Jonah
Major Points From The Minor Prophets
Pastor Brandon Ball
10/11/2023
Jonah - The Rebellious Prophet
Preface
As a Hebrew and as a successful prophet, Jonah thought he knew God, but he did not know Him nearly as well as he thought he did. Jonah would have come under the apostle Paul’s scathing indictment:
You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? —Romans 2:21 ESV
By virtue of his role as a prophet of God Jonah was called to speak the Word of God, often times, calling people to a posture of repentance and into relationship or deeper relationship with God.
With this in mind, how could Jonah be upset to the point of rebellion regarding his assignment to preach the Word to Nineveh?
Being of “like passions as we are,” Jonah had problems. He did not know God well enough to grieve over sin the way God grieves. Neither did he know God well enough to rejoice over the repentance of sinners the way God rejoices. Jonah had great difficulty accepting the fact that God loved Gentiles just as much as He loved Jews and the fact that He loved the cruel and oppressive Assyrians just as much as He loved him.
Some scholars believe that Jonah, the first apostle to the Gentiles, was already an old man when he was called to preach to Nineveh. He lived in the northern kingdom of Israel and was a native of Gath-hepher, a Galilean town located three or four miles from Nazareth.
Since Jonah is referred to as “the son of Amittai” in 2 Kings 14:25 as well as in Jonah 1:1, the identification is solid, and the prophet’s historicity is settled. Jonah was a contemporary of King Jeroboam II of Israel, who reigned from about 790–750 B.C.
The book of Jonah records the greatest missionary success story in history. Never, in all the annals of Israel and the church, has such a monumental work been done for God on foreign soil, with a Gentile people, in a single day.
4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. —Jonah 3:4-5 ESV
Jonah means “dove.” Through the man bearing that name, God wanted to send the Dove of Heaven to bring revival, not ruin, to the lost city of Nineveh. But Jonah, an ardent patriot, was more like a hawk than a dove. He was fierce, sullen, proud, angry, rebellious—and brave.
Jonah was farsighted enough to know that the political successes of Jeroboam II could not last. Israel’s moral and spiritual condition called for judgment, and the most likely instrument of God’s wrath was Assyria.
But at that time Assyria was in a state of decline. The brilliant reign of Adadnirari (circa 810–780 B.C.) had come to an end. He had conducted three expeditions against Israel and its environs. The Hittites, Tyrians, Sidonians, Israelites, Edomites, and Philistines had all paid him tribute. He had been the greatest of all the Assyrian kings to date, but after his death, Assyrian ascendancy rapidly diminished.
More than anything else, Jonah hoped that Assyria would never recover its superpower status. If God were to send judgment on Nineveh, he believed, all would be well. Israel would be saved from the Assyrian scourge.
Jonah’s boldness was fanatical. He was willing to die rather than help save Nineveh by warning that city of its impending doom.
God can use a man like Jonah far more than He can use a spineless, compromising one. “I would thou wert cold or hot,” the Lord said to the Laodiceans (Revelation 3:15). In spite of his many faults, Jonah was just the man for Nineveh. Nobody else would do.
Likewise, God can use us, no matter what our temperamental strengths and weaknesses might be. He has a place for all of us in His plan, whether we are impetuous like Peter, crafty like Jacob, meek like Moses, or headstrong like Jonah. But first He must extinguish our passions, which are too often set on fire by Hell, and then rekindle them with fire from on high. God does not try to make a Peter out of a Paul, a Samson out of a Samuel, or a Moses out of a Joshua. God takes people as He finds them, changes them, and then uses them. Jonah is the classic Biblical example of how God does His perfect work with an imperfect instrument.
Four Stages of Jonah:
I. Jonah’s
Jonah Flees the Presence of the LORD
1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So, he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. —Jonah 1:1–3 (ESV)Why did Jonah reject the will of God and flee from His “presence”?
- Jonah was more
aligned than aligned. - He was more concerned for his will for Israel than God’s will for Israel.
- Jonah did not want judgement to come to Israel by means of the Assyrians.
Jonah’s failure to surrender brought hardship on others.
4 But 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. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” —Jonah 1:4–6 (ESV)
When you are not in God’s will, you will bring trouble to those around you.
“Just because you deem it ‘Kingdom Work’ does not mean it came by the King’s Command.”
- Jonah believed in being
the Kingdom of Israel. - But the “KING” had different plans.
“Our job is to seek the King,
II. Jonah’s
Jonah’s Prayer
1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,
“I called out to the LORD, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
3 For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O LORD my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the LORD,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
10 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. —Jonah 2:1–10 (ESV)Repentance is not just sorrow. Repentance is sorrow married with submission.
III. Jonah’s
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. —Jonah 3:1–5 (ESV)10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. —Jonah 3:10 (ESV)
Jonah’s repentance is obviously sincere as it led him to obey God’s will rather than his own.
Offence surfaced when God “
” from what Jonah wanted.
Jonah wanted something from God, and when God didn’t grant it, Jonah didn’t support it!
- Your expectations must be crucified – surrendered to God!
IV. Jonah’s
Jonah’s Anger and the LORD’s Compassion
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?” —Jonah 4:1–4 (ESV)Jonah travels east of the city and builds a bit of a shelter (booth).
- God causes a plant to grow (he’s excited at the shelter and shade).
- The next day God creates a worm to eat the plant (Jonah is mad/frustrated)
- The following day God causes a “scorching east wind” and the sun to beat down on Jonah.
- This all resulting in Jonah asking to “die”.
Jonah’s Revelation from God
9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the LORD said, “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. 11 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?” —Jonah 4:9–11 (ESV)120,000 who do not know their “right and from left” is probably a reference to infants (innocent).
“Regardless of how you view certain people, you didn’t create them.”
“Regardless of how undeserving you feel certain people are, you don’t love them as I do.”The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. —Luke 10:25–33 (ESV)One of the main reasons why the Samaritan’s were hated by Jews is because after the fall to the Assyrians, they would later begin intermarrying and incorporating idolatry.
This is why Jews hated the Samaritan’s so badly.
This is why Jesus’ “need to go through Samaria” wouldn’t been so controversial.
This is why Jews referred to Samaritans as “dogs”.The Samaritan showed mercy to the one most hated (the Jew).
The Jew then, is to show mercy to the one most hated (the Samaritan).Who is the neighbor we are to love? The one to whom we’d normally deem the “most hated”.