Jonah: The Runaway Prophet

Jonah: a paradox

Jonah is “a paradox: a prophet of God, and yet a runaway from God: a man drowned, and yet alive: a preacher of repentance, yet one that repines at repentance.”1

In the early part of Joash’s reign, Jonah prophesied the restoration of Israel’s northern borders lost in wars with Syria and a time of prosperity and safety that would follow to rival the nation’s former greatness.2 However, in her prosperity, Israel became complacent and arrogant thinking that they alone were the people under the divine favor and no other nation was so esteemed (Amos 9:7) by the Living God (Amos 6:1-8).

Exasperated with Israel’s unfaithfulness, God sent prophets to declare judgment against Israel warning them that He would use the Assyrians, whose capital city was Nineveh—a feared nation known for its cold-blooded barbarity—to punish and expel Israel from the land because of her sins (Hos. 9:3, 10:6, 11:5; Joel 1:6,7; Amos 9:11). In this setting God called Jonah to preach judgment against “Nineveh the great city for their wickedness” (NASB, Jon. 1:2). However, Jonah decided to make a run for it in the direction opposite Nineveh.

Jonah: his love for God and Israel

Some commentators attribute Jonah’s action to moral faults in his character but such accusations are unwarranted and implicitly denied within the narrative.3 In addition, there is the idea Jonah ran away because he was afraid for his own safety should he confront the powerful and evil people of Nineveh.

It is not expressly stated why Jonah “rose up to flee unto Tarshish4 from the presence of Jehovah.” However, the implication may be set forth on this premise: Jonah was a faithful Jew more in tune with Yahweh’s revelatory character than other Jews of his time. He correctly apprehended God’s gracious character and anticipated God’s compassion to extend beyond the borders of the nation of Israel, His chosen people.

As such, Jonah did not want to take the chance that God would forgive Nineveh. Nineveh’s existence remained an omen of God’s judgment against Israel, threatening Israel’s national existence. It was Jonah’s concern for the people of God, and not rebellion or fear, which prompted his flight.

Jonah was aware of the ways of God all too well: “I knew that you were a gracious God, merciful, slow to get angry, and full of kindness: I knew how easily you would cancel your plans for destroying these people” (LBP,5 Jon. 4:2). It was not in rebellion but rather in protest against God’s decision to destroy the nation of Israel for her sins. He was taking the same stance as Moses who confronted God in order to protect God, that is, His reputation before the heathen nations (Ex. 32:9-13, 30-32). It was not fear for his own life, but love for God’s people that prompted Jonah’s run away from God.

Torn between his love for Israel and his prophetic insight into God’s love for all men, Jonah ran away to escape his responsibility as God’s spokesman. He did not want to risk the chance that Nineveh would be spared if that would assure Israel’s divine punishment. Jonah “had shown himself prepared to forfeit his prophetic office, prepared to flee into exile, prepared even to resign life itself, rather than that Nineveh should be spared! Now such deliberate self-abandon…transforms his motive from apparent pettiness to something touchingly heroic.”6

Jonah found a ship on its way to Tarshish in order to make good his escape. However, while taking flight to the “remotest part of the sea” (NASB, Ps. 139:7-12), he was relentlessly pursued by the “Hound of Heaven.”7 While Jonah slept, and to the sailors’ terror, the Lord caused “a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.”

Having found out the reason for the storm, the crew finally took Jonah’s advice and reluctantly threw him overboard leaving him to drown. However, God “had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah,” preserving his life. At the end of three days’ confinement in the belly of the “great fish,” Jonah made his lamentation to God; being at the end of his rope, he repented, promising to obey God’s commands (Jon. 2:7-9).

Again, God repeated His command to Jonah (3:1-2). This time Jonah complied and went “to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord” (LBP, 3:3). Once deep inside the city, Jonah proclaimed that God’s judgment would be executed in forty days because of their wickedness. But, in contrast to the obstinacy of the covenant people, the “people of Nineveh believed God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth.” Even the king of Nineveh “arose from his throne, laid his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and ashes” and proclaimed a decree for all the people of the city to express repentance in the hope that God would be inclined to “withdraw His burning anger.” Seeing their earnest repentance, God did not destroy Nineveh as He had intended (NASB, 3:5ff).

God’s change of mind “greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry.” Finding a place outside and in full view of the city, Jonah waited impatiently to see if God would destroy it. With ever increasing despondency, to the point of suicide, his hopes failed. Nineveh remained a threat to Israel because, unlike Nineveh, Israel refused to repent.

Jonah rested under the shelter of a plant provided by God to shield him from the scorching sun. As he slept, God then “appointed a worm…and it attacked the plant and it withered.” Consequently, the direct exposure to the sun made Jonah unbearably weak and he “begged with all his soul to die” adding to his sorrow over Nineveh’s repentance and God’s act of forgiveness (4:1-8).

God spoke tenderly to Jonah asking if it were proper for him to be angry that Nineveh was spared. Jonah answered that he had every right to be angry because, now that Nineveh was spared, he knew God would surely fulfill His intention to punish Israel—and why should Israel be punished and Nineveh be spared? Is not the nation of Israel God’s special people above all the nations? Are not Nineveh’s sins still deserving of, not pardon, but punishment? Though not surprised by God’s mercy towards the repentant people of Nineveh, nevertheless, Jonah implicitly accused God of having wronged His own people (4:9)!

God taught Jonah an important lesson (4:10-11). If Jonah could have compassion on that which concerns his own safety and comfort (and how limited in scope were his concerns!), did not God have the right to extend His compassion to those things that concern Him, especially to the helpless? Should compassion be limited to the people of Israel? Should mercy, on the one hand, be shown to those who persist in ignoring laws clearly presented and, on the other hand, judgment be exacted on those who are unaware of what they are doing? Should God punish the repentant in order to spare the unrepentant?

Jonah needed to learn that God’s special favor toward Israel did not mean a lessened love for others… The election of one nation did not mean the rejection of others!8

Israel’s election does not prevent God’s mercy to others.

[Jonah] confronts the reader with the serious…question whether his own response to human need is the same as that…exemplified by God.9

Observations

I glean the following observations from the book of Jonah:

  1. The favored status of a child of God does not exempt him from judgment; neither does another’s alienation from God exempt him from mercy. We should not take God’s mercy for granted just because one is His child. God who is quick to forgive is also certain to judge the unrepentant. No one sins with impunity. Neither should we resent the blessings God pours on those we judge to be less deserving (Matt 5:45b).
  2. Understanding is not a prerequisite for obeying God; neither is disobedience excusable even on noble grounds. When God’s command is clear, though seemingly unreasonable, our responsibility is not to take the time to understand, but to immediately obey. For example, we cannot shirk family responsibilities on grounds that we must spend time reading the Bible or going to church.
  3. Though God does not minimize the guilt of disobedience, He does bring His understanding of our reasons to bear in determining the proper discipline. At times our hearts may be right but our actions wrong as, for example, when Moses killed an Egyptian who was “beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren” (Ex. 2:11-12). Moses was cast off into the wilderness as a complete failure in his attempt to serve God, but for only a time, not permanently. In Jonah’s case, God appointed a “great fish” as his discipline, not to kill but to swallow him up alive. Jonah’s life was spared because of the hope that God had in him. He knows us and has pity on our strivings to do what is right (Ps. 103:14).
  4. Finally, and on a more personal note, human failure does not mean divine abandonment. Though Jonah ran away in disobedience to God’s command, God ran after Jonah, not to punish but to restore. A Christian may find that he is “on a shelf,” but this does not necessarily mean God is not at work in his life. God works to make the unwilling willing; the unprepared prepared; the not cared for, cared for.

It is my understanding, in sympathy with the story of Jonah, that a believer can be disqualified for service. However, disqualification does not necessarily constitute total rejection. As in Jonah’s case, God may decide to shut one away in isolation because of disobedience, anticipating the proper time to again call him to repentance and back into service (1 Cor. 9:27).10

Ah my dear angry Lord,
Since thou dost love, yet strike;
Cast down, yet help afford;
Sure I will do the like.

I will complain, yet praise;
I will bewail, approve:
And all my sour-sweet days
I will lament, and love.
11

Notes

3 Contrast Armor D Piesker’s comments in the Beacon Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 161 with J. Sidlow Baxter’s one volume commentary, Explore the Book, Lesson 92.

4 Spain

5 Living Bible Paraphrased

6 Explore the Book, J. Sidlow Baxter, vol. 1, Lesson 92

7 Title of the poem by Francis Thompson (1859-1907). William Harmon, editor of the Top 500 Poems, notes that Thompson’s depiction of God as a “canine pursuer shocked some Victorian readers who were more accustomed to Frances Alexander’s” gentler version of God (848).

8 Explore the Book, J. Sidlow Baxter, vol. 1, Lesson 92.

9 Wesleyan Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 668.

10 The apostle Paul was aware that it would be tragic if “one who had instructed others as to the rules to be observed for winning the prize, should he himself be rejected for having transgressed them.” Robertson and Plummer quoted in the Beacon Bible Commentary, vol. 8, p. 403.

11 Bittersweet, George Herbert.

nbanuchi Bio

Nelson Banuchi has been a Christian for 38 years. Originally from New York City, he has served as a deacon in several churches as well as leading Bible Studies for children and adults, counseling, and preaching on occasion. He moved to Concord, NC in ‘08. His main study interests are biblical theology, Arminianism and revivalism. He is married and has two daughters and three grandchildren.

Discussion

Great article. Really enjoyed the insights you brought. I think placing Jonah’s story in the context of Israel’s disobedience really highlights the mercy of God.

Mathew Sims

I never looked at Jonah quite this way.

I think it’s possible that “moral faults” were involved along with his nobler motives… and the case could be made that even when you do it out of love for your people, will disobedience to God is rebellion, nonetheless. But what gives me pause here is that it does seem likely that Jonah wasn’t quite as bad a guy as I’ve represented him as in the past.

Seems entirely plausible to me that he was not just a heartless guy who wanted to see Nineveh suffer… but viewed mercy on Nineveh (potential, then later, actual) as an even stronger indictment of his own nation and a hastening of its judgment.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Nbanuchi - I was especially struck by this statement, “Jonah needed to learn that God’s special favor toward Israel did not mean a lessened love for others.” Sometimes, it is so easy to get into a “God and me” mentality that I forget that God loves that person with whom I am in conflict as much as He loves me. God’s love is boundless and inexhaustible :-)

Pedid por la paz de Jerusalén.

One of my mentors would gently chide “Go as far as Scripture goes; but stop where Scripture stops.” This effort goes as far as Scripture goes, but doesn’t seem to stop where Scripture stops.

While we might all get the warm fuzzies by considering Jonah to be more noble than we had previously considered, and construct a whole scenario around it based on his prophetic gift and position, the Scripture account of Jonah simply does not support it. This little flight of fancy could be true. However, there are any number of scenarios that could be as equally true, such as the gap theory explaining the existence of demons (one of my personal flights of fancy), or making definitive identification of the witnesses of Rev. 11, etc. They’re good for killing time when the fish aren’t biting, but do little to further our understanding of the absolute applicable truth of Scripture.

What we DO know about Jonah’s motives are quite limited. He was sent to Nineveh, but refused to go for only one stated reason: “…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.” I am as intrigued as the next person is about what was going on in Jonah’s mind and heart in the whole process, but all I know from Scripture is that the consideration of God being merciful to the Ninevites was worse than death. Anything beyond that is pure conjecture, likely projecting our particular paradigm as to what we would like his motivation to be because it is what we think our motivation should be.

I am not above projecting paradigms in this scenario:

(1) The great fish was the mother of all largemouth bass, and that’s a fact.

(2) The reason the book ends abruptly is because Jonah answered the question with some smarmy remark and God back-handed him into eternity.

You get the picture—possibly true, but conjecture not based on Scripture.

I think we would serve ourselves much better by concentrating on what we know Scripture is communicating (“Go as far as Scripture goes…”) and leave it simply at that. I doubt God is surprised that we don’t have all the answers about Jonah’s motives. But we do have all the information about his actions, and God’s response to those actions, that we need to walk obediently and circumspectly in this day and age.

Lee

I think Lee raises good questions here. But there is evidence for Nelson’s idea here (which didn’t originate with him, as his footnotes show).

To the degree that there is supporting evidence and argument, the view is not a flight of fancy.

So a couple of key questions would be:

Is there evidence that Nineveh’s repentance would increase Israel’s guilt?

Is there evidence that Jonah would want to spare his people from judgment?

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

[Aaron Blumer] I think Lee raises good questions here. But there is evidence for Nelson’s idea here (which didn’t originate with him, as his footnotes show).

To the degree that there is supporting evidence and argument, the view is not a flight of fancy.

So a couple of key questions would be:

Is there evidence that Nineveh’s repentance would increase Israel’s guilt?

Is there evidence that Jonah would want to spare his people from judgment?
Not desiring to be argumentative, but I am curious as to what evidence you reference as for this scenario being the particularly true driving motivation behind Jonah’s actions. All of the information we have about Jonah is found in the book of Jonah, with the exception of a brief mentioning in II Kings. And that is all the information. I do not question whether it could be the driving motivation, but after studying Jonah in depth for some time, I fail to see where this scenario is more specifically bolstered through Scripture than that Jonah simply hated Assyrians, which also could be equally true.

In my limited sphere I have found that conjecture and neat “Biblical” illustrations not presented in Scripture tend to muddle truth rather than clarify it.

Lee

Lee - I believe that Jesus makes reference to Jonah as well. In fact, he draws parallels between himself and Jonah and as a sign against wickedness. He is mentioned twice in Matt 16, once in Matt 12 and once in Luke 11. Jonah is a type of Christ as Jesus makes clear in Matt 12:40. I do believe that one can use these scriptural references to impact the narrative in the book of Jonah.

Pedid por la paz de Jerusalén.

Lee - In the second instance in Matt 16, Jonah should be translated John as he calls Peter the Son of Jonah.

Pedid por la paz de Jerusalén.

Aaron - You wrote, “Is there evidence that Nineveh’s repentance would increase Israel’s guilt?” That does seem to be answered by Jesus in Luke 11:32. “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.” Jesus, I believe is speaking to Israelis at this point…

Pedid por la paz de Jerusalén.

[drwayman] Lee - I believe that Jesus makes reference to Jonah as well. In fact, he draws parallels between himself and Jonah and as a sign against wickedness. He is mentioned twice in Matt 16, once in Matt 12 and once in Luke 11. Jonah is a type of Christ as Jesus makes clear in Matt 12:40. I do believe that one can use these scriptural references to impact the narrative in the book of Jonah.
Okay, I’ll bite. What new information about the motivations behind Jonah’s rebellion and subsequent argumentation with God do we glean from these NT references?

Lee

Lee - You wrote, “Okay, I’ll bite.” There really is nothing to bite on. I was simply reacting to this statement that you made, “All of the information we have about Jonah is found in the book of Jonah, with the exception of a brief mentioning in II Kings.” I was pointing out that Jesus did make references to Jonah, that we do have other information. The point of the Jonah story must have been so well known at the time that Jesus did not see a need to expound upon it. We don’t have the advantage of knowing what the point of the Jonah story was at Jesus’ time. However, we are blessed today to have the Holy Spirit to help us in our understanding of God’s Word.

Besides what I wrote to Aaron (which I think is a very important point), the only other thing, in my mind, that adds to the Jonah narrative is that Jonah is a type of Christ. Jesus references this, so there must be some parallel there. However, I am unsure how far to take the parallel/analogy. We do know that Jesus’ parallel, for sure, included being representative of Him being in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights.

I believe, that as a type of Christ, I can safely say that Jonah’s motives were similar to Jesus’ motives: repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached (luke 24:47). However, for some reason unknown to me, beyond what the Bible says that Jonah knew God was merciful, Jonah chose to not obey at that point. However, he did end up accurately relaying God’s message of salvation.

Nevertheless, I would like to think that Jonah was benevolent like Jesus since Jesus used him as a parallel for His own life. However, just in my immature understanding, I think that Jonah didn’t like it that other people, beyond God’s chosen people, could be saved. This seems to be a theme in Jesus’ ministry that was expanded upon later in the New Testament.

So, I guess that is the only bait that I offer :-)

Pedid por la paz de Jerusalén.

[drwayman]…I think that Jonah didn’t like it that other people, beyond God’s chosen people, could be saved. This seems to be a theme in Jesus’ ministry that was expanded upon later in the New Testament.
I want to make sure I understand your point here.

Are you saying that “other people, beyond God’s chosen people” CAN be saved?

CanJAmerican - my blog
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Thanks for asking rather than assuming. I simply mean: other people, beyond God’s chosen people could be saved = gentiles

Pedid por la paz de Jerusalén.

I thought this was an irenic discussion site. Have I misunderstood the intent of this blog?

Pedid por la paz de Jerusalén.