Jonah 1:2-3

After Jonah’s “wake up call,” God clarified what He wanted Jonah to do.  God was calling Jonah to travel from Gath-hepher 500 miles northeast to Nineveh to call the people to repentance.  500 miles.  No planes.  No trains.  No automobiles.  This was going to be a stroll across a hot desert either on foot or possibly on a camel or donkey.  (Somehow, I seem to be strangely drawn to these guys who wander around in the desert! :0)

Back in the day, the average amount of ground people covered on such excursions—“a day’s journey”—was somewhere around 20 miles a day.  So a 500 mile trip took about 25 days of travel.  Throw in a few Sabbaths (when he would have to have parked and rested), and he would have been on the road for about a month.

Nineveh was built by Noah’s great grandson, Nimrod (Yes, that was his real name.  Genesis 10:8-11).  Scholars estimate that Nineveh’s population was somewhere between 120,000 and 600,000—extremely large for a city back then. Nineveh’s economy centered around the fishing industry, which was very convenient, because it just happened to be located on the eastern coast of the Tigris River where fish just happened to be plentiful.  This dependence on the proliferation of fish lent itself to Nineveh’s becoming entrenched in idol worship. Nineveh worshipped Ishtar, goddess of fertility, love, sex, and war.  Quite a combo.

The worship of a fertility goddess usually involved both male and female cult prostitution, sometimes rape, occasionally child sacrifice, and numerous other vile rituals. Nineveh had become quite a pustule of a city.

All of this was on top of the fact that Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, which had long been Israel’s enemy.  Assyria had attacked, oppressed, harassed, and captured land from Israel for years and years prior to this point in time.  Finally, Israel had driven them back, and now, when God ought to be destroying Nineveh—as Jonah probably thought—God was telling Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them to repent so they would not be destroyed.  It was a bitter pill for Jonah to swallow.

But, still, Nineveh was 500 miles away and in a weakened state.  Why would Jonah care whether or not it were destroyed?

Remember, Jonah was a prophet, and good prophets always know their history.  Jonah knew that God had a habit of using enemy nations to bring judgment against His people.  Jonah saw that Israel was once again beginning to slip back into its old sinful ways, and may have thought it was just a matter of time before God’s wrath was stirred and He turned Assyria loose on Israel.

Journal Time:

It seems like Jonah had some valid, even biblical reasons (Remember God’s judgment against everybody but Noah’s family? Sodom and Gomorrah?), for wanting God’s judgment to fall on Nineveh.  Can you think of a time when you had very good reasons for wanting God to act your way when He seemed intent on acting His way?  How do Isaiah 55:8-9 and Proverbs 3:5 apply here?

Consider Jonah’s thoughts about the Ninevites’ sin and the punishment they deserved alongside the story of the Pharisees versus the woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11).  Do you see any parallels?  What was God’s stance towards the Ninevites and the woman compared to the attitude of Jonah and the Pharisees?  How does II Peter 3:9 apply?

Prayer Points:

Repent: from any time you’ve thought your way was better than God’s way.

Request: that God will help you to forgive anyone who has sinned against you.

Seek God: for the wisdom to know how to stand against sin while showing compassion for those who are in bondage to that sin.

Some of the principles of good hermeneutics (interpreting Scripture) are to know who the author of the book was, when he wrote/when the action took place, where he lived, and the historical/cultural context in which he wrote.  So let’s start off with a little background:

Jonah was a prophet of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (as opposed to the Southern Kingdom of Judah).  The events described in the book of Jonah took place in approximately 760 B.C., during the reign of King Jeroboam II.  This would mean Jonah prophesied after Elisha and before Hosea and Amos, despite the fact that the book of Jonah actually comes after both of these books in the Old Testament.

During Jonah’s tenure, Israel was experiencing greater prosperity than at any other time in its history.  Though previously attacked and oppressed by the Assyrians (of which Nineveh was the capital), the power of this enemy kingdom had weakened significantly and Israel was now at peace.  Unfortunately, with this peace also came considerable moral decay and political corruption.

Though not recorded verbatim in the Bible, Jonah’s prophecies to King Jeroboam II assured him of continued prosperity for Israel and encouraged him to greatly expand the kingdom’s borders to reclaim land which had been previously captured by the Assyrians and others (II Kings 14:25).

Read Jonah 1:1-2

1:1-

II Kings 14:25 tells us that Jonah followed in the footsteps of his dad, Amittai—who was also a prophet—in his hometown of  Gath-hepher. Gath-hepher was about 3-5 miles north of Nazareth, between the sea of Galilee and theMediterranean Sea.  

 

 

Jonah had a pretty good gig.  He was no weeping prophet like Jeremiah, that’s for sure.  His country, Israel, was at peace, had a great economy, and he had the pleasant task of being able to tell the king exactly what the king wanted to hear: Go out and get our land back.  You’ll be successful, the country’s prosperity will continue, and, oh, by the way, you’re going to be one popular dude.

Enter- God.

Scripture tells us that God sends the rain upon the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:45), and God was about to rain all over Jonah’s little parade.  Which, frankly, judging from Jonah’s attitude, he probably needed.

1:2-

These days, as Christians, we rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us as we make decisions about life.  We pray and ask for His guidance.  We check out the Scriptures to see which biblical principles apply to our situation.  We look at the way circumstances are lining up and seek godly counsel.  In the end, we usually have an impression of what God wants us to do, and we move in that direction.  It’s not often we get precise, word for word instructions like Jonah did.

I love the imperative this verse begins with: “arise”.  That’s what it says in my version (NASB), anyway.  The HCSB version kicks it off this way: “Get up!”  Is it possible Jonah had gotten a little too complacent or lazy?  Maybe he was a bit too ensconced in the “good life”?

Ever been in Jonah’s shoes?  Sometimes when we’ve got a nice cushy gig like Jonah had, God has to start off His instructions to us by saying, “Get up!  Shake off your comfortable trappings and get ready to head ‘em up and move ‘em out!” Before He shows us where He wants us to go, He has to get us up and get us ready to go.

That happened to me about 16 years ago.  Before my first child was born, I had a nice professional job in a nice office at a nice university.  The baby was due in August.  I had every intention of going back to work after my 12 weeks of maternity leave.  It simply never occurred to me that there was any other path to take.

Enter- God.

My call to “Get up!” came at the end of June, which was also the end of the university’s fiscal year.  The grant that funded my position wasn’t renewed, and I was out of a job.  As it turned out, just like with Jonah, God wanted me to go somewhere I’d never been before: into the challenging fray of being a stay at home mom.  And, just like with Jonah, it’s not a place I’d ever imagined myself going.

But as I’ve walked this road God laid before me so many years ago, I’ve learned a few things.  

• God is sovereign, and my life is not my own.  He made me, He owns me, and He has a right to do whatever He wants with me.
•  Try it. You might like it.  I love what God has called me to do.
   
• The more you love God and have a genuine affection for serving Him, the more able you’ll be to see things His way and love the things He loves.

 I hope Jonah eventually learned those things, too.

Journal Time:

Has God ever called you to “Get up!” and get ready to move on to another plan He has for you?  Describe that situation.  Looking back, can you now see the purpose He had?

Read Romans 9:20-21.  Have you ever been the clay questioning the Potter?  What does it mean that God is sovereign?  Which areas of your life are not fully submitted to God’s sovereignty?

 

Prayer Points:

Repent: Over any areas in which you’re not totally submitted to God’s sovereignty.

 Request: Strength for whatever new tasks God has for you in the future.

Seek God: To discover if there is any new direction in which He is trying to move you.