Jonah and Nineveh

The story of Jonah is one of the best-known and most surprising in the Bible. Many remember it for the great fish that swallowed the prophet, but the real centre of the book is not the fish; it is God’s heart. It is the story of a prophet who ran from his mission, of an enemy city that repented and of a God whose mercy is greater than human prejudice. Jesus himself referred to Jonah as a sign of his death and resurrection.

Who was Jonah?

Jonah, son of Amittai, was a prophet from Gath-hepher in Galilee who lived in the eighth century BC. Besides his book, he is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, where he prophesied that King Jeroboam II would restore Israel’s borders. He was therefore a respected prophet whose earlier message had been favourable to his nation. His name means “dove”.

“Arise, go to Nineveh”

God gave Jonah an unexpected mission:

“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 1:2-3

Nineveh was the great capital of the Assyrian empire, one of the cruellest empires of antiquity. The Assyrians were known for their violence against conquered peoples, and a few decades later they would destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. For an Israelite, going to preach in Nineveh was like going to the enemy’s capital.

Jonah rose up, but not to go to Nineveh: he fled in the opposite direction. Nineveh lay to the east; Jonah went down to Joppa on the coast and took ship for Tarshish, at the western end of the known world, probably in southern Spain. The text repeats that Jonah “went down”: to Joppa, into the ship, into the sides of the ship. Running from God is always a downward road.

The storm

God sent out a great wind into the sea, and a storm arose so fierce that the ship was about to break up. The sailors were afraid, each cried to his god and they threw the cargo overboard. Meanwhile Jonah was fast asleep in the bottom of the ship. The shipmaster woke him: “What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God.”

The sailors cast lots to find out who was to blame, and the lot fell on Jonah. He confessed: “I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.” Ironically, the runaway prophet confessed the God of the sea in the middle of the sea. Jonah asked them to throw him overboard. The sailors, who were pagans, first tried to row back to land to save him, showing more compassion than the prophet himself. In the end they cried to the Lord asking forgiveness and threw him into the sea. The storm ceased at once, and the sailors feared the Lord, offered a sacrifice and made vows.

In the belly of the great fish

“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 1:17

The Bible does not say it was a whale, but “a great fish” prepared by God. The fish was not a punishment but a means of rescue: it saved Jonah from drowning. From the belly of the fish Jonah prayed. His prayer in chapter 2 is a psalm of thanksgiving full of images of the depths: “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.” And it ends with a confession central to the whole Bible: “Salvation is of the Lord.” Then God spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon dry land.

A second chance

“And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time.” God gave him a new opportunity with the same message. This time Jonah went to Nineveh. The city was so great that it took three days to cross it. Jonah went a day’s journey into it and proclaimed a very short message: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Nineveh repents

What happened was astonishing. “So the people of Nineveh believed God.” They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. When word reached the king, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. He ordered everyone, even the animals, to fast and cry mightily to God, and every person to turn from his evil way and from the violence in his hands: “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”

God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and he repented of the evil he had said he would do to them, and did it not. It was perhaps the greatest revival in biblical history: an entire pagan city turned to God through the preaching of a reluctant prophet.

Jonah’s anger

But Jonah was not glad. He was exceedingly angry. And then he revealed why he had run away in the first place:

“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.”

Jonah 4:2

Jonah did not flee out of fear of the Ninevites, but because he knew God’s mercy and did not want it extended to his enemies. He would rather die than see Nineveh spared. God asked him patiently: “Doest thou well to be angry?”

The gourd

Jonah went out of the city, made himself a booth and sat down to see what would become of Nineveh. God made a gourd grow up to give him shade, and Jonah was exceedingly glad. But the next day God sent a worm that withered it, and then a vehement east wind and a burning sun. Jonah, fainting, again wished to die, angry about the plant.

Then God gave him the final lesson. Jonah had pity on a plant he had not laboured over, which came up in a night and perished in a night. Should not God spare Nineveh, that great city, with more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who could not discern between their right hand and their left, and much cattle? The book ends with this open question, without Jonah’s answer. It is as though the question were addressed to the reader.

Places in the story

Interesting facts

Lessons for our lives

We cannot run from God. God gives second chances. Salvation belongs to the Lord. God can transform those we consider impossible. Our prejudices can keep us from sharing the Gospel. God’s mercy is wider than ours: he loves our enemies too. We should rejoice when others repent.

On the road to Jesus

When some asked him for a sign, Jesus answered: “as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Jonah’s story foreshadows Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. But Jesus added: “behold, a greater than Jonas is here” (Matthew 12:41). Jonah fled from his mission; Jesus embraced his fully. Jonah did not want his enemies forgiven; Jesus prayed for those who crucified him. Jonah was thrown into the sea to calm the storm and save the sailors; Jesus gave his life to save us all. And the Gospel of Jesus, like Jonah’s message, is for all nations.

In the next episode we will meet three eighth-century prophets: Hosea, Amos and Micah.

Prayer

Lord, forgive me for the times I have run from what you ask of me. Thank you for giving me a second chance. Free me from the prejudices that keep me from desiring others’ salvation. Give me a heart like yours, gracious and merciful, that rejoices when someone turns to you. Salvation belongs to you. Amen.