The Book of Jonah, Introduction

 (To be read by all participants prior to the first meeting)

This six-part Bible study on the Book of Jonah serves as a springboard to introduce the gospel through discussion of God’s love, mercy and grace. Unlike other prophetic works, it is not the words of God repeated by a man of God. It is the story of a prophet who became angry at God for loving his enemies. Jonah is more than a children’s story about an ancient man and a big fish. It is a rich, theological work of Wisdom literature.

But we must regularly remind ourselves that it is an ancient text intended for an ancient audience. Rohr cautions, “We moderns, tainted by the scientific method, have forgotten how to read sacred literature. We look for empirical truth when the stories are full of mythical, symbolic images. In order to understand our Scriptures, we must be willing to look for the symbols, to treat sacred stories as powerful, truth-bearing stories, not historical reporting.” Whether you agree with Rohr or not, you will soon discover it is part of the canon because of its universal and personal applicability.

Jonah is a rich theological treasure that paves the way for discussion of the good news of the gospel—the story of God’s love, mercy and grace. As such, we have found it to be quite effective in a small group setting that includes non-believers because there are many opportunities to segue into the gospel in an informative, non-threatening way.

Participants are expected to be familiar with the assigned reading. Group time is used most effectively when it begins by listening to the chapter being read by the facilitator followed by discussion of the questions.

The Book of Jonah leads us to ask four key questions that will be addressed as we progress. Those four questions are:

1) Why was it 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?

Participants find it to be more than a children’s story, more than an allegory, and even more than the myth or parable some people consider it to be. It introduces at least a dozen theological concepts. Pastor and author, Timothy Keller calls Jonah, “an ingenious and artfully crafted work of literature.” (p.2)

Before jumping into the study, it would be helpful to have a little background. Jonah is considered one of the twelve minor prophets. The book that bears his name is the fifth in both the Christian and Jewish canons and reads like Wisdom literature. It consists of only four chapters for a total of 47 verses—a little over 1000 words in the English Bible. It is named after the protagonist, Jonah, the son of Amittai. In Hebrew Jonah means “dove” and Amittai means “my truth.” We could probably devote an entire group meeting to those two names alone (e.g., Noah’s dove, the dove at Jesus’s baptism, etc.).

The setting has traditionally been assumed to be approximately 800 to 750 BCE because both Jonah and Amittai are referenced in 2 Kings 14:25. They appear in relation to Jeroboam II who was a wicked, but highly successful Israelite king. Under him Israel became a regional influence second only to David and his son Solomon. Under Jeroboam II, Israel’s successes were underwritten by injustices against the poor, materialism, and apostasy—turning away from God. Ironically, Israel failed to realize they were also guilty of the same sins that Jonah saw in Nineveh.

Israel’s sin caused God to send the prophet Amos to tell his people to clean up their act. It is possible, even likely, that Amos and Jonah were contemporaries. But, unlike Amos who criticized Israel’s king and warned his nation, Jonah was sent to Israel’s enemy, Nineveh. His task was to warn the people of that city of impending destruction. It is important that we do not gloss over this key element. It was because of the way the pagan people of Nineveh were treating each other, not how they treated those in surrounding nations, including Israel, that caused God to intervene. He was extending his grace, his unwarranted favor, to people who did not even know him. He was doing for their pagan neighbors what he was also doing with his own people.

Nineveh was an ancient city on the banks of the Tigris River in what is now Iraq, near the modern city of Mosul. It may have been founded by Nimrod, who some maintain was the architect of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11). We are told that the walls of the city were 100 feet high, and they were so wide three chariots could run abreast on the top of them. It was not only a great city, but it was a highly militarized one as well. While a potential enemy at the time of Jonah, it had been weakened by a series of inept kings and had exhausted most of its military effort engaging the Arameans, an enemy they had in common with Israel.

Nineveh had not yet become the capital of the mighty Assyrian empire, but that would change. Assyria attacked and defeated Israel in around 722 BCE. Some of the population emigrated to the southern kingdom of Judah, most however, were taken captive or deported to other lands. (See 2 Kings 17:5–6 and 1 Chronicles 5:26.) They became known as the 10 “Lost Tribes” of Israel.

The first biblical principle evident in the work is evangelism, proclaiming God’s message. Sadly, we are not that far into it before encountering Jonah’s sin of pride. Pridefulness, then as now, is abhorrent to God. The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Proverbs 16:15 | NIV Even though Israel had generally forgotten God’s laws, most Israelites in Jonah’s day smugly looked down their noses at other nations that did not know their God.

Yet, Jonah was charged with warning Nineveh. God expected him to love him, love others and carry his message to Nineveh; the same thing Jesus commanded his followers to accomplish after his resurrection. Then he told them: Go and preach the good news to everyone in the world. Mark 16:15 | CEV

We don’t know for sure how Jonah did on that first one, loving God. But given his disobedience we can conclude there was little evidence of it. He certainly missed the mark on loving others. And it took a supernatural ordeal for him to decide to do what God had tasked him to accomplish. Unfortunately, this is where many Christians begin to reflect the character and behavior of Jonah rather than Jesus.

We are disobedient and fail to do what he has tasked us to do. Consequently, Jesus asks, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46 | NIV We claim to love God. But when it comes to loving others, we forget we have all been made in God’s image. We don’t get to decide who is worthy of our love. If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen. The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also. 1 John 4:20-21 | GNT

We say we love God and love others, but we have allowed inconsequential things like race, politics and nationality to influence how we view our Christian brothers and sisters. We don’t love unbelievers enough to share the gospel with them and warn them of destruction resulting from their unbelief. We look down our noses at those whose lifestyle runs contrary to our church’s teaching, even though such teaching is often little more than man-made legalism. And legalism is not what God expects. We resist telling them about a God who loves them so much he is willing to meet them where they are.

We forget we are sinners who, absent God’s grace, would be just like them. Ours is a God of hope and restoration. He is a God willing to send his only son die for the sin of the world. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 | NLT) He is a God who sent his messenger to warn a sinful population. As sinners in recovery, we, like Jonah, have been charged to be messengers of God’s love. When we don’t, we are as sinful and disobedient as he was. “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17 | NIV)

Jonah might have decided his road trip to Nineveh was not only dangerous, but perhaps even treasonous. He was warning Israel’s enemy. His challenge would be like God telling one of us to go to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, or downtown Moscow to preach the gospel of a free, democracy. Our life expectancy, or at least our freedom, could be short lived. I am sure Jonah felt about Nineveh the way many of us feel about the “Hermit Kingdom” or Russia since the invasion of Ukraine—that their leaders were ruthless and deserved the worst that God could do to them in the way of punishment.

Nowhere do we see that he gave the least thought to the innocent, regular people, including the many children who lived there (Jonah 4:11). He was solely focused on the fact he, a Hebrew prophet, was being sent to a warn a Gentile nation. Not only that, but he was also being sent to one that very well could have tortured him before they took his life. As daunting as that might seem, we shall discover it was not entirely prejudice, the rigors of the journey or even fear that led to his disobedience.

Instead of saluting smartly and doing as he was instructed, the Bible tells us, “. . . Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.” (v.3) We don’t know exactly where Jonah was when he received his marching orders, but we do know that Joppa, where he boarded a ship to escape, was in exactly the opposite direction from Nineveh. The location of Tarshish, his ultimate destination, is also unknown. Many believe it was a city on the coast of Spain, beyond Gibraltar—the far side of nowhere as far as Jonah was concerned.

Instead of going to Nineveh, he headed for the boondocks. Even with the best, big-city attorney, it is doubtful Jonah could demonstrate to any jury, much less to God himself, that he had any intention other than disobedience. Yet, despite his best efforts, he was unable to hide himself or his sin from God.

We will begin our study with those four important, unanswered questions. There are also questions we may never be able to answer. We do not know, for example, when Jonah was written, who wrote it, why it was written and whether it is a factual account. But here are three facts we should consider.

1. It employs two types of Hebrew, both classical and late biblical.
2. Aside from Chapter 2, verses 2-9, which are poetry, it is written in prose, perhaps suggesting more than one author.
3. It contains, according to a few scholars, Persian loan words, which they maintain suggests a post-exilic composition (written after the Babylonian exile). A loan word is a foreign word that becomes a part of another language through frequent usage and acceptance (e.g., cafe, bazaar and kindergarten).

Those three peculiarities could influence how we read and understand Jonah. Being written anonymously after Judah was released from captivity, might explain the author’s focus on God’s sovereignty, his response to genuine repentance and the danger of worshipping other gods. Are you ready to dig into this small but important book?

Discussion

1. Please tell us who you are and why you decided to participate in this Bible study?
2. What do you hope to get out of it?
3. What do you believe about the Hebrew/Christian Scriptures regarding their inspiration, infallibility and inerrancy?
4. What did you learn from the reading?
5. What are your remaining questions/concerns about what you have read so far?

References.

Keller, Timothy. The Prodigal Prophet. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.”

Rohr, Richard. Jesus’ Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount (p. 47). Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition.

Revised: 11/15/2022