Jonah: Mission Improbable

by REID, A. | Category: Minor Prophets? Major Issues! | Feb 2006

At the centre of the book of Jonah stand the words, ‘"Salvation comes from the LORD"‘ (2:9). Many suggest that this is the main theme of the book, illustrating God’s love to the Gentiles as well as His chosen people Israel. Yet the book of Jonah is as much about the man as the message.

Jonah was a reluctant prophet, one who was angry at the success of his own preaching. An odd attitude indeed for a prophet of God. What improbable mission had God given Jonah to cause him to react in this way?

Jonah was instructed to preach against Nineveh the capital of the Assyrian empire, so why was he reluctant to obey? The problem, as far as the prophet was concerned, was the nature of the people he was instructed to preach to. The Assyrian empire of Jonah’s day was a military superpower, whose battle tactics were of the most barbaric and brutal kind. Countless prisoners were cruelly slain in the course of Assyrian conquests; a kind of psychological warfare designed to cow their enemies. This aggressive military power was a real danger to Israel, a threat to her very existence.

Now that the wickedness of Assyria had come up before God (Jonah 1:2), and they were ripe for judgement, would Jonah not have been happy to thunder out the judgements of God against such a cruel nation? It appears that he would have been glad to do just that if judgement was to be the outcome. But Jonah knew the nature of the God he served, a God who did not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek.18:23,32), even a people as wicked as the Assyrians. Jonah knew that if Nineveh repented, God would forgive rather than judge, and Jonah wanted judgement.

Jonah stands in contrast to Abraham. When the outcry over the sin of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah reached God and their impending judgement was revealed to Abraham, that man too knew the nature of the God he served, but appealed to that gracious nature that people might be spared (Gen.18:20-23).

It is strange that Jonah, who in his prayer from inside the great fish criticizes pagans for turning their backs on the grace of God (2:8), should wish to deny that grace to repentant sinners. Jonah seems to have harboured the idea that God’s blessings should be restricted to Israel alone.

Perhaps in our times Jonah would be called a racist and a bigot, someone whose personal prejudice was warping his appreciation of the grace of God. It seems incredible that the prophet was angry when God showed mercy to Nineveh (4:1). His repeated requests to die show that he was wallowing in self-pity to the extent of defying God.

God challenged Jonah’s anger and showed him how unwarranted his attitude was. In the incident of the vine God asked Jonah if he was right to be angry about the destruction of the plant. When Jonah claimed that he was justified, God contrasted his concern for an ephemeral plant with his indifference to the fate of at least 120,000 souls (4:5-11).

Could we be like Jonah in some of our attitudes? Is there a personal Nineveh we have to face up to? We may understand the import of the great commission to go into all the world (Mat.28:18-20), yet entertain thoughts that there are some groups of people who are not deserving of the grace of God, such as terrorists, suicide bombers and fanatics whose misdirected zeal causes so much pain. Or perhaps we are happy and secure in the knowledge of our own salvation, but feel no compunction to take the good news to others.

Perhaps the real lesson of the book of Jonah is that all our personal hang-ups, prejudices and self-centredness must be made subordinate to the will of God. Let us reflect on the fact that Jonah sat down to watch, hoping that the wrath of God would be poured out on a sinful city, but Jesus, outside another city, looked down from the cross to the end that the fountain of God’s grace would flow out to a guilty world. Which attitude do we display?

(Quotes and references are from the NIV)

REID, A. | Feb 2006
Minor Prophets? Major Issues!