Jonah Flees God’s Presence

Jonah Flees God’s Presence

            “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish” (Jonah 1:1-6).

            This text starts off in a peculiar manner, almost as if it is a continuation of a larger story. But isn’t that what every book contained in the canon of scripture is? The Bible is comprised of 66 books, from around 40 different authors, over the course of thousands of years. It is God’s story to humanity about Himself and the work of Christ on the Cross for the redemption of us, His covenant people set aside for Himself in an age of mass rebellion. Yet, in the midst of all that, it is also a story that often reminds us of the rebellion that is frequently inside our own ranks as God’s covenant people. I think this is one of the themes of this Book of Jonah. I think the Holy Spirit caused the writer to start this work with the word “now” to make it clear that this story is a continuation of major themes found in the books of scripture before it. Throughout them, God wrestles with a rebellious people! In this case, one of these rebellious people would be our dear friend, the prophet Jonah. We see in the text that the “word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai.” This is no small thing. When “the word of the Lord” comes to a prophet, it’s because God has something He wants to say! He tells his oracle, Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” God is essentially telling Jonah to call Nineveh to repentance! Calling out against Nineveh’s great sins. But what does Jonah do? He flees from the presence of God in rebellion against Him.

            This is such a serious moment. Jonah does several things that are unbecoming of a prophet of God. A prophet is one who should make his home in the presence of God. Here, Jonah exiles himself from God’s presence. In fact, He leaves Israel, the covenant promised land of God to live in utter disobedience. Why would a prophet of God willfully leave the presence of God and all the good things that come from it? Well, the simple answer would be because Jonah had a rebellious attitude. Warren Weirsbe points out, “Jonah’s wrong attitude toward God’s will stemmed from a feeling that the Lord was asking him to do an impossible thing” (Weirsbe, Be Amazed, pg. 92). How often do we, in our Christian walks, see that God has called us to do something seemingly impossible, and we turn from Him in disobedience? I’m not talking about supernatural things. I’m talking about things that, to us, seem like an outrageous request. This was the case for Jonah, whom Timothy Keller refers to as the “prodigal prophet.” But what exactly is the problem here? Well, as St. Jerome points out, “The prophet knows, the Holy Spirit teaching him, that the repentance of the Gentiles is the ruin of the Jews. A lover, then, of his country, he does not so much envy the deliverance of Nineveh as will that his own country should not perish” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, XIV, pg. 130). What is our forefather saying about Jonah? That he is politically motivated! Jonah has heard all of the prophecies about the doom and exile coming to Israel. He is also the prophet who prophesied the restoration of the boundaries of the Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 14:25). When this happened, it cemented his name in scripture forever and likely the hearts of the Israelite people.  

            Imagine what thoughts may have entered into his heart as he mulled this over. Think about his hatred for the Assyrians, who were violent, evil people. Think about his patriotism and desire to see Israel continue in her time of prosperity in light of the Assyrians, who had committed great atrocities against Israel. Think of the envious thoughts he may have had toward other prophets. Our father in the faith, St. Jerome, puts it this way, “Seeing that his fellow prophets are sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to excite the people to repentance, and that Balaam the soothsayer too prophesied the salvation of Israel, he grieves that he is chosen to be sent to Assyria, the enemies of Israel, and that the greatest city of the enemies where there was idolatry and ignorance of God” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, XIV, pg. 130). Think about it. All the other prophets before him get to preach repentance to Israel, the apple of God’s eye. He has to preach to the wicked Ninevites. Even Balaam the wicked false prophet was used to preach salvation to Israel; but Jonah? Jonah was stuck with the Ninevites. Oh the things that can muddy up the hearts of God’s people, causing their actions to be impure!

And what did Jonah do? He fled from the presence of God. He fled so intentionally that he “went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3, ESV) Jonah has committed a serious, willful sin here. Not only did he disobey God, but he did it deliberately. He packed up his bags intentionally, and intentionally followed the map to get down to Joppa to arrive at the port. That was very intentional! But what’s worse? While he was in Joppa he could have repented. He could have repented and turned 550 miles northeast to Nineveh, but instead he paid what was likely a large sum of money to sail 2,500 miles toward Tarshish. The writer of the Book of Jonah adds something very interesting to the end of this verse. He adds at the end, “…away from the presence of the Lord.” Not only was Jonah intent on being disobedient, but he was willing to leave God’s presence to get away. One may be asking, what is s important about Tarshish? Why would he flee towards there? Tarshish, which is part of modern Spain, was the very edge of the known world that Jonah lived in. For all intents and purposes, it was as far from Nineveh as possible. In other words, Jonah was willing to go to the end of the world to get away from his calling.

One thing that we will see as we go through this book is the type and shadow that Jonah really is. One of the types he resembles is God’s intention for humanity. A way to look at it, which we will visit in a later chapter as well, is found in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. In them, Jesus tells the combatant pharisees that they will not receive a sign except the sign of Jonah: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Jonah was a foreshadowing type of Jesus and His resurrection. Now, you may be wondering why I am bringing the resurrection up in light of Tarshish. Allow me to bring you to Paul’s epistle to the Romans where he says to the saints in Rome, “I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while” (Romans 15:23, ESV). Remember when I said that Tarshish is modern Spain? The borders of Spain have not changed much since then. Paul’s mission was to go to Tarshish!

Again, I know I need to bring this home for you to really know where I am going with it. Paul was headed to Spain to preach the message of the risen savior to the gentiles there. In fact, Paul is intending to fulfill the prophecy given by Isaiah, which says, “…I will set a sign among them, I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations” (Isaiah 66:19, ESV). Paul sees himself as a survivor sent to the nations, to proclaim the gospel to the gentiles so that God’s glory will be declared to all the nations. Now, these are not modern nations. These are the nations listed in Genesis 10, called the “table of nations.” Paul is trying to make it to all nations, and Tarshish is the last stop. Now, the type and shadow comes here: Just as Jonah was the rebellious prophet to the gentiles, Paul, filled with the Spirit of Christ, is the obedient apostle to the gentiles. Just as Jonah was rebellious and fled, Paul was obedient and was sent. Just as Jonah fled to Tarshish so the gentiles would not be saved, Paul advances obediently to Tarshish so that all that gentiles may be saved. Just as Jonah only preached to one gentile city, calling it to repent, Paul preached to many gentile cities and called them to repentance. Paul’s actions are a reversal of Jonah’s actions. Why? So that the one who is greater than Jonah, (Jesus), could redeem the lost that lived there. This is why I bring up Jesus’ words so soon. The salvation to be brought through Him is the completion of Jonah’s time in salvation history.

Now that this is brought full circle, it’s important to note that Jonah did not have bad theology about God’s heart and intention toward the lost. As Warren Weirsbe aptly put it, “The Assyrians were a cruel people who had often abused Israel, and Jonah’s narrow patriotism took precedence over his theology. Jonah forgot that the will of God is the expression of the love of God (Ps. 33:11) and that God called him to Nineveh because He loved both Jonah and the Ninevites” (Weirsbe, Be Amazed, pg. 92). The problem wasn’t Jonah’s theology, it was his heart. He had an awful attitude towards God for telling him to go to this horrible enemy to preach repentance. Jonah even admits that he knows God loves the Ninevites at the beginning of chapter 4, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2). Jonah hated the Assyrians. In fact, Weirsbe insinuates that there is a special reason for this. Jonah’s home land, Gath-Hepher, was on the border of Zebulun, one of the northernmost tribes; which was extremely vulnerable to invaders like Assyria. Perhaps Jonah had seen some of the evils Assyria was capable of (Weirsbe, Be Amazed, pg. 214). Needless to say, Jonah was not willing to obey God because of his prejudice towards the Assyrians for the evil they resembled. He was so hardened toward the Assyrians that he was unwilling to submit to the heart of God for the gentiles, which we see fulfilled in the culmination of the work of the apostles in the New Testament. But how often do we ignore the call to preach today? Jonah in some sense has justifiable reasons to abstain from preaching repentance to the Assyrians. For most Christians today the problem is merely that we are uncomfortable, and so we ignore the great commission. Lack of comfort won’t excuse us on judgement day, though! Because of the work of Christ through His apostles, there will be no excuse today for disobedience to the call to preach the gospel to the lost. No matter how evil the lost are or how uncomfortable we are!

The Lord God’s response to this is incredible; and it really reveals an important aspect of His nature. Yes, you read that correctly. The text reads, “But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up” (Jonah 1:4). At first glance this seems to be the act of an angry God, bent on forcing His way, and in some ways that assessment may prove correct. As we read the book of Jonah, it appears obvious that God does indeed “make” Jonah do His will. But with that said, pay attention to the patience of God. God could have easily decided to destroy Jonah and use somebody else. But God elects to show Jonah the same kind of longsuffering that He is extending toward the Assyrians. This further proves Jonah’s assessment of the love of God, that God is, “steadfast in love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah is slowly beginning to realize that when the heart of God is set upon you, His steadfast love remains a lighthouse of hope for the soul that is far from Him. Jonah, who left the presence of the Lord, could not escape the love of the Lord. Perhaps this puts into perspective why the apostle Peter exhorts the Church by saying, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV). It is because of the love of God that God is patient towards sinners. God speaks this same sentiment to Israel through the mouth of His prophet Ezekiel saying, “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel” Ezekiel 33:11, ESV)?

Jonah, for all intents and purposes is evil for his rebellion against almighty God. Yet God continues to show divine patience, putting up with his obstinate rebellion. Despite God’s patience, however, Jonah is not doing well. He is unable to sin peaceably. St. Jerome said of the subject, “Nothing is secure when God is against us” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, XIV, pg. 132). Jonah may have experienced the grace of God, but God was still against him. God gave him the command to go to Nineveh, and instead, Jonah fled. And Jonah would not be allowed to flee so easily! John Chrysostom adds, “Sin is like heavy cargo” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, XIV, pg. 132). This is why when we move to the next verse, we see that, “…the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep” (Jonah 1:5, ESV). Jonah’s sin caused a life and death situation to unfold. The mariners were likely headed to Tarshish to sell their cargo. This was how they were going to make their income. Not only this, but as Timothy Keller notes, these mariners were “…experienced sailors who took bad weather in stride, so this must have been a uniquely terrifying tempest” (The Prodigal Prophet, pg. 33). So, these sea hardened sailors were so terrified by the tempest, (which was the result of Jonah’s sinful rebellion), that they threw their only source of income overboard. How heavy is the burden of sin!

Yet in the midst of it all, Jonah was asleep. And how often are we asleep as God is speaking? When our hearts are so hardened to our own sin that we have fallen asleep as God is shouting loudly to us, “Repent! Repent!” Yet Jonah was clueless. He was fast asleep, and therefore unable to recognize the great warning of God. The unsaved pagans on the ship certainly recognized the situation before Jonah. So much so that they prayed to their own gods in hope that they might save them. The pagan mariners were unable to tell that salvation was only through Jonah’s God, yet they still more awake to the truth in areas of life that Jonah was fast asleep in. We see a similar instance of such hardening in the New Testament. Jesus has just arrived home to Nazareth and He reads the Isaiah scroll, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19 ESV). This would have been no issue for the people had Jesus not uttered the following words after rolling up the scroll and giving it back to the attendant, saying, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21, ESV). The people, who were spiritually asleep doubted Jesus, saying, “Is not this Joseph’s son” (Luke 4:22, ESV)? They had either grown up with Jesus or watched as the incarnate Jesus became a grown man. So used to Jesus, they allowed their hearts to be so “used to him” that they became hardened toward Him when He was revealing Himself as their only hope for salvation. At the end of this passage in Luke, it says, “…passing through their midst, he went away” (Luke 4:30, ESV). Because of the hardness of their hearts, the people of Nazareth missed the coming of the Messiah, the proclaimer of their liberty. May we never be hardened so much so that the presence of the Lord goes away!

In so many ways, this is also Jonah. Yes, Jonah is foreshadowing Nazareth. A prophet of God, so acquainted with the presence of God, flees the presence of God; and when the presence of God returns to him in the form of a great tempest, Jonah remains asleep. Hardened toward God! Yet the pagan captain of the ship would have none of it. In the next verse it says, “So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish” (Jonah 1:6, ESV). There have been times where I would read this verse with great conviction because there have been moments in my life where I was as faithless as Jonah. Since being in ministry, I have been inspired by the willingness of lost young teenagers as they come to church, seeking what they do not yet know, primed for an encounter with God. It reminds me to never allow myself to be hardened towards the things of God; because there are lost people who have less than I, spiritually speaking, who are seeking a salvation that only my Jesus can give them, and I must be ready to preach the Gospel to them. Yes, in my ministry, Young people whose supplications are like the statue at the Areopagus in Athens, “to the unknown God” (Acts 17:23, ESV). Let this be a reminder to all of us that we must be like the Apostle Paul, eager to give an answer to the lost people of this world for the hope that is within us, as Peter commends in 1 Peter 3:15. Let us not be like Jonah, who needed to be begged by the pagan mariners to intercede on their behalf. No, let us already be praying for the lost and ready to spread the hope of Jesus to the lost people of this world.

Conclusion:

            If I were to give Jonah any advice, it would be straight from the writer of Hebrews who said, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10, ESV). In a very real way, Jonah was sent to Nineveh to receive the people there as an inheritance. Winning those lost souls to the Lord was a very real victory, one that would add many jewels to his crown in heaven. Unfortunately, at least at this part in the story of Jonah, he has rejected those jewels. If only Jonah were able to read the book of Daniel where it says, “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3, ESV). But unfortunately Jonah was not thinking of “forever and ever.” He was thinking of the nation of Israel, of which Assyria was a rival of. This worldly thinking caused Jonah to rebel! Needless to say, Jonah’s excessive love for country proved that he lacked faith in God. Sure, he believed in God and had faith in God in many ways, but he was holding out. For some reason, he didn’t seem to trust that God would uphold His people. Perhaps he knew Israel was in sin and therefore soon to be judged. Either way, Jonah failed to live as his father Abraham did; who was “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” Instead, he let his love for the city of Jerusalem blind him. He was so blind that he hardened his heart and fled from God’s presence! What a conundrum for a prophet of God to have to answer for! So, if I could, I would have encouraged Jonah to take his eyes off of himself; and off of the cities of this world, and think of the lost who dwell among him, and to place his sole faith in the God who is the architect and builder of the eternal city that will last forever and ever!