The Turbulent Sea Within: Jonah Chapter One Continues

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. (Jonah 1:7-13)

Jonah’s hardened heart needs softening. 

God seeks not to punish us. He would much rather have us confess our sins and be healed. Confession means agreeing with God what He already knows: Yes, we’ve sinned. He then wants us to repent by changing direction. We are to go away from sin, not towards it.

He wants us to be healed. Freedom comes from such a process, and Jonah is far from free. Here he is, below deck, alone and in the dark. The frantic captain approaches Jonah. Jonah doesn’t answer him. Jonah finally comes up on deck with the captain. Meanwhile, the sailors have decided that something must be done. They know, being seasoned men of the sea, that the ship could go down and they will drown. They cast lots, asking their gods who caused this. (1:7)

Guess who picks the marked stick or the stone? (Both were used in the ancient Near East[1]). Our Jonah does! How must he feel at that moment? He didn’t respond to the captain’s inquiry.

Now, holding the marked object in his hand, he must feel terribly foolish and guilty.

Now the sailors grill him for information: “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” (1:8)

It’s an interesting set of questions. They want to know “who is responsible” for this mess? Is a god angry? Which one? If so, tell us, so that we may appease him! The sailors then want some more information about Jonah, because once he identifies the god in question, they want to make sure he is qualified to make this assessment. Their lives are riding on his answer.

Now Jonah speaks. His anger and fear caused him to flee from God, and now here he is, proclaiming the very One he’s been avoiding. He is standing in front of anxious and desperate men, who may be unpredictable in their behavior if things get worse. Scary, huh? Jonah admits, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” (1:9)

Jonah identifies himself with a tribe that believes in the one true God: the people of Israel, the Hebrews. His very identification marks him in strong contrast to the sailors. They believe in many gods, so someone who believes in another god would not be controversial to them. Jonah, however, identifies with a tribe that proclaims that no other gods exist. There is only One: The Lord God, Yahweh, and it is His chosen people who know and worship Him.

Jonah is proclaiming the core of his original call. Let me paraphrase God’s earlier words: Go to Nineveh and tell them of Me. Their wickedness offends Me. Their gods aren’t bothered by their wickedness, for they don’t even exist. But I do. I am greatly offended by their behavior. I will judge them, yes, but I will offer My truth and mercy to them first.

I wonder if Jonah, who was so afraid because God asked him to speak to pagans, and ran away to avoid doing so, found it utterly ironic that here he is, sharing such a message! Let’s look closer at what he just said. He says he worships “the Lord.” Not a god, but The One True God. He uses God’s name, Yahweh, and leaves no room for any additional gods.

Is he still afraid? Is he wondering when they are going to kill him for claiming that Hey, your gods don’t exist and my God is the only God up there!

They are not having a theological debate over coffee. They are literally in a life or death situation, and from where those sailors are standing, the gods must be really upset. This Hebrew, claiming that their gods don’t even exist, and that his God is the only One, isn’t exactly calming these men. They fear the wrath of their gods and feel that they have already infuriated them somehow. Is Jonah adding fuel to the fire?

Jonah keeps pressing the issue. He says that Yahweh (“the Lord”) is the “God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” This is straight out of Hebrew Theology 101. Yahweh is the Creator God over everything. There is no sea god, no land god, and no storm god. (Hey Jonah, if God is presiding over everything and over everywhere, did you really think you could run away? Just thought I’d ask…)

The reaction of the sailors is interesting here. They are “terrified.” Why? Jonah described, to their way of thinking that the God he serves is at the top of the divine pantheon of gods. In the ancient Near East, the highest god was the “master of the seas.”[2] In the Hebrew mindset, however, their God, Yahweh, is not the head of all the gods. He is simply the One and Only.

God’s name, Yahweh, derives from the letters YHWH, which was His response when Moses asked Him on Mount Sinai Who He was. Moses led the people out of Egypt, where they had been exposed to hundreds of gods during their Egyptian captivity. Moses stood at the burning bush and inquired of God:

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Ex. 3:13-14)

God was saying then and forevermore that He is the Eternal One, Who has always been, Who is and Who shall always be. In other words, God is saying:

Learn from My Name. I, the Lord, am not a product of man’s imagination. I am not part of My creation. I am not the Sun. I am not the Moon. I am not the storm. I stand above all of what you see. I created those things, but I do not dwell in them. I stand outside of My creation, and long after heaven and earth pass away, I still will be. I do not stand as greater or lesser among the gods of men. I stand alone. Now and forever. I am the Lord.

Jonah’s response is grounded in the truth. His listeners seem to have more respect and fear of God than Jonah does, for they ask him, “What have you done?” He tells them that he is “running away from the Lord.” (1:10)

Now, knowing the mighty God he serves, they want to know why he is acting the way he is. They may not agree with his theology, but they seem to respect his god. Is this a foretaste of how the people of Nineveh might receive his message?

If God is truly the One Who holds the wind, the rain and the stormy seas in His hands, surely He could have protected Jonah from those angered by his message had he gone to Nineveh?

Sadly, our anger and fear tends to reduce God down to our size. We then stare at Him, wondering just how mighty He truly is. We then see the Almighty as just a “Big Us.”

Jonah describes a big and powerful God. But is He so lacking in power that He cannot assist Jonah in his mission? Maybe the sailors’ reaction remind Jonah how blessed he is to serve such a mighty God. Seeing Him through their eyes, Jonah may realize just how much he has lost sight of God. Contemplation is not an option, for “the sea was getting rougher and rougher.” Was the “sea” in Jonah turbulent as well? Was the outside storm with its chaos mirrored in his spirit?

The sailors, impressed at some level with Jonah and the God he serves, ask him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” (1:11)

Interesting. Are they so impressed with him that they sense he has a kind of power that can change what is happening? He may feel a storm deep inside, but is his face radiant with the light of his Lord? Or, are the sailors in their ignorance assuming this God of the Hebrews requires sacrifice, human sacrifice? Does Jonah need to appease his God’s anger the same way they appease their gods’ anger?

This is where Jonah’s hardened heart comes into play. He could state boldly that his God is not like the other gods, for He doesn’t require the death of human beings to calm down the cosmos. While the Old Testament Law specifies offerings for sin that require the death of an animal, it never allows for human sacrifice.

Jonah does not use this opportunity to explain the overwhelming goodness of the God he serves. Jonah, whose heart is steeped in darkness, makes an interesting suggestion: “Pick me up and throw me into the sea…and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you” (1:12)

Does Jonah see no other way to do this? Has he been indifferent to God so long that now he longs for death? Has his heart felt so little that death seems like a positive option? Or did he decide that he is willing to die for the sailors? He knows he is the cause of the chaos; is he willing to sacrifice his own life to bring them back to safety?[3]

When we have been out of fellowship with the Lord, it’s easy to develop a kind of theology with bits and pieces of truth swirled in a mixture of our own pain and confusion. Yes, it is Jonah’s fault that the storm ensued. Yes, it is true that Jonah owes the crew something. His conspicuous absence, his unwillingness to share with them until forced to do so by the casting of lots, places upon Jonah a burden of responsibility. But his solution of sacrificing himself is not one that should be implemented. He should know this, but the storm inside his heart is deafening him to God’s voice.

I love the reaction of the sailors! They serve gods that demand sacrifice, and yet, they refuse Jonah’s suggestion. They start to row! The Scripture doesn’t indicate that Jonah joins in with the rowing.

I suspect that he is now feeling sorry for himself. Sometimes, we martyr ourselves to our pain. My son, when he was in the third grade, used to sing as a joke, “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go outside and eat worms!”

I think at this point, Jonah is dishing up a huge plate of the wiggly stuff! He feels abandoned by God (who moved away, Jonah?) and now he feels sorry for himself. This is a sure sign that he has lost perspective of himself and of God’s love for him. He is now engaging in a massive pity-party.

Isn’t it funny how our initial anger with God can transform into isolation and pain? I have seen this over and over again in myself and in others. You feel indignant with God because He has greatly disappointed you in some way. The anger saps your heart, and soon you move further and further away from Him. Instead of spending time with Him, your fellowship is only with the isolation and pain.

What is the terrible irony of this? The very One who could heal your heart is the very One that you are now avoiding. We need to run to Him even in our anger, even in our greatest hurt, for without Him we really have no hope.

Perhaps what we are seeing in Jonah, at his core, is a loss of hope. God’s words are so comforting here:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  (Heb. 10:19-23)

The Scripture doesn’t say we need to come with a perfect or a happy heart. The only qualification is “a sincere heart.” Even if it means you are sincerely upset, sincerely hurt, or sincerely angry, come anyway.

The key to these verses is that we come to God because of what Jesus did. He made a way for us. We just need to draw near to Him, confessing our sin and talking to Him. God’s Word puts it well: “Come near to God and He will come near to you.” (James 4:8)

Even if we are crawling on hands and knees to God, and can barely speak because we are so broken, He can work with us. Why? Because we care enough to draw near to Him. It’s when we stop caring about Him and ourselves that we are in real danger of falling into the depths of darkness.

But even then, God still tries to get our attention! A wonderful passage comes from 2 Samuel: “But God does not take away life; instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.” (14:14)

Did you really get that? He is looking at ways to bring us back, whether we are angry, broken, or bitter… it matters not. Our return is what He is seeking, so He may engage in our restoration!

God certainly is seeking to bring the estranged Jonah back to Himself. The sea grows “even wilder than before” and the sailors now are in terror. But to whom do they cry out? Their gods? No!  The sailors cry out to the very God of Jonah himself! Was God trying to get Jonah’s attention by the wildness of the waves and by the cries of these pagan sailors?

C.S. Lewis once said that pain is God’s “megaphone to a deaf world.”

God is calling out to Jonah.  He is calling out to the sailors.  He is calling out to you and me.

Are we listening?  But, more importantly: Are we responding?









[1] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 1:7.


[2] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 1:9.


[3] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 1:12.

You Can Run But You Cannot Hide! Jonah, Chapter One Continues

Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.” (Jonah 1:4-6) 

Jonah is on his way to “flee from the Lord.” Nice try, Jonah. While it might provide a kind of comfort to flee from God because Jonah may see himself as no longer accountable to Him, it is also a terribly lonely place. Jonah, in his fear and his anger at such a call from God, fails to remember Psalm 139. In this Psalm, David sings of the comfort he finds by God’s continual and loving presence in his life. Jonah is seeking to excuse himself from God’s presence. Can he? Listen to David:

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
     if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
     if I settle on the far side of the sea,
     even there your hand will guide me,
     your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
     and the light become night around me,”
     even the darkness will not be dark to you;
     the night will shine like the day,
     for darkness is as light to you. (Ps. 139:7-12)

Jonah cannot go anywhere where the loving eyes of the Lord will not be on him. Is God watching Jonah like an angry divine Policeman, ready to yank him out of that ship, and toss him into prison? No! David says: 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (14)

Instead of viewing God’s intimate presence as invasive, and seeking to get away from God, David exults in this knowledge. David can bring his fears to God anytime, anywhere. David does have fear. He sees how the wicked defame the very Lord he adores and what they say of the Lord is evil. But in the midst of his anxiety about the enemies of the Lord (and thus David’s as well) and asking for God’s provision, David realizes his own sin and his inadequacy. He wants his heart to be right with God. The wickedness of God’s enemies could be residing in him as well, and the fellowship between him and God could be hindered. He cries out,

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (23-24) 

David’s fears bring him to God. He abhors the enemies of God but he knows that he, too, needs God’s forgiveness and strength.

Jonah, sadly, doesn’t follow David’s approach of meditating on God’s presence, forgiveness of sin and provision. While Jonah hates the enemies of God, his fear leads him away from God’s presence. Here’s the ultimate irony: Jonah walks right unto a ship full of pagans, the very enemies of God. In Jonah 1:5, it says, “All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to their own god.”

Sounds like a mini-Nineveh! 

How often do we run from our fears, only to land smack-dab in the middle of them, in a place where we were so confident we’d be safe?

Jonah seems to isolate himself almost immediately. He goes down below the deck and falls into a “deep sleep.” The men on deck are probably crying out to their storm god or to their sea god, begging for mercy. They start throwing cargo overboard to lighten the ship, so it won’t sink. 

Where is Jonah? Is he up on the deck, comforting the crew with the knowledge of the one true God, Who holds the earth and sea in His hands? Psalm 95:3-5 declares,

For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

Jonah could use the circumstances to proclaim the mighty God of Israel. But no. He is asleep.

How often are we so drawn into ourselves that although the Lord leads us to a place where we can share our faith, we are asleep? We slip down into the darkness, completely unaware of what is going on and how it may be perilous to us and others.

The captain is now dashing about the ship, looking for that one passenger who is conspicuously absent. The seas are dark walls of water, slapping the ship with great ferocity. Water is pouring over the decks. The men are frantically throwing items overboard. They must go down into the hold of the ship to get the cargo. Does one of them spy Jonah asleep? Does he tell the captain?

Or does the captain, desperately trying to figure out where this passenger is, looks and finds him? These are pagans, and yet, this captain is showing remarkable concern for his crew and passengers.[1]

The captain chides Jonah, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish” (1:6).

This “evil” pagan seems more concerned for the ship than does our Jonah. The captain is seeking divine intervention, in any way that he can.

Is Jonah offering to pray for safety for the crew? No.

Does Jonah even respond to the captain’s request? No. Jonah’s silence is rather disturbing here.

Let’s stop for a moment in the narrative. Let’s do a heart check on Jonah.

What’s happened to him?

Heart Condition #1: “Hardening of the Hearteries”

Psalm 95:8-10 declares:

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
Do not harden your hearts...
   where your ancestors tested me;
   they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
     and they have not known my ways.

The greatest sin of the children of Israel was their ever-hardening hearts as they followed Moses out of Egypt and wandered in the desert. How do you harden your heart?

Sin is deceitful. Disobedience to what God has revealed in His Word and to you is sin. You think you are behaving just fine, yet in your heart you are rebelling against Him and His ways. This disobedience shows a growing hardness. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, you collect your “manna” and yet grumble the whole time. God provides, yet you are not grateful and thankful to Him.

Are you being obedient out of love and trust for Him? Do you quarrel with God, doubting that what He wants for you is the very best? Do you then do it your way and when it all collapses, do you blame God?

Do you forget all that He has done for you in the past and just focus on now with its problems and cares?

In other words, are you yodeling at the top of your lungs near an avalanche, despite warnings from God? When tons of snow land on your head, do you blame Him?

Jonah quarrels with God. He is given explicit instructions and because of his fear and anger, walks away from God. He tests God in that he defies Him and then expects to walk away without any consequences. He forgets how God has delivered Israel from her enemies in the past. Does he also forget how God blessed him in the past? Sadly, forgetting all of this leads to bitterness and a hardened heart:

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Heb. 12:14-15)

Without a clean heart, we are blinded to the work of God in our lives. We grow bitter thinking that He’s not working.

Jonah, it is official: you are suffering from Heart Condition #1.

Heart Condition #2: “I’m On A Rule Here!”

The Lord says in Isaiah 29:13-15:

These people come near to me with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
     is based on merely human rules they have
     been taught.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
     with wonder upon wonder;
     the wisdom of the wise will perish,
    the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.
Woe to those who go to great depths
     to hide their plans from the Lord,
     who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”

Jonah’s relationship with God may be where he has substituted intimacy with Him to following rules.

First, we find a formula: “See, God, I go to church every week! See, God, I pray for others! See God how good I am!” Then, because we are following our rule-based formula, we think God now owes us answers. Our heart is far away from Him. But we still expect Him to remain intimate with us, even when we are choosing not to be intimate with Him.

Worse, we follow rules, but live a part of our lives in the darkness, doing what we really want to do, hoping no one will find out, especially God. But He does see. He is grieved by our heart that is hardening day by day.

Jonah’s heart is hardened to the lost men aboard the ship. He crawled into the darkness, hoping no one would find him, especially God. 

Jonah: You are indeed suffering from Heart Condition #2.

Heart Condition #3: “Bad Patch? Escape Hatch!”

God proclaims through the prophet Isaiah that encouragement in the Lord will “strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come’” (35:3-4). God will come. He promises to, and how sweet it is when we are found waiting for Him, not seeking solace elsewhere. We haven’t snuck down into the darkness finding an escape in sleep (or drugs, alcohol, porn, gossip, and any of a number of ways our culture invites us to run away). When God is offering to strengthen us, we need to hear Him.

Jonah is afraid, but he seeks solace by running away and falling asleep in the darkness. 

Jonah: Sorry to report, but you have Heart Condition #3.

Heart Condition #4: “Gotta go to Heart-Mart!”

The prophet Ezekiel tells God’s people that it is only God who can give us a new heart and a new start:

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. (11:19-20)

Do you notice the order here? It is God who performs the heart surgery, because of His overwhelming desire to be with us. He replaces our stony heart with a soft and sensitive one: sensitive to the needs of others and sensitive to His voice. Thus, our obedience comes from wanting to please Him, not because we expect Him to answer us.

Jonah, by going below deck, puts himself out of reach of the Surgeon’s hand. Jonah doesn’t hear Him when He calls. It is the voice of a pagan captain who wakes Jonah up. 

Jonah, this heart test is no different from the others: You failed. Big time.

Not a sterling performance, Jonah. Sadly, a hardened heart cripples us, and if left unattended, it will destroy us. Jonah is in deep danger here. Going down into the dark depths of the sea is not nearly as scary as going down into the dark depths of the heart that has ceased to respond to God.

Jeremiah the prophet weighs in: 

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (17:9) 

Jesus shows us clearly what a hardened heart is capable of:

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. (Matt. 15:18-19)

This should give us pause. Let's set up a quick equation that captures these ideas:

• My Nineveh→ My Fear→ My Self: My Failure to Follow Him
• My Nineveh → His Power → His Plan: My Dependence on Him

Jonah is facing a choice.

We face a choice. 

Jonah is sadly missing his call. 

A wake-up call is coming. But it’s not going to be pretty.

[1] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 1:6.

God is Calling! Pick Up the Phone! Jonah, Chapter One

 

Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. (Jonah 1:1-3 KJV)

The Lord calls Jonah to go and preach to the “great city of Nineveh.” God offers a very compelling reason: “because its wickedness has come up against Me.” Isn’t it interesting that God is offended by a nation that He did not choose (unlike His beloved Israel) and whose sin He finds personally offensive? This city doesn’t even know Him, much less care about the God of Israel. Yet He is unwilling to ignore the stench of sin that is reaching His nostrils.

Even though the people of Nineveh are not His chosen people, He still loves them. They are part of the human family.

It gets even more amazing. God decides to choose one of Israel’s prophets to go and tell Nineveh of its sin! His love for Israel is not exclusive. Even a people who do not know Him are still precious in His sight. Nineveh is Israel’s enemy, and yet He cares enough to select one of His own prophets to proclaim His message to them. He speaks to His own and to everyone else.

Jonah’s ministry prefigures Christ’s ministry. Jesus shared His message to the Jews, and his words were also heard by the Gentiles.

God’s prophets always warn of His mercy before His judgment. His people have time to change their ways before the judgment comes. God is just. He despises sin, calling His people to turn away from it. If they choose not to, His judgment will come.

God does not engage in a divine “I told you so!” when Israel falls many times before the sword of her enemies. He takes no pleasure in watching her chastisement. He carefully apprises the people of the consequences of their behavior and disobedience. The prophets are His messengers and spread His word, even if the people fail to listen.

God warns Israel’s enemies of impending judgment as well. Consequently, Jonah is directed to one of Israel’s enemies. This tells us a lot about how God sees evil: He is angered by it. Evil destroys victims, to be sure. Evil destroys perpetrators as well, for it fosters dangerous and destructive attitudes that embolden the ambitious and cruel. Ultimately, evil sows its own destruction, but the innocent are brutally harvested as well. God takes no pleasure in that, but underscores time and time again through His prophets the need for repentance, so that His arm of wrath is stayed and His mercy may prevail.

Nineveh’s sin does not go unnoticed by God. It is no small town. In Genesis 10:11, Nineveh is referred to as “the great city,”[1] and later, King Sennacherib made it the capital of the mighty empire of Assyria.[2]

It has a large population. In Jonah 4:11, it is described as having “more than 120,000 people” in it. Nineveh is extremely wealthy. Another Old Testament prophet, Nahum, describes it this way: “The supply [of silver and gold] is endless, the wealth from all its treasures” (2:9).

Let’s imagine The Official Ancient Middle East Tour Book and read Nineveh’s entry:

Nineveh is the warm, balmy capital of the Empire of the Assyrians. If you plan a visit to our lovely capital, we welcome you! If you are an enemy, perhaps you should reconsider. Our reputation for cruelty precedes us. We have wonderful stone monuments that depict our brutal conquests, and the delightful things we do to our adversaries. Our enemies are stunned by our ferocity. Once we are done conquering you, we will ship your entire population (free of charge, of course) to the furthest outreaches of the Empire. If you are the leader of a conquered city, you will be entitled to our Royal Treatment: We will torture and mutilate you. In due time, we will execute you. One of our kings, the mighty Shalmaneser III, enjoys making pyramids of his enemies’ skulls, and we do so enjoy stacking up the dead right outside the city gates of the vanquished city. Nineveh is calling! We welcome YOU!” [3]

Seriously, Nahum gives us a chilling description of Nineveh: "Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses…" (3:1-3 KJV)

Is Jonah’s reaction, “Yes, Lord, sign me up!”

Are you kidding?

He was probably thinking: I gotta run away! Now! Full speed ahead!

Let’s modernize Jonah’s calling to really understand how awful this appears to Jonah, and his all-too-human reaction against God’s command. You are a Jewish person living in 1930’s Berlin. You are commanded by God to go and announce to Hitler and the Nazis that God has seen their wickedness. This is the Berlin of the Gestapo, where people are arrested, tortured and deported to concentration camps. You have heard of Dachau, and all of its horrors, and those other camps where the only escape is through the chimneys of the crematoria.

Your reaction? You’d probably be like Jonah: looking for the fastest way out of there.

That’s exactly what Jonah does. He goes down to the harbor at Joppa in Judea, and books a ship out of Israel. Where to? The farthest place he could go: Tarshish, in Spain! It is 180 degrees opposite of Nineveh.

God calls you to go to Hitler’s Berlin, and you book a flight to New York. You get the idea.

As he makes his way down to the docks, he may be thinking: How lucky could I possibly be? There’s a ship bound for Tarshish, and it’s leaving soon, and I have the right amount of money for passage…Woo-hoo! Coincidence? Nah! I am supposed to leave, because look how everything is falling into place!

Let’s look at this for a moment. Jonah is not alone trying to read God’s hand in things that are contradictory to His word and warnings. How often do people say,

• Well, I am unhappy in my marriage, and I know that I am not really all that active in trying to patch things up. Besides, I’ve met this wonderful person at work, and I am sure God wants us to be together. Why else would I have met that person? It can’t be coincidence! It is meant to be!
• I know that I am working for a dishonest person. He has encouraged me to lie as well. I can’t find another job so easily. Besides, I just got a promotion! I wouldn’t have gotten it without God’s help! There were three other candidates beside me! So it must be God’s will that I stay here!
• I know that I shouldn’t be drinking. But I am so lonely, and going to the bar makes me feel better. The church is so full of hypocrites anyway! I pray for God’s protection when I drive home, and He’s good! I haven’t been in an accident. I need to go now. Yeah, I am still buzzed, but God’s watching over me. He always forgives me!

Jonah knows that God has called him. He knows what a prophet is. It’s someone who is God’s mouthpiece and who has to be obedient to the calling: "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name." (Deut. 18:18-19)

Jonah walked with God in the past. He isn’t ignorant of what God demands of his prophets. In addition to being terrified, and seeking to read into every little thing a way out of his calling, he may have thought that if he leaves Israel, then he is leaving the spirit of prophesy. He may have seen prophecy tied to the land of Israel itself. Leave Israel, leave the calling. Right? No. How often do people think that once they no longer feel responsible for someone or something, then the rules of morality no longer apply?

• I left the church. Their rules no longer apply to me.
• I left my marriage. I am no longer required to be kind to my former spouse.
• Yeah, I hit the singles’ bars. I have been burned in my relationships, so I don’t have to be committed or careful of other people’s feelings.
• I left my job. Now I will tell you about what a loser that boss is.

The list of how we rationalize why we no longer have to be good goes on and on. How often do people grow tired of being good? They grow weary of the rules, and decide that once they are outside the “organization,” the rules don’t exist, or at least the rules no longer need to be acknowledged.

A word of caution here: Man-made rules, while they might have good intentions, are not necessarily tethered to the Word of God or are a stretch at best. It is imperative that we understand the principles of God’s Word, and then see if those man-made rules line up.

Let me give you a personal example. I taught at a Christian school that advocated modesty for its girls. That is absolutely in keeping with Scripture. Modesty is a woman’s best defense against being objectified: It maintains a woman’s dignity, and helps her be focused on pleasing God, not chasing after the approval of men. But this school decided that modesty extended to the color of nail polish. Only pinks and corals could be worn.

One student I had loved blue nail polish. She had a vibrant personality, and she enjoyed fun colors. I had to advocate on her behalf: I didn’t believe that blue nail polish made her less modest. She sincerely loved the Lord, and the attacks on her wearied her spirit.

If we take man-made rules and confuse them with Scripture, some people will throw out the man-made baby with the Scriptural bath water. Having to keep a mental scorecard of do’s and don’ts diminishes our joy in the Lord. It is easy to grow weary with being good. Some people even end up walking away from the faith.

What about Jonah? Does he think that God’s rules only apply in Israel, and somehow outside of Israel, he can get away with being disobedient? God’s principles are a lot like gravity. You can say that gravity doesn’t extend to this particular building, but if you take a step off the roof, you will find out that splat! Gravity still applies!

Jonah is faced with a decision that left him opting for the easy way out. Let’s tune in on Jonah’s mind (with my paraphrasing of course!):

• I am thinking that once I am gone, I am free of this prophet thing. Let’s see. What are my choices? Can I even call them that?
• I could travel down a long unfamiliar road, arrive at Nineveh, enter this big nasty city and preach God’s anger to those who could care less. I think not.
• I could lose my life along the way or survive the hard journey, only to be killed inside Nineveh once I open my mouth. Fun.
• I could share my God with those evil undeserving pagans who probably won’t listen to me anyway. After all, who has ever heard of Jonah? Or, for that matter, God Himself? Sounds like a winner.
• I help God’s favor (because of my big mouth, I might add) shift to Nineveh and leave Israel in the dust. Once Israel finds out I am responsible for this shift, I will be doubly hated. The Ninevites won’t like me because I have to tell them they are wicked. The Israelites will rue the day I ever left with this message. They will cry, “Why couldn’t you just preach God’s sacred words to us alone? Telling pagans they are wicked (we get that) but inviting them to be with our God? Good idea, buddy boy!” Awesome.
• Last, but certainly not least, we will have to share our God with them! That will make us (shiver) some kind of kin? Oh, joy!
• The options, dearest Lord, are just not my cup of tea. I decline Your invitation. Can I put You on hold for a moment? Hello, Princess Cruise Lines? A ship to Tarshish? Today? Perfect. I’m on it!

[1] NIV Study Bible, note on Genesis 10:21.

[2] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 1:2.

[3] NIV Study Bible, notes on Nahum 3:1 & 3:3.

Let's Go Fishing! A Study of Jonah in Our "Majoring in the Minor (Prophets)" Series

We begin with a new prophet, Jonah.  Join me on this new exploration of another one of God's interesting men that He chose to carry His words to the people.  But not the chosen ones!  The disgusting ones! Pagans!

Let's see where this takes us!

Jonah knew God.  Jonah heard the call.  But before we dive into what that call was, and what Jonah’s response was, let’s explore what Jonah’s name means.  It says a lot about the nature of Jonah’s call and how God is going to use him. 

Names in the Bible are not simply markers of identity.  They identify characteristics of the person, as well as his or her relationship to God. What does Jonah’s name mean?  It means “a dove.” Let’s look at doves in the Bible.  They will give us an insight to Jonah’s mission.

Doves are a kind of messenger.  After the great Flood in Genesis, Noah wants to know the world’s condition.  What does he send out? 

Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. (Gen. 8:8-11)

The dove was a messenger not only of the receding waters but also of God’s receding wrath against the earth.  The flood waters were disappearing and the trees were again sprouting.  A dove announced to Noah and his family that the days in the ark were drawing to a close. The dove announced the dawning of a new day in the life of mankind. 

A dove announced God’s Son and the ministry He would embark upon:  

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  (Matt. 3:16-17)

God had enveloped Himself in our frail human flesh to provide the sacrifice for our sin.  This Dove’s arrival, God’s Holy Spirit, confirmed to everyone watching that the Messiah was here. His life would be an offering to His Father.  Jesus would bring back the olive branch of redemption.

Doves were also used as sacrifices in the Old Testament.  When God wanted to impress upon His people the seriousness of sin, the creatures sacrificed were utterly innocent.  Bulls, sheep, lambs and doves were used.  They had no fault of their own but they would die on behalf of the person making the offering.  Their blood would be a stark reminder that “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).  The person stood there, watching in horror as the priest pulled back the neck of the lamb and slit its throat, or killed the quietly cooing dove.  God’s hope was that this person’s heart would be softened, feeling remorse for the sin committed as well as grief for this innocent animal’s death. 

What was God’s lesson for His people? We must recoil from sinning again.  Why? Sin breaks the bond between God and us.  This is the greatest horror of all: We are out of fellowship with the Father, and He with us.  

When Jesus hung on the cross, He cried, “My God, my God, why have You forgotten me?” (Matt. 27:46).  At that moment, when Jesus bore the weight of the world’s sin, His Father turned away from Him, and it was more than Jesus could bear.  The physical pain of the cross was nothing compared to the pain Jesus suffered when His Father, Who cannot look upon sin, turned away from Him.    

The death of an innocent animal for an offering foreshadowed what God would ultimately demand of His innocent Son:  an offering for all of our sin, for all time.  

Many kinds of offerings were given in the Old Testament.  What kind of animal could be used?  If you were really poor, a dove was sufficient for a burnt offering as well as a sin offering. 

So, we of whom Jesus has said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3), see this Dove as a messenger of God’s love for us. In our spiritual poverty, God’s forgiveness is not out of reach. He makes provision that all may come and receive it.

Finally, doves are messengers of an innocence of spirit.  Jesus commands His disciples to be “shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). 

Innocence doesn’t mean ignorance.

Innocence means understanding sin’s alluring power and yet, in His power, keeping ourselves away from it.  If His disciples were to have credibility in preaching love and forgiveness from sin, they had to maintain a walk that pointed to the Father: “…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). 

Our sinning puts the focus back on us.  When others see our failures and our hypocritical behavior, their view of God comes to a screeching halt.  We are to shine His light so that He can be praised.  We are to be His candle, with His light emanating from us. How can others see this relationship between this God we profess and us?  By our deeds!  What we do is a louder witness than all the fine words we say. 

Jesus also mentions a snake along with the dove.  Snakes navigate through the tall grasses. They don’t run into stones. They are constantly on alert as they travel about.  They move with intention.

We are to be alert and aware of our surroundings (like the snake), being in the world but not beholden to its values.  Our innocence of spirit (like the dove) will be proof enough that God is in us.  We navigate with His wisdom.

The world enjoys watching innocence be corrupted.  How many actresses or singers want to spice up their image, from innocent girl to someone who gets noticed by sexualizing her image?   Then, after they lose their innocent image, we see a downward spiral into more and more dangerous and destructive behaviors.  Some end up broken, having lost everything.  

The world has an agenda and is always asking, “Hey!  What’s in it for me?”  How utterly opposite from this are we to be as Jesus’ followers.

So, let’s summarize the dove idea, and tie it into Jonah.  A dove is a messenger that:

v proclaims God’s mercy and receding wrath;

v proclaims God’s provision for our sin by confirming that Jesus is the Messiah;

v proclaims how serious sin is, and how the poor are provided for;

v proclaims how we must be to the world: innocent (not corrupted), aware of sin without being drawn into it;

v proclaims His light in the darkness.

Now, let’s see how this applies to Jonah.  He is called to proclaim mercy and forgiveness to an evil pagan city called Nineveh.  He will show that God’s desire is for all to come to Him and that none should perish, just as it says in John 3:16.  Even the lowliest person is not beyond God’s reach. 

Jonah must walk in obedience in order to be a good witness.  He is called to share the light of God to those who sit in darkness. 

Let’s follow this “dove” on his journey. 

What’s in a name?  Apparently, quite a bit. 

 

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