Jonah 1:1-3 - Heads You Win, Tails I Lose

· Dogs, Horses, Lotteries, Cards/Dice, Sports Betting.

Recently the news broke about the translator for a Japanese Pitcher who plays in MLB with the highest paid contract in history. This translator was into a bookie for millions of dollars.

‌Many people claim to have “a system” but the House never loses in the end. Payouts are scheduled to keep people involved in the “game”. But the house never loses as long as people are still placing bets. Probability and chance are never a flip of a coin.

‌Even less probable than a coin flip is beating a Casino. Even less probable than beating a Casino is beating a Lottery. The ONLY sure bet I can promise you is that if you choose to disobey God, there will be a trip to the woodshed! Sin can NOT go unpunished!

‌From Today through Mother’s Day we will be traveling through a story of a man who thought he could beat the house. He thought he could escape God’s sovereign and merciful will.

‌Jonah is more than a fish story! Romans 15:4 instructs that stories in the Hebrew Scriptures are written so that those who read them will have hope. I want to build our hope that God can, wants to, and will redeem our neighbors, and that he desires to use us to reach them. My tendency is to resolve the tension in the story, but tension is what draws us into the story and tension is what prompts us to keep reading.

‌If you’ve ever been to Sunday School or watched Veggie Tales, you probably identify this prophet with a big fish. We won’t even learn of this fish until our 3rd sermon and we will find that the fish doesn’t resolve all the tension that remains into our 4th and 5th sermons.

‌We have come to expect the cast, the setting, the conflict, and the resolution in a 30 minute TV episode. We have grown accustomed to “news” stories that jump straight to the “why is this a problem” storylines. Rather than a quick flash flood, I’m hoping that these upcoming weeks will be a soaking rain that permeates us deeply to bring about lasting results.

‌We don’t find out in today’s text WHY it is unwise to bet against the house, but we do learn that our leading man, the one who we expect to be the hero, the one on the white horse in the white hat with the silver bullets, indeed makes a foolish bet.

Transition: My goal today is to introduce the 5 W’s that will help us fully comprehend this true tale.

To Understand We have to know WHEN

Assyria “pokes the Bear” (853 BC)

· About 70 years of festering before Jonah begins ministry.

Jonah Prophesies (about 40 years)

Assyria’s Double Attack (25 years after Jonah, then 20 yrs later)

1. Conquers Israel (Northern 10 Tribes) (722 BC)

2. Invades Judah (Southern 2 Tribes) (701 BC)

God Uses Babylon to punish Assyria (605 BC)

Transition: These dates are approximate, but help us to consider relationship to other events. Next we identify 3 characters in today’s 3 verses

To Understand We have to know WHO

Lord (יְהוָ֔ה) – v.1a

There are 2 dominant names we find in the Hebrew Scriptures for the God of the Bible – Elohim speaks of the supreme or majestic God, used in Genesis 1. YaHWeH is the God who makes covenant and has relationship with humanity. We will observe that the mariners (most likely Phoenecian) and the Ninevites (Assyrians) have their own collection of gods, but the Lord identified here is distinct from all their deities.

We will learn much more in the upcoming weeks about the character of the Lord toward those who rebuff Him, but today’s text only reveals see 3 things

He initiates action – The word of the Lord came

He calls out evil – call out against it

He notices humanity. – their evil has come up before me.

Jonah – v.1b

A prophet who ministered to the Northern tribes (born [Gath-Hepher] near Galilee where Jesus would grow up). 2 Kings 14 identifies his hometown and speaks of his ministry during the time of a wicked king of Israel, Jeroboam.

He is not named as a prophet, but the fact that the Word of the Lord came to him indicates that we would expect him to be one of the “good guys” who wears a white hat.

Modern mindset seems to divide local and distant priorities. If the “pie” of resources is only so big, should we first address needs at home, or look toward more drastic needs elsewhere?

3. We desire to neglect neither our own neighbors or the nations in our missions strategy. Ukraine, Hamas, and Haiti all present legitimate needs, while people ask about our own veterans, homeless Americans, and the humane response to migrants, refugees or “newcomers”.

4. While there were plenty of countrymen and local politicians who needed a word from the Lord about their evil, Jonah is directed to travel to a neighboring empire.

5. There were other prophets instructed to preach against foreigners, but Jonah is the only one SENT to foreigners, unless you count someone like Daniel who was taken by foreigners.

Nineveh - v.2a

The destination identified in v.2a is the capital city of the enemy Nation to the Northeast. I’ve already spoken about the conflict that has simmered for 70 years before this chapter opens. In a moment I’ll help us identify where this empire was located.

The Assyrians were especially violent people.

”Archaeology confirms the biblical witness to the wickedness of the Assyrians. They were well known in the ancient world for brutality and cruelty. Ashurbanipal, the grandson of Sennacherib, was accustomed to tearing off the lips and hands of his victims. Tiglath-Pileser flayed victims alive and made great piles of their skulls[i].

3. If we expect Jonah to wear the white hat, the first readers of this book would expect the Ninevites to have black hats, rough faces, with tobacco spit running from their mouths.

4. These people were so despicable that Jonah chose to put himself in the hands of our 4th characters.

Sailors/Mariners (“them” – v.3, identified in v.5)

Just as the cargo ship that ran into the Francis Scott Key bridge a week ago was a foreign vessel leaving an American port, staffed by sailors of a different nationality, “them” are docked in a Jewish port, but they were not of Jewish culture or religion.

More about them next week, Lord willing.

Transition: I provided you a map of the region from the Mediterranean to the East to help identify the Ninevites.

To Understand We have to know WHERE

Starting somewhere in Israel (Galilee).

We know where Jonah was born, but we don’t know if he still lives there.

We know that the center of Jewish life was the Temple in Jerusalem, but we don’t know how close Jonah was to the Temple.

Whenever we read of pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the Bible uses go up language (Psalms 120-134). This is most likely elevation, not North/South on a map.

If the Temple, the place of God’s Dwelling is higher elevation of Jerusalem, the contrast is the sea level of a Sea port on the Mediterranean.

5x in the opposite direction (Tarshish)

Imagine if God sent you to the Mississippi River near the Quad Cities on the border of Iowa/Illinois, but you chose to head toward San Francisco and kept going halfway to Hawaii.

(From the presence of the Lord)

1. Not just East – West; Not just land – sea; but FAR into the sea.

Jonah’s destination was Tarshish, an enigmatic and exotic locale often used to symbolize the farthest extent of the known world. The city was a distant trading port of the Phoenicians and was likely a Phoenician colony in the western Mediterranean. Tartessus, a Phoenician colony in southwestern Spain, is the best candidate for identifying the biblical Tarshish[ii]

2. Jonah was likely relatively close to the house of the Lord (Jerusalem), and yet the word of the Lord comes even closer (directly to Jonah). Jonah is so flustered by this assignment that he doesn’t only flee away from the Mission, he flees away from the God who is speaking to him. Although this book clearly will show that God is present over land and sea, and He is God over Jews, Assyrians, and Phoenicians.

3. Jonah doesn’t just want to avoid the Ninevites, he wants to avoid the God who is sending him to the Ninevites.

Transition: This plot is going to get worse before it gets better. And even when it gets better, Jonah won’t be happy with it. So to give us something to hold onto without prematurely resolving the tension of the story, let’s just say…

To Understand We have to know WHAT happens and WHY

God is moving toward Gentiles (came to)

In 1985 Mark Altrogge wrote a song that we sing occasionally here at FHCC. The verse of this simple song reads:

You did not wait for me To draw near to You But You clothed Yourself With frail humanity You did not wait for me To cry out to You But You let me hear Your voice calling me

The chorus later concludes with:

I'm forever grateful to You That You came To seek and save the lost.

We frequently use language like “I found the Lord” but the reality is that He is chasing us. He knows exactly where we are, but He is a gentleman who will not force us to love Him. He calls us to respond to His love!

Jonah is choosing to pout

When God says arise Jonah seems to be starting in the right direction in the first 3 words of v.3; but then the bottom falls out!

He flees, he went down (2x) and he moves from the presence of the Lord (2x). 5 opposite descriptions in 1 verse!

The cowboy with the white hat is covering his face like a bandit and literally riding off to the sunset in the West.

Conclusion:

The boat has not even pushed away from the dock and we see the prophet’s disobedience.

When we expect right, and we see left, we know something is not good. When we expect up and we get down, we know trouble is brewing.

My fellow Christians, If people read your biography would you wish to be portrayed in the white hat or the black outfit? If you were dressed in a white hat, would your obedience to God be portrayed as eastern obedience or western rebellion?

If you are listening and have not found God’s love for you, do you see God as moving toward you, or do you sense He is hiding or moving away? I challenge you to consider and respond to the fact that:

He did not wait for you To draw near to Him

But He clothed Himself With frail humanity

He did not wait for you To cry out to Him

But He lets you hear His voice calling you!

My prayer and my purpose can be seen on the bottom of the back of the sermon note page: God wants to draw near to you and God wants to use you to draw our neighbors as well.

If you view God’s will as a coin flip, He always wins and anything contrary loses.

[i] Smith, Billy K., and Franklin S. Page. 1995. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Vol. 19B. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers [ii] Widder, Wendy. 2017. Jonah. Edited by Douglas Mangum and Elizabeth Vince. Lexham Research Commentaries. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.