The Book of Jonah, Conclusion
Congratulations! We have almost reached the end of the Book of Jonah Bible study. But there may be even more to discover as we tie up a few loose ends. Hopefully, you have gained a new perspective on this Old Testament book, including how to use it to introduce Jesus to your unbelieving friends and neighbors. Hopefully, you also allowed it to serve as a mirror as you have examined how you view others who are also God’s image bearers—worthy of his love and yours.
Please watch this overview of Jonah from the Bible Project before reading todays notes.
Before closing our Bibles and returning to our busy lives, let’s take a moment to return to our four original questions, which were:
1) Why was the Book of Jonah written?
2) How should we read it?
3) What should we do with what it says?
4) Does it matter if it is not a factual, historical account?
How would you respond from your individual perspectives if the four were rephrased as follows:
Let’s begin with how we should read it? We are challenged when it comes to reading this small book. Timothy Keller characterized Jonah like this,”The book of Jonah yields many insights about God’s love for societies and people beyond the community of believers; about his opposition to toxic nationalism and disdain for other races; and about how to be “in mission” in the world despite the subtle and unavoidable power of idolatry in our own lives and hearts.” (p.4)
Byas observed, “It touches on questions of historicity, genre, meaning, prophecy, myth, science . . .” (p.5) And he followed with this suggestion, “I think it’s most helpful to think of Jonah as a Moral-Theological Story—one that is also part allegory, part midrash, part parable, part philosophical treatise, part parody, part satire, and so on. It’s a story that is told to get us to think about God’s relationship to the world, and therefore, our relationship to each other.” (p.19)
I suspect that if Byas believed in its historicity, he would have included “history” in his list. Instead, he concluded with, “Jonah is an invitation, not just to wrestle with theoretical concepts of forgiveness, justice, and mercy, but to be physically part of the story and wrestle with these questions in the context of real human relationships and spiritual experiences.” (p.92)
Conversely, while not addressing the Book of Jonah specifically, Fee and Stuart caution us not to assume a difficult biblical passage is allegory.“While there may be aspects of narratives that are not easy to understand, you should always assume that they had meaning for their original hearers. But whatever else, they are not allegories.” (Location 1595)
In short, we must understand that the Bible means what it meant to the original audience (exegesis), only then can we properly tease out its meaning for today (hermeneutics). (Fee & Stuart, Location 229) Rich Rohr observed, “The point in studying the Christian Scriptures is this: The story is always true—and sometimes it really happened! That is the nature of all sacred scriptures.” (p.65)
The best answer we have to the question about how we read it is that it rests with the reader guided by the Holy Spirit. Naturally, that leads to the fourth question. Does it really matter if it is not a true story? Keller concluded, “If you accept the existence of God and the resurrection of Christ (a far greater miracle), then there is nothing particularly difficult about reading Jonah literally.” (p.3)
If the book was written after Judah’s return from Babylonian exile, it is possible that, rather than being a historical account, the purpose of the book was to remind God’s people of his grace and forgiveness along with the consequences of half-hearted faith, idolotry and religious arrogance. It should not be lost on us that their temptation to follow other gods did not resurface after the people returned to Judah. Might they have heeded the words Jonah prayed? “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.”(Jonah 2:8 | NIV)
The reading of Jonah by an evangelical naturally points toward Jesus when the two are compared. God sent both to save those he loved. Jonah initially disobeyed and lived. Jesus obeyed, although he would have preferred another way. But he obeyed and died. Jonah emerged after three days in a fish’s belly. Jesus emerged after three days in a grave. Both Jesus and Jonah entered the realm of the dead. Jonah preached a message of destruction. Jesus said those who believed in him would never die.
We sometimes worry people won’t like us, will stop liking us, or reject our God if we mention God’s justice and holiness in addition to his great love for them. Jonah had no difficulty proclaiming impending, complete and utter destruction of a wicked city. Are you willing to share the consequences of sin with those who need to hear it? We don’t talk much about sin or hell these days. Yet, Jesus spoke of hell more than anyone else in Scripture. Still, he had even more to say about heaven. That tells me where he wants his image-bearers to spend eternity.
God gives everyone the choice of determining their own eternal destiny by their response to the Holy Spirit. Like Jonah, God has tasked us with the job of warning people and provides a means of escaping his judgment. Are you willing to go and share?
Discussion
1) Why do you think Jonah was written?
2) Did the study change your original understanding?
3) How did you read it (literally, as allegory, myth, etc.)?
4) Will you apply any lesson(s) learned to your life? If so, how?
5) Would the theological lessons of the book change if Jonah was a mythical person? If so, how?
6) Were there any surprises?
7) Do you see toxic nationalism and or racism in 21st century America? If so, where?
8) What other comparisons do you see with Jesus and Jonah?
9) Did the study change your view of your responsibility to share the gospel?
10) Might it change how you view others you might consider “enemies”?
References
Byas, Jared. Jonah for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Misunderstood Prophet of the Bible. The Bible for Normal People. Kindle Edition.
Fee, Gordon D.; Stuart, Douglas. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding the Bible. Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Keller, Timothy. The Prodigal Prophet. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Rohr, Richard. Jesus’ Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount. Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition.
Revised: 12/02/2022