Is there a Ninevah for you?

Jonah 1-4 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,² “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” ³ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

⁴ The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. ⁵ Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. ⁶ So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”

⁷ Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” ⁹ He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. ¹¹ So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. ¹² He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” ¹³ However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. ¹⁴ Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.”

¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

¹⁷ And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish,² and he said, “I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. ³ “For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.
⁴ “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from  Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ ⁵ “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head.
⁶ “I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. ⁷ “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord,
And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple. ⁸ “Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, ⁹ But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.” ¹⁰ Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,² “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. ⁴ Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵ Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. ⁶ When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.⁷ He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. ⁸ But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. ⁹ Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.” ¹⁰ When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. ² He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” ⁴ The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

⁵ Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. ⁷ But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. ⁸ When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. ¹¹ Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

The story of Jonah and the whale is a fairly familiar Biblical account. I’m sure it is one which many who disbelieve or are skeptics of the Bible, would dismiss as fiction or fairy tale. Even among Biblical scholars there is debate as to whether it is a historical account or an allegory or parable. I hesitate to involve myself in Biblical scholarly debates, as I certainly do not regard myself as qualified to do so, nor do I desire to take the time necessary to prove or disprove either side of the debate. I will say that Jesus referred to Jonah and Nineveh in relation to his own death, resurrection, and the future judgment (Mt 12:39-41; Lk 11:29-32), which, for many, strongly supports the historicity of the book of Jonah.  For me the most important things we take from all scripture is what does it say and how does what it says apply to my own life?

Recognizing and affirming what Jesus says in Matthew 19:26:  “…with God all things are possible."   I will accept that this could be a factual historical account. I will not try to defend or explain that possibility to those who come with scientific arguments. There is certainly much that science cannot understand or explain. Again, whether historical or allegory, we should look to the account of Jonah and ask: What does it say and how does what it says apply to or in my life?  The real story of Jonah is not the story of a man being swallowed by a whale. It is the story of a city being called to repentance. Verses 1-2 say:  The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”  After Jonah finally went and delivered the message to the people of Ninevah, the text says:   Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”  When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.   So, the story really isn’t about Jonah or his experiences. It is not about his running from God. It is really about what great lengths God will go to save people from perishing; to call them to repentance so that they would avoid destruction.

For ourselves, we need to recognize if we have ever been like Jonah and run from the Lord’s call or commission on our lives. Is it possible that there is a Ninevah for us; a people whose destiny is tied to God’s call on our lives. God will not fail to accomplish His will. His desire though is to accomplish His will for us and His will with us. Like Jonah, in the belly of the whale, we too need to recognize the sovereign will of God. We need to cry out:  “I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice… You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple… I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.    We need to respond in obedience to the call of the Lord on our lives so that we don’t miss the great things He intends to do for us and through us.

Even after all that happened and after the people turned to God in repentance, Jonah was disappointed that God did not judge the sin of the people. We too must guard against the tendency to prefer God’s judgment and condemnation against sinners over His grace and mercy toward them. The final two verses say:  Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”   2 Peter 3:8-10 says:  Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  The day of God’s judgment and His wrath against sin will come. We though should seek the Lord’s compassion, we should be obedient to His call for us to walk in His grace and truth, joining in His desire that none should perish.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; thank You for Your everlasting love and faithfulness. Thank You for Your grace and Your patience. In alignment with Your desire that none should perish, may I always be faithful to Your will. May it never be that any would perish because I was not faithful and obedient in the time You called me. Thank You for the amazing lengths You go to show Your mercy and grace.  Thank You for the cross. Amen.