Jonah -- Preacher of Repentance: A Fool's Errand -- Attempting to Flee from God

Jonah -- Preacher of Repentance (3): A Fool's Errand -- Attempting to Flee from God

Jonah on a Fool’s Errand

God called the Prophet Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh (in the heart of the Assyrian empire) to preach YHWH’s word to the Ninevites. Refusing to go to Nineveh, instead Jonah undertook the fool’s errand of attempting to flee from YHWH, boarding a ship which Jonah hoped would take him as far away from Nineveh as humanly possible. But why was Jonah, known to us as the “reluctant prophet,” so hesitant to go where YHHW was sending him? The answer is both religious and political. Jonah is an Israelite. Assyria is Israel’s enemy and a serious military threat. Jonah knows that his own people (Israel) are hardening their hearts against YHWH and are likely to come under YHWH’s judgment. Jonah also knows that should he go to Nineveh and preach, YHWH might bring about the city’s repentance, sparing it from imminent judgment. As a loyal Israelite, Jonah fears that his preaching might be YHWH’s means of sparing Assyria from judgment. Jonah refuses YHWH’s call to go and preach and attempts get as far away from Nineveh as he can. But his plans are about to change in ways he cannot yet begin to imagine. YHWH will change Jonah’s mind and his destination.

As we move deeper into the Book of Jonah, (chapter 1:4-10), we read of Jonah fleeing YHWH’s prophetic call, only to find himself thrown overboard by terrified sailors and then swallowed by a great fish, where Jonah spent three days and nights entombed in conditions beyond human imagination. As we discussed previously, when we raised and answered the “Who?” “When?” “Why?” and “What?” questions, the assumption often made by readers about the Book of Jonah is that the story is so implausible that it cannot be historical. When viewed in this manner, the fictional story of Jonah becomes an object lesson or moralistic tale about obeying God’s will so as not to suffer the consequences–like those which befall the reluctant prophet.

The Prophetic Word Goes to the Gentiles Too

But when we look behind the well-known details of the Jonah story and consider God’s greater purpose in calling Jonah to go and preach YHWH’s word in Nineveh, we discover the true message of this prophecy; God’s purpose is to save Gentile sinners outside the ordinary bounds of his covenant people, Israel. Looking at the redemptive-historical context for the Minor Prophets (of which Jonah is one), we see that while in Canaan, YHWH’s people were to be witnesses of his mercy and righteousness to the Gentile nations all around them. Because of Israel’s failure to drive all the Canaanites from the promised land (as recounted in the Book of Joshua) over time, the people of God became more pagan than Hebrew (the message of the Book of Judges).

Israel’s idolatry and failure to keep the terms of Israel’s covenant with YHWH, led to a terrible civil war and a divided nation–Israel in the North and Judah in the South. Given Israel’s rapid and downward spiritual spiral the Northern Kingdom never did serve as a missionary witness to the surrounding Gentile nations. Instead, Israel became a sad example of sin, disobedience, and religious compromise. Israel faced certain judgment as YHWH’s long suffering patience came to an end.

But had Israel been faithful to God’s word and covenant, YHWH would have protected his people from the surrounding Gentile nations, including Syria and Assyria to the north. A very important element to the back story of the Book of Jonah is that YHWH’s call of Jonah is part of YHWH’s greater missionary purpose to ensure that his word is preached to Gentile nations–even to Israel’s enemies. YHWH sent the prophet Amos to Israel to call the nation to repentance. But YHWH sends Jonah to Nineveh in Assyia–Israel’s fiercest enemy to call Gentiles to repentance. Although the Jews are YHWH’s chosen people, his redemptive plan includes Gentiles. YHWH will extend salvation to the very ends of the earth.

We risk missing the message of the Book of Jonah if we understand it merely to be a moralistic fable about not obeying God’s call and suffering the consequences. The Book of Jonah is a prophetic revelation of God’s missionary purposes for his people as is typical of the Minor Prophets. Since Israel has failed in its mission to be YHWH’s witness to the Gentiles, YHWH calls Jonah to be his witness to Assyria.[1] Jonah’s reluctance to go to Nineveh reflects the fact that he is a loyal Israelite who does not want to see his enemy (Assyria) repent, when he knows his own people will be crushed by the Assyrians unless YHWH intervenes and saves Israel.

Jonah Flees to Tarshish

YHWH will intervene, but not to deliver Israel from Assyria, but to ensure the gospel is preached in Nineveh. Jonah hates the very thought of his enemies repenting. So much so Jonah flees to Tarshish, telling the reader in chapter 4:3 that he would rather die than see his enemies repent and be delivered from YHWH’s wrath. But YHWH’s missionary purposes require that someone from Israel like Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach YHWH’s call to repentance. Jonah’s reluctance to go, reflects Israel’s national sin manifest in the nation’s collective unwillingness to be YHWH’s witness to the Gentile nations surrounding Israel. That YHWH overcomes Jonah’s reluctance in the most dramatic of ways reinforces the importance of YHWH’s greater purpose–his people are to take the gospel to the ends of the earth–even to Nineveh.

Keeping the greater redemptive historical picture in mind, we can see why YHWH will not let Jonah escape his prophetic call. In verse 4 of chapter one, we learn that soon after Jonah’s ship left port, sailing west to Tarshish in Spain, “the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.” We know from the opening verse of this prophecy that Jonah previously refused to obey YHWH’s call, left Israel and traveled to Joppa (the modern city of Jaffa), a seaport on the Mediterranean coast. Jonah booked passage on a sailing ship headed for the Phoenician city of Tarshish at the opposite end of the sea.[2] This was as far as humanly possible for someone like Jonah fleeing Nineveh to go. Nineveh is about 500 miles to the Northeast of Zebulun, where Jonah was based. Tarshish is nearly two thousand miles west from Jaffa.

A Great Storm Suddenly Appears

The Hebrew of verse 4 places the subject first (YHWH) and the verb following–which is unusual. This tells us that YHWH’s purpose, not Jonah’s disobedience, will determine the outcome of all that follows. Jonah’s unwillingness to preach in Nineveh will not thwart YHWH’s sovereign purpose. Foolishly thinking he could escape YHWH’s prophetic call, Jonah boards a ship, but the crew knows nothing about him, or his desire to flee YHWH, the God of Israel and the creator of all things. YHWH sends a fierce storm (literally he “throws” a fierce storm like someone would throw a spear or a javelin)[3] completely surprising the crew because of the storm’s suddenness and ferocity. Experienced sailors know how to read the weather so as to avoid storms whenever possible. Most sailors on a ship like this were experienced seamen and ordinarily would not panic should bad weather cause rough seas.

But the storm YHWH throws at them is completely expected and is no ordinary storm. It was sent by YHWH for the purpose of preventing Jonah from fleeing Nineveh. The sovereignty of God over the affairs of both people and nations is a frequent theme throughout the Minor Prophets–Jonah included. Just as YHWH threw this storm to prevent Jonah from fleeing, he will “appoint” the great fish to swallow Jonah alive once he is thrown overboard by the sailors. YHWH, the sovereign God, will accomplish his purpose. His word will be preached in Nineveh.

Israel is a nation with little if any naval or seafaring history. Solomon had a small navy (1 Kings 22:48-49). The prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah spoke of the ships of Tarshish (Phoenician) sailing throughout the Mediterranean. But it falls to the prophet Jeremiah (23:19-20) to remind us that YHWH is the Lord of the storm. “Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart.” There is a hint of YHWH’s wrath in Jonah 1:4, though YHWH’s purpose is not to destroy his reluctant prophet, but to save Jonah and the crew, to fulfill his missionary call to Nineveh.

The Terrified Crew

The storm thrown by YHWH was so fierce that the ship on which Jonah sailed the crew feared the vessel might break up. We read three times in the passage of the sailor’s fear. In verse 5, “then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god,” in verse 10, “the men were exceedingly afraid,” and again in verse 16, “then the men feared the Lord exceedingly.” Then as now, professional seamen are a multi-racial bunch and these men cried out to their own deities–as though these “gods” could actually do something about the fierce storm which YHWH threw their way.

One of the emergency measures taken by the crew was to lighten the ship so as that it would better ride out the waves without being swamped. They “hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.” This too indicates the great level of fear in their ranks, since the crew would be held responsible for any lost cargo and/or missing rigging and ballast. The suddenness and ferocity of the storm not only frightened the crew, but the situation is becoming a matter of life and death. We get the sense from the crew’s action in calling out to their gods and jettisoning their cargo that some of these sailors may have been doing so in the sense of offering sacrifices to their respective gods to bring an end the storm. The Book of Jonah is filled with repetitive Hebrew puns, one of them is that as YHWH’s “throws a storm,” so too the panicked sailors “throw” their cargo overboard.[4] Soon they’ll “throw” their passenger–the source of their woes–into the sea.

Where’s Jonah?

Amidst the fear and chaos onboard the ship Jonah is nowhere to be seen. We are told that “Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.” A series of puns appear again. Jonah “went down” to Joppa (v. 3), now he again “went down” into the ship to sleep, with the Hebrew word for “fast asleep.” rhyming with the verb “going down.”[5] Just as Jonah flees YHWH’s calling by “going down” to Joppa, he escapes the fury of the storm by going down in the interior of the ship to sleep. For whatever reason–whether that be exhaustion from his travels, emotional fatigue from fleeing from God–Jonah is dead to the world. He is completely out of it, sound asleep while the sailors topside are struggling mightily to save their vessel, and are beginning to realize this just might be the end.

To read the next in the series, “"Tossed Overboard to Calm the Storm"”

To read the first in this series, Jonah the Preacher of Repentance (1): Who Was Jonah?

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[1] Estelle, Salvation Through Judgment and Mercy, 33-34.

[2] Billy K. Smith and Franklin S. Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, vol. 19B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), on Jonah 1:3.

[3] Smith and Page, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, on Jonah 1:4.

[4] Donald J. Wiseman, T. Desmond Alexander, and Bruce K. Waltke, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 26, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), on Jonah 1:5.

[5] Estelle, Salvation Through Judgment and Mercy, 43.