Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Prophets & Exile
God sent a prophet to preach doom over a brutal Gentile superpower, and then forgave the whole city the moment it repented. Jonah ran from the call, raged at the mercy, and sat outside the walls hoping for fire, while the story quietly exposed his small heart beside God's great compassion. Jesus took the name of Jonah and turned it into the sign of His own death and resurrection.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/why-did-god-send-jonah-to-nineveh · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Jonah 1
As you read: Jonah fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, the storm that follows him, pagan sailors turning from panic to worship, and a great fish prepared by God.
1Now Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
3But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.
4But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.
5Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.
6So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
7They all said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8Then they asked him, “Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?”
9He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”
10Then were the men 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 Yahweh, because he had told them.
11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy.
12He said to them, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you.”
13Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.
14Therefore they cried to Yahweh, and said, “We beg you, Yahweh, we beg you, don’t let us die for this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood; for you, Yahweh, have done as it pleased you.”
15So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging.
16Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.
17Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 3
As you read: A one-sentence sermon, an entire city believing God from the throne down to the animals, and God relenting of the disaster He had spoken.
1Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you.”
3So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to Yahweh’s word. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey across.
4Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
5The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.
6The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;
8but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.
9Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?”
10God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.
Jonah 4
As you read: Why Jonah fled in the first place, God's gentle object lesson with a plant, and the unanswered question that ends the book.
1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
2He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.
3Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4Yahweh said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.
6Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.
7But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.
8When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”
10Yahweh said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.
11Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”
Nineveh was a great city of Assyria, the empire that would one day grind Israel under its boot. Yet God saw its cruelty, 'for their wickedness has come up before me,' and He sent a warning instead of immediate judgment: 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it.' That is the first surprise of the book. God's attention is not bounded by Israel; even a violent Gentile capital receives a preacher before it receives destruction.
““Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.””Jonah 1:2
“Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the second time, saying,”Jonah 3:1
Jonah 'rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh,' and the verse repeats the phrase twice because that is the whole point: you can buy a ticket away from the assignment, not away from God. A storm chases the ship, and the pagan sailors who started out crying to their idols end in the opposite direction: 'the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.' The prophet running from God's presence becomes the means by which outsiders enter it.
“But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.”Jonah 1:3
“Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.”Jonah 1:16
The fish looks like punishment, but the text says God prepared it; the same God Jonah was fleeing pursued him in mercy. Down in the dark Jonah finally prays, and lands on the old confession, 'Salvation belongs to Yahweh.' Centuries later Jesus named this episode as prophecy: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The fish points past Jonah's rescue toward Christ's resurrection.
“Yahweh 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
“But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.””Jonah 2:9
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”Matthew 12:40
Jonah's entire sermon was one short sentence: 'In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!' No invitation, no explanation, yet the response shames every stubborn generation of Israel: 'The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.' Even the king left his throne for ashes, and 'God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them.' Jesus confirmed it was real repentance: 'they repented at the preaching of Jonah,' and that faith will rise in judgment on unbelief.
“Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!””Jonah 3:4
“The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.”Jonah 3:5
“God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.”Jonah 3:10
“The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.”Matthew 12:41
At last Jonah admits why he ran: 'I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.' He could forgive Israel that mercy, just not Assyria. So God contrasts the prophet grieving over a vine he never made grow with His own question: 'Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city?' The book closes with the question hanging over us too: will our hearts grow as large as God's pity?
“He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.”Jonah 4:2
“Yahweh said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.”Jonah 4:10
“Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?””Jonah 4:11