Message
Jonah 1:1-3
A Disturbing Call From A Merciful God
I don’t have definitive proof but it would be my educated opinion that the story of Jonah … specifically the part where Jonah is swallowed by a large fish or whale … is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible.
Ask anybody who Jonah was … do you reckon 7 out of 10 people would know?? “It is about a man who was swallowed by a whale.”
The book of Pinocchio must have been inspired by the Jonah event.
Even as late as 2012 Bruce Springsteen wrote a song called, “Swallowed Up (In The Belly Of The Whale)”.
The “being swallowed” part is well known … but that is not the main focus. The main focus of the book is on God’s Unanticipated Mercy.
It is a message which comes through again and again … God’s Unanticipated Mercy.
We see this message taking place straight right from the beginning … let’s read Jonah 1:1-3
What has just happened? Well Jonah is responding to A Disturbing Call From A Merciful God
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai” (Jonah 1:1)
Outside of this book the only other time that Jonah is mentioned in Scripture is in 2 Kings 14:23-25.
In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.
Just prior to the rule of Jeroboam Israel was a small territory giving heavy tribute to the surrounding nations. But then, from about 780-740BC, even though he was evil, Jeroboam was able to achieve prosperity, influence and expansion and restore the boundaries of the land back to what they were in the days of King David.
It all happened in accordance with a prophetic word from God through Jonah. Jonah … the prophet who had the reputation of being faithful, and faithfully bringing God’s Word.
This Jonah is sitting quietly one day at his home in Gath Hepher; and God speaks to him.
**(readers refer to the map at the end to get an understanding of where locations are).**
“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2)
Nineveh is an import city in Assyria.
Going back to Genesis 10:10-12 which is describing the nations that set up after the flood we read that
The first centers of Nimrod’s (the grandson of Ham) kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the capital city.
Nineveh was a founding city of Assyria. It eventually became the capital city in 700BC, a bit after the time of Jonah.
It is a city with a long history.
It is also a city with a reputation. Nimrod was a mighty hunter and warrior. The city of Nineveh reflected his character. Speaking about Nineveh Nahum 3:1-3 says:-
Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!
The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots!
Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears!
Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses.
The city of Nineveh loved to hunt … people. A powerful and cruel army where their weapon. In the days of Jonah their power was on the increase.
One day Jonah is quietly sitting in his home town in Gath Hepher and God comes to him and says, “Go to Nineveh and preach against it. I have seen their evil and they need to know about their evil.”
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).
There is not scholarly agreement as the where Tarshish is. But if we read 2 Chronicles 9:21 … and I am using the ESV … we get a good idea. The time is the reign of king Solomon.
The king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
It takes three years for a merchant ship to do a round trip to Tarshish. So the suggestion that Tarshish is here, in modern Spain, is probably most accurate. Now we have all the towns marked on the map.
In those days, in an ancient boat, the sea trip to Tarshish would take about a year.
Another year to collect all the merchandise. A year for the return trip.
That is Jonah’s plan. Except he wasn’t planning to come back.
And really take note of the text.
It doesn’t say, “Jonah went to Joppa and found a boat which happened to be going to Tarshish.” Jonah walked out his front door, all the way back there at Gath Hepher, with the set purpose of finding a boat that was going to Tarshish. In terms of the world as it was in those days he almost literally is going as far as he can in the opposite direction.
Before we make some harsh judgements against Jonah, I want us to stop and think about what is happening here. You see, other prophets where called to speak against the nations.
Obadiah preaches against Edom.
Nahum preaches against Assyria.
Other prophets preach about the destruction of the nations.
Isaiah 13-24 contains prophecies against Babylon, and Assyria, and Egypt … and many other nations.
Jeremiah 47-51 does the same.
But no prophet, except for Jonah, is asked by God to go to a non-Israelite nation, and preach.
Jeremiah was dragged against his will to Egypt.
Daniel was taken into captivity and ended up being a witness in Babylon.
But only Jonah was specifically told to go and to preach …
… not from a distance and the relative safety of Israel.
… but to travel to the great evil city of Nineveh and preach face-to-face to the people who had a reputation of being cruel and piling up bodies.
Remember we started by saying that the main message of the book of Jonah is … God’s Unanticipated Mercy.
When Jonah hears the call of God he does not anticipate that God could possibly have mercy for the people of Nineveh.
They are cruel and don’t show any sympathy for those they conquer.
They worshipped other gods and had detestable spiritual practises.
They are the descendants of Ham. The son of Noah who was cursed to be a slave because he saw Noah drunk and naked and didn’t cover up the indecency.
This is the history of Nineveh. When God calls Jonah to preach to Nineveh Jonah finds that unanticipated mercy too disturbing and that is the moment he decides to go in the opposite direction.
So here is the application question for today.
Do we find the unanticipated mercy of God too disturbing?
Is it too disturbing to think at that God would have mercy on the single man who lives from week to week, or even from hour to hour, in a sexual relationship with different women – or even multiple women at one time?
Do we struggle with the idea that that God would have mercy on those who have made their jobs, or their status, or the pursuit of leisure, or wealth, or hobbies into something that they worship … effectively into an idol?
Have we anticipated the reality that people who have committed adultery, and caused broken families, and single parenting and social dislocation – have we anticipated that mercy God has for them?
Is it too disturbing for us to recognise that men and women who practise homosexuality, or struggle with gender identity, or promote same sex marriage – that God is willing to be merciful?
Can we fathom that mercy is for the person who came into our home and stole our phones, and i-pads and jewellery and TV and drove off in our car using the keys which were on the table?
Do we struggle with the thought that the scammers who are just out to make money, and the bosses who get wealthy on the backs of underpaid workers, and the millionaires who just want more – do we struggle with the idea that God has mercy for them?
Have we anticipated that the alcoholic, who has ruined the life of his family, and lost all his money, and drives on the roads with a 0.09 alcohol content in his body – that there is mercy for him?
Do we find it disturbing that those who insist there is no god, and tear down the name of Christianity, and speak vitriol against public religion in any form … do we anticipate that God has mercy for such people?
These are not random example’s. Here is the Scripture text.
Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And that is what some of you were.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Washed. Cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Sanctified. Placed in a spiritual situation of holiness in the sight of God.
Justified. As if I had never sinned nor been a sinner.
Everyone in the list. Every category of sinners.
Does that disturb you? Such unanticipated mercy?
Is there a little bit of Jonah in all of us?
Get up and go to and speak to the city of Nineveh because it’s evil has my attention.
Jonah gets up and goes in the opposite direction because the call to an agent of the unanticipated mercy of God is too disturbing.
That was the call. And we also have a call.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.”
Matthew 28:18-19
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
Do we go?
If we don’t is it because we don’t believe that God can bring about transformation and repentance?
Or are we actually disturbed by the fact that such unanticipated mercy is actually possible and we struggle with the implications?
Or is it something else?
God’s Unanticipated Mercy forces us to stop and really think. Because we are seeing the works of God from a different perspective and it is a perspective which creates challenge.
Yet, even as we wrestle with the challenge, let’s keep seeing for ourselves the unanticipated mercy of God. We see it in the way God is patient with Jonah.
It takes at least four days to walk from Gath Hepher …
And it is not like you can go to Joppa and jump on a boat to Tarshish every day. Realistically a week, even two weeks.
My point is this. You don’t have to go to Joppa to show you are in rebellion. You don’t even have to walk out your front door.
The Lord had ample to bring Jonah to his senses.
That is what he did with Balaam and the talking donkey.
But here is unanticipated mercy.
The Lord mercifully allows Jonah time to rethink his strategy.
Because, let’s face it, the strategy is ridiculous. And even Jonah knows it.
“I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Jonah 1:9
The God who created the sea is where the sea is. Jonah knows he can’t run from God – and that is not what Jonah is doing. Jonah’s strategy is trying to go somewhere where he can avoid the call of God on his life. For Jonah Tarshish looks like it fits the criteria. The prophet Isaiah lived at a similar time to Jonah. Isaiah 66:19 says;
“I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.
Tarshish doesn’t know the fame of Yahweh … so the plan is to go to a place where Jonah won’t be expected to have a responsibility to fulfil the call. Jonah is trying to run from his identity. The identity of being an agent, a preacher, a witness, of God’s Unanticipated Mercy.
As Jonah wrestles with questions of identity God shows patience.
So that Jonah can rediscover who he is.
Jonah – the recipient of God’s Unanticipated Grace.
Currently it is a grace that Jonah finds disturbing. And maybe we do as well.
So let’s spend this coming week honestly asking ourselves, “Do I find the unanticipated grace of God disturbing?”
Then we will keep going on the journey together responding to God’s unanticipated grace and what this means for our identity in this world.
Prayer
