Day 188 (Jonah 1-4) - Year 4
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Congratulations! Today we finished our 18th book of the Bible, so let's talk about it. Jonah was a prophet who lived during the time of King Jerry II, a king in the northern kingdom of Israel. This is around 750 B.C.

Some people regard this book as allegory and not as historical fact. But one important thing to note, it's almost certainly not a parable. Because one of the characteristics of parables is that they have anonymous characters, not real humans with names. Whereas Jonah is mentioned by name in both the book of 2 Kings and by Christ himself in Matthew 12. And on top of that, it's far more complex than any other parables we have in Scripture.

Regardless whether you view it as allegory or history, the things it reveals to us about God remain the same. He shows love and mercy to many of his enemies, choosing to adopt them into his family. Jonah is probably the author of this book because it includes details only he would know. And since a lot of the book shows how foolish and selfish Jonah was, it probably serves as evidence that he was able to look back on things with a healthy dose of humility and humor.

It seems like he eventually learned not to take himself too seriously. Hopefully. But that's definitely not how he started out. When God first commissions Jonah to go rebuke the Ninevites for their wicked ways, Jonah balks at the idea. But we don't find out why until later. The reason is, Jonah hates the Ninevites. He doesn't want them to repent. And he knows that if he goes and rebukes them, that's what they'll do. Is there someone like this for you? Someone you hope doesn't get to experience God's mercy?

I remember having a conversation with someone once, mentioning a death row conversion, and the person I was talking to said, I don't believe that. There's no way God would save that person. Not after all they've done. That's Jonah's attitude too. He seems to have a real us versus them mentality. We're all naturally inclined toward people who are like us, who look like us and act like us and dress like us. That's very normal. But that's exactly the problem.

Since God himself isn't confined to a body and we're all made in his image, then there's something in every single person that has a point of connection for him. So he spreads his love out to people from among every nation. And Jonah's arrogant attitude, whether it's racist or self-righteous or both, is not going to cut it for a person following Yahweh. God doesn't let him off the hook.

Jonah tries to run, as though you can run from a God who is everywhere. He hops a ship to Tarshish, which was probably located in modern Spain. And Nineveh, where God told him to go, is in modern-day Iraq, which is the opposite direction of Spain if you're coming from where he lived in Israel. We'll link to a map of Jonah's travels in the show notes in case that's helpful. Pretty soon, a storm hits and the sailors are looking for any God who can save them.

Jonah fesses up that he's the reason they're all about to die, and they're astonished at his rebellion. It's interesting that these pagan sailors have a higher regard for Yahweh's commands than Jonah the prophet does. Jonah tells them to throw him overboard, and they do, but not before they throw a bunch of cargo overboard first. Like we've talked about before, we never sin in a vacuum. Jonah's sin impacts the people around him. But when Jonah finally obeys, his obedience impacts them as well.

Because then, the storm calms, and the text tells us that they feared God. Whether that was a fleeting response or a change of heart, we don't know. Then God demonstrates his sovereignty over the actions of animals by appointing a big fish to swallow him up. While the text never specifically says it's a whale, that's a pretty fair assumption. It's just not 100% certain. And Jonah stays there for three days and three nights.

Christ quotes this incident in Matthew, paralleling his time in the grave with Jonah's time in the fish's belly. In chapter 2, Jonah prays a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving, despite being covered in digestive enzymes.

He seems grateful to have been rescued from death at sea and seems to trust that he's getting out of this fish alive one way or another. But strangely, repentance is entirely absent from his prayer. His heart hasn't changed, despite God's mercy toward him. After his prayer, the fish vomits him up on the shore, where God repeats his call to Jonah to go tell the Ninevites to repent. So Jonah, unrepentant, takes a road trip to Nineveh to tell other people to repent.

Jonah shows up with his rebuke, and just like we saw with the sailors, the king of this notoriously wicked place shows more humility and obedience than the prophet sent to warn them. The whole country fasts in sackcloth and ashes, signs of repentance and mourning, and God relents from bringing disaster on them for their wickedness. He's always eager to forgive, but us, not so much, as Jonah demonstrates.

God even uses reluctant and bitter people in his plan for redemption. Chapter 4 is full of Jonah's pride, bitterness, and self-pity. He's so self-focused that he can't rejoice that an entire nation has turned from their wicked ways. He begs God to kill him. And maybe he still has hope that Nineveh is going to screw things up because he pitches a tent within view of the city, maybe hoping it will be swallowed in an earthquake or something.

But even in Jonah's bitterness, God is still kind to him, comforting him with shade. Jonah keeps asking God to kill him, but God keeps keeping him alive. And when God tries to point out Jonah's irrational behavior, Jonah gets moody and sassy. And the book ends abruptly with God telling Jonah how merciful he is. Jonah knows this already and hates it. He wants God's mercy for himself, but not for anyone else.

There are so many great things about God in this book that it was hard to narrow down my God shot for today. But I'm going to go with a verse that has become one of my favorites in all of scripture. Jonah 2.8 says, Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. It's been so true in my own life time and time again, chasing after those fleeting joys to fill me up and satisfy me, and they always leave me empty.

But when I disengage from those things and engage with the one true God, I am always met with his steadfast love. It was there all along. That's what steadfast love is. It's right there with me. He's waiting patiently for me to notice. He's where the joy is.

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