The Reluctant Prophet

Our next stop on our tour through the minor prophets is Jonah. We love Jonah. It is familiar to us. It is one of the prophetic books that feels more accessible. The book is short, being only four chapters, but three out of the four are in narrative form. It is easier to follow and interpret than books like Hosea, Amos, and Joel. It also shifts focus from the sins of Israel to the sins of Assyria. Well, sort of.

Jonah is also easy to place in the timeline of historical events. Thanks to 2 Kings 14:23-25, we know Jonah prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of the north.

2 Kings 14:23–25 NASB95

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.

This puts Jonah in the same time period as Hosea and Amos. Israel is enjoying a relative peace from their enemies, enlarged borders, economic prosperity, and a resurgence of religious observance, though shallow in substance. Remember that Israel also has a lot of corruption going on as the upper class exploits the poorest among them. All this is going on, but is not the immediate focus of the book.

Jonah 1:1–3 NASB95

The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

So God calls His prophet Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh, about 550 miles northeast of Samaria, the capitol of Israel. Nineveh was the capitol of Assyria, whom Israel had a difficult relationship with. The enlarged borders Israel now enjoyed was a result of a successful military campaign against Assyria and Aram, resulting in great military strength for Israel, and a weakened state for the Assyrians as they dealt with internal dissension.

Verse two of our text says that the evil of the Assyrians had come up before the Lord. The Assyrians had a reputation for being a barbaric people. Their kings are recorded describing their conquests. Included in them are some deeply disturbing things. They did terrible things to the bodies of their captives and to the dead. It could be that this is what God can tolerate no longer.

Unlike all the other prophets so far, Jonah flees instead of embracing his task. He goes to Joppa, which is a port city off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and hops aboard a boat headed to Tarshish. Now the location of this city is unknown, but there are a few theories. First, Tarshish is the name of a city now lost off the coast of Spain. If this is true, Jonah is fleeing 2,000 miles in the opposite direction. The other suggests that Tarshish is an ancient name for Tarsus, the birthplace of the apostle Paul, which is now in southwest Turkey, 330ish miles north of Samaria. Either way, the point is Jonah is fleeing from the call of God.

Why is Jonah fleeing from God? Perhaps he fears the Assyrians’ response. Maybe he fears for his life. Maybe he fears what will happen if they listen. We are not given the reason here, but chapter four indicates Jonah knew Nineveh would listen and God would have compassion on them, which he did not want.

So in response to Jonah’s attempt to flee the presence of God, God brings a windstorm upon Jonah.

Jonah 1:4–16 NASB95

The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.” Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.” So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

So the windstorm comes and everybody panics. They start calling out to their own gods, but none of them answer. Frantically, they try to keep the ship afloat by throwing all their cargo overboard. In the midst of this frenzied attempt to save themselves, the captain of the ship goes into the lower deck to discover Jonah fast asleep. The captain calls Jonah to participation. “Come on, man! get up and do your part! Call on your god. Maybe he will be concerned about us!”

They have tried everything and nothing has worked. Notice though that the story does not indicate whether Jonah called on God or not. It does not look like he did. Instead, the crew members begin to cast lots. Casting lots was an ancient form of divination. It was thought that if you threw sticks, stones, or other objects, depending on the pattern in which the fall, it will tell you what the will of God is. Today, this might be akin to something like rolling dice, drawing straws, or flipping a coin. Whatever the outcome, that was perceived to be the will of God. So the crew cast lots, and the lots revealed Jonah was at fault.

They begin interrogating him. He tells them who he is and who his God is. Note here the word Lord in all capital letters. In the NASB translation, this word always signifies the covenant name of God, YHWH. This name distinguished our God from other gods who might be credited with creating the heavens and the earth. So they are all afraid of him and say, what should we do? He tells them to throw him overboard and the sea will calm down.

Notice also that they don’t do that at first. They try to row back to shore. which doesn’t work. Then they throw him overboard, offer sacrifices, and make vows. Now these acts of worship should not be seen as conversions, but as a polytheistic culture trying to appease a god in the hopes that no other calamity might befall them.

Jonah 1:17 NASB95

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

We don’t know what kind of fish, but that is beside the point. Skeptics would say this story is not true because it’s simply unbelievable that a man could be swallowed by a great fish and survive for three days and three night. Under normal circumstances, that would be true. But God is by his very nature a supernatural being. If we believe he spoke the universe into existence out of nothing, closed the mouths of lions for Daniel, and saved his friends from being burned alive in a furnace, surely he can keep his prophet alive in the belly of a great fish.

But even that is not the point of the story.

Obedience to God’s commands will save you from unnecessary storms in life.

What strikes me about this whole chapter is that the storm would have never happened if Jonah had done what God told him to do in the first place. If Jonah had gone straight to Nineveh, perhaps those sailors would have had a calm voyage to Tarshish. The storm was brought about through Jonah’s disobedience. He was reluctant to go and chose to get as far away as he could. This scenario is entirely Jonah’s fault. Obedience to God would have saved him from the storm, which means he never would have been thrown overboard, and never swallowed by a great fish.

Our disobedience to God affects everyone around us.

Try to put yourself in the position of one of the sailors on this boat. For you, this starts out as any other day. You have made this trip 100 times. You know the route, you know what to expect, you know the weather patterns for this time of year. You have accounted for every variable you can, including provisions needed to take care of your last minute passenger. This is your job. So you set sail, this storm kicks up, you pray to your god, and nothing happens. Next, you throw your entire business and livelihood into the ocean. These men didn’t know what they would lose that day. In the face of certain death, you don’t care anyway. But the actions of one of God’s prophets affected everyone around them.

The story of Jonah shows God’s sovereign care for His creation and his desire for his children’s obedience.

There is a great irony here in Jonah chapter one. While Israel had enough problems of their own, they were called by God and established as a nation to be a light to all other nations around them. It was through Israel God would demonstrate to the world what it means to be in relationship to Him. Israel did not do this job well. They had an obedience problem. But I want you to notice something.

When the crew asked Jonah what they should do and he told them to throw him overboard, they tried to row back to shore first. Do you see what is happening here? God wanted to use Jonah to show mercy to the Assyrians. Jonah said no. When everyone else was frantic, he was asleep. Here, the crew showed more care for Jonah than Jonah showed for them. Here the Gentile crew did for Jonah what Jonah was unwilling to do for Nineveh.

Are you going through some challenges right now wondering why God is allowing them to happen? Could it be that you are running from the thing he has called you to do? Maybe it’s as simple as showing compassion to the person you don’t want to show compassion to. Maybe it is a new project or ministry he wants you to take on. Maybe it’s something that you don’t want to do because it is a major inconvenience. Only the Lord can tell you and I hoe that he will.

May we be committed to follow the Lord in obedience in everything we do so that we can avoid unnecessary storms in life.