Bible Story: Jonah

Introduction

The book of Jonah is one of the most unusual books in all the Bible. It tells not the words of a prophet, but the life and actions of a prophet, and a reluctant, rebellious, disobedient prophet at that. The impartiality of the Bible is one of the landmarks of its inspiration. Though Jonah is one of the great characters of the Old Testament, he certainly is depicted honestly, with all his foreheads and frailties and misconceptions. Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14, 25 as a prophet in Israel at the time of the wicked King Jeroboam II. Jonah means dove. The book is not like most of the prophets’ books, for it contains not the words of the prophet, but as we said, his actions, a prophet at work, in other words.

1. The Only Prophet Jesus Directly Compared Himself To

Perhaps his association with Jeroboam II and with idolatry caused him to lack trust in Jehovah. Some legends say he was the son of the widow of Zarephath, whom Elijah raised from the dead. Others that he was the husband of the Shunamite woman who extended hospitality to Elisha. Even though some would downgrade the book of Jonah as the biggest fish story ever told, notice this. First of all, Jonah was the only Old Testament prophet Jesus directly compared himself to. Secondly, he was from Galilee, Gath Heper, three miles from Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus. Third, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is likened unto his sojourn in the belly of the great fish God provided. Read Matthew 12 and Matthew 16, verse 4. We learn also that there were mistakes made concerning Jonah and the prophets, for in John chapter 7, the Pharisees said, No prophet would come out of Galilee, but a prophet centuries earlier.

2. Foreshadowed the Entrance of the Gentiles

Jonah had. They also failed to recognize one greater than Jonah, Jesus the Christ. This book foreshadowed the entrance of the Gentiles into covenant relationship with the Lord. Notice Acts 11 18 in the New Testament. Then to the Gentiles hath God granted repentance unto life. God was concerned with non Israel in Old Testament days, and those who teach otherwise run into conflict with their theory when they read the book of Jonah. For the greatest case of conversion on foreign soil in Old Testament took place at Nineveh, according to the book of Jonah. Just one lesson brought them, the Gentiles to their knees, but Israel did not hearken to thousands of lessons. The time and the setting of the book of Jonah is seven hundred and forty years before Christ.

3. Nineveh Was the Corinth of Its Day

Nineveh was the Corinth of its day, six hundred thousand population. Their wickedness has come up before me, Jonah one verse two. It was sixty miles around the city of Nineveh, three days’ journey through it, walls sixty feet high, one thousand five hundred towers, two hundred feet high, three chariots abreast could go around the wall. It was a famous, huge city, metropolitan area of that day and time. The people of Assyria worshiped the fish god. Twenty years later, God used these penitent people to subdue his own impenetent nation, Israel. But one hundred and thirty-five years after the book of Jonah, Nineveh fell because of sin. The book of Nahum is the sequel of the book of Jonah. And in Nahum 3 1, woe to the inhabitants of the bloody city of Nineveh.

4. Jonah Did Not Think Like God Thought

Jonah did not think like God thought. Remember, he was told to go to Nineveh and preach, but at Joppa he boarded a ship and headed for Tarshus in Spain, as far west as he could go, a place noted for tremendous wealth and sin. When men run away from God, they usually go to the other extreme. He didn’t want to go to Nineveh. Why? Well, they were his enemy. He hated them. Victory in battle was more important to him than saving souls. They might kill him because they were his enemies. If preaching took, then God would bless. And in the complaint of Psalm 86 concerning the graciousness of a benevolent God, Jonah is echoed. And also, Nineveh was a strange place. He’d rather preach at home. His patriotism exceeded his spirituality.

5. Four Great Lessons and One Key Word: Repentance

And I believe I’ve met brethren like that today. They’re more interested in being a super patriot than they are in being a servant of the Lord. I’ve talked to some who act like they don’t want the Russians and the Chinese saved, because they’re our enemies patriotically. That’s just like Jonah of the Old Testament. Jonah was like the Pharisees of the first century who could not and would not rejoice in the salvation of the Gentiles. There are four great lessons in the book of Jonah that we need to learn. First, Jonah’s flight from duty. Secondly, his preaching at Nineveh, even though he reluctantly preached. Third, his anger at the reception of the gospel by the people. And fourth, the mercy of God. Did you know there’s one key word in the book of Jonah?

It’s the word repentance. Jonah repented. The people repented, and it even says God repented, meaning he changed his mind. He spared Nineveh instead of wiping them off the face of the earth. But repentance is not just a one time step, as Jonah and the people of Nineveh would learn. Some people have said there’s just too many miracles in this book for me. There’s that great fish, but it says God prepared it. Jesus calls it a whale in Matthew chapter 12. And there are several kinds of whales that are able to swallow a man. But you know, for the one who believes that God made the world and all things therein and uh stopped up the Red Sea and Jesus was born of a virgin and rose from the dead.

6. The Points We Need to Stress

There’s no problem in the book of Jonah. It’s just a matter of faith in God. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11 1. And without faith, it’s impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11 6. We walk by faith and not by sight, 2 Corinthians 5 7. The points we need to stress in the book of Jonah are these. One, God means what he says. Jonah had to do God’s will, even though he did it reluctantly. Secondly, God knows where we are, down in the belly of that great fish.

Conclusion

We also learn from this book that God cares for all mankind, and that God is affected by our actions. We also learn that God uses men and nations to the accomplishment of his will. An object lesson for us is how soon we forget the tragedy of Nineveh’s later fall proves we must indoctrinate each succeeding generation, or we’ll lose them to the devil. In conclusion, in the book of Jonah, we learn of the power of preaching God’s message, the power of repentance, God’s concern for all mankind. And we learned the lesson of the gourd. Jonah was more concerned for it and the shade it gave him from the hot sun from the east off the desert than he was concerned for the lost souls of 120,000 people in the city of Nineveh.

How we need to appreciate and appropriate the blessings and teachings found in this wonderful book.