a descendant of Ham who looked upon the naked body of Noah, resulting in a curse on the Canaanites). It takes 3 days to get through Nineveh! And so began the shortest most effective sermon I have ever heard of and that resulted in upwards of 120 000 people repenting and turning to God. What we think is impossible happened in one day!
Jonah 3:4-5 (NIV)4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Learning point 5: Can you imagine if one of the best most respected preachers in the world, e.g. Billy Graham filled a stadium of say 60 000 people, how many at the end of the sermon would give their lives to God? Here we have the entire stadium changing and only after one sentence is spoken! If someone said to you, it will take you three days to walk through Bunbury, now walk through it and convert the entire city, you would say that is impossible! When we think things are impossible we limit God. God is God of the impossible. Not by strength, not by power but by the Spirit says God.
Now I know how important the love of God is, but do you think maybe we understate the fear of the Lord and His potentially devastating power. And so we too can become complacent and lounge in our comfort? When we understand the fear of God we begin to understand the power of God!
So Nineveh repents and God has compassion on them. Jonah has this really strange response of anger and displeasure at what God has done, but then we have this unusual story:
Jonah 4:5-11 (NIV)5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
This self-centeredness, this focus on your own self-importance, this misdirected religious zeal, this arrogance of faith, this neglect of God’s desires, this lack of fear of God is exactly what Hosea and Amos is telling the Northern Kingdom
Amos 5:21-6:7 (NIV)
21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!,”
…6 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come!
……3 You put off the day of disaster and bring near a reign of terror.
4 You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches.
You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves.
5 You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments.
6 You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end.
And even though Israel hears from the returning Jonah what has happened, even though they then hear what Amos says and Hosea says, they still do not listen! Isaiah comes along 20 years later and they still do nothing! The end result is that within about 50- 70 years after hearing what happened to Jonah, then having Amos, Hosea and Isaiah the Assyrian destroy the Northern Kingdom, scatter and exile the 10 tribes of Israel, forever to be called the 10 lost tribes of Israel never to get back together again!
Israel becomes Samaria. By the way the Samaritans come from Samaria and even 700 years later in the time of Jesus many Samaritans still believe in Jehovah God, I believe stemming from Nineveh, which puts a different perspective of the Story of the Good Samaritan.
One final thing, when Jesus tells the story of the sign of Jonah in the NT in Matthew
Matthew 12:39-41 New International Version (NIV)
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.
This sign of Jonah is yes Jesus being resurrected after three days but it does not end there. If we look at the next verse, it is also a sign of a warning of what happened in Nineveh and the Northern Kingdoms. And YES it is to us too. Within about 60 years of Jonah, Israel was destroyed (722Bc), within 60 years of Jesus “Son of Man being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth “ the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple was destroyed. The warning is to us too, to turn from evil, to repent, to not act out religion and to fear God! Every aspect of that story of Jonah and the prophets Amos, Hosea is as applicable to us today as it was for the Northern Kingdom. Let’s not make the same mistake as the Northern Kingdom did!
But the story of Jonah is one of mercy! And John sums it up perfectly:
John 5:24 (NIV)
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.