Jonah 1

Study Guide 72: Jonah GOSPEL OF THE SECOND CHANCE Overview The Book of Jonah dates from the 8th century, probably around 760 b.c. Unlike the other minor prophets, this book is written as a story of the prophet’ s personal struggle with God over a mission on which he had been sent. Each chapter in this small but important Bible book is rich in application to the Christian life. The book can be outlined to reflect its nature as a historical narrative telling Jonah’ s story.

Outline I. Jonah’ s DisobedienceJon_1:1-17 II. Jonah’ s SubmissionJon_2:1-10 III. Jonah’ s MissionJon_3:1-10 IV. Jonah’ s Motives — and God’ sJon_4:1-11Among the many wonderful contributions of this short book are: God in grace gives His people a second chance. God’ s warnings contain an implicit promise of blessing if we repent. God’ s motives are shaped by a deep love for all people. REPENTANCE. The concept of repentance is important in both Old and New Testaments. We can sum up the basic meaning: repentance means “ a change of heart and life.” While repentance is popularly linked with sorrow and prayer, the basic meaning is one of a change of life direction. A person who repents turns from his old ways to wholeheartedly commit himself to doing the will of God. Is repentance linked with salvation? Yes. But the life-change expressed by “ repentance” is a result of saving faith in God, not a condition of our salvation.

Commentary Some 40 years before the Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom, the Prophet Jonah was sent from Israel to save the enemy capital. Jonah lived and ministered during the golden age of the Northern Kingdom. Under Jeroboam II, a weakened Israel saw a dramatic resurgence of power, and Jonah had a significant role in this recovery. 2 Kings 14:1-29 tells us that while Jeroboam “ did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat [the first Jeroboam],” nevertheless, “ he . . . restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken by His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-Hepher” (2 Kings 24-25, italics mine). Jonah apparently had a patriotic and popular ministry. He must have enjoyed the favor of both Jeroboam II and his fellow citizens. No wonder the divine command to go to Nineveh, the capital of the empire that for decades had terrorized the people of Israel, came as a jolting shock. The Bible indicates that Jonah reacted immediately to the divine commission. “ Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3). The prophet had acted as God’ s spokesman when the message was good for his people. But he was unwilling to carry a message to an enemy who might do his country harm!

The Story We are all familiar with Jonah’ s experience. Going to the seaport of Joppa, he took a ship for Tarshish, in Spain. This was as far from Nineveh as the prophet could travel! LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN We can all understand Jonah’ s feelings. Boys and girls too have times when they simply do not feel like obeying. As you teach the familiar story, help your class identify with Jonah’ s feelings before you emphasize the need to obey God or parents, even when we do not feel like obeying. How? Tell the first part of the story, and explain why Jonah did not want to go to his country’ s enemies. Then let your boys and girls act it out, using figures made of Popsicle sticks. “ Jonah” will hear what God has to say, will mutter and complain, and then go to the seashore and pay the captain for a ticket to Tarshish. Talk about how Jonah must have felt. Then let the children use the stick figures to act out times when they don’ t feel like obeying either. What do they say then? How do their voices sound? What do they do? Then go on with the story, pointing out that Jonah did obey when he was disciplined. How much better to obey even when we don’ t want to, than to have to go through a hard time, as Jonah did. But God stayed with His runaway. A storm struck, which terrified even the ship’ s experienced crew. Recalling that Jonah had told them he was fleeing from God (Jonah 1:10), the mariners took Jonah’ s advice and reluctantly threw him over the side. The storm calmed immediately, and Jonah sank beneath the waves. Slipping down, Jonah’ s body entangled by the fronds of giant, 50-foot-long sea weeds, the prophet was sure that death was God’ s judgment on his disobedience. Then, suddenly, Jonah found himself swallowed by a giant fish. He lost consciousness — later waking to realize he still lived and that the fish had been prepared by God to save his life. Later, Jonah penned a psalm about this experience: When my life was ebbing away, I remembered You, Lord, and my prayer rose to You, to Your holy temple. Jonah 2:7The giant fish bore the repentant prophet back the way he had come, and vomited him up on dry land. And the Bible tells us, “ Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ‘ Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you’” (Jonah 3:1-2). Obediently now, Jonah trudged toward the enemy capital to fulfill God’ s command. The Nineveh of Jonah’ s day was a great city; counting its suburbs, it took three days to walk through it. That first day, Jonah began to shout out the message God gave him. “ Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed” (Jonah 3:4). The pagan people of Nineveh did not laugh at this strange little Jewish fanatic. Instead they “ believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” (Jonah 3:5). The message of coming judgment had immediate effect, and brought a wholehearted repentance. Scholars who have studied Assyrian history have suggested possible reasons for this response. Under Adad-Nirari III (ca. 810-783 b.c.) the Assyrians had begun a trend toward monotheism. And just before the probable time of Jonah’ s arrival, a great plague had marked the reign of Assurdan II (ca. 771-754 b.c.). Whatever the contributing factors, the Assyrians did respond to God’ s messenger. King, nobles, and slaves fasted, mourned, and prayed, humbling themselves before God. And when God saw that they turned away from their wicked way, God “ had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened” (Jonah 3:10). LINK TO LIFE: CHILDREN Both Jonah and Nineveh reveal an important Bible principle. A person or nation who returns to God will be welcomed by Him. God is good, and will forgive us when we do wrong. After telling the story of Jonah and of Nineveh, talk about how glad God feels when people come to Him to be forgiven. Let the boys and girls think of feeling words that express His attitude — loving, happy, not angry, etc. Then distribute paper and crayons. Ask each child to draw a picture of how he or she thinks God looks when a person comes to ask for forgiveness. When the pictures are completed, let each tell about his or her picture. Then suggest the pictures be put up on the child’ s bedroom wall at home. Whenever he or she does something wrong, the picture can remind him or her that God will gladly forgive. After delivering his message of impending doom, Jonah slipped out of the city. Finding hilly ground to the east, he settled down to wait and to see what God would do. Nothing happened. And Jonah reacted with anger and bitterness. His complaint opened up the motive for his earlier flight to Tarshish. “ O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2). Jonah, who had prophesied before on behalf of “ my own country” now asked God to take his life rather than let him live to remember that he might have been used to deliver his country’ s enemy! So Jonah settled down, despite the intense heat, to wait out the 40 days, still hoping to see Nineveh destroyed. God then caused a plant to grow which was large and succulent enough to shelter the prophet. And Jonah was “ very happy” (Jonah 4:6). But the next day God caused a worm to attack the plant, and it withered away. That day was agonizing, with a scorching wind and a sun that beat unmercifully down on Jonah’ s head. Exhausted by the sun and heat, the suffering Jonah begged God to let him die, insisting that he had every right to be angry about the plant as well as about his mission to the city. The book concludes with God’ s words of instruction to Jonah — words the prophet faithfully recorded though they constitute a sharp rebuke. Jonah cared about the plant, a thing of transitory existence at best. But God responded, “ Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11) God’ s compassion extends to all. People are truly important to Him. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT The Book of Jonah shows several ways that our choices can take us in relationship to God.

Messages of Jonah for Today The Book of Jonah is far more complex than it seems at first glance. The basically simple story communicates messages to us on several different levels. The relationship between God and unbelieving nations. On one level, Jonah portrayed God’ s way of dealing with Gentile nations while working with Israel through His covenant and Law. It is clear from the Book of Jonah that God has not simply “ set aside” the nations as unimportant, or their peoples as without value. Note: (1) God clearly cared about the Gentiles during this era in which the Jews were his chosen people. God’ s heart was moved with compassion for Nineveh and its inhabitants. (2) God also maintained a moral relationship with those who were not His own. The Ninevites were responsible for their actions, and God took the responsibility to judge them when they sinned. It is also clear from the response of the Ninevites that they were aware of what constituted wickedness. While God did not hold them responsible for Israel’ s Law, they were being judged on the basis of the light they did possess (see Romans 2:12-16). (3) It is also clear that God gave the people of Nineveh sufficient information about Himself and His intentions for them to respond to Him. We must never think that even pagan peoples have no light. (4) Finally, we see striking evidence that God was — and is — responsive to the unbeliever as well as the believer. He heard the prayer of these men even though they were without a basis for personal relationship with Him. God’ s goodness extends far beyond our understanding. We must be careful not to push these observations too far. Yet it is important to realize that while God was dealing with the Hebrew people throughout the course of Old Testament history, and while they are His chosen people, God still maintained a supervisory relationship with all. And God still did care for all. The relationship between God and Jonah as an individual. Two striking relationships are illustrated. The first has to do with God’ s commitment to His own. Jonah ran away from God, willfully and consciously disobeying the divine command. God’ s response was to stay with His runaway. God disciplined Jonah, but only to bring the straying prophet back into renewed fellowship with Him. And after Jonah had returned to the Lord, God gave Jonah a second chance. The idea of a second chance is something we often lose sight of. We tend to feel that sin and disobedience disqualify us from further service. Jonah shows us how full and free God’ s forgiveness really is. He forgives and restores. In fellowship with God again, we can be both useful and fulfilled. A second important message communicated to us in the relationship between God and Jonah has to do with God’ s attitude toward the believer. Jonah was a prophet with a message, but Jonah was not just a tool. After the prophet’ s work was done, God continued to deal with Jonah as an individual. And God’ s concern was focused not on Jonah’ s behavior, but on his values and attitudes — his inner character. The Book of Jonah shows Jonah as a man without compassion for his enemies. He did care about “ us.” But he wished only evil on “ them.” While Jonah obeyed God when given his second chance, his heart was not in tune with the Lord. Yet it is our heart that God cares about; He seeks not mere obedience, but that we become like Him. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “ Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). And Jesus pointed out that in loving our enemies, we reflect the nature of the Heavenly Father, who gives His rain to just and unjust alike. That was no new revelation! The Book of Jonah reverberates with the same message: God has compassion on all people, even those who make themselves His enemies and the enemies of His people. The believer is to be like God, in His love for and valuing of all persons. The relationship between God and Israel. The nation Israel had known the ministry of many significant prophets, all warning them to return to God. And, like Jonah, Israel had resolutely run the other way! Following Jonah, or perhaps contemporary with him, Amos shouted out his pronouncements of judgment on the wickedness of God’ s people. In the experience of Jonah, Israel was given two significant object lessons to reveal to them God’ s willingness to forgive. First, Jonah himself demonstrated the willingness of God to restore fellowship, and to work with the repentant individual. If Israel would follow Jonah’ s course and return to God, the nation could expect its compassionate God to bless and restore her as well. Second, was the example of the Ninevites. Their response and the delay of judgment demonstrated the kind of response that is always appropriate to a message of judgment. There must be a turning from the wicked way, and a wholehearted humbling before the Lord in repentance. With such repentance comes relief from the sentence of judgment. The foretold evil does not come to pass. In the Book of Jonah, both individual and national object lessons were given to the men and women of Israel. And in this object lesson a promise of restoration was extended to them. God’ s heart of compassion had been revealed. Israel — and you and I — never need fear to return to God. The more we explore this book, the more we see. Once again, God has communicated many vital principles and messages to you and to me and to the people we teach. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Sometimes when working through a book, using a chart on which to record observations is a most helpful Bible study method. First have each individual read through the book, and jot down notes where indicated. Then work together to (a) title paragraphs and chapters, (b) choose a term that summarizes the characteristics of God and Jonah unveiled in each chapter, and (c) agree on the “ main message” of each chapter.

A Special Note One of the important contributions of Jonah has to do with the interpretation of prophecies concerning judgment. God did not do to Nineveh what He announced through His spokesman. Does this mean that Jonah was a false prophet, because what he announced did not come to pass? Does it mean that God changed His mind about the destruction of the city? It seems clear from the Book of Jonah that prophecies concerning judgment as they relate to a given generation are intrinsically conditional; they depend on the response or lack of response to the message. Perhaps it is best to think of prophecies of judgment in terms of “ intercept points.” As shown in the figure, judgment comes when a person or nation passes through the warning zone and reaches a point at which judgment must be imposed. If those approaching judgment turn back, they do not experience the judgment they surely would have known had they continued in their sinful ways. God did not “ change His mind” at all. The people changed direction! Prophecy, like all revelation, strips away the illusions that cloud men’ s minds and demonstrates reality. We live in a moral universe, governed by a moral Being. The moral principles on which this universe operates are very similar to the physical laws which govern matter — the principles that give our universe stability. Drop a rock, and according to the physical law of gravity, it will fall — not rise. If we sin or seek by fraud to gain security, anxiety will come. If we choose to ignore such warnings, as individuals and nations have, we inevitably come to the edge of divine judgment. Prophetic warnings announce what will happen when that edge is passed. Sometimes the announcement comes too late; impending judgment is upon us. Sometimes the Word comes before we reach the brink, and warns us away. If we respond, then we avoid the fall. God has not changed His mind; we have changed our ways. Jonah, a short and simple book, continues to be rich in meaning for you and me, just as it was significant for the people of the prophet’ s time.

Teaching Guide Prepare Where are you right now in your own relationship with the Lord?

Explore

1. What we learn from Jonah is how to evaluate and to correct our relationship with the Lord when correction is necessary.
2. Or briefly summarize the three sets of relationships dealt with in Jonah as background to the study of the book.

Expand Work together on the chart study suggested in “ link-to-life” above. When your group has a complete knowledge of the content you can move to explore the meaning.

Apply

1. Encourage any who see themselves as going away from God to accept this offer, and return to the Lord as Jonah did.
2. Or discuss Jonah’ s outward obedience (Jonah 3:1-10) and its conflict with his inner attitude. “ Can we today do what is right, but have an ungodly attitude? How are we to deal with this situation?”