Jonah 1-4

Today, you get to relax a little and read only four short chapters with only 48 verses. Many people, upon reading Jonah, debate with each other whether a great fish or a whale would have the stomach for such a meal. If they read it carefully, they will notice that the fish does vomit Jonah up on to the dry land (smelly but undigested!). But you have read enough Hebrew narrative by now (repeated phrases, three days and nights, etc.) that you know that the writer does not care whether we believe scientifically that the event happened. He has a story to tell and it is a powerful one. A proper question is "Is this a prophecy or a story about a prophet?" It is more a story about a prophet, but the Hebrew Bible places it among the 12 minor prophets (minor meaning shorter not less significant).

Chapter 1 tells the command to go to Nineveh. In the map above you see where ancient Nineveh was. It was the capital city of Assyria, the people who invaded the north and took it over in 722 BCE. This was during the Iron Age and their use of chariotry made them feared throughout the known world. They were intimidating and brutal. They would eventually be conquered by the Babylonians and the Medes, but at their peak (during the time of Jonah) they were a dominant force. For a Jewish prophet to be called to Nineveh by God was simply unacceptable. So Jonah goes in the opposite direction. Most of us have taken the opportunity to run from God, only to find out that God seems to be quite tenacious (what some preachers have called "the hound of heaven."). The picture is dramatic. They unload cargo and cast lots to find who is the source of the storm. Even casting lots identifies Jonah (it seems that God's people don't get away with much!). Jonah has to talk them into throwing him overboard, but the storm becomes so great they have no choice. God provides a great fish to swallow Jonah. How long was he there? Sacred story.

In chapter 2, Jonah gets religion again, offering a Psalm of Thanksgiving to God (using words from Proverbs, Psalms and Isaiah). Aside from the scriptural quotes, the text of Jonah's prayer is quite funny. The fish gets divinely inspired indigestion.

In chapter 3, God calls Jonah again. He preaches a message that they have 40 days to repent. Wonder of wonders, the people actually do repent and God spares the city. You would think Jonah would enjoy the success, but no, he is angry in chapter 4. The reason he ran in the first place is because he thought they would repent and be spared. Jonah has a giant pity party. God gets him for his wrong values - concerns over a bush and his own comfort vs. concerns for the lives of 120,000 people. God is challenging Jonah to forgive, but he refuses. After all, they don't deserve to be forgiven or given a second chance. In the end, Jonah is pathetic.

In a part of the world that has such a long sense of history and corporate memory, this story speaks a difficult word. But it's the one that is as important today and it was 2700+ years ago. Nineveh is in present day Northern Iraq, just north of Mosul and goes up into Kurdistan. What happens if the rival countries of the middle east were able to forgive and learn a sense of corporate forgetfulness? If they don't, my guess is no peace accord will last long.