Jonah Jonah
Jonah
Introduction
At a Glance
Author: Unknown; Jonah is named in the third person
Audience: Universal; Jonah speaks to all who see themselves as spiritual insiders and/or those who think they understand how God always acts
Date: The events of Jonah occurred mid-700s BC; date of writing is unknown
Type of Literature: Historical teaching narrative that carries profound philosophical and theological content
Major Themes: Outsiders and insiders; life from death; the balance of law and gospel; the complexity of repentance; God’s radical independence; God sees and God is involved; rebellion and redemption; Jesus and Jonah
Outline:
I. Yahweh’s first call to Jonah — 1:1–2:10
a. Jonah disobeys and defects — 1:1–3
b. The storm — 1:4–16
i. The sailors worship Yahweh — 1:14–16
c. The great fish — 1:17–2:10
i. Jonah’s prayer — 2:1–9
ii. God delivers Jonah — 2:10
II. Yahweh’s second call to Jonah — 3:1–4:11
a. Jonah obeys — 3:1–3
b. Jonah’s prophecy — 3:4
c. Nineveh repents — 3:5–10
i. Jonah’s second prayer — 4:1–4
d. Jonah and the shade tree — 4:5–11
About the Book of Jonah
Jonah is one of the best-known books of the Bible. The great fish is often called a whale in popular culture and gets expressed in the couplet “Jonah and the whale,” much like “David and Goliath,” “Noah and the flood,” or “Samson and Delilah.”
But far from being a fable best suited for children’s books, Jonah carries an immense amount of philosophical and theological freight, all within the context of one of the most vivid and memorable stories in the Bible. Jonah is a “minor” prophet in name only. Along with the rest of the Twelve (the so-called Minor Prophets), this book shows that a huge helping of wisdom can be served up in a shorter format.
The story begins in Israel, moves to the Mediterranean seaport of Joppa, and concludes in Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire along the Tigris River (modern-day Mosul in Iraq). At the time of the events of this book, Nineveh was still a powerful city.
The main character, Jonah, was an actual historical person living in the time when Nineveh was a great city, and Jesus affirmed this. Jonah, the prophet and son of Amittai, is also mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. In Hebrew, Jonah means “dove.” Is this an intentional reference to the (negative) connotations of doves as found in Hosea 7:11 and 11:11? Perhaps. Hebrew names are often more than simple labels.
Jonah is one of the few individuals revered by three world religions. Along with Christians and Jews, Muslims also honor him as the only prophet from among the Twelve mentioned by name in the Qur’an.
Tracing back to his father’s hometown, we learn that Jonah was from the far north of the promised land, which was later called Galilee by the time of Jesus. Thus, the Jewish leaders were mistaken when they claimed that prophets didn’t come from there (John 7:52).
There are some fascinating parallels with Jonah in other parts of the Bible.
• The ships of Tarshish in Ezekiel 27:25–36 recall the ship Jonah attempted to flee on to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).
• Elijah’s manner while sitting under a tree praying that he might die (1 Kings 19:4) is evoked in Jonah’s second prayer (Jonah 4:2–3).
• Jonah 2 echoes the literary style and the themes of the Psalms.
Eastern Orthodox and Jewish believers give this book a central place in their liturgies, the latter using it as the main text for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The book of Jonah both comforts and frightens readers or listeners as they travel on a wild ride with the prophet, who often acts like the kind of person we don’t want to be.
The book of Jonah is not a typical “thus says the Lord” prophetic book, although Jonah is clearly a prophet. In fact, there is only one verse of Jonah’s prophecy (3:4) in the entire book. Rather, this is the story of God turning a wayward city and a wayward prophet to repentance. It is the story of a huge fish and a small worm.
Much like the book of Job, the book of Jonah leaves readers without a Hollywood ending and with the ball in our court. How will we respond?
Purpose
The author intended to teach some of the more advanced, dynamic truths of our life with God through a vivid and fast-paced narrative. Stories often express depth better than lectures or philosophical descriptions, and we often retain, internalize, and implement the truths of these dramas better than colorless lists of facts. And we can mine incredible truth in these pages. The sublime density of the book of Jonah cannot be reduced to a single theme. The author masterfully wove multiple essential themes into a tight, powerful narrative.
It would be a mistake to focus too much on whether a person can survive being swallowed by a great fish. Lots of unexplained things happen every day. God, who brought the whole universe into existence, can certainly command storms and save people miraculously. God is not bound by our preconceived notions of what he can and cannot do. That was the mistake that Jonah continued to make, thinking he knew best about what God should or shouldn’t do with the Ninevites. When we attempt to put our theological limits on God, we often misread what he is doing in our lives and all around us in the world. A personal relationship with God is a dynamic adventure with many unexpected turns, and we are not the ultimate authors of that story.
The book also challenges the reader not to make the same mistakes Jonah made. While we might laugh inside at his foolish responses to God’s call and his ridiculous behavior in particular situations, we should also feel troubled and convicted. Why? Because we carry within us some of the same dysfunctional tendencies. Thus, the themes of Jonah are eternally relevant to every reader in every time and place.
Author and Audience
There is no evidence pointing to a specific author whom we can name. Jonah appears in third person (he, not I). He is the flawed protagonist of the story; nothing indicates that he was the author. Similarly, the book gives no hint of when it was penned. No matter when it was written, it was intended to be read as a historical story taking place in the 700s BC. Regardless of whether the author who gave the book of Jonah its final form was from the same era as Jonah, a universal audience was intended, and it speaks well to people in every time and place. In this way, Jonah is one of the most timelessly valid works of antiquity. Small wonder that it is so well known by the public.
Major Themes
Outsiders and Insiders. Both the gentiles onboard the ship and the citizens of Nineveh were more responsive to God than the prophet Jonah himself. Jonah knew the Bible well (see his prayers) but totally misread God, over and over. Jesus capitalized on this theme in much of his life and teaching, praising the love and faith of Roman centurions (Matt. 8:5–13), Samaritans (Luke 10:25–37), tax collectors (Luke 18:9–14), and sinners (Luke 7:36–50) rather than that of those within the religious establishment. Even the magi (likely Zoroastrians from what is now modern-day Iran) found Jesus when Herod (king of the Jews) could not. Where would one hear or read the story of Jonah? Among Hebrew-speaking Bible people—insiders. The book is intended to unsettle those insiders who think they have it all figured out and to call them to repentance and some healthy intellectual humility.
In a related vein, this book contrasts nature with human nature. The great fish and even the ocean itself obeyed Yahweh better than Jonah did. Nature is not a random and complex collision of material atoms. Wind and waves obey God. He gave the animals, fish, insects, and birds instincts that they always follow. Humans with free will, on the other hand, can disobey him. The book starts with Jonah in full-blown rebellion. Despite the many abilities God gave humans and the incalculable gift of his Word, we can still learn much from creation, which obeys God better than some of his ambassadors (Jer. 8:7).
Life from Death. When Jonah was thrown overboard, he expected to die. Many of us have survived a terrifying situation in deep water. When swallowed by a great fish, one expects to die. Perhaps, in a way, Jonah did die but was given a second chance when the fish spat him up on the beach. This clear foreshadowing of Jesus’ death and resurrection on the third day compellingly shows readers God’s power in hopeless situations and his grace to create beauty and life out of times when we can’t even imagine a new start.
The Balance of Law and Gospel. It could be said that God has a left hand and a right hand. On the one hand, he convicts, calls out, and disciplines. On the other hand, he is gracious and merciful and brings us life to the full. This dance between law and gospel waltzes through the entire Bible, and the book of Jonah expresses it in full color, both at a personal (Jonah) and public (Nineveh) level. Our lives also run their course within this dynamic tension between gravity and grace, and no theological flow chart can describe it fully. The most dangerous thing, as Jonah found out, is to think we can outrun or control this paradox. It is better simply to respond in humility and worship, as the sailors and the Ninevites did.
The Complexity of Repentance. To what extent do we choose to repent, and to what extent does God force our hand, as he did with Jonah (and with the apostle Paul, for that matter)? Yes, we are made in the image of God, but we also, on our own, incurably tend toward sin. Can any human act, even repentance, be totally pure? After hearing the story of Jonah, we may well see the need to give God all the glory, even for our repentance. The blessing? Humble repentance releases revival.
God’s Radical Independence. Jonah parallels the book of Job with its open ending, affirming God’s royal rule over all creation. Even those touting a strict “sovereignty of God” theology often fall short of granting the Creator the potent independence that he reserves for himself. In our human flesh, we’d love just to have the Lord affirm all our limited human opinions instead and act as we expect. But God’s tools, heart motives, and plans depart radically from our preconceived religious and theological notions of what he should say and do. He can use monstrous fish and tiny worms to accomplish his works. His mercy is greater, his holiness purer, and his love stronger than we can imagine. His thoughts and plans far exceed our smartest human efforts.
God Sees and God Is Involved. Imagine how differently we would behave if we took this to heart. We make our biggest mistakes in life when we assume that God is not watching. Those of us in the economically developed world often lose sight of the fact that he is also deeply involved in the physical universe. We ultimately relegate the Master of creation to an observer’s seat. Jonah thought he could outrun God’s field of vision and apparently preferred that Nineveh would just rot. God sees everything and is just as involved in the lives of outsiders as he is in ours. When we see unbelievers and outsiders as pre-Christians rather than as enemies, good things can start to happen. Mercy must always triumph over judgment.
Rebellion and Redemption. Many of us, like Jonah, go through a season of outright rebellion in our lives. God turned him around, and arguably, Jonah became the most successful of all prophets, getting an entire imperial capital city to repent. The Lord can bring forth new life out of any situation. He makes up for the years the locusts have ruined (Joel 2:25) and weaves every detail of our lives together for good (Rom. 8:28) for those who love him. Have you had—or are you in—a season of rebellion? Let the Lord make a beautiful turnaround testimony out of the rest of your life. The fact that you can’t outrun God also means that you can’t outrun his power to transform your life.
Jesus and Jonah. Jesus’ life and ministry had many parallels with the messages of the book of Jonah. Much like Yahweh in Jonah, Jesus often surprised people. In fact, he was killed for not meeting their expectations. When they asked him questions, he usually responded in a way no one expected. Do we dare enter into an authentic relationship with a powerful, living God, or are we tempted to choose a life with a self-constructed theological image of God that suits our sensibilities and carries with it no surprises? So often, we are more enamored with safe, artificial patterns of “God” than with that dangerous path where we take up our crosses and follow him. Additionally, Jonah’s three days in the belly of the great fish foreshadowed Jesus’ death and resurrection on the third day (Matt. 12:40).
Along with the fact that his ministry lived out many of these themes of the book of Jonah, Jesus referenced the prophet directly and emphatically (Matt. 12:39–41; 16:4; Luke 11:29–32). The message of Jesus drinks deeply from the challenging truths flowing in the oasis that is the book of Jonah.
Jonah
The Reluctant Prophet
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