Sermon Tone Analysis

The Book of Jonah is more than just a Sunday school story.

It’s more than just a story about a man who ran away from God.

I hear stories all the time about men running away from their calling, and I tend to think to myself “they had the ability to run???”

How does that work?

The book of Jonah isn’t about the fact that Jonah ran.

It’s about why he did.

It’s a story (a true story) about fear, injustice, sonship and sovereignty.

Hebrew scholar Robert Adler calls the book of Jonah “An enchanting story as well as the shaking up of the entire theological world.”

I’ve studied the book of Jonah since I was in 2nd grade and it has astonished me!

Out of all the prophets listed in the biblical cannon, Jonah is by far my favorite.

Why??? Let me show you!

Open up your Bibles to Jonah 3:1.

Let’s pray.

The Anomaly

Jonah was unique.

He was unique because other prophets spoke oracles against foreign nations, but Jonah alone is sent to deliver a message in person.

He had no desire to.

In fact, he would rather abandon his assignment all together if he had to, and he did.

God asked Jonah to deliver a message to a hostile nation!

It would be like sending a Jewish speaker to deliver moral exhortations to the germans in Berlin in 1936.

What God assigned Jonah to do was no easy task!

You see here’s the interesting things about prophets.

They’re assigned!!!

They are chosen!

(Elaborate)

Isaiah was sent.

(Elaborate on Isaiah 6).

But Jonah didn’t want to be sent.

Here are three interesting aspects of the book of Jonah.

Jonah went overboard.

Jonah 1:17.

Jonah preached that the Ninevites would be overthrown.

Jonah 3:4.

But then God overturned Jonah’s Decree that he gave him?

Jonah was an anomaly....

“It is strange that such a good man as Jonah should fall into such a foolish state of mind.

But God still has a great many unwise children.

You can easily find one if you look in the right place—I mean, in a mirror.

We are all foolish at times, and it should be remembered that although Jonah was foolish and wrong in certain respects, there is this redeeming trait in his character—we might never have known the story of his folly if he had not written it himself.

It shows what a truehearted man the prophet was, that he unveiled his real character in this book.

Biographies of men are seldom truthful because the writers cannot read the hearts of those whom they describe.

But if they could read them, they would not like to print what they would see there.

But here is a man, inspired of God to write his own biography, and he tells us of this sad piece of folly—and does not attempt in the least degree to mitigate the evil of it.”

- Charles H. Spurgeon

Five Word Message

Jonah preached a five-word message to the Ninevites.

That’s literally it!

This message has generated discussion among scholars because of its ambiguous nature.

The ambiguity arises from the use of the Hebrew word haphakh.

Haphakh - translated as “overthrown” in most versions of Jonah 3:4, the word can also mean “turn around” or “reform.”

“Overthrown” is the same verb used for God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jonah 3:4) Evil and disaster in verse 10 are terms that both translates as “ra’ah” in Hebrew which correlates a close connection between human action and divine response.

Alexander (1988, 133–34) considers the message recounted in Jonah 3:4 to be a summary: “In all likelihood Jonah probably addressed those he encountered at greater length than this.”

He notes that the verb haphakh, “overturn,” is also used to describe the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:25; Lam 4:6; Amos 4:11).

It can mean “to overturn,” but it can also mean “to turn around” or “transform.”

Given these different connotations, he considers the use of the word in Jonah’s message “hardly accidental.”

It was five words!!!!!!

There was no debate!

No debacle!

No Persecution!

No persuasion!

Not like Paul and King Agrippa!

He became the most successful prophet in history other than Jesus Christ!

Through God Jonah did the impossible and he didn’t even know it!

In fact, he didn’t even want to be there!

When God first gave him the task he ran!

Overboard

Here’s another thing about the prophet’s of God...

They have a duty!

Mackay (1998, 22) says the expression “the presence of Yahweh” was particularly associated with the land of promise.

It was in Israel that Yahweh had revealed himself to his people, and “being there before the LORD was the place of the prophet’s duty.”

By leaving Israel, Jonah may have hoped he was escaping his prophetic commission.

What Mackay is referring to is the theological concept known as sacred space.

Jonah was no dummy!

He knew he couldn’t run away from God!

He was running away from his assignment, or better yet he was running away from himself.

Was he lying in verse 9? Did he fear the Lord.

The answer is yes.

Here’s why.

Jonah wasn't afraid of the storm.

He knew where it came from.

Isn’t that interesting???

Also Jonah wasn’t afraid of the god’s like the mariners.

What About Free Willy?

What about free will one may ask?

Did Jonah have a free will?

Jonah had free will and he got free Willy.

Prophet’s can’t out run their destiny.

The bigger the fish the bigger the assignment.

Some translations, including the International Standard Version, use the phrase “large sea creature.”

Children’s Bible stories say it was a whale—and some Bible commentators say Leviathan was a whale.

In fact, it is a great interest to commentators concerning the choice of a fish for the rescue and the significance of “three days and three nights” as the duration of Jonah’s time in the fish.

The dominant view is that the great fish would have brought to mind the great sea monster Leviathan and Yahweh’s absolute control over the terrifying creature associated with chaos

Which leads us to this question?

“Who is Leviathan?

This spirit is mentioned in the Bible repeatedly and even made its way into the dictionary.

Merriam-Webster defines Leviathan as “a sea monster defeated by Yahweh in various scriptural accounts; a large sea animal; the political state: a totalitarian state having a vast bureaucracy; something large or formidable.”

According to Eastman’s Bible Dictionary, leviathan is a transliterated Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning “twisted,” “coiled.”

The dictionary reveals: “In Job 3:8, Revised Version, and marg. of Authorized Version, it denotes the dragon which, according to Eastern tradition, is an enemy of light; in 41:1 the crocodile is meant; in Psalms 104:26 it ‘denotes any large animal that moves by writhing or wriggling the body, the whale, the monsters of the deep.’”

Did Jonah open himself up to a Leviathan attack through his self-righteous pride and rebellion?”

“Someone who is under Leviathan’s influence sees him or herself as more discerning, more anointed, more eloquent, more revelatory, more important and, otherwise, well, more spiritual than you.