Jonah 1 – 4
Jonah is one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament since it follows how we sometimes think. Verse 1:2 is God calling Jonah to prophesize to Nineveh:
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
God is telling Jonah to do something and what is Jonah’s response? He runs! He jumps in a boat and goes the opposite direction! Have you ever been told to do something you didn’t want to? Imagine being told to tell a city they would perish at the hand of God! While out to sea, a great storm arises and once the crew realizes God is mad at Jonah they toss him into the sea.
Verse 1:17 is another story that is used as “proof” the Bible is just a bunch of stories:
And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
It’s difficult to imagine someone being eaten by a fish that was large enough not to have to shred them first and then to survive for 3 days in the belly is difficult to imagine also. At this point one could go into a bunch of different scenarios on how this could have happened, but I am just going to assume it to be true. Ironically after three days he is spat on the Nineveh shoreline and finally succumbed to God’s request.
Verse 3:5 was Nineveh’s response to the prophecy:
And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
The king did the same thing once he learned of their fate. When God saw this from the people that they had turned from their evil ways he had mercy on them and did not destroy the city. This caused Jonah to get into a funk and get angry at God. He went on a hill and sulked where God grew a tree so he had shelter from the sun. The next day God let the tree die and Jonah again grew angry.
Verses 4:10 – 11 has God pointing out his skewed sense of values:
10 And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labour, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle
Think about how God called on Jonah to do something and when finally did do it, the outcome was not as expected. Has this happened to you before? Was your response to sulk or thank God for the opportunity to help save others? Think about it, if Jonah had not told the people, God would have punished them without warning. But because Jonah did “save” them, they were spared.
Take this to witnessing to others, would you rather tell someone they will go to Hell and have them repent or have them go to Hell? This is a great story on pride and how we need to constantly keep ourselves in “check”. That is what God pointed out to him in the last two verses that he should be happy that the people were saved and not upset that what he said did not happen. Next time we get upset about anything, we should look at what is going on from a different perspective before continuing a funk.