When the prophet Jonah was ministering in the land of Israel, the land was already divided into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. Jonah lived in the northern kingdom (see 2 Kings 14:23–25), and the north would fall to the Assyrians in 722 BC.
During Jonah’s ministry, the word of the Lord came to him with instructions to go to Nineveh and preach against its great evil (Jonah 1:1–2). Nineveh was a major city in the Assyrian empire, and Jonah wanted nothing to do with helping that region. He fled to Tarshish, defying the word of the Lord (1:3).
Jonah’s flight from God’s command is a breathtaking response. The prophet pays a fare and boards a boat. Even a storm on the sea does not prompt him to cry out to God for mercy. The mariners on board were crying out to their gods (1:5), but Jonah was not (1:6). The storm had come because of Jonah, yet Jonah did not seem to care about what was happening on the boat. The captain feared that everyone would perish (1:6). Why didn’t Jonah care?
The boat scene gives insight into what’s wrong with Jonah’s ministry. Didn’t he care about the Gentiles who would perish on the sea? Didn’t it bother him that his actions had put everyone in jeopardy?
Through the sailors casting lots, they identify Jonah as the problem (Jonah 1:7–10). The men demanded to know what Jonah had done, for now a fearsome storm threatened everyone’s lives.
Jonah doesn’t repent on the boat, even though the storm would have surely stopped if he had. Instead, he tells the men, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you” (Jonah 1:12).
The men were not keen on this idea. If they were responsible for causing Jonah’s death, what would Jonah’s God do at that point? They were already facing the raging sea and storm. But consider, again, Jonah’s passivity. He’s willing to be thrown overboard to drown, but he’s unwilling to repent and go to Nineveh. He’d rather die than preach to the Assyrians!
The men threw Jonah overboard, and the sea ceased (Jonah 1:15). The Gentile seafarers feared Yahweh, offered a sacrifice to him, and made vows (1:16). From the look it, the ones fearing Yahweh are the Gentile shipmates and not Jonah. What is wrong with Jonah?
Jonah lacked a proper concern for the nations. He would rather see the Assyrians judged, so he had fled from God’s command. If the Ninevites repented and yet Israel’s northern kingdom persisted in idolatry and unrighteousness, surely the Assyrian army would last long enough to be the judgment rod in the hand of Yahweh. In 722 BC, that is exactly what happened. The northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian army.
Back to Jonah in the water. While he was drowning, he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord rescued him with a great fish (Jonah 1:17—2:6). He was in the fish three days and nights before it vomited him onto dry land (2:10). Jonah went to Nineveh to preach and, just as he had feared, the Ninevites repented (3:1–10).
Jonah was angry with the Lord and left the city (Jonah 4:1–5). He was so incensed that he preferred to die rather than live (4:3, 8).
The reader is rightly disturbed by the prophet’s behavior throughout the story. If we didn’t have the fourth chapter, we might conclude that Jonah got his act together and gladly submitted to the Lord.
But we do have the fourth chapter. Jonah’s heart, even at the end of the story, wasn’t right. The story is a historical account of an episode in the life of a biblical prophet, but the problem with Jonah transcends his individual experience. In fact, the problem with Jonah is the problem with the land of Israel as a whole.
The people of Israel failed to be light to the nations. They had become like the nations, taking on their gods and customs. They had ignored Yahweh’s word and command. They were living in the land of promise but not living for Yahweh’s glory in it. The Israelites should have demonstrated right worship unto God, they should have proclaimed God’s word, and they should have warned others of God’s judgment.
But the spiritual problems in the land of Israel included their failure to be light for neighboring peoples. Jonah represented what was wrong with the Israelites. Here was one of their prophets, and this prophet refused to follow God’s command and showed no concern for the Gentiles who were facing divine judgment. Jonah failed to be light, and Israel failed to be light.
Just as Jonah was consumed by a fish, the Israelites would be consumed by the Assyrians. In fact, one of the Assyrian gods was a fish-god. In 722 BC, the Assyrians overcame the northern kingdom of Israel. But just as God delivered Jonah from the fish, God would deliver the Israelites from captivity.
The account of Jonah was the story of Israel writ large. We’re rightly bothered by one of the Israel’s prophets who didn’t care about the perishing Gentiles and who failed to be light to them. The problem with Jonah, however, was the tip of the iceberg. Jonah’s problem was Israel’s problem. And judgment was coming—to the Israelites.
Jonah’s complaint to God in the fourth chapter is striking: “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2).
Imagine being frustrated that the Lord is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from judgment! Jonah didn’t like that God would be that way toward the pagan Ninevites who repented. Yet Jonah is forgetting that he needs God to be this way toward him.
Across a four-chapter story, Jonah’s own experience testifies to what God is like. God has acted toward him with mercy and graciousness, being slow to anger and full of steadfast love.