• How Far Was Jonah Running Away?

  Contributed by Brad Henry on Oct 14, 2011 (message contributor)

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  Tags:  Doing God's Will

HOW FAR WAS JONAH RUNNING AWAY?

Let me give you a little perspective on how far Jonah was running away. Joppa was on the far eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea. Tarshish was on the western side of the coast of Spain bordering the Atlantic Ocean. That is approximately 2,200 miles away. That would be the distance from Atlanta to Los Angeles. That is a good distance in an airplane but what about a small ship with no power but sails? Now the distance from Joppa to Nineveh is approximately 700 miles. In essence Jonah ran as far away as he could in the opposite direction.

Why run that far away? After reading a number of commentaries and some other research, I discovered that the Ninevites were a tough group of people with horrendous torturous methods. If anyone was far from the Lord, these people were. So Jonah ran:

1. Because he did not want to go into that snake pit

2. He knew God would probably show mercy and save them.

Have you ever felt like you needed to make things right with a co worker even though your co worker was at fault? Have you ever felt that going to a new city would cure all your problems? Have you ever felt that God didn’t know what he was doing or didn’t understand? Have you ever felt that these people that have hurt you didn’t deserve to be let off the hook?