JONAH

THEME: 

DATE: 

I.       HISTORICAL SETTING OF JONAH

A.       During the reign of                                              (793-53 B.C.) (II Kings 14:25)

Jeroboam II is perhaps the greatest king of the Northern Kingdom.  Undoubtedly, the Northern Kingdom reached the height of its prosperity and military influence during the reign of Jeroboam II.

Jonah was from the city of Gath-hepher, a city near Nazareth, and was thus one of the subjects of Jeroboam II of the Northern Kingdom.

B.       During a time of Assyrian                                                   weakness

Assyria experienced a time of military weakness from about 783 B.C., the year of Adad-nirari III’s death,[1] until the rise of Tiglath-pileser III in 745.[2]  The three Assyrian kings[3] during this period of time were not very effective militarily.[4]  Jonah’s ministry to Nineveh probably occurred sometime during this period of military weakness between 782 and 745 B.C.

C.      During a time of Assyrian                                   and                                                       

On June 15, 763 B.C., Assyria experienced a complete eclipse.[5]  In the ancient world, people responded to eclipses with superstition and fear.

D.      During a time of Assyrian                                                   and death

In a military campaign about 765, the Assyrian army encountered a plague or pestilence in Samaria.  They brought the pestilence home to Nineveh with them.  The pestilence then ravaged the city of Nineveh and resulted in many deaths.  Another plague hit the city of Nineveh in 759.[6]

Many scholars have placed Jonah’s preaching to Nineveh during the reign of                                                       (772-755).[7]  “This would have been an ideal time for Jonah to deliver his message of judgment and of the universal redemptive program of the God of Israel” (Merrill, 388).

II.    THE MESSAGE OF JONAH

A.       Jonah’s initial unwillingness to preach in Nineveh was due to his unwillingness for Nineveh to have an opportunity to experience God’s salvation.

Jonah 4:1-2 gives us the reason for Jonah’s refusal to preach in Nineveh.  He knew the character of God.  And he knew that if the inhabitants of Nineveh repented, God would pardon them and would not judge them.  Jonah did not want the Ninevites to receive the gracious deliverance of the Lord.  Jonah needed to overcome his prejudice against the Assyrians.  Jonah also needed to learn that God has a right to extend His saving deliverance to whomever He desires. 

B.       Jonah was very thankful for God’s deliverance of him when he was cast into the sea.

Jonah was not deserving of deliverance in Jonah 2—he had, in rebellion against God, fled to Tarshish.  But the merciful, gracious God of Jonah delivered him from sure death in the sea by sending a great fish.  He was very thankful for God’s deliverance to him.  But he was unwilling to apply the principle of Jonah 2:9—deliverance belongs to God and, therefore, He has the right to extend it to whomever He wills—to the Ninevites.  He was unwilling for the Ninevites to experience God’s gracious deliverance.

C.      The object lesson of the gourd teaches God’s right to have                                        upon Nineveh.

The same Hebrew verb is repeated in Jonah 4:10-11 (“had pity,” v. 10; “spare,” v. 11).  If Jonah has a right to have pity upon the gourd, God has a right to have pity upon Nineveh. 

Yahweh puts this into perspective for Jonah:  (1)  Jonah had no part in making the vine.  He had invested no effort in it.  (2)  The vine was temporary (lasting only 24 hours).

If Jonah can have such desire for something that he did not make and something that was so temporary, surely God can have compassion upon people whom He has made and who will live for eternity.

God was teaching Jonah His sovereign right to extend the Gospel call to whomever He wills, even to Israel’s enemies.  But God is also demonstrating His compassion.  God does not extend the Gospel call out of duty but out of His compassion and mercy.

God has more interest in the                                                       of the lost than we do.

God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (II Pet. 3:9).

Jonah’s attitude is similar to the attitude of the forgiven but unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35—grateful for grace but unwilling to share it.

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[1] Adad-nirari III may be the unnamed “deliverer of Israel” mentioned in II Kings 13:5.

[2] Tiglath-pileser III (745-27) was one of Assyria’s strongest kings.  He is also known by the name Pul (II Ki. 15:19).  Tiglath-pileser played an important role in the final years of the Northern Kingdom.  He forced Manahem to submit to him.  See also II Ki. 15:29.

[3] Shalmaneser IV (782-773); Asshur-dan III (773-54); Asshur-nirari V (754-46)

[4] Eugene Merrill writes, “Internal upheavals and pressure from powerful enemies such as Urartu and the Aramean states kept her in a defensive holding position until mighty Tiglath-pileser III came to power in 745.”  Kingdom of Priests, 388.

[5] According to the Assyrian eponym list (an Assyrian method of naming its years), this eclipse took place in the year of Bar Sagale.  Knowing the date for the year of Bar Sagale (763) has enabled scholars to date many events in Assyrian and Israelite history. 

[6] Bible Knowledge Commentary, 1:1462.

[7] “Though no royal inscriptions whatsoever have survived from his years in power, the Assyrian eponym list and other indirect witnesses attest to his tenure as a period of unparalleled turmoil.  Asshur, Arrapha, Gozan, and many other rival states and dependencies revolted.  In addition, plague and famine struck repeatedly until the empire [of Assyria] was left impoverished and in total disorder.”  Merrill, 388.