Jonah

by K.H. Riley, Wembley | Category: Profiles Of The Prophets | Nov 1978

The book of Jonah has probably been attacked and ridiculed more than any other part of the Scriptures. Even Josephus wrote in apologetic tones of the book and would not commit himself to believing the story when he recorded Jewish history for his Roman masters. For those who wanted to keep it in the Scriptures but not acknowledge its veracity, the book has been treated as an allegory and many and varied have been the interpretations placed upon it, the most common being that Israel should cease to be inward-looking and realize more its evangelistic responsibilities towards its neighbours. The born-again believer, however, will accept completely the veracity of the book because the Lord Jesus gave it His seal when He said, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:40 R.V.M.). Thus from the lips of the One who could say, "I am ... the truth" we have all the confirmation we need that the book should command our close attention.

Jonah came from Gath-hepher, a village between Nazareth and Cana. He was thus of the tribe of Zebulun and a native of Galilee. Re lived during the days of Jeroboam II (c. 793-753 B.C.) and was used of God to tell that king of the expansion of Israel's borders (2 Kin. 14:25). With Assyria pre-occupied on other fronts these were days of economic prosperity and territorial expansion for Israel but God knew that, in His purposes, the Assyrians were to come down upon the ten tribes and lead them into a captivity from which they would never return. This was to happen in 721 B.C., probably within 50 years of Jonah receiving his commission to go to Nineveh, "that great city" established by Nimrod and notorious for its violence (Jonah 3:8). God was about to visit upon Israel a long captivity and in His all-seeing wisdom was preparing the way. Many and grievous would be the cries of a captive people for mercy to be shown by their captors "and it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer" (Isa. 65:24). God was working His purposes out and Jonah was only one of the tools He was using and he probably never lived to see the reason for his mission.

It is clear that the prophet argued with God when the call first came. "Was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country" (Jonah 4:1,2). It was in his own country that Jonah firs~ received the message for Nineveh and he apparently disputed the terms, saying in effect, "You are too merciful to destroy Nineveh with its vast population". But the persistency of the message continued and Jonah "rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD". Whether this was the Tarshish in Spain or Tarsus in Cilicia (per Josephus) is irrelevant. It was a long way from Gath-hepher and from Israel. Jeremiah eloquently tells of the effect on a prophet of an undeclared message: "And if I say, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His Name, then there is in mine heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain" (Jer. 20:9). Amos puts it more picturesquely, "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" (Amos 3:8). Jonah should have been just as affected as those two prophets but "the fear of man bringeth a snare" (Prov. 29:25) and the message was left unsaid. Jonah, with his deep knowledge of the Psalms (see the many quotations in chapter 2) would have known that it was impossible to get away from God (Psa. 139:9,10) but he hoped to avoid the all-pervading presence of God that he experienced in the land of Israel. Thus he went down to Joppa. Physically there was no other way he could go when he left his native hills of Galilee for the sea-shore of Joppa; and spiritually, when a man leaves the presence of God there is no other way he can go but downwards. Mark the downward steps of the prophet "from the presence of the Lord ... down to Joppa ... found a ship... going to Tarshish... paid the fare... went down into it... to go with them... down into the innermost parts of the ship ... and was fast asleep". At every stage of this downward path God was, as it were, giving him the opportunity to turn back to his mission. But no, Jonah "paid the fare" and was prepared to forfeit his life rather than forfeit his money. So deadened was he to that innermost voice that he fell into a trance-like sleep from which even the terrible storm could not awake him.

It is here that God launches the first of His special armoury of weapons, of which the sea-monster was only one, to effect His purposes through Jonah. A great wind, such as the hardy Phoenician sailors had never experienced, hit the ship bringing terror to all aboard. Jonah is dragged from his bed and his first sight of the storm and the terror of the seamen makes him realize that it was his cause that brought so much evil on his fellow men. The sailors cast the lots but though "the lot is cast into the lap ... the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD" (Prov. 16:32). Jonah is now confronted by a handful of sailors who stare death in the face. God is giving him the opportunity of preaching to a few Gentiles to prepare him for the preaching to thousands in Nineveh. Jonah takes up the challenge and testifies to those men of the greatness of his God would that we did the same more often when we too are face to face with our fellow men who tread that same road to dusty death. God in His turn honours His promise to all who call upon Him no matter who the preacher is. Jonah may not have been where God wanted him to be but the message is still blessed. Even so today, God blesses the work of all who serve Him, even if they have not seen the way to the house of God. Mark at this point Jonah's attitude to human life - he must be "thrown into the sea". There is no question of a suicidal jump - Jonah knew he had no right to take his own life and that those men whose lives he had imperilled must take that irrevocable step. The result of the calming waters was to calm the minds of those sailors even as the calmed waters of Galilee stilled the anxious fears of the disciples. From then on, Jehovah was to be the God of these sailors and all false idols were to be dethroned. Maybe the captain put the ship back to Joppa for repairs and saw Jonah again after his ordeal in the fish. If so, the crew would have told him of the great calm that fell when Jonah was thrown overboard and would have heard in return of Jonah's miraculous preservation. God blessed that ship indeed and all who sailed in her.

The great fish prepared by God did its work. It provided a home for Jonah in which he could think out his position. There is no doubt that the days in the fish permanently marked Jonah as it has permanently marked other men who have had shorter experiences of the interior of seamonsters. Jonah's prayer in chapter 2 may be a summary of the many petitions that went up from this strangest of all prophets' chambers. The calming scriptures of the Psalms came time and again to his remembrance and are recorded imperishably in his prayer that ends with the realization to which myriads have been brought - "Salvation is of the Lord". Only the Lord who put him there can release him and this He did in His time and Jonah is vomited out upon dry land.

Jonah is now a man fully prepared for the Lord's work. He now goes to Nineveh without further argument, ready to preach against it. It would appear that the walls of Nineveh were circular and of such length that it would have taken three days to traverse them. Jonah may well have taken the west-east road across the diameter of the city which would thus have been a journey of one day. During that day, one can picture him stopping at each north-south intersection and giving Nineveh, forty days notice of its destruction. Many are the mentions of periods of forty in the Scriptures (Gen. 7:4; Exod. 24:18; Num. 14:33,34; l Sam .4:18; Matt. 4:2 and many others) and they invariably speak of a time of probation or testing. Thus it was with Nineveh, and the message from the marked man went home to the hearts of the people. We have already referred to the words of the Lord Jesus likening Jonah's time in the sea-monster to His time in the heart of the earth and Paul in Rom. 6:3,4 speaking of baptism says, "all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. We were buried therefore with Him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead ..., so we also might walk in newness of life".

Baptized believers should, like Jonah, be marked men. If we were more so would not our testimony be as effective as Jonah's? As the common people of Nineveh looked on Jonah and heard his message repentance began with them and spread upwards through the nobles to the king who ordered a time of national repentance and mourning the effects of which spread even to the cattle, until all Nineveh is prostrate before the God with whom all have to deal.

It is in the last chapter that we see the anger and frustration of Jonah which caused C. H. Spurgeon, the great London preacher of the nineteenth century, to refer to him as "that unlovable prophet". But God loved him and, having prepared two special instruments to bring him to Nineveh, now prepares two more to move him to pity for the people. Jonah no doubt is angry at his own loss of face. He had foretold the destruction of Nineveh and that destruction had not come about. His very credibility as a prophet was at stake. His prophecy to Jeroboam had been fulfilled but that to Nineveh had not and Jonah feels that God has let him down although at no time does he appear to have any anger or animosity towards the people of Nineveh. His anger is directed solely against God who now shows him that divine love and pity are not reserved exclusively for Israel but for all repentant creatures. A gourd grows remarkably quickly to provide a shelter for the prophet - possibly its growth hastened on by unexpected rains which may themselves have been harbingers of the relief of Nineveh. How glad Jonah is of the shade the gourd gives from the hot sun which, with his displeasure, has combined to put him in an evil temper, but a worm, also prepared by God, destroys the gourd as quickly as it grew. God then brings home to the prophet the lesson He wanted to teach him. Jonah has done the work he was sent to do and I suggest that Israel's coming generation were to rejoice that God had prepared the hearts of the people of Nineveh to eschew violence and receive more gently than they otherwise would, a captive people. The ten tribes were to be chastised through the captivity, but it was not God's purpose that this chastisement should be tenfold worse at the hands of an Assyrian people chafing at the destruction of their chief city as foretold by a Hebrew prophet.

Return to Galilee, Jonah. Your work is done. Yes, out of Galilee a prophet can arise (John 7:52) and in the fulness of time a greater than Jonah will arise from those same Galilean hills with a message not only for Israel but for the whole world.

K.H. Riley, Wembley | Nov 1978
Profiles Of The Prophets