JONAH RESISTS GOING TO NINEVEH

JONAH

As the Northern Kingdom of Israel spiraled downhill toward its exile, the Lord sent one prophet after another to the people with words of warning and guidance. Powerful messages delivered by men like Amos and Hosea are preserved for us in books of the Bible that bear their names. Jonah was also among those prophets, but his message was delivered in his life’s actions rather than in a sermon—actions that happened where they did for a reason.

Jonah was from the village of Gath Hepher, located in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the tribe of Zebulun. This tribal location was part of a larger territory known as “the district of the Gentiles” (i.e., “Galilee of the Gentiles,” Isa. 9:1). He addressed the northern tribes during the heady days of Jeroboam II, some fifty years prior to the fall of Israel’s capital, Samaria (2 Kings 14:23–29). During the reign of Jeroboam II, a lull in Assyrian intrusion allowed this king to expand both the territory and the wealth of his kingdom in ways not seen since the time of Solomon.20

In a brief but clear directive, the Lord pointed his prophet in the direction of Nineveh (Jonah 1:1), a city that would later serve as the capital of Assyria. But at the time of Jonah, it was a sprawling, Assyrian administrative center located on the banks of the Tigris River in the northern portion of modern Iraq.

The Lord had ordered Jonah to Nineveh for a reason. He intended to change both the residents of Nineveh and the residents of Israel via Jonah’s mission there. On the one hand, God had a message for Nineveh. The wicked behavior of its people was so appalling that the Lord determined to visit a horrible destruction on it.21 Out of the Lord’s love and mercy, Jonah was sent to give the Assyrians a message for repentance and guidance (Jonah 3:4).

Jonah’s prophetic message delivered hundreds of miles from the Promised Land was also meant to reshape the thinking of Israel as well. Centuries earlier the Lord had promised Abraham that he would be blessed in order to become a blessing to the nations (Gen. 12:3). Jonah’s trip to Nineveh reminded all Israel that their original assignment as messengers of the God of Abraham had not changed. Thus that trip sent two powerful messages in the direction of two very different audiences.

Roman marble sarcophagus (AD 300) with a scene from the life of Jonah.

The delivery of both messages nearly failed because of Jonah’s fear and disdain of the Assyrians, as evidenced in his itinerary. We can understand his fear since Jonah may have known firsthand about the ruthlessness of Assyria because he lived in the district of the Gentiles frequented by the Assyrians. But that did not excuse his travel plans. He proceeded to Joppa, located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea where the graceful curve of the coast is interrupted just enough to allow a small, natural harbor to develop (Jonah 1:3).

We know that the shortest and most direct route to Nineveh would have taken Jonah along the overland routes north through Israel and then east to Assyria. Jonah began his trip by heading south and west to Joppa.22 From that seaport he booked passage for Tarshish—a destination that would take him about as far away from Assyria as one could get.23 As the Lord was saying something to Jonah by sending this prophet to Nineveh, Jonah was saying something to the Lord. From Jonah’s perspective, the Assyrians were not only cruel, they were not Israelites and did not deserve a warning or any other form of assistance from the God of Abraham.24

The Lord had sent Jonah to Nineveh for a reason; Jonah had traveled to Joppa for a reason. It would take a violent storm, time within a great fish, a worm, withering heat, and a failed shelter to bring Jonah to a better understanding of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The hilltop of the site of Gath Hepher (Kh ez Zurraa), home of Jonah the prophet.