The story of Jonah

Over the decades we have come to know Jonah as a character that does not quite fit the picture of a courageous and loyal prophet of Jehovah, zealously and joyfully pursuing his assignment. He seems to be a bit of a loser that picks up his bat and walks off if things don’t turn out his way. What a ‘warning example for us’ of someone who doesn’t appreciate his privilege of preaching the life-saving message, and then, to make matters worse, seemingly indulges himself in a holiday cruise, in total disregard for Jehovah’s orders.

Was he just spiritually weak, not trusting in Jehovah to back him up? Was he afraid of what the fierce Assyrians might do to him? But if he really was such a fearful, reluctant, selfish coward that didn’t know his God and rebelled against serving him, why then does Jesus use him as a sign against his own generation? What is the sign of Jonah? After years of Jonah-bashing by the Watchtower, lets see how well we really know him, and what we can learn from him.

First of all, was he really a coward, afraid of death at the hand of the Assyrians? Why then did he volunteer to be thrown overboard? When hardened sailors cried for help, scared for their lives, how can Jonah take a nap? Why did he offer to die at Jehovah’s hand rather than see the survival of the Assyrians? Why did he not pack up and go home after his successful preaching campaign instead of sitting in the sun outside the city, suffering for days in the sweltering heat? Clearly, he was scared of neither suffering nor death! Was he just spiritually weak, not knowing Jehovah very well? Why did he run away?

If Jehovah sent you on a missionary trip to a distant country, and on the first day you succeed in starting 120000 bible studies with repentant householders, would you start arguing with Jehovah, even to the point of your own death? What is going on here? Jonah’s intimate and detailed knowledge of Jehovah’s character in showing mercy and forgiveness is at the very heart of his quite deliberate and calculated disobedience to his commission. How so?

He profoundly disagrees with how Jehovah proposes to use his mercy and toward whom he plans to exercise it. There is also an issue of justice involved here, and Jonah had yet to see the bigger picture of its application. Is it just, to give special treatment to a small minority if it works to the detriment of the majority? Is God’s mercy to be limited to his people that are arbitrarily chosen to the exclusion of all others? Jonah apparently thought so, as do many people today. Jonah must have been familiar with the history of Sodom, Gomorrah and other pagan cities that Jehovah destroyed without first dispatching one of his prophets to warn them.

This must have struck Jonah as odd; his own rebellious people were in need of mercy and forgiveness, and Jehovah, being in a good mood, sends him to minister to his enemies, the Assyrians! Being fiercely patriotic and nationalistic, Jonah perceived a clash of loyalties between Israel and Jehovah in his mission to the Assyrians, and promptly and boldly took a stand for his people and against Jehovah. He must have reasoned: ‘If Jehovah wants to take a hard line against the Ninevites, he would not send me to warn them first, hence he must be wanting to use me as an accomplice in his relenting and showing mercy to them; but only over my dead body! I’m off! I will not have Jehovah squander his mercy and blessing on his enemies, that pagan mob of Assyrians, while millions of his own people are in need of revival and forgiveness, and to have their hearts turned back to him, even though I have been unable to accomplish this.’

This is Jonah’s worst nightmare, and his God was determined to bring it about. Jehovah was in a covenant relationship with Israel, not the Assyrians! Jonah correctly foresaw the outcome of his preaching trip, though he may have been surprised at the speed and extent of his success. Hot with anger, and in prayer to Jehovah, he informs us about his reason for refusing his assignment: “Ah, now, O Jehovah, was not this an affair of mine, while I happened to be on my own ground? That is why I went ahead and ran away to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, and feeling regret over the calamity.”

Jonah, like many today, failed to understand the reason and purpose of God’s choosing, imagining it to be for them to get saved, while those not chosen are damned. But Jehovah purposed for those chosen to become a blessing to all those not chosen, and this role Jonah was reluctant to fulfil. The God who made Israel also made Assyria, and according to what transpired in Nineveh, he might have been more justified in choosing Assyria as his people than Israel. God’s people are no better or more deserving than the world, hence only those that respond to his mercy and repent are really his People, and this is the sign of Jonah.

He saved 120000 souls in one day among God’s enemies, because they believed what Jonah preached, but the Son of man, who is far greater than Jonah, preaching among Jehovah’s witnesses for three odd years, averaged only about 120 followers. Men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment and condemn the generation of first century Jehovah’s witnesses; what will they say to us? Jehovah’s witnesses in Jonah’s time were all through their lives slaving under the strictures of the Law, while the Ninevites lived an indulgent live, repenting only 40 days before the day of judgment and were spared, while only a remnant of God’s people survived the day of Jehovah. In the future time of trouble we may be called upon to deliver a final message of judgment to the world. What may be the result? What may be our response? Have we learned Jonah’s lesson?