Jonah (Part 1)
Jonah (Part 1)
Most Christians and even a lot of non-Christians have heard of Jonah. When we think of Jonah most remember him as the guy who was swallowed by the whale.
The whole book of Jonah is only contains about 48 verses. Even though the book is a small one I believe there are some powerful messages and lessons for us to look and hopefully learn, so over the next few weeks I’d like to look at and pick apart this little book.
First of all, who was Jonah? Jonah was a man of God, one of His prophets who served sometime between 800-750 BC. In Bible history it was during the time of the divided kingdom after the Jewish nation split in two with Israel to the north and Judah to the south.
As with it was with his two predecessors, Elijah and Elisha, Jonah also ministered in and to Israel. He prophesied in the Northern Kingdom during the reign of Israel’s King Jeroboam II.
2 Kings 14:25 it shows us that Jonah had proven his prophetic abilities when he prophesied that King Jeroboam II with the Lord’s help would restore Israel to her former boundaries, which had been taken away. Even though Israel was sinning against God and following the idolatry established by the first king Jeroboam God still chose to have mercy upon them (or at least for a while).
And because Jonah had encouraged their success in expanding their borders, Jonah, the non-controversial, patriotic, prophet probably had all of Northern Israel rejoicing with him because of his popular prophecies.
But then the famous prophet from Galilee was then told by God to perform another successful mission, …..but he did not like this one at all!
He was to become the only Old Testament prophet on record who God sent to a heathen nation with a message of repentance. He would become Israel’s first foreign missionary. (Read Jonah 1:1-3) “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
3 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.“
So why did Jonah refuse to go to Nineveh when God commanded him to do so, even turning and running in the opposite direction. What was it about Nineveh and those people that cause Jonah to act like this and run away?
Among the cities of the ancient world in the days of divided Israel, one of the greatest was Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian realm. Founded on the fertile bank of the Tigris, soon after the dispersion story of the tower of Babel, it had flourished through the centuries until it had become an exceeding great city. It had walls 100 feet high and 50 feet thick, and was over 7 1/2 miles long. The total population was probably about 600,000—including the people who lived in the suburbs outside the city walls (cf. 4:11). The residents were idolaters and worshipped Asur and Ishtar, the chief male and female deities, as did almost all the Assyrians. If you recall, Assyria was a major threat to Israel’s security and would eventually conquer Israel in 740 BC and carry them off in 722 because of their sin. It was not too many years after this story took place. I thought this fact was quite interesting.
In the time of its temporal prosperity Nineveh was a center of crime and wickedness. It was called “the bloody city, . . . full of lies and robbery.” In figurative language the prophet Nahum calls it as city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims, enslaving nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft ” Nahum 3:1 & 4.
One commentator wrote: “The Assyrian Empire, was at its greatest under Ashurbanipa. It reached from Egypt to southeastern Turkey to Iran, including all the fertile river valleys of the Nile, the Jordan, and the Tigris and Euphrates. This was the largest empire yet seen in the world; and it got there using a new military weapon: and that was terror.”
He said that, “The Assyrian army was notorious for its brutality, and the Assyrians themselves made sure their enemies knew about their reputation. Their powerful bows, battering rams, and archers on horseback were also effective; but mutilation of prisoners, resettlement of whole populations, and a general rejoicing in butchery were what their victims told others about. The Assyrian kings even bragged in stone about their atrocities.
Captives were brought to the king on his throne nearby. Other prisoners were stabbed, skinned alive, beheaded, impaled on poles, their hands, feet, or tongues chopped off, and eyes were put out. They were blood thirsty and cruel as one could get.”
In Chapter 4 we read why Jonah ran in the opposite direction. It was because he knew God too well and he knew that He would forgive even these people if they humbled themselves and repented. Jonah did not want that to happen.
If you look at the beginning of chapter 4 you read after Nineveh does repent Jonah was really upset and angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
It made Jonah sick that God would think about forgiving them, but God knew something about them that Jonah did not; Nineveh, wicked as it had become, was not wholly given over to evil.
He who “beholdeth all the sons of men” (Ps 33:13) and “seeth every precious thing” (Job 28:10) perceived in that city many who were reaching out for something better and higher, and who, if granted an opportunity to learn of the living God, would put away their evil deeds and worship Him. And so in His wisdom God wanted to reveal Himself to them thru Jonah, to lead them, if possible, to repentance.
But because Jonah knew that God was a forgiving God, he chose not go to Nineveh and ran in the opposite direction. Simply put, I believe that Jonah wanted to see that city and every last person in it destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah.
They were the enemy of his people, the ones that would eventually conquer them. Perhaps Jonah had actually seen some of those cruel, ruthless, bloody thirsty Ninevites periodically raiding his people. Perhaps he had even suffered the loss of loved ones at the hands of these merciless people.
In the ancient world, they held the record for the bloodiest and most vicious kinds of cruelty, and I’m sure Jonah hated them. The one thing that he wanted more than anything else was to see them wiped out.
Yet when God told him to go announce to Nineveh its destruction if they did not repent. So he tried to flee to Tarshish.
This whole idea of God being that gracious is amazing, isn’t it? Jonah really did understand God. What a revelation for us, concerning the character of God! He can and will forgive even the worst of us if we humble ourselves and truly repent of our ways. (pedophiles, rapists, murderers, liars, drug pushers, adulterers …)
Some people just don’t see God in that light. Some believe that God in the Old Testament was a vengeful, wrathful God, always was killing people off. Well, do you find that here? That is not the kind of God that Jonah knew. He says, “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love.”
But despite what he knew about God he runs in the opposite direction. Vs. 3 says, ”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.”Actually Tarshish is about 1500 mile in the opposite direction.
So here we begin see Jonah’s rebellion against God. There are a couple of things you should consider here:
#1, Jonah was actually a good guy, a religious man, a holy man.
But here we see that he is now a rebellious man.
Just as a side note, Rebellion is simply saying “no” to God. It when we don’t obey what He wants us to do!
Someone once said, “You are never farther from God than when you’re close to Him, but say “No.”
There are a lot of Godly people who look like they are walking with God in every way, but then there is some area where they say “no” to Him, or like Jonah, they simply don’t want to do something God wants them to do and try to avoid it, or run away from Him.
- Maybe for you is a relationship that you know is not pleasing to God, but you won’t give it up… ● Maybe there is a sacrifice God has put on your heart to make (money or something else you have) but you don’t want to let it go… ● Maybe it’s a sacrifice time or God has put it on your heart, or to forgive someone but you don’t. Or maybe give up a particular bad habit but you don’t.
You are never farther from God than when you are close to Him and say “No.”
Another thing I noticed in this verse is that he seemingly found a ship all ready to go. Did you ever notice that people assume that “the readiness of a ship” is like an OK on God’s part to go?
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who is clearly doing something contrary to the will of God but they say something like, “But look, see how this other thing working so well. I guess I don’t have to do that.”
Let me tell you something, ‘If you want to run from God, there will always be a ship ready to sail in another direction.’ We have an enemy whose whole role is to ‘ready the ship’ for your disobedience!
Or what about this: Some may say ‘I have peace in my heart about doing this other thing,’ as if the peace in your heart is God’s OK for you to disobey Him or gives you permission to overrides His word to you in your life.
I believe one of Satan’s primary goals is to make us feel good and give us peace about doing the wrong thing. Even from the beginning in Gen. 3, that first temptation assured Eve that it was OK to eat that fruit. It’s good food. It would make her wise and she wouldn’t die. He helped her feel good and gave her peace about disobeying God command.
When asked why she did what she did, she said that she had been deceived; and I believe that she was… just like the rest of us who know better but disobey God anyway because if just feels right.
That peace you feel in your heart is probably not God affirming what you are doing, it just may be the devil numbing your conscious as he leads you down the wrong path.
And how do I know Jonah felt OK about getting on that boat? Because in the next couple of verses he seemed relaxed enough to get a good night sleep. (Read vss. 4-5) “Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.“
If Jonah was bothered, I mean REALLY bothered by doing this he would not have been able to sleep like this. Do you sleep well when something really bothers you?
Jonah was a great man, even a great servant of our Lord, but even great men and women can make big mistakes and be led astray or make bad choices.
So my suggestion for you today as we begin this study, is to be careful not to let your feelings or even you own peace of mind be a guide for your life, rather look to God’s word, because if you are not careful you can feel good about doing the wrong thing.
Twice in Proverbs Solomon wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (Prov. 14:12 & 16:25)
If you are not sure about what you are doing search the scriptures, or ask others spiritual individual what they think.
And one last side note; that peace you may experience by avoiding doing what God want you to do will only be temporary. It was for Eve, it was for Jonah and everyone else who choose to sidestep God’s will. In the end what you sow will reap its own harvest. Do you know what I am talking about?
My advise for you today, Trust God, and trust His word even more than your own feelings. “Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding (or peace), submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:5-6)
For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566
All comments can be emailed to: bfronzek@gmail.com
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