Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

1 Peter 3:12-17

Prayer

Introduction

One of the best known stories of the Old Testament, perhaps of the entire Bible is the story of Jonah.

We all know the way the story goes broadly.

God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach, but Jonah goes the opposite direction.

Gets himself swallowed by a fish and spit back onto shore.

He kinda learns his lesson, preaches to the Ninevites, they repent, Jonah gets angry at God, then something happens with a plant and a worm.

The end.

Because of our familiarity with the story, we can be tempted to skim over it when we read, but I think it is an important book that has much to tell us as Christians today, so we will spend the next five or so weeks trying to get to know the story better.

Really our goal will be to get to know our great God better.

Scripture

Our passage this morning will be .

If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word.

We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition that these are the most important words we can possibly hear today for they are God’s very Words.

says,

“Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.

So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.”

Thank you, you may be seated.

I want to spend some time this morning laying out the historical setting of Jonah.

We need to know who Jonah is, who the Ninevites are and what is going on in the world so that we can better understand and interpret this amazing story.

The book of Jonah starts somewhat abruptly with the phrase, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai.”

Who is Jonah son of Amittai?

The book of Jonah really doesn’t tell us much about him beyond his penchant for disobedience and anger.

Fortunately, we have another reference in Scripture of Jonah, in .

It says,

I’m aware that this is a passing reference and doesn’t seem to tell us much.

We still don’t know who Amittai is or anything like that, but what this passage does tell us is important.

It tells us that Jonah was a known prophet in the Northern Kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II.

We also know that God had used Jonah in his prophetic role to help re-establish the boarders of Israel which had been eroded by her enemies.

That tells us that Jonah has experience hearing form God, obeying God, seeing God work and move.

Keep in mind that Jeroboam II was not a righteous king and that God restored Israel not because they returned to Him, but because God was simply being merciful.

I’m aware that this is a passing reference and doesn’t seem to tell us much.

We still don’t know who Amittai is or anything like that, but what this passage does tell us is important.

It tells us that Jonah was a known prophet in the Northern Kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II.

We also know that God had used Jonah in his prophetic role to help re-establish the boarders of Israel which had been eroded by her enemies.

That tells us that Jonah has experience hearing form God, obeying God, seeing God work and move.

Keep in mind that Jeroboam II was not a righteous king and that God restored Israel not because they returned to Him, but because God was simply being merciful.

The verse in 2 Kings is also helpful because it gives us an approximate date for Jonah’s ministry.

We can comfortably say that Jonah was a prophet in the middle of the 8th century B.C.

It is even probable that Jonah preached to Nineveh sometime around or shortly after the year 760 B.C.

Knowing the approximate date of Jonah’s ministry is not just helpful for intense games of trivial pursuit.

I know that you are all planning on being on Jeopardy and winning lots of money because you know the date of Jonah’s ministry.

So, who is Jonah?

He was a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II in the middle of the 8th century B.C.

Now what about this place called Nineveh? God tells Jonah to arise and go to the great city.

Nineveh is an important city approximately 500 miles as the crow flies north east of Jonah’s hometown.

Nineveh was an important city and capital of the Assyrian Empire.

Does the name Assyria ring any bells?

Assyria was a constant thorn in the side of Israel.

What had happened in the Assyrian Empire was that it had had some great success and expanded and conquered, but then it went through a period of decline where it really wasn’t much of an empire anymore.

This is the setting for the story of Jonah.

The Assyrians are really a just a loose conglomeration of mostly independent city states.

Before Jonah’s time, Assyria had forced the king of Israel to pay tribute to them.

Israel had come under their yoke.

But now, Israel was experiencing a time of restoration while Assyria was experiencing a time of decline.

We also know that eventually the roles reverse, and Israel declines again, and Assyria grows in strength – eventually destroying Israel and taking them captive.

I realize that this seems like just a bunch of ancient history, but it is important for the story.

Why would Jonah be so reluctant to go to Nineveh?

Because he knows that judgment on Nineveh means that Assyria never bothers Israel again, but a restored Nineveh?

That could mean trouble for Israel in the future.

And in fact it does.

We are told in our text that the evil of Nineveh had “come up before God”.

We do not know exactly what specifically was going on in Nineveh at this time.

If you have ever watched the Veggie Tales movie about Jonah, you would know that the Ninevites constantly slapped each other with fish.

The reality is really much worse.

The Assyrians were known for their barbarism.

Here is what one commentator tells us about the practice of some of their kings,

“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.”

So, what is Nineveh?

It is the brutal, wicked capital city of the enemies and eventual conquerors of Israel.

It is the last place you or I or Jonah would want to preach.

The opening of the book of Jonah would have been shocking to an Israelite.

Go to Nineveh?

Preach to Nineveh?

Why not just go ahead and destroy them?

It would kill two birds with one stone!

Assyria is judged and Israel is saved from them!

But God had other plans.

God eventually would use Nineveh’s repentance as an example.

If they who were so wicked listened and repented, why not you?

God tells Jonah to arise and go, and Jonah rose and went – the wrong way.

He got on a ship in Joppa to flee to Tarshish.

Now we don’t know exactly where Tarshish was, but many think it was on the southern tip of Spain.

What we do know is that Tarshish was at the extreme western reaches of the known world.

Sometimes going to Tarshish was used as a euphemism for going way out to sea.

This is not just a short trip for Jonah.

We know that during King Solomon’s reign, that ships would sail to and from Tarshish to bring treasures to Israel, but it was a 3-year journey.

All that to say, Jonah was not simply taking a leisurely Sunday drive to think about what God told him to do.

He was determined to disobey.

He would not deliver the message to Nineveh.

And Jonah understood exactly what he was doing.

Look at the repetition in verse three.

Look how Jonah is fleeing not only his commission, but he is fleeing the presence of God.