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Jonah

There are many lessons that we can learn from the Prophet Jonah. The purpose of this little article is to highlight some of these lessons, so that we as Christians can learn from them.

First of all we see a man who was called by God, but the task he was unfavourable to him. As Christians we are called to do tasks that we may not want to do, but the question is will we obey.

Jonah was asked to go and preach in a certain place (Nineveh), however, we don't actually read that he responded to God's call but we do read later on that he seems to have had a conversation with God about it. He got up and fled to the coast to get on a boat. He was wilfully disobedient to what his God had commanded him to do. Hebrews 10:26-27 says, "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." This verse is one that we need to take notice of.

Is there something that God has commanded you to do? Reading through the New Testament will provide you with many things that we should be doing, and many things that we should turn away from. Will we obey every command of God as written in His word, or will we turn and flee? Let us consider the consequences of Jonah's action:

First, he got on a boat heading for Tarshish. Every thing seems fine until the boat set sail. From the context of the chapter, it possibly did not get very far from the docks before a storm broke that was like no other storm. Seasoned sailors were afraid for their lives. Because of Jonah's disobedience, these men were in danger. How many people will our disobedience affect? When we disobey God, it's not just our lives that are affected, but the lives of those we love, those who we respect and even total strangers. Remember the prodigal son, who asked for his share of the inheritance he would get when his father died. He then left the family home and squandered the money that he had been given. Yet, back home his father was sat waiting for him to return. The joy of the reunion could only come after the pain of waiting for many years.

Second, Jonah went into the hold and fell asleep. He did not realise at first that his life was in danger. He was totally oblivious, until he was awakened by the sailors. In our Christian lives, we can be oblivious to the pain and suffering we cause to others by not following God's commands. There are those who pray for us daily, who care for us and love us, and we hurt them so much by refusing to obey God. But most of all, we hurt God by not obeying.

As soon as Jonah was awakened to the problem of the storm, he realised that it was his fault, and that God was angry with him for not obeying. Although Jonah had disobeyed God, the Lord used this episode to speak to the sailors. Jonah was woken up by them, and sailors being a superstitious people, decided to cast lots to see who had caused them the problem. They recognised that this was something supernatural, and that a god was unhappy with his subject. At this time they did not know who God was, and therefore were ignorant, worshipping idols (who by the way were unable to help during this storm because there is only one God). God graciously used this episode to speak to the sailors, and by the end of it they knew His power, and worshipped Him.

The lot fell on Jonah, of course, and the sailors were very direct in their questioning: "Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?" Lets look at these questions for a moment:

1. "what is thine occupation?" The first thing they asked is about Jonah's job. Jonah does not actually tell them what his occupation is, and we'll look at Jonah's response in more detail a little later. Jonah's occupation at this time should be "Prophet of the Lord God of Israel." But remember that Jonah has disobeyed the Lord, and is travelling in the opposite direction, seeking to get away from Nineveh and God, which we read that "he told them" ("For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.")

2. "whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?" These questions all have the same answer, roughly speaking. Why did the sailors want to know this? Again, this goes back to their superstition, for they felt that if they knew where this man had come from, (city, country, kindred) then they would understand and know which god had been offended and they would be able to offer sacrifices to that god. The sailors made it their business to know of every god available, in order to be able to sacrifice to that god, thus placating any anger or displeasure that god might have against them. Jonah's answer was a complete surprise to them, so let's look at what Jonah told them.

"I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." This answer would have taken the sailors aback. They knew of the "god" of the Hebrews, but did not know that He is the Living God, the almighty God of Heaven. Jonah was very careful in his answer, making sure that he took in their understanding, and appealing to their nature. This is why he said, "which hath made the sea and the dry land." The sailors would have worshipped a god which they believed kept them safe on the sea, and they would have worshipped another god which they believed allowed them to land safely in the harbour. In this one statement, Jonah destroyed their belief system, informing them that the one He served not only had power over the dry land, but power over the sea. Notice that Jonah, even though he had disobeyed, feared the Lord. It is this fear that is missing from the world today. If people today knew just how powerful God really is, there would be a fear of Him. Not fear, as in "I am afraid" but fear in "I don't want to offend Him". As Christians, we need not be afraid of God, but we do need to have a fear of Him. The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has permitted each and every believer to enter the presence of God. But this does not mean that we can do what we like, or live how we want to. There are many things that are done in the world that we should not do. I will not list specific things here, but consider this: what profit for God is there in this activity? There are many things which while are not sinful (not against direct scriptures), but they are not profitable. I leave it to your conscience as to which activities we should be engaged in, and which we should not.

The sailors were afraid at Jonah's answer, asking him, "Why hast thou done this?" To their minds, disobeying a god means bringing judgement against that person. Seeing the power of God in the sea around them (for don't forget this was worse than any storm that they had ever seen), they could not believe that anyone would be so stupid as to disobey Him. In their minds there must be a way of placating this angry God, so they ask Jonah, "What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us?" Jonah's answer took them by surprise, for they were expecting to do some service, and then his God would be placated and they could continue their journey. They refused to heed his voice at first, trying to row out of the storm. When they realised that it was pointless, they then took Jonah at his word.

But before the sailors threw Jonah overboard ("Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.") they cried unto the Lord. Their request is worth noting: "We beseech Thee, O Lord, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee."