As the book of Jonah opens, God
is speaking to him, giving him his commission. “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its
wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah
1:2).
Jonah was a native of
Gath-hepher, a town near Nazareth. He lived in the reign of Jeroboam 2 and
aided him in making the northern kingdom of Israel very powerful and prosperous
(2 Kings 14:25). Jesus Christ
himself made the book of Jonah important. When he was asked for a sign to prove
his claims, he gave the people the sign of the prophet Jonah (Mathew 12:38-40). Two events are of
great importance in Jonah. One is the great fish swallowing Jonah and the other
the possibility of such a large heathen city as Nineveh being converted by an
obscure foreign missionary in just a few days.
Chapters 1 and 2 we see God speaking to Jonah to go and preach against the
people of Nineveh. God is very definite with his orders. He told Jonah to arise
and go. “But Jonah ran away from the Lord
and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa” (Jonah 1:3). He said no to God. Assyria, where Nineveh is, was
Israel’s dreaded enemy. (Jonah 4:2).
Jonah might have feared that Nineveh may repent and be spared from God’s
punishment.
As soon as Jonah fled, God began
to act. “then the Lord sent a great wind
on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up”
(Jonah 1:4). God loved Jonah too
much to let him prosper. Failure never relieves us of responsibility to serve.
God’s way is best. If we don’t
accept it, he forces strange things upon us. The story of Jonah 2 tells us how Jonah came to the end of himself. After much
praying, he confessed that he could do nothing by himself. “Salvation comes from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). Then God could afford to
set him at liberty (Jonah 2:10).
In the chapters 3 and 4 we see God giving Jonah another
chance to be of service. “Then the word
of the Lord came to Jonah a second time” (Jonah 3:1). It was not easy for Jonah to go through the streets and
cry, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be
overturned” (Jonah 3:4). There was no mercy in his message. There was
no tear in the prophet’s voice. He was obeying God, but his heart was unchanged
(Jonah 4:1-3). The common people of
Nineveh repent first. Then the nobles followed. This is always true. Revival
starts among the people first and move to higher authorities.
Two things hindered Jonah when
God told him to go to Nineveh – his pride of self and his scorn of the rest of
the world. God took this out of him in the fish’s belly.
When you read this book, we of
course understand Jonah was a type of Christ in his death. Another truth behind
this historical story is about us and the decisions we make. God provides us
the best in our life. But when we run away from God and try to do things on our
own, we end up inside the fish and then plead God to rescue and confess our
mistake. May this book help you to understand this truth and walk according to
the desire and wish of God.
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