Jonah: Was it ONLY about the whale?

Everyone knows about the whale and Jonah.

But the story has a lot more layers than we hear in the children’s version.

More than a man fleeing his God, Jonah was a confused prophet in a rebellious court who hated enemies more than he loved God’s voice.

It’s always important to remember God loves obedience more than sacrifice.

Even if the sacrifice involved being swallowed whole by a “big fish.”

Who was Jonah before he met a whale?

Jonah grew up in the “inconsiderable village” of Gittah-hepher in northern Israel in the mid-eight century BC. Gittah-hepher wasn’t far from Nazareth.

It’s not clear when his prophetic ministry began, but Jonah prophesied to the Samarian court during the reign of King Jeroboam.

(Jereboam took the throne after usurping King Solomon‘s son Rehoboam. He led the Northern Kingdom into apostasy).

 He [King Jeroboam] 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.

2 Kings 14:25 (ESV)

Samaria, the capital of Israel after the civil war divided the nation in two, sat on a hilltop, 35 miles north of Jerusalem (the Southern Kingdom’s capital in Judah).

Ancient Israel scholar Philip R. Davies, described Samaria as probably ruled by

an urban elite, in which case it possessed a royal and a state cult, big urban temples, scribes, mercenaries, and a developed administration . . . probably little different in character from the other recently founded kingdoms of Ammon, or Moab, or Aram.

The History of Ancient Israel “Ancient Israel(s) in the Iron Age,” p. 72-73

Somehow, Jonah developed a name for himself as a prophet and King Jeroboam needed him at court.

Only a generation removed from King Solomon–who God declared the wisest man–Jeroboam may have kept a court prophet “just in case.”

Given his simple background, Jonah probably loved his job.

How did he end up inside a whale?

Jonah got a word from God he didn’t like: “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry out against it; for their evil has come up before Me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)

Why would he want to leave the court–where he had honor and people listened to him–to become an evangelist to the hated Assyrian Ninevites?

Besides, Ninevah, one of the largest cities in the world at the time, was more than 1700 miles away.

Why did God think Jonah could make any difference to their decadent, wicked Gentile ways, much less convince them to change?

Jonah surely knew he didn’t want the Ninevites to escape God’s judgment. Wouldn’t it be easier on Israel if God wiped out the infidels?

But if Jonah truly was a prophet, he must have recognized God’s voice speaking to him.

Perhaps he thought that if he ignored God, pretended he didn’t hear Him, God would forget?

(What does that tell us about Jonah’s view of God?)

But God’s voice may have become more urgent, “GO!”

So Jonah left–for Tarshish. Surely, sailing across the Mediterranean would be a nicer trip than trudging through the desert?

It was 2500 miles away from Ninevah in the opposite direction.

Now what?

This is the part of the story everyone knows.

Or do you?

Why did God want Jonah to preach about repentance to the Ninevites?

He saw their wicked ways. He wanted the Assyrians to bow their knees to Him.

That’s true for all of us. God is waiting for all to turn to Him. He has no pleasure in destroying His creation.

The residents of Ninevah were just as important to God as those in Samaria.

They all were rebellious. But the Ninevites may not have realized judgment was coming if they did not change.

Jonah feared being made a fool if he preached and they didn’t change.

So, figuring his role was invaluable, he chose to defy God and do something different.

Maybe God shook His head and sighed.

How could He get Jonah’s attention and send him where God needed Jonah to prophesy?

God sent a storm.

He loves us all so much–Jonah, Ninevites, me–that God went to profound lengths to make sure we’d be with Him in heaven.

Why didn’t the prophet understand?

Even the superstitious heathen sailors on the Tarshish-bound ship knew the violent storm came from an unhappy God.

Trying to avoid his mission, Jonah went below–despite knowing the ship was in danger–and fell asleep.

Charles Spurgeon made an interesting observation about Jonah’s nap:

 Jonah was asleep amid all that confusion and noise. O Christian man, for you to be indifferent to all that is going on in such a world as this, for you to be negligent of God’s work in such a time as this is just as strange.

The devil alone is making noise enough to wake all the Jonahs if they only want to awake… All around us there is tumult and storm, yet some professing Christians are able, like Jonah, to go to sleep in the sides of the ship.

Quoted by David Guzik at Enduring Word Commentary, Jonah 1

Jonah’s determination NOT to do what God asked is what led him into the whale.

The nap, however, aroused the sailor’s curiosity.

They expected someone on board caused “the gods” to rise up against the ship.

When they cast lots, it fell to Jonah. So, they asked a simple question. “Why has this trouble befell us? What is your occupation?”

Despite his rebellion, as a prophet of God, Jonah couldn’t lie. He explained he was a prophet, a Hebrew who feared God.

Honoring the prophet, the men asked Jonah what they could to do calm the sea.

“I know this great tempest is because of me,” Jonah said, advising them to toss him into the sea.

So they did.

Jonah undoubtedly expected to die.

A whale swallowed him.

But God needed him to live.

What’s the story of Jonah really about?

The first two chapters deal with Jonah’s rebellion against God.

He refused to obey a clear word he, the prophet, received from God.

It came out of his personal hatred for the Ninevites and his comfort in Samaria.

It’s an interesting question–how far will we go to avoid God’s direction, given personally, to us?

Is the story really about a whale?

Or, is mercy involved?

Part 2 delves further into a surprising turn of events few people seem to know: Jonah and the Ninevites.

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