Jonah - Talk 3

‘The Lord is Gracious and Compassionate’
Jonah 3:1-4:4

Context, Setting and characters
Well as you may remember last week we finished scene 2 with our ‘hero’ Jonah, being vomited onto dry land. This of course followed his descent from Israel to the bottom of the ocean and then Jonah’s prayer from a watery grave, with his head enclosed by reeds. Jonah’s prayer is answered by God he is taken to a salvation upon dry land.

From start to finish in this story God’s strong hand has been revealed upon Jonah, first in a hard discipline for his disobedience in the form of a storm, and then secondly, in a profound and wonderful salvation in the form of a fish.

From beginning to end in this story, we see something of a tour de force of God’s sovereignty in his world, but in particular in the life experience of Jonah.

And so today we come to the third scene of Jonah, a scene which is predominantly set in the city of Nineveh, which you may remember is the capital of Assyria, who is Israel’s ‘friendly’ nearby superpower.

And in something of a surprise to us as readers, scene 3 begins, in exactly the same way, that scene one has commenced. God calls to Jonah to go to Nineveh.

Let me ask you this question, Why do you reckon they put this take two for Jonah in the book? Why is it here?
Or more to the point, why bother having two essentially parallel scenes?
Why did the writer bother having the scene of the failure of the prophet, and not just the later successful trip?
It’s and interesting question and I’ll let you contemplate that as we get back to the story. And this scene 3 of the story breaks up into 4 parts.


Telling the Story

A – Jonah’s call and obedience!

NIV Jonah 3:1
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
2 "Go [Get up Go] to the great city of Nineveh and
proclaim [Call] to it the message [words] I give you."

3 Jonah obeyed [got up and went] the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.
Now Nineveh was a very important city [great city of gods]-- a visit required three days.
4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city.
He proclaimed [called]:
"Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."

The crowd cheers, they here the words. ‘Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord’.
Go on admit it, you were beginning to wonder weren’t you?
Things are on track, God speaks and the prophet does, that is a little more like how these stories are supposed to go isn’t it!

In an act of profound mercy God speaks to Jonah a second time, Jonah gets a second chance. And God’s commands to Jonah are the exact same three things God has commanded Jonah back in chapter 1. ‘Get up, Go and Call to Nineveh’.
So Jonah gets up and this time he goes to Nineveh.

[aside] Now as the action continues with Jonah in Nineveh, there is an interesting aside about Hebrew story telling here, that happens nearly every time in the OT. In that the writer, or narrator of the story, often doesn’t tip us off as to whether the actions of a person in the story is a good or a bad thing, we are left to decide for ourselves. The writers of the OT, are not like our journalists today, whether it’s the likes of Today Tonight or those apparent bastions of the truth and right the Sydney morning herald (just ask them, they’ll tell you!), what we really get today is editorial comment, an analysis of the people involved and the outcomes that are desirable, not just a reporting of the events or facts of the matter, (but this is probably a rant for another day!)

But in the OT generally, and in Jonah in particular, we are left to decide for ourselves when we read about the action. Like, is it a good thing or not that Jonah walks only one day into a city that is three days journey across?
What do you think?
What do you think given what you know of Jonah?

The commentaries I looked at try to solve the problem by explaining the history of the situation in terms of the cities size or lay out, or grammatical insights, blah blah blah. It seems to me in doing this, it is a little like trying to explain the joke just after it has been told!
I think we are supposed to feel some uncertainty and tension at this point from Jonah’s actions.

And in a compounding effect we have Jonah’s message,
‘"Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."‘.

Is this the message he was given from God?
We don’t know from the text, but what are your suspicions?
Is this the proper message, is it a good thing or not?
What do you think?

Well irrespective, under God’s sovereign hand, it seems to have the desired effect.

B - The call to Nineveh and their repentance

5 The Ninevites believed God.
They declared [called] a fast,
and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached [struck] the king of Nineveh,
he rose [got up] from his throne,
took off his royal robes,
covered himself with sackcloth and
sat down in the dust.
7 Then he issued a proclamation [cried out] in Nineveh:
"By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste [graze] anything;
do not let them eat or drink.
8 But let [jussive or command?]man and beast be covered with sackcloth.
Let everyone call [call] urgently on God [elohim].
Let them give up [turn] their evil ways and their violence.
9 Who knows?
God may yet relent [turn] and with compassion [renounce]
turn [turn] from his fierce anger
so that we will not perish [destroy]."


What a result – 8 words of Judgment and that happens!
Usually I get two ways to live out and the great riches of the forgiveness available in Christ, and they respond with – so did you see the cricket on the weekend..


But the Ninevites knew that the words of the prophet, were the words of God to them. The Kings response is nothing short of staggering. Can you imagine if someone had of gone to Saddam Hussein and sad, ‘knock it off or God will judge you!’ And he said, ‘fair enough’ and actually stopped it!’. It almost laughable isn’t it. And even that wouldn’t paint fully enough the picture we have going on here.

The king gets up from his throne and sat in the dust, and called to Nineveh. So, are you getting this? The pagan king at the words of Jonah, ‘gets up’ and ‘calls’ to Nineveh – sound familiar? But the king calls on Nineveh ‘to repent!’. The king realized he was in the presence of a power he could not defeat. And he knew this from 8 little words, from our little stubborn mate Jonah!

Just How powerful is the word of God?

But when you think about it for a minute, How did they know to repent?
Jonah certainly didn’t tell them!
Did you think Jonah was supposed to tell them that bit of critical information?

The King goes from his throne to ashes and fasts, and from the greatest to the least do the same, in a sign of mourning over their wrongdoing before God. The King himself calls out to Nineveh, with only the word of Jonah to him, how silly does Jonah look, who wouldn’t call out to Nineveh, when told to by God. The King rightly sees that Jonah the Prophet is speaking God’s words.

We see the extent of the Kings seriousness, from the decree that neither man nor beast can eat or drink, but even they must be covered in sack cloth. From the least to the greatest, for every living thing in land. They are taking this very seriously aren’t they?

I suspect however, this image is supposed to be at the same time both extremely earnest, (that the nation from top to bottom will be committed), and yet at the same time it is supposed to be another satirical almost comical like image in Jonah.

I mean How do you stop cattle from eating and drinking? Much less dress them in sack cloth – I don’t think the ancient Ninevites invented the cattle prod.
We are supposed to get this as a satirical and serious I think.
I suspect it is a little satirical against our friend Jonah, that even Gentile beasts repent better at of the word of God than he did!

And so the story continues and the call of the King, is for all his people to call upon God, in the time of their very real and life threatening distress. Just like the sailors did in the time of their real distress in scene 1 of Jonah. Or indeed as Jonah himself did from his watery grave in scene 2. And now the Ninevites are doing exactly the same thing in scene 3 of this curious little book.

The King calls for the people to turn around, to repent from their evil ways and their violence. Now up to that point in the story, did you have any idea what they had done, what their wickedness before the Lord was to quote 1:2?

Well It’s seems Jonah did, and they really were not nice people, and they know that they have done evil. This King of Nineveh had something of guilty conscience though I think, I mean he doesn’t protest his innocence or even argue the point, he just affirms it as true as says to his people ‘Turn from your evil and violence.’

9 Who knows?
God may yet relent [turn] and with compassion [renounce]
turn [turn] from his fierce anger
so that we will not perish [destroy]."

And then in V9 he has this great little statement of the grounds of his prayer, and interestingly it isn’t about what he has done is it?
He doesn’t presume upon God’s answer does he?
It’s not mechanistic, in terms of, if we perform this ritual and appease God, he looks like he cares about injustice, and everyone can be happy and go home.
He doesn’t even presume there will be some way out for them. He doesn’t say, well if we just do the right thing and say we are sorry.. we will have made up for our wrong and it will all be ok.

In quite an amazing way for a pagan King, the grounds of his prayer are totally and solely based upon the character of God, he knows that God is compassionate and may turn aside his anger. But then, that is exactly the same reason that God heard stubborn Jonah’s prayer in scene 2 isn’t it?

God can’t be bought off, but his desire is to be gracious

C – God’s response is to turn and have compassion

10 When God saw what they did and
how they turned [turn] from their evil ways,
he had compassion [renounce] and did not bring upon [do] them the destruction
he had threatened [to do].

It’s an amazing parallel really in God’s response to the pagan’s prayer. The pagans seem to know the exact nature and even the words of God, they call on God to be God. And God is!


They turn from their evil, and call on him to relent. And in response God then sees the genuineness of their repentance or turn, and so God desires of his own choosing, to act in almost the identical words of their prayer and he turns from his anger to have compassion on them.

God is not embarrassed to act in accordance with his mercy and compassion, even when hard liners like Jonah are calling for justice only!

And what has Nineveh discovered, well they understand the same truth Jonah discovered in 2:8,
‘"Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace [hesed] that could be theirs.
And they turn from their idols.

They understand the great theme of Jonah from 2:10, they Learn that
‘salvation belongs to the Lord’.

And in response, Jonah is not happy about it!


D – Jonah’s new prayer – not for salvation this time, but for death.
NIV Jonah 4:1
But Jonah was greatly displeased [grieved] and
became angry.
2 He prayed to the LORD [YHWH],
"O LORD [YHWH],
is this not what I said when I was still at home [in the land]?
That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish.
I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God,
slow to anger and abounding in love [hesed],
a God who relents [renounce] from sending calamity.

3 Now, O LORD [YHWH],
take away my life,
for it is better for me to die than to live."

Michael Carleone in Godfather 3, in trying to finish his dirty work with the Mafia so he can have the fairy tale happy ending, said
‘Just when you think you are out, they pull you back in!’.

And that is exactly how Jonah feels right now. Jonah thinks he has done the right thing with his message, and now Nineveh are going to get every last drop of what they deserve!

But instead the plot thickens, and Jonah gets pulled deeper into a story he wants no part of, and as a response Jonah loses the plot.

There are many satirical images in this story, beasts wearing sackcloth is one of them, but poor old Jonah is the most comical of the lot really. He is hoping mad here in a irrational tirade, that has faulty towers-esq overtones about it!
If he had a bit of a tanty in going towards tarshish, he has an ear piercing, foot stamping, plate smashing wobbly, at this, when he sees that God has mercy on Nineveh.

But in this little section, we are given an insight into the meaning of the first scene of Jonah, that Jonah’s flight from Nineveh to Tarshish is because…. He knew this would happen, he knew God would have mercy upon them. But up to this point he has kept this truth to himself. Which makes you think, maybe he didn’t tell Nineveh all of the message after all.

But despite Jonah’s best evasive efforts otherwise, the pagans by the grace of God seem to know about Exodus 34:6
‘6 The Lord passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, ‘
Despite Jonah not telling them of their chance to repent, it seems God really is sovereign and merciful over all of Jonah’s escapade.

And as the story continues we see Jonah has two profoundly contrasting prayers in the space of one chapter, the first one back in chapter 2 was begging to be saved from death because life is better, and the second in chapter 3 is a prayer to be saved from life because now Death is better. It is truly an ironic scene.

Jonah knows the truth about his God, he just can’t stomach seeing it in action.
He can’t stomach seeing these pagans get a second chance. Jonah quotes exodus 34:6, Where we see the profound mercy of God towards Israel in the time of their disobedience, a mercy towards Jonah’s own people where God gives them a second chance. A mercy that Jonah has now experienced first hand in his second chance from God, to be obedient and deliver the message he was told to give in the first place.

Jonah of all people should be the champion of second chances from God, but instead he is so grieved that Nineveh is spared, he despises the second chance he has received from God.

So scene one ends with Jonah in the throws of death at the bottom of the sea. Scene 2 ends with Jonah praying to live and him being saved. And in another ironic twist scene 3 of Jonah ends with Jonah praying for death. Where will Jonah take us next?

Interpreting the Story
Well the heart of this scene 3 of Jonah, is again a continuation and development of the themes and message of the early scenes of the book, which is hardly surprising given scene 3 is such a parallel of scene 1. And what are these themes, well:


A - Jonah Vs Gentiles
Jonah is such a contrast to the gentiles in this story isn’t he? The gentiles repent at the words of Jonah, knowing the Lord has spoken to them through him. Jonah in contrast has the Lord speak to him directly and he is obstinately disobedient.
The gentile cows repent in sack cloth better than Jonah.
The fish is more obedient than Jonah, the gentile sailors are more obedient than Jonah, and even the sea is more obedient than Jonah and does what the Lord commands it to do.

But at its heart I don’t think the book of Jonah is just the story of one man, it seems it is something of a parable for the whole nation of Israel.

B - Jonah the prophet as representative Israel to the nations
Jonah is just like his countrymen in this regard, stubborn before God, and ungracious with all the good things they have received. And in this regard Jesus understood that with Israel some things never changed, which is why he castigated his own generation that,
Matt 12:41, 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Based on that rational, the gentile sailors will get to judge Israel, in fact even the cows would get to judge Israel, but I suspect that is a little facetious, and proud, which is the one thing this book seeks to cut out of its readers.

But Israel have always had a problem. Even after Jonah and before Jesus the Prophet Zechariah said:
Zech1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 2 The Lord was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds. But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?

Israel have always had a problem of obedience towards God, and Jesus would come to deal with this problem once and for all.

The Theological implications of the Story
The theological centre of this book is the unimpeachable rightness and Sovereignty of God in his Judgment and his Mercy. The rightness of God in his distribution of salvation that is his gift alone to give.

The refrain of this scene of Jonah is that the Lord is a ‘Gracious and compassionate God’, and everyone in the story seems to know it. From The Gentiles King to the Gentile cows, and even now Jonah says it out loud too. God, Our God is gracious and compassionate.

In short this scene today gives us great confidence to proclaim, that Our God is a God of Second chances. Second chances for wayward prophets, and second chances for evil and violent people. Our God is gracious and compassionate.


The Application of the Story today
When we look at Jonah, we should be able see ourselves at least just a little. I think many people see Jonah as being this exceptionally disobedient and selfish man.

But I suspect Jonah isn’t exceptionally disobedient, as Israel the nation isn’t exceptionally disobedient, the reality is they are both just exceptionally human, it seems to me. Because to be human is by definition to be a bit broken, and to struggle with that gap between what we believe, and what we do! The gap between the way we know we should live before God and the way we actually live. But I’m sure Jonah isn’t alone in that is he?

Well the good news is that God is gracious and compassionate with Jonah, as he is with the ignorant gentile sailors, as he is even with the wicked Nineveh, and in the same way he is gracious and compassionate with us also. God paid a great price to demonstrate it, to give us a second chance, and to give those around us who we might think are beyond the pale, he paid a great price to save them too.
Romans 5:8 but God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jonah called out Eight judgment riddled words, and God saved a city. That’s a challenge isn’t it?
But it is an encouragement also, if God is willing and able to save people through Jonah, what do you think he is prepared to do through you?

If God can save people through eight words of Judgment, what can he do with the wonderful Gospel message of his son, the one who loved the world enough to die for it?

Our God is gracious and compassionate God, Our God is a God of second chances!!