Thoughts on Jonah

At first glance, at least for me, it seemed that Jonah had run away from God and had fled towards Tarshish because he was scared of the people of Nineveh and his fear caused him to flee. However, when we get to chapter 4 we find the true reason Jonah ran away. In Jonah 4:2 he says to God, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” The reason he fled in the first place was because he didn’t want the people of Nineveh to turn to God, he knew that if they did God would save them. He wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. Israel and Nineveh were enemies and Jonah resented the fact that God would save them. The entire last chapter of Jonah is him complaining about God not destroying Nineveh. In fact, Jonah was so angry that God wasn’t going to destroy Nineveh that he wanted to die. He hated the people in Nineveh so greatly that he would rather die than see them live.  

Jonah doesn’t seem such a great prophet. His life almost seems to be a “what not to do” for Christians. Some of the things Jonah did that Christians should not do:  Run from God (Jonah 1:3), wait until God brings you down to pray to Him (Jonah 2), have to have God tell you a second time to do something (Jonah 3:1), be angry with God (Jonah 4), hate someone so badly that you would rather die than see them live (Jonah 4).

In all of Jonah, there is only one thing he did right: he preached the gospel in Nineveh. We should preach the gospel as well, but after they become saved don’t ask God to destroy them.

Even the end of Jonah leaves you hanging. The last verse in the whole book is “And should I [God speaking] not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11) In this verse God is telling Jonah why He has compassion for Nineveh, they don’t know the difference between right and wrong, God had love for the people in Nineveh. The curtain falls on Jonah displeased, angry, and pouting on the hot beach. It leaves you hanging, you wonder if Jonah’s heart was softened toward the people in Nineveh by what God said, or if he continued to be angry.

A few things I learned from studying the story of Jonah, never run from God (He will find you and bring you back!), don’t wait until you are in the depths to pray to God, preach the gospel so that people may be saved, don’t hate someone so badly that you don’t want them to be saved by God, God loves everyone and desires us to love everyone as well.