Jonah

Richard Belcher discusses the profound lessons from Jonah’s experiences with disobedience, repentance, and God’s mercy towards Nineveh. He explores the themes of divine compassion and the human tendency to resist God’s will, emphasizing the broader message of redemption and grace available to all, even the most undeserving.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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Well, let’s get a start on the book of Jonah, and we’ll finish Jonah next week. I don’t think we’ll finish it today. Doubt if we will.

All right, Jonah, Jose, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah now, again, each book has its own unique issues and questions. One of the questions surrounding the book of Jonah is the question of genre. What type of literature is the book of Jonah? Is Jonah a historical account, or is it a parable? Some use the term allegory. It’s all depending on how you define parable or allegory. This question, as to whether Jonah is a parable or allegory, used to be fairly straightforward. All your liberal critical scholars would line up on one side.

All your conservative scholars would line up on the other side. All your liberal critical scholars would argue that Jonah is a parable. Why? What could they not believe? Yeah, they deny the supernatural. Yeah, the fish story. It’s a fish story. It’s not true. So it’s a parable. All your conservative scholars will line up on the other side and say, no, we believe if God is the creator of this universe and he spoke this universe into existence, he could prepare a fish to swallow Jonah.

So it used to be this question of, is Jonah a parable or an historical account? The division used to be clear cut. All your liberal scholars, scholars on one side, all your conservative scholars on the other side. It’s not that way today. You don’t have that clear cut division. Leslie Allen’s commentary in the NICoT series, new international commentary in the Old Testament, argues for the parabolic interpretation of Jonah. He focuses on the fact that Jonah is unlike other prophets. We will mention that in a little bit.

He says it’s a parable with certain allegorical features to it. your own introduction that I have you read is open to the parabolic interpretation. They don’t believe you can be dogmatic. Either way, the basis of seeing Jonah as a parable is changed. It used to be all those who would deny the supernatural would say Jonah is a parable. It’s not that way anymore. you’ve got scholars who are conservative and who believe in the supernatural now arguing that Jonah should be understood as a parable, not because they don’t believe that God could have prepared a fish.

They believe God could have prepared a fish. But they argue that Jonah should be understood as a parable because of the literary nature of the book, the literary character of the book. As you read through Jonah, they say there are clues that the author has put into the book that alerts you as a reader that the book should be understood as a parable, not as an actual historical account.

And these authors accept the possibility that, yes, God could prepare a great fish, but because of the literary character of the book, they go the direction of a parable. So let me just briefly lay out for you the arguments for the parable view, and then we’ll answer some of them. They say Jonah is different from the other prophets. If you’ve read Jonah, how is Jonah different from the other prophets? He doesn’t say a whole lot. That’s right. His prophecy is like a line, isn’t it?

It’s a book about the account of his prophetic ministry rather than a collection of his prophecies. Hosea does have several chapters on his marriage, but most of the book of Hosea is about his prophecies, and most of the prophets are collections of their prophecies. Jonah is not. So it’s different in that way. There are also, they would say, extraordinary events in the book, the rescue by the fish, the repentance of the whole city of Nineveh. You have at the end the remarkable growth of that plant. It grows quickly. It’s destroyed quickly.

Those extraordinary events might be clues. You also have what some would call fanciful exaggerations. The animals repent. Chapter 3:7-8. Kind of a fanciful exaggeration, some would say. And the size of the city of Nineveh is three days’ walk. And nobody believes that Nineveh was really a three days’ walk. It wasn’t that big a fanciful exaggeration. See, these are clues to you as a reader. As you read the book of Jonah, the author wants you to come to the conclusion that Jonah is a parable, not an historical account. That’s the argument.

If you take it as a parable or an allegory, depending on how you define that, Jonah would represent disobedient Israel. Jonah’s preaching to Nineveh would represent Israel’s mission to make the message of God known to the nations. Jonah flees. What would that represent? Israel fails in her mission to take the message of God to the nations. He is swallowed by the fish. Some would relate that to the Babylonian exile. Israel swallowed up in the Babylonian exile, his prayer for deliverance, Israel’s return from exile, his unhappiness at Nineveh’s repentance, Israel’s dissatisfaction with God’s patience with the Gentiles.

You kind of see how it might work. Now, what are some problems with the parabolic approach? Well, I believe genre is a very important concept. I think here it’s pushed too far. Parables in the old testament are usually on the short side, usually simple, accompanied by some explanation. Jonah is lengthy in comparison, complex. And Harrison’s introduction mentions an explanation is lacking. So does it really fit the genre of a parable in the Old Testament setting? That’s a good question to address. Some would argue the fish in Jonah is an agent of deliverance, not of destruction.

And so, some would say that the fish and the exile aren’t really parallel. But what are the arguments that Jonah is a historical account? Well, Jonah 1:1 is very similar to other prophetic books. You can compare Hosea 1:1, Joel 1:1, Micah 1:1.

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: (Joel 1:1, ESV)

¹ Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, (Jonah 1:1, ESV)

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. (Micah 1:1, ESV)

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. (Hosea 1:1, ESV)

You can compare parallels to Elijah in 1 Kings 17:8-9. “The word of the Lord came to” introduces the divine word to a prophet over 100 times in the Old Testament.

You also have in Jonah 1:1 that Jonah is identified as the son of Amittai. There was a character in the Old Testament called Jonah who was the son of Amittai, 2 Kings 14:25. He prophesied that the northern kingdom would expand its borders. This reinforces the historical connections to this character.

What about the repentance of the animals? If you look at Jonah 3:7-8, this is when the king sends out a decree that the people would repent.

⁷ And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸ but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. (Jonah 3:7-8, ESV)

Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger. Now, it’s very interesting to compare Alan, his commentary on Joel, because in Joel chapter one, when you have this devastation from a locust plague, you have the animals involved in the mourning, and it’s not seen there as a fanciful exaggeration. In fact, in Joel 1:18, he says the prophet moves from the failure of the crops to the poignant description of farm animals in distress. He interprets their noise in human terms as groans.

If the animals are going to participate in the fast, what are they going to do after a day or two? You hear the cows mooing, right? They’re hungry. It’s all a part of the mourning. Without having to say that the animals are actually represented as repenting, you have it in Joel 1. Why not Jonah 3? Plus, you have a transition in verses seven through eight from animals and humans. A transition from animals and humans to humans. Because if you look at verse eight, let man and beast be covered with sackcloth.

⁸ but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. (Jonah 3:8, ESV)

Let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way. So when it actually comes to talk about repentance, turning from your evil way, it doesn’t say let them. It says let everyone. And it’s the Hebrew ish, let each man turn from his evil way. So I don’t think Jonah 3:7-8 is a fanciful exaggeration of the animals repenting. Yes, they are involved in the mourning that’s going on: sackcloth, ashes, no food. But when it actually talks about turning from your evil way, it uses the term ish.

What about Nineveh being a city of three days’ journey? Is that impossible? Well, some argue that Nineveh of a three days’ journey might be a reference to the fact that Jonah doesn’t just walk from one end of the city to the other, but he stops at this corner and preaches. He stops at that corner and preaches. He stops at that corner and preaches. Sort of like the difference between my wife going to the mall and my going to the mall. I go from one end of the mall to the other very quickly, 15-20 minutes.

I can make it. It takes her a lot longer to go because she stops here and looks, and she stops there and looks, and she stops over here and looks, and, you know, the whole shopping thing, which is good, but I’m not into it. So she has to put up with that. I don’t think that’s what’s being described here. Three three refers more to the size of Nineveh than the time of Jonah’s mission. I do think there’s an explanation.

There is a phrase used in chapter one, verse two, chapter three, verse two, chapter four, verse eleven. The great city, nineveh. Chapter one, verse two, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city hair haggadolah. For those of you who know Hebrew, the great city Nineveh is called the great city three times in this book. That same expression is used in Genesis 10:11 and twelve to refer to a four city conglomeration.

The suggestion is that the phrase “the great city” doesn’t just refer to Nineveh proper, but may refer to Nineveh and the surrounding areas, including these other towns, Greater Nineveh. You got the downtown area and you got the suburbs. Might be the way you look at it, is Charlotte’s population determined by the downtown area or by the downtown plus a suburb? So something like that might be going on. So I don’t think looking at Nineveh as a three days’ journey is necessarily problematic. When you take into account Nineveh and that four-city or town conglomeration.

Plus, you have Jesus referenced to Jonah as being in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights as a sign of his own ministry. If it didn’t really happen, can it still be a sign? It’s a good question to ask the other examples. In Matthew 12, the queen of the south coming to visit Solomon, we accept that as historical. I’m real uncomfortable with Allen’s comment. He says Jesus reflected popular Jewish understanding, which he used as a vehicle for truth concerning himself. That just opens the door to a lot of stuff.

Jesus knew that Jonah was not historical, but he used their popular understanding of that day to teach something about himself. I’m very uncomfortable with that kind of approach. So, I would argue that Jonah is an historical account, not a parable. I think one of the best arguments for this is in the Tyndale Old Testament commentary. I think it’s by Alexander, not a large commentary, but he lays out one of the best arguments for understanding Jonah as an historical account. Now, just a few more minutes and we’ll have to call it quits.

The response of Nineveh, one of those other things that sort of is seen as maybe not a fanciful exaggeration, but sort of a stupendous event. We don’t need to explain the response of Nineveh from human with human explanations. We believe in the power of the word of God and the Spirit to bring repentance into the heart of the Ninevites. However, in this historical context of Jonah, and I think Jonah was probably written very similar. The same situation of Amos Jeroboam II, northern kingdom experiencing prosperity and benefit. Assyria is weak.

Assyria is very weak at this point, not very strong, internal problems. There also may have been certain events that prepared the city of Nineveh for Jonah’s preaching. There were plagues in 759 and 756. There was a total eclipse of the sun in 763. Dreaded omens. From the Assyrian standpoint, God may have used some of these things to prepare the city of Nineveh for the preaching of Jonah. God can use historical things like this to prepare people to hear His word. I think that’s a better explanation than when Jonah got out of the fish.

He was all discolored because of the stomach fluids of the fish, that the people were so shocked that they repented. I don’t know what he looked like when he got out of the fish, but I’ve heard that argument somewhere. Maybe it’s just in jest now. I think we can do one more thing, and we’ll be at a good place to stop.

Just a word about Jonah. The prophet who 2 Kings 14:25, says he prophesied that Jeroboam II would expand the borders of the northern kingdom. This prophecy and its fulfillment would have been a message that would have personally affected Jonah, and it would have been a very positive message. Where is Jonah from? I remember Gath Heffer up in this area. Where do a lot of the enemies and the armies come from? The north. Right? We’ll see. In Jeremiah, God keeps saying, I’m bringing an army from the north. This northern area, southern kingdom, northern kingdom.

This northern area would be the first area to experience the instability of the northern kingdom and the raiding armies that might not make it down to the capital city, but would come as far as Gath heifer. You see stability in this area, which is what Jonah prophesied in 2 Kings 14:25. Stability in expanding the borders would bring stability to this area. This would be tremendous news for Jonah and the area that he’s from. So this would have brought great relief to his people, and this would have been a very positive message.

And we will see, as we go through the book of Jonah, how Israel’s perspective has to be, what’s the right word? Renewed, replaced. Because Israel’s feeling pretty good about itself during Jeroboam II’s reign. Prosperity, expansion. And as we will see, God’s word comes to Jonah. I want you to go to Nineveh, and Jonah doesn’t want to go, and we’ll see why. We’ll pick up next week at the message of Jonah and begin to look at that. Comments or questions before? Yes, sir.

In light of that, is it possible to interpret that minimal was just a great city and it required three days to get there? To journey seems like a possible. Most have not gone that route. You might have a city that’s 100 miles away. It takes three days during to get there, but it’s not a great city. So usually, people don’t think of a great city as being the distance to get there. So I don’t know of anyone that’s argued that anything else. Major military power on the scene.

So Israel together were able to expand their borders. A great time of pride for the nation of Israel and Judah. Now, in that context, Jonah 1, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2, ESV)

God tells Jonah, I want you to go to Nineveh, and I want you to call out against the city because of its evil. Jonah’s response is to flee to Tarshish.

Verse three, Nineveh is northeast, and instead of going northeast, Jonah goes south down to Joppa and catches a boat and then heads over toward Tarshish. We don’t know exactly where it is, but some think it’s in the area of Spain. He thinks he is running. Verse three says, from the presence of the Lord. Now, Jonah understood that God was a universal God, and you can’t really get away from God.

But the focus here is that Jonah is fleeing the place of God’s presence, which would be the land of Israel, the inheritance, the promised land, the place where God chose to establish his presence. And so he’s running away from that place of God’s presence. Now, what’s the problem? Well, several things we can point out here in terms of what Jonah is struggling with. You have the character of Jonah himself and the character of Israel during this period, as we mentioned earlier, this great period of economic prosperity, expansion of the borders.

This is a great time for Israel and Judah, a great time of pride for God’s people, because they are one of the major players on the world scene. As part of the problem, you also have the issue of the character of Nineveh, the character of the Assyrians. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, and they were in many ways the enemy of Israel. Back in the king of Nineveh, a king of Assyria had instituted cruelty in terms of the treatment of a city or prisoners of war.

And so Nineveh and Assyria were well known even at this time for her cruelty. And Jonah may have heard stories. Remember, he’s from Gath Hepher in the northern section. The section at first feels the brunt of an army. And Jonah may have heard stories of Nineveh’s cruelty. And so that’s part of the reason. The character of Nineveh, the character of Assyria, these are the enemies of Israel. But ultimately, the problem is the character of God. Jonah understands, understands God. When the command first comes to Jonah, it doesn’t seem to be that much of a problem.

If you read chapter one, verse two, go to Nineveh, call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. Go and preach against Nineveh. Nineveh is an evil city. Go and preach against it. What’s wrong with that? However, over in chapter four, verse two, after God brings great revival, Jonah was displeased, and he says to God, I knew this was going to happen. I just knew this was going to happen because you are a God of mercy, a God of compassion. Verse two,

² And he prayed to the Lord and said, “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, ESV)

I knew you were going to show mercy. I knew you were going to show compassion to the Ninevites. Now, he would have known that based on Exodus 34, that great passage where it sets out God’s character as a God of mercy and compassion, but he also would have known this from his own situation. What kind of king was Jeroboam II? Wicked king.

And yet, God used Jeroboam II to expand the borders. A God of compassion. And we’re going to see, because of the events in chapter two, Jonah knew God as a God of compassion. So, he did not want the Ninevites to receive the mercy of God. Now, when Jonah runs away from God, he’s running away from the presence of God established in the land. He’s running away from his calling as a prophet. As he runs away from God, a couple of things happen.

One is there’s a Hebrew verb in chapters one and two that means to go down, Yarad. It means to go down. Now, sometimes it’s translated in an idiomatic way in chapters one and two. But if you look at verse three, he went down to Joppa, he paid the fare. He found the ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, went down onto the ship. Gerot is used there.

Then you have verse five.

³ But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord . He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord . (Jonah 1:3, ESV)

But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship. So he went down to Joppa. He went onto the ship. Went down into the ship, but even then went further down into the inner parts of the ship. And finally, the last time this verb is used is in Chapter 2:6, where he’s sinking down in the sea and comes to the bars of death, the gate of death. So as Jonah runs away from God, he’s going further down, down, until he comes to the gates of death.

The other thing that happens, as he runs away from God, he’s not concerned about anybody. Selfish apathy. There is a violent storm on the sea. And what is Jonah doing? He’s sleeping. Chapter 1:4-6. The sailors are praying to their gods that the storm might ease up. In fact, they exhort Jonah to pray. Verse 6. The captain came and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Arise. Call out to your God. Perhaps I don’t know what your translation has here. The God is what the ESV says.

I think you could probably translate it. The gods. From this sailor’s perspective at this point, perhaps the gods will give a thought to us that we may not perish. Pray to your God, Jonah. How can you be sleeping?

Later, when Jonah identifies himself, Chapter 1:9, he identifies himself as a Hebrew who fears the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and dry land. I worship the God who made the sea. They inquire of him what’s going on.

⁹ And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” (Jonah 1:9, ESV)

And when they find out that he is fleeing from the presence of his God, they are astounded. Verse ten:

¹⁰ Then the men were 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 the Lord, because he had told them. (Jonah 1:10, ESV)

What is this you have done? Or you might even translate it: How could you do this? You have a contrast here between Jonah and the sailors. The sailors come across as more religiously oriented, praying to their god. Can’t fathom how Jonah would disobey his God.

And then Jonah tells them, well, if you want to see to be calm, you’ve got to throw me overboard. And they are very concerned in verse 14 about divine retribution, about taking the life of an innocent man. And so they row hard and hard and hard, try to get back to shore, but it doesn’t work. Until finally they come to the realization, we have to throw him overboard. And so they called out to the Lord in verse 14, let us not perish for this man’s life and lay not on us innocent blood for you, Yahweh. They’re using Yahweh here for you. Yahweh have done as it pleased you.

¹⁴ Therefore they called out to the Lord , “O Lord , let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord , have done as it pleased you.” (Jonah 1:14, ESV)

And it says in verse 16, the men feared the Lord exceedingly, offered a sacrifice to the Lord, Yahweh, and made vows.

¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. (Jonah 1:16, ESV)

Now, if you compare that verse to what Jonah says about himself in chapter one and to what Jonah says at the end of his prayer of thanksgiving in chapter two, they match. Jonah identifies himself as someone who fears Yahweh. It says in verse 16, the men feared Yahweh at the end of his prayer of thanksgiving in chapter two.

If you look at verse nine,

⁹ But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord !” (Jonah 2:9, ESV)

That parallels what these pagans say in verse 16:

¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. (Jonah 1:16, ESV)

Now, when you make a vow in the Old Testament, if you’re an Israelite, you would pay that vow by making a trip to the temple and offering a sacrifice.

I wonder, perhaps we don’t know for sure if these pagan sailors, now who fear Yahweh, may be planning a trip to the temple to offer a sacrifice to Yahweh in the payment of a vow. Just like Jonah says at the end of chapter two, I think you might be able to draw the conclusion these pagan sailors become converts. So even as Jonah is fleeing away from the Lord, he’s fulfilling God’s purposes in bringing the gentiles. That’s the ideal in the Old Testament.

Israel lives in the nation that God has given to her, the land of Canaan, and the gentiles come to Jerusalem as Jonah is fleeing. It seems that these sailors, the way it’s described in verse 16, make a commitment to Yahweh. Now, maybe they add Yahweh to their pantheon, but I’m willing to maybe go a little further than that because of the parallels with what is said in chapter one and the end of Jonah’s prayer of thanksgiving. Now, you know what happens when they throw Jonah overboard. God appointed a great fish.

And this is a theme somewhere in your notes. I bring this out: God’s sovereignty. God appoints a fish. God is the one who brought the storm. God appoints the fish. God is going to appoint a vine. In chapter four, appoint or provide a worm. So God is in control. His sovereignty prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

¹⁷ And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17, ESV)

Chapter two is his prayer of thanksgiving, a prayer of thanksgiving for deliverance from death, deliverance from drowning. And at the end of that chapter, after his prayer of thanksgiving, the fish gets rid of Jonah, and he receives, in chapter three, his second commission. Three verse two:

² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. (Jonah 3:2-3, ESV)

So this time, Jonah doesn’t hesitate. He goes to Nineveh. Simple message. In 40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed. Actually, the Hebrew, I think, is overturned, which some see as kind of a play on words. It can mean to be destroyed, but overturned perhaps in another way.

⁴ Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4, ESV)

And the response, as you know, the story of the Ninevites is they believed God. They mourned, they repented, and they called out to God for mercy. And Jonah is overjoyed that his preaching brought great blessing to the Ninevites. Right? No. Verse ten says

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:10, ESV)

Chapter four.

¹ But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. (Jonah 4:1, ESV)

He did not like the fact that the Ninevites repent and that it appears that God is going to show them mercy. He’s angry. You know, this shows how deep-seated our biases, prejudices, hatred, whatever you want to call it, are. Jonah himself had just experienced mercy from God. He could have died being thrown overboard. God was extremely gracious. God was extremely compassionate. God prepared this fish, saved the life of Jonah. He experienced God’s mercy himself. And he still doesn’t want Nineveh to experience that same mercy, that same compassion. And he’s angry.

Why is he so angry? Well, it’s kind of interesting if you compare a few things, and I’m not sure this quote quite major notes. I think part of the reason Jonah is angry is that Nineveh responds the way Israel should respond. This is the way Israel should respond to the Lord: repentance. Chapter 3:9, the king of Nineveh says, who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. Those words are used in Joel 2:12-14.

And some who stress the literary character of the book of the Twelve, the minor prophets, believe that there is an important connection between these two passages. Nineveh responds in the way Israel has not responded. And that’s perhaps part of the reason that Jonah is angry. But he is angry, and he prays for his own death. Verse three:

³ Therefore now, O Lord , please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:3, ESV)

If the Ninevites have your compassion, it’s better that I’m dead. And the Lord asks him, “Why?” Or do you do well to be angry? So what Jonah does is he goes outside the city. Perhaps he’s going to go outside the city, wait the 40 days, and see exactly what happens. We’ve given an indication at the end of chapter three what’s going to happen. And as he’s sitting outside the city, God provides a plant to give him relief from the sun. God again shows mercy to Jonah, the vine. The plant gives him relief from the heat of the sun.

You ever been driving down the interstate, whether you’re on the passenger side or the driver’s side, and the sun is just beating through the window on you, and you know how you just start to sweat hot? And then you pass a truck or a truck passes you and blocks the sun for about two minutes. Feels so good. And then the truck goes on and the sun comes back. So you put the visor over there. Well, that’s sort of like Jonah experiencing the heat from the sun. It’s bearing down on him. It’s beating down on him.

And so God provides a plant to give him relief from the sun. And Jonah was happy, exceedingly glad, because of the plant. But the next day, God appoints a worm that attacks the plant, destroys the vine. So the sun beats down again on the head of Jonah. And God keeps asking him, is it right for you to be angry? And Jonah keeps saying, it’s better that I would die. Now, what is this object lesson teaching Jonah? Jonah wanted God to destroy a city. And when God spares the city, Jonah is upset.

God provides a plant, and then God does destroy the plant. And when God destroys the plant, Jonah is upset. Something wrong with this picture? His priorities are all backwards. You won’t be upset if a city is destroyed, but you’re upset if a plant. His anger shows self-interest and lack of care, lack of concern for Nineveh gentiles, a city full of people that he wants to see destroyed. So this object lesson is to show how Jonah’s thinking is all twisted and backwards. Now, this book ends on a question. Verse eleven of chapter four.

¹¹ And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:11, ESV)

It ends on a question. The reason it ends on a question is because you, as a reader, are now forced to take sides. Who are you going to side with? Because you’re back living there in the northern kingdom, and you’re probably thinking a lot like Jonah. Get the Ninevites, God. Destroy them.

Or you’re sitting somewhere else and full of either hatred or a lack of compassion for others. And so the book ends on a question to force you as a reader. Are you going to show, are you going to side with God, His mercy, His compassion, or are you going to be like Jonah, full of self-interest, self-centered pride, pride in what you have with God and not wanting anybody else to experience the same mercy and compassion that you’ve experienced from God? Who are you going to side with?

That’s why the book ends on a question, forcing you at least to contemplate, how am I like Jonah in the variety of situations that God has placed us?

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