Jonah

On Wednesdays, I’ve been trying to get through one section of the book of Jonah during my train ride home. Our church has Wednesday night Bible studies, but they aren’t very convenient for a family with small children who need to get to bed early in preparation for school the next day. Given that I’ve now finished the short story of Jonah, I’d like to share a few of my thoughts. I find it interesting to compare my life with that of a person like Jonah, living in ancient times and thus a different social or cultural environment. Despite the differences, he seems to have many of the same problems that modern peopel encounter.

The story of Jonah is well known as that of a man swalled by a big fish and spit out on the shore. This, of course, is because God sent Jonah on a mission. But how did he send him? Did Jonah hear a voice. For those of us who wish things were a little more concrete, the missing details of the form of communication between Jonah and God throughout the story are frustrating.

Nevertheless, the idea of the ancient city of Nineveh interests me. I like geography, and I like history, so the workings of an ancient city seems quite interesting. In fact, Nineveh was probably the most populous city in the world at the time of Jonah’s visit, and Jonah may have in fact visited Nineveh as well as a few surrounding sites. Whatever the geography, God’s interest in Nineveh shows the importance of urban ministry in its ability to reach out to many people in a single location. Without the ministry, the city degenerates into what Nineveh was before Jonah, but by the same means, Jonah’s message spreads throughout the city and even reaches the Assyrian king, Nineveh being the seat of his empire.

Of course, the most astonishing thing for me as a modern reader is to consider that the city accepted Jonah’s message and repented. This is incomprehensible in a modern setting. Can we imagine going to Moscow and having the city take a message from God seriously, and initiate a city-wide repentance movement. Or Beijing, or Paris, or New York? It’s unthinkable in a modern context in which such a message would be laughed off, treated as some sort of scam, or more likely simply drowned out by crowds wearing their headphones on their commutes and going about their daily lives, uninterested in the dealings on any particular street corner or the city square.

And finally, Jonah’s reason for avoiding the city is the most surprising to me personally. If it were me, I would be avoiding the trip to Nineveh because I don’t like public speaking, especially unscheduled appearances on the street to random passers-by. Jonah’s message isn’t exactly a cheerful one, so it would make sense for him to want to avoid the wrath of the Ninehvites. But no, Jonah tells God that he wanted to avoid Nineveh in order to avoid God pouring His compassion out on the city, presumably because Jonahs feels the Ninehvites are undeserving.

Jonah’s mindset is therefore not aligned completely with God’s values, and the story ends with God posing the question to Jonah, “Are you right to be angry?”, referring to an analogy which God makes between a shade plant and the city of Nineveh. I’m not sure that the analogy makes sense from Jonah’s perspective, given that Jonah is a human comparing himself to the Ninehvites, but the book nonetheless ends there.

There is no continuation to show us the end of Jonah’s life, and I often wonder what kind of man Jonah was in general. Did he have a family? What was his main occupation? He surely must have had quite a reputation after having preached to the entire city of Nineveh, and he was in fact referenced by Jesus in the New Testament.. His father was apparently named Amittai. A site that was possibly his gravesite was attacked by ISIS in 2014. Despite the open-ended ending, I like the simple and short story, and the fact that there is a lot to consider.