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Jonah Introduction
There are a few books that are very difficult to place chronologically, such as Joel and Obadiah, but for the most part we have a general idea when these prophets lived and prophesied.
We learn in that Jonah was a prophet of God to Israel around the time of the reign of Jeroboam II, the son of Joash.
We actually have a prophecy of Jonah that he spoke to Israel recorded in this passage about the territory of Israel being expanded.
The reign of Jeroboam II was a time of peace and prosperity for the people of Israel.
Things had been rough prior to this for Israel, but things turned around during Jeroboam’s reign
Of course, we know that the peace and prosperity would not last long.
Little by little, king by king, Israel becomes more and more corrupt until God sends Assyria to take them into captivity.
Recalling this fact about who would take Israel into captivity whenever we consider the first three verses of - who Jonah is called to go and prophesy to…
Jonah Flees!
"Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me."
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.
So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD."
()
Jonah is called to be one of God's first foreign missionaries.
He is called to preach to the great city of Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire - an enemy to God’s people- to gentiles…
Jonah’s response is interesting… We have instances where prophets question their ability to fulfill God’s mission.
We have prophets who say they can’t do it… But Jonah takes it to another level!
He doesn’t say a word.
He runs away from where God called him to go and preach.
Why would Jonah do such a thing?
Why would he, as a servant of God (), reject God’s call and run away from his duty?
We are not told the exact reason here, but Jonah does tell the Lord EXACTLY why later on in the book.
He tells the Lord in 4:2
Jonah’s reasons for fleeing:
"And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?
That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”
Why does he flee and get on the boat to go to Tarshish?
Because he does NOT want to see the Lord be merciful to those he is calling him to prophesy to!
He knows that there is a chance that if he goes, they may repent.
And if they repent, Jonah knows the LORD well enough to know that the LORD will keep His word in showing mercy to this Assyrian city.
He doesn’t want to see this happen!
So he flees!
He gets onto a boat heading as far away from Nineveh he can get!
God’s response
But God isn’t going to just let Jonah run away from his duties.
Jonah couldn't get away from the Lord.
His disobedience would not only affect him, but also those who were on the boat with him.
God sends a great wind onto the sea that caused a great storm that was causing the boat to be in danger of breaking up.
We see the crew’s response in v5.
They are afraid for their lives… and they start praying.
Maybe one of their gods will spare them.
They then deal with what God had thrown at the sea with a counter-throw of their own.
They throw the ship’s cargo into sea to try to lighten the boat.
The captain then goes into the lowest parts of the ship where Jonah is and he questions Jonah.
‘WHY AREN’T YOU PRAYING?’
The religious ones up to this point have been the pagan sailors, and the captain is calling Jonah to start praying.
We’re not told if Jonah prays though…
In v7, The sailors then decide to cast lots to see whose fault this storm was, the lot fell to
He was stormed with barrage of questions 1:8… They questioned Jonah once again, asking him whose fault this was, what his occupation was, and where he was from.
Jonah’s response (v9) He tells them that he is a Hebrew and that he feared the Lord, the God of heaven, which we could bring to question at this moment.
Really?
Sure isn’t showing up to this point.
The one who is called the servant of the Lord in 2 Kings is doing all but serving the Lord here!
They ask Jonah what to do so their lives could be spared… Jonah tells the sailors to throw him overboard!
(1:12)
They do not listen.
They try to row ashore.
They don’t want to throw God’s prophet overboard to his death.
But they could not row back to shore.
So the sailors pray to the LORD!
They are more prayerful than Jonah!
They show faith in the Lord’s providence.
They they finally throw Jonah overboard 1:15
The shipmen throw Jonah into the sea, and the Lord answered their prayers by quieting the raging sea.
And they worship God
The Great Fish
We are told at the end of ch1 that “The Lord prepared a great fish”.
This great fish swallows Jonah, and then in ch2, we see a prayer of praise and possibly repentance while he is in the belly of the great fish.
In this prayer, he recounts the events that happened after he was thrown overboard.
He sunk and sunk.
It looked like it was going to be a certain death for Jonah for his rebellion to God.
I love the imagery.
In verse 5, he talks about the seaweed wrapping around him, and then in v6 he gives us a picture of being swallowed up by the mountains under the sea where he was going to be imprisoned.
Whenever he was beginning to feel like he was without hope, he remembered the LORD.
He prayed to God and was delivered.
The great fish that God had prepared for this moment in time came and swallowed Jonah, rescuing him from certain death.
He closes his prayer in ch2 vowing to sacrifice to the Lord and doing what he had vowed to the Lord to do - hopefully talking about his desire to obey the Lord - to go wherever the Lord calls him to prophesy.
In response to Jonah’s prayer, God instructs the great fish to vomit Jonah onto the dry ground
A Second Chance for Jonah!
CH3
The word came to Jonah once again.
Jonah and the Lord are back to square 1.
The Lord commands Jonah to go to Nineveh once again to prophesy whatever the Lord commanded him to prophesy.
This time Jonah obeys.
He did according to what the Lord commanded.
He enters this city and begins proclaiming the message: "Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Jonah didn't have to go any farther.
The people believed the message and believed in God already!
They all put on sackcloth, from the least to the greatest of them.
The word reached the king of Nineveh.
He put on sackcloth and sat on ashes, and he issued a proclamation, calling for all, man and beast alike, to wear sackcloth and to fast.
The King also commanded all men to pray to the Lord and to repent from their sin, hoping the Lord would be merciful and not fulfill the word that they had heard through Jonah.
God saw their repentance and decided not to destroy Nineveh as he said that he would.
Jonah’s trip to Nineveh is a success!
Unlike Israel and Judah later on, this pagan city repents… How do you think Jonah feels about this successful mission trip?
Jonah is Angry!
(CH4)
You would have expected Jonah to be thrilled that his preaching to these people was successful, but we are told the opposite.
He was greatly displeased that the people repented.
He still would have preferred to see the Ninevites destroyed than to see them repent!
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