In the last chapter, we reviewed how Israel was supposed to treat foreigners outside Israel’s borders, and that God’s plan was to transform the Israelites into “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”.[i] The Lord wants to extend his salvation to all peoples “to the end of the earth” by using Israel as missionaries who preach the Word of God to other nations so that Israel will be “a light for the nations”.[ii] In this chapter we will now see how this can be put into practice, albeit somewhat unintentionally:
“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.”
(Jon 1:1-2)
The name “Jonah” means “dove” and his name fits well with his mission. God sends Jonah as a “dove of peace” to Israel’s enemies, the warlike Assyrians in Nineveh.
The Assyrians had engaged in violence, plunder, prostitution, sorcery, and commercial exploitation. God had had enough and intended to send Jonah to proclaim the judgment of God on their capital city of Nineveh.
However, when God proclaims a judgment, it is rarely executed immediately. There is almost always time and opportunity for repentance.
For Jonah, therefore, God’s call to preach judgment on Nineveh was very provocative. Jonah knew that the Lord is a merciful and forgiving God and does not want the Assyrians to be offered the opportunity to repent so that the Lord will forgive them. The Assyrians are Israel’s enemies and Jonah wants God to punish the Assyrians, not forgive them.
Jonah therefore tries to go to Tarshish, as far away from Nineveh as was possible in Jonah’s time. Tarshish was the westernmost city in the Levantine trade area, while Nineveh was the easternmost. But after a humbling sojourn in the belly of a fish, Jonah eventually arrives in Nineveh.
For Jonah the Israelite, going into the heart of the Assyrian enemy’s three-day capital of Nineveh was potentially as deadly as being inside the belly of a fish in the depths of the sea for three days.
But Jonah is bold and preaches (perhaps a little mischievously) that God will destroy Nineveh in forty days:
“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!””
(Jon 3:4)
Jonah hopes that God will now crush Israel’s enemies, but God, who by nature is “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”,[iii] wants Jonah’s preaching to lead the Assyrians to repent of their wickedness, which they do. The Assyrians in Nineveh begin to believe in God when they hear Jonah’s sermon of judgment:
“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. 6The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
(Jon 3:5-9)
By forsaking food and dressing in simple and poor clothes, the people of Nineveh show that they truly repent of their sin and ask God for forgiveness. Genuine repentance is always wholehearted and the repentant are ready to give up everything to come to terms with God. Simply saying that one repents without being prepared to radically change your life is not genuine repentance.
From the Assyrians we learn that true repentance begins with hearing the Word of God and responding by believing in God, repenting, crying out to God with all your might, ceasing to do evil, and hoping that God will forgive, which of course God does:
“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. ”
(Jon 3:10)
When a murderer is convicted in court, he will receive his punishment even if he repents. When God saw how Nineveh repented, he refrained from the punishment that in the name of justice they should have received for the sins they committed. It is fortunate for us humans that God gives us grace instead of justice when we repent.
Because Jonah spent three days and three nights in the depths of the sea preaching repentance to the Gentiles, they repented and received God’s grace and were spared God’s judgment. In the same way, Jesus was dead for three days and three nights so that all who believe in Jesus and repent will have their sins forgiven and be saved from judgment. However, Jonah does not appreciate the grace of God upon the Assyrians:
“1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2And 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. 3Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?””
(Jon 4:1-4)
Normally, a preacher would want the audience to listen, and the preacher would be happy when his message gets through, but Jonah is just the opposite. The second God stops being angry with Nineveh, Jonah becomes angry with God. Jonah didn’t want the Assyrians to listen to his message and he gets angry when they do!
For Jonah knew that God is a merciful and gracious God, but he did not want Israel’s enemies, the Assyrians, to know that.
Jonah himself had experienced God’s mercy when Jonah repented inside the belly of the fish and God saved him from certain death. But now, when the Assyrians repent and are saved from certain death, Jonah does not want to grant them God’s mercy and becomes so angry that he would rather die than live.
But God is trying to show the xenophobic Jonah that he is the God of the whole world, not just Israel. God also loves the foreign peoples outside Israel’s borders and wants to use Israel as a light in their pagan darkness. If God shows Jonah that he has power over both the animals and the plants, surely, he can show his loving power over the foreign peoples as well?
When God’s people do missionary work among foreign peoples, hostility is stopped, peoples repent and begin to believe in God, and peace between nations is established. That God chose Jonah for this mission shows us that God cares about even xenophobic people and wants to open their eyes to God’s love for foreign peoples by forcing Jonah to face his enemies.
Did Jonah finally understand that God loves even his enemies? We’ll never know because the book of Jonah is not primarily about Jonah, but about us who read it. Do you love your enemies? Are you prepared to show love to people from other countries? Are you prepared to forgive those who have wronged you? Are you prepared to preach the gospel in word and deed to strangers and enemies?
You have read a free chapter of my book Friend of Strangers. If you like this book, please consider purchasing the ebook through Amazon. Since English is not my native language, there may be some linguistic inaccuracies. Please contact me if you find any.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[i] Ex 19:5–6
[ii] Isa 49:6
[iii] Ex 34:6–7, Jon 4:2