What is Jonah all about? Pt. 1
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Main Question for today...
Is Jonah who we think he is?
The purpose of this series is to use a biblical approach in studying the characters, themes, and teachings of the Bible in order to bring us to a more mature faith in God.
As we look at the character and Book of Jonah today, consider how your perspectives of Jonah changes as we learn from the biblical narrative of his exploits.
Opening thought
Imagine you are sharing your faith with someone who is not a Christian and they ask you "Hey, I've heard of the name Jonah before, but I don't know anything about him. Tell me who Jonah was and tell me his story." What would you say?
Typical responses may include:
Jonah fled away from Nineveh– 1:3
Jonah was cast into the sea–1:15
Jonah was swallowed up by a big fish– 1:17
Jonah went to Nineveh after getting spit up–2:10-3:4
Nineveh repented– 3:5-10
Jonah and the plant– 4:6-8
These events are often the most popular responses when asked "What is Jonah all about?", but we should take a closer look at the Bible to see if this is all that the Book of Jonah has to teach us.
Consider this...
As we continue forward, keep in the front of your mind what you previously understood about Jonah and how that compares with what you are about to read.
The Book of Jonah has almost nothing to do with the Fish!
Read Jonah 1:17 and 2:10
Compared to the rest of the book, what do you notice about the amount of time spent talking about this fish?
It’s only 2 verses that even mention the fish!
Ch 2 is about Jonah’s prayer inside the fish, but the Fish itself is not the focus of the story.
How does this compare with what we are traditionally taught about the Book of Jonah?
Jonah is an Anti-Prophet
Everything about Jonah-- both the person and the book-- is the exact opposite of what you would expect from a typical biblical prophet.
Jonah's (lack of) Humility
Read Isa. 6:5; Jer. 1:6-7; Exod. 4:10; Amos 7:14
What kind of attitude or posture did these prophets take?
Read Jonah 1:3
What did Jonah do in 1:3? How does this compare with the actions of the other prophets we read?
While other prophets took a posture of humility, Jonah wasn't reluctant to take on the title of a follower of God. Jonah essentially says "I'm the guy! I'm this man of God."
Read Jonah 2:8-9
How does Jonah display a total lack of self-awareness with this phrase?”
How is he inflating himself here? What do you notice about the actions of Jonah and the sailors?
The sailors actually made sacrifices to YHWH and Jonah did not.—1:16
Read Jonah 1:9
How do his actions contradict his words?
Watch what he does, not what he says
Read Jonah 4:2
How do you think Jonah views himself when compared to the people of Nineveh? Is it a position of humility or something else?
Jonah Fleeing the scene
Based on what we’ve seen so far, and your knowledge of the actions of all of the other prophets of the Bible, name a single prophet that runs away from God’s calling toward being a prophet
You can’t! because all other prophets follow God’s calling.
Jonah Throws a temper tantrum
Read Jonah 4:1-2
How does this response strike you? What are your thoughts on Jonah’s attitude and actions?
Read Jonah 4:8-11
How does this response strike you? What are your thoughts on Jonah’s attitude and actions?
How would you say Jonah’s actions compare to the actions of the other prophets?
Jonah as Satire/exaggeration
Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or insults to point out and criticize a person's ignorance, especially within the context of politics. In order for satire to work, the readers must be aware of the thing being satirized.
Think of Saturday Night Live (SNL)– in order to understand the jokes, you have to understand the real-world events that SNL is satirizing.
The Book of Jonah kind of functions like SNL– the Book of Jonah assumes the reader has read and understands the other prophetic books of the Bible and calls attention to the hypocrisy of Jonah in order to teach the reader how now to act as God’s chosen people.
Next week, we're going to talk more about Jonah as Satire, How the Book and the Character of Jonah function as a corrective for the ancient people of Israel and Christians today who think that God's love is reserved only for us, and why the Book of Jonah chooses to teach us these lessons this way.