Meditation: Jonah 1:1-3

“Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah 1:1-3

Jonah was told by the Lord directly to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Just let that sink in…God told Jonah directly where to go and what to do. The message is not confusing in any way – it is clear and it is sharp. The author of Hebrews says,

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Before we ridicule Jonah’s response to the word of God, we should not only consider how we would respond to the same command, but also how we respond every time we open our Bibles. This in no way takes Jonah off the hook, it is simply to place all of us on it as well.

There is only one other city in the Scriptures referred to as “great” and that is Jerusalem…“great” here, is the Hebrew word “Gadol” and is used fourteen times in the book of Jonah. This word can mean great in size or great in importance. So when Jonah is told to go to Nineveh I reckon that he suspects, that judgment may not actually be what God has in-store for them…we don’t get a clue into Jonah’s thinking here, but we certainly do in chapter four.

Not only that, but if God were to spare Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, what would that mean for Jonah and for his people and his nation? By all accounts Nineveh was a great city. It was great in size and it was great in importance. Surrounding the city was a wall that was approximately one hundred feet high, and was said to be so thick that you could fit three chariots side by side on top of it.

The city was cultured, not entirely unlike our major cities today. They had water dams and

hanging gardens, a 50-mile-long aqueduct that ran through the city and they even had libraries. However, they were also an extremely barbaric and violent people. Not dis-similar to our major cities that perform abortions and genital surgeries on children.

The Assyrian King, Ashurbanipal, the grandson of Sennacherib, was accustomed to tearing off the lips, and hands and noses of his victims. Tiglath-Pileser flayed victims alive and made great piles of their skulls, but it was cool, because they probably had a government license.

When we think of our pagan cities, like New York or L.A., we rightly think of moral degradation and depravity, but we’ve never really experienced true paganism because of 2000 years of gospel penetration in the world…though many today would like to turn back the clock, and many Baptists think they can live separate from clock. Uri Brito explains,

“Truly pagan cultures are unspeakably horrific, and Assyria was no different. After military victory, the ancient Assyrian emperor would put giant fishhooks in the mouths of the vanquished and march them down Main Street in a victory parade. He would then impale them, lifting their skin off, and after skinning them alive, he would cut off their limbs and throw them to the wild animals to be devoured. That is what paganism looks like when it has not been mitigated in any way by the grace of God.” Uri Brito

Let’s just take a step back and put this into perspective shall we: Jonah is being told to go to Nineveh, which was about 600 miles northeast of Israel (which is, modern day, Iraq), he has to travel through the desert which was terribly rough terrain. To a heavily fortified city in the capital of an enemy nation…with the simple message of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” Now, which one of you is getting in line for that ride?

Because of this, many have postulated that Jonah’s motivations were either fear or hatred…fear of the brutality of the Ninevites, or hatred for the Gentiles…I think Jonah’s real problem is patriotism and nationalism…Now, there is nothing wrong with loving your nation, but there certainly is, if it comes at the expense of disobedience to God’s word.

This is where so many in the church drop the ball, or miss the potluck if you’re a Baptist. It is terribly stupid, to think that all patriotism or nationalism is idolatrous. Let me say this another way, if you think that having a Christian nation is bad or inherently idolatrous, you’re an idiot. Could it be bad? Absolutely, but eating too much can also make you a glutton, but no one is proposing a perpetual fast.

This is an issue because Jonah was fully aware that the people of Abraham were blessed to be a blessing to the nations and he was also aware that obedience to the law of God was a witness to the nations. We can see through Jonah where Israel’s heart was at. Even though they were a hot mess, they had still received God’s grace but when that same grace to be extended outside Israel, Jonah wasn’t having it. This would be the equivalent of saying “God bless America and no one else.” Jonah wasn’t afraid of failure or death. Jonah was afraid of success.

The Lord tells Jonah to rise and go to Nineveh…Where does Jonah go? Emphatically, Not

Nineveh! He goes to not Nineveh hard and with a vengeance! In fact, he goes in the exact

opposite direction…nobody is quite sure where Tarshish is, but all agree that it’s in the opposite direction of Nineveh.

Repetition is always a good way to tell what’s being emphasized in a text, particularly in the Old Testament Scriptures… What do we see here? “But rose to flee to Tarshish…and found a ship going to Tarshish…to go with them to Tarshish” (3 times…Not Nineveh, not Nineveh, not Nineveh)…

Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord…he is fleeing from God’s Place/People…Tarshish was a place where there was none of that…no temple, no sacrifices and none of God’s people. I know that church would be easy if it wasn’t for all the people, however, you can only be away from God’s people for so long, before you hit the bricks.

Common consensus is that Jonah should have remembered Psalm 139:7 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” However, I’m not so convinced Jonah forgot anything…it’s true, sin makes you stupid and often clouds what’s right in front of your face…but I’m not so sure Jonah isn’t on a suicide mission.

Jonah’s problem is that he is bitter and angry with God. I think he has a good idea of what will happen to Israel and by whom. If Nineveh, actually repents, it is more than likely, God will use them to destroy Israel…Why should this horribly wicked nation receive grace and not Israel…it doesn’t seem right?

The problem is – He did! He extended grace, over and over and over again, of which Jonah was a firsthand recipient. Our problem is never with the reception of grace but, rather, that we think we can play God in saying who else should receive it. Our problem is that we want to be God, and think it’s ok because we are very pious about it…we may even be Reformed.

Sometimes I wish, the Lord would just return and judge the world in righteousness, I really, really do…and as Christians, I think there is a sense in which we don’t long for justice enough… However, I thank God that He didn’t do that 20 years ago…when I was still dead in my sin. We just can’t possibly understand how vast, wide, deep, and expansive God’s grace and love are.

Consider this, even in the face of such defiance, God still pursues Jonah…would you?…Jonah is not about a prophet who flees, but about a gracious God who pursues rebels like Jonah, like you, and like me...

All of this comes to a climax in Jesus…We know the words but you can never really hear them enough, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16…

Jesus was sent on a divine rescue mission not to save the lovable, but the most unlovable… Because He is the greater than Jonah…The minute we start to think some deserve God’s grace and mercy is the minute we cease to understand what grace and mercy are.

Let me just conclude with Francis Thompson’s closing words in the Hound of Heaven:

“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!"