A Whale of a Tale
And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17 NASB
Great fish – What is the story of Jonah really about? Is it really about a miraculous fish or about being in the watery grave? Are you prepared to look beyond the Sunday school version? Let’s see.
Jonah’s story is about bigotry. Jonah’s story is about vengeance. Jonah’s story is about cultural cleansing. Jonah’s story is about divine misdirection. What Jonah’s story is not about is a fishing expedition.
The first question to ask is this one: Why does Jonah try to run from God’s command to go to Nineveh? The answer is that Jonah wants the people of Nineveh to be exterminated. He suspects that God might be merciful if they hear a message of impending doom. And he doesn’t want God to be merciful! He wants God to deal with these reprobate infidels. He reasons, “If I never go to tell them what is going to happen, then God will strike them all with a fatal blow.” Mission successful.
Why does he desire this terrible end? Because Jonah is a righteous zealot. He despises everything that opposes his God. He believes all wicked people should be punished, mercilessly. He desires his God to demonstrate to the world that he, Jonah, is a true prophet, that what he says will happen will happen, and he will be honored for being God’s mouthpiece. And none of this will happen if the people of Nineveh repent.
So Jonah runs. He would rather have Nineveh destroyed than face the possibility that his proclamations of disaster might not come true. He is far more concerned with his status and agenda than he is with the potential that God will change His mind. He must have been a relative of Naomi. She was willing for her two daughters-in-law to return to the child-sacrificing god of Moab rather than have to deal with the social embarrassment of explaining them to the people of Bethlehem.
All of this means that Jonah considers God’s will to be contingent. Jonah wants a God of ironclad declaration, not a God who is fickle enough to renege on a prophecy. The fact is that Jonah doesn’t really care about the salvation of the wicked. He cares about what people might say about a prophet who was mistaken. The big fish is just an interlude in a story about one man’s misapprehension of God’s mercy. But it might be a big fish story about us too.
What is your attitude toward those who are “outside the fold”? What do you really think about those wicked people who seem to prosper at your expense? Are you like James and John (Luke 9:54), ready to fry the ones who disparaged their rabbi (maybe they were related to Naomi and Jonah)? Be honest, now. Put aside your Pollyanna theology and feel your response. Does “They got what they deserved” cross your mind? Just how much do you want a God who never changes (when it comes to the judgment of others)? Here’s a little reminder. A wave made of stone.
How close does this marvel of nature come to capturing the Jonah in you?
Topical Index: Jonah, fish, revenge, judgment, Luke 9:54, Jonah 1:17
Being honest… I’m Jonah’s relative… No excuses… Help me Lord! I’m stuck in this fish’s belly…
Oops! The photo didn’t get published with this TW. I’ll send it out later. Sorry.
Rest of the story. Ninevah was destroyed in Nahum’s time about 100 years later. Yes God has much patience and long suffering.Try about 2000 years this time. Mankind can hate,refuse,deny and make their many plans for salvation as obviously they do. Is there a time God will say I have had enough? I think he has proven that in the past. When it comes to his redemptive plan through his precious son can mankind really keep putting it off ?and will he accept some desperate last chance based on our religion,can we just squeak in . I don’t know is it worth the risk?we need a heart for those outside the fold but even more for those who are in the fold .
What do you really think about those wicked people who seem to prosper at your expense?
Well, I really wish they would stop expending me like that, but. I’ve heard that the rabbis are pretty much in agreement that it was the sin of robbery which ultimately brought about the destruction by the flood, and I agree. Robbery however, goes farther than just taking something from someone else, even past the non-physical thievery of things like sovereignty and such. The real issue would seem to be that you would have to consider another, as worthless, to commit such an act towards them. In that sense, isn’t Jonah doing the same thing he so strongly condemns in others? Makes you wonder if the incident with the fish is reminding him that he’s just another fish in the sea, and that we’re all in this (out of the boat) together. Kinda reminds me of when Yeshua said, “he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Judgment always goes further then we imagine.
I think that Jonah suffered from the two glitches: he believed that there was such a thing as Us and Them (bigotry) and that there was such a thing as Something For Nothing, even though he did attribute such an override to YHVH. These two beliefs, I am convinced, cause us to believe lies that reinforce them, and thus we commit sin because we believe them to be true. These two HARDWIRED beliefs, I am convinced, cause us to not be able to trust God in the flesh. These two beliefs cause us to think that it is all up to us, too. Jonah, I am quite sure, had never had those beliefs questioned head on, so probably he never even suspected that he was suffering from them, much less that they had no foundation in reality.
The world is currently acknowledging the Us and Them problem, but the solution it has chosen to pursue: ecumenism, only codifies the problem not erases it. The Something For Nothing problem, however, still has everybody by the nose. Even though we do lip service to Newton’s Third Law, we, because we have been steeped in dualistic thinking, can still convince ourselves that it can not possibly be true about EVERYTHING. Also, to go along with that glitch, we convince ourselves that we can act in socially, environmentally, as well as personally spiritual ways that are irresponsible to the cosmos, too.
What goes around comes around, though. Jonah eventually got bitten in the tail by what he had projected. We all eventually do. And we will meet the deeds done in the body before that great Judgment Throne. I am quite sure that we will all find ourselves quite equal, there, too!
Well said, Laurita.
To be honest, I’m realizing my biggest struggle is to find the place in my heart that I can be;
“Taking, as
Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that He will make all things right,
If I surrender to His will,”
So that
” I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.”
(*excerpts from the serenity prayer by Reinhold Neibuhr)
I see a Father grappling with both sides of this issue. Jonah, on the one hand, the people of Nineveh on the other. Both have great need of direction, guidance, hope and chesed. If I could only see them as does YHVH! It seems it would be simple. Alas. It is not.
Thanks Michael, for this perfect response.
And I’m pretty sure it isn’t intended to be simple. If it was meant to be, maybe God would have left Adam “alone.” Consideration of another is always the hard road.
I apologize upfront for the length of my commit, but I will post it anyway. Thank you.
Imagine a little girl growing up with a mother who is divorced and drinks too much. She witnesses her mother’s boyfriends, their violence, and their sexual liaisons. As an adult, she too struggles with healthy relationships and secure attachment; having never learned how to love, much less parent through nurture. The state is compelled to come and remove her children from her.
Now imagine the foster family who is now caring for these siblings. They are a Christian family, they attend church regularly, pay their tithe, and volunteer at alternate services. They are a “safe family” and have generously opened up their home to these children and do not understand why the court permits routine visitations with the birth mom. Each time the kids return from a visit they are amped up, crying, and dysregulated. The foster parents say, “Why doesn’t the court just severe parent’s rights and let us have these kids.” They say, “This woman doesn’t deserve another chance.”
One more time, the mother complies with the court. She is clean, sober, and safe. The children are reunited with their mother and the foster family is angry. They feel hurt and rejected. They feel the court is wrong. They post comments on social media. They say ugly, hurtful things about the birth mother and accuse her to their friends.
This isn’t a script from a popular television drama. This is the world I work in everyday. This is my Jonah world. In truth, it isn’t a black and white world, with clarity of what is right and what is wrong.
There are boundary lines, but they keep shifting and with every shift the lines are blurred; more and more. Baruch HaShem. The LORD shifts too. There is a target for which we aim for, but before we shoot we know we will miss – despite our best efforts. So, why do we keep trying? Because we are trusting that Messiah will make up the difference. We cannot afford to be “outcome focused.” Some outcomes are just too painful to watch and most times we are still waiting for Messiah’s work to become observable to us. Our vision is blurred by our own tears.
PS: In the USA there are more than 400,000 children living apart from the birth family, and presently residing with a foster family, kinship family, or in a group home. Think about it. If the parental rights were severed in every case, where would these children find permanency? Most foster parents do not want to adopt. Group homes – many times are worse than orphanages – often operating at maximum capacity. In truth, we are not prepared for the fallout should God follow through with His judgement. Redemption is not an arbitrary option. It is the ONLY hope for a generation the size of Oakland, Tulsa, Omaha, Charlotte, or Tampa.
Skip, I think you are asking some questions in this “Today’s Word”, that, though they are not necessarily new, they are still very important, relevant, and challenging. Thank you for bringing this up for my own self-reflection.
However, may I ask, where do you see in the book of Jonah this one aspect of his motives whereby you say, “He desires his God to demonstrate to the world that he, Jonah, is a true prophet, that what he says will happen will happen, and he will be honored for being God’s mouthpiece”? And whereby you also say, “He is far more concerned with his status…..”, and “He cares about what people might say about a prophet who was mistaken”?
I do wonder if you aren’t being a bit zealous yourself, in a different way on the spectrum of being a religious zealot, taking some kind of license here, making claims that are not clearly founded, for some reason. All I see as to his motives is that he knew YHWH may relent, he didn’t want Him to, and he was angry when He did. All of that is quite evident in the dialogue between YHWH and Jonah in the last chapter:
“But it greatly displeased Jonah and he resented it. So he prayed to Adonai and said, ‘Please, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my own country? That’s what I anticipated, fleeing to Tarshish—for I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and full of kindness, and relenting over calamity. So please, Adonai, take my soul from me—because better is my death than my life. Yet Adonai said, ‘Is it good for you to be so angry?'” [Jon 4:1-4]
I know there are self-proclaimed prophets who are more concerned about their own notoriety and take His name in vain, and I share in your grievance about them. However, I don’t see that with Jonah. His ill-motive is, as you otherwise say, because He wanted the people of Ninevah to receive the wrath of God for their wickedness. Isn’t it enough for us to have ought with him about that and to question ourselves about that, also? Or have I likely missed something in the text?
I acknowledge that I sometimes struggle keeping up with the intellectual rigours of Skip, Laurita, Robert, Roderick, Mark, Pam…well, most commentators here and I particularly dislike being the one who always asks about the elephant in the room… but what exactly is this “wave made of stone”. The only ‘reminder’ I can reckon is the Red (Reed?) Sea waves that Moses parted when fleeing Pharaohs pursuing army, which ultimately crashed, crushed and consumed them.
Is the elephant in the room still or has he, (or me?), like Elvis, left the building?
Brothe Michael – Skip titled a photograph he took “Jonah’s wave made of stone”. The stone looked like a wave and Skip called it Jonas wave.
Ohhhh. Thanks Mark. Was getting tired of feeding the beast. He’s gone now. You don’t see many elephants in Jamaica and when you do… it be de Ganga, mon!
I read this story a little different… Yes we cannot argue against YHVH will in tasking us. We can run but not hide when we are to be saved or called in to Christ to be a NT follower… Our understanding of the power and wisdom of YHVH is blocked by our social acceptable standard or as Skip dropped the comment a Stone Wave. Nice to see and admire but worthless for spiritual use and progress. I think this story related well the Hosea marrying the whore. Against all perceived human standards YHVH will, will be done and change the current predicament not the next generations. Yeshua said I have food that you know not of and that is to do the will of Him who sent me. That is what I read in the Jonah story a process of being transformed so that we can eat of His flesh and drink of His blood.
Skip thank you for the reminder that we are not here to find favour with fellow human beings but to learn obedience to become part of a divine calling.