Perhaps the book of Jonah teaches more on the picture of Christ and the failure of religious Christians than any other Major or Minor Prophet combined. Even Christ compared himself to Jonah, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 13:40.) What’s even more astonishing is that Jonah himself is the church of today, which ironically sits on the seat of judgment, although they should not be there altogether. Jonah teaches us not only of Messianic prophecy, but also of our role as Christians.
Historically the book of Jonah is a mystery and a hoax to many. But as anything in the Bible, there is hardly ever a time where another document does not support it. What seems hard for many to wrap their minds around is the simple story of the fish, which in reality has little to do with the story itself, other than the fact it’s God’s instrument to change Jonah’s heart. “There is not the slightest reason to stumble over the miraculous and to brand it as legend or myth…They are no more incredible than the dividing of the Red Sea, the cloudy and fiery pillar, manna from heaven, water out of the flint, or the resurrection of Christ.” (Unger, 601) The debate over if Jonah was swallowed by the “fish” is pointless compared to what the story actually tells. Most historians state that Jonah himself wrote the book, which is the most likely. Although it is written in third person, we see that the book of Exodus, written by Moses, is also written in third. Therefore destroying any argument that Jonah is a Jewish fable to warn against the gentiles.
Written in the 8th Century B.C. the book of Jonah takes place during the rule of Uzziah (Judah) and Jeroboam II (Israel). II Kings mentions Jonah as a prophet during the rule of Jeroboam II. (II Kings 14:25) This would have taken place on the cusp of Babylonian captivity. While king, Jeroboam instituted pagan gods and the worshiping of calf and ironically brings Jonah and even Amos into the picture to bring redemption to Israel, just as he would with the Assyrian Empire.
The Assyrian Empire was birthed from Nimrod in Genesis 10 from the family of Noah, Nineveh being the capital city after Sennachrib took the throne. During the time of Jonah the Assyrian empire along with its sister nation of Babylon were on the rise. The empires wreaked havoc on the Hebrew nations constantly, making a Nineveh a gentile city, and a despised neighbor to the Israelites. The city was also rich and full of fortifications placed by Sennachrib in the 8th Century B.C. “Sennachrib built a massive wall forty to fifty feet high which extended two and a half miles along the Tigris, and eight miles around the inner city. (Unger, 796.)
Jonah being the main character of the story is important because truly it is his testimony and rebellion against God that shapes it, not necessarily the rebellion of the Assyrians. In other words it’s Jonah’s lesson learned that gives the plot luster. Jonah is essentially God’s instrument, and seemingly prideful and arrogant. His persistence on not going to Nineveh is strong even after he has actually gone. Jonah knows the mercy of God like any other that has been immersed in it before, and he knows that despite all the sins of Nineveh, God can and will save them. Jonah’s carnal nature and hatred toward the city seems to block the purpose of God. Regardless it later being a mute point how God transforms and does whatever he wants.
Predictably another main character we see in the story is God. Without much introduction or historical context, God is who he is. He is the first and the last and so on. In reality it is God who moves this story, who moves Jonah, and who in the end wins, and manages to teach a lesson. Contrasting from Genesis 18, where God plans to destroy Sodom, here we see the merciful side of God. He desires the salvation of Nineveh. It’s a beautiful picture that aligns itself with the rich Messianic prophecy that lies within Jonah. God desires all men to be saved, even our enemies. “But we know that the law is good if it is used lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for the righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for the sinners…” (I Timothy 1:8-9a). Where God once had cursed a city for its lawlessness, he now reaches down with grace. This however does not change God, it merely shows that God is bigger and always desires salvation and correction.
The people of Nineveh are also characters in the book. Known to be ruthless and pagans and rebellious against God, they were the enemies of Israel. Ironically God desired their souls. In one instant God used Jonah to completely change the entire city. “Then God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God relented from the disaster that he said he would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10.)
It could also be mentioned that the merchants that traveled with Jonah are also main characters. They find themselves in a fight for their lives and are saved in the process. “So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from it’s raging. Then the men feared the Lord and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.” (Jonah 1:15-16.)
Aside from the Historical background of the story lays the plot in which God removes Jonah from his comfort zone and places him exactly where he wants him. Yet the book also serves as a warning to all Christians, that God is bigger than we want him to be, and that His love and His judgment are up to Him and completely out of our carnal control. First we see Jonah given the command from God to go to the city of Nineveh to speak the name for the Lord, in which Jonah disobeys and flees to Trashish on the complete opposite side from his original calling. Once at sea Jonah is thrown into a storm where the mariners he’s sailing with friend odd and fearful, forcing them to cast lots. “Come let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” (Jonah 1:7) Yet—the hand of the Lord was on Jonah and he was thrown into the sea after ordering the men to do so. Jonah then about to drown is swallowed by a fish where he spends three days in prayer to the Lord as he seeks mercy and forgiveness. He then is brought to dry land and told once more to go to Nineveh and to preach the word of the Lord. After doing so the entire city is saved and Jonah is mad due to the fact that his enemy has been shown the mercy of God. Jonah waits on the mountain adjacent to the city waiting for His judgment to come upon the city only to find that God has mercy and that God still cares about the people of city even against Jonah’s despise. The story ends somberly with a rhetorical question that should haunt every Christian.
Looking at the religious scene today there is a lot of mixture of the world in the church. The spiritual Jerusalem in some ways has become more like the world as it adopts Post-Modernism, and the thought that all ways are fine as long as you personally are okay with it. This is a dangerous perspective adopted by young generations as they escape to the church to cultivate an experience rather than a disciplined relationship with Christ. Quite frankly the book of Jonah is the complete opposite if this. It is proof that God is our creator and reason for life and not our best friend. Even to those like Jonah who are quick and ready for His service. God’s eternal plan and judgment is out of our grip and should be lest we be irresponsible with something we can hardly comprehend.
Essentially the book of Jonah needs to be read with the attitude that God did come for all, that God’s will is inescapable, and that we are transparently not on the same flow that God is. It reminds us that God can use whoever he wants to glorify his name, and that all he is looking for is obedience, and someone to worship him.
In application the book completely transform all religious thinking. The question at the end of Jonah is the last anyone should want to hear from God. “And Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11.) Too many times Christians camp out on the lie that they are the only ones that deserve God, which in reality is an ugly deception. Who are we to say that we deserve God? We are after all people of Nineveh, sinners and destroyers. It is because of his grace that we even got to where we are today, not because of anything we did. It shows that God loves all men and wants all men to know him, regardless if it were through the salvation of Nineveh or the destruction of Sodom. In essence it is all about Him and never about us.
Furthermore the beauty that we can go nowhere from God, and that he can use our mistakes is evident in the text. Jonah flees from the will of God and yet is carried back to it by a fish. Along his running he ends up saving men to God through his mistake. It beautifully describes His grace and that we are nowhere without Him. Not only that but it transcends our ability of thinking that we are okay on our own. God’s will is always better than anything we can conjure.
In the past I remember seeing the story of Jonah simply as God using our disobedience. But it is more than that. I love this book because it is a warning to all Christians, that God really does not need us, he just needs your obedience. Although it shows his grace, it shows that God wants someone to serve him, and in this case he sought the people of Nineveh to glorify him. Had it not been for Jonah’s turn of heart they would have not been saved, but in reality it all points back to God, which is why the story is so rich. It is not about a fish and a storm, it is about God and who he really is. It is about how we idolize comfort in him when it really is about our uncomforted spirit in glorifying him; It is about our obedience to do something we don’t want to do to see God lifted up, even if it means preaching salvation to an enemy nation.
Jonah is simply a man not scared of the will of God, but of his grace, he allowed his personal judgment to seat itself in front of God’s command, and yet Christ likens himself to Jonah. I can only imagine Christ on the cross, knowing that we would still all betray him and that we would all fall short, much like Jonah as he sat on the mountain, and yet God desired us to be saved. Jonah is the clear picture of Christ in the Minor Prophets; the book is a warning to Christians that we must love all men as Christ loved us, and that we must see God as our savior and not our friend.
Works Cited
Extreme Teen Study Bible NKJV. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999. Print.
Unger, Merrill F. "Jonah." Unger's Bible Dictionary. Third Edtion. Paperback ed. 1983. Print.
Unger, Merrill F. "Nineveh." Unger's Bible Dictionary. Third Edtion. Paperback ed. 1983. Print.
