Jonah Presentation

Scene:          Meeting of Sanhedrin

Time:            5th Century BC

Purpose:       to update history of the people of Israel after many years of exile

to find a way to encourage youth of the community

to pass on oral traditions

Definition:     parable, allegory, or Midrash: Hebrew literary form that includes commentary, we’re told how Jonah feels and what he is thinking.

My dear learned and respected brothers, I am humbled to be standing in your midst today. It is with great reverence and holy respect for our God that I present the following midrash for your approval. Let us be mindful always that our God is Good.

Our story begins with a man I will call Jonah after the prophet from the land of Zebulon. Jonah ben Amittai, or the son of Amittai, we all know was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam.

Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh and preach repentance to the Assyrians, our captors of so many years. Now brothers, the job of a prophet is not an easy one. And Jonah not only knew that, but also knew of the brutal treatment our people had suffered under their hands. He both feared and hated the people of Nineveh.

So he told God “no” He told our Lord Eloheim that he would not go. But we all know, don’t we brothers, that God will take us even to the places we don’t want to go, to see his divine plan accomplished. Jonah knew this too, and began his run from God.

Jonah booked passage on a ship bound for Tarshish. And made way deep into the ships hold. He thought he was safe here from God and lied down and was soon in a deep sleep. As the great ship made for deep water, Yahweh sent a gale wind that rocked the ship.

The crew began to panic and cry out to their Gods for help. Nothing happened, so they began to throw cargo overboard to appease the god of the seas, and yet it only served to lighten the ship, and it bounced from wave crest to wave crest, pitching and leaning on the seas. The captain called for more cargo to sacrifice and himself went deep into the ships hold and found Jonah asleep.

The captain wakens him and implores him to seek his God for their safety. Now remember brothers, Jonah is hiding from God. So as he makes his way to the deck, the sailors have decided that someone among them has angered his god, so they cast lots to see whom the offender is. With Yahweh’s intervention, the die falls to Jonah. With which he admits he is the offender.

But rather than calling upon God to deliver him, he tells the sailors to cast him into the sea. Our Jonah is a sly fellow; he thinks that they are hurling him to his death. At last he will be free from God. But the sailors are not about to have innocent blood are their hands. Instead they begin to dig the oars deep into the sea and row. But the sea only grows angrier and they reluctantly throw him over board. And the seas grow calm. Jonah goes down, and the sailors lift praises to Eloheim for their deliverance.

Jonah goes down deeper and deeper. As he approaches the gates of Sheol a huge fish swallows him, and for three days he lies in the belly of the great beast. Finally, Jonah is convinced that he cannot run from god and calls out from inside the fish and offers a psalm of praise to the God who is his deliverer. Wait I, want to get this right,

"In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.

From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.

I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'

The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit,

O LORD my God. "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD,

and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.

"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."

And with that, the beast spit him out on dry ground. where do you think Jonah was? Now my friends, when Jonah came to his senses again he heard the voice of the Lord. “Go to Ninevah”. And so he went.

But remember my friends, Ninevah is in Assyria, and Jonah was fearful of the inhabitants. So his message to Nineveh was, shall we say abbreviated. Rather than pronouncing God’s judgement or giving the Ninevites more information, all he said was “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”

Now my friends, truly the presence of the Lord was in that place because one by one each man’s heart was convicted. Jonah traveled three days journey for the city was so large. repeating his message “Forty more days and Ninevah will be overturned.” Until finally the word reached the king. Now the king had served many gods, and knew that his enemies were many. So he called for a great fast to appease the god of the prophet who proclaimed his ruin.

Everyone from the greatest to the least garbed himself in sackcloth and sat in dust and ashes, and mourned their impending doom. Even the beasts of the field and the domestic animals were to be given no food or drink, and ordered to cry out to God for their deliverence. “Who know’s the king said, maybe this god will repent.

Our hero hightailed it out of town, and built himself a booth for protection from the noon day sun. Just far enough outside of town that he could witness first hand, the destruction of Nineveh.

But something miraculous happened, as Jonah sat and watched, a vine began to grow besides’ Jonah’s booth, it grew rapidly and brought shade to Jonah. Oh he loved that little vine that brought him such relief. Something else happened. Jonah realized that God was not going to bring ruin to Nineveh. God had heard the cries of repentant hearts and changed his mind about destroying them.

Jonah’s heart burned with anger. How could God preserve these people, these Assyrians. Jonah sat down in the dust and began to stew in his own bitterness. With that the tiny worm that had been nibbling on the vine, pieced its center and the vine withered. Yahweh then sent a hot wind Jonah’s way. The sun beat down upon him, and Jonah’s bitterness turned to anger as he grieved the loss of his beloved plant. Jonah then cried out to god and begged him to take his life. 

Then Yaweh answered Jonah and asked if he had a right to be angry over the vine. How could he care for a vine that sprang up one night and was gone the next, and not expect God to have concern over a city of thousands? What of their flocks and herds? Should He ignore a people who repent of their ways?

Well brothers, that’s my story.