JONAH

Jonah is a well known story and a Sunday school favorite, yet the message of the book is often misunderstood.
Jonah is in many ways a very atypical prophet: He is disobedient in action and attitude, he doesn’t represent God’s heart to his hearers and he is thoroughly successful with his preaching, something virtually unseen in the Old Testament prophets!
Before God calls him to preach in Nineveh, Jonah is a prophet in Israel at the time of King Jeroboam II (782-753 BC). Unlike most prophets, he is allowed to speak a positive message: God will graciously grant Israel to be victorious in battle and to recapture its land under the strong King Jeroboam (2 Kin 14:25). Yet Israel is not really doing good: they are idolatrous and many are syncretistic (worshiping both the God of Israel and other gods, see Amos). They are prosperous, but the poor are increasingly oppressed. There is indulgence and luxury, but great injustice at the same time. The boom under Jeroboam has further cemented this false religiosity and false security. Israel thinks itself blessed by God, chosen and superior. This racial superiority and false pride is visible in Jonah’s attitude throughout the book.
When God calls Jonah to preach to Nineveh, he simply refuses. Nineveh is the formidably fortified capital of the great Assyrian empire, known for its cruelty and oppression. At various points in history Israel has suffered because of Assyria and the empire is an ever-looming threat on the horizon. Jonah knows that with God the announcement of a prophecy of destruction means that repentance is still possible, and the disaster can be averted. He doesn’t want Nineveh to escape judgment so he goes West (instead of East) to run away from God. Throughout the book it is interesting that Jonah “knows” all kinds of things about God (that God is gracious, that God knows everything), but his actions show he doesn’t really know them. God graciously stops him in his tracks by sending a storm. Jonah is too proud to repent during the storm (which would have been enough). He is not courageous enough to jump into the sea himself, rather he afflicts the mariners’ conscience by having them throw him in. But God uses all this to reveal himself to these Gentile mariners, in a preview of the later Nineveh events (Jon 1). Jonah is famously swallowed by a fish. His prayer in the belly of the fish doesn’t contain any repentance, nor does Jonah change his attitude (Jon 2). He merely is grateful for being saved, and – feeling outmatched – decides to get over and done with the Nineveh assignment (Jon 3:1).
On reaching Nineveh, he very shortly and very succinctly announces doom within forty days to them. There is no record of him preaching that repentance is an option (Jon 3:4). The Ninevites seem to come up with the prayer and fasting by themselves (Jon 3: 6-9). Their wholehearted response and humility is in stark contrast with Jonah’s pride and stubbornness.
He then – taking hopeful precautions (God might still do what he said) – gets out of the city to watch God’s judgment on Nineveh. Nothing happens. God provides a leafy plant to give him shade, then let’s it die in a day, which further annoys Jonah. He is now hot, tired, miserable, very angry and suicidal. He accuses God of being merciful: “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled … for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing” (Jon 4:2).
These words are interesting: Jonah knows the Law; he is quoting Exo 34:6-7 and quoting it rightly, it is a passage about God relenting. His words also reveal the cause: He doesn’t want mercy for Assyria, he is unforgiving, resentful, superior and driven by racial pride. Jonah is attacking the very mercy by which he himself is still alive! – We do this, too. God graciously coaxes him to engage and think further.
Does Jonah ever really repent? The answer is yes, but only after the events described in his book. For it is only a repentant Jonah, one who truly got the message, one who has become humble that can write the book as we have it: Jonah smilingly and self-ironically tells the story of his great stupidity and pride; and while doing so he is challenging his fellow Israelites, who have the same stinking attitude that he had also. But no longer!

Jonah is different

Jonah is a well known story and a Sunday school favorite, yet the message of the book is often misunderstood. The fish is definitely not the main point. Neither is the usual explanation, that Jonah was first disobedient and then obedient, correct. What then is this book about?
First it is important to notice, that Jonah is in many ways a very atypical prophet: Most prophets are obedient, Jonah is disobedient in action and attitude. Most prophets represent God’s heart to their hearers, Jonah has no heart whatsoever for his hearers and wishes them dead. Most prophets endure great opposition and have only very few respond to their message. Jonah, on the other hand, is thoroughly successful with his preaching, though he resents his own success. For most prophets it is known what they spoke, but little is known about their lives. With Jonah it is the opposite: The message he preaches is a mere one verse long (Jon 3:4), but his story is told in detail.

The author

The author of the book as well as well as the main actor is Jonah, son of Amittai (Jon 1:1), of Gath-Hepher (2 Kin 14:25). No other Amittai is mentioned in the Bible, and Gath-Hepher is a town in Israel, the tribal land of Zebulun, in the area which in the New Testament will be called Galilee. Jonah’s name in Hebrew means ‘dove’. Jonah is definitely no dove, typically associated with peace and grace, he is rather a growling dog.
Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kin 14:-26, as being a prophet at the time of King Jeroboam II of Israel (782-753 BC): “He (Jeroboam II) restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the sea of Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-Hepher. For the LORD saw that the distress of Israel was very bitter; there was no one left, bond of free, and no one to help Israel. But the LORD had not said that he would blot our the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash”.
Jeroboam II is a strong, successful king giving Israel its second golden age. He manages to – by God’s grace – recapture Israel’s lost land, strengthen the border and bring a time of relative peace. Because Israel now controls certain trade routes, the expansion brings financial gain. The country is booming, yet Israel is not really doing good: The king is evil, the people are idolatrous and many are syncretistic (worshiping both the God of Israel and other gods, see Amos). They are prosperous, but the poor are increasingly oppressed, there is indulgence and luxury, but great injustice at the same time. The boom under Jeroboam has further cemented this false religiosity and false security. Israel thinks itself blessed by God, chosen and superior. This racial superiority and false pride is visible in Jonah’s attitude throughout the book.
So Jonah – again unlike most other prophets – can give an evil king and an ungodly Israel a very popular prophecy of victory and success. Therefor Jonah was probably a popular prophet, though not really for good reasons.

The hated Assyrian Empire

When God calls Jonah to preach to Nineveh, he simply refuses (Jon 1:3). Nineveh was the formidable capital of the great Assyrian Empire. The city was located on the Tigris river, in modern day Iraq. It was the most populous city of that time and very large (Jon 3:3). It had heavy fortifications no less than five city walls deep, with fortified towers and moats. Nineveh appeared impregnable and was thought to withstand a twenty year siege without problems. See pictures below, showing a reconstructed gate and piece of the wall.
But more than that, Nineveh was the seat of power of the proverbially fearsome Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian Empire had been on a century-old course of conquest and expansion and was famous for extreme brutality in warfare and cruel oppression of conquered lands (Nah 3:19). Israel – and many other smaller nations – have suffered repeatedly from Assyrian aggression and the empire is an ever-looming threat on the northern horizon.
Jonah is aware of the grace of God and he fears that if he announces a prophecy of destruction to Nineveh, they may repent and the disaster may still be averted. He doesn’t want Nineveh to escape judgment so he runs West (instead of East) to avoid this task. Jonah displays an attitude of pride and racial superiority, that probably all Israelites of that time shared: They thought of themselves as the chosen nation Israel, all other nations were inferior and not worthy of God’s grace.

Chapter 1 Jonah, the unwilling

Upon getting God’s command to go east to Nineveh, he famously turns west and finds a sheep to take him to Tarshish, a location still further in the West (Jon 1:3). This is an act of desperation for a Jew, for the Jews hated the sea and were afraid of travel by sea. Why he thinks he can actually flee God’s presence (Jon 1:3) when God is the omniscient Creator of the world is not clear.
God graciously stops him in his tracks by sending a storm. Unlike Jonah, the mariners exhibit the fear of God in that they pray and that they don’t want to do Jonah harm (Jon 1:7-16).
Jonah on the other hand is still exhibiting racial pride. When asked about his background, he says proudly “I am a Hebrew, I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jon 1:9). That is wonderful, but why then does he think he can escape this God by fleeing west?
Jonah feels superior because he has revelation of God others don’t have, but he never acts consistently with it. For example he knows that God is gracious (Jon 4:2) and that he only would have to repent to stop the storm, but he won’t repent and will rather risk everybody’s life, than humbling himself. But once the storm has control of the boat, Jonah is also not courageous enough to jump into the sea himself. Rather that that he afflicts the mariners’ consciences by having them throw him into the sea. But in spite of Jonah’s bad witness, God powerfully reveals himself to these Gentile mariners, in a preview of the later Nineveh events (Jon 1:16).

Chapter 2 Jonah, the unrepentant

Jonah is famously swallowed by a fish and remains in the belly of the fish for three days (Jon 1:17). Jesus applies this to himself as ‘the sign of Jonah’ (Mth 12:38-4, Mth 16:4, Luk 11:29-32), referring to the three days between his death and his resurrection. Actually, Jesus’ time is not exactly three days or 72 hours/ Jews count partial days as full days. So some time on Friday (from 3-6pm), all Saturday and then Sunday some hours till dawn, the Jews will call ‘three days’.
There has been much discussion about whether such a fish-rescue is technically possible. There are documented cases, however, like the one with a mariner named James Bartley surviving for two days inside a sperm whale (1891 AD).
Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the fish is interesting. He is really grateful for being saved (Jon 2:6-9), but the prayer doesn’t contain a shred of real repentance. Neither does he change his attitude. Actually there is a prideful undertone “I called… I remembered… my prayer came to you… what I have vowed I will pay”, – as if God has to be glad about being paid off – and even a superior tone is detectable: “Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty”. Who does he have in mind, the mariners? Is he so proud of serving the right God? Spiritual pride is as ridiculous as it is hard to battle.
Probably for lack of other options, or because he vowed so, upon being reaching land again he decides to quickly get over with the Nineveh preaching assignment (Jon 3:1).

Chapter 3 Jonah, the unmoved

Jonah, quite unaware that God is gracious in giving him a second chance at his calling (Jon 3:1-2), sets out east this time.
On reaching Nineveh, he very shortly and very succinctly gives his message: “Fourty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jon 3:4). There is no mention of him saying anything else, there is no record even of him mentioning a repentance option. It feels as if he is doing the bare minimum required, with no pity or hope, just to be done with, hopefully without getting into any trouble.
It seems it is the Ninevites who come up with the hope that prayer and fasting might still change God’s mind (Jon 3: 6-9). From king to normal people, everybody is commanded to wear grief, to fast and to cry out to God. Even the domestic animals are made to join the fast. This wholehearted response to the message, humility and trust in God is in stark contrast with Jonah’s carelessness and superiority.
Is there any evidence from the Assyrian side about this event? When looking into Assyrian records of this time it is recorded that the Assyrian King Adad–Nirari III (810-783 BC) brought about religious reforms towards the end of his reign. It says he tended towards monotheism and focused on the cult worship on one God, Nabu (or Nebo). There are no Assyrian records of a national repentance. But at this time there is a lessening in Assyrian conquest and an increase in Israel’s territory. There is also a record of Nineveh being under threat from ‘Urartu’ in the North. During the reign of the next king, King Ashur–Dan III (772-755 BC), there are records of two plagues (765 BC, 751 BC, possibly linked to Amos 4:9-10), a solar eclipse in 763 BC (possibly linked to Amos 5:8) and of an earthquake in 760 BC. The solar eclipse is described in Assyrian chronicles: It was regarded as a portent, a sign of celestial wrath and caused a civil war. Also there was an internal rebellion in Ashur in 763 BC and another civil unrest in 761 BC in the Assyrian.
How can we interpret this? Some say that maybe these factors helped prepare the ground for Jonah’s message and were part of the reason that there was such a response. Others say that these tendencies to monotheism and a time of less aggression by the Assyrian empire was precisely caused by the repentance at Jonah’s preaching. Since we don’t have a very accurate date for Jonah’s trip to Nineveh (King Jeroboam’s dates are: co-regency with his father in 792 BC-782 BC, sole reign 782 BC-753 BC), nothing can be said for certain. But it is interesting that even Assyrian history records events different than the Assyrian normal.

Chapter 4 Jonah, the angry

How does Jonah react to this? Is he attentive enough to even understand the response of the people? Does he mistrust it? Belittle it? Resent it? We do not know. But we know his reaction at God accepting their repentance and canceling the judgment on Nineveh: He is very angry, and really annoyed. He accuses God of being merciful: “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled … for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing” (Jon 4:2).
These words are interesting: Jonah knows the Law; he is quoting Exo 34:6-7 and quoting it rightly, it is a passage about God relenting. His words also reveal the cause for his annoyance: He doesn’t want mercy for Assyria; he is unforgiving, resentful, thinking himself superior and driven by racial pride.
Jonah reacts in self-pity, in a quite childish way: “take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jon 4:3). Jonah would rather die than repent and change his attitude. He would rather die than see Nineveh live. What an irony. Death is a form of withdrawal, it’s a ‘signing out’. A melodramatic and self-centered Jonah would rather have no world than this world. He is also blissfully unaware that he himself lives off the very grace he now resents. The grace of God which saved him in the fish belly is the very same grace of God he is now resenting for others to receive. He still thinks himself very different from Nineveh.
God graciously coaxes him: “Is it right for you to by angry?” (Jon 4:4). Jonah then – taking hopeful precautions (God still may do what he said) – gets out of the city to watch God’s destruction of Nineveh. The forty days pass, nothing happens. God provides a leafy plant to give him shade, then lets it die in a day, which further annoys Jonah. All this compounds his misery: He is now hot, tired, miserable and very angry. He really thinks he has the right to say “It is better for me to die than to live” (Jon 4:8). God again responds as before “Is it right for your to be angry about the bush?” Jonah’s sulking answer “Yes, angry enough to die” shows that still he hasn’t understood anything (Jon 4:9). God convicts him “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor… it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And I should not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”
God names anger anger. He challenges not the emotion, but the appropriateness of the emotion. He makes Jonah think about the root of his anger, the reason, the thinking that is causing it. God is not reproachful, he is not saying ‘I’ll never save you again!’ nor is he saying ‘Okay, go right ahead and kill yourself!’ He keeps extending grace, the very grace Jonah resents. He engages Jonah further. His question and words are simple, honest and profound. God uses the grotesque contrast of a living breathing city with inhabitants and animals – and a quick one-day-bush to bring home just how skewed Jonah’s assumed logic perception is. God convicts Jonah of his narrowness. God also challenges Jonah’s racial pride: the Ninevites had no revelation of morality, no Law, yet they are responding. But Jonah’s Israel back home has the Law and the prophets (Hosea and Amos) and persists in idolatry and disobedience. There is no reason for pride, but ample reason to be grateful for God’s grace, whether Israelite or Assyrian.

Jonah’s challenge is to forgive, to wish well to a people who had hurt him and his people sorely. It is good to remind ourselves what forgiveness is – and isn’t. Forgiveness is not ‘no longer feeling bad about something’. It is not ‘forgetting what happened’, ‘denying what happened’ nor ‘approving what happened’. It is not ‘tolerating something to happen again’. Forgiveness is not the same as trust, it may well have to draw boundaries. Forgiveness is not automatic, it needs to be chosen – and chosen again and again until the sting is gone. Forgiveness rather is calling wrong wrong. It is to place blame where it belongs but it is to choose to let go of insult, anger, resentment and the right to take revenge on that person. It is to release one’s justified demand on that person.
But why should one forgive? Because it is the only way to freedom. Resentment will bind the hurt person to the injustice that happened and will control their life. As the counselors say: Forgiveness is the only jail where the key to open the door is on the inside. God demands forgiveness in the light of what he forgives humans, but also because it is the only way to truly undo the damage, to bring release and freedom.

Finally: Jonah, the changed

The book of Jonah intentionally has a very open ending. How did Jonah respond? Did he understand finally? Did he repent? The answer is yes, but only after the events described in his book.
How can we know? We can know by that fact that he wrote the book of Jonah as it is. For only a repentant Jonah, one who truly understood the message and embraced humility can write the book of Jonah as we have it. Jonah smilingly and self-ironically tells the story of his great stupidity and greater pride. And while doing so he is challenging his fellow Israelites, who have the same stinking attitude that he also had. But no longer! And his readers, whether Israelite or modern, need not have it any longer either. Embrace God’s mercy. Be willing to extend mercy.

Introduction

• Jonah is a Sunday school favorite, we think we know the story very well.
• We are fixated on the fish story, which is not at all the main focus of the book.
• But what is this book really about?
• Also the usual interpretation ‘Jonah is first disobedient, then from chapter 3 onwards he is obedient’ is not actually accurate: All throughout the book Jonah is never fully obedient, nor is he getting the message, – his own message -, mind you.

Special things about the book of Jonah

• Unlike most writing prophets, we know more about Jonah’s story than about his exact words.
• Jonah is the only prophet we know who didn’t preach to Israel or Judah but who actually went and preached in another nation (maybe also Obadiah, but that is not sure).
• This is the only prophet (besides Haggai) whose message of repentance is actually obeyed! In that sense he is one of the among the few ‘successful’ prophets.
• This is the only time we find a prophet unwilling and disobedient. The only time where the prophet doesn’t understand God’s heart, nor represents God’s attitude. It’s the only prophet where the message and the messenger doesn’t match!
• He is also one of the few prophets who gets to speak an encouraging rather than challenging message to his own people Israel (2 Kin 14:25).

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Who wrote?

• Jon 1:1   Jonah is the recipient of the world of the Lord. He is the one that went to preach to Nineveh (eventually). Jonah most likely is the writer.
• Why then in “he” form (3rd person singular)? That is the normal way to write down a story (unless it’s a witness’ testimony). It doesn’t necessarily follow that Jonah didn’t write it. Hoseah, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah have similar passages.
• This this book could only have been written by Jonah himself for very clear reasons. We will get to that later.

What do we know about Jonah?

• He is the only Jonah in the OT.
• Jonah’s name means ‘dove’. As so often before the name does fit the message of the prophet, dove being associated with peace, grace. But not to begin with: Jonah is not a peace dove, more like a growling dog.
• Jonah’s father’s name is Amittai. This is the only Amittai in the Bible.
• 2 Kin 14:25-26 “He (Jeroboam II) restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the sea of Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-Hepher. For the LORD saw that the distress of Israel was very bitter; there was no one left, bond of free, and no one to help Israel. But the LORD had not said that he would blot our the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash.”
• Jonah is from Gath-hepher, a town in the tribe of Zebulun, Galilee, that is Israel. Gath-Hepher means ‘wine press’, but that is no special clue, wheat, oil and wine being the main staples of Israel. This is the area of NT time Galilee. It is interesting that the priests say ‘No prophet has ever arisen from Galilee’ – that is factually wrong: Jonah has.
• He prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II (782-753 BC), to Israel, possibly to Jeroboam II himself.
• Interestingly he has an ‘easy message’, not a challenging one, to his own people: something everybody wants to hear: God will have grace, grant Jeroboam to ‘save’ Israel. This has got to be one of the easiest and most popular messages any prophet ever spoke!
• Some say that the book of Jonah is only an allegory, not historic fact, partially due to the fish story. Yet Kings, Jonah and also Jesus in 3 passages talks of Jonah as a real person (Mth 12:38-41, 16:4, Luk 11:29-32).

When written?

• 2 Kin 14:25 Jonah is prophesying (probably at the beginning) of Jeroboam II reign over Israel, so maybe 770 BC. We do not have an exact year of Jonah going to Nineveh, and then later writing his story upon returning, so usually the range is taken: 782-753 BC.
• Is there any evidence from the Assyrian side about this event?
  • King Adad–Nirari III of Assyria (810-783 BC) is recorded to have brought about religious reforms towards the end of his reign. He tended towards monotheism and focused on the cult worship on one God, Nabu (or Nebo). There are no Assyrian records of a national repentance. But at this time there was a reduction in Assyrian conquest and an increase in Israel’s territory. Nineveh was under threat from Urartu in the North.
  • King Ashur–Dan III (772-755 BC)’s reign was the time of two plagues (765 BC, 751 BC) and also of a solar eclipse in 763 BC. The solar eclipse in is described in Assyrian chronicles. It was regarded as a portent, a sign of celestial wrath and caused a civil war. Also there was internal rebellion and unrest in the Assyrian empire at that time.
  • Some say that maybe these factors helped prepare the ground for Jonah’s message. Some say that Jonah’s preaching was a reason for the tendency to Monotheism.
  • Nineveh worshiped (among other things) the sea god Dagon (like the Philistines) or the sea itself. Maybe the fact that Jonah had been inside a ‘sea-monster’ and survived the sea gave his words a higher importance, or more hope of Dagon’s grace??
  • Nineveh was totally destroyed in 612 BC. So this is the latest border of dating.

Written to whom?

• Jonah’s first hearers in Jonah are the people of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital city.
• Jonah’s first readers in Jonah (and also the first hearers of his grace prophecy) are the people of Israel.
• Jonah’s eventual readers are Judah, for they preserve his book after 722 BC.
• There is a stark contrast here: Nineveh did repent and God gave mercy. Israel did not repent and is judged in 722 BC, by these Assyrians.

Historical Situation?

Israel

• Politically second ‘golden age’ under Jeroboam II, borders and security restored, trade routes again under Israel’s control, economic boom but not for all.
• Spiritually deeply engrained calf-worship of Bethel, imported idolatry, syncretistic religiosity but no knowledge true knowledge of and obedience to the law, growing injustice and oppression of the weak & poor (Amos). ‘Cheat the eye’ time, grace of God and left-over blessings, but really rotten from the core.
• Hatred and fear of Assyria, the growing power in the East.

Assyria

• Assyria’s heartland are the ancient cities (Nineveh, Calah, Asshur, …) which go back to Nimrod in Gen 10:10-12. Asshur was the first capital and gave Assyria it’s name.
• Assyria has over centuries slowly grown in strength and size. With Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) Assyria becomes a world-power and starts oppressing Syria, Israel and Judah. King Ahab tries to from an alliance against Assyria. King Jehu (841-814 BC) pays tribute to Shalmaneser.
• King Adad–Nirari III of Assyria (810-783 BC) is recorded to have brought about religious reforms. He tended towards monotheism and focused on the cult worship on one God, Nabu (or Nebo).
• King Ashur–Dan III (772-755 BC)’s reign was the time of two plagues (765 BC rabies?, 759/1? BC), of a solar eclipse in 763 BC and an earthquake in 760 BC. Also there was internal rebellion and unrest in the Assyrian empire (rebellion in the city of Ashur in 763 BC, another civil unrest in 761 BC) at that time.
• Some say that maybe these factors helped prepare the ground for Jonah’s message. Some say that Jonah’s preaching was a reason for the tendency to Monotheism.
• From 745–627 BC Assyria will have a long series (about 120 years!) of strong, ruthless, conquering kings (Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esar-haddon, Ashurbanipal), who make Assyria a fearful and unrivaled super-power.

Nineveh

• Nineveh was long considered a Biblical legend. But in 1845 AD its ancient ruins were found and excavated. A temple to Nabu / Nebo was found, the god of arts and sciences. Today this is Iraq, near the city of Mosul on the Tigris.
• This area long had the highest percentage of Christians in the region. IS forced the Christians to flee or convert in 2014-2015 AD.
• In Assyrian Nineveh is called Ninua. Nine was the name of a fish. Ishtar, a Ninivite godess had as her symbol a fish.
• Nineveh’s gods are Ashur, Ishtar, Nabu (god of writing, arts, sciences).
• Nineveh was the capital city and largest city of the Assyrian Empire
• It is located on the Eastern shore of the Tigris, where the tributary River Chausar (Kosr) enters the Tigris.
• Jonah 3:3 calls Nineveh “an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across”. Is this an overstatement? How did Nineveh look?
  • Ancient city is now two tells (hills with ruins): Kujundshik (magnificent Sennaherib palace, huge Asurbanipal library) and Nebi Younus (named after Jonah, palace of Eshar-haddon). See map on the right, yellow areas.
  • Northeast lies another tell: Khorshbad (or Dur-Sarrukin) with the palace of another Assyrian King (xxx II).
  • South is a location called Salamije, the probable site of ancient Resen
  • Further south is a location called Nimrud, the old Kalah with palaces of Assurnasirpal II., Salmanassar III., Sargon II., Adad-nirari III and Eshar-haddon.
  • Jonah 3:3 must be referring not only to the actual city (Kujundshik, Nebi Younus), but also the entire area, wich was found framed by walls and tower, including all these different localities and palace sites.
  • It is also probable that to the North the peripheral Rehobot-Ir (in Assyrian: Rebit-Ninua) on the Western bank of the River Tigris (where today’s Mosul is) should be counted into Nineveh as well. In this sense Rehobot-Ir, Resen und Kelach together with the center are called “the great city”.
• The city owes its most magnificent buildings to Sennaherib (705-681 BC) and Eshar-haddon (681-669 BC). Around Sennacherib’s palace were parks and animal parks, horse stalls and farms, storage and administrative buildings.
• A water conducting system brought water from the hills in the East to the city. Sennacherib built a dam to control the flooding of the Khoser River.
• The city wall had 15 main gates (5 have been excavated), each guarded by colosses of stone bulls. Nineveh had a city wall almost 8 miles long, encircling an area that is sufficient to house a population of 120’000 (greater Nineveh).
• Nineveh was the mightiest city on earth, walls 100 feet high, wide enough to accommodate three chariots riding parallel upon it. The walls were fortified with towers rising high above the wall.
• The walls were surrounded by a moat 150 feet wide and 60 feet deep, and another 4 moats and 5 walls further out. The depth of the siege works were around 700 meters all around.
• Nineveh appeared impregnable and could withstand a 20 year siege. To these proud, powerful and thriving Nineveh, that had grown rich with the loot of nations and profits from extensive trade, Nahum and Zephaniah prophesied doom.

Contemporary Kings?

• Assyria
  • Adad-Nirari III (810-783 BC)
  • Ashur–Dan III (772-755 BC)
  • Tiglath-Pileser (745-727 BC)
• Israel
  • Jeroboam II (782-753 BC)
• Judah
  • Uzziah (769-739 BC)

Contemporary prophets?

• Israel        Hosea, Amos later Micah
• Judah       later Micah, Isaiah

Literary Category?

• Mostly story telling, therefore prose > literal interpretation
• Only Jonah’s prayer in the fish Jon 2:2-9 is poetry > figurative interpretation

Structure?

• Historical narrative. Only Jon 3:4 is prophecy!

Composition?

• Big contrasts Jonah <=> God, Jonah <=> sailors Jonah <=> Nineveh’s people
• Irony Jonah resents God’s mercy yet himself if totally depending on it.
• Self-irony to write the story quite like that, you would have to have self-irony

Main ideas

• God’s boundless mercy for all who repent, whether Jews (Jonah) or Gentiles (Nineveh)
• God’s mercy, persistence, loving correction and discipling of a disobedient prophet
• God’s providence and power over nature and people’s lives
• God is calling Israel back to their original job of being a light to the nations

Main Reasons

• To give the Ninevite first hearers an announcement of judgment and a chance to repent
• To challenge the Israelite first readers’ attitude of national superiority and spiritual price showing them just how much they need God’s mercy – and if they repent: are sure to receive God’s mercy
• To reveal God’s character and heart of mercy to all who repent, whether Israelite or Gentile

JONAH TEXT

• Ch 1     Call & disobedience unwilling Israel > Joppa > Sea
• Ch 2    Prayer of thanksgiving unrepentant Fish belly salvation comes from the Lord
• Ch 3     Preaching unmoved Nineveh surprisingly serious repentance
• Ch 4    Jonah’s anger at God’s mercy unhappy Under the bush

CHAPTER 1                  UNWILLING   –  Jonah refuses a calling

The call

• Jon 1:1-2  “The word of the LORD comes to Jonah: “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.”
• Nineveh is the capital of Assyria, the seat of its oppressive government, God has seen their evil.
• Jonah ‘flees’. Why? In Jon 4:2 he explains himself: “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I know that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”
• Jonah in one sense knows the character of God: he quotes Exo 34:6-7. He seems to be aware of Moses writings (how, given Israel’s state? Who else is?). We can know God’s character without knowing God’s character!
• The baseline is: he is unwilling for Nineveh and Assyria to receive any grace. He thinks them worthy of judgment. God also thinks that. He wants them judged. God doesn’t want them judged. Hence the announcement of judgment, which equals a chance to repent.
• Is Jonah justified to resent them? It seems yes, in the sense that so did everybody else, and they had good reasons (Nah 3:19 “Who has ever escaped your endless cruelty?”). Is God justified to judge them? Definitely.
• Has Israel experienced Assyria’s cruelty? Under Shalmaneser III (Jehu) yes. Now less pressure as Assyria is somewhat weak. Israel on the other hand is booming. It is precisely in this power vacuum that Jeroboam has his ‘golden age’. Yet at the same time contemporary prophet Hosea may already have spoken his message of the coming judgment on Israel by Assyria. (Hos 9:3, 10:6). Is this why Jonah resents Assyria? Does he feel he needs to ‘keep Assyria sinning’ so maybe they get judged before they judge Israel?
• On the other hand Hosea seems to battle the opposite: Israel making political alliances and putting their trust in Assyria (Hos 7:11, 8:9). Maybe Jonah is not the only one running to Assyria, maybe Jeroboam’s ambassadors also are?
• Does Jonah’s undoubtedly popular ‘hope oracle’ to Jeroboam affect his ‘Nineveh oracle’? Which one was first? What is the relationship between these two messages?
• Application … We all runaway knowing we can’t escape the presence of God. We ‘run away emotionally’, don’t want to deal with things, it’s so humbling, draining and hard work to keep relationships right. We do ‘silent treatment’ and ‘sulking’ (It’s okay. I am fine. I am not angry) but this destroys relationship. Rather talk about things directly, address issues, deal with things, pray. Its kind comforting to know we can’t escape from God!
• Jos 1:3 Jonah refuses the call and “flees from the presence of God” due West (since Nineveh is East), to Joppa, the nearest port, and embarks to Tarshish, which is thought to be in today’s Spain. Wherever it is exactly, Jonah is committed to go the opposite way. Jews feared the sea, so this is a pretty desperate act.
• It’s interesting that Jonah, who ‘knows so much about God’ here thinks he can flee from God’s presence. Actually the idea of ‘territorial gods’ is very common in the pagan world, it is described as the logic behind Assyria bringing priests back to Israel area to teach people ‘how to worship the local god’ (2 Kin 17:26). Or maybe he doesn’t really think of God as territorial, but disobeys anyway. We are usually equally illogical in our disobedience.

The interaction with the mariners

• Jon 1:10      Jonah has openly told the mariners that he is ‘fleeing God’. It seems they weren’t particularly worried, they probably laughed, or thought him odd, but took him on anyway.
• Jon 1:4-6    When trouble strikes in the form of a storm (common on the Mediterranean for a good part of the year), they get afraid and call on their gods, and command Jonah to call his God. It’s ironic that the pagans here tell the Israelite to pray to God.
• Jon 1:7        As per pagan worldview, a reason for offense to the gods is assumed and a lot is cast > Jonah is taken
• Jon 1:8-10  Jonah answers the mariners’ questions with considerable national pride, which really seems uncalled for and shows Jonah’s internal world of racial superiority. “I am a Hebrew, I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” This is of course true, and right, but it also raises the question why then you flee him, and why you think you can get away with your behavior. This confession dismays the mariners further, for the god offended is a high god!
• Jon 1:11-16   Jonah does well in the sense that he admits his sin, takes responsibility and suggests the ‘solution’ of throwing him into the sea. But it sure would make more sense to rather repent, ask God for forgiveness and intercede for the mariners that they might not suffer for Jonah’s sin. Remember Jonah ‘knows’ God is gracious and forgiving. We see here knowledge that is not knowledge.
• It seems that Jonah is a bit melodramatic, and almost wishes for death, which will be a repeated theme in this book. Dying seems better than repenting and obeying. But also he could just jump in the water, rather than involving their conscience and having them throw him in.
• In stark contrast to Jonah the pagan mariners show fairness, quite a good understanding of right and wrong, and become increasingly god-fearing: they row hard in order to not have to throw Jonah. When overwhelmed they cry out to the God of Jonah to not hold them guilty or innocent blood (conscience! Law written on the heart!). When the storm ceases duly they are even more afraid, and offer sacrifices and make vows.
• Well, at least the pagan mariners had a revelation of God, even though Jonah hasn’t much. God uses every opportunity to save the lost, mariners and Jonah.

• Jon 1:17    A fish swallows Jonah. The word is not specifically ‘whale’ (Hebrew has no word for ‘whale’), but a generic word for big fish, but whales have the biggest stomachs among fish. Mth 12:40 where this is quoted uses the Greek word for sea-monster or whale.
• Jonah in the fish belly for 3 days and 3 nights. God gets to be gracious to his most ungracious prophet. He refuses to let Jonah go or die ‘so easily’, God would rather teach him how to live right.
• Is this possible? Here is an incident related by Sir Frances Fox which he assures was carefully investigated by two scientists: “In February 1891, the whale-ship Star of the East was in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands, and the look-out sighted a large sperm whale three miles away. Two boats were lowered, and in a short time one of the harpooners was enabled to spear the fish. The second boat attacked the whale, but was upset by a lash of its tail, and the men thrown into the sea, one being drowned, and another, James Bartley, having disappeared, could not be found. The whale was killed, and in a few hours the great body was lying by the ship’s side, and the crew busy with the axes and spades removing the blubber. They worked all day and part of the night. Next day they attached some tackle to the stomach, which was hoisted on deck. The sailors were startled by spasmodic signs of life, and inside was found the missing sailor, doubled up and unconscious. He was laid on the deck and treated to a bath of sea-water which soon revived him; but his mind was not clear, and he was placed in the captain’s quarters, where he remained two weeks a raving lunatic. He was kindly and carefully treated by the captain, and by the officers of the ship, and gradually gained possession of his senses. At the end of the third week he had entirely recovered from the shock, and resumed his duties. During his sojourn in the whale’s stomach Bartley’s skin, where exposed to the action of the gastric juice, underwent a striking change. His face, neck and hands were bleached to a deadly whiteness, and took on the appearance of parchment. Bartley affirms that he would probably have lived inside his house of flesh until he starved, for he lost his senses through fright and not from lack of air.”
• Three nights and three days. Jesus refers to this as ‘the sign of Jonah’ and applies it to himself in Mth 12:38-4, Mth 16:4, Luk 11:29-32. Jesus likens these 3 days in the belly to his three days between cross and resurrection. Actually Jesus’ time is not exactly 3 days and 3 nights, the Jews count partial days as full days. It was Friday 3h (from 3-6pm), the all Saturday, then Sunday some 6h till dawn.
• Jesus also compares his contemporary Jews who see him (more than Jonah!), hear his word and experience his signs, and still don’t repent, unlike the Ninevites who did at Jonah’s preaching.
• God is after a repentant heart, only them mercy can be received.

What would this speak to the first readers (Israel, and later Judah)?

• After all God is not just the God of Israelites – but of Gentiles as well
• He welcomes & receives anyone who repents and fears him – humility
• The proud and stubborn men will be thrown away
• God is gracious & merciful to choose them (Israel) to be his messenger
• It is not about them – so stop being selfish and prideful. It is about God and his purpose and glory
• Should teach to be humble servants and being an example of God’s ways to others

Application

• Am I running away or being complacent to see and know what is happening around me, and how I can be an example – reflecting God’s ways to others
• Do I care about those who do not know Jesus – whats my attitude and heart desire for them
• Do I care about what God is concern about or just about my own pride and agenda
• Am I humble enough to know that everything does not work around me and what I wan but around God’s overall purpose?

CHAPTER 2                         UNREPENTANT – Jonah strikes a deal

• Jos 2:1-9 The prayer in the fish belly is usually understood to be Jonah’s repentance, and then he obeys God.
• What is in this prayer?
  • descriptions of the horror of drowning (fair enough).
  • calling on God, praying to God, remembering God.
  • thankfulness for the deliverance God gave (he is not yet dead)
  • I see Jonah making vows and promising sacrifices (probably vows that he will obey if saved)
  • But there is no repentance, no acknowledging of sin, no agreeing with God on the judgment, no asking for forgiveness.
  • Actually the whole prayer still has a prideful undertone: I called … I remembered, … my prayer came to you; into your holy temple .. what I have vowed I will pay … and God has to be thankful, or what??
  • Even a superior undertone is detectable: Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty. … who does he have in mind? The mariners? Is he still proud to so different? To be a Hebrew and serving the right God? … Spiritual pride is as ridiculous as it is hard to battle.
  • This is a sore warning of racial superiority and spiritual pride!

CHAPTER 3                       UNMOVED – Jonah’s unintentional success

• Jon 3:1-2 Jonah is given the same word one more time, another chance to fulfill his mission. This is God’s mercy, not only to be saved from death but to be trusted again by God to fulfill this mission, his calling is not canceled.
• Application?
  • Sanctification is like that: you get right with God and then just pick up where you left and move on from there: no condemnation, no self-pity, no escape :-). God is the ultimate discipler, he molds and transforms us in our weakness, and uses us in spite of our weakness.
  • Give 2nd chances! Trust again! Do not easily give up on people.
  • Lord of the rings: Gandalf to Theoden: to cast aside regret and fear, to do the deed at hand. No crippling and fruitless remorse, no self-pity over humility, but pick things up and start obeying now.
  • No need to strive to get fixed (sanctification), in one sense we will never ‘be ready to be used by God’. God doesn’t want us to perform for him but to stay in relationship with him, and keep responding to him.
  • Sanctification – Is an on going process – we repent continually and grow in our obedience to him
• Joppa to Nineveh could take a month for a journey – he could change his mind – but he didn’t
• He fulfills his call but not out of love and mercy but out of what? > fear? Respectful fear? Sense of duty? Fulfilling the vow? Gratefulness?
• Joppa to Nineveh was a 3-4 month journey. Jonah not only started it, he arrived, he did not turn back.
• Jon 3:3-4 He goes a day’s journey into the 3-days-journey-city (greater Nineveh) and starts to preach: ‘Forty days more, and Nineveh will be overthrown!’ It’s an announcement of judgment, – and very soon, too – not really a pea to repent. Is his full preaching just ‘not mentioned’ or did he simply not preach anything other than this because he doesn’t really want them to repent?
• Jon 3:6-9 In a move of God Nineveh actually listens, fears God and responds, first the people themselves, then the king. According to the best of their understanding they call a zero food zero water fast (for humans and animals), sackcloth, crying mightily to God and ‘turning from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands.’ … in the hope that God may relent and change his mind.
• Either Jonah has preached more than he records in his story, or this is a Spirit-led revival from inside out, the law of God written on human hearts (Ro 1:18-20) but the understanding displayed in remarkable: wholehearted repentance and a forsaking of evil. Wow. They do not have the law, but they do understand a lot (a contrast to Jonah).
• Principle of being judged for what you have revelation about, not more than that.
• This is in stark contrast to Israel, who does not respond to Hosea’s heart-rending message of God’s love.
• How is Jonah in all this? Is he attentive enough to even understand the tremendous response of the people? Does he mistrust it? Does he belittle it? Does he resent it?
• It sure seems Jonah’s attitude is of ‘obeying the bare minimum and then be out of here’. It is highly ironic that such a messenger with such a stinking attitude would cause one of the greatest revivals in history.
• Jos 3:10 God, though seeing enough evil to call for an immediate judgment (40 days), he in accordance with his great mercy forgives the repentant sinners.

CHAPTER 4                 UNHAPPY – Jonah’s anger at God’s mercy

• Jon 4:1 “But this was very displeasing to Jonah and he became angry.” Contrast God and Jonah. Anger in an emotion. Emotions are not good or bad in themselves. They are not forbidden. They are often not preventable in the first place. Emotions are real. They are not fixed though. Emotions can change if thinking and attitude changes. Emotions are true indicators of something. The question is of what. Jonah’s anger is real. It is a real fruit of a wrong attitude, even a faulty thinking.
• Jon 4:2  Jonah states his reasons: I knew you were merciful, I knew you would forgive them. Maybe he is worried about being proven a false prophet (death penalty). Yet Assyria doesn’t know De 13, and Israel would not execute him.
• Jon 4:3 Jonah responds in a self-pity, quite childish way: He would rather die than repent. He would rather die than change his thinking. He would rather die than see Nineveh live. What an irony. Death is a form of withdrawal. It’s signing out. Jonah is wallowing in self-pity, he is melo-dramatic, self-centered and ungracious. He is also blissfully unaware that he totally lives off the very grace he now resents. What saved him in the fish belly? Grace. What is he refusing now to others? That same grace. He still thinks himself very different from Nineveh.
• Jon 4:4 God: “Is it right for you to by angry?” God names anger anger. He challenges not the emotion, but the appropriateness of the emotion. He makes Jonah think about the root of his anger, the reason, the thinking causing it. God is not reproaching. He is not saying ‘I’ll never save you again! He is not saying: ‘Next time you rot!’ He is not saying: ‘Ok, go right ahead and kill yourself!’ God engages Jonah. The question is both simple, honest and profound.
• Jon 4:5 Jonah responds by withdrawal (no answer) and by stubbornly moving out of Nineveh (it seems the 40 days are not over yet), to make sure he is not in the city, in case something should happen anyway. But he is also not going off home, he wants to see how it ends.
• Jon 4:6-8 God, sweet as he is, let’s a shady leafy bush grow in record time. Jonah is very happy and gets a bit of respite. Then God removes it again just as quickly. Now Jonah is really annoyed. Jonah asks that he might die (for the third time).
• Jon 4:9-11 God puts in a very similar question: “Is it right for your to be angry about the bush?” Before it was “Is it right for you to be angry” (about Nineveh not being punished)? Basically God is challenging Jonah about the utter self-focus he is judging (God) by … if something is ‘good for him’ then it is worth saving. If not, not.
• The grotesque contrast of a living breathing city with 120’000 inhabitants and animals and a stupid one day bush is to bring home just how skewed Jonah’s oh-so-logic perception is. God shames Jonah by his narrowness
• Jonah wants God to be merciful to him, and only to him. He wants to control God, to make God to act on his terms. He wants God for himself … but not for others. He is resenting grace, the very grace he lives off.
• The obvious parallel is Jesus’ parable of the two debtors. God is very willing to forgive debts. But when the one forgiven much doesn’t forgive little, God withdraws his forgiveness. This is serious. Forgiveness is utterly important. God will not be trifled with.
• God is true to himself, he remains gracious all throughout the book, to Jonah, to Jonah again, to Nineveh, and to Jonah again.
• The book has a very open ending. How did Jonah respond? Did he understand finally? Did he repent? Did he truly change his mind? … the open ending is totally intended and purposeful.
• The answer is: Jonah did change. How else could he have written a book – a very embarrassing book! – about himself? How else could he so honestly display his most rotten attitudes and pity-parties? This book is a self-revelation, it’s a confession, it’s a lighthearted making fun of himself, but it’s at the same time a sore, sore challenge to all his fellow Israelites, who have at least as rotten an attitude as him!
• Jonah doesn’t change till after the story happened. But then he really changes. He becomes God’s agent. He agrees with God, he shakes his head at himself … and he now can be an example to others. He has finally become a prophet: one that represents God, brings God’s view, challenges his contemporaries, he is the message now.
• He teaches and challenges, he provokes and encourages his fellow Israelites by his writing.

Application

• Are there people I do not want to get mercy? Do I get angry when certain people are forgiven or receive grace?
• Where do I live off God’s mercy – quite unawares – yet am merciless in my demands of others?
• Very often if some behavior in a person really really gets on my nerves, if I am very honest I realize I do it myself.
• If I don’t get what I want – the way I want it – when I want it, I get bitter and resent God. If it’s not my way, than better no way, I better die.
• Whatever makes you bitter against God if you can’t get it – is really your god. The thing that prevents you from calling God good.
• With what issue would you rather die than change my mind? Die than repent? Die than see that happen? … Actually, the death theme is not accidental, and in the long run unavoidable: if I so hold on to a resentment, and anger, a pride, an injustice done, it will eat me up from inside out.
• Remember Jesus says we will be judged by the words of our mouths.
• I need to soften my heart, get God’s heart and perspective on any enemy > they need God’s mercy just as much as we need mercy

Important Theme in Jonah – The need to forgive

What forgiveness is not

• Forgiveness is not ‘not feeling bad any more’ about something
• Forgiveness is not denial of what happened
• Forgiveness is not approval of what happened
• Forgiveness is not forgetting what happened
• Forgiveness is not tolerating something
• Forgiveness is not the same as trust
• Forgiveness may still draw boundaries
• Forgiveness is not unjust
• Forgiveness is not automatic, you must choose it
• Illustration: Garbage thrown in a house
• Illustration: Snake I am feeding
• Illustration: Prison with the lock inside

What forgiveness is

• Forgiveness is calling wrong wrong
• Forgiveness is to place blame where it belongs
• Forgiveness is to release anger and resentment against this person
• Forgiveness is to release my justified demands on that person
• But why should I if they don’t deserve it?
• Because it’s the only way to freedom for you … otherwise you will become what you resent
• But also … because I also have hurt others intentionally and do not deserve forgiveness either
• Forgiveness bases on the humility to acknowledge that I have been evil also, though maybe different
• Forgiveness bases on being forgiven by God … he forgave, so we must forgive each other
• Forgiveness is an act of the will, consciously and voluntarily letting go of our claims, our anger, our resentment against that person
• Forgiveness is very hard, but so essential to our health and well-being and freedom that God demands it (for our own sake) in very strong terms: If you don’t forgive each other, I will not forgive you …
• God’s heart is that we will find through to forgiveness, because it is the only way to truly undo the damage done, to release us fully, to bring us into freedom