When they ask Jonah what he thinks they should do about this situation, to his credit, he mans up and tells them to throw him overboard. He confesses that he is actually on the ship because he is in the process of running away from his God. Jonah, of course, is avoiding God and therefore is not inclined to speak to him but, after the sailors cast lots to find the culprit at the bottom of this ill wind, and the lot falls on him, Jonah has to come clean. He actually has to wake Jonah up to tell him to pray. The Captain, who is not a worshipper of Jonah’s God, hedges his bets by asking everyone on board to pray to his own deity. Jonah, however, despises his enemies to the point that the thought of God showing mercy to them is so reprehensible that all he wants is to get as far away from God and his tenderheartedness as he possibly can.Īs soon as Jonah makes good on his escape, however, God, hurls such a great wind upon the water that it threatens to break up Jonah’s getaway ship. God wants to send Jonah to call the Ninevites to repentance so that he can forgive them. What Jonah recognizes that we might miss is that God, by sending Jonah to Ninevah, is issuing a clear sign of his intended mercy toward them. Jonah, however, sees through this immediately and hot-foots it straight for a fast ship out of town in a pointless attempt to get away from God. In chapter 1, verses 1-2 we read: “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Jonah must have been a lot quicker than I am, because at first glance, this appears to spell nothing but trouble for Nineveh. Let’s take a quick look at the story of Jonah. As an adult, I learned that Jonah was, basically, a jerk who chose to run away from God rather than go and preach to his enemies, because he knew that God was going to have mercy on them and he didn’t want any part of that. As a little girl, I learned that there was a prophet named Jonah that God rescued by sending a great fish to swallow him and carry him safely to land.
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