JONAH: Potential

After the Pre-Assyrian time period, things begin to shift. The Assyrians come in and destroy much of the civilized world, including the northern kingdom of Israel. As they are making their move on the southern kingdom of Judah, Hezekiah makes an incredible stand of trust and God sends the Assyrians back to their homes in the north. Apparently, Judah — for a moment in history — heeds the warnings of the prophets. Hezekiah repents of their disobedience and leads reforms from one end of Judah to the other. (Do you remember the story of Beth Shemesh?) I feel like this is an important point to make, because we always seem to hear the voices of the prophets as an exercise in futility. They don’t listen and God destroys them, right?

Wrong. Apparently, upon the repentance of Judah, God stays the judgment that is predicted in Micah and helps save the Jews from the Assyrians. Of course, it won’t last forever, and Judah will continue to receive warnings from God in this historical time period, as well, but it’s important to see the repentance of Judah and the patience of God.

The northern kingdom of Israel has been destroyed and taken captive by their enemies to the north; Judah is still dealing with what it means to walk the path faithfully. And the first Assyrian-time-period prophet we need to deal with is Jonah.

Jonah is one of those stories that we’ve heard a million times. For anyone who grows up in the church, Jonah is reviewed about every other month in Sunday School. And this is part of the problem with the story of Jonah — we miss the big questions. Here are a few observations about the book of Jonah:

Jonah is the worst prophet in biblical history. One of the first things to stick out to the original reader is the disobedience of God’s prophet; Jonah is the only prophet to run from the call of God! He does a poor job of repenting in chapter 2, has to be reminded of God’s call in chapter 3, and then delivers one of the most uncompelling prophetic messages known to man: “In forty days, the city of Nineveh will be destroyed.” Who is this guy?

The whole book is backwards. The prophet is disobedient. God is not in “paradise” (the meaning of Tarshish), but in Nineveh (the capital city of Assyria). The pagans in the boat worship God while the prophet is uncaring and wants to die. The Ninevites repent at Jonah’s simple message, including the king. God sends judgment on His prophet (more than once) and not on the enemy. This story is wacky.

The ending is completely frustrating, making the reader wonder if we lost a piece of the scroll. The last paragraph of Jonah leaves the reader hanging in complete disbelief that this would be the message for God’s people as they sit in captivity in Assyria.

Well, do you remember the days back in Genesis? Whenever we read a story that lacked particular details and was laden with problems, what did we begin looking for?

Chiasms.

Jonah is no different. See the theme map below to notice the chiasm:

“…the great city”
    Jonah wants to die
        Jonah repents
            3 days in the fish
                THE GREAT CITY
            3-day walk in Nineveh
        Nineveh repents
    Jonah wants to die
“…the great city”

So what’s the deal with this “great city”? Nineveh is most certainly not a great city. We know more about Assyrian warfare than we know about a lot of ancient warfare and what we know about the Assyrians is that they are brutal. They tortured captives, raped women, murdered babies. This is not a great city. One person wrote me the other day to point out how many times the word gadowl (translated “great”) appears in the book; everything appears to be “great” — the city, the storm, the fish. However, the one thing you EXPECT to be great — God’s anger/wrath, the east wind (representing judgment) — is strangely not. I think it is a wonderful observation.

Why does God not stand up and strike down the Assyrians?

One of the most interesting parts of the book of Jonah is the vine that God makes grow over Jonah at the end of the book. It’s interesting because Jonah has already made a shelter to give himself shade, yet God makes a vine grow to give him “more” shade? God then destroys the vine and the east wind comes and Jonah’s head is burned. The vine might remind Israel of their call to bless the nations (the midrash goes to great lengths to teach this point, numbering the leaves of the vine to 153… [more on this later]) and provide shade for the Gentiles.

Why does God not stand up and strike down the Assyrians?

Because the Gentiles have great potential. For more on fleshing this conclusion out, I invite you to find Rabbi David Fohrman’s teaching on Jonah (which has deeply influenced my own) or listen to a teaching I once gave here. The depth of literary tools in the book of Jonah and the history of its use are astounding.

In short, the book of Jonah is about the potential of people — particularly our enemies. The book of Jonah is a striking tale that invites us to consider what our role in the world is. It’s a call to remind us of our story and what God expects when he plants a vine (or a vineyard). As the people of Israel listened to the story of Jonah, they would have resonated with his anger, his frustration, and his retort to God. Yet, God’s message to His people remains steadfast.

“Should I not care about this great city?”

There’s so much potential that lies in His creation. He invites us to trust Him in that and help Him put the world back together, whether we find ourselves in Tarshish or Nineveh.