“Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying…” Jonah 1:1
Perhaps there is no better way to begin a study on the book of Jonah then with the beginning of Francis Thompson’s, 1890 poem, The Hound of Heaven.
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat—and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet—
‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.’
The poem concludes with the following words,
"All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child’s mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’"
What do you think of when you think of Jonah? If you have kids of a certain age, you may
think of Vegetales, before they went woke. If you asked anyone, believing or unbelieving alike what they think of when they think of Jonah, most, without hesitation would say, “a big fish.”
It’s truly amazing when you think about it. Jonah is one of the most recognizable cats in the Old Testament. Just to put that into perspective, let me throw out some other heavy hitters:
Adam – the first man created and the patriarch and covenant representative of mankind. Noah – the builder of the ark and the one that God used to repopulate the earth after the
worldwide flood.
Abraham – the father of the faithful.
Moses – Israel’s great deliverer.
Joshua – Israel’s great conqueror.
David – Israel’s great king and the man after God’s own heart.
Solomon – the wisest man alive.
just to name a few…and then there is Jonah.
What did Jonah do? Was it anything to speak of, or better yet, was it anything to emulate? As a book, Jonah is only 48 verses long, and is one of the minor prophets…in saying minor, we are certainly not saying that he is not important, but as a piece of literature the minor prophets get lost in the shuffle…don’t believe me – name the rest of the minor prophets now and see how far you get….But Jonah is always remembered.
Jonah is a prophet, but there is very little by way of prophecy in Jonah. In fact, the only direct prophecy in Jonah comes in chapter three verse four, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” and by the time we get to the end of the book, we know very little about him, other than the fact that he is ticked off with God. Why aren’t we told more about Jonah? Because in a very real sense, Jonah is not about Jonah at all.
Jonah is not about a big fish, but a big God. Jonah is not about the word that comes to Jonah, but about the God who is the Word. Jonah is not about a wayward prophet, but a persistent and faithful God. Jonah is not about an angry/bitter prophet, but about a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…whose love is even extended to the Gentiles…Jonah is not about a mighty tempest, but about a God who speaks and the sea obeys.
Jonah is not about a giant plant that comes up one day and dies the next, but about a God who gives life and takes it away. Jonah is not about a prophet who goes down Sheol, but a God who brings the dead to life. Jonah is not about Nineveh that great city, but about a God who is the Conqueror of kingdoms and the Ruler of nations.
Jonah is not about a missionary, but about a God’s mission to seek and save the lost. Jonah is not about a prophet who flees, but a God who pursues. Jonah is not about a king who puts on sackcloth, but about a God who takes on flesh. In short, Jonah is not about Jonah, it is all about Jesus!
As we begin to study Jonah, there are a handful of things that will be helpful for us to keep in mind to help us better understand this book. The first, is that Jonah is a historical book, of which Jesus Himself attests. He identifies Himself as one greater than Jonah. A reference that makes no sense and holds no weight if there was not an actual Jonah.
Not to mention the fact that Jonah is a sign of the most important events in human history, namely, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When the scribes and Pharisees were lacing into Jesus about needing a sign from Him, He said,
“An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Matthew 12:39-41
Also, Jonah is a prophetic book, which was already mentioned, however, it’s important to
understand Jonah as symbolic prophecy, in that the prophet’s actions are part of the message – which is especially important in Jonah.
Some other examples of symbolic prophecy include Isaiah dressing like a slave to show what will happen to Israel in exile, or Jeremiah smashing the clay pot to show what will happen to Israel during the Babylonian judgment of Judah. Or, all of Jesus’ miracles, like the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple and so on…All revealing the judgment of Israel, the nature of the coming Kingdom and the beginning of a new world order.
Jonah is also meant to be read as an ironic comedy, which makes it probably one of the most fun books to read in the Bible. Uri Brito says in his commentary on Jonah,
“There is so much irony in this book that the entire story can be read as a satire.”
In reading Jonah we are meant to see just how ridiculous Jonah’s actions are, and as symbolic prophecy, we are meant to see how ridiculous Israel is being at the time of Jonah.
Jonah is told to arise go to Nineveh, he goes down to Joppa. Jonah is a prophet of God, but refuses to bring the word of God. Jonah runs from the Gentile city of Nineveh and ends up on a boat full of pagans. On the boat, the pagan sailors act more like good Hebrews than this Hebrew prophet. It’s also been said of Jonah that he was the only success prophet in Israel and he isn’t happy about it. As Alanis Morrissette would say, “Isn’t it ironic – don’t you think.”
So, Jonah begins with these words, “the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai”…His name literally means, “Dove son of truth”…a Dove is often representative of the Holy Spirit. Let the irony begin, we have a prophet of God, named, “Dove son of truth,” literally running away from the Lord’s calling with an apparent unwillingness to tell the truth.
Jonah shows up one other time in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 14:23-27:
“In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.”
Jonah is from Gath-Hepher in Northern Israel which is about three miles away from Nazareth which was part of the territory of Zebulun. An interesting point about Zebulun, which I believe is relevant to our study of Jonah is that they (the tribe of Zebulun) never drove out the Gentiles completely.
This to say, that I don’t believe Jonah had an irrational fear of, or hatred for the gentiles, which is usually put forward as Jonah’s primary motivation for not wanting to go to Nineveh, thus making race one of the underlining themes of the book – but I believe this is wrong. I believe Jonah’s motivations are covenantal and national.
Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria. Assyria bordering Jonah’s hometown. At this point in Israel’s history Jeroboam 2 nd is king and the Lord had just sparred Israel. This was a time of growth and prosperity, but it was also a time of great moral decline. Israel was very religious but also very unfaithful, and there was also very little difference between them and the nations that surrounded them.
Jonah had two contemporaries: Amos and Hosea. God used Hosea to rebuke the idolatry and spiritual whoredom of Israel while He used Amos to rebuke Israel’s corruption, violence, materialism, and economic injustice and exploitation.
Again, Israel looked very much like the nations around them. This is a point that I don’t think was missed by Jonah as a prophet of God, one well acquainted with the Word of God, and living at the same time as Hosea and Amos. Jonah would have been well aware of the blessings and curses given to the people of God in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. I believe Jonah could see the writing on the wall. Israel had become corrupt and disobedient and weak and Assyria was growing stronger by the day, and Jonah knows that God often uses nations to judge nations.
I think Jonah sees judgement upon his people coming and he doesn’t like it. One of the biggest themes in the book of Jonah is the sovereignty of God and whether or not we are prepared to submit to the will of God under any and all circumstances. Another thing that we clearly, and wonderfully see in Jonah is that this sovereign God is also a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
This is a sword that cuts both ways – all the way down and all the way through. Which we love and celebrate and declare when applied to ourselves and our loved ones, but do we get as excited about God’s grace being extended to those we hate? The tension that we experience in studying this book is a tension we should experience daily as Christians.
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