Oh Jonah

Jonah 1 to 4

Jonah is written around the time of Jeroboam II, when Asyrria was a threat to the North and Jeroboam has taken back some of what was conquered in the wars that preceded his reign.

Jonah is a contemporary of Elisha.   I didn’t know that. 

The NIV notes share the Jonah was written around 800BC, and that while Elisha spoke to the king concerning future victories over Damascus, Jonah prophesied about the restoration of Israel’s borders under Jeroboam.   But soon after Israel triumphed she began to gloat over her new-found power.  Israel felt jealously complacent about her favored status with God when she was relieved of foreign pressures. Relief that had come in accordance with encouraging words from Jonah and Elisha.

Amos and Hosea were also sent to minister to Israel during this time and climate announcing that the LORD would “spare them no longer” and would send them into exile beyond Damascus to Asyrria.

And this sets the table for Jonah’s entry.  Like Naaman’s story, Jonah nestles into the timeline of Israel, and takes on a new dimension. This is the impact of reading God’s Story chronologically.  

So it’s neat to read this part of history through some new eyes and to learn more about the history and heart of Israel during these lives and times.  To think and realize that Israel was not constantly on a battle fields shedding blood or busy toppling each other off thrones, though single chapters with that much activity can lead us to imagine that.  Soaking in Kings and Chronicles for so many days. 

The style of Jonah is similar to the Elijah and Elisha accounts and it may come from the same prophetic circles that originally composed those accounts.   As I read this in the notes it helped make some of the little stories mentioned about Elisha make way more sense.  Of course, those would pique the interest of fellow prophets!  Making the axe-head float?  The dead Israelite man who came back to life after his body was tossed into Elisha’s tomb and touched his bones?  Also, style wise, Jonah is a complete stand-alone story, very much like Ruth.   Deep and rich.

This story about God sending Jonah to an Assyrian king, occupying Nineveh which is full of Israelites. Nineveh, the made the capital city of Assyria.   Ch 1:2 “To go and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Him.”   This is also the story of Jonah who runs away from the LORD and does not want to go.  He hops on the first available ship to flee from the LORD (Ch 1:3).

There are so many interesting details, about God and about devotion and about disregard for God’s Word, His sending, His people, and one’s own feelings about such things.  All the varied characters playing roles. So many NIV notes that say it so much better than I can.  Food for thought.

·         The pagan ship’s captain, whose concern for everyone on board contrasts with the believing prophet’s refusal to carry God’s warning to Nineveh.

·         Though Jonah’ makes thoroughly orthodox statements, he refuses to fulfill his divine mission to Nineveh. (I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. Ch 1:9)

·         Ch 1:12 “Throw me into the sea.” Jonah’s readiness to die to save the terrified sailors contrasts with his later callous departure from Nineveh to watch from a safe distance while the city perishes – at least he hopes it will perish.

·         The reluctance of the sailors to throw Jonah into the sea stands in sharp contrast to Jonah’s reluctance to warn Nineveh of impending judgement. 

·         There is no evidence that the sailors renounce their own gods, like Naaman, after recognizing God’s power.

·         Jonah utters a psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance from death in Ch 2.  He recalls his prayer for help as he was sinking. His gratitude is heightened by his knowledge that he deserved death but that God had shown him extraordinary mercy. 

·         Jonah is familiar with the praise literature of the Psalms.

·         Jonah recognized that the sailors are agents of God’s judgment to him.

·         Jonah’s second confessional statement is the climax of his prayer “Salvation comes from the LORD, What I have vowed I will make good.” Ch 2:9

·         Reluctantly, Jonah obeys, and brings a word of warning to Nineveh. 

·         Genuinely, the Ninevites turn to God.  And yet, it may be just as temporary as the worship and acknowledgment of the sailors.

·         God often responds in mercy to man’s repentance by canceling threatened punishment.

·         In Chapter 4 we read about how angry Jonah was that God would show mercy to Israel’s enemies.  He wanted God’s goodness to be shown only to Israel, not to Gentiles. 

·         Jonah is happy about the mercy God shows him, but not to this stubborn city.

·         God was “slow to anger” while Jonah angered quickly.

·         He sounds just like Elijah “Take away my life.” Ch 4:3 “for it is better for me to die than to live.”  Jonah shortly before had rejoiced in his deliverance from death, but now that Nineveh lives, he prefers to die.

·         And with the vine, God graciously comforts his stubbornly defiant prophet. 

·         God has the first word and He has the last.  The commission He gave Jonah displayed his mercy and compassion for the Ninevites, and his last word to Jonah emphatically proclaims that concern for every creature.  He takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires rather that they turn from their ways and live.” (Eze 33:11)

·         Jonah and his countrymen traditionally rejoiced in God’s special mercies to Israel but wished only His wrath on their enemies.  God here rebukes such hardness and proclaims His own gracious benevolence. 

So many little contrasting details and pieces of stories that play out.  About God’s heart and His love and mercy for His people.  His Treasure.   Stories that show there is so much hope for stubborn human hearts.