Jonah is such a well-known story. A lot of unbelievers know of “Jonah and the whale.” Only … there’s no actual mention of a whale … and that’s just the beginning of the difficulties with the story of Jonah. Remember the story? God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and “cry against it” (Jonah 1:2). So … Jonah got on a ship and ran. It wasn’t in the direction God commanded, so “YHWH hurled a great wind on the sea” (Jonah 1:4) and the ship was in trouble. Terrified, the crew cast lots to find out who was to blame, and it fell on Jonah. He confessed and told them to throw him overboard (Jon 1:9-12) which they eventually did. The text says God “appointed a great fish” to swallow Jonah (Jonah 1:17) where he remained for three days and nights. Jonah then prayed (Jonah 2:1-9). Most people think it was a prayer of repentance, but the text only offers a prayer of thanksgiving (Jonah 2:9). And the fish coughs him up a three-day walk from Nineveh. He goes to Nineveh, telling them God will “overthrow” Nineveh in 40 days and Nineveh repents and God shows mercy. (Jonah 3:3-10). That’s the story. So why do we misunderstand so many parts?
There are several misconceptions that change the entire message of the story. One is the whale, but that misconception is minor. It was a “great fish,” not necessarily a whale. In the New Testament, when Jesus quotes the story, He calls it a “sea monster” (Matt 12:40 NAS). Some people think that the whale is the point. It’s not. The fish is an act of discipline and mercy, not escape.
Moving on, we think Jonah ran from God. Maybe he was afraid to do what God wanted or he was afraid of what Nineveh would do to him. We aren’t left to guess. Jonah tells God why he ran. “I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” (Jonah 4:2). God’s man ran from God’s mercy for Nineveh. Think of that. Jonah was angry with God—angry enough to run—because of God’s mercy. He didn’t believe God should be merciful to Nineveh. Do we do that? Are we upset when God chooses to show mercy to some of whom we don’t approve?
The text says God “saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented” (Jonah 3:10). So, apparently God’s compassion is reserved for the repentant. But we know this isn’t true. “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom 9:16). Jonah knew this. He knew God loved being merciful. Don’t conclude from the text that Nineveh in any way earned their mercy.
Another misconception is in regard to Nineveh’s repentance. It was genuine and lasting, right? Well, no. Nahum is “the oracle of Nineveh” (Nahum 1:1) in which God's wrath is eventually unleashed against the evil city. We tend to think God responds to perfect repentance and it’s not true. He chooses whom He will gift with repentance (2 Tim 2:24-25). He shows mercy on whom He will show mercy. The quality of our repentance doesn't determine God's mercy.
The story is a good one (obviously, since it’s in God’s Word). It’s true. (Jesus wouldn’t have quoted it if He didn’t think it was true.) The whole “swallowed by a fish” thing causes concerns for some, but if God is God, He can do whatever He wants and it’s foolishness of moderns to assume He can’t. Most importantly, we mustn’t allow skepticism about fish and why he ran to blind us to the real message. God loves to show mercy. He does it in ways we don’t expect. We must not be “Jonahs” who run from God’s mercy toward people of whom we don’t approve.
5 comments:
When people, even Christians, get upset with the idea that God could have ever forgiven someone like Hitler, I think of the story of Jonah and Nineveh. To Jonah, Nineveh was Hitler. But God proves He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. We don't get to decide that. We should, in fact, rejoice in any of God's mercy, because compared to Jesus, we are all as unrighteous as Hitler.
As for the "fish", how can anyone that believes in a God that created everything from nothing, became incarnate, raised people from the dead, made the sun stand still in the heavens, would struggle with the idea of God having made some sort of sea creature swallow Jonah and then protect Jonah from the digestive process?
Elsewhere, I have seen Jonah called both “the reluctant prophet” and “the runaway prophet” (and he certainly was “the imperfect prophet”). I am a bit confounded that a man would receive such an urgent and life-changing message from the Lord and not rush to deliver it. I would expect that the prophet’s heart would be on fire to reach people with the good news of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Who would hesitate to confront sinners with their unrighteousness and then urge them to repent? Oh, wait ….
“Are we upset when God chooses to show mercy to some of whom we don’t approve?” This too is a perplexing notion, but again, as above, I can totally relate. If one holds the faulty view that we achieved God’s favor due to our innate goodness, we can easily feel condemnation against “worse offenders” than us; but if we recognize that we are the beneficiaries of God’s great mercy, we will rejoice when other sinners--even big, offensive ones--find the same pardon we enjoy. I thank God that someone, 49.5 years ago, obeyed God and spoke boldly to me about my sin and God’s free gift of forgiveness!
David, I read a short story written in modern times about a father and his daughter. They were diving and she got swallowed by a sea creature. In this story, it was the very same one, created especially by God for Jonah, still alive because it was prepared by God. His daughter was watered and fed and kept safe inside until three days later she was returned to him. Kind of fun.
Good parallel with the Hitler thought. I remember Christians complaining when Jeffrey Dahmer died in prison and those who knew him said he was with Christ because he had turned his life over to Him. Same idea. "HE could be saved?" Yes ... he could. So could I. Which is more remarkable? I"m not sure.
The thought I always have when people balk at someone like Dahmer professing faith in prison and presumably being born-again is this: When we hear of a horrible person like he clearly was, doing the awful things he did, is not our primary response, “He deserves hell! Man, does he need God in his life! I hope he repents of his horrible deeds and turns to Christ, the monster!” Then when he does, we don’t rejoice at that? That’s crazy.
Lorna, far too often we fall into the category of the first servant in the parable of the two servants, where the first is forgiven an insane debt, but then demands full repayment of a lesser debt from another servant. Far too often, we fail to see the massive debt paid on our behalf, and that leads to not allowing those we deem "worse" forgiveness.
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