Many people approach the story of Jonah as a big fishing story – a great story but hard to swallow as true.
One could conclude the book of Jonah is a historically reliable document if presented with enough facts:
The book does not say who wrote it. It is unlikely that Jonah was the author. The story is not very favourable towards Jonah. No writer in the Bible tells such a bad story about himself.
Until the middle of the 19th century, the Bible was the only historical source for knowledge of parts of Asia before about 550 B.C. Only the Bible had anything to say about a period of history that stretched back into the past. In the bible peoples and names cropped up about which even the Greeks and Romans no longer knew anything. Before Nineveh was discovered in the 1800's we only had the biblical record of its existence.
Jonah was a prophet in the land of Israel about 800-750 BC. During this time Israel shared its northern border with Syria. When the army of Syria defeated the army of Israel in war, it took some of Israel’s land. Then the army of the country of Assyria defeated Syria in war, which made Syria weak. Then Jeroboam the King of Israel from 793-753 BC was able to get his land back. Jonah had said that God would cause this to happen (2 Kings 14:25). Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian who referenced these events and Jonah. However, when the people of Israel won battles against their enemies, they became proud of their power. The people forgot the special relationship that Israel had with God.
It was at this time that the Lord sent Jonah to the city of Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of the land of Assyria. God wanted Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh that He was going to punish them soon because of their evil lives.
Although the people of Nineveh did repent at the preaching of Jonah, their ancestors did not follow in their footsteps. Zephaniah (2:13-15) foretold the destruction of Nineveh around 640c-609 BC, which is about 145 years after Jonah. According to a chronicle of the Babylonian King Nebopolassar, the united forces of the Chaldeans and the Medians destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC which is somewhere between 3- 28 years after Zephaniah foretold of its destruction.
As to Jonah being swallowed by a big sea creature, one thing to consider is that there are at least two known instances of this happening. BUT then again who cares? Do we need the miracles of the Bible to happen again in order to believe? The idea of a miracle is that it is a unique and otherwise unexplainable event. Only one man ever returned from the Dead and ascended to heaven and yet here we are believing!
So, why is Jonah so important? When asked for a sign that He was the Son of God Jesus declared, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40 NIV
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. Jonah 1:1-3 NIV
I find it interesting that the book of Jonah begins with the statement - “the word of the Lord came to Jonah.” Why is that interesting? Because Jonah doesn’t listen to God. Jonah was a prophet. Listening to God and doing what HE asked was part of his job! The book doesn’t begin by saying the word of the Lord came to Jonah, but he questioned its validity. The Bible says the Word came – Jonah knew the Messenger and the Message - and he didn’t listen.
Sometimes it is really hard to understand human behavior. Even today it is hard to understand. I think at least trying to understand why Jonah having received a message from God chose to not listen and run away is at least comprehendible.
1. Bias. Simply put, Jonah did not like the Assyrians. The idea of passing by was more appealing than getting dirty – a precursor to the Good Samaritan Parable perhaps?
2. Grace is great when you receive it. But when you are asked to practice grace yourself it isn’t particular fun.
Jonah would like God to destroy Nineveh – they deserve it. I strongly believe Jonah didn’t want the Assyrians in Nineveh to escape God’s judgment. He simply wanted the aggressors to get what was coming to them, understandable, right? But if I go, God will show them grace. I (can I make the letter I any bigger?) do not want that.
3. Defiance. I just don’t want to. We see this in our children - “I don’t want to do that!” But there is much of the same in our lives as adults – call it defiance – call it being stubborn – call it being set in our ways – whatever it is – we just refuse to do what we are asked to do.
I think perhaps that all three of these reasons played into Jonah’s response. But why is this story important to us today?
I believe God still speaks to us today and we need to learn to listen. We need to learn to not be Jonah. Isn’t that true in our lives so of our best examples are the bad ones we learn from – we just have to choose to learn the right stuff from the bad examples.
Here is what I hope we can learn from Jonah:
1. God’s word reaches us at our level just as it did Jonah. That is one of the amazing things about God. God stoops to our level. God comes to us. In the condition that we are in – in the places that we are – God speaks.
2. God still speaks today. One way that God speaks to us is through what I call “the ought to” – that is the time when we know what we ought to do. We know it in our heart and in our head. We didn’t learn it and it certainly makes no sense, but we know we ought to. (IE be compassionate, caring, kind, loving, forgiving, be quiet, etc)
3. When we are honest, we all want to “hear” God speak to us. But the problem with God speaking to most of us is that we are not quiet long enough to allow God to speak and we are not prepared to hear Him speak into our lives.
It is easy to discuss and theorize Jonah’s reasons for not doing what God told him to do, but what is our reason?
My question for you is: “What is keeping you from listening to God?”
As the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts Hebrews 3:7-8 NIV
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