We are looking at the book and life of Jonah the prophet; most of us are familiar with Jonah – even little children in Sunday School were taught about Jonah and the whale (oops in fact a big fish – no actual mention of whale).
Jonah has been described by many as a disobedient prophet, who ran away from God, one whom we should not follow as a good example. Many negative traits are ascribed to him as a servant of God. However, as we look closer at this book and at this prophet, certain things are not as clear as some claim them to be. Why did Jonah run away from God even though he knew who God was, as revealed in his prayers to God and his understanding of the prophecies and history of Israel as a nation?
“If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if the nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it”. (Jeremiah 18:7-10)
In all likelihood, Jonah and other OT prophets were familiar with the above truth, that God is a compassionate God who would forgive those who repent, and He might reconsider doing good to a nation who turns away to do evil.
Now Jonah was asked to preach against the great city Nineveh (probably the capital of Assyria) and announce impending judgment and destruction in forty days. Jonah was fully aware that Assyria was an enemy of Israel, and he was also knowledgeable that Israel (the northern kingdom) would be defeated and conquered by Assyria in the near future.
We must also know that Assyria, as a conquering nation, was very cruel and vicious to those who were defeated and became captives – some of their acts of cruelty were too terrible to describe.
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And God was asking Jonah to preach to the city of Assyria and warning them of impending destruction. Would it not be a pleasant declaration of judgment to an enemy which will be responsible for the subsequent destruction of Israel? Why then did Jonah run away from this task?
In all likelihood, Jonah was concerned that Nineveh would repent and that God, being a compassionate God, would withhold the judgment. This explains why Jonah said, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, what I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2-3).
Jonah wanted the enemy to be destroyed and to prevent any future calamity to his own nation. The fact that Jonah addressed God as “Lord” and declared the character of God as gracious, compassionate and abounding in love clearly shows that Jonah knew God, not just superficially, and that he was not merely a disobedient and ‘terrible’ servant of God.
Subsequently, Jonah was angry and he waited to see the destruction of the city even though the king and the citizens responded with repentance from the warning of Jonah.
God provided a gourd and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was happy about the gourd (contrast his previous anger). But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the gourd so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’ (Jonah 4:5-8)
Note what God said subsequently, “Is it right for you to be angry about the gourd?” ‘It is, he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I was dead”. But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this gourd though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand lrom their left – and also many animals?
Jonah was given an object lesson. He was angry because God forgave his cruel enemy when there was repentance. That was exactly what he did not want to happen – so he ran away from the assignment. Jonah knew to some extent the character of God and he also knew that if he did his job well, there was a great possibility that Nineveh would repent. Jonah was, in effect, preventing God from being God, from being compassionate, merciful, and abounding in love. Is it very like us too? We want God to deal with those who hurt us or those who wronged us without any mercy, and yet we desire God’s grace and mercy for our own lives. Jonah was pleased with the gourd and the shelter provided by God but he became angry and wished to die when God removed the gourd and caused the blazing heat to affect him. But the fact is: the shelter was provided by God and God had the prerogative to remove it. This is in line with what God said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy – this is God’s prerogative. Grace cannot be earned; similarly mercy is extended to us not because we earn it but God, in His compassion and love, saw how miserable we are, and so He extended the mercy to us.
When we behave like Jonah did, we are guilty of telling God what to do and how He should do it; in fact, we are trying to be God – and there is no way for a finite wretched human sinner, with limited understanding and wisdom, not mentioning anything about love and mercy, to act and decide like God.
God asked Job very simply whether he can do the simplest things that God does everyday – causing the sun to rise and feeding the animals day by day; simple for God but not for Job, simply because God is God, the perfect, loving, wise, good Creator and the Almighty.
Let us not be guilty of questioning God and being angry with God as if we are in the position to do so. Let us realise our proper position before the great and awesome God!!