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GOD DOES NOT APPROVE OF PREJUDICE
THE STORY OF JONAH
We all know the story of Jonah and the whale. You know, the entertaining story that brings to mind children's stories in the Bible. Yet, it contains one of the most important messages to people today. It contains God's heart to the nations of the world, all of the people of the world. A message of His desire for all people of all nations to receive salvation and clearly shows His nonacceptance of prejudice.
This is a story about Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher. He was the same prophet that proclaimed God's blessing to the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II sometime between 793 - 753 BC (2 Kings 14:25). Acting on that prophecy, Jeroboam extended the borders of his kingdom beyond the frontier of Syria.
To understand the story of Jonah, one must understand the historical events that lead up to Jonah's mission assignment from God. In this time period, many of the people of Judah found themselves still in captivity in Babylon. They had been carried into exile after defeat at the hands of the army of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. It had been a difficult period in Jewish history. The defeat of the Jewish army, the fall and destruction of Jerusalem, and the exile raised troubling questions for the captive people. They must have wondered: "If we are really God's chosen, what does it mean for us to be defeated? Is our God impotent? What does it mean for God's chosen to be homeless for as long as a century? Why would God allow His specially chosen people to be forced into slavery?" The defeat and the exile were God's punishment upon a rebellious and unfaithful people.
During the reign of Adad-nirari III (811-783 BC) there was a swing toward monotheism. However, at his death the nation entered a period of national weakness and moral decay. During this time, Assyria was engaged in a life and death struggle with the mountain tribes of Urartu, and its associates of Mannai and Madai in the north, who had been able to push their frontier to within less than a hundred miles of Nineveh.
In 756 BC a plague struck the nation, followed by a second plague in 759 BC. In 763 BC there was an eclipse of the sun. These were events of the type regarded as evidence of divine judgment, and could have prepared the people to receive Jonah's message. This depressed state of Assyria contributed much to the readiness of the people to hear Jonah as he began to preach to them.
There is historical evidence that during the reign of Ashurdan III (771-754 BC) a religious awakening occurred. This may have been the result of Jonah's preaching. In 745 BC Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 BC) came to the throne and Assyria again became a major power. Under his leadership the Assyrians became "the rod of God's anger (Isaiah 10:5) against His rebellious people Israel. Israel finally fell to the Assyrians with the capture of Samaria in 722 BC, through the efforts of Tiglath-pileser's successors, Shalmaneser V and Sargon II.
Through the preaching of Jonah, and the repentance of the people of Nineveh, the city was spared at this time. However, history tells us their repentance was fairly short-lived. Soon they had fallen back into their sinful way of life. The prophet Nahum was then sent to these same people. However, they failed to repent (as they had with Jonah), and thus were destroyed in 612 BC.
Now taking into account the Hebrews of Jonah's time, we can understand the following facets of their belief system and situation. The Hebrews knew they were God's specially chosen people. The main difficulty with believing yourself to be God's specially chosen people is that everyone else becomes specifically God's unchosen. One nation cannot be chosen without other nations inevitably being defined as both different and inferior. Since God had not distinctly chosen other people - rejection, hatred and prejudice are justified in the chosen ones. This way, the world was divided into the chosen Jews and the unchosen Gentiles. This idea was a sustaining belief among the Jewish people of the exile. It was reinforced in the period after the Persian general Cyrus conquered Babylon and allowed all the captives to return to the homeland that had been lost to them for three generations. They were determined that when they returned to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem, they would be rigorous in obedience and rigid in ritualistic requirement. All in fear that otherwise they would face again the vengeance of a wrathful God, who being disappointed the elect would be willing to punish the chosen nation once again with defeat and exile.
This religious fervor transformed the returning Jewish people into a highly motivated and energized nation. Political and religious leadership were combined at this this time of Jewish history in the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah. They were to lead the return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the nation. Upon their return to Jerusalem, it was painful for the people to place the accountability for the disaster onto their grandparents and great-grandparents. They, as God's chosen people, had a scapegoat identified - the foreigners were the culprits. God's people in the future had to be vigilant to root out and expose any and all foreign elements. The returning Jews vowed that when they restored the nation and the holy city of Jerusalem, they would re-establish in the land the sacred tradition of the past. They would be certain that no foreign elements would be allowed and that God's chosen people must not be diluted by the presence of those who are not part of the elect. This was the religious environment that Jonah came out of.
This story was written as a historical composition and Jewish tradition regarded the story as history, and Jesus reference to the story in Matthew 12:38-41 and Luke 11:29-32 lend support to the historical accuracy of this story. Here is the historical record of Jonah's mission from God to speak to Ninevah.
The first encounter with God in the story confronts Jonah's prejudice. Jonah is a prophet, a 'Hebrew', part of God's chosen people and God decides to send him to Ninevah.
"1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
3 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."
The Ninevites were Israel's worst enemies when God told Jonah to go speak to them. His failure to care about those people reflected the attitude of his countrymen. For Jonah to go to Ninevah would have been the moral equivalent of asking a Jewish resident of New York city in the 1940's to go to Berlin and give the Nazis a chance to be forgiven. This is the record of Jonah's first encounter with God in the story and his reaction was Jonah's response was deliberate rebellion. It wasn't that he was uncertain about the call. He was a prophet and he knew what God's voice sounded like. His hatred and prejudice came before God's will. He wanted Ninevah to be completely destroyed.
"4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
14 Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."
Jonah's second encounter with God confronts his behavior and it begins at sea. Sailors have always cried out to the gods and the sailors on Jonah's ship were no different. But, their gods didn't answer them and they knew there was something out of the ordinary about this storm. Someone on the ship had made an important god angry. Jonah knew it was him - and knew his rebellious behavior was going to be responsible for this ship going down.
The sailors found out that Jonah was to blame and threw him overboard. The idea was that if they got rid of the one who had angered his God then maybe this God would spare them. Jonah at this point was more willing to die than do what God had told him to do. This was the extreme to which his prejudice lead him. When Jonah was then swallowed by a giant fish, he probably assumed that this was it, he would die, and Ninevah would be destroyed by God.
Jonah knew that he was dealing with a God who could do anything, even save him. God proved this point quickly by sending the giant fish. This second confrontation with God prompts repentance from Jonah. He seems to have spent the first couple of days in the fish not quite believing that he was still alive and then he gets around to praying. And then the fish spit Jonah out onto a beach.
" 2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land."
Jonah must have hoped that that was that. Remembering that he had promised to sacrifice to the LORD, he assumed the place to do that was in the Temple in Jerusalem. He takes off again back toward Jerusalem to go home and started to try to find directions back.
But this encounter with the Almighty was not over and God reminded him gently about Ninevah. Jonah's heart must have sank and he knew he had no choice but to go. So, he finally obeys the call. He goes to Ninevah and warns the people there that they have angered the LORD.
Jonah was a huge success. The people took his words to heart and repented. They put on sack-cloth and ashes, fasted, and repented their behavior that had made God ready to destroy them.
"3:1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not."
Jonah's third encounter with God comes when God confronts his attitude. The interesting thing about Jonah's success was that instead of delighting about how the Ninevites responded, Jonah becomes bitter instead. He issues the most amazing complaint to God, accusing him of doing exactly what he expected, showing mercy to those people who deserved nothing more than to be wiped off the face of the planet.
"4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"
He was sent to preach a warning of destruction - but instead he witnessed God's mercy. He expected God to smite those idol worshipers and unbelievers - instead God was moved to pity. In the process, Jonah lost several things. He lost his dignity, knowing that he was a prophet whose dire warnings did not come true. He lost his sense of superiority because God honoured the penance of these non-chosen people, these non-Jews. And he lost his temper. "I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people. Just kill me now!"
God's answer comes across with a cutting question. "Is it right for you to be angry about this?" Jonah knew it it wasn't right, he shouldn't be angry that God has shown mercy, he shouldn't be irate that God is "slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love". But at this point it seems the LORD is getting sarcastic with him. So he goes off mad and sits there waiting for God to destroy the city after all.
Jonah had been through a lot and God took pity on him and provided him with some shelter, but to prove a point then takes it away. When Jonah grieves the loss of a plant, but still can't bring himself to celebrate the salvation of a city, he receives a revelation of God's character and a reminder of his place in the great scheme of things.
"You feel sorry about that plant, though you did nothing to put it there. And a plant is only short lived. But Ninevah has over 120,000 people who don't know their right hands from their left. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?"
That ends the story of Jonah. God's gentleness in dealing with Jonah after he was obedient is a reminder to us that even when we do God's will, we can still have the wrong heart attitude. We can still be looking for God to work one way, when in fact God has chosen a different route. We could have done all that God has asked us to do and yet be angry with him if it appears that God hasn't come through on his side of the deal. Are you angry about the plant and missing the glory that is the city we were called to save?
In summation, God has a heart of grace (unmerited divine favor) toward all of the people of the world and would rather see them saved than destroyed. It is not up to us as individuals in the "one family of man" to pronounce judgment on any people or nation. We learn from this story that God does not approve of prejudice or hatred based on differences of position or culture. It is our job to hold forth the Word of salvation and accept the result of of God's grace extended to all people and nations.
