Of the “minor” prophets, perhaps none is better known than Jonah. It is the most easily read because it tells a good adventure story. Jonah takes to the high sea in flight from God, there is a storm, Jonah is thrown overboard. He is spared by being swallowed up by a great fish. After three days in the belly of the fish, Jonah is spit up onto shore. He then makes the trip to his mortal enemy’s city, and preaches a word of judgment and a call for repentance. (It’s like something straight out of Veggie Tales.) Much to Jonah’s chagrin, Nineveh repents. God does not destroy Nineveh. This is just what Jonah did not want to happen.
The theme of Jonah is God’s goodness, his patience and compassion. God does not allow his will to be thwarted but he shows compassion to all involved. He spares the crew of the ship who throw Jonah overboard. God shows compassion to Jonah by miraculously having him swallowed by the great fish. Then God accepts the repentance of the people of Nineveh and does not destroy them for their sinfulness.
Jonah is an anti-hero in the story. For the most part, he gripes and fights and tries to not do what God has called him to do. Jonah does everything he can to manipulate God into doing what he wants; and what he wants is to see the wrath of God played out against Israel’s enemies. He wants Nineveh to be destroyed. After Nineveh was spared, Jonah’s response tells the whole story, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I know that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (4:2).
We know only a little bit about the prophetic activities of Jonah outside of the book that bears his name. He is mentioned only once in the Old Testament – in 2 Kings 14:23-25. “In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.” (2Kings 14:23-25, NIV). Of course, in the New Testament, Jesus refers to Jonah and the “sign of Jonah” (Matthew 12:39; Luke11:29).
Thus, assuming that the 2 Kings Jonah and minor prophet Jonah are the same, he was a prophet in the Northern Kingdom prior to the time Assyria took them off into captivity in 722. He was recognized as a prophet and had influence on the king of Israel. As 2 Kings indicates, he urged the king to expand northward into territories temporarily seized by Syria. Beyond that, we do not know much. We do not know anything about Amittai, Jonah’s father, nor is there anything particularly significant known about the meaning of his name.
It is likely that Jonah is not the author of this book. The narrator does not portray Jonah in a favorable light at all – he is petulant, childish, rebellious, and stubborn. In many ways Jonah is very much like the Israelite people from whom he was called. Also, the narrative is more like the accounts of Elijah and Elisha, where the prophets are the prime figures in the story rather than the authors of it.
There is little internal to the narrative itself to pinpoint the timing of the event. Nineveh was not the capital of Assyria, yet it would be described that way if the king were there for any extended stay. Storms, by themselves, were not so rare as to be able to identify which one was involved in Jonah’s failed attempt to escape to Joppa.
Why would the Assyrians respond to this strange looking and foul smelling thing wandering through their city calling them to repent? If we accept the idea that Jonah refers to a time roughly equating to the time of the Jonah named in 2 Kings, Assyria was having troubles and must have wondered what was going on. Archaeological materials suggest that Assyria was having military and diplomatic setbacks during the time when Jonah would have been a prophet (773-756 B.C.). In addition, geological findings show that there had been a major earthquake and astronomy charts show that there was an eclipse – all of which would have been considered to be major, evil omens. With a shaky monarchy and evil omens all around; the Ninevites were ripe for God’s message of repentance given through Jonah.
The point of Jonah is more than “don’t be like Jonah.” It tells of how God is Lord over all nations, not just Israel. God’s treatment of the sailors, who worshiped all sorts of idols, demonstrated his power greater than any man-made gods. Note the sailors’ reactions when the sea was calmed, “At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.” In short, they repented and worshiped. Further, God shows compassion to Nineveh; Nineveh could only be considered to be an enemy of the people of God. As a result of Jonah’s preaching, the city and the king repent and worship God.
So, is it true? Well, for what it is worth – and I think it is worth a lot – Jesus refers to it as truth. “Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.” (Matt. 12:38-41, NIV)
Here’s how the Word Biblical Commentary weighs in on it,
It is one thing to conclude that “Jonah is a story which illustrates the principle that we ought to allow God the right to show compassion to those whom we might think do not deserve it.” It is quite another to conclude that “the ancient Israelite Jonah was a northern prophet who had to learn the hard way a lesson we ought to learn less stubbornly; our God has shown himself decisively to be a God of compassion and forgiveness – and not just toward us!” If it really happened, it is really serious.
What does it mean for us? Jonah reminds us that we do not get to tell God upon whom to have compassion. Not everyone is sent abroad to preach in enemy territory like Jonah, but God certainly does call some. We are called to be witnesses wherever God sends us, we are called to be witnesses to whomever God raises up before us.
Let us pray for eyes to see those with whom God is calling us to share our testimony. Let us ask for a spirit of obedience and humility, with hearts filled with the joy of salvation in God’s grace that we have received, and with perseverance in situations that are not comfortable or secure for us.
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