The Reluctant Prophet - Part 2

Carla Lindsey explores what happened when Jonah said ‘yeah-nah’ to God.

‘Yeah-nah’ is one of those unique kiwi sayings that doesn’t make sense to the rest of the world. It means ‘I get what you are saying, but I don’t think so’. The book of Jonah is a yeah-nah story. Jonah heard and understood what God was saying to him, but his response was … ‘not likely!’

It begins with God speaking. Jonah is one of the minor prophets—and seven of the 12 minor prophets begin with the same phrase as Jonah: ‘The word of the Lord came to’ …  Jonah. This opening tells us that God himself communicated a message directly to Jonah.

As with other Old Testament prophets, we have no clue what Jonah was doing when God spoke to him or even exactly how God spoke. But from Jonah’s response, we know Jonah clearly heard and understood the message.

Get up

So what were God’s words to Jonah? Well, Jonah was told to ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness had come up before God’ (Jonah 1:2). Given that Nineveh was the capital of the enemy Assyria, God’s instruction was unwelcome, terrifying and maybe even insulting.

Nineveh’s greatness is mentioned three times in Jonah, and archaeology verifies that Nineveh was indeed a ‘great’ ancient city. It lay 600 miles north-east of Israel on the east bank of the Tigris River and housed a large population. The city had a reputation for its strength, pride, evil and brutality. In other words, it symbolised everything that God and his people opposed.

While some other Old Testament prophets did prophesy against pagan nations, they did it from the safe distance of their own country. But God’s message wasn’t just about Nineveh it was for Nineveh. That meant he was literally asking Jonah to ‘get up’ and take it to Nineveh. In the original language this instruction is worded very strongly. Jonah was to immediately go.

Run for it

So, how did Jonah respond to God’s instruction? You could say, not well. Although Jonah was God’s prophet, here we find the first surprise twist in the book. Instead of getting up and going, Jonah got up and … wait for it … ran.

There is no discussion, argument or attempt to negotiate. He just ran. Perhaps it was fear?—of the Assyrians, of what other Israelites might think, or of standing out and being different.

So, instead of delivering the message to the Ninevites, Jonah 1:3 tells us that he ‘ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.’ Did you notice the repetition in this verse?

Why does the writer mention Tarshish three times? Probably because, according to biblical scholar James Bruckner, Tarshish was considered ‘the western most place in the Mediterranean world’.

Jonah was supposed to take a land journey north-east, instead he went sailing to the west. Tarshish was about a deliberate choice to go in the exact opposite direction to where God had asked him to go.

In the original language, the word ‘jarad’ occurs twice in verse three. It is best translated ‘went down’—here it is translated as both ‘went down’ and ‘went aboard’. Jarad not only refers to Jonah’s physical journey, it also has a metaphorical meaning. In Israel, worshipping at the temple meant heading ‘up’ to Jerusalem. So here Jonah is choosing to move down. A move away from God.

Going down

The idea of fleeing from God’s presence is mentioned at the beginning and end of this verse. In the Old Testament God’s presence is sought out. As a punishment, God cast people out of his presence. But here, Jonah attempts to remove himself from God’s presence.

We wonder if Jonah really thought it was possible to hide from God. Did he really believe that God was only in Israel? Or is this comment about Jonah’s personal withdrawing and cutting himself off from God; his wanting to be detached from his life and call?

So Jonah is trying to run away from God aboard a ship to Tarshish. The tension is high. The reader nervously anticipates who will make the next move. Will God let such disobedience go unpunished?

No. Immediately God responds to Jonah’s disobedience. He ‘hurled a great wind on the sea … the mighty storm came upon the ship … and the ship threatened to break up’ (1:4).

Now we get to meet the other people on the boat. People who at this point are terrified they might die in the storm. In their panic we read that the sailors ‘each cried to his god’. They recognised that this was a supernatural storm, and each one cried out to their god, hoping one would save them. They also ‘threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them’—these were desperate times.

Meanwhile, Jonah had ‘gone down’ further and was sleeping. The ship’s captain confronted Jonah, ‘and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps this god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish”.’

The captain gave Jonah two instructions. He told Jonah to ‘get up’—ironically using the exact same words God spoke to Jonah. The captain also asked Jonah to call upon his god. In the Old Testament a prophet would pray in times of crisis. Ironically, by asking Jonah to pray, the captain is treating him like the prophet that he was—but that he didn’t want to be.

Casting lots

Jonah was silent. But the sailors were not. They were the ones who prayed, not the prophet! Yet their prayers weren’t being answered. As casting lots was an accepted way of discerning the will of the gods, the sailors said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us’. So they did and ‘the lot fell on Jonah.’ Jonah was the reason for the terrible storm.

With that revelation, Jonah was bombarded with quick-fire questions. The sailors asked, ‘Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?’

What had Jonah done to upset the gods? He breaks his silence by telling them, ‘I am a Hebrew’ … ‘I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land’.

Ironically, here we find Jonah telling pagans about his God—the exact thing he was trying to avoid doing by running away.

The result of Jonah’s words was that the sailors ‘were even more afraid’. They now realise how powerful Jonah’s God is. According to Bruckner, they also realise how ridiculous it is to be fleeing from the ‘God of the sea, in a ship!’ They are now stuck in this life-threatening situation with Jonah, trying to escape an inescapable God.

As ‘the sea was growing more and more tempestuous’ the sailors asked Jonah, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?’

Jonah told the sailors, ‘pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you’. These words are shocking. Jonah understood that he had caused the storm and needed to face the consequences. Putting it bluntly, the solution was that to save themselves, they needed to kill Jonah. The sailors were to treat him like excess cargo, and hurl him overboard.

While this act of self-sacrifice might make Jonah appear noble … it’s not. Still we see no repentance from Jonah. Jonah does not act. He does not pray. He would rather die than go to Nineveh. His solution was to escape God permanently.

Praying sailors

The sailors did not like his instructions. They knew how powerful Jonah’s God was. They do not want to commit murder, let alone murder God’s prophet.

So ignoring Jonah’s instructions, the sailors decided to row hard to bring the ship back to land. When all their efforts to dig in their oars failed, the sailors ‘cried out to the Lord, “Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you”.’ It is interesting that these pagan sailors are the only ones in this passage to pray. The behaviour of the sailors stands in direct contrast to Jonah.

Jonah, who worshipped God, did not pray and did not take action. On the other hand the pagan sailors were practical, praying people. Jonah was sent to save pagans, yet it is the pagans who are determined to save him.

Ancient sailors had a reputation as low class, thieving and dishonest, so the behaviour of the sailors is unexpected. We expect a prophet to care for the welfare of people, so Jonah’s disobedience is also unexpected.

Man overboard

Reluctantly, after asking God’s forgiveness, the sailors ‘picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging’.

Having seen the violent storm instantly calm, ‘the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows’. (Presumably not on a wooden boat in the middle of the sea, more likely once they’d reached port!) Vows were a common way to symbolically repay a god for their help in a time of crisis.

While the sailors in the book of Jonah seem fairly insignificant characters, they are probably my favourite. I like them because they are full of surprises. They are a reminder not to judge people. A reminder that sometimes non-Christians act with more of the love of Jesus than Christians do, and that Christians sometimes act in very unchristian ways. Let’s not put people in boxes because of one thing we know about them, or presume how they will think, act and feel.

Yeah-nah-yeah

Like the sailors, Jonah too was full of surprises. I think he was caught up an internal struggle. He struggled with who he was, his calling and his way of seeing others. But rather than address those issues he dug his toes in and said ‘yeah-nah.’

But, as we continue this series, we’ll see that God didn’t give up on Jonah. Even when Jonah made a deliberate choice to move away from him, God persisted in inviting Jonah to participate in something that would make a difference.

All through history, God has given people difficult assignments. And all through history God has been with his servants and has enabled them to do what he has called them to. God called Jonah to ‘get up and go’, and he still calls people in the same way today.

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by Carla Lindsey (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 28 May 2016, pp20-21
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