34 Jonah [Jonah 1–4]
The Bible passage: [Jonah 1–4]
The Story:
The Lord spoke to Jonah, saying, “Get up and go to the city of Nineveh. Preach against it, because they are a wicked people.”
Jonah, however, tried to run from God. He went to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish, in the opposite direction. He paid the fare and boarded the ship.
The Lord brought a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. The sailors were afraid and cried out to their gods. They threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the load.
In the meantime, Jonah had gone into the bottom of the boat and stretched out and fell fast asleep.
The captain found him and said, “What are you doing sleeping? Get up and pray to your god. Maybe your god will save us.”
In the meantime, the sailors decided to cast lots to find out who was to blame. The lot singled out Jonah.
The sailors said, “Tell us who you are. What is your business and where are you from? What country and what people?”
He answered, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship Yahweh, the God of heaven. He made the sea and the dry land.”
The sailors were then even more afraid of him. The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord, because he had told them. So, they said to him, “How can we calm this sea that’s against us?”
Jonah answered, “Throw me into the sea so it will quiet down for you. I know I’m to blame for this violent storm.”
The men, however, rowed hard to get back to dry land, buy they couldn’t get there in the rough sea.
They called out to the Lord, “Please, Yahweh, don’t kill us because of this man. And don’t blame us for taking his life!”
Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah prayed to the Lord God from inside the fish. He promised to do what the Lord had commanded.
Then the Lord had the fish vomit Jonah onto dry land.
The Lord spoke to Jonah a second time, “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.”
This time Jonah went to Nineveh as the Lord commanded.
Nineveh was an extremely large city; it took three days to walk through it.
Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city, telling everyone God’s message, “In 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown!”
The people of Nineveh listened to his message and believed in God. When word reached the king about what was going on, he ordered that everyone in the city must pray earnestly to God and turn from their evil ways.
God saw their actions - that they had turned from their evil ways - so God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them.
Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious.
He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said when you first spoke to me? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to become angry, rich in faithful love, and One who relents from sending disaster. Now, Lord, please take my life. It is better for me to die than to live.”
The Lord asked, “Do you have a right to be angry?”
Jonah left the city and sat down on a hill to the east of it. He built a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.
God made a plant, and it grew up and provided shade over Jonah. Jonah was greatly pleased to have the plant.
When dawn came the next day, God sent a worm that ate at the plant, and it withered.
As the sun was coming up, God sent a hot east wind. The sun got so hot on Jonah’s head that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die.
God asked Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the plant?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!”
The Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not plant or work to grow. It appeared overnight and it died overnight. Shouldn’t I care about the city of Nineveh?”
The Lessons:
- Cast Lots: This was a method of determining God’s will by what we might call a game of chance. Today, we might do that by flipping a coin or rolling dice or turning over playing cards and the high card wins. It was believed that God would make the game of chance give the right result.
- This is a story about sin and forgiveness, on several levels. Jonah sinned, repented, and was forgiven. The city was evil, repented, and was forgiven.
- Does God Change His mind? That would appear to be the case here again, but for a time, God leaves an open door for repentance. God told Jonah to preach to the city that they would be destroyed. God left open the opportunity for the city to repent. He didn’t change His mind about destroying the city. He responded to their repentance with mercy.
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