The Higher Patriot Jonah
Study Scripture: Jonah 1:1-3; 3:1-5; 4:6-11
Background Scripture: Jonah 1– 4
Lesson 10 May 2, 2026
Key Verse
Then the LORD said, “You had compassion on the plant, for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not also have compassion on Nineveh?” (Jonah 4:10-11)
INTRODUCTION
Our Study Lesson from the book of Jonah should properly be called a focus on the Psalm of the “prodigal prophet” for in this Study we should not leave out seeking out and finding Jonah’s prophetic description of his deliverance from drowning. His psalm which uses the imagery of water reminds us of Psalm 42:5-3 which reads:
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.
O my God, my soul is in despair within me; therefore I remember Thee from the land of the Jordan., and from the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Thy waterfalls;
All Thy breakers and Thy waves have rolled over me.
The Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime. And His song will be with me in the night. A prayer to the God of my life”.
As we look at this Study therefore let us look at ourselves and how we react to the commands and the guidance of God. Like the Psalmists, do we find the character of God to be the basis of our praise, adoration and obedience, or do we like Jonah find the character of God to be the pretext for our disobedience and for our protests?
The life of the prophet Jonah was indeed remarkable. It concerned a commission from God that sent the prophet to preach against the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, warning that in forty days the city would be destroyed. This was the largest city in the powerful and extraordinarily cruel, violent, brutal and vicious rapidly growing Assyrian Empire. It was in reality the number one city in the world, having a population some believe to be at least 600,000 persons, while others hold that modern archaeology shows the city and metropolitan area excavated could hold a quarter of a million persons. They therefore supports the idea that when God stated there were 120,000 persons who did not know their right hand from their left hand this did not mean there were 120,000 children in Nineveh. This expression was an idiomatic expression as one writer states it was used “For the lack of knowledge or the moral innocence of an infant, child, or person who doesn’t know the difference between good and evil. The expression refers to an inability to make moral judgments; that is how God views the wicked, evil, idolatrous citizenry of Nineveh. they were in the dark, blindly flailing around. They can’t tell their right hand from their left, good from bad, right from wrong. They are in bondage”.
The population was wicked, practiced and indulged in all kinds of astrology and pagan worship, with every imaginable kind of god. They believed the gods controlled their destiny and they were forever trying to appease the gods.
2 Kings 14 tells us that Jonah was a prophet during the reign of King Jeroboam 11 of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam 11 reigned for 42 years and the Bible tells us that he was an evil king, just like the other kings of Israel who ruled over the Northern Kingdom. He did not see himself that way however but the Bible tells us that he was evil because he did not return the northern kingdom to the worship of the God of the Bible.
But despite this gross apostasy God had mercy on the Kingdom of Israel and strengthened the kingdom of Israel under the reign of Jeroboam 11 despite their sinfulness.
Jonah knew that the Assyrians were the ones capable of stopping the expansion of the Ten northern tribes of Israel under Jeroboam 11. The king led a campaign that defeated the Syians, the other powerful nation, recovered lost Israelite territory and brought great prosperity to the people.
Jonah was in fact the prophet who motivated the rulers to fight and succeed in this expansion against all odds. God used Jonah to give prophecies that Israel would be victorious in its wars and would regain territory and regain their strength and so you can imagine that Jonah played a very important and central role during the reign of Jeroboam 11, for he gave a good prophetic message about the Kingdom. Obviously Jonah would be popular at the court of the King. He had a great patriotic pride in Israel’s restoration as he looked forward to Israel becoming extremely powerful.
Now we should note that the prophets Micah and Hosea had been prophesying at the same time that God would use the Assyrians to discipline the 10 tribes of Israel, and so he knew that God would raise up Nineveh, (the name we use of the Assyrian Empire) as an enemy of Israel and a threat to the kingdom of Israel.
Jonah was close to the inner politics of the Israelite kingdom and he knew very well that if God destroyed Nineveh it would be a tremendous blessing to the kingdom of Israel for it would prolong the power and the strength of the kingdom of Israel and might even restore the great status that they had enjoyed in the times previously.
Nor understand clearly that Jonah knew that God could be merciful to the sinning nation of Israel and He might just be just as merciful with the sinning nation of Assyria, the nation that he realized was powerful and would likely use their power to overwhelm Israel in the future.
But Jonah loved his nation and people and so his mind was always turning around to come up with a plan that would help his nation to survive.
So what about us? Do we like to be in a nation or in a community or in a church that is growing and powerful and obviously it seems to us being blessed by God despite our sinning? Do we suspect somehow that God has a plan to discipline us and we want no part in that plan of God?
So what do we do when God speaks to us? Do we listen to Him and obey Him, even though our hearts might ache?
Or do we make the love for our children, our family, our church our tribe, or our nation take priority?
When God calls on us do we run in the opposite direction? Do we pay our own fare to get as far away from God as possible?
You think about it for you profess to be a child of God and a part of the kingdom of God.
Let us understand that Jonah was a true prophet of God and he knew that a previous prophet who had disobeyed God’s instructions had died without mercy. One writer tells us the experience of that prophet in Kings 13:1- 32 as follows:
“An unnamed prophet was sent by God from Judah to Jeroboam 1, the first King of Israel with a strong warning message. That prophet faithfully gave the warning to Jeroboam 1, but he disobeyed God’s commands to fast until he returned to the borders of Judah. Due to the prophet’s disobedience, God sent a lion to kill him.
Jonah was a prophet serving Jeroboam 11, So Jonah expected that he too would be killed by God if he refused to go to Nineveh. Jonah was reconciled in that fate and he accepted it. However he felt that if he sacrificed his life, Assyria would be destroyed and his nation Israel would be spared. Jonah’s motive in disobeying God was not rebellion.
Jonah disobeyed God in order to offer himself as a sacrifice for his entire nation. Jonah’s attitude was one of willing self-sacrifice for the good of others. In this he presaged the attitude of Jesus Christ himself, who was willing to offer himself as a sacrifice for all mankind”.
Quite interestingly we noticed that Jesus used the example of the prophet Jonah to illustrate some things about His history, His activities,, and what would happen
Later we learned that Jesus declared that the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah according to Matthew 12: 41 for the book of Jonah tells us that God saw that the people of Nineveh turned from their evil ways and worked, doing the right thing according to Jonah 3:10.
This Book raises all kinds of questions for us for the prophet Jonah who lived about 4 miles north of Nazareth during the reign of Jeroboam 11, knew that Assyria was a constant threat to the nation due to Israel’s progressive rebellion which was highlighted by the prophets Hosea and Amos contemporaries of Jonah. They had declared that God would use Assyria as an instrument of punishment against his people according to Hosea 11:5 and Amos 5:27.
So you can imagine the consternation that must have filled the heart of Jonah when he received a word from God instructing him to proceed to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, with a divine message calling on them to repent.
Have you ever been in a similar situation? Can think about God asking you to do something that fills your heart with consternation, even though you saw the rebellion that was happening among those that you loved?
How do you value repentance? How seriously do you take sin when it is is happening in yourself or in those close to you, those you love?
Do you think you can thwart the plans of God? Do you think that where men propose God can dispose!?
THE TEXT
CHAPTER 1:1-3
The Scriptures tell us that the word of the Lord came to Jonah and so he got certain instructions. We do not know whether he was in the court of Jeroboam 11 when he got the word from God or whether he was at home in his town in Zebulon. This fervent patriot who was a prophet of God and whose heart was filled with hatred for the exceedingly wicked enemy of Israel had second thoughts about his responsibility to God. He knew everything about Nineveh a city founded by Nimrod shortly after the flood according to Genesis 10: 11- 12. It was now the capital of the Assyrian Empire and when this empire rose to power about 900 B.C. its mission was to destroy the northern Kingdom of Israel which it did in about 721 B.C.
The Hebrew Scriptures tell us that when the word of the Lord comes to a prophet the prophet always conveys that word to those that God wanted the message to go to. Some like Jeremiah hesitated at first but eventually they delivered the message. God commanded Jonah to arise and he does arise but to our surprise does not arise in obedience and go to Nineveh as expected, but in disobedience he arises to flee to Tarshish.
We do not know Tarshish/s precise location and some believe that it’s as far away as Spain while others believe it was as far away as Japan. But wherever the precise location was we know that Jonah went into the opposite direction. Jonah wanted to flee from the presence of the Lord. So he was headed for a distant land even though he should have known that he can’t actually escape the presence of the Lord. He hoped that being in Tarshish away from Israelites and the other prophets of Israel he would not hear from the Lord any more.
Let us remember that the prophets of Israel generally prophesied while they were in the land of Israel and they didn’t travel to other nations against whom they prophesied. So this command from God was a significant and unexpected expansion of the exercise of the prophetic vocation for Nineveh was more than 500 miles away from Israel anyway. According to Nahum 2:11-12 it was exceedingly wicked and so clearly the call would be to proclaim the Lord’s judgment against this wicked city
Jonah would clearly be wondering whether God had some redemptive purpose for him crying out against Nineveh for the evil of Nineveh had come up before the Lord. God obviously had in mind some disaster for Nineveh but the nationalistic Jonah was afraid that when he proclaimed the Lord’s judgment against Nineveh, the people of Nineveh would heed the warning possibly, and that would thwart any lustful judgment that Jonah was nursing.
When we look at Jonah’s situation we know it was a troubling one for if Jonah who was a prophet had been so great in his prophetic blessings on the northern kingdom of Israel, any nation warned of doom could now turn. Warning the people of Nineveh about God’s judgment then was obviously something unpleasant for Jonah. Jonah also could end up with a lot of egg on his face for Jeroboam 11 would certainly not like what Jonah had done. So Jonah’s life would be in danger. And as a minimum he would be out of favout at the Israelite court.
Jonah obviously had considerable means for he paid the fare in Joppa a port city on the Mediterranean for the long voyage to Tarshish. We know that that voyage would take about a year in the opposite direction from Nineveh so when the Scripture says he went “down’ to Joppa and he went “down” into a ship, Jonah’s downward journey was serious and it had only just begun.
So let us be careful about our “downward journeys”.
Now, instead of destroying the Assyrians for their iniquity, God was warning them to repent and be saved. This kind of wondrous divine grace that called for the repentance and reformation of Nineveh was too much for Jonah. He hated Nineveh and the Assyrians and wanted them destroyed.
So he disobeyed God’s call, openly refused to obey the command to go to Nineveh, and boarded a ship going in the opposite direction to the extreme western section of the Mediterranean. He intended to go as far away as possible from where God wanted him to go.
Jonah had apparently forgotten or more precisely disregarded the fact that for God the entire world is a community. God created all things and He is vitally interested in all the activities of men.
Because of this fact, it is very easy to understand that at some point, all men will stand before God and be judged for everything that they ever thought and everything that they ever did.
Jonah knew very well that God did not desire the death of the wicked, but sought their repentance and a turning away from their sin. He knew very well the attributes of God. So he figured out that if the Ninevites did not get the warning to repent they would stay as they were, and God would destroy them.
God however had no intention of allowing Jonah to walk away from his duty.
So, do you think that God will allow you to walk away from your duty?
Or, will you keep on running?
Are you a runaway?
Can you get there where God wants you from here?
Or are you counting on the fact that you have a god of a second chance?
Verses 4-6.
A storm arose and buffeted Jonah’ ship so badly that despite everything the sailors did the ship was going to sink and all lives lost. The sailors suspected that the gods they believed in were against someone on the ship and was determined to punish the individual. The sailors cast lots to see if they could find out who had incurred the wrath of the gods. The lot fell on Jonah, and he readily admitted that he was running from the ‘presence’ of the LORD, the One who created the heavens, the earth, the dry land, and the seas, and he advised them to throw him overboard and the storm would cease.
Despite his admission the pagan sailors tried to row hard to save the life of the stranger, but when nothing worked they had no choice but to throw Jonah in the sea. The storm immediately died and they were so impressed by the power of Jonah’s God that they actually sacrificed to Jonah’s God.
What a remarkable reaction and behavior from people who did not know the true God!
This alone should put people who profess to be Christians to great shame and lead us to change our behavior toward others. Clearly though, this did not register on Jonah for he still remained hostile to other pagans and maintained a rebellious frame of mind.
Remarkably Jonah did not die for God prepared a giant fish that swallowed Jonah and headed back to Nineveh with him. While undergoing this dreadful experience in the belly of the fish, Jonah changed his mind about the mission and prayed for deliverance and the fish eventually deposited him on the shores at Nineveh. It will turn out however that his inward disposition and thought structure were not changed.
We are looking at a clash of wills between a man of God and God Himself. As a result we are studying how the mind of God operates when dealing with wicked human beings and rebellious prophets, both of whom have stubborn hearts. Sometimes we do not even know who have the more stubborn hearts when we compare professing Christians and pagans.
This lesson tells us that God is in the business of warning those that do evil. God is also in the business of giving a second chance to His rebellious servants, given the fact that He is patient and long-suffering.
While people say that the God of the Old Testament is a vengeful, wrathful God, who likes to hurl lightning bolts and send black thunderclouds every day, Jonah and the other prophets knew that was not the case.
They knew that God was gracious, merciful, slow to anger, overflowing with love, and above all, would turn aside His judgments, if at any time the hearts of the wicked would show signs of repentance.
Chapter 3:1-5
Verse 1
Jonah was in total defiance of God’s initial command. But he was sickened by his subsequent discipline in the belly of the great sea creature that God had sent to swallow him and take him down into the depths of trouble. Some believe that this great sea monster was a whale, but that is not likely.
Clearly the prophet Jonah was a work in progress It now seems clear that he was qualified now for his mission for he knew that he was a living example of God’s mercy. We do not know exactly when the second Commission from God came to Jonah but Jonah was certainly glad that God had saved him according to his psalm from the belly of the great fish
Note however that God does not always give His servants a second chance to obey Him when they at first refuse to obey. Sometime God uses other people to accomplish His purposes but in Jonah’s case God sovereignly chose to use Jonah for this mission just as He had sovereignly sent the storm and the great fish to do His will.
Verse 2. The command is similar to the commission given in 1:2. Arise, go to Nineveh. Built by Nimrod and Ninus the mythical founder of the Assyrian Empire according to Genesis 10 it was the largest city in the world at that time Nineveh and its suburbs probably housed 200,000 to 300000 people and it certainly was great. But most important God was concerned about this city and the city was significant to God.
Jonah was instructed to cry against the city and now God told Jonah exactly what he was to preach. This was not Jonah’s collection of sermons, but it was sermons provided by God.
But note the message had not changed and Jonah had to deliver the message without altering it, exposing the wickedness of the people and telling the people of Nineveh that their sins were great and that the sins were so great they had come up before God and destruction of the great city was imminent.
Verse 3. One can imagine how Jonah looked after being in the belly of the great fish for 3 days and 3 nights. His skin must have been bleached. When he was spat out onto the shore it is quite likely that people would have seen him and would have thought that if a great fish could spit him out in that way this man must have been a prophet with a great message from the gods. So Jonah’s look and his experience on that seashore would have helped him to convey the message of God. But note that he was ready to obey God’s command this time not joyfully with a proper attitude, but at least he is not fearing that the Assyrians would skin him alive or impale him on a pole which was their habit when they came across their enemies. Obviously for Jonah that fate by the wicked Assyrians was preferable to suffering divine discipline again.
Our Lesson shows the power of God is such that it can produce the most remarkable revival. This revival can be produced by a simple message, by a single instrument of God, (even a reluctant instrument) who He uses, so that people can repent, quickly and thoroughly. It is obviously no good for a servant of God to think that He does not care for those outside His community and that He will not do many powerful things to turn their hearts around.
When people reject God finally and definitively, it is an action done despite the persistent warning of the Spirit.
Finally, the unloving Jonah came to Nineveh.
Historians believe the Assyrian Empire was not yet at its zenith but the city was still imposing militarily; it was famous for its idolatry and wickedness and that got God’s attention.
… 3 day’s journey is a phrase meaning literally a distance of 3 days. There is some controversy over the physical dimensions of Nineveh but much modern archaeology has determined the size as just under 8 miles in circumference. One writer states:
“ It may mean that it took 3 days to walk through the city from one extremity to the opposite one, but the extent of nineveh’s ruins argues against this interpretation. It may also mean that it took 3 days to walk around the circumference of the city, though this seems unlikely. Whether this size refers to the area enclosed by the major 8 -mile wall which seems improbable or includes the outlying suburbs is also unclear. Apparently at this time Nineveh referred to (1) the city and (2) a complex of four cities including the city in question probably the” three- day walk) describes the time it took to visit the city and its outlying suburbs. In any case the description clearly points to Nineveh as geographical size as being large and requiring several days for Jonah’s message to reach everyone”.
Verse 4. Jonah began to enter the city with a focus greater than ever travelling around and proclaiming his message. There is no indication he stopped to admire the city with its huge walls and towers for sightseeing was not on his agenda. He had a message to deliver and was eager to do so. But note that his motivation however was not the same as God’s motivation. Jonah’s eagerness to deliver the message ran parallel to his desire to see the destruction of Nineveh.
Jonah’s message was very brief, just five words in Hebrew. He did not offer any hope, just words of doom. This was not a (turn or burn) sermon for this was just a (burn) sermon. It was, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. The message was simple and to the point and frightening. Given the way that Joe and I must have looked the precision of his announcement would certainly make Jonah’s preaching very effective. The same Hebrew word (hapak, overthrown, destroyed, describes the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:25 and we suspect that possibly Jonah expected God to do destroy Nineveh as he had overthrown Sodom and Gomorrah.
Verse 5.But shockingly for Jonah and for many of us who understand the depths of paganism and the depths of Satan, Nineveh believed God. We do not know how much information the people of Nineveh had about Elohim but they must have had some ideas about Him as we can presume from the sailors in Chapter 1 who had to deal with Jonah and who sacrificed and refused to willingly throw him overboard at his request.
But despite that limited knowledge God accepted their fate and turned away His judgment. The Lord Jesus Christ taught that the people of Nineveh did repent and so these Gentile pagans had some faith in the God of Israel and it was not just their fear of judgment.
The word used believe.. means according to one scholar: “ Originally it referred to something firm,, stable. Sturdy it developed a metaphorical extension of that thing or person who is faithful,, loyal dependable, trustworthy.
Notice its usage in the writings of Moses ( which Paul uses as his Old Testament evidence for justification by grace through faith in Romans 4 and Galatians 3).
- Abraham believed YHWH about a child to come ( Genesis 15:6)
- Israel believed in God’s message and messenger ( Exodus 19:9).
- Moses is faithful ( Numbers 12:7)
- God is faithful ( Deuteronomy 7:9)”
These people proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth and so we see that when Jonah proclaimed his message it was followed by a proclamation by the people of Nineveh themselves. A real revival resulted from Jonah’s proclamation and this is seen in the specific actions of the Ninevites.
… fast…. sackcloth…. sat on the ashes… casting and wearing sackcloth demonstrated self affliction that reflected an attitude of humility in the ancient Near East (2 Samuel 3:31; 1 King’s 21:27, and a public sign of repentance ( Deuteronomy 9L, 18, 25; 1 Samuel 6:7; Ezra 10:6; Joel 2:12). One writer adds:
“Sackcloth was what the poor and the slaves customarily wore. Thus wearing it depicted that the entire population viewed themselves as needy of God’s mercy in this case and slaves of God in this case. This attitude and these actions marked all levels of the city’s population (i.e. the chronologically old and young, and the socially high and low). The Ninevites did not want to perish any more than the sailors did”.
Note that the Ninevites had no assurance that their demonstration of repentance would result in the prophesied disaster being averted. What they desperately want to do whatever it took to preserve themselves and placate Yahweh.
.. The greatest of them even to the least… the revival seemed to have begun from the “ bottom up”, rather than imposed from the “ top down”. The response was unanimous from the lower to the upper classes from the greatest to the least all put on sackcloth. Whether Prince or pauper, all were in the same condition before God.
Several startling events are recorded in the book of Jonah, but one of the greatest is the tremendous response to Jonah’s pointed message. Jonah ends up being one of the most successful preachers of all time, as repentance is demonstrated at all levels of Nineveh society,from the greatest to the least. There is no doubt that the Spirit of God was there to bring about such a quick and complete work of repentance. One writer notes:
“The astonishing scope of the repentance is underlined when contrasted with the scepticism toward Jesus and His message. Jesus preached to fellow Israelites, and his ministry was accompanied by miracles; the resulting unbelief drew the divine denouncement of Matthew 11:20-21.
On the other hand Jonah’s preaching to foreigners was well received, and there is no record that he performed any miracles in Nineveh. Jesus himself drew the contrast: “ men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a great than Jonas is here”. ( Matthew 12: 41)
It would be very helpful if you read verses 6 to10 which describes in some detail how the people reacted to the teaching of Jonah and how they were reliant on God to turn and repent and not destroy them. It is also important to look at God’s posture which is entirely in keeping with what He said in Jeremiah 18:5-11 where Israel were clay in the potter’s hand and notably warned:” Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or a kingdom to uproot to pull down, or to destroy it, if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.
Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it, if it does evil in my sight by not obeying my voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, “ thus says the LORD, “ behold I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you turn back each of you from his evil way come and reform your ways and your deeds”.
So note God’s promises are contingent upon man’s obedience, and God’s judgment may be averted by repentance. Ninevites hoped for, and Jonah expected God’s ( relenting), based on the principle expressed above.
Remember now that God saw their works for He sees all things with eyes of omniscience. God saw that their repentance was genuine and not merely an outward show of putting on sackcloth and ashes and fasting. God took note of Nineveh’s repentance and saw that they had turned from their wicked ways.
Interestingly in 635 B.C. the prophet Nahum pronounced doom on Nineveh at this time there was no reprieve. Its demise becomes reality in 612 B.C. when a coalition totally destroys the City..
Jonah walked up-and-down the streets proclaiming his message that in forty days the God of the universe, who was over all the gods they had around them, would pour out His wrath and destroy them.
It is to be stressed here that prayer can impact God’s timing. When Jonah made his announcement, the people believe him and from the king down to the poorest man and woman they went into prayer and repented, crying out to God. There is no indication that they had any assurance that God would hear them, and God postponed the destruction of the city for over one hundred years.
Prayer from genuine hearts can change things.
Our Lesson raises the very interesting question about the nature of God. One writer speaks on this issue which has troubled men for a long time and tells us:
“There have been some who have been troubled over the fact that Scriptures say that God repented. This seems to indicate that He changed His mind from what He had previously determined to do. But this idea is difficult to square with the doctrine of God’s omniscience and His sovereign determination of all events.
We must remember, however, that these events are recorded for our information and instruction, and therefore are written from a human point of view.
God, of course, knew all the time that the city would repent at the preaching of Jonah under the peculiar circumstances in which he preached. And that also, from the apparent change in the divine actions, men would learn that repentance and contrition are the necessary conditions for a continuing relationship with the living God.
Thus, human repentance does not change God’s mind, but actually carries forward His purpose.
This whole story is an exemplification of the divine command, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 1:8). The city of Nineveh was spared, and it was not until a hundred years later, that God carried out to His judgment on Nineveh and it was destroyed.”
he people of Nineveh wondered whether or not God would hear them, turn to them in favor and revoke His sentence of destruction. They apparently believed that God had a right to be angry with them, thus admitting their evil and that it was just that they should perish for their sins.
They placed their hope in God for pardon, having some general idea that God’s nature was good and merciful, and that He might spare them destruction.
The merciful God honored their repentance. He saw their hearts, which led them to good works, the fruits of repentance.
We have no record that they offered sacrifices to God, thus making atonement for sins. Their sacrifices were of a broken spirit and a contrite heart, and that God did not despise (Psalm 51:7).
They turned from their evil patterns of behavior and this pleased God, for that was what God looked for and required. Obviously their repentance was genuine as one writer notes: “Repentance is essentially a change in one’s thinking. Change in one’s behavior indicates that repentance has taken place, but behavioral change is the fruit of repentance and is not the same as repentance itself.”
But this hardly makes God dependent on the nations; it rather makes them dependent on him, as is the point of the lesson in Jeremiah 18:1-11, and the point of the mourning decree in Jonah 3:5-9. God holds all the right, all the power, and all the authority”.
We must carefully note this great encouragement to faith, because it shows God’s patience with men, His willingness to give another chance, and yet more chances, over and over again.
God gave Jonah a second chance, though he refused to go to Nineveh as commanded and went in the opposite direction. He repented when he was in the belly of the fish and decided to obey God. Then when he was obedient and preached in Nineveh the city repented and God gave it a second chance.
We rely on and depend on the patience of God, for with that virtue of God comes the promise of a second chance.
Chapter 4:6-11
Why do we need this 4th chapter? After all God finally got His rebellious and reluctant prophet to do what He wanted, namely, to preach a warning to Nineveh. Nineveh repented in extraordinary fashion, though we would not have expected that repentance from those kind of people. So the mission of Jonah was accomplished and was very successful. So we would expect the Book to end there. But it did not.
God obviously had more work to do. It turns out the work in Nineveh was not all. We will see that there was work God had to do, but this work was in Jonah’s heart.
Our Study Scripture will therefore look more closely at the heart of Jonah, a man who knew the attributes of God, and who was from the very beginning adamantly opposed to accepting any commission of order from God to preach to Nineveh.
Why would a man of God who knew the heart of God hate other people so bitterly and in direct contradiction to the will of God revealed in Scripture over and over again, wanted God to destroy and not spare these people.
How could God refuse to destroy his and God’s enemy, and horror of horrors, use him to deliver a message that would spare the lives of his enemy?
The questions we must ask ourself now are:
Have you ever wanted someone who have hurt you and are hurting you now to suffer?
Have you ever dreamed in sheer pleasure of that hurtful person suffering and screaming?
Are there persons you resist loving with all your might because they have beliefs, values, agendas, and a lifestyle that you cannot stand?
Have you ever been angry, really angry with God for being gracious, merciful, slow to anger, compassionate, and loving other people you do not like?
Is this part of God’s character really good?-Is He really good?
How can God really not punish people for their sins and allow them to suffer no apparent ill effect for their sinful and wicked actions?
What has God called you to do that you will never do and you make sure that His will cannot overcome your will?
Have you recruited God into your life to help you accomplish your goals?
Are you prepared to run away from obedience to Him despite your claim to be born again and to have been spiritually transformed?
Have you ever had power struggles with God?
-Are you in the habit of running ahead of God so that God has more trouble with you than He has with Nineveh?
This chapter 4 forces all professing believers to look deep down inside their souls, to our sense of justice that we have created for ourselves. There are unplesant implications for us in this chapter, and we encourage all of us to understand that the Holy Spirit aims to tasnsform us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ, and what it means in Philippians 2 when it exhorts us to have the mind of Christ.
Verse 1. The people of Nineveh repented. God saw their hearts and knew that they were sincere and He did not destroy the city.
Jonah was displeased at the extension of divine grace and mercy. The phrasing of the language is very significant for it meant that God’s action, or rather inaction, was evil for Jonah. He was literally vexed, irritated, and since the predicted destruction of Nineveh did not take place, he was very disconsolate and full of anger.
One writer examines the description of Jonah’s feelings as follows:
The Hebrew text says, “it was evil with a great evil to Jonah”.
This is extreme and so it is likely that he was not simply bigoted or was fearful of the Ninevites, or worried that his prophecy would fail and he would thus be regarded as a false prophet.
A better motive was likely his love for Israel and his understanding that when a nation rejected God for idla judgment was certain. In the case of his nation, he knew they had backslidden from God and were in apostasy and so they would eventually come under the chastisement and judgment of God. They were prime targets for God’s stern and unpleasant displeasure.
If wicked Nineveh could repent it was a tough rebuke to his own nation under the wicked Jereboam 11 and the other unrepentant and apostate ruling classes. Nineveh knew that the doom of his nation was sealed for they had refused to listen to him and Amos and repent. If Nineveh could turn to the Lord and be saved, the conversion of Nineveh was a great evil. It burned him that Israel would not repent and turn it was sure that Jonah would feel terrible about his role in this great conversion event.
Jonah’s behavior was very wrong. He begrudged the Ninevites God’s mercy. Note that his reaction involved a lack of reverence for God. We are similarly guilty when we are displeased and angry at what God does, as David did when the Lord struck down Uzza, (2 Sam.6:1-8).
Jonah does not come across as a true man of God. His was temperamental, quarrelsome, petty, selfish, with little affection for others outside Israel.
There was no John 3:16 concept for Jonah, no “‘For god so loved the world” idea. There was no sacrificial notion and so Jonah had to get some “tough love”.
Do not forget now that prophets and men of God, and pastors and elders and preachers are alike. they are men of like passions with you.
Verse 2. Ironically Jonah tried to quarrel with God by praying to God. The Hebrew text states tht he was very angry meaning literally “it was very hot to him”. so he took his feeling straight to God, and did not play around like we do hypocritically when we approach God and try to hide how we really feel about what He has done or has not done. He forgets his first prayer that “Salvation is of the LORD” but now complains bitterly about God’s actions
To this point in the book, there is no explanation as to why Jonah a prophet who benefited from the inspiration of God and was in communion with Him, behaved in such a bizarre and uncharacteristic fashion for a prophet. We now learn from his own lips, why he attempted to flee to distant Spain, when God commanded him to preach in Nineveh.
Jonah probably had good reasons to despise the Ninevites and wanted them destroyed. They were known throughout the entire ancient world as cruel and ruthless. He would have seen Ninevite invasions of the surrounding nations and even of Israel itself. He might even have suffered personally at the hands of the merciless Ninevite raiding parties, who developed ingenious ways to make their enemies suffer. (See the book of Nahum).
Jonah spoke from a discontented, petulant, complaining heart and spoke unbecomingly. He was now despondent and having fallen into what seems to be the discouragement that had plagued other prophets.He explained to God that he ran away to try to forestall God’s plan, for he hoped by running away to Tarshish he would be able to escape his prophetic responsibilities and abdicate his office.
Note that in this verse Jonah lists for us five characteristics of God. He attempted to excuse his behaviour and in so doing gives us much information about God.
First, he said God was gracious. He knew God would not destroy the city if they repented. He knew as one writer puts it that God would ‘do things out of love for people when they expected nothing and when it isn’t merited.”
Second, Jonah said God was full of compassion, another form of love and mercy. Note that this word means expressing love toward those who deserve nothing. One writer extends our understanding and states: “Mercy is something we don’t know enough about in our experience. It is hard to extend mercy as a lifestyle, but God extends it to us all the time.”
We must point out what compassion involves by quoting Psalm 103:6-14. It reads:
“The Lord performs righteous deeds, And judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us; Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgression from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
This is the Scriptural picture of God. He is not an angry God who is always beating us up with His rod and sending thunderbolts.
Third, Jonah noted that God is slow to anger, meaning He is long-suffering.
Fourth, Jonah confessed that God was abundant in loving-kindness. One writer explains what this characteristic of God means when he discusses the attention and help that he gets from his wife at all times:
“That is my picture of loving kindness–love that heaps all over you: love that keeps bubbling and bubbling and bubbling up. That’s what this means—abundant, full.”
Loving kindness (Hebrew hesed) refers to God’s loyal love to those who are in covenant relationship with Him. Jonah criticized God for His virtue, what he recognized in God. It seems Jonah wished that God was not so good.
Then the fifth characteristic of God is revealed when Jonah said that God is “One who relents from doing harm” or “One who relents concerning calamity”.
One writer elaborates: “He is willing to accept men and women who see where they have gone wrong and repent of their ways; he is ready to start all over again as though it had never happened. I have learned with my children (because God has taught me), that when they make mistakes, never to say, “That was the second time, or that was the fourth time you did that.” Each time, because of Psalm 103, and these characteristics of God, we try to say, “This is the first time”. We don’t want to keep bringing it up, because God doesn’t keep bringing it up.”
Jonah was saying that he loved the Lord and his nation. But he was really projecting his love for himself. He was holding on to his prejudices that Israel had exclusive possession of God and that God was only his own personal God. In his system of theology, God was in a box and only he had the key, and he was not going to let God out of that box.
Jonah was self-willed and stubborn. The prophet put himself in mortal danger. When he wanted help from God he confessed his need, using all the right words that we read in chapter 2 and God rescued him. But now that he thought he was out of danger he continued to resist God’s will.
This means he never really repented of his sin. He never said that he was wrong, and God was right, or that God could do anything He pleased or what He wished. Jonah, like many of us wanted to control God. Like Jonah, when we cannot control the circumstances of our life and get our own way, we get angry.
This was a bad situation and it needs the rod of correction, or very tough love from God, and that is exactly what God finally had to do with Jonah.
Verse 3. It is interesting to note that this is not the first time a prophet of God prayed for God to take his life. Now the obstinate prophet, who knew of God’s steadfast love, had even thrown God’s own Scriptures back to Him, suggested that God had done a great evil because of His goodness to the Ninevites.
This is an amazing example of a perverse, controlling person whose determined resistance to God turned into self-destructive despair, that led him to request God to take his life. One writer points out:
“The only thing left for Jonah to control is whether he lives or dies. And he tries to exercise this last area of wilfulness by pronouncing his own death sentence and demanding that God carry it out. Haven’t we heard this before? Back in chapter 1 he was manipulating the Phoenician sailors in the same way: “It’s all my fault; throw me overboard and the storm with stop”. In his statement, “It is better for me to die than to live,” he is talking to the God of the universe, the God of life and death. Jonah is still trying to tell God, what is best and what God ought to do about it.”
One scholar looks at the prayer of Jonah as follows and compares it to that of another prophet:
“The prayer which follows, “Take my life from me”, calls to mindthe similar prayer of Elijah in 1 Kings 19:4; but the motive assigned is a different one. Whilst Elijahadds “for I am not better than my fathers”, Jonah adds, “for death is better to me than life”.
This difference must be distinctly noticed, as it brings out the difference in the state of mind of the two prophets.
In the inward conflict that had come upon Elijah he wished for death, because he did not see the expected result of his zeal for the Lord of Sabaoth; in other words, it was from spiritual despair, caused by the apparent failure of his labors.
Jonah, on the other hand, did not wish to live any longer, because God had not carried out His threat against Nineveh. His weariness of life arose, not like Elijah’s, from stormy zeal for the honor of God and His Kingdom, but from vexation at the non-fulfillment of his prophecy.
This vexation was not occasioned, however, by an offended dignity, or by anxiety or fear lest men should regard him as a liar or babbler…. As Luther observed “he was hostile to the city of Nineveh, and still held a Jewish and carnal view of God.”
Verse 4. It is very interesting to note how God deals with Jonah, for God did not respond to Jonah’s anger with anger, and did not give him a strong and powerful rebuke.
God simply ignored Jonah’s request for suicide and addressed the issue of his anger, telling him to examine himself and his wilfulness. God gently put a thoughtful question before him, suggesting he was not looking at the situation correctly, challenging Jonah for being angry.
God was telling Jonah to think about things logically, to determine if he had a right to be angry with the Ninevites. After all, it is God who most hates sin, violence, and destructive iniquity and has the power to deal with sin. If God intends to destroy evil, but decides to offer the Ninevites forgiveness, who exactly was Jonah, and who gave little Jonah the right to be angry with God, when God chose not to destroy Nineveh at that time?
Jonah knew that it was God’s call, not his. He knew Deuteronomy 32: 35, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.”
Verse 5. Jonah was no fool and he knew what God meant. He did not even answer God, but simply left and went outside the city, and sat down under a shelter he had made to see if God really intended to let Nineveh off the hook, simply because they repented.
Note that this was defiance pure and simple. His attitude and actions underlined his attitude. He did not kill himself, conveniently forgetting his own wish. He simply seemed to be hoping Nineveh would forget their repentance and revert to their old wickedness, which would prove that he was right all along and God was wrong. He felt you could never trust the Ninevites, for once a Ninevite, always a Ninevite. He picked out a ringside seat to watch for what he hoped would happen.
Verse 6-7. Nothing happened. His hopes were disappointed and his presence under his inadequate, hastily erected shelter provided God with the opportunity to complete his correction.
It appears he was waiting for several days, and God pitied him and prepared a plant to grow rapidly and protect the misbehaving Jonah from the hot sun and provide some relief to his discomfort. God did not abandon His discouraged prophet. Jonah was absolutely delighted with the shade the plant provided by God had provided him.Jonah’s anger did not move God and as He had saved him from the fish’s belly, He now saved him again from suffering.
He asks Jonah a question about his anger to teach him something, for He had extended grace to Jonah and how could he feel he had the right to be angry when He extended His grace to Nineveh!
Note that God likes to ask His erring people questions. He asked Adam and Eve a probing set of questions when they sinned. He asked Elijaah what he was doing when he ran from Jezebel and hid himself away. God likes to ask us questions to stir us up also, and sometimes He does it through other people who question us as to why we are doing things outside of the commandments of God and making ourselves and God look inconsistent and foolish. So be careful for the world is secretly watching you and is assessing your integrity.
But note God shows His love when we are failures. When we have His life and have received it joyfully He perseveres with us.
Being out of the will of God does not mean we are out of the realm of God’s love. Jonah was out of the will of God, but not outside the realm of the love of God, says one writer.
One writer describes God’s actions:
“The booth must have been inadequate, for Jonah was still in “discomfort”. Jonah needs saving-again.
In fact, Jonah needs saving in more ways than one, for the word translated “discomfort” is more often translated “evil”. In fact, it was used in connection with the people of Nineveh, whose “evil” came up before the Lord (Jonah 1:2). The word was also used in verbal form by Jonah himself, who deemed what God had done, or possible God Himself,, a great evil (Jonah 4:1). If Jonah thinks this way, then he needs to be saved not so much from his discomfort but from his “evil”.
He was glad for the shade of the gourd, but he was not grateful to God.
Verses 8-11. The next day God appointed a worm to destroy the plant and then sent a hot east wind to built up the heat on Jonah and increase his discomfort. Jonah then became angry at God and when he grew faint asked God to kill him.
This gave God the perfect opportunity to respond with the beautiful words in verses ten and eleven:
“You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night, and perished in a night. 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?”
God simply pointed out to Jonah that in Nineveh there were 120,000 little children, (the phrase, “who do not know their right hand from their left” in Hebrew is a way of describing children). These would all be innocent victims of the sins of the adults when God poured out His wrath on the city for their evil.
One writer provides another view
“The 120,000 people that God cited as the special objects of His compassion were probably the entire populace that did not know how to escape their troubles. The expression “do not know the difference between their right and left hand” is idiomatic meaning lacking in knowledge and innocent in this sense (2 Sam. 19:35; Isa.7:15-16) “Not to be able to distinguish between the right hand and the left is a sign of mental infancy.”
“Their inability to discern ‘their right hand from their left’ must refer to their moral ignorance. Though responsible for their evil deeds and subject to divine judgment (see 1:2), the Ninevites did not have the advantage of special divine revelation concerning the moral will of God. Morally and ethically speaking they were like children.” We normally have compassion for those with whom we can identify most closely, but God also has compassion on people who are helpless. Spiritually they are those who do not know God, those who are “lost.”
CONCLUSION
Do we have false conceptions about God and thus like Jonah need to be saved? Do we think God does not do too much about the evil in the world? What can we call God in our minds if He does not do anything about the evil we see around us? We might need to be saved from false beliefs about God which we might try to hide but which expresses themselves in anger and doubt about God.
Jonah did not seem capable of changing so God helped him by providing a series of events, the fish, the plant, the worm that destrotyed the plant, the scorching east wind that made him faint. He had dug in his heels and three times said it was good for him to die, for he was “good” to be angry.
Note that sometimes God helps us and protects us . But sometime He removes His protection and makes us feel pain and we faint from discomforts.
Why does He do this? It seems God is more concerned about our faith more than He is concerned about our comfort. He wants us to believe right things about Him. That is the true reality that we have to learn for then we will grow spiritually. Sometimes God’s “help” makes us angry and we prefer to die than live in this evil world, forgetting that we have a mission to reconcile men to God.
Remember that we can only fully enjoy God’s mercy for us when we think of others. But we should also enjoy God’s mercy when He extends it to evil men and women. We have done nothing to deserve God’s mercy but He has provided it and we must wish that He provides this mercy to others. Do not therefore be blinded by anger. when we suffer we should learn empathy for those , even those who have done us wrong.
Clearly God does not take delight in judgment. He is always seeking in a long-suffering, patient way to bring individuals and nations to repent and to change.
It seems reasonably clear that Jonah learned his lesson even though the book ends abruptly and does address the issue. He recorded his experiences for us. He pulled no punches in telling us what he was like, so it is likely he did learn.
All believers in every age should learn that God loves pagans and will always do so, even if those that profess to know God do not love people.
It is quite painful to hear people saying that God should destroy nations and destroy peoples belonging to our political and military enemies. People often assume that their nation is correct even when they are doing evil. Such is the carnal mind.
God intends, as the prophet Daniel tells us plainly, to set up a Kingdom which will destroy every other kingdom, and that His kingdom will be the final one and will reign forever.
But note also that just as God sent Jonah to the wicked and pagan Nineveh, so also God has sent us to the unbelieving peoples of the world. We cannot dismiss them by saying that they are disgusting and deserve damnation. There is still a community to redeem.
We should not be like that stubborn prophet who concentrated solely on his own goals, on his own comfort, and on his own people, while having no concerns for all those who are lost and are in darkness.
If that is what we are doing, it might just be that we, ourselves are lost!